Preparing for Prewritten Obituaries (Advance Obit) in Scientific Journals

An obituary (obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Obituaries usually, though not always, focus on positive aspects of the person’s life. Traditional obituaries, aimed to describe the biography and character of the deceased, were rarely if ever written by very close relatives and were characterized by a certain degree of reserve and moderate emotions. Modern obituaries, in contrast, are frequently written by very close relatives, as well as others, they often address the deceased directly and focus very much on the emotions the writer is experiencing following the death of their loved one.1

Many news organizations maintain prewritten obituaries (“advance" obituaries) on file for notable individuals who are still living in order to promptly publish detailed, authoritative, and lengthy obituaries upon their deaths. Journalists remember that The New York Times’ obituary of famous actress Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011, Fig. 1) was written six years before her death by the newspaper’s theater critic Mel Gussow (1933–2005). It’s an example of a prewritten obituary's subject outliving its author.

Fig. 1
Elizabeth Taylor (1932–2011). Available at: https://www.needpix.com/photo/221263/. Accessed Dec 5, 2022.

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In many scientific journals, editors provide obituaries for deceased researchers (Nature, The Scientist, etc.). Obituaries in scientific journals should not merely be a space for parading details about brilliant personal careers. Instead, an obituary should contain true facts about the researcher’s life. The writer should determine the ‘‘wild card’’ that is meaningful and should convey who the decedent was.2 In Korea, obituaries in newspapers are not only a mere reporting system informing about anyone’s death, but also the symbolic system that is both reflecting and constructing the power relationships in society.3

In order to avoid power influencing the obituary, editors of scientific journals should set up inclusion criteria requiring that the researchers contributed to the journal or their scientific society. Since the publication interval of JKMS is short, it is recommended that one of the editorial board members (specialized for obituary) has the advance obit file for notable authors or researchers who are in old age but still living. On their death, prompt publication of detailed obituaries will be needed.

There is an Asian saying that “tigers die and leave their skins; people die and leave their names.” We should salute our predecessors and preserve their spirits.2