So I am the first author of a project that assesses the efficacy of a certain technology, and I am working under supervisor named James. This project was really successful, and was the best project “James” has supervised after recently leaving a top academic institution. This project’s idea was completely mine, with some suggestions added under the supervision of James.
Recently, James has been working with another young researcher called Alex. This Alex happens to be at the top academic institution that James used to work at. And James has given Alex literally the same research idea as mine, but for another type of technology. So the methodology and idea are basically the exact same, except for replacing the technology.
I was distraught to hear that my research idea has been given to someone else, and with less experience in this line of research than me. However, James has promised me that I will have an active role and will get coauthorship and Alex the first author. Despite not being convinced, I went on with this because I did not wish to destroy my excellent relationship with James. While working on the project with Alex, I used to meet with him weekly and he would ask me questions to know how I exactly did my project, and to which I would answer everything and help him. He is the type of guy that would do everything on his own, without ever telling me where he was with the project. I was not given any task by him until a month before the deadline of a conference, and he gave me a task to complete work that would require much longer time than a month. In addition, he wanted me to do things I found completely nonsensical and erroneous. I told him that I do not have the time and etc. He told me that he has done 90% of the project, and to have my name put as a coauthor, I need to contribute more! At the end, Alex did the task himself because he was the one who had access to software that lets you automate a lot of work in a span of a month. I tried but my institution does not give me access and I disclosed that to Alex.
I told the supervisor James about this and how I have had two major problems with Alex, explaining to him my two major issues : 1- How I was being out of the loop with this project and how I was only given a tremendous task one month in advance of the deadline. 2- How I am being disrespected and told I am not doing enough work despite helping him throughout the whole project and providing him with advice.
James response has been neutral and he never took decisive action over any of this. To this day, Alex is regularly meeting with James and I have no knowledge whatsoever of the paper. I believe I am being dealt with unjustly especially that my research idea was given to someone else for another project that I would’ve come up with myself and worked on in a better way. James told me that I could get authorship without doing any work as it is my idea, but I was not happy with this and he told me that I have to find a way to get back on the project. I do not think his response is fair in any way, and it is not my fault to try to get back on the paper, rather it is Alex’s lack of professionalism and his constant gate-keeping attitude. Am I in the wrong here?
Comments
Sounds like you should publish asap if you haven’t already and that he should be citing you. It does also sound like you should be a coauthor but I’d think getting your methodology published (before Alex or James publishes anything using this method) as a first author paper would be the priority.
Realistically, someone should be able to apply your methods to a new technology simply by following your methods outlined in your paper, so I don’t know if you should feel like you own that approach. And if you look from Alex’s point of view, why should you be on the paper if you did not contribute enough? Some journals are very specific about the level of contribution to a manuscript. What have you contributed other than providing an outline of the methods?
In terms of using software that automates processes, you should focus on learning how to do that. I am unfamiliar with the specifics, of course, but R is free and Octave is a free alternative to Matlab. Did your supervisor suggest any particular pathway for developing your skills in this area?