An ethical analysis of student–faculty co‑authorships in manuscripts derived from PhD dissertations

A key ethical concern in PhD student-faculty (supervisee-supervisor) relationships is whether supervisors should be listed as co-authors on publications derived from dissertations. Some supervisors who engage in the research/revision of the dissertation and actively provide feedback might consider co-authorship as a fair recognition of their contributions. However, others might be less hands-on and yet, expect to be listed as co-authors. This issue is not directly addressed in authorship guidelines and codes of conduct. In this paper, we draw on the tasks that PhD supervisors should take on in dissertation work to explore the question: Under what circumstances can PhD supervisors be co-authors of manuscripts derived from dissertations? We argue that, although no universal criterion applies to all disciplines/contexts, from an ethical perspective, PhD supervisors can be co-authors only if they have made a meaningful contribution to dissertation work without undermining a supervisee’s scholarly independence. Meaningful contribution could be based on active participation in conducting research or revising the dissertation text, but cannot be solely offered for guidance, commentary or general supervision. Independence could be defined differently depending on the dissertation type or context. Given the power imbalance between supervisors and supervisees, departments should provide guidance about these co-authorships.