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[curiouser]

I apologize in advance if this is in the wrong subforum.


I'm a graduate student who has recently become very ill (gastrointestinal, maybe something chronic.  I've been undergoing a lot of testing while various doctors try to sort it out.)  I recently presented at the conference, even though I would have barely been thought to be well enough to present (I vomited almost directly after I finished speaking.)  I had a co-author and a co-presenter.  The co-presenter sort of had a flaky excuse that he needed to attend a wedding at the last minute.  I don't want to go into details, but a lot of people thought this may have been a fake excuse.  I even offered to pay for my co-author's ticket back to the conference venue so he could make it because my illness also made it important that he attend (in case I got nauseous or whatever.)  He made up another excuse as to why he couldn't make it back (something to do with courthouses and having to be there as he was minister of this family wedding.)

My co-author told the professor that he couldn't attend because of a wedding he had to attend.  The professor said that it was perfectly fine that he not attend, and that he could list himself as a co-presenter/co-author on his resume.  My co-author thought that this might be The professor then said that he saw no difference between being a co-author and co-presenter, and that he has listed himself as a co-presenter on many parts of his CV when he didn't actually attend.  He gave several situations where this happened, but it seemed like a joint agreement between him and whoever his co-author was.  He also then asked my co-author how he would feel if I just took full authorship for the talk and the project.  I wouldn't have dreamed of doing such, even if I felt that the student who did the project with me "flaked."

I am curious as to what this community feels about this.  I have seen many arguments about proper authorship, but when working with CVs, is it actually true that a person can list themselves as a co-presenter if they don't present?

[systeme_d_]

The minister-dude is your co-author, and while he really wasn't technically your co-presenter since he cancelled, don't waste time worrying about what goes on his CV.  Instead, build your own CV.

Worrying about unimportant stuff like this may be worsening your gastrointestinal condition, too.  Cut it out.

[curiouser]

The minister-dude is your co-author, and while he really wasn't technically your co-presenter since he cancelled, don't waste time worrying about what goes on his CV.  Instead, build your own CV.

Worrying about unimportant stuff like this may be worsening your gastrointestinal condition, too.  Cut it out.

I agree with you.  It definitely hasn't helped by any means, nor is finishing up final thesis papers or any of the other stressors of grad school.  However, now, I am not even sure if I am obligated to list him as such on my CV as I build it, as the professor has basically made the two sound like the same thing.

[systeme_d_]

Here's what you should have on your CV:

Presentations

"Name of Presentation," coauthored with Minister Dude, Name of Conference, City, Date.

That's it.

[heynonnynonnymouse]

Maybe this is field dependent, but on CVs in my field, the person who actually "presents" at a conference is not listed in any specific way. Only authorship is relevant, and only authorship is listed. So if Smith, Jones, Lee and Brady all wrote a paper together, and Jones presented it, all four authors would still be listed in the order agreed upon by everyone. (Often the order might be changed from what it would be when/if published to give a little attention to the person actually presenting at the conference.) I've never seen two people tag team present the same paper at a conference, anyway (though I suppose it could happen, I'm just a grad student) - even if he'd been there, would you have "shared" the presentation? You seem to indicate that you wanted him there as backup (in case you got sick) rather than to share the duties, anyway. So if he'd been there, and not talked, you'd list him as a co-presenter? This all seems nit-picky and irrelevant.

Honestly, I know a lot of grad students who would be hosed if they couldn't list conference papers presented at conferences they couldn't attend due to financial or work situations. That's the great part of having 5 authors on a conference paper - only one of you has to find the money to be able to get there!

[curiouser]

No, we were actually planning to tag-team through the presentation as this was our first conference experience, and we put equal work into it.  I have seen the same practice a few times at this conference.  Only when I fell ill did his attendance seem more important.  In short, I am certainly disappointed that he didn't attend.  On the other hand, the professor made it clear that I had to attend the conference to be able to even list it on my CV.

I recognize the difference between financial and work situations impeding on conference attendance.  This is why this is my first, and I'm pretty close to graduation.

I didn't know that presenters were important to list on CVs, either, but I guess that's the standard in my field as this is what I've heard from the professor who supervised this.

