texts: How to check and correct editorial changes to a manuscript post-acceptance?

texts:
A journal which accepted a paper of mine has made some alterations to the text of the paper as part of their editing process.  They sent me the edited version for approval, and I discovered that at least some of these changes are erroneous (for instance, one of the changes included a typo, and another was changing the spelling of a technical term incorrectly).  I asked for a list of all the changes made, and was told that this was "too messy" (I assume because the alterations to the text are mixed in with the changes to the formatting of the paper, which is a more standard part of the editing process).

At this time the journal is waiting for me to approve/make changes to the final proof before publication.

My question is how I should deal with this situation.  I feel like I have an obligation to be responsible for the contents of a paper published in my name.  (Though, if I'm mistaken about this, that would be a helpful answer.)

I can think of a few solutions, ranging from the tedious (compare the PDF files line by line to identify the changes myself), to the demanding (insist on a list of changes anyway), to the passive-aggressive (either withdraw the paper or add a sulky footnote disavowing responsibility for the unknown changes to the paper).  These all have problems, so I'd appreciate more constructive ways to approach the situation.


texts: How long does it take for the first round review of physical review letters?

texts: I am wondering how long it takes for the first round review for physical review letters (PRL) on average. I have three referees. One of the referees returned the report in 4 weeks. But the other two referees have not responded to the review requests for 5 weeks. Is it common for PRL?


texts: What to do if I cannot complete my Masters dissertation tasks?

texts:
I am doing my masters in the UK and at final stage of my dissertation. First I will have to confess that I regret that I selected this dissertation as it is something which I failed to get a clear idea about. I don't know if it is because I cannot understand the ideas that my supervisor is trying to communicate with me.
First my target was to implement an algorithm (I was given only a specific field and asked me to select an algorithm) using a language that I had never used before. I used to meet  regularly and given research papers to read to clarify any doubt I had. There was no support in the implementation other than the research papers. Also no one to guide  on the computer language I needed to use for the implementation.  By June, I was stuck a little bit in the implementation and when I expressed some doubts, I was told there is not enough time for implementation now as I am not able to understand it so take an existing software which implemented the said algorithm and create some performance improvements.
I spent a lot of time, more than a month for just setting up the work environment and understanding how that software works. I am not very confident to speak out so I thought I will eventually get a hang of it. After a thorough research I realised that the said software is widely used all over the world and has been optimised in all possible ways already. But it was already too late and at the end I am left with almost nothing but some failed trials. Now the deadline to submit my masters dissertation is in a week and when I spoke to my supervisor about the limitations of the software and why I cannot optimise it last week, I was given  a new research paper to read and asked  to try their approach.
I learned a lot in this research, many algorithms, some new software, computer languages etc, but it was not focussed. I don't know what I will write in my report as the project is supposed to be a study with evaluation and testing to show as a proof to my conclusions. I have already written a literature review of 35 pages and about 10 pages about the software I am trying to optimise. I cannot submit just that and I don't think it is a good idea to continue new trials now as I may not be able to complete writing my report (which needs to be around 60-65 pages) with just one week left.  I have distinction from the marks for my course units and all of the effort I took for an year will go in vain if I fail the dissertation as it has 50% weighting. What can I do to make sure I will pass my dissertation? Please advise.
NB: I know it is a long question, sorry about that. I felt I need to write the context to explain my situation.

Postscript:
I continued and completed my thesis with all the failed trials. Added some sections in the thesis comparing the different approaches I tried, findings based the trials and some suggestions for future work. Even though I was paranoid till the results came out, I passed with distinction.


texts: Is there a rule of thumb for defining the scope and depth of the Related Work section in a thesis?

texts:
This might be a generic question but I ask it for a case of a Master Thesis.

DO you have a rule of thumb for inferring the right amount and type of citations that go to your Related Work section.

Let's say in field A there is this problem X. And in literature there are two types of approaches to solve problem X: type1, and type2. My approach belongs to type1. Should I include works about type2 in the Related Work section too?

I found this post helpful.

However, I still find myself in doubt when writing the related work. Sometimes I feel I go a bit too far including stuff seemingly unrelated...

Often, I loose the focus of the related work.

What is its purpose in a thesis? To show what others have done, and how my work relates to that. Or give a general overview of the works that have been done in the field?
Do I have to discuss and speculate in the Related Work? Or do I have to only list the other
works?
Do I need to include results of the other works in my related
work?


texts: I seem to be in a dilemma when it comes to citation and references. I am implementing and improving an algorithm, and therefore I must state the steps of the algorithm. I would also like to use the definitions they used and there is not much room for paraphrasing. If I paraphrase it, it would be weird since the formulation is very specific. This is a general question: when implementing some algorithm in a paper, would I cite the definitions or should I quote?


texts: How do universities verify your native language?

texts:
Many universities require that your native language be English or you will have to submit proof of language proficiency.

Usually if you lie and say English is your native language while all other evidence shows otherwise (e.g. country of birth, country of citizenship, university degree language, etc.), universities will likely suspect that you are lying.

However, suppose my native language is not English but I can read, write, listen, speak as fluently as a native speaker.  If I satisfy one or more conditions below, do universities have any reason to suspect that English is not my native language?

I am a citizen of a country where English is the official language (though I may not be born / living there)
I graduated from a university where English is the official language


texts:
How could one characterize the typical academic calendar in the USA? I never managed to understand how it works (from Wikipedia, etc.)! It is so confusing.

In Belgium, you basically have this:

September-December: class + Winter recess (2 weeks in December)
January: Exams
February-May: class + Spring break (2 weeks in April)
June: Exams
July-early August: Summer break (1 month and a half)
Late August: Exams


texts: Is there a tool to visualize the academic citation network around a researcher?

texts:
I'm looking for a PhD position. Of course I'm reading and following the papers of the field to get to know the community. Is there a tool to visualize a citation/co-author network (or at least a database I could visualize myself)? I have looked into tools like CitNetExplorer and VosViewer. Csauthors.net is also a nice tool, but it is limited to showing only a path between two researchers instead of a full graph.

Essentially, I would like to map all collaborations of the researchers to get a feeling for where the hot spots are and where the niches are.


texts: Accepted into EPFL, might not get Visa in time, what am I signing myself up for?

texts:
I was accepted to a Masters Program at EPFL 5 days ago. I am currently collecting all the necessary documentation to apply for a visa. However there is a chance it will take longer than I have to get to Switzerland (have to be there by September 30). My only idea right now is to use my passport to get to Switzerland as a tourist. Remain there until I get the visa (the 90 days are enough to guarantee that if I get approved I get the visa on time), cross the border to France, cross the border back again with the student visa.

Has anyone done something like this? Is this even legal? I tried contacting EPFL and the Swiss consulate and they were not helpful.

Additionally, EPFL wants me to sign a web form confirming or denying my attendance to the Masters program by June 30 (this weekend). They gave me essentially a week and a half to make the entire decision. Do I have any real obligation to stick to my word? If I say I want to go but it turns out I win the lottery or get into a different program afterwards I prefer and no longer feel like going to Switzerland will something happen? I.e what happens if I go back on my word (EPFL also was very unhelpful answering this question).


texts: Can I ask for an extension on the time to accept a job offer?

texts:
I was recently offered a term position (VAP) from a good school, and was given one week to respond. I am still waiting to hear about a tenure-track position from another school – I already emailed them about the offer I received, and told them my timeline to accept it was the end of the week. I haven’t heard back from them, although I sent the chair a thank you after my campus visit and he responded quickly. I assume they received my notice and are still deliberating and will hopefully get back to me in time, but I’m not sure if I should call soon.

I also was told I am a frontrunner for a pretty good postdoc, but I won’t hear back until early next week. In potentially the former and definitely the latter case, I won’t know until after I’m supposed to tell the first school about my decision. Would it be classless to ask for a small extension on the offer? Or will it put my chances for the position in jeopardy? I honestly went to the campus very recently and didn’t expect to hear back for a few weeks, so I don’t know what that means for their search either. I don’t want to jeopardize the offer but the two I’m waiting on are my other top contenders.


texts: Contacted by head of school regarding an issue - should I be worried?

texts:
I am a PhD student at a UK university. A small part of my time is taken up by (voluntarily) organizing a monthly seminar series. The seminar is open to all PhD students in my school, and is regularly attended by 30 or so students. I took over this duty in January 2018, before which time there were other student organizers.

Whilst I am an organizer (along with two others) of this seminar, all decisions that we take are checked with a particular senior member of staff - who I will refer to as Prof X. It could be said that Prof X is our organizational "supervisor". They check our posters advertising each seminar, our emails, etc. Very little happens without Prof X's knowledge, if not expressed permission.

As part of the seminar, due to the time of day and its duration, we order a certain amount of pizza to have in a break between talks. The money for this comes out of a particular part of the school's budget. We have always done this, as did the previous organizers. We have never discussed our budget for this pizza, or how much we "can" order. We have always presumed we are within budget, and had no reason to think otherwise. We consider that the amount that we order is entirely reasonable for the number of participants.

