Hi there everyone! I finished my PhD several months ago and I have submitted papers to my main supervisor.. I have sent him the first one 9 mths ago and he got back to me 3 mths ago ( he sits on it for 6 mths). Then I had made amendment and send back to him 5 weeks ago but yet to hear from him. I have email him twice to ask for comment and please let me know if further amendment needed but still no respond from him. I had a very bad experience working with him for the past 4 years because he is very inefficient and did not contribute a single idea to my work. He did not allow me to graduate although my other supervisors told him that i had done enough of work (my works can already come out with 4 papers and a patent, although so far he only manage to send one paper) . Hence, at the very final stage of my study, our relationship turn sour and I hate him so much. He wants me to work so hard for him but he did not want others to recognize that those work are done by me. The work is written in my thesis now and he always bad mouth me and told others those are his ideas. Now, He ask me to send him papers and so I did. However, he did not reply me after I have sent him the papers. I feel so sad as I have put in so much effort just want to get the rest of the papers (3 papers) published yet I have a feeling he is now playing some games behind and trying to eliminate my name or put his name as both the corresponding and first author. I wonder can I just submit those paper to the journal by myself with my name as the main author while his name as the corresponding author? Also, the patent, can I submit it by myself if I have a patent agent to advice me and I am able to bare to cost to file the patent, with his name and others co-authors name in? Is there any ethical issue here if I do that (he insist he wants to do it by himself)?
Someone please advice me! Help!

Can anyone help Changer88?

Hi Changer88, you can certainly submit papers to journals for publication, even with your supervisor as second author, without having any formal input from your supervisor.

I did this with a paper published late last year. The paper was based on my Masters thesis findings and my supervisor was entitled to be included as a second author-as she had supervised me during the research that the paper was based on.

Having said that-she was/is a very busy person and did not take any active part in this paper whatsoever, which was written after graduating from my previous university. I cc'd her into all correspondence, and so did the Editor of the journal and all of the peer reviewers.

I rewrote the paper myself after receiving peer review from three academics and it was published under both of our names in a very good-high impact journal. My former university has since listed this under its 2012 publications, as has, I imagine, my former supervisor.

After the initial email to tell her what I was doing, and then the cc'd emails from all of the correspondence-I did not actually have any input from her at all. But she was happy when we got the final acceptance and sent me a quick congratulatory email. So go ahead and do it-just make sure, even if your supervisor is 'difficult', you still include him as a second author and you keep him in the email circuit.

Forget about all of the emotional stuff-whether it is true or not-and some of it might be-you need to just act like a professional researcher and seek to get your work recognised. All of the other stuff will be unimportant and fade away once you have your paper published.

I'm not sure about the patent however, so I am hoping someone with experience in this area will also respond. Good luck-your work deserves recognition and you should just act-but act professionally and responsibly and don't wait for a reply from your supervisor.

Hi Changer88,

My supervisor is also sitting on my paper, but for more than ONE year. However, just received final amendment from her...
Do take note that publication is not as simple as it may seem. Even professors who are native speakers of English can be criticized for the quality of paper. Once your paper is rejected, some of your ideas could be further developed by the reviewers...

As for patent, it can be more tricky. You may approach your university's Technology Transfer Office or equivalent for advice. Meanwhile, you may want to google "Patent war" or "Laser Patent"...

At the request of someone on here, I've added a section to my blog on submitting papers, which is basically a quick run through the process.

There is nothing to stop you submitting papers yourself if you want to, though bear in mind you should ask your former supervisor as a courtesy as they are a primary referee for any jobs you may apply for in the future.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)