Absolute Accessibility On Broad

Question

[kanwarjag]

Hi

I have send several messages following instructions @http://www.broadinstitute.org/cancer/cga/absolute_download but has never got any rply. Does anyone has any suggestion how to get the access or answer from Broad about accessing ABSOLUTE. It has been more than a month. Any one experienced such problem. I just want to make sure that I may not be missing something or doing it differently.

Thanks

[Ashutosh Pandey]

Did you email a scan of the signed license to: [e-mail] ? just want to make sure that you know that only an email is not enough.

[kanwarjag]

I did send two time the form with signature as email attachment.

[seidel]

Assuming you sent in the completed and signed license, have you tried asking in the forum for ABSOLUTE? Have you tried contacting Scott Carter directly? His email address is on the paper, and he would want to know if the licensing process is ignoring people. If he doesn't respond, there are 15 other authors on the paper you could contact.

[kanwarjag]

I will send email to author and get back here. However in other areas I have found Broad to be very quick, but not sure in this case.

[amaro]

Hi were you able to get the code for this? The website seems to be working fine.

Answer 1

[kanwarjag]

I sent emails to both corresponding authors No response. Is it some kind of joke that these Hi profile people publish in Nature/ Science and no repond or provide access to the tool. Any suggestion. I am now thinking of writing to all authors. I dont think anything of that sort will help.

[seidel]

Don't get upset, just be professional about it. Everyone is busy, email can be ignored for a variety of reasons, and you basically can't conclude much from lack of response. I've had several situations of high-profile labs "publishing and running" leaving behind a promise of data (for which they get credit) and a mess that is impenetrable. I'm sure we've all experienced that on some level. However, the solution is to simply divide and conquer. You have a list of contacts, and you're going through it. If possible, try to get phone numbers, and track people down that way - it's frustrating but can be much more powerful and informative. If no one in the author list responds, go the the infrastructure (departments, web host, the law office for the license, etc.). Remember, you have to be professional the whole time, and simply cite the evidence: "I've made efforts to contact x but have been unable to get a response...can you help me?" Lastly, you can ask around in public forums, which can result in a public sort of embarrassment for the authors, but as long as you are professional and matter-of-fact, you're simply doing what you can to get access to published data. The process can be frustrating, but just be straightforward, professional, and persistent.

[matted]

I definitely agree. Though it is frustrating, lashing out is unproductive and won't help your immediate problem.

I'll add that going through the editors of the journal where the tool was published is another route, but it's a bit of a nuclear option that I'd do after failing to get through with the authors.

[kanwarjag]

It has been more than two weeks I have written to both corresponding authors. No response. Unfortunate part is I know one of the senior author also but they said they dont have full code and all is with corresponding authors and code is still messy.

[seidel]

Call him directly. Remember, be patient and professional: Scott Carter, Computational Biologist, Cancer Genome Sequencing, 301 Binney Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, Ph: 617-714-7571. In the end you'll probably have a new friend and colleague. If you can't reach him by phone, send a paper letter. If he doesn't respond in two weeks send him registered receipt mail, AND contact the Broad through the main number, explain your case, and ask both for him and for the legal office handling software registrations. If he doesn't respond to snail mail, send a letter to his boss (Matthew Meyerson) explaining the difficulty you've had, and what you are trying to accomplish. The whole time, just be polite and persistent. As matted said, you might consider contacting the journal. Look at the Broad Institute Cancer Program staff, there are three directors listed associated with computation. Contact them for help - after all they are the directors of programs and need to know that the resources they are directing are suffering a bit of integrity, and starting to be embarrassed in public forums (like this one). The list goes on and on. It sucks to have to be so plodding, but if it's worth it to you, sometimes it's the only way. By the way, if you know one of the senior authors, that's a resource right there. As an author, they have some professional responsibility to help you get the full code of what they have published. You may have to politely remind them of that.

[kanwarjag]

Well I just want to update here there is no response till to date about my various requests. So I am now going to write all authors + head in Broad.

[Christian]

Plz keep us posted here about your success. Would be interested in the software myself.

Answer 2

[snptrack]

It seems there is a new mode to access Absolute http://www.broadinstitute.org/cancer/cga/absolute_download via registration and Login - did you try that?

[amaro]

I just tried this and was able to access no problem.