Pre-Publication

[peterockduke]

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I realize there was a question similar to this but....

I made a bio-organic dendrimer in my organix lab. I am simply characterizing the compound at different steps to ensure 99%+ purity. Since the compound is made... and obviously pure, I'm going to be done in 1 week with all tests. The paper involves 4 compounds among 2 grad students and me.


The paper will not be sent till ~October seeing that my grad student is only 1/2 way done with her 2 compounds. I have simply listed Dec 31, 2003 as the publication date since it will not let me put it back any further. I definitely want them to know that along with my paid fellowship, I was successful in my medical synthesis...


thoughts? (my gpa is poo or i'd apply for md/phd)

 

[lynnier79]

hi,

since im not familiar with organix publications, take this for what you will -- but i would NOT list a publication date with your paper. because after you make it, and after the other grad students make their components you still have to actually WRITE the paper, right? and then you have to send it to a peer review journal, right?

if that is not the case, then dont worry about the rest of my note... i may not understand the publication route in organic chem -- im a virologist!

anyway, what i would do is list the publication and write that it is "submitted" to the journal that you are submitting to. if you are so sure that its going to be published, then you might push it and write "in press" and the journal you are submitting to -- but i would not list a publication date... because first of all no journals have their table of contents laid out through december, and an admissions committe would know that (aka there is no way to know that you would have your work in a journal at dec 31st) so that really is not true.

thats just my $0.02, hope ti helps. if not, not.

lynnie

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by peterockduke
The paper will not be sent till ~October seeing that my grad student is only 1/2 way done with her 2 compounds.

Mark it as in preparation (or even lie and mark it as submitted). What Lynn said is absolutely correct. What also has not been mentioned is that the paper could come back for corrections. You may think the paper is solid, and maybe it is, but who knows, maybe it won't be accepted the first time. Sometimes papers get hung up for months in the review and resubmission process.

 

[canadagirl]

I admittedly don't know much about this, but wouldn't lying and saying it's been submitted be a big risk? What if they ask you about it at the interview? If it's submitted now, then in several months it should either be accepted or rejected, and if it's in neither of those states then you don't want to have to lie further...

The gist of all the posts in this forum seems to be: publications matter much less than meaningful participation in lab projects. You've got the meaningful participation, so be as honest as you can in describing it. JMO, of course.

 

[lynnier79]

i think putting that you "submitted" it is fine, as long as you have submitted it to a journal. i take back what i isaid about saying its "in press" that would not be true, and you would be lying if you said that, until you get a positive review.

neuronix is exactly right about the peer review process... it can and often does take a while, so its not worth putting a publication down as "published" or "in press" until you really know that it is one of those things.

getting caught in a lie, even if its a well intended one would be a bad thing for you. being very excited about work and a possible publication would be much better, i think.

 

[peterockduke]

Ok - so it is understood that the compound is made ... and all 9 stages of its development are characterized. It is one of the other graduate students who is being slow (or rather her reactions just take forever b/c of massive rxn times).


This is what I put on AMCAS's primary app.
It forces you to put a publication date of some sort so I put Dec.
For my description I wrote what I made, and then said that the paper is submitted (it will be submitted by the time I am interviewed). My lab only gets published in tier 1 and 2 polymer chemistry magazines. This project even had a small excerpt in Science... All of these compounds are being patented and they are in the middle stages of testing them in animals (and cough cough... cadaver bodyparts). The graduate student/head synthesis guy is part of a startup company to sell this stuff out to major biotech companies. This stuff is very legite, thats all I can really say....

I would like to add this as my crown jewel. I have worked in the lab for 3 years and received a paid fellowship, the publication is a final statement on my skill. And God no, I'd never want to lie.