Plagiarism of former supervisors copying from my master thesis

Question

I graduated a couple of years ago performing a master thesis with two supervisors. They both were happy about it and wanted to write a paper from my thesis, including me as author, but after my graduation I didn't hear from them again. It is worth to say that my supervisors had the pdf file of my thesis and all the figures and plots in vector graphics.

To my surprise and deception, I found out that my two former supervisors have published a journal paper based on my master thesis, which is not cited. Not only they have reported all of my plots, but they have also copied the captions (with almost no modifications), equations, tables, and entire sentences (some of them just copy-pasted, other ones with very minor modifications). Moreover, the simulations section reports 2 simulations that I carried out during my thesis, and both the parameters, the plots, and the analysis of the simulations is basically copied from my thesis. After all this content taken from my thesis, I only see that the authors have just acknowledged me in the article for the simulations only, and not even for all the plots and all the sentences they used.

Needless to say, this situation makes me very angry and frustrated. I would like to know, given this situation, whether:

• I can accuse my former supervisors of plagiarism, contacting the editor of the journal and proving that a very large portion of the paper is taken from my thesis, which is not cited. Although my thesis is not available online, the authors could have included it in the list of references, and I can prove that they have a copy of it;
• I can ask to be included as author of the paper, since most of the work published is based on my master thesis, and not only the "simulations", as the authors wrote in the acknowledgements.

Answer 1

I can accuse my former supervisors of plagiarism, contacting the editor of the journal and proving that a very large portion of the paper is taken from my thesis, which is not cited. Although my thesis is not available online, the authors could have included it in the list of references, and I can prove that they have a copy of it;

Yes, you can do that.

I can ask to be included as author of the paper, since most of the work published is based on my master thesis, and not only the "simulations", as the authors wrote in the acknowledgements.

Yes, you can also do that. Based on the information in the question, you should be an author on the paper. I suggest you contact your supervisors and ask them to fix the author list first. If that is unsuccessful, you should follow your university's grievance procedure. Contacting the editor should be the last resort.

Answer 2

I understand your situation as I had gone through the exact same thing. Am sorry that it happened. Anyway based on my experience I would suggest you need to assess the extent of copying based on that you need to first try contacting the authors(if you want to maintain the relation request for the addition of your name give them time and wait for the reply). Otherwise, proceed with second step, get the contact info of the journal get in touch with the editor(if you are not able to directly get there don't worry try the section contact us to )obtain their email and mail that you need to contact the editor as the article with DOI is plagiarised/having significant overlap with your thesis.

Once you get hold of journal head/editor you may explain the case with proof (thesis) this step may take quite a lot of time. Then wait for their reply if your claim is genuine the editors may offer to add your name as author or retract. The entire process may take months, say 6-10 months or can be fast if its in press. Remember you need to be patient and follow up.

Goodluck

Answer 3

Accusing a colleague/former colleague of misconduct will likely cause you big problems. Hiring managers will always try to contact them and they will sense trouble in you. Unfortunately, if they cite you in the graphs it is arguably enough.

Outside of academia, the problem is worse, people will always take credit for your work. I would recommend to wait until you are a bigger fish, get more experience and then you will be able to do something about it. We all go through this.

Answer 4

If they supervised your work, they do have some right on the result. Check the exact guidelines, any licenses you gave to your school or funding entity. Before doing anything rash, do ask somebody knowledgeable with all details. Could be a trusted colleague or your lawyer.