did i make a dumb move?

[Jvcxk]

This is kinda off-topic for this page but I felt like the other pages aren't quite as active.

 

Anyway,

 

A colleague recently emailed me a "final draft" of a paper that a few of us had started working on over a year ago but had kind of let fall through the cracks. I was excited because this would be my first actual publication in a journal, and we all know how important publications can be. However, while reading through the (very lengthy) paper, I found it that is was neither cohesive, concise, nor well-structured and on top of that, did not really make a clear argument for one thing or another.

 

In an ideal world, I would have liked to edit it to my liking but between moving across the country and starting in my graduate lab within the next week, I truly do not have time (nor will I in the forseeable future). So, after much debate with myself, I asked for my name to be removed from the paper. 

 

So, did I make a dumb move? Should I have just taken the potential publication and hoped no one would every actually read it? Should I have had more faith that someone would call for a re-edit along the way? 

[zapster]

tough call - personally I would never like my name to be associated with a piece of work whose quality I was not comfortable with - but I would also try to take the time to work on the paper myself - I know it is much easier to say this from outside, but a publication is important, is there no way you can find some time?

[Monochrome Spring]

If you can't edit it to be a quality paper, then you definitely made the right move. Your publications will follow you for the rest of your life, and you want them to be high quality.

[MsDarjeeling]

I agree that it is important to have your name on something you stand by, but I think it may have been hasty to ask for you name to be removed.  You mentioned that a few of you had worked on the paper together.  Did you reach out to any of the other contributors to get their thoughts and see if they agreed that an edit was necessary?  Were any of them willing to pitch in to do the editing?

 

I understand that you're a busy grad student, we all are.  At the same time this is a lot like what our professional careers will consist of.  Juggling labs, teaching classes, conducting research, submitting manuscripts, editing manuscripts, and whatever else is on our plate.  There is never enough time in the day to do everything, but if you're committed to your work you find the time.  Also plenty of people collaborate on projects with people around the globe, thanks to technology.

 

While it is ultimately your call I think you should at least consider seeing if there is anyway you and the other contributors could get the paper edited to everyone's liking and then submit it for publication.  Publications give your cv a huge boost which could lead to a number of wonderful opportunities.

Edited July 23, 2013 by MsDarjeeling

[asdfx3]

Personally I wouldn't have done it. It seems like your issue was with the poor writing rather than the actual content, so ethics aren't an issue and I don't think anyone will hold a weak publication against you if you are further down on the list of authors (which I assume you are if you didn't have input into the initial drafts of the paper). That said if you're already in a graduate program and starting in a new lab this one publication is unlikely to make or break your career.

[juilletmercredi]

In my opinion, it's better to have no publications than a publication of low quality.  You're new and just beginning your academic career; nobody expects you to have publications yet.  You're still seen as potential.  But publish a poorly written article, and suddenly you're someone who's only publication is a poorly written article.  You don't want that.  And yes, people do hold weak publications against you even if you aren't first-author.  Your name is associated with it, therefore they assume that you had something to do with it.

 

Somebody will read it - and that somebody may be a granting committee, or a postdoc or job evaluator.  The pub would go on your CV and people ask for reprints.

 

But I also agree with the others - asking your name to be removed was not necessarily the right move.  All of us have to deal with editing papers and doing a lot of other stuff while also handling our lives.  You do have time - you have to make the time, and honestly just starting in your lab is when you will have the MOST time.  You will be mainly assisting with experiments and lab projects at this moment and expected to focus on coursework.  Once your first year or so is over, your responsibilities will ramp up considerably and you will have less time.  So consider (if you can) working on trying to edit the paper.

[TakeruK]

I agree with juilletmercredi. In addition to what was said, consider also that many papers go through a lot of drafts and re-edits. If the "final draft" was the first time you saw it, as a coauthor, then it's not a "final" draft. As a coauthor, you have the right (and responsibility) to make sure the work with your name on it is of sufficient quality, so it would have been okay to tell the main author that you are not okay with publishing this yet until your concerns are met. Like juilletmercredi said though, you would have to just make the time. If the first author insists on publishing it as is, which they also have the right to do, then the best course of action would probably be to remove yourself from the author list.