I received a surprising email today from my head of school - who I will refer to as Prof Y. This email requested a meeting with all three of us organizers, and explicitly stated that this meeting is due to the fact that our seminar is effectively running over budget, and moreover that this was not approved with them, the budget holder.

This email alarmed me for a few reasons:

Prof Y has, in the past, regularly corresponded with Prof X about matters regarding the seminar, which have then been relayed to us organizers. It is very out of the ordinary for Prof Y to email us directly. Prof Y has in fact never contacted us at all before this email.
Prof X was not CC'd in or BCC'd in to this email. Upon my contacting Prof X about the email, they expressed a great deal of surprise and some concern about the fact that Prof Y contacted us in this way. Prof X did then advise that I should attend the requested meeting.
Whilst we organizers are the ones who request the pizza order, we have no (and have never had any) knowledge of or control over our specific budget. I think it is reasonable to assume that Prof Y knows this, and it is therefore unclear to me what the nature of the discussion at this meeting could be.
Prof Y is head of department. Perhaps they have disciplinary action in mind, or something of the sort. I have no knowledge of procedures or regulations in this regard, and whether we organizers are liable to face any disciplinary action or on what level.

A further complication is that, outside of the organization of this seminar, Prof X is in fact my own PhD project supervisor - I consider them an excellent supervisor and am on very good terms. I am concerned that developments in this situation could effect this.

My questions are:

Could I be accused of misconduct?
Should I be alarmed about the email from Prof Y? Is it likely/possible that disciplinary action is on the agenda?
During this meeting, how careful should I be? Could I be in danger of serious repercussions here?


texts: Do I need to search citation sources for a rather generic graphic that I have drawn myself?

texts:
I'm about to write up my PhD thesis at the moment and for the theoretical part I have drawn some graphics that are of rather generic type -- crystal structures, crystal lattices and the like, similar to the image below (taken from Wikipedia, just as an example):

This type of image is very well-known in my field and can be found in every type of book about crystallography looking more or less the same. Also I am  100% sure that I have seen any of the features, that I have included in my own graphics, already in other publications, albeit maybe not all in one single graphic. Most of the graphics' properties, such as the atom positions and all the properties derived thereof, are commonly known facts, so only the style of the graphics may be something unique to a special graphic.

As I have seen them so often and worked with them for some years now, I can draw them out of memory without looking them up. Also I draw them with the features that I need to show my point. Therefore it might happen that I am  reproducing someone else's graphics without being aware of it. As the question arose in the comments, in conclusion I draw graphics whose base structure is given by commonly known data using widely employed ways to draw such graphics, which contains the danger that someone could have drawn the same or a very similar graphic before.

Would this be OK or should I dig into literature to find if there are sources that could have been the inspiration for my own graphics?


texts: Obtaining Letter of Support from Colleagues External to University for P&T

texts:
I am planning to apply for tenure and promotion to Associate Professor this Fall 2018.

In our institution, it is not required to obtain the external letter of support for the application towards tenure and promotion to Associate Professor level.

However, it is required for the promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor. I was told that when an associate professor applies for the promotion to Full Professor, the candidate need to take an electronic copy of the whole P&T file, then colleagues external to the University will be contacted and provided the electronic P&T file towards obtaining  their letter of support.

However, I am thinking if it would be prudent to obtain external letter of support and attach it along with my tenure and promotion to associate professor application file.

I have already took PDF of the whole P&T file. I am wondering if it would
be OK to upload the P&T PDF file to Google drive and provide the link to the file in the Google drive to  the colleagues external to the University towards the letter of support.

Please advise.


texts: choosing workshops/conferences to attend and publish research

texts:
I have been able to attend a few different conferences and workshops during my limited time being a masters and PhD student. Some to present my research and some just to watch presentations.

I have have found my experiences throughout the various conferences/workshops vary quite a bit. I am not referring to the organization of the conference in particular (lunch, venue, extra events) but rather the experience itself. For example, the audience varies greatly in size and age with some having large and mixed audiences and some having smaller and older audiences. Some conferences seem to cover a wide range of topics and some cover more specific subject matters. Also, the quality of talks seems to vary greatly.

Having been to a few of these now it has made me reconsider the benefits/usefulness of attending these events. Originally I had thought it was beneficial to attend as many conferences as possible to learn from presentations and network with other researchers. But after having attended a few conferences which have had limited talks which relate to my research, I've found I often end up being jetlagged in another country not being able to do research and just kind of wasting time.

Because of this, I have been considering whether it is better to just try and choose one or two conferences per year which have a younger audience and seem to be moving in the right direction and focus on trying to publish at those yearly. By doing this I can see getting more benefit from attending the conference and also have an academic community to grow with over time.

What are your experiences with getting the most out of conferences, do you attend as many as you can or limit it to specific ones which relate to your research? How do you decide which conferences are worth your time and aren't just looking for registration fees? My particular area is computer science/engineering.


texts: Prof. never responded to email about LoR

texts:
I am in community college, and I emailed my calc prof a few days ago asking if he could give me a LoR so I can transfer.

I'm not close to him on a personal level, but he knows who I am and I have been involved in the class (going to office hours, attending review sessions, sitting in the front, etc.) I also gotta B in his class. I mean I could go ask one of my English profs, but as a Comp Sci major I feel asking a math prof would be best. Plus he knows this is my second attempt at Calculus.

The very main reason why I am asking him is because he is an alum to the school I want to transfer to, and which I am asking a LoR to. But also, he is the only prof that I have been somewhat willingly involved in the class.

He hasn't responded to my email for a few days, should I give it more time? He has office hours tomorrow, but I don't want to take it away from the students using it for review for our finals next week. Should I wait till after finals to follow up? This isn't a university I'm at, it's only community college so like the classes aren't that big, so he know who I am and stuff. It's not even due until June 1st, but the admissions is rolling admissions so it's not the decisions are all out at once. So I just think I'll set the due date to a month whenever after he agrees to do it.

I've never done this before so I have no idea any criterias or anything. I just know that I should give him a decent amount of time, and have been told about a month seems reasonable.


texts: Correct form to tell and write the degrees I hold

texts:
If I have a bachelor degree in Physics, how should I write it in a CV?
What is the correct form between the two:

Bachelor of Physics
or
Bachelor in Physics?

The same thing goes for the master degree, right now I have written master of science in physics of materials, is this correct or should be better to just write master in  physics of materials?


texts: Professor gave full credit for incompleteness

texts:
My professor gives full credit for every single assignment I have turned in for the past 9 weeks (except for a paper we had for which he gave me individual feedback on my writing). I did everything I was supposed to do and fully completed each assignment until the most recent one.
I recently turned in an assignment on time last night, but I didn’t have it fully completed (1 question incomplete). Sure enough he gave me 100% of the points, but I’m not sure I deserve it, or if he even looks at some of the assignments.
Should I do or say anything? I don’t know if he thinks I deserve the grade he gave me or not, or if he just somehow didn’t notice one of the questions incomplete.
Added Clarification: All the grades (except for the 3 papers) seem to all be copy/pasted as they’re not specific to my writing (this is in an American Literature class). The comment for my incomplete assignment is along the lines of so and so made a change in American Literature, they shifted the focus towards nature. I can give the exact words of the comment, but I don’t think it’s necessary, the point is: the comment isn’t specific to my answers, leading me to suspect he may not actually read it (I can’t be 100% though).
-I should also add that I wrote way more than the minimum word count for some of the questions, but I still don’t necessarily feel like I deserve the grade. I was literally up at 11:59pm and turned it in last second


texts: Are professors typically financially compensated for advising masters theses?

texts: I have a professor that has given me some early advice on developing my thesis topic, but I have not yet formally selected a thesis advisor. I was thinking about choosing to work with a different professor whose research seems slightly more aligned with the project, but I'm curious if my professor (the one I already spoke with) will expect me to work with him, and if this would have entailed some sort of financial compensation for him. Not that this would heavily influence my decision, but it's something I'd like to be aware of.


texts: How should I thank this person who wrote a letter of rec for me (but to a different school than the one I'm attending?)

texts:
I've poked around the answers here and I think my situation is unusual enough to warrant a new question. In short, I applied to graduate programs for this fall, and I did the rounds asking my professors to write letters for me. Four of them agreed, and I ended up dividing them amongst the schools that I had selected. The thing is, though, that each professor thought I was applying only to the schools that they were writing letters for.

Fast-forward past application season. I get into my schools and pick one, and I've written thank-you letters already to the three who wrote letters for my chosen school. That leaves the fourth professor, though, who might be confused (or worse, offended!) that I will end up attending a school that he knew absolutely nothing about. How should I handle this situation? I guess I could just say a generic "thanks for writing letters", but a natural segue from that is "and I got into X school", which is the awkward bit here.


texts: Registering systematic review in Prospero

texts:
I have recently submitted a systematic review (SR) to a journal. One of the reviewers pointed out, that my SR was not registered in Prospero, an international prospective register of systematic reviews. While I agree it would have been of good practice to register my SR, my current understanding is that registration of SR is not yet mandatory¹.

How can I address this reviewer’s remark?

