[{"id":293,"title":"New Ph.D. students in the empirical sciences should be recruited into ongoing scientific studies right from the start","sha":"f968f773b90468ac66b9bebbb1afe0b9","user_id":null,"state":"published","body":"All too often we come across Ph.D. students who after 2-3 years of effort still struggle with their first (co-)authorship. In many cases, this may be considered a waste of financial resources and human potential\u003csup\u003e[1](https://www.questia.com/library/journal/1P3-117911655/obstacles-to-completion-of-the-doctoral-degree-in)[-](http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0158037X.2015.1055463)[3](http://bioscience.oxfordjournals.org/content/63/10/817.abstract)\u003c/sup\u003e. We’d like to pitch the idea that newly started Ph.D. students should be invited to an ongoing study – thesis material or not – within the first weeks of their employment\u003csup\u003e[cf.4](http://www.informingscience.org/Publications/2291?Source=%2FJournals%2FIJDS%2FArticles%3FVolume%3D0-0)\u003c/sup\u003e. The study should ideally be close to completion, and the task assigned to the Ph.D. student should comprise perhaps 2-3 days of work (plus manuscript revision\u003csup\u003e[5](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/)\u003c/sup\u003e). We have employed this approach many times\u003csup\u003e[e.g.,6](http://mycokeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=7553)\u003c/sup\u003e, and the results so far have been encouraging: the Ph.D. students get a dose of positive energy from being part of a successful scientific enterprise and publication; they gets to feel that they and their work are taken seriously; and they obtain a quantum of experience of the scientific process. Furthermore, an early introduction to the notion of collaborative research efforts – a routine practice in academia and industry these days – is accomplished\u003csup\u003e[7](http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1021/acs.analchem.6b00532)\u003c/sup\u003e. This approach means little extra work for the project PI, but what strikes us is how long-lasting the positive effects for the Ph.D. students seem to be.","created_at":"2016-03-22T08:38:44.025Z","updated_at":"2022-03-27T13:23:11.045Z","zenodo_id":103490,"doi":"http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.48179","subject":null,"tags":["ph.d. training","scientific collaboration","supervision"],"vote_count":3,"view_count":1,"score":3.1,"deleted":false,"muted":false,"tweeted":true,"attachment_file_name":"References.pdf","attachment_content_type":"application/pdf","attachment_file_size":45591,"attachment_updated_at":"2016-03-22T08:38:43.974Z"}]