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I have developed a method/measure in a project supervised by my PhD advisor, and (a rather limited version of) this method appeared very useful in a project I'm working on in collaboration with a different group (let's call it group X), which has nothing to do with my advisor or my institution. I was wondering if I need to involve my advisor in the project with group X to use this method in the project. Can I just use it without having my advisor as a co-author or do I need to ask for a permission from my advisor for that?

Conversely, the useful of the method for studying the data collected in the project with group X (by other members of group X, not me!), is a good example for how useful the method is, so I'm also considering showing this application on that data as an example later in the paper for this method. Do I need to have anyone from group X as a co-author if I do that?

More information about the situation: This particular method itself is new, but is building on previous research done (and published) by other members of my advisor's research group. The project on this method focuses on the significance and useful of the method and has a long way to publication, but the very simple and primary version of this method at a very limited scope has an application in the project I'm doing with group X, and we're going to submit the first paper for that project pretty soon (hopefully).

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  • I might have misunderstood something but were you thinking of publishing a paper with collaborators, regardless of the methods used, without even talking to your PI, who's presumably paying your salary?
    – posdef
    Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 15:25
  • @posdef I was thinking of publishing the paper without talking to my advisor, but I don't see anything wrong with that because this is a project I started before starting my PhD, and I'm working on it out of the regular work hours.
    – nara
    Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 16:21
  • in that case you could probably just cite the paper in which the method is described. But I would still play my cards open and tell him/her that you are working on this stuff.
    – posdef
    Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 16:25
  • @posdef Sure, my advisor knows that I'm working on a project from before I join the group, but doesn't know the details.
    – nara
    Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 17:31
  • @posdef The issue is that the method is most probably going to be published after the other paper will be published.
    – nara
    Commented Sep 27, 2019 at 17:32

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I have developed a method/measure in a project supervised by my PhD advisor ... Can I just use it without having my advisor as a co-author or do I need to ask for a permission from my advisor for that?

This is a very vague description, but in my field, this is the whole point of having collaborators. You might not need to ask "permission," but you could certainly mention it to your advisor. Unless standards in your field are very different, there's no reason for them to stop you.

so I'm also considering showing this application on that data as an example later in the paper for this method. Do I need to have anyone from group X as a co-author if I do that?

Typically, yes

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Many universities have an academic director or someone who you can talk to about ethical issues. They are usually objective parties who give counsel on what is acceptable or not acceptable behavior when it comes to publishing.

Seeing as this case seems very specific, have you considered talking to this person? You might get better insights into how they do it at your specific university, most of the advice you will get here will be generic and not specific to your situation.

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