texts: What are we expected to do when citing literature?

texts:
Open any research article and it is littered with citations. I’ve recently been wondering what is expected of us when citing the literature:

Are we expected to cite every reference relevant to our research article?
Are we expected to cite only the “best” references relevant to our research article, where best can be defined as the papers which have appeared in the best journals or papers that are most cited?
Do neither of the above apply? Are we simply expected to cite any paper relevant to our research article, just as long as we have cited something that supports/is related to our argument?


texts: Is this plagiarism or something similar in a master's project?

texts:
I am a master's student in 3rd world Asian country. My master's thesis guide (who was from a different institute) abandoned me after giving a research paper to read. Now, with no guidance left as no-one in my institute works in analytic number theory, I began reading the papers related to the first paper. I read 5 papers in total and in my thesis I will write in detail about the details which were not covered in the papers (like detailed steps and proofs).

But, as I had no help I posted questions on mathstackexchange and some which were not answered on MSE were subsequently posted on Mathoverflow. I am really thankful to the community because without their help it wouldn't be possible to completely understand the papers. One professor in combinatorial number theory (who recommended me to another professor) agreed that I could write his name as a supervisor (my institute has rules that he had to be made a co-guide earlier even when I didn't know my  guide will not work with me).

I don't want to write in my master's thesis that I took help from Mathstackexchange and Mathoverflow because it could create an impression that I don't know enough mathematics. But if I don't acknowledge it, is this plagiarism? It doesn't seem right that I write the names of all the users as I have asked about 10-12 questions there. I think writing all those names will create a bad impression of me. The evaluators in my university may not understand the situation. I have worked really hard on thesis despite the trauma of my guide not replying to any of my email.

Can anyone please tell me whether I am plagiarising?


texts: What is a proper way to consider the supplementary materials as a reviewer?

texts:
I was chosen as a reviewer for a conference in the field of computer science in which the authors can also submit some extra materials like proofs and additional implementations separately (until a week after the deadline), but their papers should be understandable and self-contained without considering these additional materials.

The paper I’m reviewing has a good scientific contribution and I like the way they tried to solve the problem, but some parts are not so understandable unless you read the additional submitted PDF file. For example, their pseudo-code for their algorithm has some mistakes, but they provide the correct algorithm in the additional material. Also, they provided more implementation results in the extra PDF file, which I think are important to support their claim. The proof and in-detail explanation of their method is also provided there.

The organizers have emphasized that the authors shouldn’t use the additional documents as way to submit a more complete version of the original paper.

So to be fair, if they add some of the parts from their supplementary document to the main paper, then the resulting paper would be perfect and I’d definitely accept it. However, I’m not sure whether it is better to accept it with feedback on the lacking parts, telling them to move these parts from the additional PDF to the main one to make it complete, or to only consider the main paper to be self-explanatory, in that case I’d more likely reject it!


texts: Is it true that M.Eng. is considered an undergraduate degree in the UK? If so, why?

texts:
It is surprising to see from these sources (Wikipedia and University of Edinburgh) that the Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree is actually an undergraduate degree in the UK. It is recalled as an 'undergraduate masters degree'. While only PhD MSc and MPhil are considered to be postgraduate degrees.

How far is this true? Why is it so?


texts: Convention for excerpting from the middle of a paragraph in another work?

texts:
A project of mine involves meticulously tracing the source material for a work of literature constructed from an author's unpublished notes. I have established a system for referencing the notes themselves, but to precisely trace the material that constitutes the finished work, I'm following the format:

[ Note # ] [ Page(s) ]
[ Headwords of first paragraph ]
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..."
[ Footwords of paragraph, either the same one or the end of the last if the passage spans multiple paragraphs ]
"...fermentum eu velit quis iaculis."

However, there are some instances where the material was taken from the middle of a paragraph, continues unbroken through several subsequent paragraphs, and stops in the middle of another paragraph. In order to proceed with my work, I've been using this format:

If the source begins in the middle of a paragraph, include the headwords to that paragraph then include the beginning of the actual excerpt:
"Lorem ipsum dolor [...] Maecenas mattis erat in metus..."

If the source ends in the middle, include headwords in addition to the conclusion of the excerpt itself:
"Lorem ipsum dolor [...] tincidunt dui urna nec diam."

This example supposes material is taken from a single paragraph, so another example spanning multiple paragraphs might look like:
"Lorem ipsum dolor [...] Maecenas mattis erat in metus..."
"Vivamus nec sodales neque [...] quis lobortis nibh porttitor."

Essentially I'm wondering if this system is too confusing, or if there is an existing standard already in use that I can adopt. Including the headwords serves as a way to navigate through the material using paragraphs as an easy visual reference. I've considered assigning each paragraph a section number and referencing them by section marks (§) which would serve as an alternative to including the headwords ("§52 Lorem ipsum dolor..." through "§55 ...nunc sollicitudin lectus."), but I'd like to avoid that if possible.

Any suggestions are appreciated!


texts: Does my Anthropology PhD topic have to be the same as my Masters topic?

texts:
I have a MSci in Social and Cultural Anthropology. While doing the masters, I chose a thesis topic that I ended up hating. I finished the thesis regardless and graduated with merit.

I want to now apply for a PhD, but I don't want to continue down the path of the masters thesis topic, instead choosing something I studied in a course in the program, but didn't write a thesis for (I did write some related essays on it, and took a related course on it).

Also the two topics would be in latin america, dealing with women (just different groups of women, one was urban women in brazil, the PhD topic would involve indigenous women in Guyana). I can certainly find some overlaps, though it might be a stretch of the imagination.

What do you think? How important is it that the masters topic overlap with the phd topic?


texts: Can we add an acknowledgment to a paper after it has been published?

texts:
Like it has been mentioned, I wanted to know if it is possible to add an acknowledgment after the paper has been accepted

We even attended the conferences a few days back


texts: I sent an article it's been almost 4 months, but still my article is in the same status "submissions being processed", that I have to do is what I contact the editor or I wait for their response, since I have heard when we send an e-mail to the editor, he sends the refusal directly, I wait for your suggestions, thank you in advance


texts: Reviewing experiences effects on applying process

texts:
Can reviewing experiences for top notch journals in a specific field be considered as a distinguishing and effective factor for the applying process?

I've read somewhere that having a fertile record in sites such as Publons can have a positive effect for applying for, e.g. a PhD position.


texts: Is there any standardization of figures for scientific publication in any field?

texts:
Short Version: Making the data behind the figures openly available is undeniably a massive help to the research community. What are some enabling systematic efforts (standard, file format requirement, tools to extract data from the figures) who are pushing for this openness available? This is not to ask for people to share their tabular data, but to use a figure file format that is easily extractable.

Imagine a day that we can do a meta-analysis on a large number of scientific papers to build a big AI. Or a software that can extract all the figures and build a massive database of data that can put the research into a quick use by engineers or others. Perhaps if there is a standard or framework for figures it would help this happen faster (the same goes with the objectives and hypothesis of papers).

Are you aware of any effort in this direction?
Is there any framework for figure structures, locations of content in the figure that is mandated/suggested by journals for better OCR in any field or certain experiments?
For example, the data in Matlab fig files (no matter how many curves or dimensions) can be accurately extracted. Is there any journal that asks for such file formats from which data can be easily extracted?
Link here: https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/100687-how-do-i-extract-data-from-matlab-figures

As an example of figures that work as a scientific report, but their data if extracted can help the bigger scientific developments, here are some examples. I doubt if an OCR-like algorithm can extract 100% all these data accurately.


texts: Should I ask to work on professor's project?

texts:
I have a professor that I've gotten to know pretty well. Currently we're going through and learning about a newer area of mathematics just for the fun of it. It was my idea to do it and now he's looking to do more with it. He wants to do research on an application of this area of math next summer through next fall. We plan to continue studying this area for this coming apring semester as well, but I would love to actually work on this project with him.

Because we know each other so well, I think he would enjoy me working with him on it overall. The problem is that he's going abroad to do the research. What I want to know is if there's any potential for me to work with him on this and on whether or not I should ask him for the opportunity? Or should I just wait and see if he approaches me on it?

I should point out that I will have graduated by next summer.


texts: Choosing which project advisor to ask recommendations from

texts:
I did a research project, in which I was advised by two researchers. Most of the time, it was a PhD student who defended and transitioned to post-doc during the project. But my official advisor, with whom I talked less often, was this post-doc's own advisor, hence more established and with a "full researcher" position.
I am not sure which researcher I should contact about letters of recommendation for PhD applications. They both gave me good feedback and advice. It was the senior advisor who graded me (close to a perfect grade), but as I said, the post-doc advised me more often.
Note that I am not yet applying to anything, I just want to ask if they would be willing to write recommendations for me in the future.
Would it be better to contact the post-doc, the full researcher, or both in a joint e-mail? Does the job title make a big difference, or is it more a matter of how closely they followed the project?


texts: How to professionally interact with a famous scholar (e.g. asking for a photo from a Nobel laureate)

texts:
My specific question is:

Is it improper as a researcher to ask a (more famous) scientist to take a photograph together?

