Head Vs Co-Author

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The Tooth Dr

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I spent my entire sophomore undergrad summer working on a research project but have still yet to finish :mad: and with the school year starting I have little time for research now. My professor might bring on another student depending on how much I can work. If I wanted to finish the project as head it would be very time demanding and I'm worried about my grades. I tried looking but couldn't find anything on how the dental schools would view being listed as co instead of head author. Of course head author is better but does it make that much of a difference to be head vs co?
Any input is appreciated!

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I spent my entire sophomore undergrad summer working on a research project but have still yet to finish :mad: and with the school year starting I have little time for research now. My professor might bring on another student depending on how much I can work. If I wanted to finish the project as head it would be very time demanding and I'm worried about my grades. I tried looking but couldn't find anything on how the dental schools would view being listed as co instead of head author. Of course head author is better but does it make that much of a difference to be head vs co?
Any input is appreciated!

I'd say either/or is very impressive. I did research but was never asked to write. Grades are much more important than authoring research. Take the co and focus on school IMO.
 
Wait! You did research as a sophomore, no less in the summer, and you believe you are the "head" author?
 
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I spent my entire sophomore undergrad summer working on a research project but have still yet to finish :mad: and with the school year starting I have little time for research now. My professor might bring on another student depending on how much I can work. If I wanted to finish the project as head it would be very time demanding and I'm worried about my grades. I tried looking but couldn't find anything on how the dental schools would view being listed as co instead of head author. Of course head author is better but does it make that much of a difference to be head vs co?
Any input is appreciated!

In my opinion, there is a big difference. First authorship is reserved for someone who puts in the most effort/ time into the project. This person does most of the work and writing. While doing research as a grad student, it made a huge difference in applying for grants, recognition, post docs, and ultimately, a job. But, that is for my previous work as a PhD student. In my dental school interview, they asked a ton about my research. But I did it for over five years, and it is still not complete. I am actually short selling it due to dental school.

As for dental school, it will depend if the school is more research based. But, based on only two months on a project, that is not long at all. My grant proposal took me three months to write. Some of my data collecting took me a year. And here I am in my first year of dental school, I am still doing data analysis and a final write up.

But none-the- less, any authorship will be good for dental admissions. I would recommend trying to manage your time for that first authorship.

Do you know the process it takes to get something published? It will probably take a minimum of five months to get it approved for publication. First you have to find a publication that fits your paper, then you write it in that format, then your PI as to review it and approve it. Then it is sent to three or four reviewers in the field, (which you must find), And all reviewers must agree on your paper. Most of the time the reviewers will kick it back out for a revision. Once done, you have to get it approved by your PI again and resubmitted. If that suffices them, then it goes to the editor. And they may say to do more revisions. It is not uncommon for the process to take six to nine months to publish. Some even longer if they only publish the journal quarterly. I takes a lot of work and time, so you better get started.

hope this helps.
 
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While there is a very big difference, I'm not sure whether dental schools will care. I think what matters most to them is that you've had exposure to a research setting, less so that you've been published. I've been working in a lab full time for over two years now and am just now ready to submit a first author publication. I have several second and third author papers, but honestly didn't find a place to bring them up on the application-- maybe in an interview. They'll care more if you can talk intellegently about your project.

Basically it matters more that you pay attention to your GPA...a lot of schools won't write you off because of no research experience, but they may if your GPA is too low.
 
In my opinion, there is a big difference. First authorship is reserved for someone who puts in the most effort/ time into the project. This person does most of the work and writing. While doing research as a grad student, it made a huge difference in applying for grants, recognition, post docs, and ultimately, a job. But, that is for my previous work as a PhD student. In my dental school interview, they asked a ton about my research. But I did it for over five years, and it is still not complete. I am actually short selling it due to dental school.

As for dental school, it will depend if the school is more research based. But, based on only two months on a project, that is not long at all. My grant proposal took me three months to write. Some of my data collecting took me a year. And here I am in my first year of dental school, I am still doing data analysis and a final write up.

But none-the- less, any authorship will be good for dental admissions. I would recommend trying to manage your time for that first authorship.

Do you know the process it takes to get something published? It will probably take a minimum of five months to get it approved for publication. First you have to find a publication that fits your paper, then you write it in that format, then your PI as to review it and approve it. Then it is sent to three or four reviewers in the field, (which you must find), And all reviewers must agree on your paper. Most of the time the reviewers will kick it back out for a revision. Once done, you have to get it approved by your PI again and resubmitted. If that suffices them, then it goes to the editor. And they may say to do more revisions. It is not uncommon for the process to take six to nine months to publish. Some even longer if they only publish the journal quarterly. I takes a lot of work and time, so you better get started.

hope this helps.

I took a class on medical ethics and they talked about authorship for a period. I learned that in different places authorship means different things. At a famous research hospital that many of you know the name of, authorship there means submitting a patient that fit the criteria for the paper (takes a few hours at most) and most articles from that institution have 20 authors minimum. At other institutions, you actually have to write or contribute an idea. Other institutions, you have to come up with data. So when a person tells me they're getting authorship in 3 months, I'm skeptical, much less "head author". I would really make sure whatever is written is well done, because as much as I want to get published, the stain of a retracted paper is a black mark that you'll probably have to explain.

But to answer the question, most dental school committees are made up of a dean, a few dentists, maybe some students, and some dental researchers. The only people that may put importance on the research are the dean and the researchers. So it might improve your chances marginally with 1/3 of the committee. Better grades will help drastically with all of the members.
 
Wait! You did research as a sophomore, no less in the summer, and you believe you are the "head" author?

I was thinking exactly this.

I don't feel it's appropriate for me to be the "head" author, even after I did research for 2 years as a student and 1.5 years as a research assistant. I can definitely write one, but I highly doubt it that my PI would allow me to try to publish it. I don't think reviewers look at my B.S. degree very highly. "It's not credible enough" *sigh*

That being said, I think being listed as a co-author is great! especially if you are listed as the main co-author. Another option is that you can construct and present a poster and be the "head" author... :).
 
I was thinking exactly this.
I don't think reviewers look at my B.S. degree very highly. "It's not credible enough" *sigh*

wait what? you realize most phd students dont get a masters before doing a phd. so a phd student who only has a B.S. can't publish until after they graduate? what if the school has a publishing requirement for graduation?

if someone told you that, they may be trying to take advantage of you. if you came up that notion on your own, have more confidence and take initiative.
 
At your level, any publication is helpful regardless of position.
It is common practice to grant authorship to the person that drafted the manuscript. Sometimes, investigators grant authorship depending on the data the assistant retrieved. I am not very much acquainted with dental schools' admissions decisions, but, for medical school, having participated in an individual/personal project without publications impresses the committee just like having a publication in the ordinary lab setting.
 
wait what? you realize most phd students dont get a masters before doing a phd. so a phd student who only has a B.S. can't publish until after they graduate? what if the school has a publishing requirement for graduation?

if someone told you that, they may be trying to take advantage of you. if you came up that notion on your own, have more confidence and take initiative.

In spite of the difference in titles between me and a phD candidate, I guess you're right.. I never thought of that lol. But, I feel that that's the truth (at least for me). Especially because I'm working in a smaller lab. Unfortunately, the safest thing for my PI to do is to let the post docs be in charge.

But hey, thanks for the epiphany lol!
 
the vast, vast majority of applicants have zero publications. so anything you have will definitely stand out, and nobody will really nitpick between first author and other authors, unless if you are applying for DDS/PhD. btw you might want to look into those programs if you like doing research.
 
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