texts: How unwise is it to change fields/advisors late in my PhD?

texts:
I’m sorry for asking a dumb question I already know the answer to, but I’m asking it because I feel desperate and need someone to talk sense into me.

Some background:
I’m a fifth-year PhD student, with no real graduation in sight. I’m in one of the most packed and competitive subfields I know of (let’s call it field A), and I haven’t had much success, only a handful of small publications. To graduate my advisor tells me I need at least one or two major publications, but field A is so competitive at this point that many of these journals/conferences have nearly 10% acceptance rates.

But that’s not even the real issue. The real issue is I hate the research area I’m in. I’ve hated it since at least my third year. I thought maybe I would just push through it, but I’ve only hated it more and more and it’s come to the point where my hatred for it has become so visceral that I just don’t know how to keep pushing on. Not to mention a host of other problems - I feel like a complete outsider in my lab, and my advisor couldn’t care less if I come or go; he’s never provided any help and I’ve basically been left to fend for myself for the last 5 years.

Which brings me to the main reason for my question. This might sound strange, but since around my third year I found another research area (let’s say field B) that I’ve actually been very interested in, and on and off I’ve been reading a lot of results from this area - there were some stretches where I spent significantly more time reading results in B than in A. I know it didn’t get me closer to graduation, but field B was just so much more interesting to me. I’d have loved to do research in field B, but at the time there were good reasons why I didn’t really pursue trying to change or even contact the professor at our university who works in that area:

I had a decent career lined up in field A. I’ve had several internships in major industry labs, and I have an offer waiting for me if ever I graduate.
I may have an avenue to research that is essentially in field B. During one of these internships I met a researcher who told me if I get hired I could possibly do work related to field B on the side and maybe transfer entirely if things go well.
Location matters to me. There are fewer jobs in field B, but field A is booming. I’d be much more likely to find a job close to my family, and in fact, as I said in (1), I already have.
Timing. It was already 3 years into my PhD, I didn’t want to start over. Now it's been even more.
Maybe I would actually hate field B just as much when I got into it? I don't think so, but who knows?

With all that said, here’s my question: Knowing that all of these things are still just as true, and seeing as it’s my fifth year, how stupid would it be for me to try to change areas now? What barriers would I face?

I can’t imagine it would be anything other than idiotic to attempt it, assuming that I’d even be allowed to, but as I spend yet another day staring at my computer, unable to muster any willpower to work on my research, instead procrastinating with yet more papers in field B, I have to wonder if it’s all worth it? If I did switch, I’d still start from scratch and need mentorship, but I think I would have at least as much background by now as maybe a third-year PhD who had been researching field B from the beginning, maybe more.


texts: Is it reasonable to write the major part of my statement of purpose on machine learning for masters in data science?

texts: I am an aspirant for masters in data science and I have mentioned in  major chunk of my Statement of purpose about machine learning and my past experience with it. Is it okay or not ?


texts: How independent is an assistant professor in Denmark?

texts: In Denmark, an assistant professor is at the same level as a postdoc in terms of their salary scale. I believe assistant professors in Denmark can do independent research and can apply for their own fundings, but do they also have an obligation to work on what their managers (more senior professors) tell them to do? If so, how should the priority be?


texts: Standard practice when merging papers on arxiv

texts:
I and another author have decided to merge our manuscripts into one paper.
Both of us have already put preprints on arxiv. How should we handle the merging on arxiv? Is there a standard practice?

I can think of three options:

 Create a new submission for the merged paper.
 Upload the merged paper as a revision of both of the original preprints.
 Withdraw one of the original preprints and upload the merged paper as a revision to the other.

I worry that option 1 might look like we are spamming arxiv by uploading three papers when we really should only have uploaded one. Option 2 is undesirable because then there are two versions of the exact same paper on arxiv. Option 3 is asymmetric.

Has anyone had a similar experience?


texts: Should recruitment committee give lesser weight to Interdisciplinary Publications?

texts:
I am a Computer Science graduate (presently, working towards Ph.D.). I have been working in the field of Computational Biology/Chemistry, Bioinformatics which involves many different computational approaches. I am rather working towards the development of new computational methods.

However, we report our results in interdisciplinary journals or pure biology/chemistry journals.

Question: I have often heard that -- in my country, many organizations are giving lesser weight to such interdisciplinary publications. But, while I started Ph.D., I used to think that it does not matter much. Even, the recruitment committee does ask questions like Why did you publish in J. Computational X or J. Theoretical X ? How one should respond to such questions being an applicant for a position in Computer Science department?

I did find it funny, though. Either the recruitment committee is not suitable or such candidates are not preferable.

I came a not-so-similar question on SE: When should I publish in interdisciplinary versus subject-specific scientific journals?


texts: Found a major flaw in paper from home university – to which I would like to return

texts:
During my Ph.D. in condensed-matter physics, I published a paper together with two other students. The research group of the university that I am originally from (in Madrid, Spain) happened to work on the same subject and, later on, published another paper where they criticize our work, propose their own, and claim that theirs ‘works’ better. This group includes a famous and highly influential professor.

I could finally get around to study their results, reproduce every single bit of them, and found a major flaw, which invalidates their conclusions, including the superiority of their approach over ours.

I am now a permanent researcher in another country, but would like to go back to Madrid some day for personal reasons. It is a small world, and it is likely that I will have to interact/negotiate with that group if I ever want to go back.

On the one hand, I would like to publish this work where I found the flaw, in order to get things straightened out and properly settle the scientific issue. On the other hand, this may cause a strong embarrassment for them and be detrimental on a relational/political level, possibly implying a revenge from their side.

I could certainly write them a polite email before publishing, trying to be as delicate as possible and frame the whole thing in a positive way. However, I doubt that this will make a difference on the long term.

How can I deal with this? Have you ever been in a similar situation?


texts: Advice on inconsistent Gas Chromatography data

texts:
Trying to finish my Dissertation however i am struggling due to some incoherent data.
The experimental i used was based on an assigned practical from my prior year that had stock solutions provided, one addition was made to repeat the experiment with a different internal standard.

I have attempted the experiment twice using this method. Each attempt was repeated for 3 sets of data, each containing 6 standards ranging from 0 to 0.15% and 6 analytes.

The first attempt has extremely large peaks, where the internal standard should have a peak area of about 0.2 mine are around 15. And the main analyte, while visible is connected at the edge of the larger peak which has likely caused some error. The data still behaves linearly as i would expect it to, if with clear issues.
Due to booking errors, this attempt had to be analysed out of hours by the lab staff rather than myself.

the second set was only handled by myself and is much less coherent. peaks are sitting anywhere between 28 and 41, with none of them matching one another between sets. I cannot begin to guess which peak is which to even begin calculations. The total run time for this set was lowered from 10 minutes to two minutes.

Mainly i would like advice on:

A good part of my discussion is basically "how it went wrong", which is only base guesses on my part. Are there any links or keywords/ phrases about chromatography anyone can suggest so i can learn more about it?

I would like to get the experiment to sound positive, it is one thing to reword around unexpected but valid results but another around a potentially messed up experimental. I cannot see anything positive that i can reword the dissertation around.

so far i can use the first set of experiments and discuss how the current method doesn't suit what i was trying to do without further modification and use my calculation to back it up. How would i add the unreliable set to this? all i can think of is that A 2 minute run time just isn't sufficient and that some organic compounds stuck to the column causing contamination.

Any possible help would be appreciated thank you.


texts: Computational Physics or Engineering Physics, which deal with new technologies related to energy?

texts:
I currently on track to graduate with a B.S. in Computer Science and Physics. I am on the fence on which masters program I should pursue. I want to deal with new technologies like sustainable energy and things like Tesla motors.

Which degree would be more beneficial for the field I described or is there another engineering program that would better fit?


texts: Does wearing a university t-shirt imply that the wearer is affiliated with the university?

texts:
My friend studies at a very prominent university and has invited me to visit her. Coming across the university shop, I was considering buying one of the t-shirts with the university logo.

I am possibly over-thinking this, but the following scenario popped up in my head: What if, while wearing it, I am approached by a person who thinks I went to the university, and who'd ask me what my major was, etc. And when I'd say that I wasn't affiliated with the school, wouldn't it look like I'm taking a credit for what I haven't done?

Does wearing a university t-shirt imply that the person wearing it was/is somehow affiliated with the university?


texts:
In my reference my tutor has put down that he recommends me with reservation.
Is that a good thing? What does "recommend with reservation" mean?

Thanks everyone for your help.
I spoke to my referee and he realized he had made a typo. I have contacted the universities and told them. They have given me an email address for my referee to submit his reference again which I have passed on.
The rest of the reference letter was amazing and I am sure that the admission tutor would have picked it up as a typo and would have rung up my referee.


texts: What is a recommended strategy on exercises in a mathematical textbook at graduate level?

texts:
When I read a mathematical textbook at graduate level to learn and master a particular subject that I am unfamiliar with, I always struggle with the strategy on the exercises. Sometimes I spent one hour on one exercise problem without making any progress. Sometimes I skip exercise problems with guilt and worried that I may not have learnt the material well. I can think of the following possible strategies on exercises:

Ignore all of them. Just focus on reading the main body of the textbook.
Set a time limit. Say for every hour I spent on reading the main body, I spent twice much time on solving exercise problems. I try to solve whatever I can within two hours and skip the rest.
Never move on to a new session unless I have solved all exercise problems in the previous session. If I get stuck, spend hours working on it and if still no success, look it up or ask somebody until I understand the solution.
Spend a reasonable amount of time on each problem and if I could not solve it, read the solution from a solution manual. This strategy seldom works as for most books on graduate level, solution manuals are unavailable.