Longer version of question

I am currently a postdoctoral researcher and recently had the opportunity to have a private meeting with a famous scientist in my area of research (a Nobel laureate) to discuss my research. In this situation I acted like it was any other research meeting with a colleague/potential collaborator and just discussed science with the person. However, I would have liked to have asked to take a photograph with the person but was uncertain if this would have come off as unprofessional in any way.

I had similar situations when I was still a student and felt that there was already such a clear demarcation between famous scientist and student that it was appropriate behavior to ask for a photo as a student, however is this appropriate for a professional (e.g. postdoc or young faculty etc)?


texts: Why do researchers sometimes use extremely complicated English sentences to convey their meaning?

texts:
I will begin with a disclaimer, I am not an English native speaker, but I can speak fluent English and understand English in almost all research papers I read.

However, occasionally I come across some papers published in peer reviewed journals  with ridiculously complicated sentence structure using relic non-technical vocabulary that no one in the past century has heard of!

Here is one of my favorites:

  The algorithm fathoms in a synergetic manner globally, and an antagonistic depth quest locally.

Whatever that means!

Don't get me wrong, the content of such papers can sometimes be informative, but I can't help but get frustrated over such over complication in language! I can spend days trying to decipher what the author was trying to convey and I occasionally give up on the entire paper.

So my question is, why do authors feel the need to hide their amazing ideas/contributions behind such language barrier? Would it hurt to write the paper in a simple fashion such that any reader with the required technical background can understand it?

  auth'rs, wherefore thee doth this?


texts: Is it normal to have several one or two month extensions after a fixed term contract postdoc?

texts: I'm frustrated by these short term contracts and would like some advice. I've been offered several one or two month extensions after my fixed term ended in May. My PI said he may have longer term funding next year but for now he wanted me to stay while waiting for grant results. I wondered if I should continue to live on these short term contracts and wait for the uncertain grant results or start looking for another job? I want to stay in academia.


texts: Is it normal to have grad student instructors for upper division classes?

texts:
I'm almost done with my undergraduate degree (B.S. in a physical science) and, looking back, a good portion of my upper division major classes have been taught by grad students. Is this normal?
I hope the grad students are getting some sort of additional stipend for full-on teaching these courses in addition to their research since the department seems to lack professors.
Possibly pertinent info:
This is a public research university in the United States.


texts: Where do I find full citations for articles cited by author(s) and date/year only?

texts: I am reading an advanced physics book which cites articles using only the name of author and the date of publication. Google scholar most often does not find such articles despite using Advanced Search. Where do I find the full citations in the book?


texts: If the purpose of a registered study changes, is it still a registered study?

texts:
A study was registered in 2004 at ClinicalTrials.gov with identifier NCT00080171. It defined its purpose as:

  Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common cause of disability in adults. The "Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI): A Knee Health Study" is a nationwide research study that will help researchers gather more information about the physical changes that occur prior to the onset of arthritis symptoms or before OA gets worse. The purpose of this study is to examine people who have knee OA or are at high risk for knee OA; information will be used to better understand how to prevent and treat knee OA.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a paper, Fried potato consumption is associated with elevated mortality: an 8-y longitudinal cohort study, with the stated conclusions (emphasis mine):

  The frequent consumption of fried potatoes appears to be associated with an increased mortality risk. Additional studies in larger sample sizes should be performed to confirm if overall potato consumption is associated with higher mortality risk. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00080171.

On closer inspection it appears that the fried-potato paper relied on data collected for the osteoarthritis study. But the study registration mentions neither fried potatoes nor mortality.

Given the divergence of purpose, should the paper make the claim that the trial was registered?


texts: How specialised should research prior to tenure be?

texts:
When establishing yourself as a researcher, the importance of independence from your PhD supervisor and focusing on a niche area (to establish popularity in a particular sub-field) are fairly well-established. For longevity of research career the polar opposite criteria of collaboration and breadth have been suggested.

Defining the terms field and subfield etc. is important, so taking the following hypothetical example:

Subfield - PhD research uses a common computational method applied to a number of closely related problems.
Related Subfield - Other PhD students in the group apply the same method to different problems.
Field - Computational methods related to PhD yet distinct applied to any problem in the super field
Superfield - Broad area of research encompassing theoretical, computational and experimental work, eg superconductors, photonics, etc.

After PhD and prior to tenure, how specialised should one aim to be and how closely related to the PhD should the specialty be?

If given the choice, is it best to focus exclusively on a related subfield topic (generally project based research typical of most post doc positions), or take on another topic in the field, or to develop breadth by researching multiple related sub field topics in collaboration with other groups?


texts: Should I send a research recommendation letter to teaching postdoc position?

texts:
I am a math PhD student, graduating this semester. I found a teaching postdoc that I would really like to apply for but I am confused by the ad.
They ask for a teaching statement but no research statement. The duties include teaching two to three classes per semester and some course development/improvement.

They ask for two recommendation letters, "at least one of which addresses your teaching."
I have two teaching recommendation letters that I am pretty confident in.
But would it be concerning if I don't have a recommendation letter from my advisor? I just don't see the benefit in sending a research letter for a position that doesn't involve research, but I don't know how these things are judged.

Any advice is appreciated!


texts: Do you need a certificate to validate your publication?

texts:
Background:
I got an acceptance at a conference and now need to register for it. They said that only the person who registers, gets the certificate and not all authors (we have 5 but only 2 primary authors).

Question: Is the publication in the proceedings (LNCS) alone sufficient to prove that you published the paper? Or does one need the certificate as well?
If required as to whom I am asking for, you can assume it to be a PhD (CS) admit panel in the US.
I am aware of this question: How to show proof of publication?. But my conference has no admit card associated with it.


texts: University learning over online learning

texts: What are some advantages of learning on-campus that one does not get from learning online?


texts: How to prepare for a graduate school fair?

texts:
My school is offering a graduate school fair in one week, and I am interested in graduate school. I am already planning to take my Biology GRE as soon as possible, but not soon enough to bring the results to the fair. So, how should I prepare myself for this event, this being my first time at one?

Background info:

They state that there will be recruiters there, so I assume formal/semi-formal attire. But do schools really even bother recruiting for graduate programs at these events or is it more of a general advertisement/ tour? I also assume bringing my CV would be smart, but my GPA is not stellar ( 3.0ish at lower-end school), so would that leave a bad impression or no?

The "nail in the coffin" for me is my indecisiveness in what to actually study in biology. My advisors often tell me to only consider graduate school if you have something you are really "passionate" about. I never really felt "passionate" about biology or any subject though, I simply liked it better than others and found it cool. I have done so much in my undergraduate studies that I have liked, such as working in a greenhouse, to doing undergrad reserch in genetics, it is hard for me to set my heart to something.

This is all assuming I could afford to attend grad school without sinking myself further into debt, given I have no more financial aid or federal loans left to my disposal. I have read that some people get "free rides", but those are few, far between, and for the very gifted/focused students I assume. Thanks for your time.


texts:
I've given a talk at an academic institution that is not related at all to my math research.

Is it appropriate to put talks that are not related to research, but given at an academic institution, on a CV?

The sort of talks I am thinking about are ones about personal experiences, or something related to an interest that is not related to one's primary area of research.


texts: As part of my thesis, i gave archaeological bones for isotopic analysis. While in the first version the woman in charge of the analysis included my name in the article as co author, in the final version, which has already been published, the director of the excavation excluded my name and put his name instead of it. The journal in which it has been published  is very important for my curriculum. What can i do? Should I try to contact the journal having as a proof my thesis or ask the co aurhors why I have bern excluded and ask the journal for a correction? One year has already passed, but I decided to do what is right for me.


texts: Upload monograph to preprint repository before acceptance for publication?

texts:
Can one upload a book-length monograph to a preprint repository (e.g., ResearchGate) while awaiting for its acceptance for publication?

(Book preprints do exist on arXiv.org, e.g.: Bacciagaluppi & Valentini's Quantum Theory at the Crossroads: 0609184v2.)


texts: How to find the best journal to submit a paper to (when having written the title, abstact and full text)?

texts:
Consider a case of a new researcher that does not know well all possible journals and has no access to human advice (from colleagues). (please do not comment that this is the best - out of scope of the question!)

Or one journal rejected the paper and the author is looking for outside the box candidates.

Possible examples:

1.
E.g., in medicine, one can use this tool (ETBLAST) by submitting full text of the article
http://etest.vbi.vt.edu/etblast3/

Some journals even require top 3 similar papers (found by ETBLAST) to be pasted into a form during submission (making sure authors well addressed related literature).

2.
Or Elsevier JournalFinder service.http://journalfinder.elsevier.com/


texts: How to proceed when reviewers reject your manuscript but you believe there is no scientific basis for their objections?

texts:
I am doing my PhD on a small field in engineering where even if the review process is double blinded you would know who is going to review your paper.

This incident that I am going to mention is very odd and this is the first time that happened to me since I switched my research area. I am currently struggling to get my work accepted in a conference knowing that I have already 10 papers published among them 2 journals and most of them I wrote them when I was doing my master (I am mentioning this to let you know that I have already a little experience with the review process)

There are two groups in our field who are doing the same work that we are doing but they are applying an existing approach naively whereas we came up with a big novelty.

So they rejected our paper twice: once for conference submission and another time when we submitted an extension of the same work to transactions since it got rejected for the conference so we thought that we could argue with the reviewers in a journal but it didn't even go through the pre-screening process and these reviewers gave same arguments.

