Co-author does not want biography+photo in paper submission Some journals such as the IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (randomly picked) require a biography and sometimes also a photo of the paper authors.

Currently I have the case that a co-author working in the industry does not want this. He says (and I can totally understand this) that he does not want that possible future companies will find a photo of him when using a search engine. He also does not like the biography part but would accept this, if there is no other solution.

Question: Is it uncommon to ask the Editor-in-chief whether the biography and/or photos may be omitted? The journal would be a perfect match so that I do not want to pick another one just because of this.
Rather than trying to determine whether it is common or not to get the EiC involved in this matter, I would like to suggest that you ask a more "productive" question: are there established ways of handling the case when a co-author does not want to include a bio and a photo? The answer to this question, as far as the IEEE is concerned, is "yes." 

Next to the author's name, simply state:


  Randy D. Fuddles, photograph and biography not available at the time of publication.