What should I do about my academic supervisor?

[ShearThickening]

I really need guidance on how to deal with this situation. I graduated last year from the Mathematics Department, Faculty of Science, at a university in Egypt. I earned an Excellent with Honour degree and was ranked first in my department. I have also published three research papers in Q2 journals while still an undergraduate.

I was passionate about applied mathematics, so I decided to pursue a Master's degree at the same university. Now, after completing the pre-Master's year, I chose a supervisor who has the highest h-index in the university (which is supposed to be a good indicator).

However, he started asking me for the source files of my presentations—such as PowerPoint slides—and then edited them to give his own talks at conferences, based on material I had already presented elsewhere (with only a few minor changes). He also asked for the LaTeX file of a preprint currently under development.

In addition, he requested the Python code I used in a recent paper. It’s a complex script that requires a properly set-up environment and is not easy to run or modify. He wants me to execute it on his own laptop.

Is it normal for a supervisor to make such requests? For context, I haven't benefited much from him or other professors—most of my learning has been self-directed—but that seems to be common here.

Should I continue and finish my Master’s degree, or should I look for a scholarship in another country?

 

[fresh_42]

Whatever you do, get distance between him and you.

 

[ShearThickening]

Whatever you do, get distance between him and you.

How am I supposed to do that!

 

[fresh_42]

Well, I would try to replace him with another supervisor, one you can trust. Or you swallow these in my mind betrayals and go on without thinking about it. There is little you can do otherwise without changing the university.

 

[ShearThickening]

Well, I would try to replace him with another supervisor, one you can trust. Or you swallow these in my mind betrayals and go on without thinking about it. There is little you can do otherwise without changing the university.

So, it's not that bad to make such a request, and it's somewhat common? Because it feels like stealing to me.

 

[fresh_42]

So, it's not that bad to make such a request, and it's somewhat common? Because it feels like stealing to me.

Sounds like it to me, too, but I cannot judge whether it is because of your biased description in this case. I think there is little you can do to stop him from acting like this without risking all of your achievements so far. We have a saying here in Germany for accepting an unpleasant situation, "biting into the sour apple".

 

[PeroK]

So, it's not that bad to make such a request, and it's somewhat common? Because it feels like stealing to me.

I'm not sure we can help you because we have only part of the story. If what you say is true, then you may be in a very difficult position.

 

[Baluncore]

Now, after completing the pre-Master's year, I chose a supervisor who has the highest h-index in the university (which is supposed to be a good indicator).

Maybe you used the wrong criteria to select your supervisor.

I recall, the most cited author in one department, was the biggest thief of his students work. He would support a student's publication all the way, with the student's name ahead of his, then when it was finally published, his name would be first.

Unfortunately, there are many academics like that in universities. Sometimes that is the price you must pay, and you must learn to live with it while you study.

Maybe start an external blog on the web, that reports your academic thoughts and progress on a daily basis. Refer to him as "my supervisor". When he asks for a presentation or an early draft, post it on your blog, before you give him the material, or refer him to your blog. That will establish a public audit trail of the subject development, something that he cannot dispute if he steals your work and you file a complaint.

 

[Orodruin]

I chose a supervisor who has the highest h-index in the university (which is supposed to be a good indicator).

A good indicator of what?

It is a purely citation based metric that comes with all the flaws of such metrics. It certainly has absolutely nothing to do with how good someone would be as a supervisor or how scientific honesty.

 

[Choppy]

These kinds of situations are difficult to really make a call on.

On the surface of it... sure, a supervisor who presents your independent work as their own without attribution to you as the original author... that's a red flag. On the other hand if it's presented as "Look at this awesome work my graduate student is doing!" then you've got quite a different story. In general, a good supervisor should promote your work in the community.

It's normal for a supervisor to review the manuscripts of their students. Even if they didn't have any direct input on the work, in a healthy student-mentor relationship, the supervisor should be curious about what their student has been working on. Sometimes that can help the supervisor to understand where a student is at in their learning, and how to best offer guidance. Sometimes it's just a "you're working on cool stuff, and I'd like to read it." What's abnormal and unhealthy is a supervisor putting their name on work that they weren't a part of or offered no guidance on, or even worse, passing it off as their own.

For what its worth, there can be some gray area where the work is done during the MSc as part of the MSc project - sometimes the student will feel they've done *all* the work and the supervisor just met with them once a month didn't seem to offer much guidance and expects to be on the paper. While formally, if the supervisor didn't work on the paper, they don't deserve authorship, it's also important to recognize that there can be differences of opinion in how much effort a supervisor puts in. And sometimes you have to keep your long term career goals in mind when choosing which battles to fight.

I'm not sure what to say about the Python code. Again, it could be a case of them wanting to understand what you're up to, what you understand, and how best to lead you. Or it could be more malicious.

Some thoughts on what to do...

Do as much as you can to make the communication work on your side. Ask lots of questions, even if they're awkward. Express your concerns, but be tactful. Rather than "I'm concerned you're trying to take credit for my work," say "I noticed you presented my work at the ____ conference. Am I listed as an author on the abstract? If not, I'm just curious to learn more about the threshold for authorship."

Along these lines it's also important to have those "administrative" conversations with your supervisor that include what constitutes authorship, the supervisor's expectations of you, what you should be working on, and your expectations of your supervisor.

Get opinions from others in the department, particularly from members of your supervisory committee (if you have one). And show them your work. The more people who know what you've accomplished, the harder it is for anyone else to take credit for it.

Keep the long game in mind. At the outset of your career, the difference of one or two publication credits can be a very big thing, but as you go on, they can quite quickly become drops in a bucket.

It's difficult to say exactly when you should cut ties. If you can say for sure that this person is stealing your work, that's a reasonable basis for finding a new supervisor. Other flags include a supervisor who engages in academic bullying, acts in a disrespectful manner, or doesn't understand the topic of your research and refuses to call in appropriate subject matter experts to help.

Anyway, I hope some of this helps.