Author Name Changes and Persistent Identifiers

Identity is complex and nuanced.There's geographical identity, racial identity, gender identity, the list goes on.For many people, the first personal identifier they're given is a name, and for the majority of people, this name is sufficient, they carry it through life, and it's part of who they are.But identity isn't staticit's fluid, and who you are and how you conceptualize your "self' may change.Altering one's name isn't a new idea.In many Western cultures, it's still quite common, or traditional, for one person to take their partner's surname when they marry.It's an "accepted" reason to change your name, and people do it all the time.However, until recently, scholarly literature, with its many (often necessary) rules and standards did not make room for changes in one's name.(Is this because of patriarchy?Yes, yes it is.But that's a whole different paper, and there are more qualified people to write it than I.) As editors and publishers of scholarly research the record takes first priority.Change anything without all the proper forms, processes, and notices, and you're changing the record, which is sacrosanct, and this includes changes to an author's name. 1 Another purported stumbling block is the identity of the requester: how could you ensure that the person making the request was, indeed, the author in question?In 2013, the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) issued a position against name changes. 2 If you were a scholar who wanted to change their name for any reason, you had two choices: change it, and risk losing association with the record of any previously published work, or continue to use the name that no longer fit your identity.For transgender authors, navigating this landscape is fraught, often risking both the professional and even personal safety of individuals.