Last place

Since sharing my experience with switching fields seems to be my favorite topic since I started my postdoc, how about a discussion of how authorship conventions differ between fields?

My new field works like many of you are probably used to.  There are often many (>10) authors on a research paper.  The first author did the experimental work and probably wrote the bulk of the text.  The second author did something substantial.  The middle authors, usually alphabetized, touched the project in some way - maybe they did one analysis, contributed a reagent, or did some important literature searches.  The last author is  the "anchor", the one who conceived of the project and got the funding.  It seems to me that people sometimes fight more over the last author spot than the first author spot.  The last author is usually the corresponding author.

In my old (still interdisciplinary, but less so) field, papers typically have fewer than 10 authors.  I don't have any data, but I'd guess that 4-6 authors is the norm.  The first author is the one who did the most work and wrote the paper.  The second author did the next most work.  The last author did the least work. Typically, the first author is the corresponding one.  When the corresponding author is somewhere else in the list, it's usually because of a scenario where the first author left research after a master's or something so they get credit as lead author but bear little responsibility for getting the paper through the publishing process.

I guess the anchoring author/lead author thing helps squeeze more credit out of papers with long lists of authors (two important positions instead of one).  Still, I'm having such a hard time getting on board with the way it goes in New Field.  I'm sure I would think it was just fine if I had grown up with that convention and it's a matter of not liking change, but right now I think this anchoring author stuff is kinda annoying.

November Scientiae: love it and loathe it

At long last, I give you the November Scientiae Carnival!  I was a little distracted this month, so if I missed your post please let me know.

The theme this month was best and worst.  I asked, "What is the best part of your job/life as a scientist, and what is the worst part?"  There were some great responses, many of which will probably sound awfully familiar.

Several of us reported that people are either the best or worst parts of our jobs.  Podblack Cat shared a particularly trying (and rather comical) experience trying to teach to a group of high school students obsessed with The Human Centipede*.  I really can't fathom the patience it must take to deal with this kind of nonsense!  Rebecca wrote about her recent experience conducting interviews for postdocs.  While she many wonderful people in the process, she also encountered some truly wacky candidates -- go read to learn another entertaining example of what not to do if you want a job.  I expressed my frustrations with waiting for other people to do their bits, which was pretty similar to Rocket Scientista's complaints about slow vendors.  On the other hand, she loves her awesomely awesome colleagues.

Several of us also wrote about about getting the data, which can be teh suck or teh joy.  Patchi's described her trials with a challenging lab protocol.  She had an experience we all dread -- getting unsatisfying results.  You know the kind, when you feel like you didn't do enough but you can't realistically do more.  Victor Poor offered a somewhat more lighthearted treatment of a related event--probably the worst moment in science--when you realize that months (or years) of hard work resulted in flawed data and no new knowledge.  Sad.  On a happier note, I shared how the thrill of intermittent inspiration keeps me going, and Rocket Scientista reminded us how great it is to get new! data! and gain new! knowledge!

Silver Fox and Karina both have significant field components to their work, and not surprisingly, identified that as both a source of joy and frustration.  Karina loves the exotic places where she gets to work, but misses home and her husband while she's away.  Silver Fox has lots of favorites about her job and finds that they mostly negate the sucky aspects.  After all, it's the sucky stuff that makes the fun parts possible. That's lemonade for you!

If Silver Fox has trouble finding fault with her work, ScienceGirl is momentarily at the other end of the spectrum.  New baby fatigue has her feeling like the incentives for her work have disappeared, leaving her motivated only by avoiding negative consequences.  We're sure this will pass, ScienceGirl, and we're rooting for you!  Likewise, in another post Podblack Cat wrote about her exasperation at being encouraged by Oprah, of all people, to go beyond the call of duty when really the call of duty is quite enough in itself.

Finally, A Life-Long Scholar described her favorite thing about academia - the freedom to set one's own schedule.  I couldn't agree more!  Of course, that comes with the risk of feeling guilty for not working enough (as a commenter noted), but it 's a risk worth taking.

Thanks to everyone who contributed!  The next installment of Scientiae will be hosted by Pat of Fairer Science.

*I saw this movie as a birthday gift to Ecogeoman who loves horror flicks.  The trailer pretty much covers everything.  Ick.

The carnival will be late

I anticipated posting the Scientiae Carnival today, but I'm not going to get it done.  Feel free to send me any last minute posts!

Best and worst

There are plenty of aspects of my job that I really love.  Among them is the tremendous variety in the tasks I do: field work, all different types of lab work, data analysis, reading, writing.  I rarely have to do the same thing for more than a few weeks at a time, so I don't get tired of the things I enjoy and the things I dislike are mostly over before I know it.  My favorite thing of all, however, is the thrill of inspiration.

I love it when a colleague or I have a new idea to discuss.  That feeling of excitement and possibility that comes from seeing how the pieces can fit together to show you something new about nature.  The daydreaming of how the experiments will go, what you'll learn from potential outcome A vs. outcome B, how you could build the story out of various pieces of literature, what journal it could go to.  I really like going to conferences for many reasons, but a big one is that they so often inspire new ideas.  The exposure to the latest research, expressed in a way that is much more lively that a journal article, combined with the opportunity to interact with the scientists presenting that research is so conducive to developing new ideas.  I always come home chomping at the research bit.

At the other end of the spectrum, I really dislike the frustration of waiting for other people to do their parts.  A couple of years ago I would have said that my least favorite aspect of my job is the guilt - of not working enough, working too much, whatever.  Now my ire is much more practical.  I just want to get shit done.  There's still an element of guilt wrapped in this, though, because sometimes people are waiting on me to get my bit done and I feel bad when it takes longer than it should.  And I feel bad for nagging people who I know are orders of magnitude busier than I am.

As I get more involved in the bench work necessary to my new field, I'll be curious to see how much my likes and dislikes might shift.  I think the moments of inspiration will remain the best part, but I wonder if bench frustrations will surpass collaboration frustrations in my new, more sophisticated and finicky lab work.

Don't forget!

Get your Scientiae posts in today! 

What is the best part of your job/life as a scientist, and what is the worst part?

The answer

I really dislike this completely empty advice: "publish, publish, publish".  In almost any conversation about career issues, someone is bound to say it or something similar.  Isn't publishing critical for success for almost any research career?  

Publish, publish, publish?  Oh, so that's the key to solving my two-body problem?  If only I had known sooner.  You mean that's all I have to do to be competitive for funding and jobs?  No problem!  I'll get right on it.

While I'm at it, I think I'll eat less and move more.  Oh, and I can buy low and sell high, too.  Life is so simple!

I heart flash mobs

Totally fucking cool.

http://mashable.com/2010/06/20/flash-mob-videos/


I want a dancing one at our wedding.  Real bad.