Slack / Private Message Drop — page 120

[2020-07-29 16:21:11] [Andrew Rambaut] Hi - I am not sure about this (emailing Clare) - are we giving too much away here? [2020-07-29 16:23:36] [Andrew Rambaut] I am just trying to think through what she will do? [2020-07-29 16:24:02] [Kristian Andersen] I don't think we're giving away anything are we? She'll reach out to Reviewer 2 and possibly 1. And bring it up with the journal [2020-07-29 16:43:34] [Andrew Rambaut] Made some suggested edits to disentangle the libellous allegations from the reviewing breach. Feel free to revert. [2020-07-29 17:35:32] [Eddie Holmes] I've made some edits as well. My version is below. We need to think this through very carefully. Kristian, you should run it past your comms person. I don't think we should ask Clare to resolve the matter as it's not her doing and this just puts it ball in her court which seems unfair. I think just alerting her is enough: [2020-07-29 17:35:35] [Eddie Holmes] Dear Clare, We wanted to alert you to this anonymous email that was shared with us from a reputable journalist. The email makes several serious allegations, including details about a confidential and private meeting involving senior US and UK officials/scientists on a topic that is highly sensitive but ultimately led to our "Proximal Origins" paper that we submitted to Nature some months ago. The allegations are false, we feel they are libelous, and we are taking this matter very seriously. We are contacting you because the email also shows a breach in confidentiality of the peer review process. The anonymous emailer (individual B) names you and Nature and describes several private and confidential details about the review process. Clearly, individual B is either Reviewer 2 of our paper, or Reviewer 2 shared confidential information with them. There are no other explanations for how this person could have known it had been reviewed by Nature or details of the review, except for a breach of the peer review process: we have not shared any of the peer review details with anyone. It does not appear that individual B knew that you discussed the paper directly with Nature Medicine, nor does it appear that the person knew who the handling editor was at that journal (Joao). We are very sorry to have to bring this to your attention, but given how serious a matter this is, we feel we have no choice as our scientific reputations are being judged. Please let us know if you have any questions. We are available for a phone call if that would be helpful. Best, Kristian and Eddie [2020-07-29 18:05:06] [Kristian Andersen] Sounds good. And let's wait until we hear back from Jeremy before next steps - there's no rush [2020-07-29 18:05:41] [Kristian Andersen] My comms person already looked at it and thought it looked good - he had a few minor edits that I introduced [2020-07-29 18:38:31] [Robert Garry] Extra points for subtle clues - individual B - very Agatha Christie!