Can a research publication have a bad impact on your career? When I was starting out in my Masters degree, I had an idea of a publication that could be completed in a small amount of time. I was starting out and I felt it would get me at ease with research after publishing this idea.

My idea was like a comparison between two different techniques of solving a problem and the paper could be completed in a week. However, My supervisor told me that I could get a publication for this idea but he recommended me not to waste my efforts on a low quality publication and focus on a long term high to medium quality publication.

So my question is would it have badly affected my research career if I had published that paper?
First, regarding your comment that “if [the paper] was so bad it would not have been published”: in my experience, pretty much anything is publishable, it all depends on the journal. Don't overestimate the field: there are journals out there that publish absolute crap. And that is not only my opinion, e.g.


  in many cases, Bentham Open journals publish articles that no legitimate peer-review journal would accept


Now, the initial question is: how bad can it be? Well, it can be bad. As a researcher (or wannabe researcher), your publications list is like an artist's portfolio. When you look for a job, apply for a grant or try to recruit new team members, this is what they will judge you on. 

Now, for a young student (say undergrad or MSc level), one weird paper would not completely freak me out. It would mostly speak to me about the quality of the tutor/advisor/program director: a newbie can sure get a wrong idea at some point, but how come noöne was there to tell him it was a wrong idea? On the other hand, if he was told and did not listen, it might speak to his character!