Hi everyone
there may have been a thread on this that I've missed -- could someone kindly enlighten me on authorship of papers.

Once we have been awarded the PHD, the work becomes ours?
So if I write a paper and include a co-author who has not been affiliated with my phd, is this within my right to make the decision (to include so-and-so)?

Another question is that if I had 2 supervisors but now I write a paper based on my phd results and do not include them as co-authors, am I ok to do this?

thanks

love satchi

1) If the co-author has contributed directly to the some of the work, include as a co-author. If involvement is indirect, then acknowledge at the end.

2) PhD supervisors are normally included as co-authors even after the PhD is finished due to their direct contribution. This is seen as a common courtesy and acknowledgement of their efforts in your PhD. However, if the data you are using has not been included in the PhD then this may be used in a paper without the PhD supervisors being named as co-authors.

Also, if a supervisor leaves and their contribution has at best been indirect, they may be downgraded to an acknowledgement.

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Note my answer to your second question is assuming the intellectual property rights to the data are yours and you have not signed these away either when signing up for the PhD or later on. You would then need permission to publish the data and more than likely lead to your supervisors and other possible people (industrial sponsors?) being included as co-authors.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

hi Ian
thanks for your reply! I honestly don't remember this part about signing away the intellectual property rights, would this be in my offer of scholarship letter? Sounds really dumb but here goes anyway--how can I verify this information at this point?

love satchi

Dear Satchi,

Like a lot else that goes on in academia, co-authorship of papers has the smell of corruption about it. At best, what is done isn't how it should be done. The rule is supposed to be that any co-author of a paper can defend the entire paper. The common etiquette however (certainly in my field, i.e. biological science) is that supervisors get their names on the paper. Probably, first supervisor last. That, of course, is often tosh as - in my case as with many other PhD students - the supervisor hasn't the first idea about the paper content or the science/rationale behind it. But you have to think of ongoing relationships and references after you finish.

I would think if you signed your intellectual property rights away, you would remember and it would surely relate to some ongoing commercial or other specific interest that you would have been aware of from quite early on in the project. Otherwise, it's your intellectual property. Especially if it's a good thesis, it's one important "power" you retain. So although your PI (supervisor) might throw his/her weight around wanting to sort out the authors, order, etc., you have the final say.

In truth, what's important is that you get first authorship. No one really looks at the others, except perhaps the last one if they want to know whose group it is.

PS: I'm presuming you're not talking about co-first authorship. That really is a racket!

More often than not, the student will retain copyright over the material produced. However, see if you can check terms and conditions of your studentship either with the University registrar, via your University website or even your supervisors (though they can have their own 'take' on this, not quite in line with University terms and conditions).

There have been instances mentioned on here where the University has retained rights, though unless there is a commercial reason this seems to be the exception rather than the rule. If you are research council funded only or self-funded, it's unlikely the University has retained copyright.

If you have an industrial or outside sponsor, then there is a chance the sponsor may want retain copyright or force confidentiality for a given period, say to apply for a patent or for other commercial reasons. If there is a separate agreement, you will probably have a copy or you can ask to see a copy either via the registrar or your supervisors. How it works at your University may vary slightly.

SimonG is right in that you will remember if you signed something along these lines, however, it is amazing what can be hidden in the smallprint!!! :-)

It's worth a quick check if you're not sure, however, I wouldn't be too concerned and my thinking in this instance is in line with SimonG's.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

Racket sums it up at times. A few (not all) supervisors have pet projects, hire PhD students on the cheap with a research council grant then on the back of the students' work gets their name on papers doing hardly any work themselves. I know of one case where they provided the project and then told the potential student to apply for the funding themselves. I advised the student not to take that project as the supervisor came across as an a***hole.

My first supervisor was quite good and allowed his students first authorship, actually contributing to the papers. My second supervisor was no more than an administrator and I don't remember him actually contributing to a paper even though he insisted on his name being listed.

In another group in the same Uni., the supervisor's name appeared as the sole author despite the student doing the work externally at an industrial sponsor. That one was a puzzler and low on the part of the supervisor.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)

hi SimonG and Ian (mackem_beefy)
Thanks very much for your responses! I have looked--yes it is my intellectual property :-) I am supposed to have first authorship.

Another question though--the affiliation. What if I have already left the university and am still unemployed after receiving the letter of award (sitting at home!) and I write another paper based on my phd but by using the data in another way, am I still affiliated with my university then? How long (how much time) do I have where I can say I am still with my university? I am submitting another paper to a journal but I don't know what "position" to write, I am neither phd student nor research assistant/associate, I don't have an identity in that sense. At this moment I am just a housewife with a PhD.

Thanks in advance

love satchi

Satchi,

I was in the same situation as you in that whilst I was unemployed I continued to produce papers based on my PhD work (plus some extra not included in my PhD) in the hope it would improve my employability.

Once you've left the University and you clearly hold intellectual property rights, it's up to you whether you list one or both of your supervisors or just list who you want (even just yourself). Affiliation is also up to you, though it looks more professional to keep University affiliation on your papers.

However, your supervisors will no doubt still be providing employment references and as a courtesy you may still consider listing them as co-authors.

I chose to list my first supervisor who did contribute meaningfully and not my second supervisor who as the aforementioned "administrator" provided no direct contribution.

I also included my immediate predecessor (I was last of three to work on my project) as a thank you for his early assistance on two papers, but only my primary supervisor thereafter for a further three papers.

Ian (Mackem_Beefy)