Sample Questions for Interviews of Faculty

1. How are graduate students' contributions to research and innovation recognized (beyond the course credit they receive)?
2. How important is authorship as part of completing a Ph.D. program?
3. Who decides when to submit a paper, and what to put in it? That is, who starts the process, and who makes the final decision? Can a grad student just submit a paper on his or her own?
4. What are your criteria for listing a student's name as an author on a journal article?
5. What factors are considered in determining the order in which the authors are listed?
6. Do you require all authors to approve the final version of a manuscript before submission?
7. What factors determine which person working on research group gives a presentation on the research at a professional meeting?
   • Are the factors the same as whether and how to list someone among authors?
   • Do considerations such as whether the student is looking for a job play a role in these decisions?
8. Suppose a student contributes to a research project in which the results will be presented in a report or presentation, instead of a publication. How is the student's work credited?
   • Does it matter if the sponsor or audience for the presentation is a potential employer of the program's graduates?
9. Credit and responsibility for research go together. One aspect of responsibility is to minimize mistakes and errors in research.
   • In your area, what sort of mistakes are regarded as trivial and what sort of mistakes are regarded as significant or serious?
   • What are appropriate ways of dealing with mistakes in published (or disseminated) research results?