I was in a conflict at work and even though I still feel with every bone in my body that I deserved to be first author for an article I worked on, on the advice of my supervisor, I ended up saying: fine for the alphabetical order, but I don't agree.
I feel like *****. I feel like I betrayed myself. I feel like I have been robbed. I can't stop crying. Right now I hate academia for its politics.
I'm wondering if it would be kosher to call my thesis supervisor to ask her how to deal with these emotions.
I didn't address this issue before because I am an EXTREMELY assertive woman. Not in relationships, but in every other area of my life. I have run creative businesses ( theater groups, musicians,)Worked with Juvenile deliquent teens, and managed properties and dealt with tenants. I have learned how to CRACK that whip and take no prisoners !
I know you acedemics are a bit more....sensitive and politically correct.
I would NOT have given in. I would have held my ground with a thousand yard stare and said " NO, it is NOT going down that way".
Now, your gut is telling you you were right. Is it too late to fight this ?
__________________
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"Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all it's pupils." - Louis-Hector Berlioz
Most schools have policy written about how to display authorship. Go to your school's website and search for :
thesis "order of authors"
What you should find is something like this:
Quote:
Authorship 1. Authorship can only be credited to those who make substantial intellectual contributions to a piece of work. Accepting the addition of an author who has not made a significant intellectual contribution to the piece of work is not ethical for authors. 2. Authors accept not only credit but also responsibility for their work and, in particular, for ensuring that the work conforms to appropriate standards of Academic Honesty. 3. Generally, the order of authors' names in a publication should reflect the substance of their relative contributions to the work, with priority going to those who made the greatest or most significant contribution. Supervisors should discuss the issue of authorship, and what factors may determine the final order of authorship, normally before commencing the work. 4. Where the major substance or data of a coauthored publication is based on a portion of a graduate student's work, the student will normally be the first author. The supervisor, or joint authors should be prepared to offer a rationale in cases where the student is not listed as the first author. Where the work has been written up in a dissertation or thesis or paper before the research is published, the publication will normally cite the dissertation, thesis, or paper on which it is based. 5. Anyone otherwise entitled to be acknowledged as a coauthor may forfeit that right if they leave the project before substantially completing it. In such cases their contribution to the work shall nonetheless be acknowledged in an appropriate manner by the author(s), for example in the acknowledgements section of the publication. 6. Providing financial support for a student's dissertation, thesis, or research paper is not, in itself, sufficient to warrant authorship. Only where intellectual input is provided beyond financial support, should co-authorship be considered. 7. Supplying minor editorial work for a student's dissertation, thesis, or research paper is not, in itself, sufficient to warrant co-authorship. 8. If a student is employed as a Research Assistant in circumstances where the work done in the course of that employment is not intended to and does not in fact become part of work done for the degree requirements, then the student may not normally claim co-authorship and does not own the data, except through a prior agreement that is consistent with the general principles above. 9. If a student is employed as a Research Assistant in circumstances where the work done in the course of that employment becomes part of the thesis/dissertation/research paper, the student may, at a minimum, claim co-ownership of the data but as the author of the thesis/ dissertation/research paper owns the overall copyright.
Don't feel destroyed. YOU KNOW who did most of the work. Be proud of yourself. I had the same thing happen to me many times. Few of the articles that I wrote got published in my name. One book has my name on the inside page believe it or not.
Next time make sure you discuss this beforehand.
__________________ I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it. Voltaire
Don't feel destroyed. YOU KNOW who did most of the work. Be proud of yourself. I had the same thing happen to me many times. Few of the articles that I wrote got published in my name. One book has my name on the inside page believe it or not.
Kamille, can you plse provide a percentage breakdown of what you feel the contributions to this article, were? Also, maybe you could tell us how the advice of the supervisor came about, ie. "I asked the opinion of the supervisor and..." or "Out of the blue, the supervisor advised me accordingly".
Plse humour me. I have a reason for asking these questions.
__________________ Get busy living or get busy dying!
Kamille, can you plse provide a percentage breakdown of what you feel the contributions to this article, were? Also, maybe you could tell us how the advice of the supervisor came about, ie. "I asked the opinion of the supervisor and..." or "Out of the blue, the supervisor advised me accordingly".
Plse humour me. I have a reason for asking these questions.
I actually did a run through of the percentages. The thing is we don't agree on what constitutes "contribution".
