Can I ask my advisor to drop authorship for a journal submission? Update: I talked with my advisor about (1) the possibility of asking the editor about submitting our paper this journal X and (2) the possibility of me as the sole author to submit this paper. She said no and no :(

Background info: I am from the field of social science, and this paper is from my dissertation. My advisor provided funding for my dissertation ($9,000). My advisor has been very good to me. I just graduated last year and am now an assistant professor at another university.

I did plan to add my advisor as the second author of this paper, I also told her in an email I would like to submit this paper to X, the top journal of our field, and I attached the draft in this email.

Then I heard back from her yesterday with an edited version. In the comments, she told me not to submit to X because she is one of the associate editors which creates a conflict of interest--I emailed the editor to confirm and this is indeed the rule. This rule was not listed on the journal's website and my advisor did not tell me when I sent her the email saying I would like to submit to X journal.

I really want to submit to this X journal because I imagine it would help me a lot with my academic career. If I knew that any paper with associate editors as a co-author cannot be submitted to journal X, I would never send this paper to my advisor for comments.

I wonder if I can ask my advisor to withdraw her authorship and I will be the sole author for this paper so that I can submit to X. I am not sure how unethical my behavior can be? Or maintaining a good relationship with my advisor is more important than having a top journal publication? Any suggestions are appreciated!
This is not about the relationships with the former advisor at all.

The list of authors is supposed to be determined based on who actually worked on the particular research (which sometimes – however good or bad it is – may mean simply being a supervisor and providing funding). If the researcher contributed to several of


the formulation of hypothesis
data collection / measurements / numerical simulations
data analysis
writing the actual paper
insert here other field-specific steps


she should be an author. Certainly, different criteria for being an author of the paper can be applied, and the list is very field-dependent.

However, the unfortunate amalgamation of facts that


you want to submit to a certain journal X
this journal X has a certain conflict of interest policy
the presence of one co-author who normally would be listed in the list of authors does not allow to submit to X


should not be used as a reason to exclude one from the list of authors. At least, the initiative should not come from the other authors who could benefit from it.



So, I would strongly consider submitting to a different journal.

Alternatively, you (or your colleague in the potential conflict of interest) can ask the journal X editor to arrange a submission/revision process through another associate editor(s). There might be other associate editors willing and qualified to do it for the paper in your field and your particular research direction.