Concern for Co-Author on Abstract

[Dentistry3399]

Hi everyone, I recently got accepted into a prestigious university's undergraduate psychology research conference with my original abstract. When I submitted my application, I included a research assistant that was in my lab as a presenter because I felt afraid to present it by myself. However, now I just discovered that she will be a part of the abstract authors, as well as one of the authors on the poster. The problem is she was not a part of development of the study or writing the abstract.

Should I email the university and explain my situation, so she can be removed from the abstract author list? Will they do that even though their websites states "no changes can be made after submissions"? It seems pretty unfair to me that she will take credit for my research--something she wasn't a part of at all.

Thanks for your help!

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[neuronic]

Just curious, did you ask this person to use their name when submitting the abstract? If so, it would be unfair to take them off for numerous reasons. If you did not ask them first, even worse.... Also, have you talked to your mentor about this? Are abstracts from this conference actually published? I apologize for the barrage of questions. Regardless, lots of individuals are put on abstracts and even papers who contribute little to the finished project. The APA ethics code suggests against this, though I have seen it as more routine practice and everyone has a different opionion as to what constitutes significant contribution (e.g., research idea, writing, vs. data collection, etc). As for taking credit for "your" research, is she the first author? Conference attendees only really look at first author and last author (if the lab PI). Nonetheless, research is a team effort and being a team player is important. You will likely be put on numerous abstracts in your career by association, on which you contribute minimally, and if you honestly tell them to take you off, then you are a more ethical person than most.

 

[bcliff]

In my opinion it doesn't really matter how many coauthors you have as long as you're listed as first author. Often times coauthors only handle a small portion of the actual research project, so it's not unusual to have someone listed who hasn't been a part of the process since the beginning - Is this RA helping you prepare what you are going to say? Helping with the poster design? Helping you staple things? - As long as they're contributing in some way, then it seems fair to me. I'm assuming you're first author, so anyone behind you in order of significance won't affect how the presentation looks on your CV. When you do list it on your CV, only include the poster presentation once - Don't list the abstract (This is the only reason why I thought you might have brought up the RA's inclusion as the list of authors on the abstract?).

Also, I'm assuming this RA is either a grad student or recent grad? An undergraduate conference isn't going to be that big deal of a deal for them, so I'm sure they're not trying to steal any credit or anything like that (I could easily be wrong though, I don't know the politics inside your lab). More globally, I think this is a relatively painless lesson to teach you the importance of fully understanding the implications of every decision you make when submitting an abstract to be published/presented.

 

[Pragma]

You should talk to your mentor about this. On the surface, it seems like you may be a little naive about how these things work. You would never have someone present something with you without them being a coauthor on the presentation.

 

[psychRA]

You should talk to your mentor about this.

Definitely. And I would not recommend contacting the university about this unless your mentor directs you to do so.

First of all, the university is unlikely to be interested in dealing with authorship issues. That's something that your lab needs to sort out with your mentor before you submit and present. If both you and this research assistant are listed on the application, they have no way of knowing which of you actually belongs there. If anything, I'd be a little nervous if a research conference was willing to remove someone as an author based on one person's email.

 

[IT514]

Hi everyone, I recently got accepted into a prestigious university's undergraduate psychology research conference with my original abstract. When I submitted my application, I included a research assistant that was in my lab as a presenter because I felt afraid to present it by myself. However, now I just discovered that she will be a part of the abstract authors, as well as one of the authors on the poster. The problem is she was not a part of development of the study or writing the abstract.

Should I email the university and explain my situation, so she can be removed from the abstract author list? Will they do that even though their websites states "no changes can be made after submissions"? It seems pretty unfair to me that she will take credit for my research--something she wasn't a part of at all.

Thanks for your help!

So let me get this straight. You "felt afraid" to present your poster alone (as most of us do the first time or so). You asked an RA for help. RA helped you. Now you want to punish RA for helping you? What am I missing here????

 

[Butterfly6]

At our university we include RAs on posters especially if they ran the participants as, without them, the research would not have gotten done. However, we usually have them at least proof the poster and add any input on how to make it look better. Paper publications are a different story.