10
$\begingroup$

The paper was written and submitted when I was in Institution A. After (many) years, the paper is accepted when I am in Institution B.

Which address shall I put on the paper?

The current address (Institution B) will soon expire since I will have to move somewhere else. So when the paper will be finally published online / on paper, neither A or B is valid address.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
6
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ This is probably a better question for Academia.SE. Normally you list A as affiliation and B as current address. $\endgroup$
    – Nate Eldredge
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 19:04
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ There are two things you can do; you can list your original address and then list the current address labeled as "Current address". Alternatively, in either the introduction or the final paragraph, you can write that the paper was written and submitted while you were in Instituton A, and completed/accepted while you were at Institution B, and list your current address (labeled as "current address"). $\endgroup$
    – Arturo Magidin
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 19:11
  • $\begingroup$ The current address (Institution B) will soon expire since I will have to move somewhere else. So when the paper will be finally published online / on paper, neither A or B is valid address. $\endgroup$
    – 7-adic
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 19:12
  • $\begingroup$ @7-adic : In that case, I don't think it matters too much what address you put on the paper, but I would agree with Arturo Magidin and Joe Silverman that you should add an acknowledgment somewhere that gives due credit to Institutions A and B for providing some support for your work. $\endgroup$
    – Timothy Chow
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 15:42
  • $\begingroup$ Institution B did nothing in this paper. How about just using the old address of Institution A? That would be acknowledgement for sure? $\endgroup$
    – 7-adic
    Commented May 4, 2017 at 1:06

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

The primary purpose of the address, in "days of yore," was so that people could write to you to ask for a reprint and/or start a correspondence with you about your paper. And most institutions were willing to forward snail-mail if you kept them informed of your current address. All of that is pretty much irrelevant now. So I think the primary answer to your question is to make sure that your address includes an email address that will not expire, regardless of your moves. I know many mathematicians who use a gmail address for that purpose. If instead you use the email address at your current institution, make sure that they will forward email to whatever new address you give them. Beyond that, the other advice on how to list the institution(s) seems reasonable, since institution A deserves some credit for supporting your work, as possibly does institution B if, say, you revised the paper while there.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ I think nowadays it is anyway common to google for someone before contacting them by email for the first time -- this makes it much less important what address is printed in a paper, and whether it is still up-to-date. $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl ♦
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 19:33
  • $\begingroup$ @StefanKohl Good point, which means that the address in the paper is mostly irrelevant. But the part that is least irrelevant is the email, I think. And although I generally do google before contacting, I have been known to copy and paste an email address from a ArXiv article that I'm reading (which I'll admit is laziness on my part), so it is helpful if that address hasn't expired. There's also the issue that for some common names, it may not be immediate to find their home page, so it certainly can't hurt to include a permanent email address. $\endgroup$
    – Joe Silverman
    Commented May 2, 2017 at 19:41
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ @StefanKohl : I have found that Google doesn't always give me the email address I want, especially if the person in question no longer has an academic position, or has taken some (anti-spam) measures to make it harder to find their email address, so I always appreciate seeing an email address in a paper. $\endgroup$
    – Timothy Chow
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 15:46
  • $\begingroup$ @TimothyChow: Sure, as far as it concerns relatively recent papers. -- Though if an author's recent contact details cannot be found online, I'd rather assume that they are either not alive any more or prefer not to be contacted for whatever reason -- regardless of what address is given in a paper from, say, 1990, 1970 or 1950. $\endgroup$
    – Stefan Kohl ♦
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 16:30

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .