August 31, 2020

PubPeer and ongoing evaluation of past published papers

In my capacity as Editor-In-Chief of The American Naturalist, I sometimes receive emails criticizing already-published papers in this journal.  The criticisms sometimes come in the form of anonymous emails to me. Other times they come from known emails and contain lengthy attachments with detailed criticisms. Increasingly, however, these criticisms are posted publicly on PubPeer, often by anonymous individuals. I want to take a moment to comment on this trend, from my perspective. Note that the following is not formal journal policy, and other Editors  (current and future) may disagree.

The individuals posting anonymously on PubPeer are typically genuinely concerned members of the scientific community who have identified errors, or strongly suspect errors exist, in the scientific record. Their criticisms should be addressed for their technical content. Left unanswered, a cloud hangs over the paper(s) in question.

That said, there is some question about the proper procedure for answering these criticisms. Yes, PubPeer itself leaves room for comments (interestingly, journal editors like myself must pay money to reply to comments, even if to acknowledge them and state we are evaluating the issue). But, this process bypasses the journal that publishes the paper, and bypasses the normal scientific tradition of external review by experts in the field chosen by the journal editor for their knowledge and hopefully objectivity. For this reason, I want to really encourage people with substantial concerns about a paper (e.g., which may appreciably alter the results and conclusions), to submit formal "Comments" (different journals call these different things) to the journal. These Comment manuscripts get reviewed (including by the original authors), and the original authors may write a Reply. Based on the reviews and comment and reply the Editor decides whether to (1) publish just the comment, (2) publish the comment and reply, (3) request a correction or retraction, or (4) let matters lie because the criticism does not have solid ground to stand on, is deemed to be debatable, or (per COPE guidelines) if the issue has no material impact on the conclusions of the paper. 

I know that the Comment approach is onerous in several ways. First, it takes time to prepare a formal manuscript formatted submission. I know of at least one instance (concerning a putative error in an equation in a theory paper) where the critic took time to write a pages-long missive, but said s/he didn't want to take the time to actually turn it into a Comment.  Second, the Comment is authored and so the critic identifies him or herself to possible reprisal. Recent activity by lawyers of one author (letters, FOIA requests) illustrates the point that critics can be subjected to legal and other harassment, which is a stressful penalty for free-speech in pursuit of ensuring scientific accuracy. {Note; anonymously authored Comments are not traditional, but might possibly be considered}. Third, Comments go through review which takes time, leaving the matter behind the scenes in the meantime. Here is where things get tricky: if a criticism proves to be groundless, a PubPeer criticism can damage an author's reputation needlessly and inappropriately. On the other hand, if a criticism has merit, we'd like it to be public knowledge immediately to correct the scientific record as soon as a problem is identified. These are conflicting needs. PubPeer is on the side of rapid dissemination, and reviewing Comments behind the scenes can err on the side of perpetuating errors too long (and can also open journals to criticisms of foot-dragging and cover-ups). While perhaps such cover-ups exist, every case I am directly aware of I have been satisfied that journals are genuine in their desire for ensuring quality science, but must exercise caution in leaping to conclusions without due process (which occurs behind the scenes).

So, as a journal, our official stance is that we prefer to receive submitted Comments. This follows the scientific tradition of obtaining third-party review, and deliberate evaluation of criticisms. But, scientific traditions are fluid and we are in an era of increasing speed and openness:  Preprint servers, open peer review, open data, et cetera. We therefore also recognize that PubPeer is an active tool in science conversations. The criticisms posted there can be valid identification of genuine problems that need to be evaluated formally and corrected. If valid well-justified and substantial concerns exist and are published on PubPeer, then the affected journal should respond.

There are caveats and concerns about PubPeer. Most importantly, it is important that these not be used as a mechanism for pursuing personal vendettas. Excessive targeting of an author with multiple minor complaints can constitute a kind of harassment, and may be viewed as such by University Equity officers or equivalent. The anonymous nature of many PubPeer comments makes it easier for impacted authors to feel like (and, argue that) they are the target of personal vendettas and harassment. Second, the existence of PubPeer comments can cast a long shadow over a paper whether the comments are profound or minor.  This shadow can affect an author's career prospects (fellowship applications, job applications, etc) even before the matter is resolved and judged to be valid or not. The result can be inappropriate damage to an innocent authors' career, which in turn may have grave consequences for mental health. Third, there is an established mechanism for voicing complaints about papers in science:  contact the author to request clarification, or contact the Editor, or submit a Comment. I realize that many complainants are nervous about revealing their identity, and these three steps I list make this harder. One can create new email accounts to anonymously contact an author, or Editor. But bear in mind that although scientific publication is in no way bound to follow legal court-style procedures, there's something to be said for the legal tradition that accused have a chance to face their accuser. Science publication is not a court of law; but it is worth considering whether we as a community want to respect that kind of tradition. That said, whistleblowers sometimes hide their identity for good reason (e.g., not trusting that whistleblower laws offer sufficient protection). With this in mind, it might be worth considering whether journals might publish anonymizied Comments. That runs counter to the growing trend towards open peer review, but can protect vulnerable individuals when their complaint is valid and they have compelling grounds to be concerned about how their career is impacted.

How should journals respond to PubPeer comments? This is something of a wild-west issue that I expect COPE (the committee on publication ethics) is grappling with to provide guidelines. First, the PubPeer comments need to be brought to the Editor's attention. Don't assume that Editors take time to search PubPeer regularly; at least I don't. Then, the journal begins an evaluation process that may include (1) forming a committee to evaluate the papers and the citicisms, and/or (2) contacting the author(s) for a response. These take time, indeed can take many months to do properly with due care for the details and reaching a scientifically defensible and just decision. So, please be patient. Sometimes there are delays due to valid extensions in recognition of health concerns, parental leave, etc, that need to be appropriately accommodated even in pursuit of ensuring scientific truth. Also, do not expect any formal journal response on the PubPeer website; they charge Editors money to make any statement as Editor (that's how they pay their bills, at least in part).

Obviously if there is compelling evidence of malpractice by authors, the investigation should ultimately result in retraction (e.g., a Comment alone ceases to be sufficient). But, some cases where a critic may reasonably suspect data have been fudged, may appear to others to be less clear-cut. A journal's job is to carefully evaluate the opposing claims and the weight of evidence. The result may end up being inaction where the journal's editor or their appointed committees are unconvinced by the criticisms. It is my belief that, if a criticism proves to be invalid, then its public airing on PubPeer can do more harm than good. Which is why I prefer such processes be handled via a formal evaluation and review.

To summarize, I believe that PubPeer has appealing features, but has the potential to do harm to innocent authors, or to be used for personal attacks. Our goal should be to promote its strengths while mitigating the risks.  As editor I therefore prefer that critiques begin with direct communication with an author, and that journals be notified via submission of a Comment when those direct communications do not yield a satisfactory answer (or, go unanswered). In this way, concerns can be evaluated and questions can be answered, through a formal review process that might resolve the issue without exposing the author to public ridicule that might ultimately prove to be baseless.  That said, I understand the motive for using PubPeer (anonymity, speed, openness) and will respond when made aware of PubPeer critiques that appear to have scientific merit.

I am aware of PubPeer criticisms targeting multiple papers of some authors. These cases take extra time to evaluate because they entail more work: committee members need to find time to read many papers, delve into their data, and authors need to respond to more comments. Please be patient. To the broader community, a journal may appear to be ignoring criticisms; but this may simply be the result of a careful and incomplete process. In some cases we also are awaiting COPE recommendations for how to proceed in cases that reveal new kinds of publication-ethics problems.

In particular, we are aware of cases where published papers lack complete data repositories (e.g., on Dryad). A present, we are awaiting guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics on how to proceed in such cases.  This is a new enough situation, that the recommendations are not yet clearly articulated as a scientific community. As an interim policy, our first step is to notify authors and give them a deadline for completing their files to our satisfaction. Such deadlines may take some time, for instance if hard drive forensics are needed, or if an individual is on parental or health leave. If the data files cannot be completed by the deadline, our present plan is to issue Editorial Expressions of Concern. Authors with such EoCs will have any future papers scrutinized far more closely for complete data. Authors would do well to avoid such situations by uploading complete Dryad (or equivalent) archives following best practices recommended by Dryad for thorough meta-data, ReadMe files, etc.

 As an institution The American Naturalist is dedicated to publishing rigorous, well-supported research, and that rigor takes time. Every other Editor-In-Chief of other journals whom I have interacted with extensively shares that commitment. We will never sweep valid criticisms under the rug to defend our reputation, because that reputation comes not from having papers, but from the quality of the papers that we disseminate. But, sometimes the deliberate process of internal review may appear to the outside to be inaction; often nothing could be further from the truth.

Ultimately, it is journals that publish science (for now). And thus it is journals' job to correct errors in the science that they previously published. It follows that for any serious scientific error, it rests in journals' hands to evaluate the error and take suitable corrective steps.  Of course, if journals truly fail to meet that obligation, that's a problem. And PubPeer represents an alternative, a safety net for criticisms, and a way of shaming journals into action. But - I'll say this again - sometimes what looks like inaction from outside is either (1) a slow deliberative process to ensure complete and fair evaluation, or (2) a completed evaluation that found nothing to move forward with. So, please give journals some time to do what they need to do. 

Dan Bolnick


Addendum:

A Twitter comment pointed out that PubPeer enables author responses to critiques, creating online dialogues that may resolve and clarify and issue. I appreciate and value that. The poster (Boris Barbour) also notes that most PubPeer comments are not graced with author defenses or acknowledgement. If correct (no statistics were offered in support), that is troubling. And in my view that again points to the value of journals as the enforcers whose job is to follow through and either require a response or else publish a retraction or Expression of Concern or Comment. Authors can ignore PubPeer comments because... because they can, there's no immediate penalty for engaging besides the court of public opinion.

August 13, 2020

Open letter of thanks to Associate Editors

The following is a letter addressing Associate Editors at The American Naturalist, but which may be of interest to readers and authors as well.


Dear Associate Editors,

 

As I pass the two and a half year mark as Editor In Chief of The American Naturalist, I realized I have not done something long over due: saying thank you. The  success of this journal is a reflection of your efforts:  helping to encourage people to submit interesting work that you hear of (whether in person, at conferences, seminar visits, on BioRXiv, etc), choosing effective reviewers, and providing your own extensive insights into papers.  I routinely hear praise from authors about the review experience at The American Naturalist: both the depth that we go to and the constructive thoughtful and supportive tone. Your Associate Editor recommendation letters are frequently longer and more insightful than the reviews themselves, and that leaves an excellent impression on authors. You show great thoughtfulness in crafting responses, rather than just rubber stamping the reviews you form your own opinions, sometimes disagreeing with reviews and setting aside mistaken concerns, sometimes forming your own objections that go beyond what the reviewers noticed.   Authors appreciate this. I have often (as recently as days ago) heard comments like “I had the best rejection experience ever at AmNat”. Even if we do not choose to publish a paper, we give feedback that improves the authors’ chances elsewhere. I have not infrequently seen papers we declined that ended up in Evolution, Ecology, Ecology Letters, and I like to think the quality of our reviews and letters give authors a step up to get their paper into the best possible destination whether it is in our journal or not.  All this effort takes work that is rarely rewarded with a ’thank you’.  So here I am today, to say THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. I value your efforts every single day, with every single paper that crosses my desk. I am often in awe of your insights and care, and frequently thankful that you have done a thorough enough job that I can more readily reach a decision. You work so hard for the journal, as volunteers, and this service cannot be underestimated. I am well aware of what effort that takes you often, and how you must balance this with many other demands on your time and attention. So, thank you and please keep up the great work.

 

I want to remind you all that, in return for your excellent work, if there is ever anything I or the other Editors can do, please let us know. We do sometimes have brief conversations with some of you about tricky decisions, by Zoom or email or other, and please do know that we are here to help you do your great job for the journal.

 

For me, one of the harder elements of this job is knowing when to nag you all about decision times. Please forgive my occasional nagging emails about particular papers. The Editorial Manager system auto-generates emails to remind you of when there are papers sitting unattended (from the software’s point of view). About a year ago I began chiming in when I saw papers that were on your desk for longer than about 10 days. Those nagging emails, while annoying for you to receive I do not doubt, did seem to help bring the time to first decision down a bit. Remember, we aspire to choose reviewers in ~5 days or so (preferably less) and we aspire to get recommendations from you within a week to 10 days at the outside of receiving reviews. Of course, COVID has upended all that. Some  of us have lost family members, been sick, stressed, your attention drawn to more important epidemiological pursuits for your governments, or attention appropriately diverted to homeschooling kids over the spring and child care over the summer without summer camps. I’m right there with you, and fully sympathetic. I let my threshold for nagging emails slide to about the three week mark.  Since COVID shows no sign of letting up, I’m going to keep it there for now. I’d still much prefer (in service of authors) that papers sit on AE desks for less than a week going out to review, and less than a week coming back from review. But I would also much prefer that COVID ‘magically go away’; since that is clearly not rational, I’ll just treat this as a generic reminder to keep in mind the impatience and nervousness of a graduate student or postdoc author who sees the paper is back from review and is waiting, with baited breath, for a decision that may impact their CV while applying for the next stages of their career. I fundamentally cannot balance everyone’s need here: your need for the time to do a good and thorough job (as a volunteer) while many other demands on your time exist, against authors’ needs for an answer. So, please consider this paragraph an apology for my continued nagging on slow papers; that’s my job. Your job is to take the time you need to give the thorough thoughtful and constructive comments that give this journal its good reputation for thorough (but slow) review and high quality papers. So, never feel you need to reply, explain, or apologize if you get an email from me, and please forgive me for the nagging, as I just try to find the right balance between respecting your time, and serving authors.

 

Lastly, some news:

 

Russell Bonduriansky, who has been a co-Editor for nearly three years, will be ending his service to the journal in the coming months, and will be replaced by Erol Akçay. Russell was an Associate Editor for over a half decade before becoming a member of the trio of Editors. He will be greatly missed.

 

An even greater tectonic shift is approaching: Trish Morse, our guiding light, our institutional memory, is retiring this fall (October 30). We have all come to view Trish as the bedrock on which the journal operates. We will be working to make the transition as seamless as possible and I have full faith we will move ahead in good order. Owen Cook will continue in his present role and knows the inner workings of the journal to keep us running very well. That said, please join me in thanking Trish for her two decades of incredible support and leadership. The journal would not have been the same without her, and her thoughtfulness and kindness are inspirations to us all. Trish, THANK YOU.   As a token of our gratitude, the former Editors and I gave Trish a gift: original copies of the first four Volumes of The American Naturalist, 1867-1870 (photos attached).

 

Again, thank you all for your help and devotion to the journal,

 

Best wishes,

 

Dan Bolnick

Editor-In-Chief, The American Naturalist

 






August 9, 2020

Competition

Recent Papers

Foteini Spagopoulou, Regina Vega-Trejo, Megan L. Head, and Michael D. Jennions

Bo Zhang, Donald L. DeAngelis, Wei-Ming Ni, Yuanshi Wang, Lu Zhai, Alex Kula, Shuang Xu, and J. David Van Dyken

Christopher Blackford, Rachel M. Germain, and Benjamin Gilbert

Free Access
Andrea J. Roth-Monzón, Mark C. Belk, J. Jaime Zúñiga-Vega, and Jerald B. Johnson










Chuliang Song, György Barabás, and Serguei Saavedra

Alyssa Laney Smith, Daniel Z. Atwater, and Ragan M. Callaway

Note
Jonathan P. Drury, Christopher N. Anderson, Maria B. Cabezas Castillo, Jewel Fisher, Shawn McEachin, and Gregory F. Grether



Oscar Vedder, He Zhang, Andreas Dänhardt, and Sandra Bouwhuis

Open Access

Open Access
Lawrence H. Uricchio, S. Caroline Daws, Erin R. Spear, and Erin A. Mordecai

Elodie C. Parain, Rudolf P. Rohr, Sarah M. Gray, and Louis-Félix Bersier

Open Access
Pia Backmann, Volker Grimm, Gottfried Jetschke, Yue Lin, Matthijs Vos, Ian T. Baldwin, and Nicole M. van Dam

Celebrating Am Nat 150, Open Access

Climate Change

Recent Papers


Free Access
Christine Sample, Joanna A. Bieri, Benjamin Allen, Yulia Dementieva, Alyssa Carson, Connor Higgins, Sadie Piatt, Shirley Qiu, Summer Stafford, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, Jay E. Diffendorfer, and Wayne E. Thogmartin

Timothy C. Bonebrake, Enrico L. Rezende, and Francisco Bozinovic

Nikunj Goel, Vishwesha Guttal, Simon A. Levin, and A. Carla Staver

Andrew J. Tanentzap, Javier Igea, Matthew G. Johnston, and Matthew J. Larcombe



Blurb: https://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/Dec-Gorne.html


Free Access; Special Feature on Maladaptation
Mark C. Urban, Alice Scarpa, Justin M. J. Travis, and Greta Bocedi


Matthew W. Austin and Aimee S. Dunlap


Special Feature on Maladaptation
Jeffrey E. Lane, Zenon J. Czenze, Rachel Findlay-Robinson, and Erin Bayne

Special Feature on Maladaptation
Nicholas J. Kooyers, Jack M. Colicchio, Anna B. Greenlee, Erin Patterson, Neal T. Handloser, and Benjamin K. Blackman

Special Feature on Maladaptation, Open Access
Olivier Cotto, Linnea Sandell, Luis-Miguel Chevin, and Ophélie Ronce


Philip H. Crowley, Pete C. Trimmer, Orr Spiegel, Sean M. Ehlman, William S. Cuello, and Andrew Sih

Sean M. Ehlman, Pete C. Trimmer, and Andrew Sih


Elodie C. Parain, Rudolf P. Rohr, Sarah M. Gray, and Louis-Félix Bersier

August 7, 2020

Dispersal

Recent Papers

Free Access
Christine Sample, Joanna A. Bieri, Benjamin Allen, Yulia Dementieva, Alyssa Carson, Connor Higgins, Sadie Piatt, Shirley Qiu, Summer Stafford, Brady J. Mattsson, Darius J. Semmens, Jay E. Diffendorfer, and Wayne E. Thogmartin

Free Access
Sonya K. Auer, Ronald D. Bassar, Daniel Turek, Graeme J. Anderson, Simon McKelvey, John D. Armstrong, Keith H. Nislow, Helen K. Downie, Thomas A. J. Morgan, Darryl McLennan, and Neil B. Metcalfe

Celina B. Baines, Salma Diab, and Shannon J. McCauley



Quinn M. R. Webber, Michel P. Laforge, Maegwin Bonar, Alec L. Robitaille, Christopher Hart, Sana Zabihi-Seissan, and Eric Vander Wal

Valentine Federico, Dominique Allainé, Jean-Michel Gaillard, and Aurélie Cohas

Jason Matthiopoulos, John Fieberg, Geert Aarts, Frédéric Barraquand, and Bruce E. Kendall

Rachel R. Harman, Jerome Goddard II, Ratnasingham Shivaji, and James T. Cronin

Nikunj Goel, Vishwesha Guttal, Simon A. Levin, and A. Carla Staver

Symposium


Javier Jarillo, Bernt-Erik Sæther, Steinar Engen, and Francisco Javier Cao-García

Note



Staffan Jacob, Alexis S. Chaine, Michèle Huet, Jean Clobert, and Delphine Legrand

Free Access, Note
Rampal S. Etienne, Juliano Sarmento Cabral, Oskar Hagen, Florian Hartig, Allen H. Hurlbert, Loïc Pellissier, Mikael Pontarp, and David Storch

James H. Peniston, Michael Barfield, and Robert D. Holt

Free Access
Maxime Deforet, Carlos Carmona-Fontaine, Kirill S. Korolev, and Joao B. Xavier

Nathan I. Wisnoski, Mathew A. Leibold, and Jay T. Lennon

Philip H. Crowley, Pete C. Trimmer, Orr Spiegel, Sean M. Ehlman, William S. Cuello, and Andrew Sih

Note
Heterogeneous Matrix Habitat Drives Species Occurrences in Complex, Fragmented Landscapes
Jedediah F. Brodie and William D. Newmark

Predator-Prey Games in Multiple Habitats Reveal Mixed Strategies in Diel Vertical Migration
Jérôme Pinti and André W. Visser
Summary: https://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/MarPinti.html

The Evolution of Marine Larval Dispersal Kernels in Spatially Structured Habitats: Analytical Models, Individual-Based Simulations, and Comparisons with Empirical Estimates
Allison K. Shaw, Cassidy C. D’Aloia, and Peter M. Buston
Summary: https://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/MarShaw.html

American Society of Naturalists Address
The Snail’s Charm
Kathleen Donohue
Summaryhttps://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/FebDonohue.html

An Empirical and Mechanistic Explanation of Abundance-Occupancy Relationships for a Critically Endangered Nomadic Migrant
Matthew H. Webb, Robert Heinsohn, William J. Sutherland, Dejan Stojanovic, and Aleks Terauds
Summaryhttps://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/JanWebb.html

Metaecosystem Dynamics of Marine Phytoplankton Alters Resource Use Efficiency along Stoichiometric Gradients
Nils Gülzow, Yanis Wahlen, and Helmut Hillebrand
Summaryhttps://www.amnat.org/an/newpapers/JanGuelzow.html

Development

Recent Papers



Molly C. Womack, Marissa J. Metz, and Kim L. Hoke


Jeffrey E. Lane, Zenon J. Czenze, Rachel Findlay-Robinson, and Erin Bayne



Lea M. Callan, Frank A. La Sorte, Thomas E. Martin, and Vanya G. Rohwer




Macroevolution

Recent Papers in Macroevolution


Valentine Federico, Dominique Allainé, Jean-Michel Gaillard, and Aurélie Cohas


Open Access
Kjetil Lysne Voje, Emanuela Di Martino, and Arthur Porto

Note
Andrew J. Tanentzap, Javier Igea, Matthew G. Johnston, and Matthew J. Larcombe


Open Access, Symposium
Emma E. Goldberg and Jasmine Foo

Xu-Li Fan, Guillaume Chomicki, Kai Hao, Qiang Liu, Ying-Ze Xiong, Susanne S. Renner, Jiang-Yun Gao, and Shuang-Quan Huang





Maren N. Vitousek, Michele A. Johnson, Cynthia J. Downs, Eliot T. Miller, Lynn B. Martin, Clinton D. Francis, Jeremy W. Donald, Matthew J. Fuxjager, Wolfgang Goymann, Michaela Hau, Jerry F. Husak, Bonnie K. Kircher, Rosemary Knapp, Laura A. Schoenle, and Tony D. Williams



Social Behavior

Recent Papers

Pauline Ducouret, Andrea Romano, Amélie N. Dreiss, Patrick Marmaroli, Xavier Falourd, Manon Bincteux, and Alexandre Roulin

Note
Philip A. Downing, Ashleigh S. Griffin, and Charlie K. Cornwallis

Valentine Federico, Dominique Allainé, Jean-Michel Gaillard, and Aurélie Cohas

Sarah Guindre-Parker and Dustin R. Rubenstein


Mark Liu (劉彥廷), Shih-Fan Chan (詹仕凡), Dustin R. Rubenstein, Syuan-Jyun Sun (孫烜駿), Bo-Fei Chen (陳伯飛), and Sheng-Feng Shen (沈聖峰)

Free Access
Laurent Lehmann and François Rousset

Symposium

Barry Sinervo, Alexis S. Chaine, and Donald B. Miles


T. Brandt Ryder, Roslyn Dakin, Ben J. Vernasco, Brian S. Evans, Brent M. Horton, and Ignacio T. Moore


Alyssa Laney Smith, Daniel Z. Atwater, and Ragan M. Callaway


Yu-Heng Lin (林宇恆), Shih-Fan Chan (詹仕凡), Dustin R. Rubenstein, Mark Liu (劉彥廷), and Sheng-Feng Shen (沈聖峰)

Chris Duncan, David Gaynor, Tim Clutton-Brock, and Mark Dyble


Sahas Barve, Walter D. Koenig, Joseph Haydock, and Eric L. Walters

Conservation

Recent Papers

Note
Andrew J. Tanentzap, Javier Igea, Matthew G. Johnston, and Matthew J. Larcombe



Aaron S. David, Pedro F. Quintana-Ascencio, Eric S. Menges, Khum B. Thapa-Magar, Michelle E. Afkhami, and Christopher A. Searcy


Eleanor Tanner, Andy White, Peter W. W. Lurz, Christian Gortázar, Iratxe Díez-Delgado, and Mike Boots

Gaurav Baruah, Christopher F. Clements, Frédéric Guillaume, and Arpat Ozgul


Niklas L. P. Lundström, Nicolas Loeuille, Xinzhu Meng, Mats Bodin, and Åke Brännström