¹Booth A, Clarke M, Dooley G, et al. The nuts and bolts of PROSPERO: an international prospective register of systematic reviews. Systematic Reviews. 2012;1:2


texts: Problem of mentioning the department affiliated with PhD degrees

texts:
A newbie here :)

I am currently a PhD student in a computer science program. My research interest is about quantum information science. Back then, I also got accepted into a Physics PhD program, but I decided to join my current department because the project is much more interesting.

Here is my problem: when people ask me, "Hey, so what are you doing in grad school?" , I feel quite uncomfortable to mention that I am doing a degree in "Computer Science". Don't get me wrong. I love computer science. But I prefer to be regarded as a Physics person rather than a CS person (actually, I am doing a lot of theoretical quantum physics for my thesis). My feeling is that, the name of the department/degree ALONE doesn't do me justice in telling other about my research interests and experiences.

Funny enough, my boyfriend is also suffering from the same problem. He is in the same CS department with me, but focusing on computational biology. His plan is to attend medical school after his PhD, so he usually shows a tremendous amount of angst when being asked the same question. People often joke about his decision, like "So why an IT guy like you suddenly wants to go to med school?". The poor guy has spent quite a lot of time to do wet labs, and is drafting a thesis with 50% bio and 50% CS components, so I can tell that he really hates when people calling him an "IT guy". While I understand that doing a bio-related doctoral research is a very logical transition for him to med schools, the name of the department alone is causing the confusion that he has abruptly changed his interests into medicine, rather than planned for it ahead.

My question is, what is the best way in our cases to "market" our research focus and experiences to other people? Should it be:

Ms.Catwoman, PhD in Computer Science
Ms.Catwoman, PhD in Quantum Information, or
Ms.Catwoman, PhD in Computer Science with special focus on Quantum Information?

Thanks for the answers!


texts: What is the best way to express my condolence to a professor?

texts:
I am a Ph.D student at the university. Every student has a favourite professor same as mine. I really care about and our student-teacher relationship growing stronger day by day. My professor really cares about my professional/academic growth.

But a few days sooner I heard that the professor has been gone for an extended period of time.I am very confused and don't have any idea how to contact my professor.

Mistakenly I used google and I realized that my professor loses his loved once.
I feel really ashamed to break my professor privacy. I know that express condolence is the best way to support your close one who is under deep pain.

I am more worried about to disrespect our teacher-student relationship.
I am really confused. Can anyone guide me any positive way to handle this situation?


texts: Encourage student to participate without him helping too much

texts:
I am teaching two students (X and Y) to program in python.  X is a little bit quicker than the Y in grasping the concepts.  He likes to help Y figure out what to do with his code, why it isn't working etc.  He is very well meaning, but I would like Y to do the work himself. Y is definitely capable of doing it on his own and he will gain a lot more that way.  On the other hand it is good to have some interaction between them since discussing issues makes things a lot clearer and more enjoyable.  They are both 13 years old.  Cheating is not an issue since it is at camp and is not graded.

How do I discourage X from helping Y without making him feel like he did something wrong, and without discouraging him from participating in the future?


texts:
I recently listened to a talk given by Brian Lunduke about problems that GNU/Linux are currently facing. In it (roughly 26m48s into the video) he mentions that keynote presentation time slots are being purchased by companies at GNU/Linux conferences. That is, companies are paying the conferences in order to get to be keynote speakers at said conferences.

This made me think, does this kind of thing happen in the academic world too? Are there serious conferences (that is, not the type of conferences we so often get spam emails about) where some or all of the keynote talks have been chosen due to some company/organisation/person paying the conference money in order to get their person to speak there? If so, is this disclosed to the conference participants in any reasonable way?


texts: What is the difference between symposia and oral sessions?

texts: On the conference I attended both oral sessions and symposia had topics and speakers in a row so it didn't become clear to me where exactly is the difference? Is it in the duration of the lectures or the expected audience size or something else?


texts: Should I prepare for the GRE if my gpa isn't yet high enough for Epidemiology graduate school?

texts: I'm going to be a senior college student in the fall. My gpa is close but not high enough for the bare minimum graduate school admission criteria (gpa=3.0). I am wondering whether I should wait until I finish senior year and see whether I get a cumulative gpa of 3.0 before I study for GRE/apply for graduate school or whether I should study for GRE now. The disadvantage of studying for GRE without the GPA criteria fulfilled is that I might end up studying for a useless test.


texts: NSF GRFP Application for a Rising Undergraduate Senior

texts:
Prefacing this, I am currently a rising undergraduate senior who plans to attend graduate school after I finish this last year. I want to work toward a PhD in neuroscience. Over the past year, I have been writing a grant proposal to submit the the NSF GRFP (https://www.nsfgrfp.org/). Throughout this time, I have been working with professors/past graduate students who have had their work supported by NSF GRFP/etc. and my work is based on Alzheimer's disease (aim 1 discusses a pathological mechanism that needs to be better understood and aim 2 addresses understanding a linkage between two mechanisms, 1 of which was discussed in aim 1, while also providing details on future treatment options in regard to antagonist drugs). Throughout my time writing, nobody told me the NSF GRFP does not want disease research...unfortunately.

After reading the NSF GRFP guidelines for this year, I was disappointed to see that they specifically stated that "disease research" is something they do not support. I find this extremely ridiculous, especially for undergraduate seniors rising into graduate school. Do you know if this is strictly enforced, or know if there is an easy work-around (e.g. taking out the word "Alzheimer's Disease" and subbing in more basic terms, such as memory deficit/etc.). Thank you!

Also, if you know of an NIH one that I can apply to instead for disease research, I'd be happy to hear. After I searched, the NIH didn't seem to have a good one for someone who is "white" and is still an undergraduate (soon to be in grad school).


texts: I will fail 1 (or 2) classes this semester as a master's student. Should I forget about PhD applications to schools in US?

texts:
I am an engineering master's student, and I could not cope with the quarantine during the last few months, and I will be failing one or two classes this semester.
I just finished my year, and I had a very high GPA in my first semester. Is this red flag a dealbreaker for PhD applications in the US? I am not sure if I should bother applying.
I also had this unusual situation where I was about to transfer credit from a former university where I was a graduate student but received no degree, and it was too late to drop by the time my grades were transferred, because quarantine caused delay when I was obtaining documents. So hopefully I will have completed a decent portion of my credits, but realistically I am not hopeful.


texts: How to find enjoyment in teaching being a research oriented professional?

texts:
I have recently (one year ago) started work in academia as an assistant professor or a lecturer in NZ system. We don't have tenure track system which is great. I was wondering how long does it take one to get used to academia. I will clarify my question.

I really enjoy research and working with the research students. Also, I have secured a large research grant. However, I never considered teaching as a career. Having said that, I would enjoy teaching if I had an opportunity to design my own course. Currently I have to teach courses which are given to me. I found that teaching takes up lots of time and my research outcomes plummeted as I have no consistent free chunck with no interruptions. Not sure how to cope with exhaustion of having to give a lecture.

Any suggestions how to balance research and find enjoyment in teaching?


texts: New postdoc and I am asked to draft a whole plan

texts:
I am a new postdoc at a very good university, a fresh PhD graduate. Since I passed my 2 round interviews and I was the best among the other applicants, I was appointed, and in fact, I don't know why they chose me. long story short, I am asked to draft 3 pages of research and project acquisition as well as what skills I need to improve in the following 6 months. I am serious that I feel I don't know anything or how to write. I was reading here and there, asked a lot around here, and now I can simply describe my status to be a "Confusion". I kindly ask experts here to give me some pieces of advice or some solid resources that can be helpful. what skills would you like to improve in 2 years of a postdoc position? if you are new to project acquisition, from where will you start?

Thank You.


texts: What’s the current state of the art in searching for journal articles?

texts:
I haven’t been a student for many years. When I was in school at first we used portals like

JSTOR
Science Direct
Elsevier
Galileo

Next, Google Scholar came out and seemed to be a superset of all of those, so it was the best when I left off.
I was on a phone call with a university class a couple of years ago and they told me there was some newer “meta portal” (my term) that was along the same lines but even better than Google Scholar. I can’t recall the name and it’s not obvious which one it is when I try to figure it out by searching the web.


texts: Here's the situation: She was an undergrad, I was a grad TA. At that point, our interactions were totally professional and limited to the classroom.  However, she and I both since graduated and left the college/city where we got our degree.  I now am at another university working as a postdoc and she is working outside of academia.  We ran into one another and started spending time with one another.  Our relationship has been platonic, but I get the sense that it could go further, which I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to. I can't imagine that there would be legal problems with pursuing a romantic relationship, but would there be ethical or professional concerns (as an early career academic)?


texts: If you change your name while doing research, can you list both names on a publication?

texts:
If you change your name, can you list both names as authors?

For example, consider a PhD student named John Doe who after finishing his PhD undergoes a sex change and name change to Jane Doe before starting a postdoc. After the sex change Jane continues to work on a project that she started as a PhD student. Assume that the authors on the resulting paper are the PhD advisor, the postdoc advisor and Jane/John Doe. Can both Jane and John be listed? What happens if Jane never worked on the project, can she be the author or does it have to be John?


texts: How do STEM researchers know if their research is actually novel?

texts:
I'm a high school student who's been working at a university lab as an intern, and this has been on my mind for a while.

