Is it okay to be straightforward?

[kurite]

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Hello,
i was offered a research position for this summer and the details of what I might be able to accomplish during this time is a bit sparse. Is it okay to be straightforward and say I am interested in getting my name on papers, will there be an opportunity to do so? I would do it in a less aggressive way but could that potentially make me lose the position?
Thank you

 

[kurite]

Anybody have any input?

 

[Law2Doc]

Hello,
i was offered a research position for this summer and the details of what I might be able to accomplish during this time is a bit sparse. Is it okay to be straightforward and say I am interested in getting my name on papers, will there be an opportunity to do so? I would do it in a less aggressive way but could that potentially make me lose the position?
Thank you

Yes you can ask that but bear in mind there are no guarantees in research, and just because your PI is conceptually on board with getting your work published, that doesn't mean you'll have something publication worthy at the end (let alone "papers" plural). Additionally there are rules about how much input someone has to have to be listed as an "author", and journals have pushed for fewer authors being lusted, so if there are a bunch of people on a project and your component isn't very substantial, you might get bumped out. Finally, if your project gets finished after you leave it's extremely common for people to "forget" you were involved at all, and your author spot might go to the guy who jumped into your role later. So yes, you can ask, and probably should make your goals clear, but in the end nothing still may come of it. A lot of it is luck.