"First reviewer reason from the first group: Your method is very effective and definitely you have tested your model with the training data"

"The other reviewer reason from the second group is pretty much the same: Your model is over-fitting or you are using the training data to test your model"

However we explicitly stated in our manuscript that we use a testing data that was collected separately and was not used for training the model.

On top of that they mentioned also things that prove they did not even bother to read the manuscript for instance one of them said that we should run an experiment that we have already included it in the paper with a big figure.

My advisor has emailed the Editor-in-Chief of the journal but as we have expected he didn't even read his email and he replied with one sentence mentioning that we can consider re-submitting the manuscript.

So I am wondering are there other means and ways to win such a battle when the scientific field which is supposed to be decent and fair turns to be unfair.

EDIT:

I forgot to mention that as opposed to the review policy which clearly states that reviewers are supposed to not know each others or read other reviewer's comments, one of them discussed the comments of another reviewer and he clearly referred to them in his comments.


texts: Preparing a presentation for interview regarding a PhD position

texts:
I've got invited to a PhD interview in the field of computational physics at a german university. I was asked in the email to prepare a presentation (5min skills, 15min research achievements, 5-10min ideas about the project I would like to work on). I'm struggling with presentations and I'm very unsure what to tell especially in the last part.
I was sent the research approval that was approved by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). So I know the motivation, aims and the basic about the methods that should be used, but I don't know what the Professor wants to hear in this part. Should this part of the presentation be more about my motivation regarding the topic or does he expect me to already give more detailed ideas how to realize the project?
Thank you for any help and suggestions in advance!


texts: All my papers have alphabetical author lists, but an award application asks for author lists to judge contribution

texts:
I am a graduate student in pure math, namely graph theory and combinatorics. I have recently been nominated by my department to be the math department candidate for a university-wide research award. In the award application materials, it asks for my CV and is very specific that the authors names need to be in the same order as on the published paper so that the level of my involvement can be judged.

I am in a field where the convention is to put all names of co-authors alphabetically, regardless of input. It is clear to me that I need to mention this on my CV, but I am worried that if I just say that that the order of the authors is irrelevant in my field, the people judging my CV will be unsatisfied because then they won't have any information about how much I contributed to each paper.

Is there a tactful way to deal with this issue?


texts: How to withdraw an under review manuscript from a journal when you decide you want to submit to another journal with a higher impact factor?

texts:
I submitted my first article to a journal and the journal indicated that it was now under review.

Now, I want to withdraw my article. The journal has a lower impact factor than a different journal, and I want to submit the manuscript to the other journal with the higher impact factor.

Is it possible to withdraw a manuscript when it is under review?
How do you do this?


texts: What would be a good strategy to avoid being scooped?

texts:
A few classmates and I are worried about the time lag between submitting a research paper to a conference or journal and the further time lag between rejections and re-submissions during which someone else has the chance of scooping our idea.

Based on the pointers to using the Dataverse network to prove that a research idea was created by a certain author at a certain point of time, I wrote to few conference organizers if they would accept the Dataverse network as a reliable reference. I received no reply.

Given that a paper like this with spelling and grammar errors did not get rejected, I conclude that lower tier journals are more eager to publish anything that comes their way. For higher tier journals/conferences, I read the rejection rate is 98%.

So one strategy I can think of is:
1. Publish an initial idea/approach in a lower tier journal, where revealing details are not presented, but the overview and results are mentioned like in this paper.
2. Once the paper is accepted and published, cite the published paper in a newly written paper where all details are revealed, and the concepts/results are expanded/improved on a bit more and send for publication to a top tier journal.

Is this a reasonable strategy that would work or would you suggest a better approach?

UPDATE: I wrote to a number of conference organizers and journals. So far KDD and IEEE responded saying that putting up a document on arXiv is ok, before submitting it to an IEEE or KDD conference. Officially, IEEE mentions it here and there's also their code of peer review ethics here. Another update: As of 2019, KDD is no longer allowing publishing on ArXiv, due to their double-blind process.


texts: Emailing professor about unexpected questions on exam

texts:
I'm taking a class where the professor has only provided power point slides, which are not even based off of the textbooks listed in the syllabus.

For our final exam, he just provided a generic list of topics. The final turned out to be a different format from our only other exam and some topics required calculations we had never given practice on.

Would it be appropriate to email the professor and voice these concerns? I want to but I'm afraid it might affect how he grades my exam.


texts: How do I overcome fear of rejection when writing academic papers?

texts:
I don't know how to put it. I have never published before. Previously my one paper was rejected, that was because the experiments were not ready and my advisor asked me to still submit it just to have practice.

Now, 6 months later, I am writing another paper (on a similar topic). I have done some experiments, some are still going on. My advisor had advised me that "even if your experiments are not complete you should still start writing the paper".

But I'm doing a lot of procrastination and I think I am scared of writing and possible rejection. I have done a lot of writing in other forms before, like blogging etc. But the thought of writing an academic paper with all the stringent rules (everything has to be clearly written, cited, nice flow of thoughts) is scary.

Please let me know how should one's mindset be while in the process of writing a paper.


texts: What if a student cannot pay the APC of a journal

texts:
I am submitting my article to IEEE Access to get its rapid response (degree deadline time problem). I'm hopeful of their fee waiver/discount because I am student/unemployed as well as physically impaired. However, I am not sure if I would be definitely given the fee waiver/discount.
What if I get acceptance of my paper from IEEE Access and find myself unable to pay the APC? Can the journal take any legal action against me?

Note: Application for fee waiver/discount to the journal cannot be lodged before submission/acceptance.


texts: Small mistakes in research or personal statement

texts: I have recently submitted required documents to apply for a postdoc position. One of the required documents was a personal statement. Unfortunately, after its submission, I found two grammatical mistakes, for example I used present tense of a verb instead of past tense. It does not make a big change in the meaning of the sentence. What do you think about bad effects of these mistakes?


texts: What are your thoughts about "Research Assistant Professor"?

texts:
I came across a job post of "Research Assistant Professor" in the biology/medical field. This institution (ranked #50-100 in National Universities) states that this is a great opportunity to get research mentorship before initiating the tenure clock. The successful candidate will get lab space, equipment, and personnel support for their research projects. However, this is a 3-year temporary position and there is no guarantee that you will transition to a tenure-track position by the end of the third year. They want to see you get an NIH R01 first.
What are your thoughts? If I am interested in a tenure-track position, should I choose a 3-year Research Assistant Professor position at this institution (ranked #50-100 in National Universities) rather than a Postdoc at a world-renowned institution (e.g., Ivy League schools, Stanford, MIT)? Just curious about your strategy.


texts: Can you submit a paper to a journal that contains a paper already accepted?

texts: I have just got a short paper (about 3,500 words) accepted by a top journal and it is currently being copy-edited. Meanwhile I have completed a paper (about 12,000 words) with deeper research that contains the short paper as a whole. The new paper reorganizes and expands on the short paper in a way that improves on the accuracy, although it takes much of the short paper contents verbatim. Then it adds an entirely new section. Is it inappropriate to submit this to a journal?


texts: Is it possible to get fund if I have a poor cgpa?

texts:
Many university in North America or in Europe offer fundings for masters program . But it only for those students who have a good CGPA in undergraduate examination .I have completed my bachelor degree in Economics . I have a very poor cgpa . It's 2.84 out of 4.00. Is there any possibility that I can get myself admitted in those institution for masters program with fundings . I don't have any publication. I was champion in two Business case solving competition as extra curriculum. Will good GRE score ( like 320) help me to get fund? Can I get funding if I have a good GRE score with this poor profile?
Thank you.


texts: How should I cite a publication where the author(s) are anonymous (but the organization is not)?

texts:
I'd like to cite the following articles from "Scientific Data" (a journal from the Nature Publishing Group), but no authors are mentioned (as far as I can tell):

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2015.4
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2014.10

However, it's likely that it was written by one (or more) of Nature's editors.  If, for example, I am using the BibTeX formatting system, how should I describe the author of the article?  For example:

1. author={Nature}
2. author={Nature Publishing Group}
3. author={anonymous}
4. author={}

Or should I leave it blank (option 4)?


texts: Poster - should I send the file to all my collaborators?

texts: I'm a PhD student and I prepared a poster for a conference. Do you think I should send the poster file to all the co-authors? The list is quite long so I mailed the draft only to a few of them.


texts:
HI everybody I am a physics PhD student working in the field of theoretical physics. I am currently in my third year. I am currently at a point where I am thinking of quitting my PhD. I have no ambition to continue in academics and the environment I am working in (including relationship with my advisor) is making me unfortunately very unhappy and extremely stressed. I tried a lot to fix this (therapy, talking to advisor, sports, taking a break,….) none of them seemed to help leaving me with the only option left: quitting.

Considering leaving the PhD I am concerned about the consequences. I don’t think I was a bad PhD student (I have 7 publications , teacher several courses and have a government funded PhD grant). So my questions are:

Will it give a bad impression?
Will  it have severe consequences on my further career (for example in industry).


texts: My postdoc advisor wants me to work on a topic that I don't have a proper theoretical background in. How to proceed with this?

texts:
My PhD involved using a commercially available software to carry out simulations. Now I am pursuing postdoc at another lab. My current advisor wants me to develop new complex models for which I don't have any academic experience in. I have 3-4 months before he starts expecting outcomes.

