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Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the Blumsohn case, Sheffield University's interpretation of intellectual property rights is very worrying.

The university appears to believe that any author or applicant cited on a paper or grant application that is unsuccessful is legally and morally able to resubmit a revision without including (or even notifying) the other authors, merely because the original submission was "jointly owned".

Academics at other institutions will now be very cautious about collaborating with colleagues from Sheffield.

I wonder what effect this strange decision will have on the university's research standing.

Name and address withheld