texts: Splitting publication fees among coauthors

texts:
What are accepted ways of splitting publication fees among coauthors, when authors are from different research groups and potentially even different institutions? Especially with open access publication, the fees tend to come out at a substantial amount.

In general, the corresponding author seems to be responsible to the journal for the payment of the fee. I wonder what would be commonly acceptable agreements with coauthors to split such fees?

There is already a general question on splitting collaboration costs here, but the current answer does not apply to publication fees, and I am really interested in this specific case.


texts: How much leeway will i have in suggesting a co-adviser or committee member when i am funded by a professor?

texts:
I have completed master's thesis with an advisor in Industrial Engineering and I am pursuing PhD with another professor in same department. My PhD involves statistics heavily and I am not at all good with statistics. In fact I have C in two mandatory statistics courses I took in the masters program.

Usually this lab works with a Chinese statistics professor. I find it very difficult to understand her. I find her to be very knowledgeable but are just not good at explaining things. Would it be acceptable if I asked my advisor to bring my master's advisor on board the PhD committee so that she can help me with the statistics material? He taught entry level statistics courses in masters program and helped me substantially with the statistics material of my master's thesis.

Will I have any leeway to do something like this especially when he is funding me for PhD, and what will be the best way to bring this up?


texts: How to encourage and motivate undergraduates to regularly and independently work on problem sets?

texts:
I'm wondering how can a professor encourage students to complete their problem sets on their own in undergraduate classes. I'm not saying that every student cheats off of other students; rather, I'm saying that some, if not most, students free ride and copy the solutions from their peers (or from the Internet). In addition from my experience, I feel as if this problem is more pervasive among the non-science majors/students (at least science majors are given assignments; the number and quality of them and the level of studens' interest to get on with them are spectate issues). I've even heard a professor remark: "since I know most of the uninterested students in the class are going to simply copy off solutions, I won't be giving assignments; the serious students amongst you (who'll go to graduate school) can do assignments over there." Frankly, I was appalled upon hearing this statement.

I come from a college/place where the local cultural norms are such that students don't like to sit down and devote week in and week out on problem sets, and the professors (for the most part) don't make a serious attempt to give problem sets that really consume a student's week or so. I'm sure the professor who'll dare to give a problem set every 3 lectures (as is the norm in most U.S colleges) will be frowned upon by most students.

  Given such a context, I am interested to know how can professors, in the larger scheme of things, encourage their students to independently solve problem sets on their own? Also, are there any good strategies that professors can use to make problem sets which the students would eagerly wait to solve week in and week out. I know one can only change the mind set of students from the ground up. But how can professors teaching at the tertiary level cope with such (deeply rooted) problems?

Thanks.


texts: I have an unfinished translation of a speciality book. Should I write this down on my CV/SOP?

texts: When I was working on my dissertation, I had translated some first chapters of a book that I was using into my native language. The reasons I do this because I could consider myself pretty good at reading English comparing two other students in my group (iBT TOEFL reading score: 25/30), and because my specialization was very new to my country (there was (and still is) only three groups, including our group, work in this), therefore seriously lacking good resources. While translating not really prove that I can afford a PhD, it does indicate that I have some contributions to the scientific community. But the translation is unfinished (only first 4 of 25 chapters are translated). I can continue to finish it, but it won't be in near future. Should I write this down on my CV/SOP?


texts: will a lab feel deterred from hiring me if my undergrad thesis is in a different subfield?

texts:
i've interned at the same lab for two summers, and they highly encouraged me to apply for a research assistant position in the spring. however, i am concerned that they will not hire me based on my undergrad thesis topic.
the lab focuses on developmental neuroscience. i conducted research in the neuroanatomical etiology of autism spectrum disorder in children during the school year. but, my senior neuroscience honors thesis is on neuropolitics, technology, and radicalization. i love developmental neuro, but i'm fascinated by neuropolitics as well, and i was wondering if these dual interests are a deterrent at this point in my career.
any feedback is welcome and of help.


texts: Is it likely that American Mathematical Monthly would eventually accept a Filler article if it asks for substantial re-writing?

texts: The email with the initial review says the Filler has "some promise" , but says the writing is poor , and asks for detailed revisions for "further consideration". I'm not particularly keen on spending a lot of time re-writing and correcting the pedantic details, if there is a substantial chance of rejection after that revision.


