Including Another Author on a Paper

boarddotie

Hi all,

I am in a little conundrum at the moment and just need a bit of advice or guidance as my supervisor has let the decision up to me.

I have been doing my PhD research for the last 3 years and this Summer I did an internship in the States with one of the leaders in my area of reserach. During my time there he took a look at my first paper that I was writing and as well as giving me lots and lots of feedback he told me I could send it back to him and he would do some work on it, tidy it up and get it ready for publication. I assume that this would mean he would want his name on the article as he would be giving a 'significant' imput. Since he is a leader in my area and the journal I have to get into is non-blinded Id say it would be 100% guaranteed to get in to THE journal in my area.

But I really dont know do I want his name on this article at such an early stage of my career. Firstly, all this data was painstakingly gathered over 2 years by me and that had nothing to do with him. And secondly, I dont want people reading the article and basicially only seeing his name. I am my own person!! Also they might just say 'ah, just another article from Dr Xs reserach group'...and not care about me and my institution.

Obviously I will be delighted to have his name on the collaborative work I did with him during my internship but this is different. This is all my own work (and supervisor) and I dont want to underestimate or downplay me or my supervisor or undermine or abilities.

Has anyone else had somehting similar? Should I just do for it with him onboard as after all, publications are publications...

graduate

People in the academic community are perfectly aware of situations where a young researchers does the work and an elder guru also gets his name on the paper. I'd say a joint paper in a top journal is better than than a single author paper in middle range journal. Most people would assume that the OP did the heavy lifting on such a paper and the OP should say so in any job applications etc.

damnyanks

It's pretty common practice for a much more senior researcher to end up on the paper and they've merely proof read it. Unless its a major project (The type that gets funding alone) then ti should be obvious that you did the work.

jelly&icecream

I think most people will credit the first author as being the one who did all the work. To be honest if putting his name on the paper will help you get it into the best journal then why not!

daragh8008

I have read alot of papers with an acknowledgement section. If word count isn't an issue for the paper then you could include it. Something along the lines of.. The author wishes the acknowledge input and the helpful discussions with Prof X Y and Z. When you are all finished up and looking for a job maybe this person will take you on? In that case I would try and get on their best side and put them as a co author!

harsea8

I'm not sure which field you work in, but it would be worth checking whether the journal you are aiming for has any guidelines on "authorship". For example, I work in the pharma industry and we publish a lot in medical journals and, thus, have to strictly comply with the ICMJE guidelines. These are quite clear that an "author" has to have been involved in the conception/design of the study and the analysis/interpretation of the data; ie, critical review of the article is not sufficient to merit authorship......I guess if you can find a journal that has some authorship restrictions you could use this as an excuse to simply put this guy in the acknowledgements (as suggested above)