a researcher had her work accepted for publication in 2006 in a prestigious journal, but instead of it being published in a 2006 issue it was published in a 2005 issue. the 2005 issue was published in 2006. in this way, the date of publication could have been before the researcher even began the research.
i wonder how you would report that publication in an annual report, assuming that the publication was done as a result of some grant funding. it could possibly look like the researcher published on grant-funded research outside of the granting cycle.
p.s. publishers do crazy things sometimes.
p.p.s. this is an example of the strange scenarios that present themselves while one is sitting at the reference desk.