The amount of scientific literature/papers in any field is obviously staggering. To me, it seems like there's no possible way to have read all of it. So, assuming I were a full-blown researcher/professor...

How would I be sure that my research actually does add something novel to the field?
What if there are papers that already address/refute my claim, that simply got buried amongst the masses of other papers that have already been published -- does that mean my own research is worth squat?

Thank you for all your help!


texts: Tenured professor’s husband convicted of a drugs-trafficking felony – are there any career implications?

texts:
At the university I work at in the US, a tenured professor’s husband has been convicted of drugs trafficking. Would there be any likely (career) implications for the professor?

Obviously, their personal life will be affected, but is it likely to have implications otherwise?


texts: Should I mention being enrolled in distance course currently as a backup option in application form?

texts:
I am currently enrolled in a distance masters's course in my country as a backup. I will be only applying to some really very competitive schools. If I don't make it through those schools I will apply next year or year after that and continue to do so till I make it in. I am very very passionate about these schools and the research going on in there.

Class for this distance course will begin by the end of this month and I will quit as soon as I get an admit in any school of my choice. Should I mention joining the course in my application forms?

Some of these schools want me to upload transcripts of any course I have attended after school. Considering the fact that the course has not yet begun there is no way I could get a transcript from them.


texts: Paper under review in a reputed Math journal for 7 months

texts:
I have submitted a paper in a reputed math journal. It is under review for 7 months. 2 month ago I inquired and I was told that one reviewer has sent review and they are waiting for the other review.

Is it time common in Math journal


texts: What should I put as my GPA for a pass/fail class?

texts:
I'm homeschooled, and I'm currently working on my high school transcript to apply to colleges. The form provided asks for a grade from A+ to F for each class. I don't know what to put as my grade for Driver's Education, a half-credit elective class with no definitive grade. On an old transcript, it simply says "PASS."

How would I convert this to GPA? 4.0? Something lower? Should I ask each college I apply to and send them different transcripts? I'm using the form instead of simply creating my own because one college requires that I use the form, whereas the rest don't appear to care.


texts: Should dropping out of a PhD program be treated the same way as quitting a regular, industry job?

texts:
I personally see no practical difference between dropping out of a PhD program and quitting a regular job, at least considering the way PhDs work in the US, especially in STEM fields, but I'm sure many people will disagree. Please let me elaborate why I think that way, and let me know if I'm being too naive or missing an important difference. I really want to see a difference, but so far I can't find any meaningful one.

At least in the US, PhD students are often employees of the university, they hold a research assistant position, get paid a salary and declare it as taxable income. Most people I've talked with in academia agree that the main point of doing a PhD is working on your own research rather than taking classes, which should just be a complement. That sounds pretty much like what you do at a regular job than what you do in a master's or undergrad degree; you have a main project to work on, and maybe some ocasional training sessions that might be useful for your work. Some people like to point out that dropping out of a PhD program has some sort of stigma attached to it because it means that you couldn't finish something you began. However, I see no difference between that situation and quitting a regular job where you had a long-term project that you realized was going nowhere, had no future or was needlessly stressful, and you decided not to waste your time trying to finish it and find something better. My view is that if you leave a PhD program with no degree, but you worked for some years as a research assistant, you can still write it down in your resume as a research assistant position you had at the university, so it's pretty much just another job for practical purposes, I don't understand why the fact that you didn't get the degree is such a big deal for some people.

Something I should emphasize is that I'm biased in my thinking towards STEM fields and people who enter PhD programs, but have no intention to stay in academia. If one wants to become a professor, dropping out of a PhD program is obviously a big deal, since it's often a requirement, but I'm talking about people who do PhDs mainly to get better jobs in industry. I know some will point out that that's probably a bad reason to do a PhD to begin with, but honestly, I've met many PhD students who think that way, especially in computer science and other STEM fields. Regardless, many people also begin a PhD because they are really interested in working on a specific area and that area happens to be developed more in academia than in industry at some point in time (machine learning is a good example), but they don't have any intention of staying in academia and plan to get a job in industry afterwards. Still, they might get disappointed about the area or the environment along the way, the same way one might serious negative aspects of what seemed at first as an interesting job.

I'm especially interested in reading people who disagree with any of the specific points I mentioned before and why they are not valid analogies between dropping out of a PhD program and quitting a job. If this looks more like an open-ended discussion rather than an appropriate question for this site, feel free to put it on hold, but I'd appreciate if you can point me to a more appropriate site where this kind of discussion can take place. This site is the only one I know where well-informed academics congregate.


texts: For a professor in the US, How important is one's relationship with the dean?

texts:
Through a colleague, I have entertained the idea of switching my current workplace.  The program itself is relatively new, at a US research university, while the dean has been there for 20+ years.  I get along with everyone, including the director.  However, I am a bit cautious of the current deans' expectations and direction for the program compared to what they would like to invest (monetary) in it.

The faculty have said it should not be much of a concern as interactions with the dean are rare, and other administration are more involved with actual implementation.  They also say the dean may leave in the next 5 years.  I have a feeling this is somewhat being said to appease the concerns.

As a general question, how important is the relationship or shared vision with the dean on a faculty member in terms of being able to implement change (for the better, in ones own opinion) in the day to day business, considering this vision is shared by other current faculty who are also slightly in disagreement with the current dean.


texts: How should I manage my relationship with a sneaky academic?

texts:
I feel let down and (right now) rather upset about how I've been treated by an academic at another institution. Any tips for how I manage my (unavoidable) working relationship with him going forward?

I'm a PhD Student in a small subdiscipline (only 2-4 of us in this country). He is a (moderately) established researcher and for him this is just one string to the fiddle. We've met a couple of times at conferences and organised a symposium together last year. I invited some of my non-academic network who are wonderful collaborators.

After the symposium we discussed further work together. He asked if I would assist with chairing a (broad discipline) conference, and I was excited about us working together, thinking how great it was to have a good relationship with someone who was more focused on our subdiscipline than my supervisors are, and looking forward to post-PhD collaborations. I felt he was 'taking me under his wing' and that my expertise would be highly useful to him.

Since then, the role we had discussed for conference organisation went to someone else, without him informing me.

And I've found out he has been putting together a project proposal with my wonderful collaborators, without mentioning it to me. Naively, it never even occurred to me that someone would do this. It seems particularly weird because geographically I'm located right next to these collaborators, and there are plenty of similar organisations in his area that he could have reached out to.

Right now I'm feeling pretty raw about this. (But perhaps this is on me? Was I simply too trusting?) But we are organising another symposium together. Undoubtedly we will cross paths again in the future, and will be reviewing each other's work.

Any tips on how to manage this relationship going forward? Or other tales of betrayal to help me put this in perspective?


texts: A staff member was rude to me in an email and made me look bad in front of other members of the staff. How should I handle this?

texts:
Due to some unfortunate miscommunication, one of the staff members at a university felt like I did not meet one of my obligations.

The staff member sent me an extremely rude email that happened to include other members of the department who I happen to know personally. The fact that the email was extremely condescending makes it seem like the staff member was trying to make me look bad.

Several months ago I received an email outlining some obligations. About a week ago I received another email explaining that I did not have to do one of those obligations. (Fortunately, it turned out to be something that was relatively simple and could be done at any time.)

Because I did not think I had to do the obligation, I did not do it. If the staff member would have clarified what they said, I would have been more than happy to do it. It also turned out to be something extremely simple.

Instead of clarifying, they sent an email that said "I did your work for you" and "here is what I said several months ago to prove that you knew you had to do this" but did not mention where they said "you do not have to do this".

The email was extremely rude and condescending. I would have been able to let it go if they did not include the other members of the department in the email. Now I am not sure how to respond. My thought is that they just forgot that they said I did not have to do the obligation.

I am not sure how to handle this. I have ideas along the lines of asking for an apology, clarifying the situation and explaining that I felt they were extremely rude, or forwarding the entire email chain to higher members of the department.

If I do decide to ask for an apology or clarify the situation, I can't decide whether or not I should include higher members of the department or who in the department I should include.


texts:
I have been offered a phd position in Germany at 75% TVL-E13. It seems very difficult to get a precise figure for what this is in Euro. From a Google search I have figures for this position ranging from €21000 right up to €30000 on various websites dating back over the last couple of years.

I have a deadline on my decision so I really need to know what this 75% TVL-E13 rate amounts to in Euro at the moment so I can weigh it up against offers in other countries. Is this a 'good' rate for a PhD? Is anyone on this rate at present or does anyone have a good idea of how much this salary is currently worth in Euro?


texts: How to deal with leftover work after changing employer?

texts:
In the academic world, how is work generally handled that has not been finished when an official contract ends? This is, I imagine, more the rule than the exception, for example when papers were submitted shortly before the end of the contract.

Is it common practice to "bill" (i.e. work within the work hours of) the new employer? That seemed ridiculous to me until I thought that the same situation of unfinished work will likely arise with the current employer also. Quite a number of academics, including me, are on short term contracts (< 1 year). Recently I had to sink about 1 week of work time into such a former unfinished work which of course delays my current project.