I am panicking as I don't have theoretical background to do the job. This will involve studying 2 courses right from scratch. (continuum mechanics, non linear finite element analysis). This, I have to self study right from basics and I am feeling that I will fail.

I never lied on my resume. I knew this project will involve more rigor than what I had done before. But now, I feel that I should have done more coursework during my PhD. My undergrad was in different  field, so never took classes for these subjects. Now, as a postdoc in a lab, it's impossible to do actual courses in a university. I feel miserable.

Do you have any suggestions on how I should proceed with this?


texts: Are professors' salaries a function of the amount of grant funding they obtain?

texts:
Some professors direct large research programs. What is the typical practice for compensating them?

For example, it is not unusual for a top professor to be directing $30 million in research grants every year. If the professor got only 1% of this, it would be a salary of $300,000 per year. I would assume they are paid more than that.

Please do not answer vaguely (impossible to know, it differs from place to place). Obviously, it differs from place to place. I want to know the general and typical practices. What is a common method of compensation.

I am just interested here in compensation for grant-making ability. So, if that is a factor in salary, I would like to know the effect on salary.


texts: Why "ETH" in degrees awarded by ETH Zurich?

texts:
Why are graduates of ETH Zürich awarded with titles that include the "ETH"?

This list of degrees conferred by ETH also states conclusively that "[t]he Bachelor and Master titles may also be used in the form “BSc ETH” / “BA ETH” and “MSc ETH” / “MA ETH” without mention of the subject".

However, it doesn't explain the rationale behind the "ETH" appendix.
Is it because they think they are superior, and everyone should immediately recognize this from their title?


texts: Software to create repositories of students' software projects

texts:
I want to be able to store the software projects my students submit so I can catch plagiarism. Some students copy work from previous years and it would be really helpful if I could find a way to store all projects so I could compare.

My university currently uses moodle but I can't find a way to create a project repository to detect plagiarism. (We do have the JPlag detection system but that only works for projects submitted under one particular group (assignment)).

Any ideas?


texts:
I am writing a physics paper, and I have decided not to write down explicit equations I have found since they are incredibly long. Instead I just report plots showing the behaviour resulting from these equations.

Is it deprecable to say something like the following?

  We have found analytic results, but we do not report them here for sake of brevity.


texts: What are some ways to address inaccessibility of to-be-learned material for research?

texts:
Throughout my PhD I learned that there are lots of stumbling blocks that prevented me from getting to my goal of solving some problem. One of them is that some of the things I needed to learn were inaccessible and posed a number of undesirable difficulties. For example, sometimes papers I need to refer to are written in a language I don't understand. Some books lack notation indices, with the result that the book was difficult to follow. Sometimes the papers are hard for non-experts to understand, and I would waste a lot of time wondering what an author might mean. Sometimes nobody at my university knew the answers to my questions, even though they are on "well-known" facts (well-known to the experts but not to the non-experts).  Sometimes I would be given incorrect information from an expert. In many of these cases, I didn't get my questions answered until some expository books on the subject came out. In other words, a great deal of inefficiency can arise that cause unnecessary and unhelpful delays in establishing a publishable result. I think these difficulties are causing delays in my own research. Keeping everything else the same, another researcher who doesn't have to encounter all these blocks would arrive at results faster and would publish more papers, and would be seen as more "exceptional."

How do researchers deal with these issues? For example, how do they learn some material that is hard to learn from reading the literature and books?


texts: I hear that many universities (at least in my country) award best thesis award every in every department. I want to review such thesis in mathematics to get updated with current levels of research going on in different field of mathematics. Is there a way I can get access to it.


texts: Should one offer to take over a lecture that the lecturer is struggling to teach?

texts:
Once upon a time in a lecture I attended, the lecturer had clearly not fully understood the material and was struggling to explain it. I was a student, but very knowledgeable about the topic, and had taught it many times in informal settings, so I felt silly just listening.

In the interest of the other attendees' learning, I considered offering to take over the lecture. However, I stopped myself, out of concern that the lecturer might feel humiliated, or think I'm questioning their authority more generally.

In such a situation, is it appropriate for a student to offer to teach a topic? What about other teaching staff who are attending? How would one politely suggest it, or otherwise deal with the situation?

Related questions: From a student's perspective: offering alternative viewpoints on lecture content, handling unintelligible lecturers and handling lecturers who just read from the book. From a lecturer's perspective: teaching a class you've never taken.


texts: What are the challenges in changing a PhD supervisor after 2/3 of PhD is done

texts:
I am doing good in my Ph.D. but I do not like my supervisors. The following are the reasons:

I am forced to work in a very specific area and there is almost no room for creativity. Any related idea which goes against the "vision" of my supervisor is dealt with fierce questions. If I answer them all, then I am told that until someone else with reputation does it, I should not try it as I do not have a proven track record. I am forced to continue on previous PhDs, which I did and have satisfied. But I wish to explore my ideas too.
My supervisor openly claims that he is a great researcher and expects students to worship him. He has lots of grants and publications, but I am amazed as to how little he knows in the field. I can say this because I have interacted with very good and humble professors from top universities and seen the depth in their knowledge. In comparison, my supervisor is chalk, if they are cheese.
My supervisor is cunning. He maneuvers students and gives veiled threats if required. Forces me to publish in conferences which his friends or colleagues organize, even if they are not good.
He forced his Post Doc student as my another supervisor in order to fast track his career, without any kind of discussion with me.

After two years, I have lost interest in my work and the passion has gone. All I do is push myself because I need to graduate. My creativity has no room and I hardly learn anything new. But on paper, I am progressing well because my supervisor had his way with me.

Now I have no interest in further continuing this association. I need to either quit my Ph.D. or look for another supervisor. If I do work with another supervisor at this stage, what could be the challenges?
Edit: I resolved my issue. I had a talk with the Dean. He told me about other students facing similar issues and offered me to help. He seems to have had a chat with my supervisor and suddenly I am offered more freedom. Another student had just switched because of the same reason and therefore my current supervisors had to change their attitude as this became a recurring phenomenon. The role of my primary supervisor has been substantially reduced. I have more say in what I wish to do and where I want to publish. And if I still do not like my environment it is possible to switch and school will help.


texts: Writing and publishing a technical note about an R package

texts:
I prepared a developmental version of an R package specific to my field of study. Now I would like to encourage more people to use it and contribute code. My plan is to release a technical note describing the package in a field-specific journal. MATLAB is dominating my area of research so I don't think that usual R-specific channels (CRAN or The R Journal) would be appropriate to reach this scientific community.

However, I could not find R-specific guidelines to releasing technical notes about R packages. This relates not only to this particular journal but scientific journals in general.

To be precise, I would like to know:

it is a common practice to write a technical note about a package that's only available on GitHub (no CRAN version yet)
at what stage of development the package should be so that it can be
written up as a technical note
are there any guidelines to publishing technical notes about R packages

Can you think of any other considerations to keep in mind?

Thanks

I am aware of the submission guidelines to The R Journal but I think that my package is not aimed at the general public and it's at a rather early stage of development.

This question was previously posted on StackOverflow but the moderators suggested that I post it here.


texts: Importance of undergraduate honors thesis vs. research published in undergraduate research journal, for graduate schools in the United States?

texts:
I have the option of graduating from my university (U.S.) a semester early. If I do so, I would not be able to complete my honors thesis and have it approved by the honors committee of my university. However, I would still complete the same research project, write up the manuscript, and probably submit it to my university's undergraduate research journal.

For admission to psychology PhD programs in the United States, how important is the actual "honors thesis" component?


texts: How to reference data someone told me in person?

texts:
As a part of one of the graduate course I am taking, I need to develop a business plan for a coffee shop startup. I have chosen a office building as the location of the shop.

I want to provide some numeric data about the building. I had a chat with the financial investor of the building and he gave me some numbers giving clues on how profitable the coffee shop will be.

As this data is not from a credible resource I am afraid that the marker may assume I have made it up.

Do you think can I still make use of this data without treated as a plagiarist (or perhaps data fabrication)?


texts: In choosing between MD-PhD and PhD, how should I factor in the expected age at which I'll start my career as a professor?

texts:
My ideal career is to be lead a lab at a university as a professor.

If I completed a residency and fellowship after an MD-PhD, which I think I'd love because of the 80/20 split that fits my interests, I'd be in my mid to late 30s by the time I was ready to start an independent career, as opposed to a Ph.D., which I'd complete, with fellowship, around age 30.

I've heard the adage about scientists who don't contribute their biggest success before 30, and I'm concerned that close to 40 is far too late to start as an assistant professor.

Would I be better off going into a Ph.D.?


texts: How to describe the relation between a course instructor to his teaching assistant?

texts: How do you describe the relation between a course instructor to his teaching assistant? Is he the "teaching supervisor" to his TA? This is encountered during PhD application. Thanks!


texts: What to do when untrusted claims are made in an extended abstract of which the full version hasn't appeared

texts:
I've read a certain 'extended abstract', published in conference proceedings, that presents a useful mathematical analysis of a computational problem and uses that to provide a sketch for an algorithm to solve the problem. The sketch lists the general (well-known) techniques on which the algorithm is based, but doesn't explain the algorithm in detail and is in particular not detailed enough to see that the claimed complexity of the running time holds.

