I have submitted a paper (YAY me) to a particular journal - my primary supervisor has his name on it, my secondary supervisor who I see very rarely, who had no hand in funding and didnt contribute to the article in any way, wants his name on the article. My primary has issues with this and has voiced them, leaving me in the middle of it - any advice about this situation?

Cheers

hey there,
if you don't care much either way, you could let them just make it up between themselves. you tell them both that you don't care, that you know/suspect the other supervisor wants something, and that they should talk to each other. then you're out of it.
if you DO care, that is, if you don't want the second supervisor's name on it, i guess you could discuss it with your first supervisor, letting him know that you agree with his position and that you would find it hard to talk about it with the other. basically ask him for help in this, and let him know that you can't deal with it alone due to the power imbalance between supervisor/student. so if he doesn't want the other's name on the paper, he has to do something.
just suggestions. good luck with that paper submission!

Firstly, congrats on getting your paper done :)
I reckon that if you don't want your secondary supervisors name on the paper, then don't put it on!! Talk to your primary and tell him you agree; you feel that your secondary hasn't made enough of a ccontribution to be an author. Maybe mention your secondary in an acknowledgement? I agree with shani - let your supervisors slug it out! :)

I advice to stay out of it. It doesn't sound like it has anything to do with you, so as long as you have your name on it, that's what matters. Congrads!

what's the most important issue here?

i'm guessing it's getting ppublished in the first place.

therefore, i wouldn't get involved in an argument about this - you may need the goodwill of these people at some point.

good luck with being published