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[mediumrare]

Hi All!

Great thread! I was wondering if I could add a couple of questions.

I'm currently an UG, just got accepted into a PhD for Fall 2012. I've expressed an interest in revising my senior thesis for publication and my professors in that field are very supportive of me doing so and have offered to help. One professor believes there is a very real chance of getting it published since there is little scholarship currently on the topic I researched.

1. Is it improper or a breach of etiquette to ask more than one person to look at your work at a time?
2. Will it be OK for me to acknowledge my professors' assistance in the footnotes?
3. I might need to change my name in the future - how does this affect one's publications or doesn't it?

Thanks so much for any advice!

:)

[totoro]

1. Is it improper or a breach of etiquette to ask more than one person to look at your work at a time?

No problem but don't send it to more than one publication outlet at once. That is a big no-no in academia.

2. Will it be OK for me to acknowledge my professors' assistance in the footnotes?

Yes

3. I might need to change my name in the future - how does this affect one's publications or doesn't it?

The old publications will remain in the old name and confuse everyone including all the online databases. The only place you'll be able to clarify things is on your CV. My recommendation is not to change your name. On the other hand my wife hasn't changed her name - it's not the custom in China anyway - but her family name is so common it is pretty confusing anyway.

[sagit]

Totoro is correct on all counts.

I also suggest that you may want to think carefully about the name change.  I know some women who changed their name was less common than their maiden name (such as going from Smith to Morra), so that helped them in making their research contribution more obvious.  If you only have one publication on a former name, that's probably not that bad - especially as an undergrad.  But you might also want to consider just keeping your original name for your professional life.  There are probably down sides to that though as well.

[mediumrare]

1. Is it improper or a breach of etiquette to ask more than one person to look at your work at a time?

No problem but don't send it to more than one publication outlet at once. That is a big no-no in academia.

2. Will it be OK for me to acknowledge my professors' assistance in the footnotes?

Yes

3. I might need to change my name in the future - how does this affect one's publications or doesn't it?

The old publications will remain in the old name and confuse everyone including all the online databases. The only place you'll be able to clarify things is on your CV. My recommendation is not to change your name. On the other hand my wife hasn't changed her name - it's not the custom in China anyway - but her family name is so common it is pretty confusing anyway.

Thank you for the advice!

[seniorscholar]

  But you might also want to consider just keeping your original name for your professional life. 

It is still perfectly appropriate to be Mrs. Smith, or Joan Smith (Jim Smith's wife and Bobby Smith's mother) in your social and neighborhood life, and to be Dr. Brown or Professor Brown or Joan Brown in your professional and publishing and academic life, and has been so in many places for more than a century. And it used to have one other wonderful advantage: back when I was a young faculty member in a fairly small town, and when there were no cell phones and everyone looked in the phone book for everything, students could find my office number in the faculty directory **but they could not find me at home** because there wasn't any "Joan Brown" in the town's phone book, although the children's friends' parents could fine Joan Smith there.

And the niece of mine who's a clinical psychologist is especially happy that patients -- and especially the angry husbands of patients (a not unusual phenomenon in her specialty) -- also can not find her home address or phone number.

[mediumrare]

I get the problem with name changing, and the confusion it brings.. however, in my case.. my current legal last name belongs to that of an ex, and so I'd actually like to change it back to my maiden name.

Is it possible to publish under a pseudonym in scholarly journals? If so, I'd publish under my maiden name, with the intention of legally changing it once I have enough money to do so.

(What holds me back from changing my name is the cost and timing; aside from the court costs I would also have to change my name on my naturalization papers and passport. The entire process will probably cost me $1000. As a student that's just not within my budget at the moment.)

[polly_mer]

Is it possible to publish under a pseudonym in scholarly journals? If so, I'd publish under my maiden name, with the intention of legally changing it once I have enough money to do so.

I don't know how happy people would be about a pseudonym, but I do know that no one has ever required me to provide proof that the name on the manuscript is legally my name.  I send them a manuscript with the name I want on it from an email address that may or may not match that name and the thing goes through review.  At no point does anyone say, "Prove that you are Polly Mer and that you are affiliated with XYZ university instead of PDQ institution as was originally listed".

(What holds me back from changing my name is the cost and timing; aside from the court costs I would also have to change my name on my naturalization papers and passport. The entire process will probably cost me $1000. As a student that's just not within my budget at the moment.)

I am not an expert in the area of name changes, but when I changed my name, the entire process was roughly $50 and a lot of writing to government agencies with no court involved at all.  You may want to go get more information since $1000 seems very pricey to me, even with a passport change, if you are in the United States and your divorce is final.

[mediumrare]

[/quote]

I am not an expert in the area of name changes, but when I changed my name, the entire process was roughly $50 and a lot of writing to government agencies with no court involved at all.  You may want to go get more information since $1000 seems very pricey to me, even with a passport change, if you are in the United States and your divorce is final.
[/quote]

Unfortunately, in my case it would run me about $1000.. The county I am in has a filing fee of $175, estimated $200 for 3 weeks of newspaper announcements (required by the county), $345 for a revised naturalization certificate, roughly $100 for a new passport and then the miscellaneous smaller ID changes and what not.

Ah well, it's a moot point until I actually publish, isn't it? :)