[curiouser]

Here's what you should have on your CV:

Presentations

"Name of Presentation," coauthored with Minister Dude, Name of Conference, City, Date.

That's it.

That's quite clear, but I understand this varies.

[gcaye]

Wait, you can list a paper on your CV that was accepted at a conference that you didn't attend?

I'm in the humanities, grad student.  This is the first I've heard of this, but if it's ok to do I can certainly bump up my conference list on my CV by two.  I'm the sole author though.

[systeme_d_]

No, Gcaye, you cannot.

[galactic_hedgehog]

Wait, you can list a paper on your CV that was accepted at a conference that you didn't attend?

I'm in the humanities, grad student.  This is the first I've heard of this, but if it's ok to do I can certainly bump up my conference list on my CV by two.  I'm the sole author though.

No, Gcaye, you cannot.

Depends on your field.  In my sciency-field, I can co-author a conference abstract and list it on my CV without being the speaker (if it's an oral presentation) or even attending the conference.  The key thing is that I contribute to the presentation.  Of course, our conference presentations aren't reading papers but either poster or oral presentations that, in general, last 15 minutes.

[systeme_d_]

Wait, you can list a paper on your CV that was accepted at a conference that you didn't attend?

I'm in the humanities, grad student.  This is the first I've heard of this, but if it's ok to do I can certainly bump up my conference list on my CV by two.  I'm the sole author though.

No, Gcaye, you cannot.

Depends on your field.  In my sciency-field, I can co-author a conference abstract and list it on my CV without being the speaker (if it's an oral presentation) or even attending the conference.  The key thing is that I contribute to the presentation.  Of course, our conference presentations aren't reading papers but either poster or oral presentations that, in general, last 15 minutes.

Thanks, GH.  It became apparent earlier in this thread that the OP might not be in a humanities field, so my advice became moot.  But for Gcaye, who is in a humanities field, my advice is spot-on.

[gcaye]

Thought not, thanks...!

[crowie]

Gcaye, if you are in the humanities and writing a single-authored paper then you have to write it and present it at the conference to include it in your CV.  Especially since often papers at humanities conferences are accepted on the basis of a 200 word abstract, if you don't write it up and actually present the 15-20 minute version of it, then you can't include it on your CV.

By contrast it sounds like from what those in the sciences are saying on this thread (I am not in the sciences), if you co-authored a paper it is considered legitimate to list a paper to which you contributed in your CV under "conferences" even if only one of the, say, four or five authors actually attended to "present" the paper.

[scampster]

Gcaye, if you are in the humanities and writing a single-authored paper then you have to write it and present it at the conference to include it in your CV.  Especially since often papers at humanities conferences are accepted on the basis of a 200 word abstract, if you don't write it up and actually present the 15-20 minute version of it, then you can't include it on your CV.

By contrast it sounds like from what those in the sciences are saying on this thread (I am not in the sciences), if you co-authored a paper it is considered legitimate to list a paper to which you contributed in your CV under "conferences" even if only one of the, say, four or five authors actually attended to "present" the paper.

Well in STEM, we generally don't present papers at conferences. The people who contributed to the research shown in the presentation are generally all listed as co-authors. Usually the presentation is one aspect of a paper we are currently writing.

[galactic_hedgehog]

Wait, you can list a paper on your CV that was accepted at a conference that you didn't attend?

I'm in the humanities, grad student.  This is the first I've heard of this, but if it's ok to do I can certainly bump up my conference list on my CV by two.  I'm the sole author though.

No, Gcaye, you cannot.

Depends on your field.  In my sciency-field, I can co-author a conference abstract and list it on my CV without being the speaker (if it's an oral presentation) or even attending the conference.  The key thing is that I contribute to the presentation.  Of course, our conference presentations aren't reading papers but either poster or oral presentations that, in general, last 15 minutes.

Thanks, GH.  It became apparent earlier in this thread that the OP might not be in a humanities field, so my advice became moot.  But for Gcaye, who is in a humanities field, my advice is spot-on.

No prob.

So.  Wanna be a co-author on my next conference abstract?  Attendance is not necessary, but we do have beer.