My previous supervisor keeps asking me to review her papers. How to deal with this?
No it should not be normal. It is the decision of the editor to pick a specific reviewer. As a reviewer, you are supposed to keep the manuscript confidential. While i would see that this can be argued if you ask somebody working in your organization and reporting/being supervised by you, i think giving material to somebody whom you do not have direct control over in another institution is a pretty bad violation of the usual journal policies.
There are a number of bad situation which could arise from this
You actually having a professional relation to the peroson which you review (without your former professor knowing)
You telling your new boss about this, and he/she deciding to do politics using that knowledge (delaying etc)
You plagiarizing the paper, without the editor being able to track how that ended up there (since nobody knows about it)
You asking for changes to include references to your papers (innocent, since the editor team wont catch it...)
So no, beyond you not getting credit, i think it is a pretty shady thing.
(Added after comment): There are essentially two options, which depend on the mindset of your supervisor.
You explain what I wrote and tell that this makes you uncomfortable - you don't have to tell about her taking credit for your work, so it is less personal.
You inform the editor about the incident, pass your review, and ask the editor to be confidential about it. (I would imagine that they may just remove you former supervisor from their list)
Should I tell her this or is it normal in academics? If I should, how should I?
You are quite reasonable to be concerned about your former supervisor taking advantage of you in such a way. I cannot say what you “should” do, but in my opinion any of the following ways to respond would be appropriate:
You can tell her that you are happy to consider reviewing papers in your area, but that as an independent researcher intent on building your professional credentials you will only consider such requests coming from an editor, so she should feel free to pass your name along as a suggestion to the editor for any paper she thinks you are qualified to review.
(Note the precise language here: you don’t want to say that you are “happy to review the paper”, only that you are “happy to consider reviewing the paper” - since she is not an editor and is only trying to freeload on your work, it’s not really her business whether you will ultimately agree to do the review or not; moreover, if you tell her that you agree to do it, you open the way for her to try to manipulate you further by saying that since you agree, it’s more convenient/accepted/normal/[insert some other bullshit excuse here] for you to send the review through her.)
You can tell her that you are busy and cannot take on the review at this time. Repeat as needed until she gets the message and stops sending you these requests. (This is a white lie so not really my preferred option, but still a reasonable and socially accepted way to handle the situation.)
You can tell her that you cannot take on the review without explaining yourself. Repeat as needed.
As for the risks of angering your former supervisor with each of these responses: obviously you need to apply your own judgment based on your acquaintance with her, but I have this to say: even a person who tries to manipulate you or take advantage of you in a small way can still be a decent person, and can actually be impressed if you stand up for yourself in a graceful way and put them in their place if they have crossed a line of appropriate behavior. If the former supervisor is some sort of vindictive psychopath and you depend on her for future career success, you might be better off not doing anything that will upset her, but if she is a normal person who just has some flaws, I think the risk of damaging your relationship with her by asserting yourself in a polite and respectful way is very small. Conversely, the option of being a pushover and continuing to allow her to freeload on your work and talents also carries its own risk that as a result she will not have much respect for you and will not be very motivated to help you with your future career.
Hope this helps, and good luck.
This person was your advisor, right? So she is your ally, mentor and general fan, no? You can be straight with her.
Phone call:
Hi Susan. About the paper you sent me yesterday to review. I'm flattered/honored that you thought of me for reviewing it.
(Pause in case she wants to say something at this point, which she probably will.)
The thing is, Susan, I'm at the point now where I need to start establishing myself as a reviewer in my own right.
(At this point she may figure it out and state the desired conclusion. If not, spell it out for her:)
Could you pass my name on to the editor as a possible reviewer for papers about (description of sub-field)?