give it up
I’ve written before about authorship issues that I have experienced. Getting papers snatched away or just plain and simple not being given any credit (where credit is due) can be painful but it is also a common thing. Another issue I’ve alluded to is a situation when you have to recuse your authorship because you don’t agree with the work or the interpretations. I’ve now had to do this twice. I won’t get into the specifics of the situations (some which have already been described in previous posts) but while it hurt me both times to give up authorship (hey, I’m young and every paper counts here!), I don’t regret it.
A similar situation recently happened to a friend of mine and he had to recuse himself from what would have been a nice publication on his CV. Unfortunately, the people to whom this kind of scenario happens are often lower on the totem pole and therefore the people who would have most benefitted from the publication.
We are recruited to participate in research project and we contribute valuable time and energy with an understanding of the goals/objectives that are being sought. But what do you do if your results are interpreted in such a way that goes against both what you have previously published (thus making you look bad in print) and what you actually believe to be the truth? None of us are ever recruited into a study knowing that this is going to happen or that the person with whom you are collaborating is going to pull a 180 so what are the options? One possibility is proposing to do additional work (e.g. experiments) that would flush out whether one theory is more valid than the other. Presumably, the fact that you are a collaborator indicates that your opinion is respected and therefore worthy of flushing out. But that is not always the case. Another option is trying to word the interpretation in a more objective fashion that reflects precisely what the results have shown, thus leaving open the possibility that both interpretations are possible. Again, this depends on the fact that your opinion would be respected since you have supplied an necessary (and sometimes critical) part of the story. And again, it is not always the case that your opinion is respected–just that your contribution is needed.
My friend was needed to provide a service that only he could do. He performed it and then was slapped in the face. He didn’t know it was coming and tried working with his co-authors but ultimately gave up the fight and simply asked for removal from the authorship. Instead he is now acknowledged. And, better yet, his contribution is actually listed under someone else’s name in the “author’s contribution” section! You gotta wonder what keeps people in academics sometimes.
The main issue with this is that neither I nor my friend nor young academics out there have the time to waste on a project that we will have recuse ourselves from because of dogmatic beliefs of a more senior collaborator. However, we have to weigh this against the fact that collaborations are a necessary part of furthering our careers and they can even be really productive when it is a supportive relationship built on openness, communication and mutual respect. (I better not getting any “dating help” hits from google). So here are my suggestions, ask as many questions as you can think of to uncover any possible underlying agenda (philosophical, dogmatic, etc) when you are asked to collaborate on a project. It is better to get it all out in the open than to spend your time on something that you ultimately won’t get anything out of anyway. Moreover, it is a lot harder for people to go back on issues that have been discussed beforehand in contrast to issues that have never been broached. Finally, if all else fails, you have to recuse yourself. I write this mostly for the younger readers: it is NEVER worth it to put your name on something you don’t believe, regardless of where it’ll be published. I’ve seen it ruin too many people. And at the end of day, your scientific integrity is the only true and consistent predictor of the quality of your work. Once you besmirch that, it’s all over–in both your own and others’ eyes. I know it can be painful to give up publications and have to live with the fact that you contributed to a study that you don’t agree with but that is better than having to accept responsibility for that work (which is what authorship means, right?). Moreover, look at each one of these instances as a learning experience that will inform you on finding productive collaborative relationships in the future.
And hopefully, my, my friend’s and other’s experiences will help prevent similar experiences for others in the future by offering some insight into how to approach collaborations as well as these situations when they arise.
