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Sorry, I believe that the title of this post is a little misleading, but can't understand what the best keywords are.

For my thesis, I have asked some help for a statistical analysis to a faculty member, getting more or less a 3-hours tutorial on the analysis. After my thesis, I have written an article on a broader topic that includes some preliminary data taken from that experiment. My article has been accepted, and I would like to mention the involvement of the faculty member that has advised me on the analysis. What are the possible methods?

I would like to ask you for different ways to do this, so to discuss this with the faculty member mentioned. As written in this article (http://www.labtimes.org/labtimes/issues/lt2013/lt02/lt_2013_02_40_40.pdf), the role of this advisor has been significant - otherwise I wouldn't have been able to complete my thesis -, but really too little in relation to the theme and scope of the article.

In any case, this is showing preliminary data (very basic), and I have written it completely by myself, with half the article covering a different topic. I am actively working with this advisor right now on a proper analysis to be published in a journal with this advisor as a coauthor.

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  • "... I would like to mention the involvement of the faculty member...What are the possible methods?" Why not just add this person as a co-author and be done with it?
    – SecretAgentMan
    Sep 11, 2018 at 13:37

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If the paper has been already accepted, I am not sure that you are even allowed to add co-authors at this stage. So, the only option that you have is to mention his/her contribution in the acknowledgment (e.g., "I am grateful to XYZ for his/her help on data analysis"). Anyway, if I understood you correctly, the help was limited to 3 hours consultation. For such contribution a person usually will not expect to be part of the paper (unless you promised this explicitly).

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    Did you omit "not" in the last sentence?
    – GEdgar
    Sep 11, 2018 at 14:05
  • Like @GEdgar said, the last sentence seems to cut against the grain of your answer, which I would have upvoted otherwise.
    – henning
    Sep 11, 2018 at 14:10
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I don't think that it is appropriate to include anyone as an author unless they actually contributed directly to the paper. That might include a lot of people in a science lab that helped carry out the experiments on which the paper is based, of course. That doesn't seem to be the case here. It seems more a case of general education with an indirect contribution at best.

But it is common, and probably still allowed after acceptance, to add an acknowledgement section at the end of the paper in which you write a sentence or two mentioning the professor and the contribution. "I would like to thank Professor Smythe for his (her) help and patience for giving me a deeper understanding of ...". I wouldn't push it to the point that you couldn't have completed your dissertation without the help, and doubt that that is precisely correct in any case. But if the help deepened your understanding, say something like that.

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  • It is very common and it definitely should be the case that people who are not actually writing the papers are coauthors. There's much more to research than just writing the paper, there might be experiments, data collection, data processing, data interpretation,.... Actually you should include anyone who made a significant contribution to the paper as a coauthor. If that advice was crucial to the success of the research it might warrant an authorship.
    – user64845
    Sep 11, 2018 at 16:34
  • @DSVA, yes, I'm aware of what happens in science labs and agree that it is appropriate. But my interpretation of "writing" extends to that. I'll make an edit to clarify. Thanks.
    – Buffy
    Sep 11, 2018 at 17:15

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