Advice Please.Case study and being listed as an author

[SamuMedic]

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Hello all,

I have a breif question regarding authorship on case resport. I am M1, and my research conductor gave me a case study that she just left it out there for a year to edit and polish for publication on a journal. She said she would list me as the third author. So, I read this article on how to write a case report. The report suggests that anyone who has not contributed to designing/conducting the study should not be listed as the author. People who just reviewed/edited the report should be under "acknowledgement" section. In fact, this report was pretty much done when my researcher gave it to me. I just had to move around few paragraphs, add in few details, and other very trivial editing stuff.

So, here is my dilemma. I feel bad for being listed as one of the authors. I haven't done anything significant for this case study. Plus, there are already 5MDs listed as authors, so I don't feel comfortable listing my name to already oversized authorship. So, I am wondering whether I should tell my researcher that I really appreciate her chance to list me as an author, but I just want to be acknowledged since I haven't contributed much. BUT, other side of me is whispering in evil voices that I should not feel guilty about it. And honestly, adding a line for CV just sounds too tempting.

So, what should I do?

 

[ACSurgeon]

Hello all,

I have a breif question regarding authorship on case resport. I am M1, and my research conductor gave me a case study that she just left it out there for a year to edit and polish for publication on a journal. She said she would list me as the third author. So, I read this article on how to write a case report. The report suggests that anyone who has not contributed to designing/conducting the study should not be listed as the author. People who just reviewed/edited the report should be under "acknowledgement" section. In fact, this report was pretty much done when my researcher gave it to me. I just had to move around few paragraphs, add in few details, and other very trivial editing stuff.

So, here is my dilemma. I feel bad for being listed as one of the authors. I haven't done anything significant for this case study. Plus, there are already 5MDs listed as authors, so I don't feel comfortable listing my name to already oversized authorship. So, I am wondering whether I should tell my researcher that I really appreciate her chance to list me as an author, but I just want to be acknowledged since I haven't contributed much. BUT, other side of me is whispering in evil voices that I should not feel guilty about it. And honestly, adding a line for CV just sounds too tempting.

So, what should I do?

Honestly, if your preceptor truly thinks you deserve to be listed as author. I'd take it and be thankful. If you're asked during a residency interview, just say that you helped write the paper. My sense is that if this preceptor realizes how much you did, she might retract her offer. Hope that helps.

 

[PremedIowa]

Authorship is not set in stone. Although the journals say that, I bet every other author on that paper is doing the same thing you are (or even less). If you contributed to a paper, you should feel comfortable being listed as an author. Take the compliment and ask for your own project for the next one.

Plus, 6 people is not an oversized author list. 20 people is.

 

[Rollo]

If I were you, I would tell the researcher about my understanding of who should be listed under authorship versus who should be listed under acknowledgments. Now, I'm willing to finish editing it and return it on time. However, the question of if I should be included as an author will be up to the researcher and if they include me as an author, I would be very grateful. If not, then I am ok with that decision too.

I think your honesty will make an impression on the researcher and whether or not you get included as an author in the end, the researcher will admire your honesty. Perhaps the researcher will give you more projects where you will have more involvement.

I am of the mentality that being honest and telling the truth is more important than adding one line to your resume which probably will not have much of an impact in residency interviews. Probably because the interviewers will ask you about the research, you will give some summarized/vague response, and they will know instantly how much involvement you had in the research....all of this translates to letting the interviewers know that you contributed really nothing. Which brings me back to my point that adding this one line in your resume won't have much impact during residency interviews.

 

[QofQuimica]

I would point out that a simple case report is not research. There's no hypothesis, methods, or anything else resembling an experimental study whatsoever. Basically you're doing a bit of lit review and telling an interesting story about a patient who was seen by your team, and who you think other physicians would like to read about. Therefore, it is meaningless in this case to argue that only those who have contributed to the design or conducting of the research should be included as authors, because nothing was designed, and nothing was conducted. By those standards, you'd have no authors at all. 😛

In general, authorship should go to those who made a significant contribution to the work in question. For a case report, if you helped with the lit search, and you helped with writing the manuscript, then it seems reasonable to list you as an author.