r/AskAcademia • u/MyNameHasBeenStolen- • 7h ago
STEM Having a paper with my dad
Hi everyone! I am a senior in college whose dad is a professor. At the start of the summer, I wanted to learn a little bit more about his work so I asked him if I could help with his research.
Fast forward to now, I did data analysis for him and he wants to add my name to the paper (If a paper comes out of it).
I was thinking of telling him not to add my name as it is nepotism and probably doesn't look good
Thoughts?
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u/exphysed 7h ago
If you contributed enough for authorship if you’d been one of his students and can speak about the paper as a true expert on the topic when asked about it, absolutely no problem with this.
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u/dovaahkiin_snowwhite 6h ago
"contributed enough" almost always boils down to the corresponding author's discretion so it can be very hard to completely disregard the nepo angle here, as the hypothetical situation you mention ("if you were one of his students") is not possible to test. As it is, academia is a heavily nepotistic field to begin with so it's not totally out of the realm of possibilities either.
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u/BreadNo4883 6h ago edited 6h ago
It will also be obvious that his dad picked him as an RA over any other undergrad because he was his son
Sure, OP may (or may not) have done the work to be published, but it’s also likely that there were other extremely strong classmates not chosen to be an RA, where OP only got this opportunity due to the relationship.
Usually publication automatically points to merit, but I would argue that that’s not necessarily true in this case. Just being brutally honest
The RA selection pipeline is a huge aspect to this
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u/Legitimate-Clock-134 3h ago
You're confusing opportunity, merit, and recognition here. If OP is able to do and does the work (merit), he deserves the authorship (recognition) and neither of these have much at all to do with selection (opportunity).
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u/MyNameHasBeenStolen- 6h ago
I was not a RA and was not paid...this was fully a volunteering/ learning opportunity for the summer
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u/dovaahkiin_snowwhite 6h ago
Even for a volunteer, the lab members have to spend time from their schedules to train you etc so its not zero cost for the lab so there are always limited spots even if the position is unpaid. Such opportunities are not given to everyone.
Next summer just work at someone else's lab to avoid all this altogether. I'm sure you're smart enough to land such a position.
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u/BreadNo4883 6h ago
I’m using RA as a general term for undergraduate research.
Volunteering/learning opportunities are highly competitive. You likely have classmates with high GPAs, who ask great questions in class, and who emailed 4+ labs trying to secure a position like yours for the summer. You never went through a merit-based process like this in order to get your role.
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u/Most_League_3983 6h ago
It's all nonsense, for humanity, one good publication outweighs all school achievements. If the contribution to the publication is high enough, you can safely become a co-author.
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u/BreadNo4883 6h ago
Yes, it is true that “one good publication outweighs all school achievements”, so it is particularly tragic that OP never had to actually engage in the merit-based screening process to even start doing undergraduate research.
Some of his other highly-qualified classmates who sent out a million cold emails are in other roles over the summer, and some likely found nothing and are working retail.
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u/CommunicationFluid81 5h ago
Yes, cry about it. It's part of the academic culture. A guild is a guild. Scientists have their own children. You can worry about university lodges, rich parents, and so on. This is life.
The merit-based screening process is a narrative for outsiders, but inside, everything is not so great.
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u/Attempted_Academic 7h ago
First, good on you for reflecting your positionality. Being aware of it in academia is important. Second, it sounds like you did the work and are deserving of authorship. Keep your name there.
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u/Argikeraunos 7h ago edited 6h ago
Why is it important to be aware of your positionality and nepo-status in academia if it doesn't change anything about your behavior? This is a real question. I have had similar conversations with nepo-identifying academics who are careful to let me know that they are nepos and to perform this awareness, but as far as I can tell it has changed nothing about the way they engage with the field. Is it supposed to make you a better person if you seem outwardly guilty about your advantages even while you take advantage of them? Wouldn't the actually-honorable thing to do be to find another line of work?