Is it expected that I work on it in my free time as a commitment to my former employer and see it as a personal mission to finish this work? Should I request a compensation for it?


texts: What happens to the application materials sent/submitted with graduate school applications in US after admissions decisions are made?

texts:
After the admission decisions are announced, accepted students made their decision, and the list of next year's graduate class is determined, what do graduate schools and respective departments in US universities typically do with the application materials (electronic or paper), including recommendation letters, transcripts and score reports, that they received from each individual applicant, in particular, rejected applications?

Do they keep them, in their entirety, for future reference or statistics? For how long, typically? Or, do they keep a summary of each application and the reasons for rejection and discard the rest?


texts: Would it be weird to give a github version of a paper to a reviewer?

texts:
And, would there be an appropriate way to do this?

Basically, I have a paper in a mathematical field that has gone back and forth a few times with a reviewer.  Since the document is in TeX, it is extra hard to keep track of changes and make sure things are addressed.  I believe seeing something like a github history, with edits separated into a few meaningful commits, would help my reviewer check how their comments were addressed, as well as helping me keep track of the changes and preventing more mistakes from popping up.  Would it be strange to give a github link to the paper along with the pdf version when resubmitting it?

Edit note:. The paper itself is on the ArXiV already.


texts: Incentives for professors to write recommendation letters

texts:
Is one incentive their ability to communicate their perceptiveness to people in their general community?

Are there other incentives?


texts:
I just got a paper back from review, with a comment from the editor:

  "As the suggestions are primarily editorial I deem the revisions required to be minor."

I have been given one week to revise the manuscript and write a response to both reviewers, but unfortunately both reviewers suggest me to do quite some extra work: additional analysis of data, additional numerical experiments, ....

As the editor describes the reviewers suggestions as "editorial", and I have been given only a week to revise the manuscript, I don't think that the editor expects me to do all that extra work (which would be impossible), but how do you deal with this in the response to the reviewers? Is it acceptable to basically say "interesting idea, impossible to do within a week"?


texts: Using work from someone else's talk for oneself

texts:
I work in physics.

Throughout my graduate career, I heard about people who have been known to see work done in a talk and subsequently catch up to that work and then-some, and attempt to publish first. I ignored this lore assuming it wasn't really true.

Now I am presenting at a conference where there will be someone (actually a big-wig) who has a reputation for this sort of maneuver, and I don't have a pre-print yet to post online.

Any recommendations about how to mitigate the potential for this to happen (besides being ready sooner obviously, I'm working very hard on this work). Thanks.


texts: A grad school professor contacted me about research before I applied

texts:
I haven't finished applying to one of the grad schools I'm interested in. But, one of the professors emailed me asking if I was still applying. He said I had strong letters of recommendations and told me a little bit about a project he is working on. Says he has student positions to fill. I assume he's partially interested in me because of my degree in mathematics where other applicants probably have degrees in other fields.

I want to know a few things. One, if I havent actually sent in my application can he see it? Or can he only see the letter of recommendation? Two, is it common for professors to be the ones to reach out to a student? I know most people encourage contacting professors you potentially want to work with but was surprised when a professor contacted me. Three, would this increase my odds of getting into the grad school? I.e. if this professor decides he wants to work with me could he have influence over my admission? Lastly, he said if there's enough interest on both of out parts he'd be willing to "support a trip to his lab". How should I interpret that?


texts: Teaching load and hired by the hour in the Swedish academic system

texts:
I've been offered a teaching position for the Spring semester at a Swedish University. The teaching load is 220 hours and they suggested that I should be hired by the hour.

Does any of you know how much do 220 hours mean in terms of a full teaching load for a Universitetlektor?
Is there a difference in payment related to the "by the hour system"?


texts: Is there a single website where one can get to know about all upcoming international conferences?

texts:
It's very important for a research professional (such as a Statistician) who needs to work on multidisciplinary fields to attend international conferences and see what's going around in the field of research. However, sometimes information contained in the websites about the upcoming conferences are too subject specific (e.g. there's so many related to computer science).

Is there any website that 'gathers information' (rather than just providing information from the user submitted ones) on all conferences irrespective of particular subject areas?

If there is any website about conferences that is related to Statistics and the fields which has its use, it'll do for me as well. Thank you for your reading.


texts: How important is it to note, in a citation, where a book/paper was published?

texts: Citation systems often specify writing down the location (e.g. London) that a book/paper was published, how important is this, and if it is important, then why is writing down the publisher/journal name not enough?


texts:
I recently discover the existence of unique digital identifier for researchers (such as the one proposed by ORCID or ResearcherID).

I never really heard about it, maybe because it is not common in my field (biological sciences) and I was wondering about the interest and use of such identifier.

So my question is twofold:

  1) What are the interest of using an unique digital identifier as a researcher?

  2) Is it commonly used in the scientific community (by publishers, databases, commitees)?

PS: related but not the same question here


texts: When to leave a postdoc as foreigner that doesn't have enough courage because of current global situation?

texts: so i joined a postdoc in US six months back. Had to move from India. Even after six months have no clue what im working on how to proceed with work. I make suggestions to the PI but he shoots them down. He is making me work but nothing productive which can translate into research paper in the next year. He is always early in the lab and leaves in the evening and expects us to be there during the time he is in the lab. Should i leave or stick it out?


texts:
I am using a quotation in my text which I am citing appropriately the first time. Do I need to cite again when using some text or, a concept, or even a word of the quotation later in the text?

For example:

  Smith (2015, p.15) states that: ‘the weather is going the be good today’.
  […]
  We do not need an umbrella today as the weather is going to be ‘good today’, so rain is not expected.

As you see, I am using punctuation, but I am not citing again. Is that appropriate?


texts: Minor editorial error during minor revision. Should I notify the editor or just correct it?

texts:
I recently submitted a manuscript to a prestigious journal in my field. The manuscript is now under "minor revision" status and the reviewer only asked me to provide percentages in one of the table. The comments are positive and I think the overall chance of acceptance is quite high.

The thing is, as I go through my manuscript, I found one minor editorial error, that is, the supplemental materials are marked incorrectly (the supplemental material 1 appeared after supplemental material 2, not in the order of appearance. But the supplemental materials are correct, not missing or mismatched). It seems that the editors and reviewers are not aware of tis mistake.

So my question is, what should I do? There seems to be three options:

Correct this editorial error before resubmission and notify the editor in the cover letter. The decision letter has stated

  Do not make additional change unless absolutely necessary.

Correct this error anyway without notifying the editorial office since the error is quite trivial.
Don't correct this error now and wait till the copyediting process.

What would you guys suggest me do?

I don't want to leave bad impression on the editors and reviewers and jeopardize the chances of acceptance of my article.


texts:
I'm looking for a repository of journal data.
More specifically, a listing of every known journal name and various attributes such as ISSN, rankings, peer review, etc. I know Cabell's offers this information, but expressly forbids mass-downloading.
Is there a better source for Journal data?


texts: Why would an author use a different symbol for the same meaning?

texts:
People often use a different symbol to denote the same meaning.

For example, an author used symbol a for a data sequence. However, the same author, in another article, uses the symbol x to denote the same data sequence in the same context.

Why doesn’t he use symbol a for the data sequence in the second article? Is it just to make the manuscript look different compared to their previous one? Note that there is enough degree-of-freedom to use the same set (or sub-set) of previous symbols in next manuscript.

Nevertheless, it becomes more complicated for the readers when they use Greek symbols together with superscript and subscript. I agree that people have their own choice to use the symbols in their manuscript, however, why would the same group of authors use a different symbol for the same meaning in another manuscript?


texts: Where can I publish the draft paper of my masters thesis?

texts:
I'm Iranian and now working on  a paper related to my masters thesis. Unfortunately, in my country copyright violation is not unusual and some professors publish students' papers in their own name, excluding the student from the co-author list. I want to publish a draft of my paper including both my name and my adviser in the author list so that I can claim partial ownership of the paper if my adviser attempts to unethically exclude me from the author list at a later date.

Where and how can I publish my draft paper submitted in my name and my thesis adviser's name?

PS: I eventually want to post my article to JASSS-Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation.


texts: I am getting ready to apply to mathematics graduate programs this semester. As far as I know most school require 3 letters of reference. I've secured two letters but for my third letter I have a couple of options. I can simply ask another professor whose class I have done well in, but I am not confident in the strength of the letter. As for my other option, I have just finished a summer research program under the supervision of a grad student and I feel as if he has more helpful things to say. However, it seems like in general it is not the best idea to get references from people who do not have PhD's. I was wondering what the best course of action would be.


texts: Reading material on working conditions of women in academia

texts:
Like many professions, academia is a challenging environment for women. In some disciplines (e.g. computer science), the number of women remains low despite efforts to increase it. Have there been any academic studies on the ways of improving the working conditions for women, specifically focussing on women in academia? As an academic working in hard sciences (i.e. not gender studies), what book or review could I read on the topic, to help me get a better understanding of these issues (and possibly improve my own behavior)?