What strategy do you recommend? I personal feel that Strategy 3 is the most time-consuming but it is also the only one that does not bother my conscience. But because it consumes a huge amount of time, I am not sure if it is wise to adopt it.


texts: Would I have to conduct an experiment to write a scientific paper?

texts: I recently got a book named How to write and publish a Scientific Paper by Robert A. Day and Barbara Gastel. The book doesn't really explain the "background" of a scientific paper.  Would I have to conduct my own, original experiment in order to write a scientific paper, or could I just use the data from other experiments to make an orignal claim?


texts:
I am lucky (or potentially unlucky) enough that a grant applications that I am working on does not have any formatting specifications and instead just has a limit of 5000 words. There are some suggested sections, that will be be variable in terms of length (some will have 200 words and others over 1000), and it is likely that everyone will need to add additional sections. I am used to grant applications using poorly created MS Word forms with predefined sections that allow no formatting and are a single column with narrow margins/long line widths and single spacing.

I am looking for a style guide (or recommendations) about how to format the grant and the pros/cons of different formatting styles. I am both interested in the physical layout on the page, use of figures and tables, as well as advice on sectioning and the order of sections. I use LaTeX if that matters, but am happy for MS word advice also.

For example, do I go single column or double column and wide or narrow margins? The suggested sections do not include an obvious place for aim. Is it worth starting with an an overview that defines the problem and the outlines the proposed research or is 5000 words short enough that you do not need it?


texts: Is international Ph.D. student's stipend enough to support a partner in the U.S.?

texts:
Something that is not clear by any kind of research is this:

  Is associateship (which waives tuition and fees) stipend enough (annually 20k) for a student and his wife to take care of all their necessities and carry on during the whole Ph.D. period, without any other financial support?

I'm just asking in general and I know costs may vary a lot between different places. But since being a bit more specific is better, let's talk about the cities with medium cost of living according to Cost of Living Index 2018. For example, Columbus or Minneapolis is around 60 vs. New York that is 100.


texts: Whom to suggest to publisher for endorsement of my book?

texts:
I've submitted the final manuscript for a book with a reputed social science publisher. My publisher wants a list of people who might be willing to provide endorsement for the book.

Whom should I suggest? In particular, is it appropriate to suggest people I've been working with, for example my supervisors? On the one hand, they would not be neutral, but on the other hand, that seems to be precisely the point of an endorsement. Should I approach them myself before suggesting them to my publisher?

I'm not sure what exactly "endorsement" means, but I believe it's about writing one of these "blurbs" that you see on the back of some books. In any case, the purpose is for marketing, not for scientific review.


texts: Effect on image of a vanity award on CV/Profile

texts:
I could not find any previous questions on the effect of vanity awards compared to vanity publishers.  I recently noticed a CV on a university website with a few awards of International Scientist of the Year, or something as such.  I found the giver of this award as IBC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Biographical_Centre .  It seems from the page to be criticism on the organization.

I am curious, how do these types of awards being listed effect the image of the Professor?

If it is bad for the image, is it worse than vanity press, since it requires no work at all (compared to having to write a manuscript, even if it is bad).  Or is it not as bad because it doesn't look like passing off published work?

I am looking to know these answers to conclude if putting this type of award on a CV is beneficial, detrimental, or neutral in the general/international community.

For context, I know the Professor is in Asia, in which there is probably a good amount of pressure to come up with activities or awards for their career.  For diplomatic reasons, we can assume someone nominated them for the award and they are unaware of the feedback on Wikipedia.


texts: Up until which application level should one keep supplying a bachelors transcript of records together with the actual certificate?

texts:
I just found out that my undergraduate institution made a tiny error on my transcript of records. I moved to another country and am currently in my masters and I'm wondering if I should make the effort to get that little mistake corrected.

So how often will I need that transcript of records from my bachelors in the future?

I assume that after I have the masters degree I am probably expected to just send in the bachelors and masters certificate (+letters of recommendation etc.) for applications in academia or industry, because adding both transcripts of record would bloat my application significantly.


texts: What to do if a referee plagiarises the result after rejecting a paper?

texts:
I find myself in an awkward situation. Nearly two years ago I submitted a paper to a reputable mathematics journal. After 15 months it was rejected with the rationale that there had been papers published (most since the submission date) that contained results that I should have referenced. I found that a little spurious, but moved on and put my work together with some colleagues and got our new paper accepted (pending some language issues) by a different journal.

However, one of my co-authors has found that my exact result (barring some small notational changes, but with the exact same language; I can recognise it as mine, I slaved over finding just the right words!) from my original paper has had the proof published in a book by one author of the references that caused the paper to get originally rejected!

My assumption is thus that the paper was sent to this person to referee and they liked the result so much that they kept it for themselves, which also explains the delay in refereeing... I believe that this author has also presented this result at a conference as their own work. They have a number of papers published on the topic in question from their doctoral thesis.

My question is what steps can I take now to re-assert my authorship?

I believe that it would have been simpler if I had also submitted it to the arXiv, but I wasn't sure (at that time) how that would be seen by the journal. I did give a presentation of my results at a local conference, so I would be able to produce credible witnesses to back up my claim, if necessary. The book published containing my work is largely the doctoral thesis of the author, so I am attempting to find a copy of the thesis since it was deposited before I submitted my paper to the journal. Can anyone suggest any other recourse?

My co-authors would prefer to err on the side of caution and include a reference to the result in our revised paper, but I would really like to reclaim my work...


texts: How to use contacts on an application in an unassuming way?

texts:
Recently my former master thesis advisor (I finished more than a year ago, and want to return to academia / PhD studies after my still ongoing other research job) informed me about a summer school that fits my interests and skills very well. They suggested to mention them in the cover letter in the application process, since they are affiliated with the organizing institution, as a pro-argument and a way to possibly overcoming my recent non-academic background.

However, I am having bad feelings about being to pushy with their name and the possibility of a resulting "I know someone, therefore I need to be admitted"-effect for the reader.

How do I benefit from my network without leaving a wrong impression? Any phrasing suggestions?


texts: What is a "distributed paper" and is it worth the effort?

texts:
Looking for interesting conferences I stumbled upon some remarks that there were presented papers and distributed papers at a conference session. This distinction was new to me, so I did some web searches: It turns out that this is pretty common among the International Sociological Association and the European Sociological Association. According to one of their Conference FAQs a "distributed paper is a written paper which the author(s) brings along to the session to distribute to those attending" in contrast to an actually presented paper.

Of course, it is an individual cost–benefit analysis whether that kind of a conference contribution is worth the effort (and fees), but it is hard to do the math withouth any experiences what I could expect from such a conference contribution.

Do you have experience with this format? I am especially interested in:

What kind of feedback (quantity and quality) can I expect from a distributed paper?
In comparison to a poster or a normal presentation, what could be advantages of a distributed paper for the "distributor"?
Do you have suggestions how I could optimize a "distributed paper" to get better feedback (or feedback at all)?


texts: In the US, is it culturally acceptable for a graduate student to give a small gift to a professor?

texts:
I am an overseas student who was recently admitted to a PhD program in the US, and I will soon travel to the US to meet my future PhD advisor and my fellow grad students. My future PhD advisor has also kindly accepted to be my host for the duration of the several days I will spend in the US. I really appreciate his help, as I know hosting a student in addition to all the other responsibilities that come with being a professor may be a hassle, and also he has saved me from paying for a B&B by offering to host me.

Anyway, I think I would like to give a small gift to my professor just as a token of appreciation for his consideration, but I have doubts as to whether this would be appropriate, since I come from a different culture, and I cannot easily assess how people would react to such a thing in the US. In my culture, too, it would be inappropriate to buy an expensive gift for a professor. In the best case, the professor would sternly refuse to accept the gift, and in the worst case, the professor could have negative ideas about you, e.g., s/he could think you were trying to ingratiate yourself with him/her, that you intended to give the gift as a form of bribe, etc. BUT a small gift with little to no monetary value wouldn't be turned down, and it would most probably be accepted as a token of heartfelt thankfulness. The question for me is, of course, where this boundary is in the US.

And in case you're wondering what I consider buying for him...well, my country happens to have nice tea sets and/or plates made of porcelain, they are popular souvenirs that tourists like to buy here, and one can easily buy a nice, small decorative plate for under 10 dollars, for instance. So I suppose I could buy something like that.

Would that be acceptable? Or would I be judged negatively?

Thank you very much in advance for your answers.


texts: How to know the full name of paper authors?

texts:
I have the following citation:

  M. Hama and T, Imahashi. Periodic β-expansions for certain classes of Pisot numbers. Comment. Math. Univ. St. Paul. 46(2):103–116, 1997.

