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I just finished grad school, earning a Ph.D. in mathematics. Currently I do not know if I want to continue my academic career or not, but in the meantime I have written an article containing some of the results of my thesis and I would like to submit it to a journal for publication.

The journal I have chosen (published by Springer) asks for academic affiliation: can I say my academic affiliation is the university where I completed grad school, although I do not work there anymore? If not, is it possible to get a paper published without an academic affiliation? What do you suggest me to do?

Thank you

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    $\begingroup$ It's not clear to me if this question has any features specific to mathematics. If not, maybe a better place to post this would be academia SE. $\endgroup$
    – R. van Dobben de Bruyn
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 17:24
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    $\begingroup$ This question can be generalized to any scientific field, however I am only interested to answers with relation to the mathematical community and math journals $\endgroup$
    – User28341
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 17:28
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    $\begingroup$ Your affiliation should be where you were when you wrote the paper - it is not your contact address. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Godsil
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 17:49
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    $\begingroup$ Here are a few relevant questions on academia.SE: academia.stackexchange.com/q/75064/94 , academia.stackexchange.com/q/1078/94 , academia.stackexchange.com/q/890/94 , academia.stackexchange.com/q/1294/94 None of them asked exactly the question you asked. Re-iterating my answer from one of them: have you asked the editorial staff at the journal? They are the ultimate authority on at least the second and third questions you asked. $\endgroup$
    – Willie Wong
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 18:08

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This question is more suited for Academia Stackexchange than this forum. You should ask there for the best answers based on experience.

In general, you should acknowledge who supported you during your research. Even if you have significant contributions after you graduated, your university that granted you the degree also provided you with resources to start the research. If you continue the work, likely you will be supported by a grant or postdoctoral institution whom you should acknowledge.

For affiliation, it is usually OK to list the last institution you were at when you developed the research. This is a form of acknowledgement of support, and most of those who read the paper will understand that you have moved on. If you are interested in full disclosure, a cover letter to the journal editor can give details.

Gerhard "Affiliates With Himself Only Occasionally" Paseman, 2018.10.08.

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  • $\begingroup$ As noted in comments above, besides you, the main people who care about affiliation are the editors. They are the best people to ask about affiliation. Gerhard "We Can All Adopt Convention" Paseman, 2018.10.08. $\endgroup$
    – Gerhard Paseman
    Commented Oct 8, 2018 at 18:40
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As the comments on the OP mention, similar questions have already been answered on academia.SE. Having read those, and speaking as a mathematician, I think our culture is a bit different regarding affiliations. In my experience, mathematicians have broad leeway to choose whether to use their former place or current place, and neither option is "right" or "wrong." We also have a culture of acknowledgments in papers, where people list their funding sources, who gave them helpful tips about the research, and which places hosted them as they wrote it. It's common for early career researchers to publish results from their PhD theses, but with their affiliation as the university where they are employed as a postdoc or assistant professor. In these cases, usually there's a line in the Acknowledgments section like "These results were prove as part of my PhD thesis at University X, and I want to thank my advisor Y for their help over the years."

The most important thing about the affiliation is having a stable email address where people can reach you. If there's any concern at all that your old employer won't maintain your email address with them, then don't use it. Similarly, while the odds of actually receiving postal mail regarding the publication are slim, it's best to have an address where that would actually reach you. I have a co-author who moves jobs frequently, and every time he does, we update our preprints to list his new affiliation, even though it's not where he was when the paper was written.

Similar advice can be found in fedja's answer on academia.SE.

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  • $\begingroup$ It seems unnecessary to update all preprints each time one moves between institutions. If someone can read your research paper, they will be able to find your current affiliation (most recent paper, google scholar, ...) in case an email bounces because the address is no longer in use $\endgroup$
    – Jules Lamers
    Commented Jan 2 at 21:17
  • $\begingroup$ @JulesLamers I meant: papers we had in the publication pipeline. So, after it came back with a referee report, one of the changes we'd make would be his affiliation. But we didn't, for example, go update every single paper on arxiv including ones published years ago. $\endgroup$
    – David White
    Commented Jan 2 at 22:50
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    $\begingroup$ Ah alright, that makes more sense. Though the work was done at the old place, so it seems reasonable to acknowledge that. Another option, then, could be to add a (foot)note with the new affiliation and email address $\endgroup$
    – Jules Lamers
    Commented Jan 5 at 12:57
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, I think a footnote would also work. We don't seem to use them a lot in math papers, but it's not unheard of. I've also seen authors with two affiliations like "MIT and IAS" then one mailing address and one email address. $\endgroup$
    – David White
    Commented Jan 5 at 14:47

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