http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/new-more-inclusive-journal-policies-ease-author-name-changes-published-papers

When Teddy Goetz—a fourth year medical student at Columbia University—applied to residency programs in October 2020, he felt as though he had no choice but to out himself as transgender. “I had to put my birth name all over my application because of my publications, and that was really upsetting,” he says. He changed his legal name to Teddy last year. But many of his papers listed him using his birth name.

Before submitting his applications, Goetz had contacted every journal he’d published in—14 in total—to request they change his name. Two journals offered to change his name and issue a correction notice. Many others didn’t have a policy to deal with author name changes and refused to change his name without one. It was disheartening, but he continued to press the journals to accommodate his request. Now, his name is changed or in the process of being changed on all but one of his publications. “It’s been a very long process and involves a lot of … labor, time, energy, attention, massive spreadsheets,” he says. But it’s worth it. “My legacy should not be the name that isn’t mine; the legacy should be mine.”