I prefer citing the full names of the authors, however, I'm unable to find them. I tried googling their names, finding what is their affiliation, but I did not succeed. Is there any standard way how to find scientists' full names?


texts: What percentage of registered participants eventually show up at conferences?

texts:
I am organizing a small workshop which is over subscribed. We will have to reject a few applications. The worst applicants are easy to spot, but there are a few borderline cases, and I'm afraid that a few unfair decisions will necessarily have to be made.

To minimize the damage, I would like to know how many of the registered participants who we accept will actually show up, so that if I am aiming at X actual participants, could I safely accept X + dX?

I have noticed that several name tags always are left unclaimed at small meetings, because of people not showing up. I would like to know how to estimate how many people I can expect not to show up.

I am looking for answers from people who have organized (preferably small) meetings and have first-hand knowledge about the typical numbers.

--

Edit:

So the week of the workshop came and I can give you attendance numbers. It is good that I didn't overbook since we got 100% attendance (49/49 registered participants). This is despite the event being free of charge (some people suggested the attendance would be lower for free events). Some of the things that we did that may have helped secure such good numbers are thorough screening of applications and asking for confirmation upon acceptance of the applicant. For instance, we weeded out a few applicants who were unlikely to show up unless we paid for their travelling and a couple of accepted applicants told us that they would not be able to attend, a couple of months in advance of the workshop.


texts: What is the preferred order of information in an academic CV for computer science field?

texts:
I'm sending my CV for postdoc positions in computer science in Europe (esp. Germany). My special focus is academia rather than the industry.
I was wondering what is the preferred order of information to bring there?
For instance, is the following order acceptable/preferred?

Personal information
Education
Work experience
Research Interests
Teaching experiences (TA)
Computer skills
Publications


texts: Why do universities announce interviewees for positions as lates as possible?

texts:
My (R1) university is hiring a number of upper administration positions. We keep getting these emails about the dates of the interview, but the names aren't released until 24 h beforehand.

My previous (large) department did something similar for our chair search, although I think the names were released more than 24 h earlier.

Why is so much secrecy necessary?


texts: Grant/Funding question: "Expected Benefits and Outcomes for attending the conference"?

texts:
I have acceptance for a conference in my field (Telecommunication and networking), and now I am applying for a conference travel grant to attend this conference. Can I please have an idea what should I respond to the following question?

What are your the expected benefits and outcomes of attending this conference?

I know that this conference is a major conference and it will earn me a good reputation, but the funding agency will not be interested in any of my personal gains and they will be concerned with their own benefits (in this case, providing internet connectivity to this country).

Any idea to respond so that I can convince the reviewers of the application that I am worthy to get this fund?


texts: Why should the scientific community avoid double submissions?

texts:
Every journal has strict rules about duplicate submissions, and I do not mean publishing the paper in 2 venues.

My approach is mostly from an economics point of view: Given the fact that most reviews take between 2-3 months, plus any number of months for a resubmission, limiting yourself to only one journal seems not only a waste of time for the individual, but an overall drag for the scientific community. Even if you make a groundbreaking discovery, it won't get published until about a year later.

Multiple submissions dramatically increase the chances of getting your work published, and if you get accepted in both, you can always pull out your paper. From a marketplace point of view, this makes sense, since in this way, journals would be fighting for authors and not the other way around.

Models like Arxiv have proven that this is not such a crazy idea


texts: How relevant is "moving on" as an argument in peer review?

texts:
For me, publishing results only when they are final, complete, and positive is more of a tradition than a necessity. I would find it valuable if others were able to publish what they have tried, even if they have not achieved what they (initially) aimed for. Unfortunately, this is very often not possible, at least in peer-reviewed journals.

I always pity the results that are lost because of this; in particular, when reviewers ask for additional research that is feasible in general, but infeasible because the authors are busy with other projects, moving to a different institution, leaving academia, or whatever other reasons. If I were an author in such a situation, I would probably share this reason with the reviewers to explain why additional work is not possible. As a reviewer, I might consider this in my recommendation. My question is: how relevant is this? Does this happen a lot? How likely is it to influence the reviewers' decision? And will the editor care?

These questions are very hard to answer, so good answers might be based on experience rather than hard facts. I would very much welcome those.


texts:
From USA universities, Can I request to see a reference about me?
Do they offer the Right to Information and request the information provided in a referee report about me to release?
I can have this service from the UK.
I ask this because my current PI congratulate me on an interview for a postdoc position, next time he followed up and asked how did it go. Later I found he sent a negative referee report about me and not to hire me. (long story  short, they were my PI's colleagues - so, through the Right to Information I got told to request HR to have a copy of all the referee reports)
Still PI doesn't know if I know about his backstabbing, however, I want to make sure this from another place in the USA to confirmed if that was a personal attack or if it was due to I applied to his colleague's group.
If this is genuine backstabbing, what actions I can take through universities / academic level, without going to courts.
I had/have to put this PI as a referee for someplace where they know which lab I am coming from.
PI is famous in the university for this kind of games he plays, however, he has top political power as he has billions of grants, and staff/students afraid to talk in public.
Edit:
To answer few of your Qs /comments:
To @Jon Custer : "how do you know the report was "negative" vs "not positive enough given the other applicants"?"
I am specialized in using a few lab techniques. PI has written in the report, I do not! (Funny enough PI is the one who doesn't know these two techniques - I got trained by a postdoc and a tech at different institutes and attended a workshop).
However, the rest of the world believes PI is an expert in this very field and specialized in this specific technique, as he published dozens of articles. The Truth is, He does not know the technique, all come from a technician and a postdoc (both postdoc and tech left the lab, I have a referral from the tech, that I got trained from the tech)
To: user151413; "Reference letters are an assessment, which can be negative. (Otherwise, what's the point of an assessment?) "
This would be true if it was an honest assessment. The problem here is deliberate lying, and giving false information in the assessment.


texts: Have you used such grading policy in your teaching?

texts:
I have seen a grading policy for a course with two midterms. Under this policy, if a student scores better in the second midterm than in the first one, the first test will be "forgiven" and the weight shifts to the second one. For example, if midterm 1 and are 15% each and a student got 60 for midterm 1 and 80 for midterm 2, then the weigh of the two exams become 0% and 30%. I can see the good side of the policy is to encourage students making progress. But I worry that this will cause students complain about unfairness, particularly those who can't take advantage of this policy.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.


texts: What to do if a student claims to have turned in the homework but I could not find it?

texts:
I am teaching a course in a college and assignment homework on a regular basis. Usually I collect all homework in the class and later my student secretary grades all the homework and return them to the students through the mail room. If a student did not turn in the homework at all, a zero will be given.

There is a student who claims to have turned in two homework but got zero for both. I am checking with my secretary and is awaiting for his reply. Likely he will tell me that he does remember anything about her homework. Also I have asked the student to check her mailbox, and it is quite likely that she could not find her homework there.

Another piece of information: I suspect the student is dishonest as sometimes her quiz answer is identical to the student sitting next to her. But since I never caught her red-handed, this should not be used as an evidence.

Now assuming that no evidence can be found regarding whether she turned the homework or not, there are at least three opinions for me:

Give her full marks for the homework, assuming that it is I or my secretary who misplaced them.
Give her zeros, ignoring her claims.
As a happy medium, change her homework status as "excused" so these two particular homework will not be counted toward her grade.

I have done Option 1 in the past, but only to find out later that the student who made the claim turns out to be a very dishonest student and likely she lied to me and benefited from lying. What would you suggest me to do in this situation?


texts: Can future works sections be similar in different papers?

texts: A simple analysis method was proposed in an already-published paper. I am working on a more complicated version of the same method. The future works section of the published paper and my future works section have the same goal. Is it acceptable for both papers to have similar future works goals?


texts: What is would be my "relationship" with a recommender whose class I was a TA for?

texts:
I'm applying to graduate school. One of the people who are going to write a reference letter for me was my professor in a course. Also, I later became a TA in her class.
I have to determine my relationship with this recommender in a field that can take only a few words. What should I put there?


texts:
I'm applying for faculty jobs and was considering including sample syllabi for courses I could develop (which are currently not offered at the target institution). My idea was to include them as an appendix to my teaching statement.

Would this be a good idea? Are there any pitfalls I should look out for?

