My thesis will not be publishable. Should I look to help in other labs?

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DevelopmentaIsh97

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Hi there,

So I work in a developmental psychology research lab and have been since January. I really enjoy the work I'm doing there. I'm completing a proposed project this summer and writing a thesis come this fall. However, none of this will be able to be published because we have such a small sample size (n=19). The project I'm working on is actually a five-year long study and it's only in year two. I'm not going to wait that long to apply to programs. I really want to have at least one publication prior to applying to graduate school. I'm wondering if I should apply to complete a directed study at another lab this fall and be very honest about my hopes to be authored on a paper. Or should I speak with my PI and see if there are any other opportunities to become published within my lab? I'm not exactly sure what it takes to get authored on a paper...I keep hearing different things regarding the extent one needs to be involved.

Advice please! I want to apply to clinical psych programs.

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Talk to current PI. Most of us have more data than we know what to do with so it is very unlikely your current project is the only option for publishing.

Depending on what you have and what you are getting, I also wouldn't discount the possibility of publishing exclusively because of the sample size. Depends on the nature of the work, there may be carve-outs even with a small sample. Obviously up to the PI though and it certainly doesn't make sense to publish anything that would be done again in a full sample later. This more applies if there was some initial "feasibility" testing that was done or the study is complex enough it makes sense to publish the protocol or some other development work.

Either way, I wouldn't move just because of this issue. What you want is someone with: A) Reasonably related interests; and B) Who you have convinced you do excellent work and is supportive enough they want to help you get something published.

Data is not a limiting factor for the vast majority of us. I have oodles of data I'll probably never get to and I'm still quite junior.
 
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Agree with Ollie here (per usual...hi Ollie!). I too have SO MUCH DATA that I'll likely never get around to writing up, my backlog is ridiculous. That said, it is a lot of work to guide someone though their first publication. It's more work than just writing it up myself, in fact. That doesn't mean I wouldn't appreciate the help (though again, it's often actually not as much "help" as "different kind of work"), but there are a lot of differences amongst labs in the amount of data a person has, the time they are willing to commit to an undergrad on a publishing project, the amount and type of work expected for authorship credit, etc. You definitely need to talk to your PI here. You're likely getting different answers because there are a lot of different PIs!

I'd also like to note that very VERY few of applicants to clinical programs (mine, at least) have a publication prior to applying. I track this for my applicants, and it's just not many, so not having a publication isn't a kiss of death or anything. I recommend presenting your thesis at a conference this fall, as even conference publications set apart the top applicants from the ones who simply aren't competitive (note: honors theses are also good).
 
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