Question about publications for those working at universities

How much difference does it make if your publications have a co-author?

I just finished my masters program and my dissertation supervisor said I can probably get my dissertation published and I have the option of doing it all myself or having her help me with the rewriting and submitting and getting a co-author credit.

I would much rather do the latter but I’m wondering if universities in Japan would look less favorably on something that I published with someone else.

4 comments
  1. Depends on the discipline, probably. If you read scholarly articles where there are usually only one author, then solo-publishing should be the goal. If papers normally have co-authors, then co-authoring is fine.

  2. Usually counts as a 1/2 publication, 3/4 if your name comes first. I’m sure different universities have different rules.

  3. First pub, I’d definitely consider working with them. You’ll learn a lot and have that networking effect if they’re a relatively known name in the field.

    As someone else mentioned single-authored papers hold a little more value when job searching but I don’t think enough to mind for one publication. Just make sure you are first author.

    I want to understand what you mean by co-author credit. Whether you are first author or second author has a lot of ethical and professional implications for that paper. You mean the supervisor will get co-author credit (2nd author)?

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