The extended abstract is quite old and there's no trace of a publication that completely describes the algorithm from the extended abstract.

I have attempted to 'reconstruct' the algorithm from the sketch, but I've been unable to achieve the claimed bound on the running time and I believe the author has been mistaken in his bound (and that therefore the sketched algorithm is rubbish). When I mentioned this to my advisor, he replied that since there is no 'follow-up' of the extended abstract, the algorithm is probably rubbish. (the author is still alive and in academia, so absence can't be the reason not to publish)

The mathematical analysis was actually quite useful to create another (significantly different) algorithm for the same problem, which unfortunately has a worse behaviour than the claimed bound from the extended abstract.

I might be able to publish something related to the problem, but I'm not certain my results will be good enough. Additionally, I might be able to prove a lower bound strictly higher than the upper bound claimed in the extended abstract, thereby contradicting* it.

So, concretely, I'd like to know the following:

Is there a place where the author could have published a retraction of his claim (of having an algorithm achieving the claimed bound) and how would I find such a claim? (Other than contacting the author, that one is obvious)
If I'm unable to publish anything related to this, could/should I do anything?
If I am able to publish something, how should I cover this issue? In particular, I'd like to be able to avoid comments such as "Haven't you read [extended abstract]? They've found a much better algorithm than yours!"

Also, the most of my doubts are related to the scientific status of the claim. Is it 'obvious' that it is poorly supported and possibly false, or does this require an extensive argument?

I suppose it isn't completely obvious, as the extended abstract is cited in a paper with the claimed bound (this paper doesn't actually use the bound, so there is no risk of 'error propagation' there), referring to a 'clever trick' that isn't explained in the extended abstract. (Perhaps the author of the citing paper had some private communication with the author of the extended abstract?) Of course, the citing author may knowingly be citing a vague claim, but let's apply Hanlon's razor here.

*: Technically, as this would be a conditional lower bound, it doesn't yield a formal contradiction. But such a bound would at least cast extreme skepticism on the claim from the extended abstract, comparable to when someone claims a resolution on P vs NP.


texts: Can my PhD thesis supervisor be a reviewer for my paper?

texts: I want to know whether my PhD thesis supervisor (with whom I have co-authored many papers) is allowed to be a reviewer for one of my journal submissions?


texts: How should I frame my transition from an unsafe situation as I apply to other universities, pre-tenure?

texts:
How do I frame my exit from a state university under duress in applying for new jobs ?
I am pre-tenure in the United States, and I find myself needing to change jobs because conditions at my University re: COVID have gotten to the point where they threaten my safety, and that of my family. I will not go into detail about this. The situation become so negative that my chair has approached me to offer their support for either my staying, or support through writing me letters of recommendation to leave.
I am in a strong position academically, and tenure is all but guaranteed in two years (including one year added for covid).  I am currently writing for multiple positions.
How do I frame my reasons for applying for new jobs, which is entirely related to the behavior of my state, less so to my university, and not in the least to my department, which has worked hard to protect and help?
As a small additional question I wonder if I even want the letter from my chair, as it may invite questions?


texts:
As a math postdoc, I received my first invitation to referee a journal article today, and I accepted the invitation. I've already read a preprint of the submitted article (which has been available on arXiv for a few months and coincides with the submitted version) in great detail some time ago and therefore I already have to say a lot about the article's content and presentation. I was given two months to write a report.
My question, which might be stupid, is now:
Can I write the report "too fast"?
Or, more precisely:

Does it make a bad impression to the editor if I submit the report too fast (say after a week or two)? Since the editor is an influential and important person in the field, I don't want him to think of me as a bad referee, but I fear that he might think "The report came in so fast that the referee clearly did not put much effort into it. I'll better not ask him next time".

Even if I've read the article before, is it better to "let it sink" for some more time and not rashly send the report to the editor? At what point should I feel confident that the report is ready?

Update: Thanks everyone for the good advice! I sent the report after around 10 days, and it was really appreciated by the editor!


texts:
I talked with a professor for possible thesis guidance and mentioned that I aim to publish papers at top venues as soon as possible. The Professor got somewhat offended and said publication is not an aim and that I should aim to be problem oriented.

Maybe true, but I did not understand why that prof got offended and felt so bad about publishing. Do you have any ideas?


texts: I've just returned Principles of Modern Thermodynamics to the library. However, it is a terrific book that allowed me to understand thermodynamics that I have never would had I not run across this book. I have tried to purchase it, but it seems that this book is out of print. Therefore, my question is: are there any vendors that might offer officially out-of-print books for sale?


texts: Resources to improve presentation skills

texts: I will defend my thesis soon. It would be great if someone could suggest me any good course or resource to improve my skills.


texts: Awaiting AE Recommendation to Awaiting AE Assignment

texts: Paper just went to this after review. Any idea what this means in terms of the paper's status at this point?


texts:
I apologize if this isn't the place to post a question like this. Feel free to close it if that's the case.

So I want to write a historical research paper on a particular event in a past U.S. president's life. However, I'm not in academia. In fact I only have a high school education. Writing the paper isn't my problem, but I'm not sure what to do with it afterwards. Should I even try to publish it or just keep it to myself as a personal exercise?


texts: How can I tell a professor that I don't want to join his group? (science major)

texts:
I am a incoming first year grad student this fall. I have contacted prof A during when I was applying and talked to him during the visit. He strongly encouraged me to join his group.

After the visit, I emailed students in Prof A's group and other current grad students. I started feeling that his group atmosphere is not the best for me, and I don't want to join him anymore.

He is really nice and recently offered me an educational opportunity that is only shared by current students. I am grateful and I really want to take that course.

I feel guilty right now b/c he is so nice to me. But I don't want to spend my next 5 years in a group I don't like.

Is there any way that I can let the prof know I am not interested in his group anymore? Do I have to give up the course he offered? I am not assigned to prof A so I have the freedom to choose.


texts:
In the next year I will (hopefully successfully) graduate from a PhD programme in pure mathematics. The location is (continental) Western Europe, the topic of the thesis is arithmetic geometry, if it matters. During my PhD experience I have found out the following things

being a pure math PhD student is a relatively stress-free existence for me. I can just waste all my time learning some math and occasionally writing some papers;
the stipend does suck but I am frugal person from a very poor country so I do not care that much (nor do I have a family to feed);
if I could, I would not mind spending what is left of my life in a PhD programme. In particular, I do not feel any intrinsic motivation to try to get a tenure-track position.

The question is: is it feasible for me to keep applying and getting accepted to pure math PhD programmes before I die or decide to retire? To clarify, I don't really think that I will be a problematic student; during my PhD programme, I got 3 publications accepted in reasonable journals (rank A in AustMS ranking) and I think I could maintain a similar rate of work.

Are there any "magic words" I could tell the committee that considers the applicants to improve my chances?


texts: Having A Third Committee Member From A Different University - How To Pitch To The Third Member?

texts:
I’m starting my PhD this September in an Interdisciplinary degree that would fall in the realm of “resource economics” + “mathematical biology”. FWIW, I chose the interdisciplinary route because I want to carve out my own niche in the bioeconomics literature and my undergrad was in economics / math, my masters in renewable resource economics.
Speaking to my two supervisors, I was told I can bring a third advisor on that is not necessarily at my institution - and this offered a world of options to approach authors who’s works have encouraged me. However, while there’s so much benefit for me to have a third committee member from, say, the United States (my PhD is in Canada), it’s not clear to me what value there is for the third member. One of my supervisors is an established mathematical biologist, the other is an economist with a similar interest in bioeconomic modelling.
So I’d be curious to know, from an academic’s POV, if they were to be approached with something like this, where would the potential value proposition be for you? Keeping in mind that everything would be mostly virtual, and maybe at best case I could do a visiting appointment to work on collaborations.


texts: What is the difference between a "electronic preprint server" and a "subject repository"?

texts:
In the following licence to publish:

6.b) preprints (before referee) can be posted to electronic preprint servers

6.c) postprints (after referee) can be posted to subject repositories

Now I am wondering whether arxiv is an electronic preprint server (wiki says it is) a subject repository for math (wiki says it is) or neither or both.

As I could not find any useful distinction between these two terms online, it feels appropriate to ask the question here.


texts: How long after first contact, where editor says "manuscript is still under review", is it okay to enquire again about status of manuscript?

texts:
About a year ago I submitted a paper to a very good math journal.
After 10 months I asked the editor for its status,
and he said it is still with the referee, and that he will remind him about it.

Two more months have passed. Should/could I write the editor again? or am I risking annoying the editor/referee? How much time should I wait between such inquires?


texts: Do I have a chance to get into a great cs grad school?

texts:
I am an undergrad from India from a good university( not IIT,NIT).
Our GPA is calculated on a different percentage scale and mine is 73-75%
which is a very good score according to our system.
My GRE score=1600.
I have an internship at a major company.
I am thinking of writing a research paper but have no research experience.
Do I have a chance at the top colleges like UC Berkeley,or Michigan or even Carnegie Mellon?


texts: Should I quote an anonymous review on my CV?

texts:
I received an anonymous review from a journal.  This journal does not hide the identities of authors from reviewers.  Should I quote the reviewer's remark that the work is "impressive" on my CV?

