question about authorship

[sunset823]

---

Members don't see this ad.

This has probably been covered before, so I apologize for that. I did a year of research before starting med school, and there is a project that I basically initiated with the PI, made the questionnaire, did the initial distribution, etc. Another RA took over for me when I left for school. Now a draft has been made and I'm not really sure what 'position' I would take. The PI is definitely first author, but what determines second authorship? Is it initiating the study, or is it doing the writing? If it is the latter, I didn't participate in the writing process (though I was definitely willing to), so the other RA (who isn't pre-med, and I'm in no competition with) deserves that spot. But if it is conceptualizing or initiating the study, I felt that I did more there.

In the end I know authorship doesn't matter that much, but I do know second authorship will matter more than lesser authors. I really want a research career, so I just want to line up my cards right (I'll have 2-3 peer reviewed pubs, none first author, and a couple of more abstracts by the time I apply to residencies). I'm not interested in uber-competitive specialties (anesthesia, EM, or an IM subspecialty, either critical care or ID), but do want to match in a solid, hopefully top, academic program (of course depending on my boards, M3, etc.)

 

[Doctor Bob]

This has probably been covered before, so I apologize for that. I did a year of research before starting med school, and there is a project that I basically initiated with the PI, made the questionnaire, did the initial distribution, etc. Another RA took over for me when I left for school. Now a draft has been made and I'm not really sure what 'position' I would take. The PI is definitely first author, but what determines second authorship? Is it initiating the study, or is it doing the writing? If it is the latter, I didn't participate in the writing process (though I was definitely willing to), so the other RA (who isn't pre-med, and I'm in no competition with) deserves that spot. But if it is conceptualizing or initiating the study, I felt that I did more there.

In the end I know authorship doesn't matter that much, but I do know second authorship will matter more than lesser authors. I really want a research career, so I just want to line up my cards right (I'll have 2-3 peer reviewed pubs, none first author, and a couple of more abstracts by the time I apply to residencies). I'm not interested in uber-competitive specialties (anesthesia, EM, or an IM subspecialty, either critical care or ID), but do want to match in a solid, hopefully top, academic program (of course depending on my boards, M3, etc.)

There's no rule on this. The order is determined by the consensus of the research team (or at the direction of the PI if that's how they do things). Beyond that there's no real standardization.

What makes the point somewhat irrelevant is that this is a pre-med research project and while it's useful for showing a history of research, the projects that will matter most come interview time, will be those that you do during medical school. So 2nd author vs 3rd author on this paper doesn't matter a whole lot.

 

[Doc013]

In my experience the senior author/PI designates order of authorship.