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Publication question


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Hey guys, I have a question about getting a publication, but I guess I'll give some background as it may help somewhat?

 After my first year of university I applied to a research assistant position at my university. I didn't really expect to get it since like fourth years and whatnot applied with tons more experience. This lab receives about 500 applications, 10 get interviews, and 3 get chosen. So somehow, I was chose, but I love this position and the professor really likes me, like we talk like we're best friends. 

His lab is really well known because he is a really really great professor and his work is outstanding (he has so many pubs, in fact one of his grad students has nearly 20 pubs which is amazing to me).

Now, I've been in this lab a while and have been doing work. I was wondering if it would be too rude to ask him to work on a project with him as I really want to get a publication for myself as I feel it'd be a great experience and really help put my name down as a scientist. Any suggestions on how to approach this or how to get a pub?

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Best thing to do is just talk to him. I was straight up with my prof about what I wanted out of this position and he took it honestly, told me he appreciated me being open. He gave me my own project that I've been working on independently. However, I don't think my work will turn into a pub even though I mentioned to him that was my goal. It's veeeeery difficult to get something pub worthy if you're looking to publish in a higher impact journal. Most professors, especially yours since you mentioned he puts out great work, will not publish their name in lower journals because the science community is all about reputation. Best bet is to ask to work directly under a PhD student on a sub-project with them.

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Consider that for the MS/PHD/Postdocs which are publishing that is essentially their full time job. It takes multiple years of full time research work to achieve a first/second author.    You would not be able to contributed to the level required as an undergrad to be able to publish your own original research work.  The person in the lab you reference with 20 publications must be a long-time postdoc or a specialized lab-tech.

If you are lucky, you may be able to join into an existing activity with one of the PhDs/Postdocs and be noted as a 4-7 author.  You would need to contribute to the actual  research in a significant manner.   As SLC6A4 says - talk to the PI and postdocs about how you could contribute.

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12 hours ago, SLC6A4 said:

Best thing to do is just talk to him. I was straight up with my prof about what I wanted out of this position and he took it honestly, told me he appreciated me being open. He gave me my own project that I've been working on independently. However, I don't think my work will turn into a pub even though I mentioned to him that was my goal. It's veeeeery difficult to get something pub worthy if you're looking to publish in a higher impact journal. Most professors, especially yours since you mentioned he puts out great work, will not publish their name in lower journals because the science community is all about reputation. Best bet is to ask to work directly under a PhD student on a sub-project with them.

Yeah I guess I'll ask for the PhD student because all the students in the lab are graduate students so it probably wouldn't be fair to let an undergrad join in. I'll ask for a sub-project though thanks!

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24 minutes ago, Meridian said:

Consider that for the MS/PHD/Postdocs which are publishing that is essentially their full time job. It takes multiple years of full time research work to achieve a first/second author.    You would not be able to contributed to the level required as an undergrad to be able to publish your own original research work.  The person in the lab you reference with 20 publications must be a long-time postdoc or a specialized lab-tech.

If you are lucky, you may be able to join into an existing activity with one of the PhDs/Postdocs and be noted as a 4-7 author.  You would need to contribute to the actual  research in a significant manner.   As SLC6A4 says - talk to the PI and postdocs about how you could contribute.

Yeah I'm gonna try my best to join in to the research as much as I can because I do understand how difficult it is to get a publication. Thanks :)

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/2/2017 at 11:43 AM, Meridian said:

Consider that for the MS/PHD/Postdocs which are publishing that is essentially their full time job. It takes multiple years of full time research work to achieve a first/second author.    You would not be able to contributed to the level required as an undergrad to be able to publish your own original research work.  The person in the lab you reference with 20 publications must be a long-time postdoc or a specialized lab-tech.

If you are lucky, you may be able to join into an existing activity with one of the PhDs/Postdocs and be noted as a 4-7 author.  You would need to contribute to the actual  research in a significant manner.   As SLC6A4 says - talk to the PI and postdocs about how you could contribute.

I have to respectfully disagree with this post. I think getting a first author publication takes 1-2 years realistically. However, lower authorship doesn't need to take so long. I had my first lower level publication about 12 months in. I have had students (including a high school student) getting authorship after working hard for a summer. The key is an intellectual contribution to the project. 

Also, 20 publications is not that much. I finished my PhD with 18 (14 first author including 2 reviews) and I'm not some superstar- I just have a lot ideas and I like writing. I know someone who finished the her PhD with, I think, 35. Large lab and lots of "effect of a on x", "effect of b on x" etc. type publication style which I'm not a big fan of, but nonetheless, she got a Banting fellowship. 

For the OP, if you want on a paper, discuss project ideas and experimental design with a post doc. Ask if you can do some experiments and analyze data. Know what you're talking about so that you can discuss the data. Offer to write the introduction or methods. You can always talk to the PI but day-to-day, work with a post doc in the lab. 

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