Does the answer change if the manuscript is not accepted?


texts: Why do professors obfuscate their email addresses on their websites?

texts:
I've always wondered why professors write their emails like this:
john dot doe @ harvard dot edu
I am trying to figure out some benefit of this but I can't think of one. It is definitely not more clear. It is more work if you are actually trying to email the person. Why not just write your actual email?
I come from math so maybe this is just a math thing? I have no idea.


texts:
I am at the end of my study (almost 6 months). I need time to edit my English (my supervisors do not want to help with that. It is Ok for me.).
However, they asked me to add extra computation to my study, which is not directly relative to my topic. I tried to tell them that but they still want me to do so. I do what they asked me to do just to show them that I respect their suggestions and comments. However, for more than one time, their idea did not fit my data. This is not my problem as, for their comment, I need to use an existing package. The result is very acceptable as the existing model does not fit such type of data (my data). The model they asked me to apply to my data is already known to be inappropriate to deal with a specific type of data. Therefore, several works have been developed to cover this problem.
If I keep going with this inappropriate model, then I will lose my time. Therefore, I would like to send my supervisors an email showing them that the model is not appropriate for my data and result in an inaccurate result and report errors. However, I do not like to make them feel that their idea is not good. So, how could I send a polite message to my supervisor?


texts: Whether to ask journal editor to review two papers simultaneously because the papers are mutually dependent on each other?

texts:
Having read this earlier question I find myself in a similar, but different situation and would like to ask your advice.

My colleagues and I have created a new medical imaging system, and have performed a series of standard tests on this system. We want to publish two papers - one describing in detail the design of the system including some key performance parameters, and another describing in more detail all performance (with a brief summary of the design). Ad the device is now commercially available, there is significant interest in the community to have more details in peer-reviewed format.

Both papers were submitted to the same journal, and were reviewed by different reviewers. Comments were along the lines of "this would be great if it contained [more of what is in the other paper]". In other words - neither paper is currently accepted because it is missing information that is in the sister paper.

Unfortunately the journal in question has a hard limit on length (5000 words including reference) and figure/table count; combining the two into a single paper would seriously hamper our ability to communicate the details that would be of interest to our target audience.

So here is the question: would it be considered acceptable to contact the editor, explain the situation, and request that the two papers be published side by side in the same journal? It would largely address the reviewers' concerns. The alternative would be to request an exemption from the word / figure count.

I don't know whether either of these things is commonly done. Your advice is appreciated.


texts: Do computer scientists care about the complexity of specific games still?

texts:
One subfield of computer science that used to be quite popular is the computational complexity of playing particular games. At the end of the 1900s there was a slew of research on this, examine games ranging from the universally known such as Go and Chess to the more obscure such as Sim and Domineering. A look at the Wikipedia page shows that many papers along these lines were published not only in specialty venues, but top CS Theory venues as a whole such as SIAM Journal of Computing, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A, and STOC.

Over the past years, there have been a number of papers along these lines, primarily targeting computer games such as Bejeweled, many classical Nintendo games, and Pokémon. These later publications tend to be not published in peer-reviewed venues, or published in venues far less mainstream than the previous wave. Looking at some algorithmic game theory proceedings and journals, I’ve noticed few have papers on particular games. Instead, they tend to focus on AI playing games or more wholistic theoretical concerns not restricted to particular games.

My questions are:

Is this assessment of history correct?
Assuming the answer to #1 is yes, has something changed in the culture or interests of computer scientists that has lead to this?
Are results along these lines no longer considered publishable?

Some context: I’m a young computer science researcher who hasn’t ever paid much attention to this field, but who has recently started dabbling in examining the complexity of games with my gaming buddies. I decided to do a preliminary literature review and was surprised by this pattern I’ve noticed.


texts: How should I refer to non-permanent Web Pages, via Web Pages saved in PDF format?

texts:
This question is only concerning references to non-permanent (and even semi-permanent) information, for example, Web pages (but not limited to web pages).

I understand that some researches post the normal author, year, time, etc... and the URL of a referenced non-permanent Web Page.

I've heard that some readers or reviewers may object to reference any non-permanent source.  To eliminate these complaints, am I allowed to simply include the original web page, saved as a PDF file, as as an attachment, with the research paper? (to, for example, IEEE)?

Can I include the PDF referenced web pages, via arXiv?  (as part of the published research paper).

Can I reference the PDF referenced web pages, via PDF files I host on Google drive (or something similar)?

I'm aware that in certain situations, you should not reference a Web page. However, that is not my question (and in certain situations, it is OK to reference web pages; for example, if your study is showing how the web page changes over time :-)  ).


texts: How to run a fiscally independent research department?

texts:
I spoke with a professor and learned that The University of Tennessee chemistry department turns a net profit. It receives zero tuition money.  It has patents and research grants. How does it achieve this? Is this a common thing?    How to find/execute profitable patent producing research?  And How to win grants?

How to find/execute profitable patent producing research?


texts: How does a graduate student judge if one is slacking off?

texts:
As a third year graduate student (theoretical physics) I need to find out methods to understand if I am doing well or not, am I making progress or not, am I putting in enough effort or not?

How do I judge/measure my performance?

Of course a primary skew in my situation is that I found an advisor only towards the end of my second year of PhD. (..before that I was working in other groups on topics which I didn't like at all..)


texts:
I found that IEEE journal names have prefixes, the most prominent I observed:
IEEE Transactions on...
IEEE Reviews in...
none specific (starting with IEEE)

Do those prefixes suggest the eminence of journals?

I apologize if this is something trivial, but I struggle to find some reliable explanation regarding this issue. Understanding the nuances in the journal naming system would help me better categorize and search journals that suit me.


texts:
I did my undergraduate degree in the US and am heading to graduate school here in less than a month, so I myself have taken the Graduate Record Examinations (the general as well as two subjects tests) and I guess it always just seemed as a sort of un-avoidable formality that nothing could be done about, and so I just took it and got it over with.

In the intervening year between undergrad and the start of my Ph.D. work, however, I traveled overseas to Cambridge where I found that I was quite mistaken:  the GRE is very, very avoidable.  The solution is simple:  don't apply to universities in the US.

By the time I had arrived there, I had already gotten it over with myself, but for most of my peers there, this was not the case, and quite a few of them had simply decided to not even bother applying to the US because of the inconvenience that comes along with that in the form of the GRE.

This made me wonder:  are admissions committees at US universities aware of the number of highly qualified candidates they miss out on because of the GRE?

I could understand being willing to miss out on the potential recruitment of these students if the GRE were a significant part of one's application, but I have yet to find any US professor tell me that the GRE scores are weighted highly when it comes to making admissions decisions (perhaps I just haven't asked around enough?).  In fact, I've often been told it's the least important factor when deciding whether someone should be admitted.  (Indeed, my impression is that the general GRE is more or less a joke and only serves as a convenient way of tossing out applicants who would have been found un-qualified for other reasons.)

Putting aside for a moment the issue of those who decide not to apply to US universities, let's consider the inconvenience faced by those who do.  Once again, if you're from the US, I can imagine simply not being aware of this (I know I wasn't), but I now know of several people who have had to fly (sometimes the flights have even been inter-continental!) in order to sit to take a GRE test.  And even for those who don't (like probably most of us in the US), there is the ridiculous price:  almost $200 for the general and an extra $150 per subject test. I was under the impression that admissions committees encourage people from all backgrounds to apply, rich or poor, but how can they honestly expect this to happen if even those who don't have to fly have to shell out anywhere from $300-$500 in addition to the application fee? (I personally find it a bit nuts that these tests cost several times more than the application itself.)

So, could somebody please explain to me why we still require students to take these things? Do they really add information about the applicant and their abilities that could not be found out any other way?


texts: How common is it to work extra with one's professor after getting a M.S.?

texts:
I'm in a situation where I am continuing to work on some of my M.S. research work after I have filed and will receive my M.S.

It is fine with me and I think it's good because there were loose ends. This is computer science field, and it involves a programming project we want to improve.

In the back of my mind, I'm hoping we can write a journal article. Part of me, though, wonders about whether this may be risky.  Will my professor make excessive demands on me, even though we're officially finished?  I also need to focus on other demands, such as my job.

So I worry a little about the expectations.

How common is it to continue working after getting one's MS, but without any official agreement (i.e., I just informally meet with my prof and discuss my progress).

Also, in case you're wondering, I'm not currently interested in doing a PhD (maybe later, just not anytime too soon).


texts: Awards in which gender identity is a requirement

texts:
A friend of mine is considered a minority in her research field, for being female.  Recently, her advisor wanted to nominate her paper for an award sponsored by a kind of Women's Engineering Society.  (Not actually the WES; I don't want to give away field-specific information for her sake.)  To qualify for the award, the student must identify as female.  She therefore asked her advisor not to nominate her, saying that she does not want to compete for an award where identifying as female is a prerequisite.

Her rationale is essentially that while she does identify as (mostly) female, she does not think it's fair to restrict award eligibility based on attributes outside of someone's control, such as gender.  (There are also subissues, with the award eligibity requirements treating gender in a binary fashion, and my friend viewing gender as a spectrum.)  She said she would be happy to participate in an award program sponsored by a women's society if the gender prerequisite weren't there.