According to me I did:
90% of the intellectual conceptualisation of the article (angle, theoretical frameworks, detailed plan)
I was able to calculate that I wrote about 70% of the article (and that's being generous)
We worked on the data process 50%
Selection of relevant data for article: I did 70%
I did more fieldwork then her so I would say 60% (she spent most of the time tellling me "I don't understand. what are we looking for?" and was also working on something else with somebody else, in her room).
She did the final editing (grammar, spelling) 90% I would say.
I managed deadlines etc with the editorial board, most of the stuff that "the project leader" does. I would also be the one to go: ok, we need to get this going. How about we go about it this way? And she never once said anything but ok. (But now uses that to tell me I only feel I am first author because I am bossy)
This is the list outside of the list of recriminations I have about her disappearing without telling me twice, the week before deadlines. The kind of stuff that you tell yourself, ok she isn't as invested as me, but it's fine since we agreed I am first author. (Because, yes, we had had an agreement at one point that I was first author, she now says that she didn't agree, but had learned to pick her battles.)
One thing to understand is that we are both students, so this means a lot to each of us. The article is also in my field of expertise, which explains why I was able to contribute so much. I also know I provided the theoretical contributions of the article (100%), which have been perceived as exciting by the reviewers. So basically I feel like she is getting credit for my breakthroughs.
One thing that I take comfort in is that since these are outside her area of expertise, she probably won't be able to mobilize them again.
I was receiving a lot of contradictary advice about what to do. Many people told me that mediators usually choose "peacekeeping solutions". We are also not at the same university or in the same town, so all of this would have had to be a written process.
Supervisor: co-author and I don't have the same supervisors, so we weren't in a situation where we were putting one person in the middle of the fight. My supervisor did a splendid job advising me. She proposed a few options I could consider and then listened to my side of things. She made me recognized that the co-author was in no position (personnally and academically) to be able to recognize my contribution but encouraged me to stand my ground. She then took a step back to see what would happen.
Basically, after spending another sleepless night, today, following the advice of another person involved in academia that co-author and I sought together (but who didn't hear my reasons for wanting first author), I contacted my supervisor to say: I am drained and I am thinking of letting it go to alphabetical order (with mention that we chose the alphabetical order). My supervisor replied, "I am really really really sorry. Here is how I would go about doing it" and I did just that.
since then, the co-author has written to tell me that she feels her contribution is still minimized by alphabetical order with mention. I will not reply until I can calm down.
My supervisor wrote to tell me: here's how you get over it.
Kamille, can you plse provide a percentage breakdown of what you feel the contributions to this article, were? Also, maybe you could tell us how the advice of the supervisor came about, ie. "I asked the opinion of the supervisor and..." or "Out of the blue, the supervisor advised me accordingly".
Plse humour me. I have a reason for asking these questions.
If this is a major article for you, and it sounds like you did do the majority of the work, you should be first author. Does the other student think that she deserves that title??? Keep that record of work and responsibilities. Go back to the supervisor(s) - hold a meeting with all of them if necessary (VoIP or conference call in your case). State your case reasons and point out your contributions and responsibilities. Do some homework and show how other papers were "authored" at this school and within your faculty if possible.
And if you still don't get your wish, and still feel that strongly, it is time to go up the food chain to a more senior faculty member.
Will this come off as whiney or bit**y? If you start to scream and whine.. yes... but if you present your case in a professional and calm manner, I don't think this would be a negative stigma for you.
Still in school hmmmm... well this kind of crap does not end when you graduate. If anything, this is a good lesson for taking what is rightfully yours. If your area of work is going to be academia or research... just remember the golden rule "Publish or Perish". There will be lots of times like this or worse ahead that will annoy you to no end. Don't become a pushover.
I agree that you should be main author. Grammatical editing isn't a big deal. It's too bad you couldn't break down the contribution under authorship.
Have you provided your breakdown percentages to your co-author? If so, what does she say about it? Does she feel that your assessment is accurate? Has she provided you with her percentages?
Oh my god! we have been e-mailing back and forth and she just sent an e-mail saying she never really wanted to be first author in the first place and that she now understands why I would possibly want to be first author.
I haven't replied. This feels like such a miracle! I can hardly believe it.
Anyways thanks everyone. Reading your input helped me stay focused on what I thought mattered and keep away from emotional recrimination.
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