My supervisor published a poster about my (master) thesis without mentioning my name

Question

Last year, I completed my master's thesis, and my supervisor expressed interest in collaborating on a paper based on my work, with me as the second author. However, the paper was never published, and I recently discovered a poster based on my thesis that has been published without including my name (nor did I knew of that).

I understand that posters may not carry the same weight as papers, but I am uncertain about the appropriate course of action in this situation. Could anyone offer advice on whether I have any rights to address this matter with my supervisor and what steps I might consider taking?

Answer 1

If the poster is based on your results (and not the contributions that a thesis advisor would typically make in order to get an M.S. thesis running) then this would be a serious breach of academic etiquette. If this is the case (and I do not know the facts), the two authors of this poster might be in big trouble, if you choose to pursue this.

There are several options:

1. Seek a clarifying talk with your thesis advisor and explain that you feel that your contributions were material, but not acknowledged. If your advisor agrees, they can work with Springer to make you an author after the fact or add a citation to your thesis. Making you an author is difficult for Springer since you had no chance to formally approve the poster before submission.

2. Go to the department chair or an ombudsman and make a formal complaint.

3. Do nothing.

Usually, these situations are murky. You did not participate in the writing of the poster, which makes an ex-post facto authorship difficult to defend. The importance of your contribution can be difficult to assess, especially in a poster that by nature has little narrative. An M.S. thesis usually doesn't have the same amount of research as a Ph.D. thesis and often contains the working out of others' ideas. It is possible that people assessing the situation will conclude that your contributions were not material or not substantial, even if you would be justified in feeling differently.

There is also the question of what you want. Posters only count marginally towards publication records, so if you want to pursue an academic career, this might not make a difference in the long run. Of course, it could be useful in finding a situation as a doctoral student. A formal complaint, even if sustained, would have difficulties to indemnify you. There is also an important fall-out that can make your life harder. Forcing your advisor to formally apologize to you will cement a bad relationship forever, for example.

Since you are upset enough to post under your real name, you need to look at your mental health first, such as verifying that the insult you feel has actually happened. In other words, find someone who knows your thesis and the poster that tells you whether there is something bad there. For example, it could be that you misread the title for contents. You want to make sure that this is NOT the case before thinking about what to do.

Answer 2

There are different sorts of masters theses. If this had happened to me, based on my thesis, I'd have no complaint as there were few if any real new ideas in it. It was a compendium of known things, bringing them together in one place. It was useful to me in my development, but not a real intellectual contribution. I doubt that any reputable publisher would have been interested in it.

For others the case would be very different and the described behavior could amount to plagiarism if the advisor attributed your creative ideas to themself. In this case, the options given in the answer of Thomas Schwarz should be considered. In my case, only the last would be appropriate.

There are also edge cases, of course. But often the advisor supplies ideas and a problem and the work of the student is more methodological than creative.

A second issue, assuming that you are still working with and under the direction of that person is that it is seldom wise to fight with your advisor even when they are wrong. If they decide to use their considerable power against you it can be bad for your long term career. Some fights can be won but lost simultaneously.