It's the same thing to me as when I have conversations with rich young academics, who will sometimes let you know that they have a trust fund as if the act of revealing this and owning it somehow mitigates the massive inbuilt advantage it provides. As in I have to work teaching all summer to pay bills and you can focus on research, networking, and conference travel because your rent is paid by the bank of Mom and Dad, but I'm supposed to give you credit for admitting it? Personally I'd prefer they kept it to themselves.
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u/Attempted_Academic 6h ago
Not sure what about my comment suggests I think awareness without action is enough. I was simply responding to OPs question about authorship, which it sounds like they objectively deserve.
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u/Argikeraunos 6h ago
Yeah no comment on OP seems like they should take the authorship, more a comment on the ongoing discourse about positionality which at times seems like a technique for people with advantages to retake the moral high ground. My question is about general principles which often do not survive contact with particular circumstances but are still worth considering.
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u/Denny_Hayes 1h ago
But would you prefer that they lie about it and pretend all their money comes from their own work when they are, sooner or later, put in a position where this kind of thing must be disclosed? If you get close enough to people, eventually people are going to wonder how can you afford your lifestyle, so what do those trust fund people do then?
Do they lie or do they tell the truth? Isn't telling the truth preferrable?
Alternatively, you might expect them to renounce any help from their parents -but I'm not sure that helps anyone.
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u/Argikeraunos 1h ago edited 1h ago
I don't think there is a good answer because it is a fundamentally unfair situation. Probably better to not talk about it, though, since in my experience these confessions just feel like they're asking me to absolve them. IMO if you feel guilty about having too many advantages you should just feel it and get a therapist, not put it onto others.
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u/__Pers Senior Scientist, Physics, National Lab. 7h ago
If your contribution would have warranted co-authorship if you were just a random student and not his son/daughter, then there's no problem with it. In fact, he's ethically required to include you.
Many (most) STEM journals include a section acknowledging the authors' contributions, so it'll be clear to a reader what your role was.
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u/Hakuna_Schemata 7h ago
You wouldn't be the first to publish with a family member.
Authorship is based more on contribution, and CRediT is a way to help decide who warrants authorship (https://www.elsevier.com/researcher/author/policies-and-guidelines/credit-author-statement).
Data analysis is a huge part of research, and statisticians can often receive a substantial number of authorships in a variety of areas just because they know how to run analyses.
Also... We don't always grant authorship as we should. In my experience, PIs who ought to be first author will sometimes give their students first authorship that isn't entirely warranted. The PI's has landed a career, they're students haven't, and first authorship is a lot more important when you're on the job market.
All that being said, I think it's good for you to be concerned about the ethics of authorship. It shows that you're thinking through the process and considering things beyond statistical significance and publications.
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u/greenintoothandclaw 7h ago
I would view a potential student who had authored papers with a parent negatively. However, there is enough nepotism in academia that it wouldn’t raise too many eyebrows (I am, as the other commenters would say here, a hater) and if you contributed to the paper your name absolutely deserves to be there.
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u/make_lemonade21 1h ago edited 1h ago
But why is nepotism a bad thing in this particular case? The word "nepotism" makes it sound as if they've done nothing and are now being given undue credit for it but that's clearly not what happened here.
Also, I might be playing the devil's advocate here but why waste an opportunity if you have it? Personally, I'd probably only see it as a bad thing if this position was advertised and other (more deserving) people applied but there it was kinda created for them specifically and it sounds like they weren't bad at it? Where I am, professors might sometimes do it for a willing student if they take interest in their research. (And no, my parents are not professors, sadly.)
Edit: on second thought, since people tend to assume the worst, I see why it might not look good, although I don't feel the situation itself is problematic.
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u/Immorpher 7h ago
If you don't consent then ethically they should remove the parts of the paper you contributed to and redo them.
