Sunday, 4 September 2016

job search - Is it okay for a PhD supervisor to claim co-authorship... even if it's my work, and he didn't ask?



About a year ago I noticed that my PhD supervisor has listed on his faculty page that he co-authored a conference presentation together with me. The problem is, he didn't-- the research itself was entirely mine, and I wrote and gave the presentation alone. (This is in the social sciences, not the hard sciences). He never talked to me before claiming co-authorship on his faculty profile, and in fact, has never mentioned it to me-- nor have I mentioned it to him.


I can understand that he may have felt he needed the "extra credit" to beef up his publications last year while he was trying to get tenure. Now that he's got his tenure, though, and now that I've finished my PhD and am applying for jobs, I am worried that, should my potential employers google the items on my résumé and come across his co-authorship claim, it will contradict my résumé's claim that I was the sole author... making me look like the liar.


I'm really reluctant to "give in" and credit him as co-author for the presentation on my résumé too, because (a) it doesn't feel fair and (b) I don't have many publications/presentations to begin with... so including him as co-author could dilute what little power my résumé has.


However, I am also embarrassed to ask him to take this "publication" down from his faculty page, because I am worried that he may get defensive, which could ruin our relationship-- which would be a problem, because I still depend on him for references as I look for a job.


Any ideas/perspective on how to handle this?? Thanks!!




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