In particular I'm thinking for US liberal arts colleges, but I would be interested in views for more research focused universities as well.


texts: Mitigating Circumstances for dissertation - being charged extra fees

texts:
I am doing an MSc in Maths. I had my exams in May/June. However, with my thesis where I need face2face supervision, I contacted the college and was told to submit a mitigating circumstances form. The college is now asking me to pay a fee to be a "thesis-only" student for 1 year. In my mitigating circumstances form, I asked them for just a few months extension - whatever was taken up by the lockdowns and pandemic. The form also never mentioned having to pay extra. As far as I see it, I accommodate them by taking a hit with delaying my graduation, they accommodate me by delivering what has already been paid for and has not been delivered.
I would have no problem paying this, however, I barely used my supervisor's time this year. I was assigned a supervisor end of Oct 2019, we had one meeting in Nov 2019 an Dec was end of term so we only had 1 meeting in 2019. I quit my job in Jan 2020 to focus on my MSc and thesis. Then the pandemic struck a month later. I contacted my supervisor by email and he said he doesn't do skype/video so I decided to work on it on my own with the hope that lockdown ends and we can meet Summer 2020. This never happened and I didn't get any instructions from the university regarding thesis supervisions.
When I asked about the fee, it took more than 1 month to get answers. I got a response yesterday 30 Oct 2020 to an email from 29 Sept and the deadline for re-enrolment is today 31 Oct 2020. Only now are they telling me there are other options (e.g. do it on your own without supervisor). All of this makes me feel they are using the pandemic to try to get more money.
Is it normal to have to pay extra for mitigating circumstances especially with a pandemic? I am not asking to split my year into exam-year and thesis-year. Any suggestions? I will be emailing them not to complain but to understand their reasoning.


texts: What is the difference between the Method and Experimental Setup section

texts:
I am writing a Computer Science paper, however my supervisor wants me to describe the methodology in a more general form in the Method section. In the Experimental Setup section I dive into the details. My question is, what is general?

I always assumed that the Method and Experimental Setup  were one section were you describe your setup/method in detail.


texts: What to do with an application question when I honestly don't know my plans?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate currently applying for Fall 2016 Master's programs in Statistics (or sometimes Applied Statistics, depending on the program).

One of my applications has this question:

  If you are applying for a master's degree, do you intend to continue for the doctoral degree?

The options are yes/no/not applicable.

Here's the thing–I honestly don't know. I could really see myself doing either. My eventual goals are something like data analysis/statistical modeling, especially with social science implications–although I've done a little bit of undergraduate "research" coding web apps that involve visual inference and statistical tests.

I'm not applying to any PhD programs not because I definitely don't want a PhD, but because my academic record is a bit weaker than most (I got a D in a math class my freshman year, cleared up some ADHD issues before my sophomore year, and have done really well since).

Soul-searching about what I really want more notwithstanding, would it be a greater sin to say "yes" and then not go on for a doctorate, or would the alternative be worse? If I say "yes," will my application be judged more harshly?


texts: Expected issues upon graduating with a second Masters in Electrical Engineering after first Masters in Computer Science

texts:
I obtained MS degree in Computer Science degree some 7 year ago from a decent German state university. Since then I majorly worked in system software roles and occasionally embedded software and hardware. Over this time I have also developed keen interest in designing circuits for signal processing but my skills are very limited.

I am therefore thinking of going for further higher education in area of Integrated Circuits. However I donot want to go for PhD as its 5 year investment. I also looked at continuing education programs, but I couldn't find anything interesting. I am therefore thinking of doing second Masters degree in Electrical Engineering.  I would be applying to schools in US and Europe which are either equal or better established than my alma matter.

The question is what issues can I expect to face when looking for work after graduating with two MS degrees: one in Computer Science and recent one in Electrical Engineering


texts: How to collect data for dissertation if the work wasn't published

texts:
I'm starting my dissertation in which I'm creating a mobile application for public use.

My problem is I need evidences to support my hypothesis and I was informed
that I will only be allowed to collect data from users inside the company
for which I'm doing the app, since the application won't be released in time
of my deadline.

I think this might invalidate my data since these are users who are aware
of the application development.

I thought I could do some quizzes and try to have "outside" people to fill them
but I'm not sure if this enough to support my hypothesis since these people
didn't had any contact with my application.

So my question is if using data from quizzes about a possible solution (like
mine) is enough to support my dissertation since I can't let people try my app
by themselves.


texts: Recommendation Letter from a non-PhD referee

texts:
I am applying for a PhD program and I am in the process of choosing people for recommendation letters. Being someone in the final year of  master's program (and not been involved with many people in research), one of my potential referee is my internship guide. I had worked with him closely for 3 months and a paper came out of the work.

He does not hold a PhD. He is not involved with research in a big way. He holds a Senior Manager post and possesses 20 years of experience. Although he can write a good recommendation letter, will it carry weight considering his background?


texts: What should I ask deans during my interview?

texts:
I managed to snag my first interview for a tenure-track assistant professor job. As I had heard, the itinerary seems somewhat gruelling. What caught my eye in particular are three 45min-1hr meetings with various higher-ups: The Dean of Science, the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, and the Associate Vice-president (Academic).

While there is certainly no shortage of topics to discuss with people in my potential department, I have very little sense of what the above three meetings will be like. So my question is:

  What kind of questions should I be thinking about asking deans/VPs during these meetings?


texts: Applying to grad school where I've been on exchange

texts: I know that many universities in the US and an increasing number in the EU are against taking on their own graduates. Does the same apply to exchange students? I'm wondering if I didn't make a strategic mistake by going there. On the other hand, I did everything to go on exchange to that school because I think they do great research.


texts:
I’m a Postdoc. Last year I was given some data from a former postdoc. My PI told me that the data had never been published and that they had many people trying to get results but nobody could. I worked on that projects night and day, designed the analysis plan, did tons of analysis, finally came up with a novel technique (which hasn’t been used in the literature before). I got pretty interesting results and last week when I showed my results to my PI and the former Postdoc, my PI said that the she (the former Postdoc) should take the lead of the project and be first author.
I’m a bit confused, I didn’t know they had that in mind. The former Postdoc didn’t get results with that data, is it ok she gets first authorship with my design and analysis? She said she could write the manuscript (but of course she’ll need help writing methods because she didn’t do that). I felt bad about this. I do understand that it’s her data from her previous project, but I wish they had told me before I did all the work. Am I wrong,  or should I be considered first author?


texts: Counting the number of peer reviews in the CV

texts:
Sometimes I review papers that require more than one round of referee reports (e.g., first round was a "major revision", second round a "minor revision", and ultimately acceptance in third round). When listing the referee activity in my CV, I count these set of referee reports written for the same manuscript and the same journal as a single peer review. I believe that this was the common practice.

However, since the raise of services like Publons that allow to credit each individual referee report that is carried out by a reviewer, I wonder if researchers now tend to emphasize more the number of referee reports in the CV rather than the number of peer reviews (somehow giving an impression of a higher peer reviewing activity).

My question: is the common practice nowadays to list in the CV the number of peer reviews or the referee reports?


texts: How can I seek permanent Personalised Assessment Arrangements, rather than reapplying each year?

texts:
I'm severely disabled. Under Outcomes and length of arrangements:

If your condition is long-term and unchanging, the Personalised Assessment [henceforth PA] Arrangements Committee (PAAC) will approve arrangements for the duration of your programme, meaning you do not need to reapply each year.

Under 3) International student:

You can apply to sit your examination at an alternative venue [henceforth AV] if you are either:
a)      Taking a resit and/or replacement examination and you are a non-attending student. You can only apply to sit in your home country.
OR
b)      Taking a resit and/or replacement examination and you are applying to take the examination during the August exam period. You can only apply to sit in your home country.

I asked King's College London (KCL)'s Exam Services why AV can't be approved permanently (for the duration of my degree), like PA. But the Head regurgitated without explanation that this is possible only for PA, before harshly alleging that this matter was closed.
How can I challenge them? Can the Equality Act 2010 help?
Additional Argument, in addition to inability to live alone long-term.
Requiring me to reapply each year throws my life into uncertainty, thwarts me from planning how long to rent my apartment, and and forces me to rent for longer than needed. How?
Option 1: I lease until June, as I wouldn't know if AV'd be approved this year when I sign a lease. But if I learn that I'm approved for AV no earlier than Jan. or Feb., then lease payments from Mar.-Jun. would be wasted as I'd fly home.
Option 2: I lease until Mar. 2019. But the risk is lacking residence in London, if my AV is denied and I need to write exams in London in June.


texts: What database catalogues citations in the humanities?

texts:
Alright so I know what I'm thinking of exists, I just have absolutely no idea what it's called, and I'm driving myself crazy googling it. I'm looking for a resource that catalogs each instance a certain work is referenced in a certain time frame. For example, something that might show how many times, say, Moretti was referenced in academic journals and books in the past year. I've had professors mention this to me in passing, and I think I heard it was run by MLA, but I'm not sure. Something that could be used similarly to the h-index, but for the humanities.

What database catalogues citations and could be used to get a h-index in the humanities?


texts: Should I admit that I can't find a solution to a math problem?

texts:
The problem is pretty much the title. I have a bachelor and master degree in applied math. I have been assigned a small problem to start with, from a professor (who is considered very good in my field) who is willing to give me a reference, which in turn I need in order to apply for a PhD position. Our common goal is for me to work gradually on the problem and, if I solve it, produce a published paper. This is a huge matter for me as do not yet have any publications, and it will (I believe) boost my chances to obtain a PhD position. The problem is that I have been working for a month on this and I have not reached an answer. So, considering that he said that this first problem would be pretty easy to deal with, I am really wondering what to do.

I need an answer on this: Should I admit to this person that is highly accomplished that I am having difficulties at what he asked from me? or should I tell him all I have got up till now even if that is not even close to a solution?


texts: After working 10 years in the non-profit sector, will getting a PhD open new doors?

texts:
I am trying to come up with criteria to decide if I leave my job and start a PhD I was recently offered. One issue is the impact the PhD will have in my career: will it open new doors, will it make me a more attractive candidate to work for the government or the non-profit sector where I have been working for the past 10 years? Or should I just continue working on the issues I already have experience with and a network?