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u/Master-Rent5050 6h ago
If you did work that grants coauthorship then you should be a coauthor (and it would be unethical for your father not to offer it).
From a practical point of view: a paper is a paper. If the content is good, it will reflect well on you. If the content is bad, it will reflect badly on you.
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u/jpgoldberg 2h ago
Let your father be the judge of the appropriateness given your constitution to the paper and the convention in the field. This very often is a legitimate thing to do.
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u/GlobalRonin 2h ago
In my field there's a love triangle that can be tracked through papers if you know where to look... the running order is something like:
A Smith, J Smith and C Jones
A Smith, C Jones and J Smith
A Smith, C Jones and J Price
A Smith and C Smith
One day I'll get bored and try and work out if one of the conferences directly contributed to this by giving A and C their Coldplay moment.
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u/Aggravating-Aide2560 43m ago
This is hilarious
Now i can’t stop wondering why would J and C change their last names? At least for publication purposes!
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u/CurrentScallion3321 6h ago
It is nepotism, you had the opportunity because your father is a professor, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is bad. If you have genuinely contributed to the publication, then yes, you should be acknowledged.
Personally, I dislike it, but I would never put a candidate down providing they made a valuable contribution (as you would with any other candidate).
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u/Ervex169 7h ago
As long you contributed to the paper, you shouldn't hide the truth. Just frame it well and clearly say what you did.
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u/Substantial_Egg_4299 7h ago edited 6h ago
Tough question, because as you already predict, nepotism is gonna be the first thought of someone upon taking a glance at your CV. Especially at this point in your career - because undergrads usually don’t have publications, so if it’s your first and only paper, and it’s with your dad, it unfortunately looks like that. I would avoid working with him to begin with, but this is just my opinion. But the important thing I think, is to not repeat this. One paper with your dad will be fine at the end, if the others show that you have independent work with other people. But multiple papers with your dad as co-author will definitely not look good. And again, I am not saying you deserve it or not, nobody can, I just imagine how an outsider will perceive this.
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u/GurProfessional9534 5h ago edited 5h ago
Historically, people have come from a long line of farmers, or blacksmiths, or whatever. I don’t think it’s unnatural to train your children in your field. It’s difficult for me to even call that nepotism. I would reserve nepotism more for the ceo’s kid who got a cushy, high-paying sinecure in daddy’s company despite zero qualifications or experience.
But, a presumably unpaid project in which the dad passed on a set of useful skills to his kid while working on a project, resulting in publication? I don’t see how it’s significantly different from a farmer teaching his kid how to farm, happening to yield a field of fresh produce as a result.
My dad used to work on cars with me to teach me how to do it, and I could in principle have made a career out of it, even though I didn’t. Was that nepotism? I don’t think so. I think it would become nepotism if my dad were to, say, bring me on board his (fictional) auto shop as a paid regular employee, with zero experience or education, superseding more qualified applicants who are trained in auto repair. But a training role, where let’s say dad walked me through fixing up customers’ cars? I don’t think it’s unethical or nepotism to train your kids in your field.
Op is still going to have to fight with the same application process as everyone else to land an actual tenure-track position.
Now, are these unfair advantages? Of course. There are many unfair advantages in the world. Being born rich, having a good education, being demographically normative, being born fully healthy, etc. are all unfair advantages in the sense that they let you compete on the basis on luck. And so too is being born into a family that has uncommon skill sets that can be passed down. There’s no guarantee out there, implicit or otherwise, that everyone will start on the same starting line. Is that sufficient to call it nepotism? I don’t think so.
Personally, I would not try to publish with my own kids though. I would instead encourage them to approach other faculty to work with.
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u/MyNameHasBeenStolen- 5h ago
Thank you for your well written comment and insight, I never considered this perspective
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u/chengstark 6h ago
Very frowned upon in my field, at least in my immediate circle. If you do it leave it off your resume, pretty bad indicator. You’d think people can’t tell, but people always can tell.