I'm not interested in “advice” (in part because I am not a woman), but in studies of how effective are various possible ways of improving the working conditions for women (in academia). Like “we study universities implementing policies X and Y, and show that they do increase gender diversity bu xx%”

The question “Women in academia” is related, but I'm asking for material with a totally different perspective.


texts: Should I provide a letter of recommendation/reference to every asking student?

texts:
It's the time of year we lecturers get asked for references from graduating taught postgraduates who seek to move on to do a PhD. While I'm generally happy to act as a referee, I'm unsure whether there is a best / standard practice here. I'm naturally more inclined to agree to providing a reference when a) I remember the student, and b) the student's work had merit.

Is this wrong? Should I provide a reference even when I don't remember the student or their work wasn't particularly good?


texts: What can a professor do about an exam that was too long for the allotted time, after the students have completed it?

texts:
I just finished a midterm exam. It was very easy but I was only able to finish about 3/4 of it. And I rushed through some parts in the final moments.

Talking with other students, there's a consensus that there wasn't enough time. Some of us mentioned this to the professor as we were leaving, and he acknowledged it.

What can the professor do to remedy this situation?


texts: Female students coming to office hours in overly revealing clothing

texts:
[because this is potentially relevant, I'm a 37 y/o male]

Being the end of the semester, I've had a bunch of students come to my office hours to ask questions about things I'm responsible for. Among them, there have been a small number of female undergrads that have shown up wearing the kind of clothing that I think is inappropriate for a meeting with a faculty member. I'm not a prude (I hope), but I feel there is something amiss when a 20 y/o undergrad wants to discuss course validation from a neighboring university and then she goes and sits in front of me wearing booty shorts and a very see-through t-shirt (or a tanktop so skimpy that half her bra shows no matter what, or... take your pick). Before someone says anything to the effect, yes, it's summer, but it is not that warm (we're having a nice 20-25 C average these days).

In short, how can I tell these women, politely, that they should think twice about showing up half naked to meetings with faculty members?

Note that I'm not implying that I'm feeling sexually harassed or anything along those lines. Without getting into details, I'm old enough and happily married enough that I don't find college girls sexually appealing anymore. What I'm looking for is a way of telling them meetings with people higher up in the hierarchy have implicit standards, including some pertinent to what you may and may not wear that doesn't sound like a crude rephrasing of oh please why don't you cover up you filthy [censored].


texts: How bad is making mistakes in the lecture slides?

texts:
I am giving a lecture in IT (for the first time) to more than 100 students. I refused to use the slides of the previous lecturer and I wanted to make my owns. They take me a lot of effort and I believe that are better than most lecture slides on the same topic.

The lecture includes so many mathematical equations (almost every slide). Because I am making them from scratch, I made already 3 mistakes in the equation (e.g. multiplication instead of addition). I discovered two of them during the lecture I said that it is a mistake. I corrected the mistakes before I uploaded the slides.

the third mistake I did not notice but when I gave an example I used the correct one. In the exercise, the students were claiming that the equation does not give the same result as expected in the exercise (which is graded). I decided to give all the students the full note for that exercise.

My question is how bad to have these mistakes? Should I use the slides of the previous lecturer?


texts: What do people usually wear to conferences?

texts:
I'm going to my first conference in about a month, where I will be presenting a poster.

How do people usually dress for conferences? Do I need to dress more smartly than usual? Is formal dress (e.g. a suit) normal? Or does no-one really care?

I'm a PhD student, if that makes any difference, and both my university and the conference are in the UK. It's a biology conference.


texts: Should I provide a useful update to a professor currently grieving a parent?

texts:
I am a PhD student working with a professor I do not know very well, as a proposed supervisor, on several postdoctoral applications. The professor's mother passed away several weeks ago. Since that point, I have been working on these applications independently, but I have determined that one of these applications will no longer be feasible, given some of the application requirements.
I am unsure whether I should very briefly update (and emphasize that no response/action is needed) this professor via e-mail so that they know that their workload is reduced during the coming months, or whether I should wait until they've reached out to me asking for an update. For context, we did not establish a date at which we would resume communication.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.


texts:
I know there are different posts about changing PhD, but with such an important decision I would like to ask the same question but including the details of my personal situation.

I am in the first year of my PhD (now starting the 8th month). I did my masters in my home country, Spain, where I did research in computational protein dynamics although my background is about computational chemistry at atomistic level (Quantum Mechanics). I really enjoyed my masters, but I decided to look for a PhD position in quantum chemistry again. I got this position in Stockholm University. I though I would enjoy it, but after 7 months I am not enjoying at all, I do not trust my own research and my interests are moving far from this field. The thing that my group is the only computational group of the whole department is also a big point, because all other groups are experimental and this make me feel quite isolated.

I already had a talk with my boss, where I expressed all my concerns and where we agreed to look for new things. He was really open-minded and comprehensive, and I will try my best for the next months to see if the change fits me. However, my apathy feeling is still present and I think I should start considering the possibility of changing PhD. Do you think I must change only considering this personal feelings? In the past I was really passionate in science, but this feeling of apathy is keeling me. I want to make clear that there is not any problem with my boss or my group mates (all of them are really fantastic), just with myself and my motivation.

Any opinion and advise is welcome


texts: What does "awaiting reviewer selection" really mean under the "minor revision" scenario?

texts: I just submitted a revised paper to ScholarOne (minor revision). I suppose that in most cases (of minor revision), the revised manuscript will only be reviewed by the ADM or associate editor. However, I just noticed that the status of my revised manuscript is now "awaiting reviewer selection". Does this entail that the revised manuscript has to go back to the original reviewer for (final) re-review? Or, could it be that it is an automatic status message showing that the editor is now reading/evaluating my revised manuscript and that this does not necessary mean that the revised paper has to go back to the original reviewer? Thanks for your insight in advance.


texts: Has anyone had to switch to a different research/study focus to obtain an RA postion?

texts:
To give a bit of context: I got accepted to UIUC for the Fall 2015 semester to start my graduate studies in Mechanical Engineering. I've been interested in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences as a field to specialize in for quite a while now. As such, I've been contacting many professors in that area to see if they have RA positions, but all have not been fruitful (no open slots). Having some sort of assistantship is the only way I can pay for tuition there without resorting to loans, which I really want to avoid since I was able to do so for my undergraduate studies. There are still professors I can contact in the area, but the number of options is dwindling. I've considered looking into the other departments in hopes of finding something before the Fall semester starts. I would like to "stick to my guns" on this because it is an area that I am actually interested in, but time is catching up with me quickly.

It says on the MechSE website that 85% of students receive funding this way, so it seems like I would have a good chance of getting something. Should I be worried that I don't have something definite at this time? Most of the professors have been able to respond quickly (less than a week sometimes), but some simply do not respond. I'm not sure of what to do except keep emailing professors and consider my other research options.


texts: As an instructor can I use previous work history as examples?

texts:
I teach computer science (USA - graduate level).  I am teaching a software design course, and for a lecture I am to give on software anti-patterns I would like to use a real world example from an institution I was previously employed with.  To share the example I would create some abstract UML class diagrams showing the pattern that was used, I would explain the general purpose of the application and share where we got it wrong and how the students could learn from the anti-pattern.  I don't have to reveal any code (not that I have any) or share any trade secrets, and I don't even have to use the name of organization.  However if someone was to read my C.V. they could probably ascertain what organization I was speaking in reference to.

Is it considered 'ethical' behavior to share this example? Or should I seek authorization from the previous institution? Are there certain things I should do to protect myself or further obfuscate this example?

As far as I know I never signed any sort of NDA or non-compete covenant.


texts: Ballpark estimate for running a lab with 3 students and 1 postdoc in the US in a major R1 university?

texts:
Suppose I want to run a research group with 3 students (working as research assistants,  not as TAs) and 1 postdoc, all being able to travel regularly to conferences to present their papers. How much would this cost (ballpark)? Here I'm considering a major US R1 university.
Based on the answer below, I suppose a good rule of thumb is to double the salary of each person.
How much does a Postdoc really cost, in the US, on average?
Considering a 65K postdoc salary, 20K PhD stipend and 15K tuition, my ballpark estimate is thus:

1 post doc (2)x(65K) = 130K

3 PhD students (2)x(3)x(20K stipend + 15K tuition) = 210K

10K for trips

=> 350K per year to sustain the group.
Is this number reasonable? What other costs might be involved?
PS: since equipment costs vary too much across fields, I'm not asking for this (for instance, equipment for wet lab stuff etc). I'm interested only in a ballpark estimate for sustaining the group itself.


texts: Are you required to report audited courses when applying for graduate school?

texts:
I recently noticed that a few of the courses I am required to take for my undergraduate program are also offered by an online university, and that they allow you to audit said courses relatively cheaply. Would it be a good idea to study ahead using these courses, or is such a thing considered unethical as it would give me an advantage when I take the course at my own institution? Am I generally required to report the audited courses when I later apply for graduate school (which would presumably look 'bad')?

Specifically I am in Canada if the rules vary by region.


texts: What should you do if you spotted a non-trivial error in a highly cited paper?

texts:
I have seen question on here regarding a citation error in a paper here:
What should I do if I found a citation error in a published paper?, but the nature of this problem is very different.

