Don't overvalue single-authored publications

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OP: 23 Goods vs 33 No Goods
Thread: 453 Goods vs 330 No Goods

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Don't overvalue single-authored publications

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Meriwether

Do whatever works for you, dude. If the work requires co-authorship, do it. If you can do it alone, do it.

When it comes to crediting, though, solo work should enjoy more credit. You can't say that a person's contribution in a 10-coauthors paper is small (or at least smaller than a solo-author paper), which most political scientists would agree, and at the same time say that your contribution in a 2-coauthor work is worth the same as in a solo-authored paper. That's just inconsistent.

Unfortunately so many political scientists are inconsistent.

2 months ago # QUOTE 12 YEA 1 NAY !
Salome

He's a freerider seeking validation for his 99% co-authored record.

About 2/3 of my work is coauthored.

2 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 1 NAY !
Salome

He's a freerider seeking validation for his 99% co-authored record.

About 2/3 of my work is coauthored.

2 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 0 NAY !
Salome

He's a freerider seeking validation for his 99% co-authored record.

About 2/3 of my work is coauthored.

2 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 0 NAY !
Mireille

^ About 2/3 of his work is coauthored.

2 months ago # QUOTE 7 YEA 0 NAY !
Brock

OP = Emily Farris

2 months ago # QUOTE 2 YEA 4 NAY !
Salome

OP = Emily Farris

No, I am not somebody that people talk about here.

2 months ago # QUOTE 3 YEA 0 NAY !
Salome

Do whatever works for you, dude. If the work requires co-authorship, do it. If you can do it alone, do it.
When it comes to crediting, though, solo work should enjoy more credit. You can't say that a person's contribution in a 10-coauthors paper is small (or at least smaller than a solo-author paper), which most political scientists would agree, and at the same time say that your contribution in a 2-coauthor work is worth the same as in a solo-authored paper. That's just inconsistent.
Unfortunately so many political scientists are inconsistent.

Yes. For example, Google Scholar could produce an index that weights citations by the number of authors on an article. Credit = Citations / Number of Authors.

2 months ago # QUOTE 7 YEA 0 NAY !
Sabina

Right. Just discount coauthored work accordingly.

2 months ago # QUOTE 5 YEA 1 NAY !
Taylor

Right. Just discount coauthored work accordingly.

coauthors or not, who cares? just publish high quality papers.

2 months ago # QUOTE 4 YEA 2 NAY !
Rosaline

How does coauthoring lead to more impact? I don't get it.

This is the only discipline I know of where people don't understand that ideas are improved by collaboration.
Political scientists are truly an antisocial breed.

It also depends on subfield. Theory co-authoring expectations differ from, say, public opinion.

2 months ago # QUOTE 8 YEA 0 NAY !
Merletta

Right. Just discount coauthored work accordingly.

coauthors or not, who cares? just publish high quality papers.

Most of the discipline unfortunately. There is a reason we're right at the bottom it terms of the number of authors per paper. And I'm pretty sure it's the reason most of our work is kinda brainded. Research is hard, trying to take an entire project on one pair of shoulders while also handling other job responsibilities is going to ensure that the work doesn't get done as thoroughly as it could.

2 months ago # QUOTE 2 YEA 10 NAY !
Taylor

Right. Just discount coauthored work accordingly.
coauthors or not, who cares? just publish high quality papers.

Most of the discipline unfortunately. There is a reason we're right at the bottom it terms of the number of authors per paper. And I'm pretty sure it's the reason most of our work is kinda brainded. Research is hard, trying to take an entire project on one pair of shoulders while also handling other job responsibilities is going to ensure that the work doesn't get done as thoroughly as it could.

most? i dont think so. those who could not work with others are just whining. keep publishing high impact papers. thats what matters.

2 months ago # QUOTE 5 YEA 1 NAY !
Salome

keep publishing high impact papers. thats what matters.

AND become known for what your contribution is to those papers. Your career success depends on being known for something.

2 months ago # QUOTE 3 YEA 1 NAY !
Trace

Tingles direct evidence against this conjecture.

AND become known for what your contribution is to those papers. Your career success depends on being known for something.

2 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 1 NAY !
Salome

Tingles direct evidence against this conjecture.

AND become known for what your contribution is to those papers. Your career success depends on being known for something.

I would say he is especially known for methodologies of causal inference.

2 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 5 NAY !
Taylor

Tingles direct evidence against this conjecture.
AND become known for what your contribution is to those papers. Your career success depends on being known for something.

I would say he is especially known for methodologies of causal inference.

you mean "methodologies of causal free riding"?

2 months ago # QUOTE 6 YEA 0 NAY !
Salome

you mean "methodologies of causal free riding"?

Ha ha. I only met him once. But I would seriously doubt that he has made his career on free riding. The word gets out about that kind of thing through reliable social network channels (i.e., personal communications -- not PSR), which leads opportunities to quickly dry up. Instead, it is much more likely that he has made his career by being an extremely valuable member of the teams that he works on. He probably co-authors a lot because many people want to work with him. But since I've never worked with him, I don't know first hand.

2 months ago # QUOTE 2 YEA 6 NAY !
Meriwether

Of course we're talking about holding quality and impact constant. If A + B produce a piece of work that's of similar quality and impact as C's solo work, don't you think C has made more contributions than either A or B alone? C frees up a potential co-author D to work on some other meaningful projects and make other contributions!

Perhaps a reason political scientists can't take on hard research is a lack of logical capacity?

Right. Just discount coauthored work accordingly.
coauthors or not, who cares? just publish high quality papers.

Most of the discipline unfortunately. There is a reason we're right at the bottom it terms of the number of authors per paper. And I'm pretty sure it's the reason most of our work is kinda brainded. Research is hard, trying to take an entire project on one pair of shoulders while also handling other job responsibilities is going to ensure that the work doesn't get done as thoroughly as it could.

2 months ago # QUOTE 0 YEA 3 NAY !
Fulton

you mean "methodologies of causal free riding"?

FTFY

methodologies of casual free riding

2 months ago # QUOTE 1 YEA 0 NAY !

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Don't overvalue single-authored publications

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