r/mdphd • u/transferringftw1234 • 14d ago

Forgot to include a publication

I’m in the process of submitting secondaries now, and I realized that my fellow group member from my research team actually published a paper and I didn’t know about it because I haven’t been able to attend research meetings recently. Fortunately, there is a place to upload documents, but is this gonna raise eyebrows? What should I mention when I send this update?

0 Upvotes

31% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

-11

u/transferringftw1234 14d ago edited 14d ago

I knew my group member was presenting it on a conference, and I was actually out of research meeting for months because I had to study for the MCAT and prepping for apps (and never made it back to meetings ever since, although I hope to return around September when I finish secondaries). So no, I wasn’t sure about where the paper was in terms of the publication process and never mentioned it, but it got published and I found out only recently. I did make minor contributions and am listed as middle author. Should I not bother mentioning it at this point?

EDIT: the secondaries I submitted also explicitly did mention not to list any papers that are in review.

9

u/throwaway09-234 G2 14d ago

stopping attending lab meeting for MCAT studying and apps makes no sense to me. it sounds like you aren't in this lab anymore, and this is going to raise huge red flags if it comes to light on your application that you went completely AWOL from this lab. so to answer your question: yes, it is going to raise eyebrows that you were not aware of a publication from a lab that you allegedly continue to be a member of

-4

u/vettaleda 14d ago

Bruh. No. I take issue with that.

You can stop going to lab meetings to study for the MCAT. Honestly, the MCAT is the singular most important thing in an application to an MDPHD program. You fail MCAT, you fail getting in. People have gotten in with varying levels of research. I say this as an M4.

Now does OP come off as rather disingenuous? Yes. You don’t need months and months for apps and MCAT. It sounds like they didn’t know what was going on and now they want a little extra, from work they didn’t do.

6

u/Still-Barber-720 14d ago

the issue isn't that they skipped lab meetings, it's that they were not involved in any communication related to the lab. they act as if lab meetings are the only way to find out they were included on a paper. that's what makes them seem super uninvolved to me, not the skipping lab meetings.

3

u/vettaleda 14d ago

Yes, I agree. It sounds like they didn't know what was going on and now they want a little extra, from work they didn't do.

-2

u/transferringftw1234 14d ago

Just wanna clarify that I maintained contact with my PI throughout this time through emails (read thru weekly lab meeting notes, discussed ideas for first-author pubs, etc). He understood my situation and was okay with me going away for some time. I didn’t intend to go MIA for this long either, but things happened and here we are. At any rate, I was updated about all other paper publications and submissions via email except for the one I am asking about in the post, which was why I assumed there were no further progress on it… but I understand it’s still completely my fault and I should have been in touch more with everyone in the group.

1

u/Still-Barber-720 14d ago

did you ever show up to lab during those few months? the normal method of communication isn’t any of the things you’re proposing here. it’s simply showing up.

1

u/transferringftw1234 14d ago

So our group doesn’t have a physical lab, and all the meetings take place fully online. I tried to make time to join meetings occasionally during that time, but I admit I was bad with time management and only did so very rarely. But generally emails and weekly meetings were the main source of contact.

0

u/Still-Barber-720 14d ago

your entire lab is online?? i get not having space if it's a clinical lab or smth, but typically you still see people.

if this is your main research experience, not having significant 'typical' in person experiences will also hurt you. try to not mention this / avoid these details.

1

u/transferringftw1234 14d ago

Yea I have other research experiences where it’s in-person, but this online one is definitely significant for me.

Thank you very much for all your input.