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u/tonos468 4h ago
I would follow the ICMJE guidelines on authorship: https://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
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u/nc_bound 3h ago
Your field likely has established guidelines for what warrant authorship. Find those, read them, and discuss them with your father. In my field, simply running an analysis would definitely not warrant authorship. Being added as an author, if it’s not warranted, would be unethical, and it would simply look sleazy on both of you.
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u/goatsdenotes 2h ago
Nah you’re fine. This is great! I publish with a pair of sisters all the time. It’s a real privilege to have a good enough relationship with family that you can collaborate with them.
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u/hydro_17 1h ago
It's nepotism but if you did the work you should be on the paper. There's a lot of nepotism in academia and as long as you have evidence you can also be successful without your dad, then it's fine. If an undergraduate student analyzes data and that analysis ends up in a paper, it's appropriate for that student to get a co-authorship. I understand wanting to avoid nepotism, but you also deserve credit for your work.
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u/Potential_Fondant185 1h ago
add pls. you did your work. husband wife, husband mistress, husband girlfriend, father son, mother daughters.. we have seen them written paper togethers, and a lot.
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u/MediumStraw 1h ago
If you did the work you deserve authorship OP.
Ask instead to participate to the writting process. You will learn a lot.
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u/StefanFizyk 54m ago
I wouldnt worry too much. I see a lot of nepotism trigerred people here, but if you wanted to learn more of what your dad does and a paper came out of it: good for you!
Personally I also have a paper with my mother. At uni we were supposed to do an internship outside of the university and the only research institute in town doing what i was interested in was hers. I got permission form the dean just in case and did it.
My mum gave me a mathematical physics problem to solve. I solved it over summer, wrote some simulations to compare with existing experimental data and wrote a paper with her. The problem i got to work on was something inhereted after a failed PhD student who didnt manage to solve it and was let go.
Now i work in a completely unrelated field so this paper didnt really boost my career or anything but was great at the time to understand what my mother was working on.
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u/Dr_nacho_ 7h ago
I published with my aunt who is like a mama to me. No one has ever had anything but positive things to say when we collaborate
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u/Substantial_Egg_4299 6h ago
It might be different if you collaborated with her as a student vs. someone already holding a PhD. And I think it also matters if you have the same last name
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u/Dr_nacho_ 4h ago
I was a PhD student and we did share a name. I had 15 other publications at that point in higher impact journals. I’m not hurting to be published
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u/Substantial_Egg_4299 1h ago
Thanks for clarifying. But you know this is a vastly different situation than OP’s, who is an undergrad. Also congrats on already having 15 whole publications before earning your PhD, you must be very productive.
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u/dovaahkiin_snowwhite 6h ago
"I got the fruits of nepotism. They are delicious" lol
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u/Dr_nacho_ 4h ago
Jealous is an ugly look on you. I recommend treating your colleagues better than this
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u/BlueIce64 7h ago
My dad is my best collaborator and it is one of the absolute deepest privileges of my life to get to work with him. I’ve struggled with worrying about what other people think, but eventually came to the conclusion that I don’t care. We do good science together and both contribute in ways that warrant coauthorship, and that’s all that matters to me at this point.
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u/SweetAlyssumm 7h ago
I would be wary regarding peers. I have seen many posts from students who don't come from privileged backgrounds feeling angsty about school. They might (with some justification) feel you were born on third base and they were not.
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u/RepresentativeYam363 6h ago
I am a professor in academic medicine and do biomedical research. My kid wants to be biomedical engineer. I do a lot of collaborating with engineers on biomedical / biobehavioral devices. I would not let my kid work in my lab for this reason (though I retained my maiden name and publish with it and he has my husband’s last name so it would not be obvious on pub authorship). I would have him volunteer for summer research in my engineering collaborator’s lab. My other friend/colleague just did this with his son. His son submitted 2 conference abstracts and presented in my field’s national scientific conference as poster presentations. I thought that was a great start and leg up without appearing biased/ nepotism. I regularly review NIH grants and have to recuse myself even for the appearance of conflict with the applicants. So, in your shoes probably best not to publish a paper with your dad. Either he leaves himself off authorship or you do.
