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Terry, I see this matter a litle differently. I think it hinges on the
relationship between the writer and the "PI", and also on what your
definition of "write" is. If the PI generates the concepts, and asks
someone to put the ideas on paper for him, I see no ethical problem. Of
course it goes without saying that misappropriation of someone else's ideas
constitutes misconduct - so if the prof said "invent a project for me I can
put my name on", there is a real problem. However, the issue can be further
complicated by the relationship of the parties: if the person doing the
"writing" is in effect the employee of the prof, and has no professional
aspirations (e.g. not a grad.student) such a person probably would have no
intellectual property claim. When writing is a collaborative project, how
to apportion credit appropriately should be considered - as I indicated,
the circumstances can determine what is "appropriate". In the past I have
shared publication with technicians, and their level of authorship depended
on their intellectual contribution.

Charlie

At 02:30 PM 4/23/98 -0700, you wrote:
>     I believe there is no question that assistance in reviewing and
>editing of professional papers and proposals is an accepted and valuable
>practice.  However, I would like to raise a slightly different issue that I
>think needs to be considered.  If a proposal is written largely by one
>individual and another signs it as the PI, then I think the PI signing the
>proposal could be guilty of misconduct by assuming responsibility for the
>work of another.  I know that "ghost writing" is a generally accepted
>practice, but I believe it should be avoided for many reasons, including
>this one.
>
>
>Terry A. May, Ph.D.                       Voice:    520-523-6788
>  Director of Research Administration     FAX:      520-523-1075
>  Office of Grant & Contract Services     INTERNET: xxxxxx@nau.edu
>  100 Babbitt Admin. Ctr., Box 4130
>  Northern Arizona University
>  Flagstaff, AZ  86011-4130
>

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