I've always been highly skeptical of co-authored articles in the sciences, business, and education. People in these schools continually claim that a co-authored article should count the same as an article with only one author when it comes to making tenure or promotions decisions. Can you really tell me that eight people working together on one 20 page article are doing the same amount of work as one person in the humanities who produces a single authored 20 page article? I really doubt it.
As I sweat away on this summer's article, I ran across this wonderful cartoon about co-authored articles in the sciences. It confirms all my suspicions. Now I must find a way to get this into the Provost's hands without him knowing it came from me.
The real meaning behind the list of names in co-authored articles.
