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- Apr 2, 2011
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So last summer I participated in a research internship at a well-respected institution. Basically, I'm damn glad this is now on my resume. I enjoyed the internship, although felt like I could have learned a lot more and didn't own up to my own potential.
Well, a couple months ago I found out I am being coauthored for the paper that is in preparation. I was kind of shocked, to be frank. Personally, I do not feel as though I contributed enough to be a coauthor. But hey, it's the PI's choice and yay for me and my career goals, right? (I'm planning MD/PhD)
I guess my question is: if I go to an interview, and they ask about this authorship and what my research experience was like, what I contributed, I can perfectly explain what my role was that summer and what we were investigating. I actually really enjoyed the research, and occasionally search through PubMed on the topic, glancing through titles just to get an idea of what's coming out in the field. When I have a chance I'll download some of the papers and read or sift through them. But how bad would it be for instance, if I was coauthored, then explained my role, and they felt it wasn't enough for authorship or they are surprised that the PI put me as coauthor? Would it be more detrimental than favorable for me to have that coauthorship? Maybe I'm just being paranoid or have low confidence in what I did that summer. I really won't know until the paper basically comes out as far as how much I exactly contributed; I live across the country, and doubt my PI needs my participation in the writing of the manuscript. I did email the PI a couple weeks ago because I wanted to inquire about it and ask if I could put it on my resume, and it ended up being okay. The PI gave me the authors, and I am second to last (right before the PI). The PI said that I'd get an update later on once they are ready to send it off for review.
Does what I'm saying make any sense at all as to what my concern is? For instance, let's act out a scenario:
ADCOM: So I see you have an authorship from this research experience. Why don't you explain how you ended up with this internship and what your role was in the paper.
ME: Sure, well we were investigating blah blah blah and in that summer I learned various assays and experimentally did blah blah blah. [continue talking about what I got out of it, what I think about the research and field, blah blah]
ADCOM: Okay, so that's all you did to contribute to this paper?
ME: Yes.
ADCOM: Okay then...
So basically, is the blame going to be put on me that potentially, I was put as coauthor but did not contribute as much as the interviewer might think is necessary? Because who in their right minds will deny an authorship, am I right? Obviously if I felt like the research/study was completely wrong I might ask to remove my name, but I actually think the research was pretty awesome and the findings were pretty cool.
Thoughts?
Well, a couple months ago I found out I am being coauthored for the paper that is in preparation. I was kind of shocked, to be frank. Personally, I do not feel as though I contributed enough to be a coauthor. But hey, it's the PI's choice and yay for me and my career goals, right? (I'm planning MD/PhD)
I guess my question is: if I go to an interview, and they ask about this authorship and what my research experience was like, what I contributed, I can perfectly explain what my role was that summer and what we were investigating. I actually really enjoyed the research, and occasionally search through PubMed on the topic, glancing through titles just to get an idea of what's coming out in the field. When I have a chance I'll download some of the papers and read or sift through them. But how bad would it be for instance, if I was coauthored, then explained my role, and they felt it wasn't enough for authorship or they are surprised that the PI put me as coauthor? Would it be more detrimental than favorable for me to have that coauthorship? Maybe I'm just being paranoid or have low confidence in what I did that summer. I really won't know until the paper basically comes out as far as how much I exactly contributed; I live across the country, and doubt my PI needs my participation in the writing of the manuscript. I did email the PI a couple weeks ago because I wanted to inquire about it and ask if I could put it on my resume, and it ended up being okay. The PI gave me the authors, and I am second to last (right before the PI). The PI said that I'd get an update later on once they are ready to send it off for review.
Does what I'm saying make any sense at all as to what my concern is? For instance, let's act out a scenario:
ADCOM: So I see you have an authorship from this research experience. Why don't you explain how you ended up with this internship and what your role was in the paper.
ME: Sure, well we were investigating blah blah blah and in that summer I learned various assays and experimentally did blah blah blah. [continue talking about what I got out of it, what I think about the research and field, blah blah]
ADCOM: Okay, so that's all you did to contribute to this paper?
ME: Yes.
ADCOM: Okay then...
So basically, is the blame going to be put on me that potentially, I was put as coauthor but did not contribute as much as the interviewer might think is necessary? Because who in their right minds will deny an authorship, am I right? Obviously if I felt like the research/study was completely wrong I might ask to remove my name, but I actually think the research was pretty awesome and the findings were pretty cool.
Thoughts?
