5

My old PhD adviser and I had a falling out. We wrote a paper together, it is done at this point in my eyes. He "disagrees". Near the end of revisions the edits became more and more banal and even flip flopping. "Do it this way, no change it back, no change it back, no change it back etc" endlessly. I have shown the paper to other faculty and they think it looks fine.

We got into an argument about this, the paper has been done for well over a year at this point. I have a new adviser. At this point the old adviser flat out refuses to submit the paper, he refuses to make any edits to the paper, he refuses to even talk to me.

The grad head has been notified, other professors have been notified. My current adviser is really pissed off about the whole situation and is planning on talking to the old one.

Can he just not submit the paper? Do I have any recourse? I wrote the paper, I did the majority of the work (other than his idea etc). Can I just submit it myself? I feel like he would email the journal and complain about it. But I don't see any other choice.

  • 1
    "I didn't the majority of the work"? You did or didn't? This is critical. – Captain Emacs Apr 26 '20 at 18:34
  • @captain I did, sorry –  Apr 26 '20 at 18:38
  • 'I have shown the paper to other faculty' - I would be pissed with this. Students should never use other people or papers to justify that their work is good. This is no different to saying, look, Bob killed Jane, so it must be ok I kill Tarzan too. – Prof. Santa Claus Apr 26 '20 at 20:29
  • 8
    @Prof.SantaClaus I, on the other hand, would be pissed off if my students didn't show their work to other faculty. I have no idea what your Tarzan comment means, or what showing your work to other people has to do with murder. – JeffE Apr 26 '20 at 20:41
  • @JeffE So it would be ok for a student to undermine you with the help of other faculty members? – Prof. Santa Claus Apr 26 '20 at 21:59
  • 2
    @Prof.SantaClaus It is not entirely clear from the question, but my reading is that OP showed the work to other faculty after it had been dragged along by the old adviser. If my reading is correct, the undermining is not coming from OP. – Captain Emacs Apr 27 '20 at 03:02
  • @CaptainEmacs that is indeed the case. –  Apr 27 '20 at 03:57
  • 2
    @Prof.SantaClaus "Undermine"? I think you misspelled "solicit critical feedback for". Yes, I absoutely do want my students to get advice from other faculty, even if—or perhaps more accurately because —their advice sometimes contradicts my own. Research only counts if it is subjected to public scrutiny; advisors own neither their students nor their students' work; and academia is not Game of Thrones. – JeffE Apr 27 '20 at 18:37
  • @JeffE If it's just to solicit constructive feedback I'm all up for it. However, if the intention is to use another faculty's words against mine, then it's undermine! Students act like kids at times; playing one parent against the other in order to get what they want. It sounds like the questioner is doing exactly that. – Prof. Santa Claus Apr 27 '20 at 19:25
  • @JeffE One other point. You must work with colleagues who can conduct high quality research and write well. Would you want your work criticized by a colleague who can hardly publish anything or write poorly? – Prof. Santa Claus Apr 27 '20 at 19:29

1 Answers1

9

No, you probably can't just submit it yourself if the prof is validly a co-author. You need his permission, just as he needs yours.

But I suggest that you let the two professors fight it out among themselves. That could result in a good result for you, and probably not a worse one. Professors sometimes don't mind behaving badly in front of students, but are less likely to with colleagues. Collegiality is still valued in most places. If it needs to get escalated, let the new advisor do it also, on your behalf.

Buffy
  • 363,966
  • 84
  • 956
  • 1,406
  • 2
    +1 for "Professors sometimes don't mind behaving badly in front of students, but are less likely to with colleagues." – Buzz Apr 26 '20 at 18:49
  • 2
    @Buffy "Professors sometimes don't mind behaving badly in front of students, but are less likely to with colleagues." [reference required] – Captain Emacs Apr 27 '20 at 03:03