I was a little confused by it -- it seemed to be saying that the last author position was the most prestigious in medical research, and he's suggesting that our adopting that would ease the problem that he mentions (the junior scientist having to move her name to last place).
But if last place is the most prestigious, then the senior scientist would not have asked her to to change the order of authorship, would he? He would have saved that position for himself (if, as Ubel suggests, he needed the prestige). So I'm a little confused. If we adopt last place as most prestigious, then the junior author (who did most of the work) would be happy to be last author. I don't know that this would solve anything -- it just re-arranges things. m -- Marc Carter, PhD Associate Professor and Chair Department of Psychology College of Arts & Sciences Baker University -- ________________________________ From: Paul C Bernhardt [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 8:01 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: [tips] An outsider's view of authorship I find a lot to admire about what Ubel is suggesting in this short article. His main point is that Psychology would reduce authorship controversies by adopting the model used in Medical publication of research. That is: Younger authors, who usually are doing the predominance of day-to-day work and writing on the article, should be first author and the most senior person overseeing the research lab should be last author. He says Tenure committees for physician researchers actually expect more advanced faculty to be sliding to increasingly later positions in the authorship and that too many first authorships is considered a mark against you. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=2563 -- Paul Bernhardt Frostburg State University Frostburg, MD, USA --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected]) ________________________________ The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by Baker University ("BU") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify Baker University by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