texts: What to do for letters of reference if you want to apply to grad school but you've been self employed?

texts: Similar to this question How to secure recommendations and apply for PhD after having worked outside of academia for two years? but more specifically if you've been out of school and self-employed for a while, what options do you have for letters of reference? And AFAIK you need two letters, so if answers could provide multiple potential options that would be ideal :)


texts: Coauthor used large part from common paper almost verbatim in another paper

texts: Some time ago I was approached by a fellow researcher that had an idea on an earlier work of mine. We started a collaboration and as a result we submitted a manuscript in a prestigious journal. Recently, I stumbled on a publication of my coauthor in which he had used almost verbatim a large part of our common submission (a page long). These parts include results which were entirely mine. I am really disappointed and I am not sure how to proceed with this.


texts: In order to apply for an internship in the United States, what exactly will I need to send? The academic transcripts of my grades? The TOEFL? The GRE?

texts:
I'm a French student looking to do an internship in the United States.

My question is: in order to apply, what exactly will I need to send?

I'm guessing I'll need to send a CV and a resume... but what else?

Particularly, do I need to send the academic transcripts of my grades? (which are /20, so they're not in the same format as U.S. grades which are like A, B, C or D)

And also, I have the TOEFL and the GRE. Should I send them?


texts: I want to do research but I'm too old for a PHD

texts: I really love research. I started a research project in graduate school for my M.A. in English. My research topic is a very viable and interesting topic for a dissertation. I'll be 60 on my next birthday and I know that many Ph.D programs are traditionally geared toward younger students.I was wondering are there any programs that I can continue this research in without facing the issues of ageism in academia?


texts: What is the normal total time for Peer Review for a general paper submission (Not a Special Issue) in IETE Journal of Research Taylor Francis?

texts: I have submitted a paper in IETE Journal of Research (http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tijr20#.VrL0xvl97IW) on 22/09/15. Still the status is under review. Is it usual for this journal or I should make a polite query to the editor.


texts: How to ask an editor to exclude a reviewer when the reasons are personal

texts:
I am submitting a manuscript to a journal. I wish to exclude a colleague from being the reviewer of the manuscript. The journal has a single blind review: authors are known, reviewers are anonymous.

Question in short: The reason for this exclusion request are personal (see below), and I'm not sure I want to expose those reasons. What is the most effective ways to exclude a reviewer whom you don't trust to make a fair judgement?

Personal reasons for exclusion request::

We had a couple of harsh interactions. She had criticized me personally, and  had short arguments about our different attitudes
towards publishing, writing and research.
I believe she has already wrote a "reject" review on my manuscript (for a different venue).
To my judgment, she has standards that are uncommon in my research community, and so would judge my work on unconventional higher
standards.
Her personality, in my view, is harsh and critical (and unpleasant) and so each of her judgments are prone to be more negative than
others, on average.
She is related to the area of my manuscript (I have cited her manuscript and given her full credit for the work she did), and from
her point of view me publishing the manuscript would, psychologically,
be a personal disappointment, because her related work has not been
published.

Questions:
1. Can I ask the editor not to send it to her review?

Should I ask the editor for this? Would it benefit me?
How can I explain my request, and should I explain it?

Notes:  i) I don't want to write any of the reasons I listed
above! Because they are mostly personal! And would put me in a
very unpleasant situation psychologically at least.

ii) I believe that the review process in general is very
subjective, and so there is always a way to consider the same work in two opposite perspectives: positive and negative. I believe the
reviewer I want to exclude would highlight the negatives, and diminish
the positives. And recommend a rejection.

This question is different from:
 Sound reasons for excluding a reviewer,
 because the current question asks how to exclude a reviewer
 irrespective of the justifications of this exclusion. In other words, I'm not asking what are "sound reasons to exclude a reviewer",
 but rather HOW to exclude her, independent from the existence of sound reasons.

More details of the difference:

In Sound reasons for excluding a reviewer the term "sound" is probably meant to be an objective term. However I claim that the reviewing process is not an objective process at all. Thus, there are at least three different interpretations of Sound reasons for excluding a reviewer:

What kind of reason would be regarded as sound by the editor of the journal?

Or

Is there a set of objective reasons that the scientific community views as legitimate to exclude a reviewer?

Or

What can I, as an author do, to exclude a reviewer, if I think he/she has a grudge against me, irrespective of the objective reality, or the justifications of this act of excluding the reviewer?

