By Dr. Noelle Sterne

Q: How do I tell my chair I don’t want her to coauthor an article from my dissertation?

— Ungrateful?

A: This is another sensitive topic, first cousin to last month’s article on your chair suggesting (dictating) your dissertation topic.

As your defense winds down, you’re flushed with relief and pride that you got through the PowerPoint without a storm of committee interruptions or zoom technical tantrums. After the approving nods and smiles, your chair may say, “Your dissertation is so important! It deserves publication as an article!” You blush, and they can see your red cheeks on the screen. Then you hear the chair’s words, both flattering and ominous: “Let’s coauthor it.”

You don’t quite know what to make of this invitation. You’re flattered and wary, and your ego soars and stomach sinks at the same time. Yes, your chair’s offer is gratifying, and you know she doesn’t offer this to all of her candidates. But you also know she’ll want her name as first author. You’ve dreamed of your authorship (singular) for so long!

If you say yes to your chair, she may continue to encourage and bolster you with words of praise for your study. She may also offer to review the article after you condense it. Or she may take over.

The Usurping Chair

My client Margaret had just this experience. Margaret was extremely grateful that her chair shepherded her through a very challenging dissertation and fended off a difficult committee member. Then after defense, her chair suggested coauthorship and Margaret, even more grateful, agreed. So at the chair’s suggestion they met for lunch . . . then dinner . . . then Saturday afternoons. Worse, the chair began confiding her personal affairs to Margaret, phoned her late at night, even cried sometimes, and begged for advice.

When Margaret burst out to me that she could no longer bear it all, I helped her gently extricate from the chair. We practiced Margaret’s gratitude, informing the chair she had to give attention to her own obligations, and standing her ground. The only dire consequence was the chair’s tearful accusation of Margaret’s “disloyalty.” Eventually, Margaret published an article—under her own name only.

Division of Duties?

If you agree to coauthorship with your chair, face it: you’ll be doing almost all of the work. Your 200-page dissertation must be condensed to the 25 to 30 pages most journals require. You have to follow all manuscript specifications (often different from dissertations, even with the reference style), master the submission process, correspond with the editor, and follow up at three weeks to see if your article has gotten into the reviewer queue.

If the article comes back with the journal’s very incisive peer reviewer critiques—the response in 95% of submissions that aren’t rejected outright— your chair’s emails and texts will be strangely silent. You are expected to do the revisions and justify them to the reviewers, with likely additional research, rewriting, and hard thinking. Once you’re finished, your chair will ask to see a copy.

Your Risks

So, despite the flattering invitation at your defense, later you privately weigh the pros and cons of agreeing. Pros: Your chair will continue to love you, will probably suggest spin-offs (coauthored), will recommend you for conference presentations, will share leads to plum teaching jobs, will give you stellar recommendations. Cons: Your chair will think you’re ungrateful for all the help she’s given you to get the degree, she won’t refer you to a top journal editor she carpools with, will withhold those teaching plums, will give you lukewarm recommendations.

If you don’t want to give up the (assumed) perks of coauthoring, fine. If you feel squeamish, to bolster your courage keep in mind Cassuto’s (2014) wise observation: “Collaboration has only one appropriate goal: It needs to be about you, and furthering your work and career”. Like Margaret, rehearse if you need to: “Thank you so much. I am honored you feel my dissertation is important enough to report the findings. I am really grateful to you for the opportunity to coauthor, but I’d like to try it on my own.” If you want to soften it, you could add: “but I’d like to leave the door open.” Your chair may not like your decision but will undoubtedly respect you for your stand.

Always Your Decision

Many new doctors coauthor articles with their chairs. Some don’t, but give the chair generous acknowledgment in a footnote. And others revel in seeing their name only in print. Whatever you decide, make sure you feel good about it. The choice is yours. You have the power.

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If you have a burning academic question you’d like Dr. Noelle Sterne to answer, go here to send it to us. This column relies on question submissions, and we would love to hear yours. Dr. Noelle will answer one question on the 15th of each month. You can read this article for more information.

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Dissertation coach, nurturer, bolsterer, handholder, and editor; scholarly and mainstream writing consultant; authorof writing craft, spiritual, and academic articles; and spiritual and motivational counselor, Noelle Sterne has published many pieces in print and online venues, including Author Magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, Children’s Book Insider, Graduate Schools Magazine, GradShare, InnerSelf, Inspire Me Today, Transformation Magazine, Unity Magazine, Women in Higher Education, Women on Writing, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer. With a Ph.D. from Columbia University, Noelle has for 30 years helped doctoral candidates wrestle their dissertations to completion (finally). Based on her practice, her Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation: Coping with the Emotional, Interpersonal, and Spiritual Struggles (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2015) addresses students’ often overlooked or ignored but crucial nonacademic difficulties that can seriously prolong their agony. See the PowerPoint teaser here. In Noelle`s Trust Your Life: Forgive Yourself and Go After Your Dreams (Unity Books, 2011), she draws examples from her academic consulting and other aspects of life to help readers release regrets and reach lifelong yearnings. Following one of her own, she is currently working on her third novel. Visit Noelle at www.trustyourlifenow.com