The main reason I am considering the offer is because I love the topic, I have been wondering about it for many many years and I would like to become an expert on it. It will be a big change for me, financially and geographically, as well as socially. PhD students can be very young these days.


texts: What methods can be used in online exams to genuinely test the students' knowledge and capabilities?

texts:
There has been a lot of talk about online teaching in relation to covid-19 and campus shutdowns.

This question isn't about that though: my question is about what ways online examinations should be treated in counterpoint to written examinations.

I'm going to be transferring my course's written examination into an online environment. This examination involved 2 hours of students, with a pen and paper, answering questions both short and long in a typical examination environemnt.

An online exam however cannot be policed. Demanding it be anything other than open book is unrealistic. What methods can be deployed such that it is a genuine test of students' knowledge and capabilities?


texts: When asked to provide recent research examples, how should I chose the right papers?

texts:
I was asked to provide two recent examples of research work by one hiring committee for a "research scholar" position at a research institute in the field of environmental sciences. I think the employees sometimes supervise for PhD students from a university nearby, so...
...I have several very good first-author papers dating back three years; one first-author from last year (but I think not so strong as the older papers) and a recent paper were a post-doc is the first author and I am second (corresponding author). In between I have papers were I am the fourth or seventh author but these do  not count here.
Should I list:

the "better" ones, although both older,
or one older one and the recent one were I am the correspondence author?

What do you think to count for recent research? And what role in the author list should one play when want to show it as an example of my work?


texts: Should PhD student always co-author its advisor

texts: Is it a must for a PhD student to co-author its advisor? What about if the student writes a paper by itself? What about collaborating with friends?


texts: Does diversity in undergraduate research topics look bad on my graduate school application?

texts:
I have done 5 different projects in my undergraduate course and all of them are from different areas/fields. My project work during High school is from a different area still. The reason of working in different fields is that I was trying to figure out what exactly interests me.
Having found that, I am interested in doing grad school after I finish my bachelors.
Does the fact that I have done all my research projects in different areas say that I'm not sure what interests me?

UPDATE:If this is sounding vague, I'll clarify. My major is chemical engineering. I've done projects on Synthesis of nanoparticles, Bionanotechnology-Tissue Engineering, Analysis of a thermodynamic cycle, Microreactors and Reaction Engineering.
I intend to apply for a program in Bioengineering/Bioprocess Engineering


texts: Number of academics in various EU countries

texts:
This press release by an Italian union mentions a huge difference between the number of academic positions in various countries:

  Per fare solo un esempio, sul personale, a fronte dei circa 50.000 docenti universitari nel nostro Paese, ce ne sono circa 250.000 in Germania, 200.000 nel Regno Unito, 95.000 in Spagna, 80.000 in Francia e analoghe differenze si verificano rispetto al personale tecnico e amministrativo.

My translation:

  As an example, let's mention personnel: corresponding to about 50,000 university professors in our country [Italy], there are about 250,000 in Germany, 200,000 in the United Kingdom, 95,000 in Spain, 80,000 in France, and there are similar differences regarding clerks and technicians.

Are these numbers accurate? Do they compare apples to apples? For instance, as far as I understand, many PhD students in Germany are employed as "Wimi"s and would probably be counted as "academic personnel", while in Italy they are still considered students and they would not fit in the same category.

Regarding Italy, this 2018 press release by the Italian ministry of education shows that in 2017 there were 54,235 academic positions in Italy, counting only professors and junior positions, both temporary and tenure-track (Professore ordinario, professore associato, ricercatore a tempo indeterminato, ricercatore a tempo determinato). This excludes postdoc grants (13,946) and all PhD students (9,288 in 2017 according to another source).

Where can I find similar breakdowns regarding Germany, UK, or other countries?


texts: When is it appropriate to ask for spousal hire?

texts:
I got a tenure-track academic offer in the US.
However, I recently found out that in the US there is this concept of spousal hire, that I can use. I saw several questions related to this but no one is addressing what it is and how it is appropriate to negotiate a spousal hire. The spouse would work in a non-academic job.
Based on the current covid situation and economic crisis, are universities in need of people from the IT management and programming sector? How does a non-academic hire and a non-academic job in the IT field at a university in the US look like in the Tier 2 group?


texts:
So I'm in my third year of university and I'm at the point where I have to choose my modules for next year. This is a simple question, but I really wish I asked it a long time ago because I have no idea of the answer.

Should I pick modules I know I can easily pass that will get me a better final grade but probably won't teach me anything OR should I pick modules that will be more challenging for me, will give me a lower final grade than if I picked the easy ones but with the benefit of teaching me a great deal?

I suppose at the root of it the question is am I at university solely to strengthen my future career prospects or am I here for the purpose of learning. Regardless of my answer to that, I'd like to know what people advise regarding module picking.

Bare in mind that I don't say "easy" modules because they're easy but because I practice a lot of the required skills in my free time so I have experience. They will still have the same value as the hard modules if an employer were looking at them.


texts: Advisor asks me to use plots that favor our approach, saying "the numbers in our paper don't matter; what matters is the message"

texts:
My advisor has been asking me to generate plots I am uncomfortable with, since they overestimate the success of our approach, or make the data seem less noisy than it is.  He says this is okay because the numbers in the paper don't matter as much as the high level message.  What should I do?

We haven't fabricated data per se but some of the analyses are sketchy. For example in one plot we are comparing our approach to a baseline, but due to lack of data, any point that our approach fails on will also register as a failure when we apply the baseline method to it, meaning our approach will always look better.

Due to lack of data, there's no obvious "alternative plot"; the alternative would be not generating any plot, or generating a plot that underestimates the success of our approach (which he says is just as bad as overestimating its success).  In some cases, our plot and another plot are equally defensible, but our plot looks a lot better so we kept it.


texts: Just started PhD, feel lost and abandoned

texts:
I started my PhD some months ago. My advisor was also my Master's advisor. He was impressed by my skills and passion so I enrolled in a PhD program with him.
What happened is that my topic changed quite lot and he didn't tell me clearly before enrolling. Basically my master thesis topic is in the trash for him now (FYI we published in a top conference with that). He wants to work on a totally new idea, on which not even him has the right expertise, so basically I have to study a whole new state of the art, have the ideas, acquire the skills and present the results - why do I even need a PhD advisor then..?

I feel lost, abandoned (I have nobody, nor other PhDs or PostDocs to work with) and hopeless. Yes, I tried to explain my advisor that I'm not excited by the new topic, but he's like "I pay you for this, so you'll do this".

Any experience on situations like this? Should I quit and say goodbye? Am I wrong expecting more by a PhD advisor?


texts: Leaving academia - what to do with the personal website?

texts:
I have a question about "post-academia" personal websites. The question is open-ended and fuzzy because I am not 100% certain with what I would like to do, so I am also looking for suggestions.

Some background first.
I will soon finish my PhD and I will probably leave academia permanently for an industry job (and most likely it will not include any research). Despite leaving academia I am not abandoning my work and my academic credentials. In future (at least in the next 5-10 years) I would like to

brand myself as a professional in the field with an emphasis on my academic contributions (I think that if someone googles my name and as the first result is listed my academic page that can only be positive for my image)
remain open to a potential collaboration with academia (e.g. projects that my company finds interesting; reviewing papers for conferences)
remain open to sporadically co-author papers that are related to my previous research (e.g. someone reads my paper, finds my work interesting enough to ask me to contribute to his future paper, but realises that I am not anymore in academia so gets a wrong impression that I am closed to such offers -> I would like to avoid that).

Now goes the question.

As many academics, I have a personal website with my research interests, projects, publications, and so on. I would like to retain that website, but I have no idea how to design it in the way it is sustainable and not dead for many years to come. I have seen that former researchers leave personal websites on the server of their former departments, but they look quite dead with an obsolete email as contact, old photograph, last update 10 years ago, etc.

But on the other hand, probably I will also not have any new content to fill since I will not be writing papers anymore, and my field is not like architecture where architects have websites with their portfolio even when they work for a large company.

How to design a "post-academic" website in the way it is sustainable? What content to put? Do you have any examples of successful webpages of former researchers?

Edit: I forgot to note that I have a Linkedin profile, but I don't find it as a good replacement for a personal website.

Edit 2: I'd like to make a website that is sustainable irregardless of the job and company I will work for (I expect this to change multiple times in the next 10 years).


texts: Is it a good idea to cite paper from publisher listed in Beall’s list

texts: While writing the literature review for my paper, I found another paper which is closely related to my research. Unfortunately, the paper’s publisher is on Beall’s List. Hence, I wonder if citing the paper will have any negative impact on my paper.


texts: What counts as a "prior version" in Springer's self-archiving policy?

texts:
Springer's self-archiving policy ( https://www.springer.com/gp/open-access/authors-rights/self-archiving-policy/2124 ) says:

  By signing the Copyright Transfer Statement you still retain
  substantial rights, such as self-archiving: "Authors may self-archive
  the author’s accepted manuscript of their articles on their own
  websites. Authors may also deposit this version of the article in
  any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months
  after official publication or later. (...)