Basically, I came across an error in a paper (call this error 2).

I have previously contacted the author before regarding a different problem (call this error 1, say) in this paper, and I got no response. (That was what I still believe to be an unproven proposition, and is actually also related to this problem.)

The reason I decided to ask here this time is the following:

I am highly confident about error 2.
Its correctness has a direct impact on my current research.
The mistake cannot be easily fixed. (At least it appears to me, for the time being). I have spent months on a related problem before revisiting this paper and realised that I have tried this same technique in problem, which did not work in my problem, which led me to check why it worked in his paper - and it turned out, it did not.
The result was probably the first/the only result of its kind in the literature and the paper is fairly important with 150+ citations.

What should I do here? I have previously contacted the author and I have no reason to believe he would respond this time. I want it to be correct/easily patched because of reason 2. This paper was published in 1997 so it has been a while....

EDIT: Precisely for reason 2, I would much prefer some way of getting the author to respond.

EDIT: I had a discussion with my supervisor. He immediately agreed with me it was a mistake. The thing is when we tried to use a similar technique for a different problem, we fell down the same trap about 10 times. At the moment, we have no fix and the mistake is serious enough that it takes away a lot of credit from the paper.


texts:
I am using an image from a users’ manual of a piece of software, and I was wondering if I can put a citation in the caption of the image. For example:

  Figure 1.3 Illustration of WonderSoft’s interface. Image taken from WonderSoft’s users’ manual (Bitsmith et al., 1821).


texts:
I am going into my 4th year PhD in a STEM field.  I am my advisor's first student.  While things started off okay and the research had been interesting, my advisor developed a tendency to switch projects on me without allowing either of us to really troubleshoot what went wrong with the previous project.  These actions have made it difficult to come up with meaningful consistency as well as the results that I would deem adequate for someone in my year as a PhD.  I do have one paper in my name, but its subject was not in the research application I was interested in, and was instead in a totally different field (and a very useless one).  I honestly don't see anyone referencing that paper.

So basically, I do not have control over my research project.  I started off doing what I thought would take me in the direction of my goals post-grad, but my advisor's inconsistency has made that impossible.  I understand that plans will unexpectedly change, but the whole scope of my research now is ultimately completely different and uninteresting.  For instance, I presented at a conference, and the conference's theme was of something I was deeply interested in, and the abstract I had originally submitted was related to it.  However, come time for the actual conference, my advisor had switched projects on me, and what I presented was nothing at all related to the session of that day.  I was quite embarrassed, and I could tell during my talk that others weren't really interested in what I had to offer.

To make matters more fun, my advisor will "remind" me that my project is mine.  In other words, any failure is my own, not hers.  Also, when I go to ask questions regarding the fundamentals of the work she has in mind, she will take my inquiries as a personal attack.  This behavior discourages me from communicating with her altogether.  The past few years feel like a textbook definition of Gaslighting as well as Incompetence.  (As a related example, my advisor had given me permission to get an internship during my first year, but then changed her mind when I went out and actually got an offer.)

So, now my other big program is that my advisor told me that I would have to graduate next Spring 2020, as she would not be able to fund me longer than that.  However, I do not have a story to defend, and I would be hesitant to present the data I've gathered these past few years.  Furthermore, I do not know what I could do post-grad, because what I want to do would require experience in the fields that I was originally in (not to mention I have no internship/field experience..).

Should I stick with it and see what happens?  I would hate for 3+ years to go down the drain.  Should I try and find my own funding, and is that really my responsibility at this point?  Could I be wrong in that it is not unusual for projects to totally shift their scopes, and I should just deal with that reality?

I do want to remain in good relations with my advisor.  I just don't know how to best express my desires and ideas without feeling like I am setting off my PI's short fuse.  While I regret not taking action sooner, I really thought these small details weren't that big of a deal.  Added up, however, I realize that I have some larger issues to work with, which is why I post here to see if there are any thoughts I should consider.  I wish I could be more upfront, but confrontation is difficult for me.  I now understand that is a skill I need to work on.

Thank you in advance for your time,


texts: How to exchange email with potential professors

texts:
I sent an informal query to a professor in UK and she replied me with her strong interest in my research works and considering me as a potential postdoc. She mentioned that she wants to apply for research grant this year and will inform me when she gets that. But she did not provide some details on the approximate time which she probably get the grant. In the meanwhile, I am a postdoc in another country and my contract will be finished within 4 months. As I need to make some plan about renewing my contract, is it appropriate to ask her to let me know about the approximate time of approving her application for grant?
As a note, one of her postdocs has resigned but the remaining time of the current project is rather short. Can I make a request to join her team for recent project as well and wait to confirm her new grant in the meanwhile?


texts: What about writing an abstract for a conference without having a research?

texts:
We know it is normal to submit an abstract without having the result published yet. But what about an abstract where there was never a research from the author himself on the proposed topic?
Regards


texts: What are the chances for a scholarship winner to be denied admission at Uni?

texts:
If a student wins a scholarship (like the german DAAD scholarship, for example), does his chance for admission at an University to pursue a Masters degree increase?

Let's say he fulfilled all of the requirements for admission. On top of that, he won a scholarship that fully funds his studies. Would he be given advantage over other candidates that applied for the same MSc program?


texts: In American universities, why are academics placed in managerial and administrative functions?

texts:
I'm a new hire at an R1 university in the United States. My position focuses on the administration of research. Before coming here, I worked in private industry and government agencies - but this is my first time working within a university setting.

Here it is common for many management functions to be staffed by faculty members (either current faculty, or people who held faculty positions before moving to administrative roles).

This has become difficult, as I've come to understand that many of peers don't have any background in the areas they are expected to be successful at. For example, academic department chairs are responsible for the financial management of their department, but most of the ones I have met with aren't currently capable of reading basic financial statements. Similarly, they may be in charge of large and costly projects, but have no established project management structure.

These lead to poor outcomes (departments that spend far more than they should, projects that run over time and over budget, etc.). I can't understand why they would be placed in these positions where it is clear they don't have the skills to succeed.

In the management of an American university, why would academics be placed these kinds of roles rather than professionals with those skill-sets?


texts: Citing own work within a paper and being anonymous

texts:
I am reading a paper in which the author cites his paper in a very explicit form. The reformulation of one of his sentence in the paper was in this form:

  I have already made this point in a few papers, within a general
  framework in (Some Name) (1996) and in a related
  framework in (Some Name) (1999).

This paper is submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. With this sentence, the author gives an explicit information about his identity and becomes non-anonymous to referees. By the way, he is a well-known guy in his literature.

Is it an acceptable situation ?

ps. I edited the question in order to avoid a confusion. I am just reading the paper and I wanted to know, by curiosity, how a such situation is considered in academia.


texts: To ask for a PostDoc position in the university X, is better to do it by myself or to ask to my supervisor?

texts:
I am a PhD student in artificial intelligence from an European university. This year I am going to finish my PhD program, so I am looking around to search for a suitable Postdoc position.

I would like to apply to an important American university, named X.
In my research group here I have important professors that follow my work. One is my supervisor, an expert of artificial intellingence, and follows my work. The other is an expert of operating systems (i.e. different field from artificial intelligence).

This operating system professor in the 90s spent some years working at the preminent university X, and he still has a lot of contact and collaborations in that field.

Should I take advantage of this and ask him to contact my potential Postdoc advisor at the university to which I want to apply, even if he is from a different field?
Would it be worth?

His mail would be something like "Some decades ago I worked at your university in the operating systems field, and now I would like to recommed this candidate from artificial intelligence..."
Would this have sense?
Would this be useful?

Or would it be better that I contacted personally by myself this professor for the Postdoc position?


texts: Appropriate ways to propose moving from a single to a joint appointment

texts:
Consider an assistant professor who does fairly interdisciplinary work, regularly publishing in journals for more than one field, or where you can make a case that, depending on how you spin it, they could clearly be an X or a Y.

Currently, they have a single academic appointment in X, but are potentially interested in a joint appointment, perhaps to advise students, or to combat the perception that they're "really not a Y" within the field, or another reason.

What's the best way to raise this desire? What practical objections might be raised?


texts: Paper by different authors published same method as a previous paper

texts:
My colleagues and I published a new method in a journal last year. A week ago, another group published a nearly-identical method in the same journal. The approach is the same, just with different notation.

I believe this was not malicious on the part of the other group and probably was simply due to a lack of a literature search. Are there any actions we should take?


texts: Is obtaining Multiple PhDs in two different and barely related disciplines detrimental to the career?

texts:
My situation is like this: I have tried to obtain an MS in CS/CSE but failed. Now, I am studying an MA in Education and planning to get a Ph.D. in Education. After that, my plan is to get a Ph.D. degree in data science.

Now, why this strange plan? The answer is, STEM pays money, but STEM research is hard. So, first I need to have a guarantee that if I fail to obtain a degree in data science, I always have something to fall back on.

