Question: My PhD supervisor (in the field of artificial intelligence) invited me to several meetings with another PhD student. Since I have more knowledge than my supervisor in some topics, I made many suggestions about how this student could improve his methodology. In total, I went to 5 meetings of 3–4 hours each. I could have used this time to do my own research.

When the other student started to write his manuscript, I asked to be an author, since I had contributed directly to the research, but he felt I only deserved to appear in the acknowledgments. So I asked my supervisor to be on the paper and even volunteered to help writing it. My supervisor said “Don't worry about his paper, you have your own things to do, and he is not going to submit this work anytime soon”.

One week later, they submitted the paper to a major conference without my name on it. I felt really insulted that they used my time and skills with no credit to me.

I didn't actively do the research or help write the paper, but I felt I was supervising the student since I have the most experience on this topic. Many academics in my field get their names on papers by just giving suggestions.

What should I do? I am planning on taking it to the head of department.

Answer: 
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> I am planing in taking it to the head of department.
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Let me assure you that this is a bad idea. 99 times out of 100 the department head will not intervene in these matters. Moreover even if they do (again, super unlikely), and you get things your way with this paper, I assure you that this will forever mar your relationship with your advisor. I would be extremely upset if one of my students went over my head like this.

How about you have a discussion with your advisor about how you feel? What constitutes author worthy contribution highly varies between research groups, so I would not be so quick to decide that your contribution suffices (nor am I in a better position than **your advisor** to make this call). Maybe you can be more involved in follow ups? In relating this work to your own? As Buffy mentions, you’re not just letting it go because that’s the way it is, it’s also because being adversarial will have far reaching repercussions beyond this one paper!

In my experience, a collaborative approach pays dividends in the long run: Be the person people want to talk research with!

**EDIT:**
To clarify: It is impossible to judge whether X number of hours warrants coauthorship status, as this is very discipline/relationship related. Some PIs think that even a short conversation about the paper and some suggestions warrant coauthorship, others think that unless you actively participate in writing you shouldn't be a coauthor. 

Unless something outright unethical is happening (e.g. the OP made major contributions, which is not obvious from the OP), I don't think they have a case, certainly not one department head I've met would intervene in..
It's possible that your supervisor and your cuckoo think that you don't deserve co-authorship because they didn't let you edit the paper before submitting it. But the amount of time you spent providing needed advice and guidance in my opinion deserves more than a mere acknowledgement.

That said, raising a stink about this paper isn't going to be helpful to you. You need to finish your own degree, and making an ennemy of your advisor is not the way to get there. In addition, most department chairs are not real managers, and all they'd do with such a request is flee, not try to help you over the opinion of their colleague. So you should probably just let this slide, and maybe try to get an acknowledgement in the final published product.

But you should also pay attention to what this incident says about your advisor. Pursue every possible opportunity to publish with other people! If possible far-away people who don't have any institutional links with him. Be very sure that all help you provide him in your field of expertise will bring you at least co-authorship on whatever the project is, negotiating that up front. Make sure he doesn't just suck you dry for the duration of your studies. Don't outright refuse to cooperate, but be vague and unavailable if necessary.