Good afternoon. Please excuse the length of this message.
Rather than reinventing the wheel, I'm asking if anyone has a letter or memo they give to research assistants to clarify authorship issues on manuscripts that result from projects they take part in. I've had one very unpleasant situation in the past, and would like to avoid others.
Relevant information:
The students are unpaid
They (at this point) receive no course credit
We are a Junior and Senior-Level institution-so students cycle in and out fairly quickly-often before a project they are working on is completed
They work, on average, about 5 hours per week
If the research is not using archival data, I require them to take an on-line research ethics training (which takes several hours to complete)
At this point, the research ideas are mine (although some students come up with good suggestions/recommendations regarding the projects)
I will soon start teaching undergraduate research methods again, which may produce some other issues to deal with (e.g., the student comes up with an idea and preliminary design, and if I'm interested and they want to carry it out I: (a) tune-up their design; (b) do most of the IRB proposal; and (c) provide resources to complete the study; and (d) supervise the project.
At this time what the students gain is research experience, and a potentially strong letter of recommendation from me. Of course I write other students letters of recommendation, but if my research assistants do good work I can (in good conscience) write them a much stronger letter.
I've been meaning to work up a letter to hand to students (and perhaps ask them to sign) that clarifies authorship issues (and to a lesser extent their obligations). Obviously, one size won't fit all so I will customize the document to fit the situation.
If anyone has a letter/memo like this that they are willing to share, I'd greatly appreciate it. Thank you.
Gary Coulton
Texas A&M University-San Antonio
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