Publishing is an important part of the work we do as academics and researchers. Every one of my Masters of Computer Science students should aim to have their thesis result in a publication, and every one of my doctoral students should aim to have, on average, one publication per year of study.
Despite the pressure to publish there are certain rules which must never be violated: Anything we publish must conform to the requirements set out in the Dalhousie University Policy On INTEGRITY IN SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY as amended on 29 January 2011 document (in PDF).
Authorship and Acknowledgments
That means, amongst other things,
- that no student of mine may submit anything for publication without my prior approval (§2.3), and
- that every author must have contributed to the article in at
least one of the following three ways:
[by having] made a significant intellectual contribution to the [article]
(§2.1 my emphasis)[by having] written a portion of the [article]
(§2.1)[by having] produced data [that is] included in [the article]
(§2.1)
Acknowledgment
Contributors (whether people or institutions) who
provided ideas, materials, technical support [or] financial support
(§2.1) may be acknowledged in the article; however,
such contribution alone does not entitle anyone to be an author.
It is my responsibility to determine the difference
between significant intellectual contribution[s]
and ideas
but it is your responsibility to inform me of any
circumstances where I might need to make such determination.
Presentations at Conferences, Workshops, Symposia, etc.
It is vital that someone attend the conference, etc. to present that article if it is accepted. One of the authors should present the article. Only in very unusual circumstances may someone else present the article. If no one can be in attendance to present the article then it must be withdrawn from the conference etc.