Invitation to Co-Author

[Starship]

Hi Everyone, 

I'm just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this. I've been approached by my advisor to assist with two research projects. Only on one project would I be co-author. This particular faculty member has an RA (I am not his RA) who works 20 hrs a week for him. I've spoken with said RA and he is not currently writing any papers with this faculty member, only doing "a little bit" of "research" here or there. 

If this faculty member has a full-time RA, why is he not using his RA for these projects? Don't get me wrong, I would MUCH rather be the one working on these projects than his RA, but isn't the RA normally given first priority? 

I feel paranoid thinking that I'm getting all of the crappy busy work that the professor doesn't want to do, which is probably the case, but I can't help but think that the RA is being "saved" for something better and will be asked to work on more prestigious projects. 

Has anyone else experienced this? 

 

- Starship

[TakeruK]

I don't think a 20 hrs per week RA is a full time RA (sure, it's a full RA appointment for a grad student, but generally full time hired research assistants work 40 hours per week and aren't also students). 

Also, I don't think it's necessarily true that the RA should have first priority---what if the thing that the professor wants the RA to do is something in your skillset and not in the RA's skillset. Or, the RA might not be interested, as you said, because they want to work on something else.

But all of that doesn't matter. There's no use wondering why the other RA isn't being asked to work on this. Instead, just focus on this job/task you're being offered.

First of all, I think the more confusing thing to answer is why won't you get coauthorship credit for one of these projects? I can't imagine doing any serious research work for anyone if I don't get coauthorship! Unless this is the norm in your field or there is some other great benefit to doing the non-authorship work, I would certainly turn that down.

The next question is whether or not the work will benefit you. Do you need funding and this work will provide that funding? If so, then probably a good idea to take it. Or, will this teach you / train you in a useful skill? Or, is the research topic relevant to your interests? If these are true and the pay is worth your time then don't worry about what the professor's RA is doing. Take the offer.

Usually in grad school, a lot of what we do is driven by the need to fund ourselves. This is likely true beyond grad school too. So, yeah, a lot of grad student opportunities will be crappy work that the professor doesn't want to do themselves. Hopefully, you'll be able to meet some important need for yourself while doing this work though (whether it's funding yourself, developing a skill or nurturing a new collaboration for even better things in the future).

[fuzzylogician]

5 hours ago, Starship said:

I feel paranoid thinking that I'm getting all of the crappy busy work that the professor doesn't want to do, which is probably the case, but I can't help but think that the RA is being "saved" for something better and will be asked to work on more prestigious projects. 

Bottom line is, you probably are getting at least some of the busy work that the professor doesn't want to do, that's what they have RAs for! I don't know why that's cause for paranoia. If you're getting paid and need the money, or you will learn a useful skill, or you'll get co-authorship and it'll boost your CV, those are good reasons to take the offer. Who cares why the other RA isn't getting this. Suppose they are being "saved" for more prestigious projects, how does that affect your choices? The only relevant question is whether the offer you have in front of you is something you want. Playing what-if with imaginary projects someone else might get almost never helps anyone.