US Postdoc in Japan not allowed to be first-author due to being foreign. How to proceed?

Question

I am a US postdoc at a lab in Japan doing niche research in computational biology. I recently found out my advisor will not allow me to be first author on papers. He says the datasets (which were my primary reason for joining this lab) were funded by the Japanese Government (although the data collection was international) and so a foreigner cannot be first author (though I would be doing most of the work).

There is a half-Japanese/half-American professor who teaches a short course for foreigners about how to survive/excel at the university. He told me this is common and that most foreigner postdocs leave the university with zero first-author publications - because first-author credits are typically reserved for Japanese researchers. He said I will need to creatively navigate these issues while not stepping on toes.

I want to figure out a way to obtain first-author publications during my postdoc without stepping on anyone's toes.

Question: Is this typical for foreigners in Japanese Academia? How can I navigate it? I know it is difficult to switch labs in this niche field, but if I do not take action, I will finish my postdoc with 0 first-author publications.

Possible solution: I have connections with a scientist at a government lab in the US. I have a negative impression of him from our past interactions, but he does have datasets in this niche research area. I could ask if he would be willing for me to remotely analyze one of his datasets. Does this seem like a reasonable solution? Any caveats I should be aware of?

Answer 1

While what you are describing is entirely inappropriate from a perspective of scientific ethics, I would not be surprised if:

• there may be a language/culture miscommunication causing you to misinterpret the situation, or
• there is indeed an informal policy of this sort amongst some laboratories (but individual labs all over the world sometimes have odious policies)

Anecdotally, while I have not worked in Japanese academia myself, I have Japanese colleagues who don't appear to have such a policy and have non-Japanese colleagues who did postdocs in Japan and published as a first author. Such a policy is at least thus not extremely common.

So, what should you do?

• First, I would recommend starting from the position that this is a mis-communication and asking how your advisor recommends you getting first author publications during your postdoc, since this is important for your career.
• Your advisor is unlikely to say no (for a number of reasons), but if they do not give you a clear path to getting first-author publications, then I would indeed suggest finding other people to work with, while doing what's necessary to maintain relations and face with your current laboratory.
• Finally, note that while first author publications are wonderful, "co-first-author" and second author publications are also good, and if the common denominator amongst a number of papers is you, then people will likely recognize that fact.

Answer 2

As a person working at a Japanese university, I never encountered such cases. Having said that, I can imagine reasonable motivation behind your advisor's actions. It all boils down to the fact that the "first author" is considered the "primary author" by default, and being the "primary author" makes reporting a smoother process. Say, I obtained (as a "primary investigator") a certain dataset, and I expected to report results achieved with the dataset. So it would look better if I am also the main contributor of the corresponding research paper(s). Similarly, it is easier to obtain additional funding for a conference trip if I am the primary author of the paper to be presented. (There are also various internal evaluations where your authorship counts, so it's tempting to increase own score, even at the expense of others).

None of these considerations turn into ironclad rules, but I understand that it's much easier for an advisor to be "the one who contributes" and "the one who reports" at the same time (especially if you aren't planning to stay long there and you might not be a lab member at the time of reporting). However, as I said before, these are my informed guesses rather than hard facts.

What you can do... well, perhaps, negotiate. Maybe you can sacrifice first authorship of this particular paper, but you have to do it on condition that your next paper will go with you as the first author, and if is means switching the dataset or adjusting anything else your advisor considers necessary -- let them sort it out before you do any more work for them.

Answer 3

It might be a little late to contribute to this topic, but officially there is no such thing in Japan that foreigners cannot be first author of their papers if the material (data) upon which the paper is based on was obtained through Japanese government funds. It is certainly not an official rule in any Japanese research institution and he has just told you that HE THINKS that is doesn't look good... In other words, it is just your boss treating you in a discriminatory manner, which is not uncommon in Japan (e.g., not considering foreigners for promotions or a permanent contracts, though I have never seen up to this level of denying authorship as 1st author). I know many people who work for Japanese research institutions and all foreigners publish as 1st authors. All the data required for research is obviously obtained directly or indirectly by Japanese funding. The bottom line is, if a foreigner cannot publish as 1st author, a foreigner shall not be hired for that job in the first place. I unfortunately believe that there is no negotiation that will work but you should try anyways, as other suggested, to make your point clear that you DO NEED to publish 1st author papers... In case he denies that, I would suggest you should contact the JAXA compliance desk (madoguchi) perhaps by an anonymous e-mail (they do accept this according to their website) and ask them to advice you on how to proceed. Obviously there is always the risk that if you start pushing your boss on that matter, he will not renew your contact, which is likely renewed on a yearly basis.