The former supervisors contributed comments to a complete written first draft and drafts later on, but they have not advised on the analysis or the design of the study. They do not wish to be listed as co-authors. They also asked me to email them my code, and data just before they resigned from supervising me.

The first draft was finished in 2017. I have not received any feedback. I now updated the manuscript in January. I am being told I cannot ask other academics for advice on the paper, and I cannot submit the paper. My new supervisor said he would comment, and we can submit after that. It has been six weeks since then. It looks to me that my previous supervisors who would take anything between three months to 18 months to respond with comments are blocking this publication. What is the best course of actions?

I have only a few months until I can submit my intent. I didn't receive feedback since summer 2019 for some chapters, and three months for others. The new supervisors told me they have a lot to read; I should stop communicating with them in the next month.

I have not raised complaints against previous supervisors because I would have no means for collecting data and would have even less support. I instead raised complaints to them directly in an email. They made me sign that I cannot submit publications without their permission and resigned. I have even less support. I am doubtful about the extent to which my new supervisors share my interests. They are collaborators to my formal supervisors and managed by one of them. I was told that they had asked the faculty if anyone can supervise me, and everyone declined. I was not included in that communication. 

 What are my rights over the paper? How to deal with the co-authorship issues appropriately?  What should I do to help in receiving feedback? Why am I being advised to not sent more work during the very last months of the PhD?