Suppose, you are seeing my resume, what would your first thought be? Is having PhDs in two different disciplines counterproductive to each other? If I apply for a job in academia/research, would I be seen as a pariah in both education and/or STEM?


texts: PhD: Online philosophy courses and their worth when transitioning from an unrelated field to philosophy

texts:
I want to enter a PhD programme in continental philosophy in about 7 months. This is while I hold an MA in Computer Science. While the school is very open to my application, -- i.e. they don't strictly require a Master's degree in a related field-- I still want to make my application stand out as much as possible.

I have found quite many philosophy courses online (on coursera, and other websites) but the only ones that have captured my attention have been the ones coming from prestigious universities such as Harvard and Oxford.

https://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/courses/introduction-to-philosophy-online

Are such courses of any value when applying to universities? Specially in the case of a person coming from a very unrelated background.


texts:
What are my options for publishing tutorials?

I would like to publish tutorials for specific methods of statistical analysis using a third party software package with some of my own code for handling the data. Something along the lines of this example - Analysis of Diallels using SAS.


texts: Chose name for first publication (special characters and compound names)

texts:
I am submitting my first paper ever in a couple of months and I was wondering about my family name. The paper is in English and the conference is an international conference.

Assume my name is {Alan} {võn Neumann} {Chúrch}, so {first name} {family name father} and {family name mother} where {family name father has two words}. Note also the special characters (õ and ú) I added there on purpose (as I do have them in my real name).

If I had the choice, I would go with  {Alan} {võn Neumann} {Chúrch}, but I don't want to be cited as Chúrch or Võn. A proper citation would be võn Neumann Chúrch, but võn Neumann would be fine as well.

How can I ensure that I would be properly cited?
Also, should I keep the special characters? I really would rather keep them.

Best,
Not Alan von Neumann Church ;)


texts: My professor changed a take-home test to an in-class test with no notice. Can I fight the grade?

texts:
I’m a college student. For a recent test, the professor originally said that the test was extremely difficult and long and therefore they were going to send us a picture of the exam an hour and a half before we had to take it. They said an hour and a half would not leave enough time for people to look up answers online. We were also allowed to bring a notecard for use on the test.

For some reason they were not able to send the pictures, so they said they would make it a take-home test. I was elated, and switched my focus to a different exam I had later that evening.

At our next lecture, the professor announced that we were taking the test in class that day, but open-note. I was obviously not prepared at all, and had not even brought the proper notes for the test with me.  The result was me leaving half the test blank.

How should I proceed? Is it reasonable to fight this grade?


texts: Thinking about quitting the Ph.D. because I feel depressed in this town?

texts:
I have been living in this town for 16 months, but I am in this Ph.D. position only for 4 months. For the other 12 months, I had been working as an employee in the same research group.

I really like the research, the project, the prof., the colleagues and also the stipend. The only thing I hate about this place is the town where I am living. It is becoming more and more difficult to stay sane. It is only a few thousand "old" people and things close at 6:30 in the evening. I have been used to the life of a city (in and out of my home country). This small town is driving me crazy. I am trying to be strong, but I am not sure if I can keep it up for 4 years.


texts: Could a paper that's just a title and abstract be listed as a publication in CV?

texts: I submitted a paper that only contained a title and an abstract to an international meeting, which is one of the most important conferences in my major. I will give an oral presentation in one session of the meeting. Because it is not a full paper, I want to know whether I can put it in my CV as a publication.


texts: Getting grants at a teaching department while officially being considered an R2 institution

texts:
My department is focused on teaching. We teach 6 classes/year with heavy undergraduate mentoring. It actually feels like teaching 8 classes per year. I know that there are grants "designed" for teaching institutions (RUI at NSF, for example), but to be eligible my institution has to be officially a PUI (primarily undergraduate institution). By all measures my department would qualify (no masters/phd degree), but other departments in the university are research active, so we are an R2 institution.

Furthermore, the university has been heavily pushing to be considered an R1 institution. They are giving a lot of resources (time/money) to these research-active departments. People at the teaching-intensive departments are at a significantly disadvantage since our research is less intensive, so we never get the internal grants.

When I talk to the administration the conversation goes like this (not literally):

  They: ..., we support your efforts to get grants.

  Me: It is difficult to get grants due to the heavy teaching load.

  They: People at (teaching department at another university) get grants.

  Me: They qualify as a PUI.

  They: That may help them, but if your proposal is good, it will get funded.

  Me: To do good research I need the time to do it.

  They: You can apply for internal grants to get seed funding/time.

  Me: Most of my department applies, but we are not funded. It is difficult to
  get internal funding when competing with people in other areas that have more time for research.

  They: Then you can apply for external funding, we support your efforts to get grants....

In summary, I work at an undergraduate department, but due to funding agencies rules, I am considered to be at a research intensive institution. Also, I have applied for grants, and colleagues at panels told me (in confidence) that other weaker proposals were funded because they got the PUI classification. My research was not considered strong enough (for a research intensive institution).

Has anyone had this experience?

How can I maximize my chances to get INTERNAL funding when competing with people that have much more time for research?

How can I maximize my chances to get EXTERNAL funding when competing with people that have much more time for research?


texts: Is there an academic template to present a software?

texts:
I'd like to know if there is a template, or a standard or a suggested methodology, to outline a paper that speaks about a software.
The arguments I cover are related to the background, the problem it solves, the approach, the architecture, the benchmark and the comparison with other tools.


texts: Potential postdoc advisor threatening to fire other postdocs

texts:
Currently I am searching for a regular postdoc position. I visited a potential advisor some time ago. I had a good impression of the advisor except for one thing: he introduced one of his current postdoc to me and half-jokingly threatened to fire the current postdoc (said in my face and to the face of that postdoc) if the said postdoc couldn't improve his productivity.

Later the said advisor encountered funding problem and cannot hire me. Recently I asked him about the current status of his funding, he replied he was considering firing that postdoc so that he would have one open position.

I understand that, compared to PhD, postdoc positions emphasize performance much more. But telling a potential postdoc candidate about firing a current postdoc? I'm a bit scared. It sounds like a warning to me as well: if I get hired as a postdoc to replace the fired postdoc, I will get the same treatment. If the current postdoc survives and I get hired as well, this could create tension between the current postdoc and me. Is this something an advisor should tell his potential postdoc candidate? What does this tell about the advisor's personality?


texts: How to ask for an academia-industry collaboration?

texts:
I work for a relatively big manufacturing company, we just opened a new R&D department where we are expected to develop some new engineering capabilities (new for us, not for everyone in the market).

I have identified an academic expert (from another country) whose advice may help us to reach our desired capabilities faster and in line with the state-of-the-art methodologies. I want to bring him aboard but I'm not sure what approach to take.

What are the most important factors academics look at when considering a collaboration with industry?


texts:
The question is self-explanatory actually.

Should I attend Seminars/Conferences that give Certificates upon achieving some number of attendance? And do they have any worth if I/ to put them in my CV?

I'm an undergraduate student currently in Electrical-Electronical Engineering program and every week there are seminars carried out by University/Department and varius events carried out by various clubs. Some of them give certificate upon attandance and some of them require attending the seminar for some number of sessions for certification but I'm not sure if those certificate have any value at all and I want to know if it's worth ditching relaxing after week of lectures for some certificate that can be obtained by literally every single human being that walks in to the hall.

Thanks in advance.


texts: PhD (Dr.) student willing to finish thesis after several years of inactivity

texts:
A few days ago one of my former PhD students (in fact Dr. since I'm in Germany) contaced me and asked me, if there is any chance to finish their PhD thesis. The work was done at a different institution where I was active years ago and I was one of the two advisors.

A rough outline of the facts:

At the time the work was done, it was quite innovative. The work was done in an interdisciplinary field and the person had to dig deep into "the other field" and did a good job. There was a tangible result and an evalutation was performed based on a small group of participants.
The tanglible result was novel at that time, the evaluation of the new system was in line with current findings at that time and confirmed the usefulness and practicability.
The work was not submitted since it was not completed when the contract of that person ended, and after working in the new job, it took a while (~1-2 years) to bring everything to paper.
When this was done (about 3 years ago), the person was in doubt whether "the results are enough" and "whether the validation was proper enough". My feeling was it was enough to at least obtain the grade, even though one could critisize a few things (e.g. size and quality of the study participants), but it was in line with many other theses in this field. The person told me that my remarks would be considered and that I would be contacted if any decision was made.
Now (about 8-9 years after the work was done) the person contacted me and asked, if I would see any chance to "bring this work to an end" - either with the "Dr." title (no matter which grade) or to finally dump it. The person is willing to add some extra work (e.g. doing another evaluation study), but the system developed is outdated from todays point of view and I would see little benefit in an additional study.
The "Dr." title is quite helpful in the field the person is working in.
The technical system itself is still quite unique in the field.

I don't want to bias your answers so I would prefer not to tell at the moment how I responded, but I would appreciate thoughts and experience based on the following questions:

Did you ever experience a PhD handing in the thesis many (>5) years after completition? If yes, was it accepted?
If it was accepted, has it been evaluated based on the state of the art when the thesis work was done, or based on the current state of the art?

Bonus question (but opinion based, therefore just as a bonus ;-) ): How would you proceed? (Keep in mind that the was not done in a structured PhD program but as an employee in a research project for a limited time. And we are in Germany.)