Paper Authorship (2nd author)

[Creditwhereitsdue]

Just so you know I'm coming from the perspective of a newly-tenured associate who co-authored a number of papers with grad students while I was an assistant professor. In my opinion you indeed deserve to be a co-author. As an assistant professor I had the opportunity to work with several excellent RA who helped with data analysis. My standard deal with them was that writing a draft of the methods/results section was worthy of co-authorship.

I agree with others who have suggested that you graciously approach the professor and ask that since your role on the paper has expanded beyond the initial parameters set forth in your agreement that your recognition be similarly expanded to include you as a second author.

The tricky part will come if he/she is reluctant. How far you should push is difficult to advise. At that point I would seek out the advice from a senior advisor in your department.

In my opinion it is intellectually dishonest and unethical for you not to be included as a co-author.

[wowsorry]

wow, Hakuna Matata. That sucks. Sorry it turned out that way. Things must really vary by program. Around here, no one would ever dream of saying that you don't get credit because you got paid. That's ridiculous! I really don't see how that is an argument. A person either wrote part of something or they didn't.

Good luck finding other routes to publication. I hope you at least get one of those shitty little "with thanks to" lines in the footnotes.

[top100program]

Isn't the professor in the original post also being paid to write? That doesn't seem to negate their authorship...

[Associate]

OP, I am really sorry to hear about this bad news.

I strongly recommend talking to the ombudsperson. The ombudsperson will give you advice and lay out your options (including no action).

The assist prof has basically stated that he/she will plagiarize your work, but probably does not recognize it as such. It appears that he/she thinks you are a ghostwriter and that somehow makes it ok. aaaa highlights the relevant sections in ASA's code of ethics. Your home institution certainly has rules in its operations manual.

For what it is worth, I know two tenured professors who were in similar situations. They did not make an issue out of it in grad school (for a second authorship, which is not worth that much) and got excellent support from the professor in question.

In my opinion, this Assist Prof is running a dangerous game. He or she is risking his/her career for what? A sole-authored pub versus a first-authored pub? The irony is that many departments and external reviewers for tenure would look favorably at an Assist Prof who is willing to mentor a student by including them as an author on a project.

[styles]

To the original poster - Hakuna Matata

Sorry to hear about your experience. Getting paid as an RA should not preclude one from being an author on the paper….period. As we all know (or will learn) papers rarely unfold as planned….this includes the contribution of each person involved. For any professor not to understand and adjust for this is naïve, at best.

I personally anticipate and expect my RAs to be on the paper….as long as they contribute to what I am asking them to do. Naturally if this is locating some articles or doing some basic coding (qualitative or quantitative) then this doesn’t constitute authorship….but I try to get them more involved so they do warrant authorship. As one poster said, part of getting tenure is showing that you are working with and mentoring graduate students.

Unfortunately none of this helps you. My first piece of advice would have been to politely go to this prof and explain the situation, which it sounds like you already did. Again, sorry this didn’t work out. So my second piece of advice is to chalk this up as a lessoned learned and something to avoid doing if/when you are a professor….and stay clear of working with this person in the future. Although I never advise people to go around talking down on colleagues/profs, if a fellow student asks about your experience with this person feel free to tell them your experience. Eventually this will all catch up to this person one way or the other.

[yep]

OP, I'm so sorry about this outcome, and I hope you asked in a low key fashion. Like I said, I definitely think you should have been a coauthor, but I can see how the professor was thinking this, even if all of us find it unethical.

Because of the power dynamics involved, I wouldn't advise you to make a big fuss about it, because you aren't in a position of power to get this person sanctioned. At least you know you are in the right, and you know that you can do the writing needed to have a publishable paper. Also, I think this is good information for you- if you were thinking of keeping this professor as your dissertation advisor, then you still have the time to switch to someone new. You definitely do not want to stay linked to this person who might be taking advantage of you and not giving you appropriate credit. Run now! While you have time!

[Thatassistantisapunk]

OP
Sorry to hear that the assistant professor whose work you contributed to is acting like a giant @ss-hat. The fact that you were paid is irrelevant. You were paid to conduct analysis, not to write. The moment they asked you to write text you became a co-author. The fact that he/she then suggested you work for free is even more insulting. While there is nothing especially wrong for working for free on a project which has no financial support, (I would acutally encourage students to do this if it is a topic they are greatly interested in) however that becomes much more of a collaborative enterprise.

I have not and would not ever behave in such a manner with grads students whom I mentor.

That junior faculty is exploiting you plain and simple and that is uber douche-tastic.
Unfortunately, there is not a lot you can do since you are in a vulnerable position. Going over their head to an ombudsman or a senior faculty member is likely to engender animosity which in job markets like these you can ill-afford. I'm sure word will get out about it and no other students will be willing to work with them again.

[cipro]

I disagree with the view that there isn't anything to do.

The assistant professor is not only taking advantage of you, but acting against all ethical guidelines of our profession. I sincerely doubt that a senior faculty member of your department would condone this. If there is a senior member you trust or the director of graduate studies, you might go to talk to them for "advice", framed not as complaining but problem solving. A good senior would then have to say something to the junior whether you asked them to or not.

This is an opportunity for mentorship of the assistant professor. It sounds like they don't know how to work with RAs and should have this made clear to them. After all, you wouldn't want someone to have tenure that thinks this is okay.

[associate]

If OP wants to pursue this further, then I suggest the ombudsperson over someone in the dept. The latter is high stakes, a potential career-ending qction for the AP. The AP could be subject to discipline by the provost or lose support in the tenure process. The former can mediate and explain to the AP his or her ethical obligations and clear up misunderstandings.