I received my MSc. in 2020. Subsequently, I wrote a paper on the same topic of my MSc. dissertation. Initially, I was going to publish it with my advisor and co-advisor, and the work dynamics was that I first made substantial changes to the paper and then asked them for feedback. Our problem started when feedback started to take too long and reached a point where my co-advisor didn't answer anymore. She didn't seem too interested in it, and, honestly, the results are underwhelming compared to her average publication quality. Thus, I understood her position and didn't insist on her participation anymore. Meanwhile, I started my Ph.D. in 2021 and started working in a different area with another researcher at my university.
My advisor was slightly more available during the above events, but eventually, he also forgot about my work. I was disappointed, and I didn't want to give up on this work even though it isn't a top-tier paper, so I asked a friend, another Ph.D. candidate, for help. We gathered new data, obtained new results, and made significant changes to the paper. A month ago, we finally submitted it and put my advisor and co-advisor in the acknowledgments for giving feedback on early versions of the paper.
Today, my advisor sent me an email saying that we should reach out to my co-advisor again and try to rewrite the paper.
In resume, the timeline is as below,
- 2019: I conceived the idea of using my co-advisor methodology to analyse data from my country and wrote my dissertation about it.
- 2020-01/2020-05: Early drafts
- 2020-12: Sent a conceivably final version and received no answer.
- 2021-04: I sent another email, and the co-advisor answered it and vanished for months.
- 2021-09: On the last attempt at communication, I got a brief reply, but my co-advisor disappeared again when I sent her the last version of the paper.
- 2022-03: My friend joins in, and we finish the paper.
- 2022-05: Advisor asks about the paper.
There was no ill intent on my side, I just thought they weren't interested in my work anymore and I wanted to submit it as soon as possible to start working on my thesis.
How should I talk to him? If he asks for co-authorship, what should I do? I'm okay with that but how the journal will perceive this (The paper is still under review)?