After much debate, we further boiled down the issue to the following question:

Do awards with gender identity requirements help or hurt the minorities they intend to support?

We are looking for studies and statistics to answer this question; not just anecdotes.

(A side question is whether her individual refusal to participate could hurt the community she is a part of.  For example, a snowball effect: if a large number of people refuse to participate in the very programs designed for them, perhaps the programs lose funding and then cease to exist for other members of the minority group who do wish to participate. Or perhaps the reputation of the award just goes down.  I would be curious to know if there are documented cases of this happening.)

Note: my friend gave permission to post and update this question.


texts: Is it right for a conference to demand proof of purchase of flight tickets?

texts: After I have been accepted to present a paper at a conference, the organisers are asking me to fill in a registration form (participation and attendance are free) AND to produce proof of purchase of flight tickets. I find this bizarre and intrusive. Anyway, my travelling would happen between two capital cities in Europe (plenty of flights) and they demand the proof of purchase to include people in the first draft of the programme. It is a 3-day conference, so I would have to make travel and accommodation arrangements for 5 days many months in advance.


texts: Which is the best way to present speed benchmarking along with speedups?

texts: Which is the best way to present benchmarking results? I have to choose between tables and line plots. In my opinion tables require less space, but the speed-up is less clear and hence I should even put a speed-up column. On the other hand, line plots are more intuitive, but I even have to add a legend and in my opinion they occupy more space and do not provide the precise results for the benchmakrs (even if I think that the order of magnitude of the different results is more relevant).


texts: Is it alright to skip problem solving sessions during coursework?

texts:
During coursework, there are sessions where a problem set is distributed beforehand and a TA works out the solutions in front of the class in a stipulated session.

Given the student works out the problems himself and is confident of the material being covered, is it alright to skip such sessions? Is this viewed adversely during grading, etc?


texts:
My first article was accepted with minor revisions, one of them being the correction of a citation. This citation points to the first time the method I am improving was proposed, which was 1962.

Here is a link to the Paper : http://www-isl.stanford.edu/~widrow/papers/c1961generalizationand.pdf

It is on the Stanford online library. I found this paper cited multiple times in the following way:

  B. Widrow, ``Generalization and Information Storage in Networks of
  Adaline `Neurons','' in Self-Organizing Systems, symposium
  proceedings, M.C. Yovitz, G.T. Jacobi, and G. Goldstein, eds.,
  pp.435-461, Spartan Books, Washington, DC, 1962.

So I used it, but the reviewers are still asking me for a revision as they deem it to be incorrect. So my

Question:

How to cite this paper in a Periodica Polytechnica journal ?

EDIT 1 :

Thank you for your help, They didn't point to a particular correction, here is a print screen of their comment :


texts: Is is appropriate to specify what a general studies degree was in?

texts:
I graduated with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering back in May. However, due to some extra credits I also have a general studies degree, the diploma for which simply states "Bachelor of Science" and nothing else.

For resumes and general discussion is it appropriate to say what subjects contributed to the general studies degree? And how would should I describe it on my resume (right now it just says "Bachelor of Science").

For example, I took psychology and math courses that contributed to the general studies degree, so is it accurate to say that the degree is "a general studies degree focused on mathematics and psychology".


texts: Can I include other students' master thesis in the literature review of my master thesis? These master thesis that I found are published in Google Scholar and other online libraries/archives.


texts:
I'm going to have my first presentation in some weeks. Therefore I read some papers and now I'm building the presentation with LaTeX.

In the papers, I found some very useful graphics. But for quality reasons I don't like to take Screenshots of the PDF's. So I rebuild the graphics to have them as vector graphics.

Can I cite them just like I took a screenshot, or is there a difference?


texts: How are TT candidates measured with different number of postdoc years?

texts:
In my field (math), typically people get 3 year postdoctoral fellowships as the standard offer. Some afterwards do another postdoc and some go directly to tenure track. Some people, however, get shorter (1-2 year postdocs) and some get longer (4-5 year) postdocs.

The question is: when one is up on the tenure track market, how are the publication lists and CV's compared between candidates that have different number of postdoctoral years underneath their belt? Is it that the person with one or two years should be able at the same stage of his/her career with regards to publications, letters, conference invitations, etc., in order to be chosen above someone with a 4 year postdoc or two 3-year postdocs?

Thank you in advance.


texts:
For some background, I'm a second year medical student, and I have recently been considering making medical research a significant part of my future career. I wasn't a science major in undergrad, so I don't have any research background. I have spoken to one of my professors, and I will be doing a bit of lab work in the coming months (I'll be running ELISAs and will have my name on the publication).

EDIT: I'm hoping to have a research elective in my last year in medical school. That's why I'm trying to see if there is anything I should learn between now and then to make me a better candidate for application to the elective.

Now to the heart of my question. I believe I have sufficiently detailed knowledge of the medical content to work in the field (EDIT: to get my feet wet, there is always a lot to learn:). Though I am doing some more in depth research in the field I'm looking to work in (Immunology/Rheumatology). However I know that there are some skill sets that I am currently lacking in that would be necessary for medical research. Here are some of the things I've considered:

Familiarity with data analysis software packages like R or Stata
Familiarity with lab techniques like blots and culturing cells
Academic science writing (of course I've read journal articles, but I've never written one)
Grant writing (probably a skill needed in later career, but I assume some familiarity would be helpful)

I'm wondering, from those currently working in medical research, if there are any glaring omissions from this list. I'm reading up on data analysis packages and taking a more analytic eye when reading articles. But if there are any specific resources that I should be looking into: that information would be very useful.

Thanks in advance for any help.


texts: Additional schooling and salary at private/public high school

texts:
I have been told that private high schools would likely hire this candidate,

MSc/PhD in physics (but no teaching certificate or degree, just TA duties in undergrad and grad school),

and that public schools would likely hire this candidate,

BS/MSc in physics with teaching certificate/degree on top of TA duties

Is this oversimplification legitimate? Can a PhD get a job at a private high school without teaching certificate? Is the same possible at a public?

If a teaching certificate is indeed a prerequisite for both, what type of programs award these degrees/teaching certificates and are they quite expensive?

How does the salary (say in ... New England) compare between these two people? More specifically, how great is the increase in salary for a candidate with a PhD over an MSc at a private school, and similarly for a public school. What benefits (on-campus housing for private versus unions for public, etc) do each have?


texts: Writing bachelor's thesis as a front-end developer(computer science)

texts:
I am a front-end developer and I find it extremely difficult to find a bachelor's thesis topics since all the computer vision, machine learning, data mining stuff is done in languages other than JavaScript. I feel like the fact that I am a frontend developer limits me to topics like front-end JavaScript framework comparison, responsive web application design etc. But I just don't feel like these are good research topics.

Is there any advice/topic suggestions you can give me?


texts: Academic referees: course organisor vs project supervisor?

texts:
I am currently applying for a PhD at a University in the UK.

As part of the application process, I am asked to give the name of two academic referees.

During my recent Master course, I had the opportunity to undertake several (at least 3) projects within different laboratories.

My question: is it preferable to ask one my past projects supervisors to serve as an academic referee (who supervised me for some weeks only) or should I ask the Master course organisor (who has a better overview of my work and achievements during my Master studies) to be academic referee?


texts: What percent of assistant professors generally receive tenure, and how does this percent vary depending on both school and field?

texts: Are new assistant professors more likely to receive tenure in an expanding field, like biology? And are they less likely (percentage-wise) to receive tenure at elite schools?


texts: Must an "academic reference letter" be from a university-employed researcher, or will other researchers do too?

texts: I'm applying for a post-doc where they ask for two "academic reference letters".  Does the adjective "academic" strictly mean they must be from people working in academia?  In my field, a good deal of research is performed at meteorological agencies, and I've co-authered several papers with a researcher employed at such an agency.  Would a letter from a researcher who publishes lots of papers (5 1st-author articles in 2 years), but is not associated with any university, be considered an "academic reference letter"?  Said researcher has a PhD, but further academic titles.


texts: How relevant is the GRE essay score for masters applications in science and engineering?

texts:
I wish to apply for masters in Mathematics or Computer science after my undergraduate. I have a good GRE score of 332/340, but my essay score is just 3.5/6. I wanted to know how relevant is the essay score for
technical fields?

Is  it relevant enough that I should consider giving the GRE again?

I have heard and read that the GRE score is only used for 'sorting' the students. I just wanted to make sure that the essay score doesn't sort me out of the admissions process.


texts: Germany how to change PhD visa before defense to a working permit visa?

texts:
I have at the moment a visa for my PhD valid until 30.06.2018, but my defense will be in the end of July or middle of August. This week I have received a job offer (full-time) and I would like to change my present visa to a working permit Visa in order to start working and also wait for my defense. Is it possible? Does somebody know which documents are necessary for that?

Thanks a lot for the help and attention.

SOLVED:

As I always expect, I like to see final answers to questions I look for in the Internet. At first I would suggest you to look the answers for my question, they helped me a lot. Finally I needed, the bachelor diplom translated to german, the form of the blue card filled, the working contract, a form written by the employer which describes what work will be done and a photo.

