chargement...
«My thesis took me eight years. In the end, I found out that my supervisor was attending scientific conferences with materials I had created myself, using data I collected, but under his name.» This is the distressing revelation Fatima Zahra shared with Yabiladi, reflecting on her unfinished research in geology in the Gharb basin. Two years ago, she decided to walk away. «I never wanted to hear about the university, my discipline, or this work ever again,» she confided to our editorial team.
This PhD student's experience raises pressing legal questions about academic research, shared ownership of scientific output within university labs, and, crucially, the protections that ensure young researchers can claim their rightful contributions. Contacted by Yabiladi, Fatima Zahra insists she is not alone, asserting that many of her peers «remain silent when they face such situations, which deserve to be brought to light.»
Amidst the controversy surrounding the seismic data she claims to have gathered for her thesis and related articles, she recounts reaching out to her vice-dean and dean, seeking a meeting with her supervisor present. In an email reviewed by our editorial team, the researcher alerted her university's administration to «issues» she was facing ahead of her work's presentation.
Disputed Ownership
«After finishing my writing, convincing my supervisor to review it was a struggle. I had to persist for a year!» she tells us. During this time, she mentions two articles derived from her research. «The first bore only my professor's name, even though mine was initially included. I was the lead author of the second article, which I presented myself, with the professor assuring me these contributions sufficed for my thesis,» Fatima Zahra recalls, shocked to see her participation certificate for this second meeting vanish from the scientific platform.
«My supervisor asked me to draft a detailed version of the first article. In total, I submitted thirty versions, as he repeatedly asked me to redo all the work, including the seismic profiles,» she explains. «I always sought to contact him. We had two meetings at the start of the research. But during the critical phases before my thesis presentation, there were no meetings, emails, or phone exchanges. Consequently, I had to turn to the dean,» Fatima Zahra recounts.
Over the years, she discovered that parts of her seismic profiles «were used in another master's researcher's final project, who claimed to have received them from this teacher.» The surprises didn't end there. During a meeting with the dean, in the supervisor's presence, it was revealed that the seismic profiles central to her thesis were attributed to the professor.
«That's not true, as I established more than 90% myself,» she insists, as stated in her correspondence to the dean. «After this meeting, my participation certificate for the second article was revoked,» she laments.
In her testimony to our editorial team, the researcher also reveals that her thesis director «charged her for the contribution to these two articles.» When she questioned other doctoral students about these practices, she found no public condemnation.
An Advantage to the Thesis Supervisor
In despair, Fatima Zahra notes that «such practices are sometimes entrenched in certain academic circles, to the extent that those involved are not held accountable, at least not immediately.» According to her, many researchers eventually resign, exhausted from having to justify their efforts in scientific work that consumes years of their lives.
«Some become disheartened and give up. Others accept this cycle as the cost of pursuing recognition, without any guarantee of receiving it,» the doctoral student confides. To address this ambiguity, public universities have implemented a thesis charter. Intended to define, among other things, the ownership of research elements, this framework remains somewhat incomplete.
At Ibn Tofaïl University in Kenitra, this charter includes a brief section on intellectual property. «The doctoral student has the right to preserve their intellectual property, in accordance with the research institution's policies. If research results are patentable or commercially viable, the rights and interests of all parties must be clearly defined in an appropriate intellectual property agreement,» it states.
In the thesis charter of Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech, Article 6 specifies that «research topics are proposed by university-accredited research structures and remain the exclusive property of the university, except where a prior agreement exists for co-supervised theses or projects in collaboration with industrial and socio-economic partners.» Consequently, «the doctoral student cannot publish results related to the thesis work in any form, without the authorization of the thesis director.»
Article 24 of this framework states: «if no satisfactory solution is found and the conflict persists between the doctoral student and the thesis director and/or the host research structure, a mediation committee appointed by the CEDoc director will be called upon. If necessary, the CEDoc council and then the Doctoral College will make appropriate decisions based on the reports established on this matter.»
