Screwed Over in Research - Advice

[deleted774703]

Advice please:

Was working on a research project with an attending and resident from an outside institution.

During this time, he recruited an additional attending to be a coauthor. He then explicitly mentioned a second project that all 4 of us would work on together.

The other resident said he would take the lead on the additional project.

I took the lead on our initial project and it was published.

Over the next several months I emailed the other 3 coauthors to see how I could help on new project as well as asking for updates.

No response at all despite multiple emails. Then the other resident said “oh I’m behind but will keep you posted”.

Just recently, emailed the other resident again and he said "thanks for checking in, will send a copy of the manuscript in a few weeks"

I was browsing through ASTRO abstracts, and the other 3 coauthors are presenting results from the new project. Of course, I am absent on this.

Not exactly sure how to feel or respond. I’m very annoyed at how unprofessional these colleagues have been. If they didn’t want me to be a part of this project, they could have told me from the start.

Thoughts?

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[deleted956486]

You're young. You've been eaten. Welcome to radiation oncology.

 

[evilbooyaa]

I mean... yeah it's a dick move to kinda ghost you but you're a resident and they didn't have you do any of the work for it, and the one you worked on got published (I imagine with you as first author?).

I wouldn't really worry about it. Yeah you're annoyed and that's OK, but a resident from another institution with attendings (from the other institution) may not feel the same level of obligation to a resident who is not in their institution. Learn your lesson, don't do research with those 3 people again, and move on with your life would be my recommendation.

If you're a resident and not first author on something (or second author with a medical student being first author) then nobody really cares anyways. Frequently for people who do research, there are 'fluff' authors that have contributed essentially zero to the project, but are added to the list at time of manuscript eval, potentially to give the paper some additional credence. However, these people are always attendings who have some amount of 'name recognition' that would improve the outlook on what is, most commonly, a very crap paper.

I'm guilty of it too so not throwing stones, but it is what it is, but not all collaborations are given the same reciprocity that you may expect.

 

[bluebubbles]

You worked on a project and it was published with you as an author. You didn't work on another project and it was published without you as an author. Am I missing something?

This doesn't sound malicious at all. The others were likely busy and just forgot since they don't see you every day. Both the interaction and the stakes are very minor, especially at your stage of training, and I wouldn't be upset by it.

 

[WVXRT]

I have been left out of papers I have done work for. Your situation sounds like they just pushed you out and ghosted you. Unprofessional yeah and dick move but just never work with them again and just move on. Don’t forget about it though.

 

[deleted941485]

Advice please:

Was working on a research project with an attending and resident from an outside institution.

During this time, he recruited an additional attending to be a coauthor. He then explicitly mentioned a second project that all 4 of us would work on together.

The other resident said he would take the lead on the additional project.

I took the lead on our initial project and it was published.

Over the next several months I emailed the other 3 coauthors to see how I could help on new project as well as asking for updates.

No response at all despite multiple emails. Then the other resident said “oh I’m behind but will keep you posted”.

Just recently, emailed the other resident again and he said "thanks for checking in, will send a copy of the manuscript in a few weeks"

I was browsing through ASTRO abstracts, and the other 3 coauthors are presenting results from the new project. Of course, I am absent on this.

Not exactly sure how to feel or respond. I’m very annoyed at how unprofessional these colleagues have been. If they didn’t want me to be a part of this project, they could have told me from the start.

Thoughts?

Gonna pile on here. Happened to me as well as a student and I pushed on and matched anyway.

Seriously its a blessing in disguise. You like Onc? Great! The opportunities are an order of magnitude greater elsewhere. Sure you might get screwed again but that’s a risk everyone takes.

 

[deleted774703]

You worked on a project and it was published with you as an author. You didn't work on another project and it was published without you as an author. Am I missing something?

This doesn't sound malicious at all. The others were likely busy and just forgot since they don't see you every day. Both the interaction and the stakes are very minor, especially at your stage of training, and I wouldn't be upset by it.

We worked on initial project. The senior author clearly stated he wants all of us included on subsequent project.

I emailed multiple times to see how I could contribute to the new project. I was told we will keep you updated and happy to have you on board multiple times alternating between cycles of no contact.

Then all of a sudden it’s being presented.

I don’t mind the part of being excluded, just don’t understand the need for the ppl lying to me. They could have just said from beginning that this project doesn’t require my assistance.

 

[deleted774703]

Hi all. Thanks for the responses. I appreciate it. I’m going to take the advice and let it go. There is no good coming from confronting them.

Glad for the support from SDN!

 

[wandering star]

I think you're probably reading the situation correctly. However, in the spirit of assuming the best of others, I'll chime in with one other possibility:

Everyone is being friendly and "open," the other resident is doing what they're told and taking ample ownership and leadership of the project. They actually still are open to including you in the project.

As of several months ago when it was time to submit to ASTRO they put together their preliminary data and lo and behold, at that point you hadn't contributed to anything they had written, so they didn't include you in the author list. You can argue both the pro and con for this decision, but maybe they felt that authorship norms are such that you only become an author if you've *already* contributed to what's been written, as opposed to having the intention to contribute in the future.

Now after they present at ASTRO, let's say they might continue and proceed to write up a journal paper. If that's the case, and you *do* help out between now and then, you might still be included.

All that to say, if they do come to you in three weeks' time and ask you for help, I would suggest you say "sure thing, and just to check, will you list me as a co-author?" instead of "no way, you screwed me, I'm never working with you again."

 

[Palex80]

Steal their results, publish them before they do!