affiliation if I change departments within university

Question

I am wondering what affiliation to put down on a paper that has been accepted (now going through the proofs).

I worked in one department (a centre, or institute, within my university) while I was conducting the research. I am now in another department (not a centre/institute, but a different department), within the same university.

Does it make sense to put both both affiliations, even though they are both linked to the same university? In my mind it makes sense to acknowledge both labs (the one where I did the research and the one where I did the writing), but then again it doesn't make sense to acknowledge the same university twice.

Does anyone have experience with this sort of situation, whether from the author or from the editor perspective? Is there a generally accepted solution?

Answer 1

Of course it’s also possible to have

Zero the Hero, Department of Nothing and Institute of Heroes, Gong University

or else you can have your “old” address on the byline with a footnote to your new address:

Zero the Hero*, Department of Nothing, Gong University

(* now at Institute of Heroes, Gong University )

The latter (and variations on this) is the model used for sabbaticals or for people who have moved since the work was completed: the researcher will acknowledge the host institution but will have a footnote to the current or the permanent address.

Answer 2

If the original institute provided funding or support for the research, I'd suggest keeping that as your affiliation. It may be just "noise" to list both, provided that anyone using the affiliation to contact you or disambiguate names will find you without both. The university will get your mail to the right place, I'd guess.

I might want to list both if, for example, my email changed with the switch. Or, perhaps if the new department is in another city. Other wise, it just seems like a complication, not an enlightenment.

Note, that this is just an opinion.

Answer 3

Does it make sense to put both both affiliations, even though they are both linked to the same university?

The publisher may require

current department, university 

or just

university

For the latter, there's no choice for you to make. (Old department, university seems unlikely, since it is obsolete.) Regarding,

it makes sense to acknowledge both labs

That can be achieved in the acknowledgements section. E.g., this work received financial support from old department, university. Such an acknowledgement can also be included if the publisher mandates the former style (above).