Patrick Hayden and I discussed a similar idea. Not selling an Erdos number, but instead simply selling co-authorship. We were thinking more like a deal where we take the buyer and teach them what the paper is about and maybe trying to get the person to contribute in some way to paper. Of course there would be different premiums for different journals. I wonder what a coauthorship on a Nature paper is worth?
Don’t you guys already do that for free for grad students?
It’s not really for free — there’s all sorts of tradeoffs going on. Profs get trained people working on their research program, and considerable kudos within both their own administration, and professionally, in exchange for taking on students.
Patrick Hayden and I discussed a similar idea. Not selling an Erdos number, but instead simply selling co-authorship. We were thinking more like a deal where we take the buyer and teach them what the paper is about and maybe trying to get the person to contribute in some way to paper. Of course there would be different premiums for different journals. I wonder what a coauthorship on a Nature paper is worth?
Don’t you guys already do that for free for grad students?
It’s not really for free — there’s all sorts of tradeoffs going on. Profs get trained people working on their research program, and considerable kudos within both their own administration, and professionally, in exchange for taking on students.