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I have few publications in which my previous supervisor (X) is the corresponding author and I am the first/lead author. However, he passed away few months before.

Recently I got to know that a reader of one my paper had emailed to X for some explanations, but the reader did not get any response because X is no more.

The reader and me accidentally met in an academic conference, where he came to know that I am the lead author of that paper and cleared his doubts from me.

So I am wondering is it possible to change the corresponding author of those published papers? May I request to the editor in chief to change it?

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    "Recently I got to know that a reader of one my paper had emailed to X for some explanations, but the reader did not get any response because X is no more." - while the concrete reason is luckily not often that tragic, the described outcome is exactly why in some fields, who is or is not the corresponding author is entirely ignored by readers and e-mailing all authors in the hope to maybe, maybe get a response from any one of them is the way to go.
    – O. R. Mapper
    Mar 2 '18 at 7:57
  • Thanks @O.R.Mapper. But only corresponding author's email is available in the papers..
    – Kay
    Mar 2 '18 at 10:13
  • @Kay - Google makes it easy to find anyone’s email these days.
    – Jon Custer
    Mar 2 '18 at 14:54
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I do not know whether it is possible to change the corresponding author, but I suspect it is not something journals do as they are reluctant to change published articles.

To reduce the issue, however, you could improve the online profile of the article:

  • Have a Google Scholar profile, so someone interested in the article has a link to your profile
  • Similarly, you could have a Research Gate profile and an Orcid number
  • Have a professional website

In this context, someone with a question about the article can easily find you, if they do not receive an answer from the corresponding author. Yes, it is less direct than corresponding author, but I think it is the best you can do.

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