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I'm going to be overly honest/vulnerable for a minute here because I think it's important, and I have a lot of positional power now (muahaha), etc. Leave now if that's not your jam tonight.
People often ask me about why so many of my papers are single author. (1/) https://twitter.com/millerjm86/status/1328765642372042753
People often ask me about why so many of my papers are single author. (1/) https://twitter.com/millerjm86/status/1328765642372042753
Dudes: I LOVE collaborating. I have 67 people in my "recent / current collaborators" file that NSF uses to determine whether you're too close to someone for them to review you, and I need to add a bunch. (2/)
The truth is I have consciously or unconsciously tended to publish alone as proof that I can do the work. (3/)
I have a lot of lovely men collaborators and mentors that I very much appreciate. And I have had a lot of privilege to have found enough independent funding to publish alone without causing too much trouble (3/)
That said, there's a STRONG gendered pattern to who people assume did the work on my collaborative stuff. (There's literature on this, too, especially focused on econ) (4/)
I'm easing up on this fear a little in part because I know I have my own reputation now. But DESPITE having had excellent, supportive male collaborators--superstars, even--I have avoided publishing with them as much as I could have. I'm sure that hurts me in cite count. (5/)
Multiple someones I trust very much told me that one of my (kickass) papers with another young woman prob would have gotten a lot more attn if we'd added a nonspecific "graybeard" to it.
I think they're probably right but it pissed me off so much I didn't even consider it. (6/)
I think they're probably right but it pissed me off so much I didn't even consider it. (6/)
Cite count pain aside, I'm also pretty sure this protective strategy is why I have a job. Because again, people are more willing to believe I did my share of the work if I'm the only author, or I coauthored with another young woman. (7/)
Anyway this is EXTREMELY not a callout of my men collaborators/advisors. I collaborate(d) with them because they're good on stuff like this -- and obviously my supervisors let me get away with being stupidly independent, which I appreciate. (8/)
But as everyone is pointing out about That Paper -- 
maybe the answer is more complex than "women shouldn't mentor women because it hurts their citation indexes" (end)
maybe the answer is more complex than "women shouldn't mentor women because it hurts their citation indexes" (end)
