I'm in the process of submitting my dissertation for publishing for which I worked long and hard and eventually gained a distinction. However, now my supervisor who contributed nothing except recommending a few books (which I already had) is muscling their way in and referring to my work as theirs. I have a strong feeling that they will want to be authored on this. At best I will acknowledge them, mainly for fear my uni will turn its back on me and sour my research career before its even begun. I just want to know if I can submit my work without their assistance to prevent them using this as a reason to gain authorship in some way? Or would that be bad practice? thanks.

Do you need a reference from your supervisor? I published my MPhil as sole author - but that was with my supervisor's blessing after he made it clear he does not expect to be co-author on all his students' papers. You should have a frank discussion with your supervisor and get this issue out in the open so as not to cause ill-feeling later.

Thanks Smilodon. I would be needing them as a referee, but the difficulty I guess is knowing how to broach the issue.

I raised this discussion in the Prospective PHd student forum (general)if you'd like to come on board there? Cuts out the to and fro between forums- thanks