  Prior versions of the article published on non-commercial pre-print servers like arXiv.org can remain on these servers and/or can be
  updated with the author’s accepted version.

So if I'm understanding correctly, if you have not uploaded the paper to arXiv or other repositories beforehand, then a 12-month embargo applies before you are allowed to publish the accepted manuscript in any repository. However, if you have uploaded the paper to arXiv or some other repository, then you are allowed to post the accepted manuscript there with no embargo as an update of the previous version.

Not that I understand why such a policy can make sense, but my real question is: how should "prior" be interpreted there? Prior to paper acceptance or prior to the first submission?

That is, for example: is it OK to submit a paper to one of these journals, be asked for major revisions, then do the revisions and submit them to arXiv in addition to the journal, and finally update the arXiv entry when the paper is accepted?


texts: Etiquette on giving negative feedback on a top mathematician's work

texts:
I want to ask a more general question that relates to a renowned mathematician’s recent proposed proof of a famous hypothesis, which seems to be widely considered not even close to being correct – that it’s not just not correct, it’s “not even wrong”.

Since now, all the top mathematicians have declined to comment on his proof, seemingly out of respect for the mathematician.

So my general question is: for a well-established mathematician, shouldn’t they be given feedback, even if their work isn’t correct?  Why not give a rejection, so that they are informed?

I would think that a long-time mathematician who has won the top awards in their lifetime can actually handle the criticism – they wouldn’t have become a master at their craft without overcoming a great deal of failures and negativity in their career.  In that sense, it is actually more respectful to tell a researcher when they are wrong.


texts: What do you do if a person in your group purposely misleads you?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate researcher working with another undergraduate researcher in a group. I believe the other undergraduate researcher wants to look particularly good between the two of us for a good letter of recommendation, and she has been doing this to my detriment (giving me false or misleading information on our shared project).

The graduate student that's also working on the project now certainly prefers her and sees me as kind of useless. Of course, I'm going to try to just perform well independently now to see if I can demonstrate my value, but I'm wondering if this sort of a thing is appropriate to bring up, and if so how. I'm only here for a Summer.

Edit:
As an update for whoever is interested, I found a solution. The other students' only incentive is to look good, though thus far it has been to my detriment. I asked the other student openly if they thought I unfairly got the short end of the stick in our last meeting, and she agreed that I did. So then we agreed that if she actively made clear the work that I was doing in the next meeting, that I would do the same for her. This way all our efforts are acknowledged, so there's no need to employ subterfuge, and so there's no drama involved. The grad student acknowledges both our efforts now. A game-theoretic perspective can be helpful sometimes! I'm happy I can proceed together with the other student on our project.


texts: Can a potential Supervisor leave a hint on you in the scholarships and influence somehow the selection?

texts: I wonder if a full time professor could somehow influence the scholarship committee. I know that my potential supervisor is currently recruiting PhD students, he told me when I first approached him. He has accepted to be my supervisor and we are in touch. How is he sure that he is gonna recruit the potential PhD students he has accepted to supervise? They may have 5 potential PhD students and none of them will get the scholarship.


texts:
I'm a PhD student and one of my research assistants (undergraduate student) applied for a non-research volunteer position on campus. He asked (via email) for me to be one of his references on the day of the application deadline. I didn't see the email until the day after. In my reply email, I apologized for not catching the email in time, said it would have been better if they gave me more than a few hours warning, and that hopefully he was able to find another letter writer in time.

He replied and said that he had put my name down as a reference anyway because of the deadline. I'm not sure if this was due to them misunderstanding how references work (first job?), or cultural differences (international student?), or procrastination with the application and simply assumed I would be OK with it. In his followup emails he seems to be aware that this was an inappropriate thing to do, but had no choice due to the deadline.

The problem is that even if he had asked me earlier I would have declined to be a reference anyway, primarily because I don't know the student well enough to write a positive letter (he had only been working in the lab for a couple of months at that point).

Today, I received the request for my reference letter, asking me to rate the student on various qualities and some open ended questions. I have enough time to write the letter, but I'm not sure of the correct course of action.

On the one hand I wouldn't have written an overly positive letter in the first place and putting me down as a reference without my permission worsens my impression of the student. But on the other hand I feel that as a supervisor (of his lab work anyway) I should suck it up and help them get the job regardless of how I feel about this situation, as he has been a fairly good student (kind and friendly) in the lab for the little time that I've known him. Additionally, I'll still be supervising the student in the lab regardless of whether he gets the job, and writing a bad letter may sour the relationship and create unwanted tension in the lab.

I'm not sure how to handle this situation. Should the employer be made aware of what happened? Can/should I decline to write the letter? Would there be any negative repercussions for me if I decline to write the letter after being put down as a reference?

I see that there is already a question on here about declining to write a reference (Should I decline to fill out a recommendation form after saying that I will do it?), but in this case I never agreed to write the letter in the first place and this was all done without my permission (or awareness, until after the fact).


texts:
So at last I have graduated. I experienced my ex advisor 'dropping me' more or less, and focusing on his own tasks. He no longer communicates with me about anything relevant, and it seems my employment with the university as a research position will come to an end unless I seek funding alone.

Applying for industrial postdocs to get funding this way seems a little counter-intuitive considering I could spend all that time looking for an industry job. Alternatively, I've looked at grants but most things seem to be PhD age 2+. I spoke with a career counselor who confirmed this.

How does one continue working in the same environment if there's no support from their side regarding funding and I'm meant to find it alone? Is this a clear sign I should move on?


texts: Journal paper submission practices to improve review quality and reduce delay

texts:
I'm trying to think of things that can contribute to reducing the review time of a paper, and to get the most relevant reviews.

Are there some best practices with regard to submitting a paper to a journal?

For example: Is it better to wait until after big holidays? How long in advance of an holiday should one submit? Does it help to suggest reviewers to the editor? Are there certain things that should be mentioned in the cover letter?


texts: How to do the best PhD , brief tips to a new phD student?

texts: I am a graduate student who has been  doing masters for a year and I am moving to PhD program in Chemical Engineering in the same University. My work is mostly computational , molecular modeling. My University is fairly reputed(70- 80 on US news) and my advisor is known in his field ,but our research group is small(3-4 graduate students).There are many postdocs and researchers on this website, As  a new phD student, if you could give some tips on how to do the best phD, to do good after my phD and stay in research field next, that would greatly helpful to many students like me .


texts: Why do some admissions processes request an exhaustive list of jobs held?

texts:
This question is motivated by Should you list irrelevant work experience on graduate school applications?

In that question, the OP cited text from one graduate school's question about employment history:

"[List] employment experience (including part-time) since secondary school"

Why on earth would a graduate school admissions committee care whether a candidate worked part-time in a dry cleaning store from May to August of 2003?

Are they just trying to narrow the field by making the application process more tedious and daunting?


texts:
I know one can get a Bachelors degree online. Can one do the same with a PhD (I refer to fields which don't need specialized equipment like Math or CS, for example).

At first glance, it should be easier since your doing almost independent work (you don't really need tests).

Are there such programs?


texts: Shared credit for independent discoveries

texts:
I've always wondered how credit for scientific discoveries is attributed. Take this example from Wikipedia:

The Merkle–Damgård construction was described in Ralph Merkle's Ph.D. thesis in 1979. Ralph Merkle and Ivan Damgård independently proved [...]
Ivan Bjerre Damgård [...] discovered the structure independently of Ralph Merkle and published it in 1989.

Here we have 2 researchers who independently discovered the same structure. One of them published it in 1979. The other published it a whole 10 years later. Why is it that the credit is not attributed to the person who discovered it first?


texts: How should I cite two different translations?

texts:
I want to cite in MLA style two different translations of Alcestis by Euripides. However, I’m mostly citing one the content of one translation, not “the translator’s comments or the choice of wording”, although I do that, too.

Here are the works in question:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10523
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0088


texts: Include figures from publications in thesis (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0)

texts: I would be interest what is common/best practice to include figures from published papers/literature in my thesis (Which will be published open-access). The figures of interest are copyrighted by (Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0).


texts: Can we actively ask an editor to take a decision?

texts: I have submitted a paper to a Taylor & Francis journal. I received two constructive reviews and one negative, together with an editor’s request for major revision. My coauthors and I didn’t agree with the third reviewer and wrote a polite rebuttal. After major revision two referees accepted our work. However, a fourth review was provided and contained 3 pages of new issues, probably raised by reviewer 3 but it could also be a new first review. The editor now requested for a revision. Again we did not agree with the changes proposed by this reviewer and submitted a second polite rebuttal. This can go on and on. Can we actively ask the editor to take a decision if we are of the opinion that requested changes do not improve our work?


texts: PhD advisor used my paper in his grant report. But the paper was my work

texts:
I am a grad student. I recently produced a paper myself. The topic of the paper does not have much to do with my advisor's research area, but my advisor was put on the paper as an author.

What are your analyses of this incident (especially how would it affect my contributions to the work if it is perceived as being part my advisor's project)? What are your recommendations?


texts: Is it normal for my masters advisor to ask me not to share code from my masters work with my PhD advisor, and not to continue with the same topic?

texts:
I have couple questions for you guys and I hope to find some answers here.

