// $pub_labels omitted for brevity
$pub_args = array(
    'labels' => $pub_labels,
    'public' => true,
    'publicly_queryable' => true,
    'show_ui' => true, 
    'show_in_menu' => true, 
    'query_var' => true,
    'rewrite' => array('slug' => 'publication', 'with_front' => false),
    'capability_type' => 'post',
    'has_archive' => true, 
    'hierarchical' => false,
    //'menu_position' => 20,
    'supports' => array('title','editor','excerpt','page-attributes')
);
register_post_type('publications', $pub_args);