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I am a phd student and I am writing a paper with my advisor, which is also part of my thesis. When we were going to submit it for publication, he asked me out of the blue to include in the paper the name of another phd student, who had just started a phd with him. This person had not done any work for my paper in any way. Once I refused, he threated me that he won't let me graduate, but I didn't cave in. Then, he started saying that this paper was no good and had to be removed from my thesis, otherwise I won't be able to graduate. If I comply and I exclude this from my thesis, can he steal it and publish it without my name? On the other hand, if this paper remains in my thesis, and my thesis is officially submitted, would he be able to steal it?

Update: Thank you all very much for your answers! The paper is completed, there isn't anything the new PhD can do to contribute. What I would like to know is if my advisor can take my paper and publish it without my name. Can he do that if my paper is included in my thesis?

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    How can these horror stories be true? I'm not doubting OP, just thinking that I have been very lucky so far with the people I've been under.
    – Philosopher of science
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 11:47
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    Regrettably, sometimes there is strategic thinking behind all of this. Say for example, the new PhD student is applying for a fellowship/scholarship and this would reduce how much your advisor would have to spend to keep him. Adding him on an additionnal article would really help his/her chances, hence you are thrown into this situation. It is very unethical, but I am not surprised to see it happen.
    – BlaB
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 11:50
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    @Julia Have you considered including some useful work done by the new PhD student so you can both enrich your own work and give them co-authorship legitimately? You could do that by using just a few of their paragraphs.
    – Philosopher of science
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 11:50
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    @Philosopherofscience These horror stories are probably true, but as little as your local hospital is a reflection of the health status of your town (let's forget the pandemic for a moment which is everywhere), so is academia.SE a reflection on the depravity of academia. People come here because they have problems, not if everything is fine.
    – Captain Emacs
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 12:22
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    @Captain Emacs Good point, although I came here just because I had questions when everything was fine.
    – Philosopher of science
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 12:25

3 Answers 3

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It would be serious ethical misconduct for your advisor to try to publish your work under his own name. If you find that it has been done, a note to the journal editor or conference chair would have serious repercussions for his career. You could also, then, file a claim with the university, perhaps resulting in his getting reprimanded or fired. It is serious enough that few would be willing to risk the harm it would cause themselves.

However, that doesn't help you a lot at this moment. I've written in answer to many other questions here that it is very seldom profitable to fight with your advisor, even when they are clearly wrong, as here. In the end, you might have to yield on this in order to graduate and get on with your career. He holds an inordinate amount of power over you at the moment.

Let me suggest, however, that you might be able to defuse the situation if you can find allies among the students or other faculty to intervene in this on your behalf. It is hard to fight against powerful people alone. Even if someone else knows of your situation, a faculty member, it would, perhaps, make retaliation against you more dangerous for the advisor. In reality, they should let you publish with proper authorship and graduate based on qualifications. If they do anything else, then it would be appropriate to bring an action against them.

But, I suggest that you don't make a formal complaint based only on threats of bad action. Choose as you think best about the advisor's demand, and if he then takes action against you in any way, complain to whatever authorities are open to you.

You might be able, also, to find some middle ground, such as offering to help this other student in some other way than giving them authorship that isn't proper.

No one can promise that anything but submission will result in a successful outcome for you. Having a paper with a phony author is still having a paper, which is a good thing. It won't be your last paper. It likely, over your career, won't be your best paper. Don't let the short term considerations negatively affect your long term career goals, even if you have to submit to an unethical advisor. Get done. Get gone.

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Removing an author from a paper is a very sensitive topic. If that is done without the consent of the author, then this is a serious violation of research regulations. In your case, it does not matter if the paper is included in your thesis or not. Authorship of a paper does not depend on the thesis inclusion. As far as I know, these are standard research regulations. If there are specific regulations in your country or university, that can provide further insights to your situation.

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  • I understand what you mean, thank you for your comment, Francesco. I am more concerned about the proof that I will need, in case I find out that he has indeed published my work without me. I mean, if I keep it in my thesis, it will be easier for me to prove that this is my work. But if I leave it out of my thesis, I will only have emails and drafts to prove my contribution to the paper. So what I am really asking is if the inclusion of the paper in my thesis somehow protects me. Regulations are actually kind of loose in my country.
    – Julia
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 15:44
  • I think the emails and drafts are enough to prove that you are author of the paper. I think that any journal editor would halt the review process if you send them your emails. Do you have an email with your supervisor saying that the paper is approved and asking to include an author? Your advisor has attempted what is known as coercive authorship. In addition has taken retaliation by questioning the inclusion in your thesis. All these actions can fall within academic misconduct, which is not the same as research misconduct.
    – Francesco
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 19:35
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I appreciate that you did not cave. But, I would consider, just saying consider, including some useful work done by the new PhD student so you can both enrich your own work and give them co-authorship legitimately. You could do that by using just a few of their paragraphs.

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    This is a phony non-solution. Almost as bad as the behavior of the advisor. Authorship should be honest.
    – Buffy
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 15:29
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    @Buffy Oh, that's hurtful my friend. It would be honest if it had work by both and mentioned both as authors. The purported conduct by that Prof. seems to be really unethical, so I think my proposal is not "almost as bad".
    – Philosopher of science
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 15:56
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    @Philosopherofscience I would agree with that had you not included the "You could do that by using just a few of their paragraphs" at the end. What you are suggesting sounds a lot like trying to find a way to give away the authorship as cheap as possible.
    – user2316602
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 16:03
  • @user2316602 Why? Surely authorship should be recognised to anyone satisfying its minimum necessary and sufficient requirements.
    – Philosopher of science
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 16:33
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    @Philosopherofscience If the new co-author could contribute something valuable that the OP could not (at least not easily) then sure. I have a hard time believing that this would be the case if you invite someone to contribute a few paragraphs. Otherwise, the main contribution of the would-be co-author would be being on the list of co-authors. This is just trying to game the system.
    – user2316602
    Commented Oct 9, 2020 at 18:06

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