Scenario:

I finished my master's degree with a thesis at school A.  During my master's program at school A, I was a research assistant for my thesis adviser (Let's call him Professor A).
Now, I am applying to school B for PhD (because PhD isn't offered at school A) and I am hoping to work with Professor B who has a same research interest as Professor A.

Professor A has requested that:

I do not share any codes with Professor B.
Choose a research topic that is different from my master's thesis for the conflict of interest.

Questions:

My questions are:

Is this understandable and typical situation for many students? What do you do about this?
Do I need to completely change the trajectory of my PhD research topic from Master's and start a new topic in the same research area?

Edit:
We are in the US.
Codes were collaborated. And already received my masters.


texts:
I am about to begin my hunt for post-doc positions. As such, I will be discussing my dissertation work in some detail with potential post-doc advisers.

I am currently in the data collection phase, and none of this research has been published. I am somewhat worried because, as a requirement for my PhD, I have to contribute novel research to the field. I hope to submit a part of my dissertation to a conference; however most relevant conferences are not until next summer, and submissions are typically due early next year. In other words, this research will not be published for a while.

Is it appropriate to ask for some discretion when discussing my dissertation with professors who do similar research?


texts: How can I pay for medical school in the US?

texts:
So I have a bachelor's degree and am planning on applying to medical school this year (in the US). I've previously used federal student aid to cover the cost of my undergraduate degree.

My question is, what types of sources of funding are available to cover the cost of medical school?  From what I'm reading, it seems like you can no longer get federal student aid after you have already attained a degree.

Note: I am not asking ("shopping") for specific sources, I am just wondering what types of sources (e.g., loans, stipends, savings) medical students in the US typically use to fund their studies.


texts: Author on paper overly similar in content to previously published work

texts:
I was a summer intern at a research group while I was in high school. They submitted a paper with me as an author and it was rejected in large part due to similarity to their previous paper which I am not an author on. I wasn't aware of this misconduct and am concerned this could follow me into my future career. Also, what is a good way to explain not wanting to be an author on future submissions of this paper, even though I contributed significantly (in fact my work was the only novel part)? I also don't want to burn bridges.

Also, should I refuse to be an author on any future paper with them, even if the paper no longer looks similar to the previous work? At this point I'm not sure if I can trust my former supervisors.


texts: Switching from one area of graduate study to another?

texts:
Is it possible to switch from one area of graduate study to another in US universities? For example, suppose someone has enrolled in a computer science phd program. Can he switch over to math(or physics) phd program in the same school later?(or say from applied mathematics to pure mathematics?)

What are the steps for doing for doing that?


texts: When including a reference in your bibliography, and the source has no publication date, how should this be indicated in the AMS (American Mathematical Society) citation style? Is it "n.d." or should the date simply be omitted?


texts: Relative importance of research publications for grad school admissions (theoretical physics/pure mathematics)

texts: A dilemma that is confronting right now is knowledge versus research. I am a second year physics undergrad, with a strong interest in mathematical physics, QFT, and an even more strong interest in pure mathematics. Right now, I am not sure what to pursue, hence ideally I would like to try out a lot of both the fields. However, most of the people I meet are advising against me saying I should just pick and area and stick to it, and try to publish papers, even if I want a remote chance of getting into the top grad programs in the US. So , I am confused if I should stick to a field, and get research papers published or explore a large number of areas. This boils down to the question how much importance does a uni give to a research publication over the knowledge the person has?


texts: What can a scientist learn (only) from patent literature/database rather than from research literature?

texts:
I'm currently diving in a field I'm no expert in, mainly I have methodological expertise and a theoretical background, but not in the research object itself.

Now I'm seeing this is a field of applied phyiscs with really a lot of patents being published, still a fundamental science field. To me it's clear that in branches like AI or quantum computing research the Intel, IBM, Apples research groups are probably several years ahead in some research questions in comparison to academic research groups in expertise, depth and equipment and probably most of their secrets and knowledge is not published, rather kept secret and in the best case (for scientists) filed as a patent. Of course they collaborate with some academic groups intensively and also publish papers (last weeks quantum computation record of google unintentionally became public). But papers can only be published years after a patent is granted to my knowledge.

Though I'm no expert in patent research and databases and language. But as a researcher/postdoc can I risk to focus only on journal publications to inform myself and stay up to date or is not a necessity to also look up the recent patents as they are more up to date in state of the art and knowledge than papers? Often keywords don't help here as patents are written very different to papers. So also practically, patents are really not good to self-inform.

What strategies are there to not start research on something already solved by industry? Attending much more industry symposia? Skimming patents? Has industry in general a high/low incentive to share their secrets and questions/problems they try to solve? In my field a lot of governmental and industry money (several hundred millions) are flowing into this research branch in form of academic funding. How do you deal with this problem/opportunity to keep yourself informed? Reading the most cited patents like for papers and do citations have similar value at all in patent literature?


texts: Is it possible to get a PhD grant in Europe/US with the research focused on Kazakhstan?

texts:
I am from Kazakhstan. Currently, I am a 2 year MA student in Eurasian Studies in Kazakhstan. The topic of my research is ethnic Kazakhs' integration in Kazakhstan. I like to investigate problems of ethnic migrants' integration in Kazakhstan. In particular, Kazakhs who have born in neighbouring countries and after decided to migrate to Kazakhstan, their ancestral homeland.
I wish to go further to PhD program in Europe/US, programs linked to migration. Is it possible to get the grant/scholarship abroad with the research concentrated on Kazakhstan? or I should choose another topic of study?
Best regards


texts: What are the pros and cons of being a Mathematical Reviews' reviewer?

texts: I received a letter from Mathematical Reviews inviting me to be a reviewer. Before I make my decision, may I ask what are the possible advantages and/or disadvantages of being a reviewer?


texts: Is it okay to use source code from another paper in thesis?

texts: I am currently writing my Master's thesis in Math and part of my results involves using running simulations to test for certain types of algebraic properties of parameterised equations. The theoretical basis for these simulations were derived from a paper, in which the authors published their code online. I wish to copy this code and put it in the appendix. My reason for doing this is that I don't trust the link to always be available and the interested readers of my thesis will always be able to view said code which makes it easier to reader the thesis, as opposed to looking it up.


texts: Internship report - any way to request discretion from reviewers for a to-be-published paper?

texts: I'm required to submit my internship report in my university. Since the work involved is a work in progress and is yet to be published, is there a way I can mention somewhere that it is not for reproduction?


texts: Examples of research resources for which Wikipedia is known as being amongst top referrers?

texts:
Wikimedia sites – and Wikipedias in particular – direct a lot of traffic to many web resources, including research-related ones.

Click stream data is not recorded on the Wikimedia end, so the alternative approach to finding out how important Wikimedia sites are in terms of traffic to research resources is analyzing the latter's referral logs.

One such analysis that was made public is from CrossRef. I am looking for other cases where such analyses have been made public.

Interesting questions to ask about such datasets:

Is wikipedia.org or one of its sister or subdomains (e.g. wikimedia.org or en.wikipedia.org) amongst the top referrers?
Is that pattern stable?
Since when has this been the case?
What are/might be the main drivers of that traffic (in the case of CrossRef, it's Wikipedia readers clicking on references cited by their respective DOIs)?


texts: My manuscript appears online as " with editor" for 65 days after initial submission in one of the top journals in my field. Could this be because of the Summer vacations? Should I wait till 15 September  or should I send  immediately an email enquiry?


texts: Can anyone write a paper and then publish it in a journal?

texts:
I know nothing about the bureaucracy of the academic world when writing papers but I sometimes need or enjoy to read academic papers.

Usually all the papers I've read were written either by professors or by reasearchers (I'm guessing PhDs). Some papers were written by people working at Google and they were PhDs too.

My question is: can anyone write a paper or is some minimum level of education (say a PhD for instance) required? Of course I'm not asking if a persone can wake up tomorrow and write a paper on quantum physics without knowing anything at all of physics.

EDIT: when I said "write", what I meant was having the paper published. Sorry!


texts: What are my chances getting into a German vet school coming from the USA?

texts: I will be graduating an American high school this year, overall my GPA would be summed up as average. I have taken one honor class and one AP class, my grades consist of mostly A's and B's. With this in mind, my German is at a B2 level, and I am working on completing the C1 level by the end of this school year. I additionally plan to enter a Studienkolleg in Germany next year to be more prepared for the University. I would like to apply to the Veterinary University of Hannover or the Veterinarian University of Berlin. With that being said, I am a German citizen so a visa wouldn't be an issue. What would be the chances of getting into these universities? If slim, what could I do to raise those chances, as well as what exactly would be the application process regarding entering these universities and or the Studienkollegs? What would I need to have prepared to apply, for example would I need a college essay, recommendations, etc?


texts: Was I wrong to rebutt unjustified rewiewer comments in the review?

texts:
Recently submitted a manuscript which got a decision of Reject & Resubmit, i.e. the editor invited a resubmission provided we can address the reviewer's comments. In my previous experience, all my manuscripts were always accepted after a resubmission was invited, so I thought the editors basically use this type of decision to give themselves a little more leverage.