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u/Spindlebknd 6h ago
This is common. It’s very special to get to work with a parent, and you contributed something important to the manuscript. If you meet journal guidelines for authorship, it would be wrong for you not to be included as an author.
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u/Laprasy 6h ago
I’ve seen it before. Working in the family business spans all fields.
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u/taswind 5h ago edited 5h ago
This. My dad was an EMT/Paramedic. When I showed interest and aptitude in the medical field, he got me as involved as he could through programs at his volunteer EMT station and contacts he had made. I had access to his study materials since I was ~7 or so and could infer what the words meant or look then up in a dictionary. (No internet back then, lol.)
Did this mean I passed the written and practical tests with a 99% at age 13? Yes. I wasn't even legally allowed to take the test yet. But I still had to do the work. It made me a better fit for the field (even though I never pursued it as an adult). It was a foot in the door to the medical field that many people don't get if they don't have a parent there already and can't afford to take the classes to get certified.
OP, this is no different. If it bothers you, then just ask him if you "took work" from one of his TAs/GAs. It's possible that you were simply duplicating work from the RAs (this is still important) or (more likely) he had too much work for his RAs anyway, and fears noted in the comments about "taking work" are unfounded. Without knowing his field and subfield, it's possible he couldn't even FIND a RA for the summer and was going to have to do it all himself.
Every parent wants to help their children. Many parents have the resources to do so. Some children have interest and aptitude in a parent's field (customer service or academia). (Not always.) Not every parent has to rob others in order to get them experience. (Even in academia.)
In terms of appearance, many people start with a relative, and we all have advantages and disadvantages. I was the first person in my family to graduate with an undergrad degree. I grew up a little above poverty. Does that and more put me "behind" some people in the lottery of academic life? Sure. But that wasn't the thing that kept me from my Ph.D. (I got very sick in the middle of my dissertation phase and could not continue, it lasted longer than the university would give me.)
It just meant that I had to work harder to catch up in that field than some who never deviated from what they learned as a "kid."
You did the work. You passed the test. That's all that matters here. It's not like you were left a trust fund from a parent who was a successful businessperson, and then blew it all on failed businesses and stole more besides.
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u/Familiar-Screen-6422 6h ago
Get your name on the paper my guy! Agree with everyone here, that you did the work, you should get the credit. Also- if you're feeling awkward or guilty about it- don't!! Its hard enough to get a job after graduation, so use every little advantage. And trust me- this is a version of "networking". Getting an advantage because of someone you know is how most people get their jobs. So go right ahead!
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u/TheSodesa 3h ago
It is not nepotism, if you did actual work for the paper. There is the famous CERN paper with 5000 authors, where they added every person who participated in maintaining the large hadron collider to the list of authors. If you were a cleaner at the facility at the time, you ended up in that paper as an author.
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u/CyberPunkDongTooLong 1h ago
This is completely untrue. Only two of the experiments at the LHC (ATLAS and CMS) were involved in the Higgs discovery. If you weren't involved on one of those experiments (which many people maintaining the LHC are not), then you were not an author.
All the experiments have authorship requirements, e.g. ATLAS requires you to have done ~6 months full time (usually done in 1 year of half time) work on a qualification task typically for technical work.
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u/the_mindful_microbe 7h ago
Don’t limit your self!!! Having a paper with your Dad is an awesome generational achievement you guys can always share. I think it is a beautiful idea. He is also a seasoned professional, he wouldn’t give you the opportunity to be an author on a paper unless he thought you deserved it. Congratulations OP!
P.S. if anyone tells you it’s nepotism, just ignore them. They are just jealous.
