Does your professor claim student work as their own? What you should do, and a note to professors to stop being unethical: My quick rant

Alright. It is time for someone to start speaking about this, and to bring this to light. I’m simply tired of seeing this unethical behavior take hold in the academic community. The two issues I will bring to light here are:

1)  Paper Name Tagging (PNT): If you are publishing anywhere between 50 - 100 peer reviewed articles a year (in reputable venues), any credible scientist will simply not believe you. This is simply a publishing mafia, made up of a name tagging system to promote one’s citation index. This is extremely unethical and goes against what academia stands for, which in my opinion boils down to honesty, truth, and knowledge.

2) Authorship Placement: Were you first author? Second author? Third author? I know in certain biological sciences, it seems more prestigious to be the last author, since many scientists claim that authorship because knowledge transpires through their funding in their own lab. However, in computing, being first author simply means you did most of the work. So, what is the problem here? The problem is that many professors place themselves as first authors, when their students did most of the work, if not all the work. This is extremely unethical and taking credit for your student’s hard work is both unethical and sleazy. I actually take pride in being second, or third author, and making sure my students get credit for being first authors, because it means I have been a good mentor and supporter, even though most of the research projects my students work on are ideas that I came up with.

Please, if you are a professor, or educator, take the abovementioned points to heart. Stop being unethical. Think about what you are doing to the scientific community, and moreover, about the model you are portraying to your very own students by engaging in the abovementioned activities. By playing the name tagging game, you are sending a message to your students that it is OK to lie, and by placing yourself as first author on papers you were not first author on, you are teaching them to take credit for work they have not done themselves.

If you are student, demand that you be first author, if you can clearly demonstrate that you did all the work. Don’t stay silent because you are scared from your professor and advisor. Speak up, and show the evidence needed to back up your claim. Also, choose to work with professors and advisors that are ethical in the first place.

End of rant. 

--Opinions here are of my own--

Ibrahim (Abe) Baggili PhD, Elder Family Endowed Chair, Associate Professor

Co-Director & Founder, Cyber Forensics Research and Education Group (cFREG)

 Web: UNHcFREG Personal Website Google Scholar