One reviewer's comments were very negative, but unjustifiably so. For example, he/she stated that the "experimental treatments" weren't independent, while our study was purely observational and didn't include any experimental manipulation. The comments looked like they were made by someone who didn't bother to put any thought into the review and had a poor understanding of statistics (our study is loosely in the field of ecology/conservation).

We rebutted these comments firmly, but politely. The other comments, including those made by the second reviewers, were minor and were addressed by revising or clarifying the text in certain places.

We also explicitly drew attention to the issue with one reviewer's comments in the cover letter accompanying the resubmission. We stated that we carefully considered these comments, but they were unjustified, and again explained why.

This resubmission was rejected outright very quickly, within a week. The editor acknowledged the revision did improve the manuscript, but still rejected citing the standard "our acceptance threshold is very high" etc.

It is the first time my invited resubmission was rejected, and I can't help wondering whether the firm response to the reviewer's comments was the cause.


texts: Having caused a lab accident, how to mend my relationships with fellow students?

texts:
I accidentally caused a fire in my department laboratory. The fire was not big, and luckily no one was injured. However, it triggered the fire alarm and sprinkler system, which led to some of the common equipment being damaged.

After the incident, the department has enforced tighter control on lab safety. For example, all students need to submit a work flow before doing new experiments and complete numerous forms to buy new chemicals. It results in a lot of unnecessary administrative work and greatly slows down our research progress. Many research students are unhappy about that, and since I caused the accident, they have begun to ostracize me. Even some 'closer' students seem becoming less friendly to me.

I know it is totally my fault, but sadly, I already caused the accident and can do nothing to change the fact. Now the problem is, what should I do to mend my relationships with my colleagues?

EDIT: As some of the comments mentioned that it is not clear whether the additional rules actually should be enforced no matter there was the accident or not. Honestly, I don't know, but it is the extra work that annoy other students, and it is totally because of me. I guess my department should have complied to the laws before, otherwise they will be in trouble...


texts: How far back should one go in citing classic works?

texts:
I once jokingly included in a thesis:

  The equations of motion [1] for a rigid body can be reformulated as…

  [1] I. Newton, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, 1687.

While citing Newton's work for his equations of motion might be over the top, there is a valid underlying question: what criteria can one use to know when a work is “such a classic” that it doesn't warrant citation anymore.

I'll give example in my field:

Ewald summation is a neat trick, and very widely used by people who perform molecular simulation of charged species. It was initially published by Paul Ewald in 1921.
Density functional theory in the Kohn-Sham formalism, published in 1964 (Hohenberg & Kohn) and 1965 (Kohn & Sham).
Nosé–Hoover thermostat, 1984


texts: Math careers outside of finance or education?

texts: Been trying to decide between majoring math or engineering, my interests being in math, electronics, software, and chemistry. Math being my favourite, but most of the math jobs I’ve looked at in my province are in education, I know there are jobs in accounting, finance, and economics, but I’m not really interested in any of them.


texts: Masters in physics, wanting to pursue PhD in mathematics -- how "best" to proceed?

texts:
I am currently about two semesters away from receiving a Master's of Science in physics. Originally, I planned on pursuing a PhD in physics, but during my studies, I have learned that there is just something about mathematics that fascinates me. I find that more and more of my imagination and time is spent directed towards numerous fields/topics in mathematics. I have procured texts on model theory, topology, meta-mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, &c. &c., and find it hard to peel myself away from them even when my academic duties in physics demand it. I have been doing a lot of introspection and reflection regarding this over the past few years, and I have seen myself happiest when learning about and doing math. So, I am taking it upon myself to start researching the opportunities and challenges that I may face in considering going to school for a PhD in mathematics after receiving my master's.

Assuming that I were to follow this path, what sort of things should I begin doing to give myself every advantage possible moving forward? I know this is a very open-ended question, so I will provide some additional context.

I assume that, going into a PhD program in mathematics, I should expect things like diagnostic exams and qualifying exams. I would want to go into these doing as well as possible, naturally; in general, what sort of topics fall on these exams? Do they differ widely from program to program? I have yet to start looking into the math programs available at my current institution (and, honestly, I believe that I would prefer looking at programs elsewhere), but I plan to touch base with professors in the math department for their own particular insights regarding this.

Furthermore, as someone with formal training in most of the salient mathematical prerequisites for physics, I realize there are likely many topics I should get much more familiar with, likely on my own. Most of my training is in differential equations, linear algebra (of course, only so much of it has been prevalent in my physics career), and calculus (I, II, III). As someone with a bachelor's in philosophy and religion (and applied physics), I have some training in very rudimentary symbolic (and Aristotelian) logic. Highly salient topics like discrete mathematics and real analysis I have not received formal training in. Furthermore, I have no formal training in abstract algebra. Should I absolutely seek to attend some of these courses at my current institution before I receive my Master's? I have always been somewhat of a fruitful autodidact and would have no issue learning these on my own, but I assume that it would be much more attractive to math programs should I have taken these courses, or have at least audited them.

Apparently a lot of my concerns are with exposure to certain topics, but I do realize there are likely numerous other things that I should begin considering as soon as possible, as well. I welcome and would greatly appreciate any insight that you all may have regarding this. I'm certainly not averse to future research in fields with interfaces between physics and math; formal theory and the mathematical structure of physical theories such as quantum mechanics are both intriguing to me, too. So I haven't resigned myself to "wash my hands" of physics by any means!

Thanks in advance, and if you have any questions for me that will help me help you, let me know. I look forward to your replies!


texts: First person plural or singular pronouns for thesis presentation

texts:
I am going to do an oral presentation for my thesis.
Normally, when presenting a paper, as the paper is a collaboration work, I always use the pronoun "we".
The thesis is written based on the papers. However, when presenting (for example, when talking about the contributions of the thesis), I feel using "we" a bit odd.
Should I use "we" or "I"?
Many thanks.


texts: How successful are publication agreement addenda?

texts: I work in the field of chemistry, where some of the prominent publishers have very invasive (or restrictive) copyright transfer agreements. Thus, I'm considering the use of amendments (or addenda) to publication agreements, such as the one proposed by the MIT libraries. However, I don't really want to spend a lot of time on an unwinnable pursuit, so I was wondering: is there somewhere a decent review of the success of such amendments? I expect that it may vary from publisher to publisher, and from field to field, but is there any data at all? (My own searches couldn't turn much.) In particular, what about the “big names”, such as Elsevier, Wiley, etc?


texts: None of 25 students at question session before exam has a question. What should lecturer do?

texts:
In a comment on another question Josef shared an anecdote.

  And just another anecdote: A few weeks ago, there was a question hour at the last lecture timeslot before the exam. About ~25 of more than 120 people taking the course where there. Nobody actually had a question. All just wanted to hear the other questions...

I have seen this many times. Sometimes the lecturer can push students and someone will ask "what will be in the exam?" which is obviously useless and just makes the lecturer restate what (usually) is already told multiple times about content and procedure of the exam.

What should the lecturer do in such a case?

Technically it seems correct to just say "if you have no more questions, the session is over" and go home.

Yet there are times when the lecturer had to commute to this specific lecture and it seems travel-time spent in vain if nothing is actually done.

Students have also come in hopes that the session will help them prepare for exam. And usually the average question-session student is above the average from all the courses students, and lecturers don't like to let down the more interested and responsible students who assumed they don't want to miss this event. And usually this is what happens - the lecturer tries to improvise and talk on some subjects that seems more tricky/useful for the lecturer.

What are the best strategies so the lecturer could actually make the "question" session worth the attendees time?

I know it isn't good to broaden the question intentionally, but solid plans how to prepare and avoid the no-question situation at all are also welcome here.


texts: A systematic review already exists in the literature. When is a newer one required?

texts:
Suppose that a systematic review on a topic X was published some (3-8) years ago by someone else, and it is currently still a useful source for what has been made before it was published. However, more recent works were also published later.

Generally, how can I decide whether it is a good idea to work on a newer systematic review for publication, taking into account that the newer review could be (somewhat) similar in methodology and would be based on extended and more recent literature (including that already reviewed in the published one)?


texts: How to prevent calluses from writing on chalkboard?

texts:
I just finished my first semester teaching (I lead two recitation sections for pre-calculus twice a week). It went well, but I've noticed a sizable callus has formed on my right middle finger on the left side between the nail and first knuckle. This is from how I hold the chalk, I believe. The callus is rubbing against my finger when I write now and causing a bit of pain.

How do I prevent this callus? I don't have much experience with writing on the chalkboard so I imagine this is from holding the chalk incorrectly. Maybe someone knows secrets to the chalkboard that I am not aware of?


texts: Giving tenure if you know the faculty member is leaving

texts: We had a tenure track professor announce she was leaving at the start of the academic year. Documented in faculty meeting minutes. Job posting appeared shortly thereafter. Candidates brought in and offers were made. This person was up for tenure. The committee voted no for tenure since she was leaving. Is the committee in error here?


texts: Suppose hypothetically I download certain new research articles from sci-hub which I read and eventually liked. Now if I contact the authors for follow up question/discussion, then is it a good idea to tell them that I read their papers through scihub (if they ask me how did I get I came across his paper).