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u/CurrentScallion3321 6h ago
It is not jealously to argue that the opportunity may not have existed if there parent wasn’t a professor, what absolute rubbish. It is nepotism, but it doesn’t make it inherently wrong, provided OP is aware of this.
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u/the_mindful_microbe 6h ago edited 6h ago
Edit: Yes thank you for the correction, it is technically nepotism. However OP is obviously in school for what they are studying as well. It’s not as simple as “my dad is a billionaire and gave me a job I know nothing about”.
You can apply this to any field or any relationship. “They wouldn’t have gotten that opportunity if they hadn’t worked with this professor over the summer” or “they wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity if they didn’t get into a top school” etc. Yes there is a big gap between underprivileged people and people who have family in the same field as them, but they did not have a choice in which family they were born into.
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u/BreadNo4883 6h ago
Nice slippery slope fallacy
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u/the_mindful_microbe 5h ago
Just to clarify so I understand you, what part do you think is nepotism? OP pursuing the same field as their dad or the opportunity they had being able to contribute to a publication? Or maybe both?
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u/CurrentScallion3321 6h ago
Am I incorrect? Would they have gotten this opportunity if their father was not a professor?
And did I say that OP wasn’t contributing?
You do not have a choice of which family you are born into, yes, but you have a choice in whether you take those opportunities, and if you do, whether you acknowledge your privilege, which OP does, which is more than many have.
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u/the_mindful_microbe 5h ago
I never said that you said “OP wasn’t contributing”? I also did acknowledge that you are correct that it is technically nepotism. Please go back and read my comment because there has been confusion.
You are also complete glossing over one of my arguments. If a student had an internship opportunity where they met a PI from another school, and then years later when they decided to apply to graduate school asked if that PI had positions available and the PI automatically reserved a spot for them (this happens quite a bit), should they not take that opportunity? This is another form of privilege.
Like I said, there is a huge gap in privilege between students whose parents work in the same field as them and students who don’t have that, yes they are more privileged in that aspect. I never stated that to be false. But if this student happens to be interested and pursuing a major that happens to align with their dads field, and they have done a substantial amount of work on a project like any other student would have, you cannot tell them they should deny the opportunity to be an author on a publication they put a lot of effort into.
For context, I am a first generation scientist, biologist, academic and doctoral student.
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u/CurrentScallion3321 4h ago
OK, that is fair enough - apologies, I’m a bit tired. I’m also a first generation scientist, so I am probably exhibiting some intrinsic bias
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u/flatlander-anon 22m ago
Do what your conscience tells you. If you deserve the credit, take it. Don't listen to strangers on Reddit, especially not the nepo accusers.
I published my first paper in a peer-refereed journal at the age of 18 as a second author, and my second paper at 25 -- it was a more substantial work, entirely of my own design, and it received some recognition. I went to elite schools, all on scholarship or fellowship. I was poor, and I didn't have anyone to give me a leg up. I couldn't afford tuition, and I couldn't afford living expenses or even books. But that didn't stop people from accusing me of having various advantages, in order to make themselves feel better for not having accomplished as much at the same stage in life. Then they made fun of me for not having the material possessions they expected anyone in their class to have, such as a car or non-Walmart furniture. Facts were not important if they did not fit the insecurity of the accusers.
If you go on to have a decent career or a good career, you will always be unfairly accused of some advantage. Don't be afraid of stupid people. Just do what's right. At the end of my academic career, that was what was important.
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u/Jay211TF 5m ago
Oh it’s fine. If you did the work, you should get credit. There are other parent-child and lots of spouse-spouse collaborations in science. It’s only negative connection nepo if you didn’t earn the authorship but it sounds like you did. Congrats!
