A question on co-authorship

[Paramagnetic]

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Hello all,

My understanding of the publication process is that authorship is reserved for individuals who have either edited the paper itself, or made an intellectual contribution to the paper. In my current research I am RA'ing under a postdoc in a neuroscience lab. In the lab, I do a lot of grunt work and data analysis.

Over the course of this year, I will contribute ~500 hours of time to this lab and would like to shoot for co-authorship. I understand that grunt work isn't quite good enough to earn that. I'm willing to do some stuff independently out of the lab, but I feel its difficult to come up with something the post-doc I'm working with hasn't already considered.

What is a tactful way to ask him if/how I can qualify?

 

[kb1900]

"Hey do you know if past undergrads have gotten co authorship in this lab in years prior?"

Follow up from there with, "what did they do to get to that level of work/how did they contribute/what could I do"

 

[DokterMom]

Hello all,

My understanding of the publication process is that authorship is reserved for individuals who have either edited the paper itself, or made an intellectual contribution to the paper. In my current research I am RA'ing under a postdoc in a neuroscience lab. In the lab, I do a lot of grunt work and data analysis.

Over the course of this year, I will contribute ~500 hours of time to this lab and would like to shoot for co-authorship. I understand that grunt work isn't quite good enough to earn that. I'm willing to do some stuff independently out of the lab, but I feel its difficult to come up with something the post-doc I'm working with hasn't already considered.

What is a tactful way to ask him if/how I can qualify?

That's basically it -- Acknowledge that as a pre-med, co-authorship on a research project would be a significant achievement for you. Acknowledge also that you recognize that the 'grunt work' you currently do wouldn't entitle you to be mentioned. Then ask that your PI give some thought to what you might be able to do that could earn you that distinction. Ask him/her to think about it for a little while and note that you will check back in a few weeks to see if anything comes up. Try also to think of some contributions you can make yourself, and throw those out as possibilities -- they might trigger some ideas. Then DO check back with him/her in a few weeks. Your request (considering it includes an offer to do more free work) is perfectly reasonable --

 

[Paramagnetic]

Thanks for the advise @DokterMom and @kb1900 , I was looking for a way to broach the topic appropriately and what you guys said sounds perfect.

 

[Verity]

You've got it so right. I've learned that before you start any research project, especially one where you will invest significant time, it is crucial to establish expectations... including: what you want from the project, what the PI expects from you, what the outcome of the project will ideally be, and how you will fit into that outcome. You avoid (almost) all of the nasty stuff that way. Just be candid and unassuming. It may be that they wouldn't include you, in which case you'd have to decide if the lab was truly the right fit for you.

 

[aldol16]

My understanding of the publication process is that authorship is reserved for individuals who have either edited the paper itself, or made an intellectual contribution to the paper. In my current research I am RA'ing under a postdoc in a neuroscience lab. In the lab, I do a lot of grunt work and data analysis.

Authorship doesn't usually apply to individuals who edit the paper itself who haven't actually contributed to the intellectual design or execution of the project. Usually, they get mentioned in the Acknowledgments for aid in editing the paper.

As for your case, you are correct that in principle, undergraduates should not be listed as authors if they only do data processing/grunt work because they do not contribute to the intellectual design of the project. This is especially true if you came on at a late stage of the project after which most of the project itself had already been completed. However, in practice, we usually do give some authorship privileges to undergraduates who are in the project from an early stage and do much of the grunt work/data processing because they did have a substantial role in the project itself, although not in design. When we do this, we also tend to note in the Acknowledgments section the exact contribution of each author.