First authorship on research papers?

[tarsuc]

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I've found this new faculty assistant proff, who is pretty amazing. Started publishing first author within months of joining the department.

Am planning to ask him for help/advice regarding a few ideas for research that I have, or and also for his ideas that I could work on.

Just wondering how do I make sure I don't lose out on a first authorship on papers that I actively work for, and am prepared to write up for publication myself?

I'm unaware of how such matters work. Could you please advise?

 

[evasive fish]

Are you planning to work with him (e.g. in his lab)? What you're planning on doing about asking him for guidance in research ideas is always a good thing to do. You can ask him if you could work on your research ideas or on a project he may give you in his lab, provided that your interests are within the same area that he investigates, or at least overlap.

Regarding first author publications, if you're going to work with him, you can talk about ownership of your project and if there will be a possibility of first authorship in case the project makes good progress and you get meaningful results.

 

[liz10]

I've found this new faculty assistant proff, who is pretty amazing. Started publishing first author within months of joining the department.

Am planning to ask him for help/advice regarding a few ideas for research that I have, or and also for his ideas that I could work on.

Just wondering how do I make sure I don't lose out on a first authorship on papers that I actively work for, and am prepared to write up for publication myself?

I'm unaware of how such matters work. Could you please advise?

Who are you referring to that started publishing as the first author within months of joining the department? It sounds to me that you're still talking about the new faculty assistant professor? If so, I imagine they are still working on getting first author publications themselves. It might be hard for you to get a first authorship if they are trying to build their careers. Generally, seasoned investigators will want to be last authors. If that is the case, then he would be more prone to offer the first authorship and most of the work to someone else.

I would also say though, if you have never worked in research or data cleaning and analysis before, be sure you are asking if you can work with him period. It's great that you are enthusiastic but I have found it is hard to break someone in for these kinds of things. It's a long and tedious process, especially if it is clinical data. Also, if you start talking about what questions he might have for you to work on, it would be more beneficial for you if you are willing to do anything to just be on the paper rather than trying to bargain for a first authorship on your first meeting, esp. since it seems like he doesn't need additional help in order to publish.

Hope that helps!

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