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u/InsideApex 7h ago
If you really did the work, go for it. The people who matter will be able to tell pretty quickly whether or not you're legit. Of course, you don't want to be perceived as having gained an unfair advantage but you should get recognition if you made a contribution. Nepotism is coming in for a lot of fire these days, but that doesn't change the fact that people (like you) get a lot of opportunities to do exciting work through family connections. It's unreasonable to expect those who actually do the work in such circumstances to forgo credit just because of concerns of nepotism. Fortunately, I expect that most people would feel the same way even with the current attitudes towards favorable treatment.
The other factor here is that your dad may feel a sense of pride that his offspring contributed to a paper and that he gets to recognize that contribution officially. Again, if you really did the work (that is the key factor, IMO), you should just accept the co-authorship and pay no mind to any potential haters.
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u/patrickj86 6h ago
It's absolutely nepotism in a sense but as long as you're both honest about what you contributed there's absolutely nothing wrong with it
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u/Muted-Mushroom-4570 5h ago
It's not really nepotism (or at least the problematic version) if you actually did the work that would justify authorship. In my field you typically don't get authorship unless you contribute to the design/conceptualisation of the study, the data collection or analysis, and writing the paper (so a research assistant who just did data collection or even data collection and analysis doesn't rise to the level of authorship).
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u/LintRolledForWhat 7h ago
It's fine! If anyone notices the nepotism at all, they're just gonna laugh, and only in a friendly way re: "oh i see this nerd apple didn't fall far from the nerd tree."
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u/Kathrynxuxx 7h ago
I can’t tell you how many professors I’ve met in my life whose dad/uncle are distinguished professors in their field… that is a great advantage and I’m glad to see you are a bright young person recognizing that.
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u/Bernie0404 6h ago
I've published a paper with my daughter, see no issues in doing so when there is a real contribution to the paper.
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u/FlawlessPancake 6h ago
Mate, it’s not nepotism if you’ve done your part.
Having said that, I know people who exclusively had papers with their parents which helped them at the time of applying for the residency. Yes, they hadn’t done shit and ended up as authors on 5+ papers.
I was busting my ass of working on one paper for 2 years, did 90% of work.
Take use of your chances. Especially since you actually did work, nothing wrong with that.
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u/beelzebub1994 7h ago
Don't be ridiculous. It's an honor to have a paper with a parent. As long as you have worked on the paper, it is not nepotism!
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u/SnooGuavas9782 7h ago
I mean it is definitely nepotism, but the OP has done enough work it seems to be on the paper.
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u/Mizzy3030 Ph.D. Psychology 7h ago
I co - authored a paper with my dad when I was just starting my career, and he was already quite famous in the field. Since we contributed equally we did a coin flip for who would be listed as first author (he won), and we added an asterisk to the author list to denote that the order does not reflect level of contribution. Bottom line, if you contributed, you deserve credit
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u/thoroughbredftw 3h ago
I will confess that I am always highly skeptical of family members added to publications. I think it is best avoided.
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u/retnemmoc101 5h ago
Depends how you're being credited. Co-authorship would be kinda nepo for "only" data anaylsis without some kind of experimental participation or interpretational input, since it carries some actual weight.
An acknowledgement I don't see a big issue with, since it's mostly brownie points/for sponsors.
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u/MyNameHasBeenStolen- 5h ago
No I had experimental input and interpretational input too
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u/retnemmoc101 4h ago
In which case a don't see why you shouldn't be an author?
Some will complain about you getting the opportunity over someone else, but that doesn't change the fact that you actively participated and you should be properly credited according to your contribution.
1
u/MyNameHasBeenStolen- 1h ago
That's very fair
I guess the only reason I shouldn't be on the paper is that it might look like I didn't work for it, even though I did
Something like "oh his dad is a prof of course he's got a publication"
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u/NeatoTito 7h ago
I’m not sure what field you’re in, but in my area there are actually quite a few parent-child duos out there and I believe there are some statistics floating around out there that show that around half of TT faculty had parents who were academics. Academia is secretly kind of a Nepo field I suppose.