I have just graduated in B.A.Sc. During my undergraduate studies I was considerably active in research, such that I succeeded at publishing a paper on my own in a well-known conference.
At the conference and after the presentation, a very experienced professor asked me to present him some more details about the applied methodology from the paper. His opinion of my research paper diminished when he saw the list of authors and realized that I am the sole author. He advised me that such research might not be so noticeable and the community may take such authors as nerd people. Furthermore, he explained that such research reports would not have coherent enough accomplishments, due to the lack of any positive effects of the idea "cooking" in co-operation with other researchers. The ironic thing is that, before he found that the paper has just one author, his attitude regarding the paper and its content was gratifying, deservedly!
My questions are:
- Is this viewpoint an overall and widespread idea among researchers?
- If the ideas, simulations, manufacturing and the other stuff for a paper were done by a single person, should this person consider faking some co-authorship for the paper to avoid presenting themselves as a nerd to others?