I went to the KVR on a Tuesday and in this day I could not solve much because It was necessary a permission from the Bundesagentur für Arbeit (https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/privatpersonen). This permission was requested on Tuesday and I received an answer on Thursday evening. Friday I went back with these documents again and could finally receive the Bluecard.

An important tip: check if your institution is in the Anabin database (https://www.arbeitsagentur.de/privatpersonen). If it is not, it means that Germany does not know this institution and you will need to do some additional bureaucracy. For further questions, ask here and I will answer asap. =)


texts: How to choose a good grading curve for yes/no exams?

texts:
I teach a certain course where I think the best way to test knowledge is using yes/no questions. However, with a simple yes/no exam, a student can just answer randomly to  all questions and get, in expectation, a score of 50%, which is not very fair. I thought of several solutions, but each of them has a disadvantage:

Give a negative score to a wrong answer, such that the expected value of a student who answers randomly is 0. However, this rule made some students highly anxious, and I realized that this anxiety could unjustly harm their performance .
Ask the students to explain each answer. Award points only to correct answers with correct explanations. The problem is that it takes much more time to write and to grade, negating one of the main advantages of a multi-choice exam.
Give a grade of 0 to any student with less than 50% correct answers, and give twice the points for each answer above 50% (e.g, a student with 90% correct answers will receive 2·(90−50) = 80% score). However, I fear this might not be accepted by the university, which encourages additive scoring. E.g, students with 60% correct answers will complain that it is unfair to give them only 20% grade.

What is a good way to write an exam based on yes/no questions?


texts: Is there a good site for holding online discussions of scientific papers?

texts:
Many of my computational scientist colleagues used to use Google Reader to share and discuss new journal articles.  The loss of Reader's social features killed that, and we have subsequently tried Google+ and Reddit, but neither seems to work nearly as well as Reader did for holding this kind of discussion.  Does anyone have experience using a site they like for this purpose?

I'm aware of a few options, like http://annotatr.appspot.com/, that seem promising but appear not to be actually used much.


texts: Allocating master student schedules to fit semi-commercial research interests

texts:
I am a master student at a big university in Germany. I am not a chemistry student myself, but as I am active in university politics, an issue was brought to me that I am not sure how to deal with.

Master students in chemistry have to do mandatory lab hours to be admitted to the exam for some specific modules. During these lab hours they synthesize chemicals for semi-commercial research projects which is a win-win situation for the professors and the students as students get in touch with real research and the professors get a lot of work done.

The problem is that over the last years a lot of postdoc and doctarate positions got cancelled because of an austerity program. The professors subsequently assigned more and more lab hours while decreasing the hours for self-study to stay within the 30 hours/credit point requirement. The demand for knowledge from the lectures stayed the same, so students actually need the same amount of self-study as before. There seems to be a big conflict of interests.

I cannot prove it, but sources from the working groups told me that at least one professor informally made clear, that he is well aware of this issue, but chooses to take benefits from it.

I am not asking if this is ethical as this is clearly not the case. I am asking what I can do to end this exploitation of master students. Who is the right person to talk to about these issues? Is it even adequate maybe to take legal action against the faculty?


texts: Is it a good idea to get the recommendation letter from the head of a professional organization?

texts:
For master's admission, the letter of recommendation is essential. It also makes impact on admission decision. Usually, the recommendation letters are obtained from academic professors.

Is it a good idea to get the recommendation letter from the head of a professional organization, who is not the head of my programs?


texts: How are mathematics conference presentations usually done and what to expect from the question and answer component?

texts: I'll be presenting at my first conference in 2 days, and I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be doing, to be blunt. I was the second author in a paper that recently got published. So I more or less have an idea of what I need to discuss. I'm limited to at most 15 slides but what I'm dreading the most is the question and answer section. Can anyone tell me how these presentations are usually done and/or give hints? (I'm a grad student in math, by the way)


texts: What can be the end product of my PhD dissertation? Can a PhD be an applied research?

texts:
I know that the end product of a master's thesis can be not only a scientific finding, such as the relationship found between certain variables, but also the business plan, or even a concept for a new product or service.

What can be the end product of my PhD dissertation? My idea is to actually to carry out a research project, in other words, to have some 100-200 interviews, collect some qualitative data etc. But can a business plan / model be my actual finding? Can I make a business case, develop that something [and later sell it as a finished product], but still call this everything a PhD by turning the idea into a scientific problem, and having a product as a result / finding?

Can a PhD be an applied research?

Working title: Development of an innovative marketing product (or service) for tourism industry, and understanding a demand for such a product (or service).

Field of study: Marketing / Innovation / Tourism


texts: Does it make sense to get a PhD if a person does not want to be in academia and prefers to stay in business?

texts:
I am working in a highly technical field (quantitative finance/ statistical analysis) for a private company with a Master of Science degree in economics.

Does it make sense to get a PhD (in quantitative finance, math, statistics) if I do not want to be in academia and prefer to stay in business.

What I expect from PhD:

Structure and deepen my knowledge in the relevant fields through
high quality classes (where I sit and listen and learn and do
homework to make sure that I have learned).
Get the ability to read any scientific article in the related fields and without much pain understand 90% of it to the very last detail (and implement ideas from the article in my work).
Possibly acquire certain thinking and problem solving culture (so vague... and I guess after my Master I have a fair part of it already(?))

Also important:

PhD was never mentioned as a prerequisite for a promotion or a salary increase.
My colleges who have PhD are not visibly advantaged by the company (do not know about the rest of the industry, but the company being a big player is representative of it).
I enjoy learning new stuff on my own (not a problem to spend many nights with a math book), but hate the status of a student (little money, slave of professors and their peculiar exam requirements).

So should I go for a PhD or rather a specialized Master, or develop myself through separate university courses of my choice and professional programs + self-study?

Any pieces of advice from people used to be in my situation?


texts: Does a reply to comment count as a publication?

texts:
Years ago, I published a paper with some collaborators, and recently a comment to the paper has been submitted. Together with the other authors, we published a reply to comment, which has been published on the journal.

Is it reasonable to list the reply as a publication in my CV, in addition to the original paper?


texts: Graduate schools with no test score cutoffs

texts:
I recently received my math subject gre scores and did extremely poor on it (620: 41 percentile). This was an absolute shock to me as I have been preparing for the test since summer but I want to make no excuses. At first I was planning to apply to a lot of top 25 pure math grad schools but now I am looking at schools at the lower end of top 50 as my top choice.

I would like to know if there are strong math schools that do not have any test scores cut off/ do not require math gre scores.

Some examples of such schools are:
Texas A&M and UC San Diego.

My current academic profile:
My math GPA is 3.8 and I have lots of research experience with 2 publications. I'm taking a grad course and complete 2 more before I graduate.


texts: How do I know what schools are within my reach for graduate school in math?

texts: When applying for undergraduate schools it was relatively easy to look up average ACT/SAT scores and GPAs of admittance to know if I would be a competitive applicant. As of right now I want to pursue a PhD in math and I'm struggling to know if a program is within my reach or not. Last year my grades tanked and I went from a 4.0 math GPA to now a 3.2 with a 3.5 overall. I'm working now to hopefully get that up and I'm planning on taking a year off after where I may stay in my undergraduate town to continue to take more classes to raise my GPA but either way I'll have a C and a BC on my transcript so I don't know which schools are within my reach if I get enough research experience/letters of recommendation and which I shouldn't even bother with.


texts: How to judge the quality of education of an art school?

texts:
I know that most question in this community refer to (natural or engineering) sciences. This question is concerned with the quality of higher education in the field of arts though, I hope it is on topic here.

My question goes along the lines of "What is the proper way to judge the quality of education of a university?". It is different from the question linked in that art schools have to be judged by looking at different metrics.
In user6726's answer to the question linked above, they state:

  [...] If students from institute X stumble more over questions at
  conferences compared to those from institute Y, or if they publish in
  lesser venues, or produce less-solid papers (more errors, more
  failures to think a problem through), then you can conclude either
  that Y attracts better students or that Y does a better job of
  training students than X [...].

Former students of an university of arts will not attend conferences as often as graduates from other fields, and rarely publish papers at all. While it is true that a university of art's value for a student's career is heavily dependent on the reputation of that university, this is not limited to the field of arts. Additionally, the reputation of an educational institution can be difficult to assess, if one is not in the same place and get hands-on experience there.

What should be considered when judging a university of arts, if one considers to study there?
This should be applicable to both undergrad and postgrad programmes.


texts: Should continue PhD or leave after 2 years and no progress?

texts:
I need your suggestion on my situation.

I am a second year PhD student in Chemical Engineering in Asian country.
My situation:

When I was admitted to PhD program, I was not given any project and my supervisors suggested me to choose. So, I choose X project for which we had no fundings but one person was working on it. After completing my coursework in first year, I started working on my project but after few months I realized it is not progressing well so I talked to my supervisors and he advised me to  continue to work on it. However, after almost a year also I cannot find that the project is progressing.

Thus I need suggestions on how should I proceed from now on as the projects in our group are very challenging to start over again and complete in another 2 year and in our university we dont get fundings after 4 year of PhD . Indeed,we should pay tuition fees.

Will it be a good idea to leave this university and apply fresh in some other university?

I am afraid my supervisors will not agree to give me masters degree or transfer of candidature from PhD to masters by research.

Please suggest me in this matter.