The OP has not clarified whether he/she means 1, 2, 3 or another question.
These are all different questions.
I'm asking 3.

=====

I cannot merge my account with I am a guest (which is also me) because I don't remember the email I used for "I am a guest".


texts: Is it a good idea to email the admission committee after a suboptimal interview?

texts:
I didn't do well in a part of a technical interview for a master's program, which was a question in the field X.

The most important subfield of my major for that program is X and X is not particularly my strength, because I took more advanced courses in other subfields during the last two years of my undergrad. But that is exactly why I want to do that master's program. I've had the necessary elementary courses in the field X, but did not go deeper in those topics, simply because there is not enough time to take all the helpful and good courses as an undergrad. That's why I decided to take some other courses as an undergrad and leave advanced courses in X for my graduate degree. I also want to do a Ph.D. after my master's and the field I want to do my Ph.D. is quite directly related to the master's degree I was interviewed for and involves a great deal of X.

To me, it makes perfect sense to apply for a master's program in a field that I'm not strong in, because otherwise, I wouldn't need to take more courses in that field and I will learn whatever I need, quite easily, through self-study. Is it a good idea to email the admission committee (or the professor who interviewed me) and explain this to them now? (Please keep in mind that I could have mentioned this point in my SOP, but I didn't. Probably a bad decision...)


texts: Asking the faculty for PhD research proposal tips

texts:
I am going to apply to Italian universities for PhD vacancies in Statistics, which is not exactly the field that I studied during my BSc and MSc. I count to acquire the instruments for doing actual research during the first years of the program but I am asked to submit a short research proposal during the application process.
I already have in mind some topics to research but I am not really deep into them so that it would be very time consuming even to arrange summaries and provide short bibliographies about the matters. I could probably end up spending (let's say) one month reading about one of the topics I have in mind only to understand I should actually apply with another one as research proposal because of my understanding of the subject (which would probably be tested during interviews).
Would it be appropriate to approach the faculty before the application and ask which topic it would be better to present as research proposal? Also in light of having better chances to be accepted.
I want to add that right now I am employed, otherwise of course I would enjoy reading everything I could.


texts: Hobby during PhD studies has taken its toll, how do I recover?

texts:
In the first two years of my PhD I made a big mistake by spending a large amount and passion on a hobby (making video games). In this hobby, I saw an opportunity to make this into a career, either by being a full developer or by finding a way of fusing game development with my scientific work.
Looking back at this, I feel guilty for the amount of time and passion spent on this side project, and I understand now that my career ambitions were poorly researched and far from reality.

I am now in the final year of my PhD in applied maths and I have one paper submitted, another (more ambitious one) in the making. My relationship to my supervisor has been good from the start, however his satisfaction with my work dropped in my second year and he criticised me for somewhat disperse work style and not enough results. He is still supportive but never misses an opportunity to remind to hurry up. But he has remaind supportive throughout.

I reacted to these warning signs, but slowly. Towards the beginning of my third year I realised that my game development efforts (which have a scientific bend) could not provide a full time career and did not provide better solutions to existing science problems either. So I gradually stopped coding games, focusing on my research project 100%. I finished my first paper, gained a feeling of ownership for my research project, got my scientific curiosity back, adopted a get-it-done mentality in terms of writing up results. But still, every day I keep hating myself for having wasted so much time on an ill-thought, ill-planned childish dream.

This affects me. I have had a very good work ethic which got me into top schools. It feels like for the first time, I slipped, and I bet more than I should have on the wrong horse. I think about it every day. I want to avoid this feeling of guilt to slow me down, or make me feel that I am not suited or "don't deserve" this or that postdoc position or fellowship.

How do I recover from this?


texts: How can I ask why this European university booked me a 15-day trip for a 2-day exam?

texts:
I am going to visit a European university to take a PhD course entrance exam. The university prepared a 15 day trip for me, but the written exam and the oral exam will require only one day each. Therefore, I have 13 days free. I do not know why they planned my trip like this, nor how they expect me to spend these 13 days.

How can I politely ask about this via e-mail? "Could you tell me what I am supposed to do in the rest days of the trip before and after exam?" sounds a bit too direct. Also, is this kind of itinerary normal?


texts: Is it alright to be out of academia for a while before applying for academic or research-only positions?

texts: I am 15 now. If I quit high school now and start a BSc around age 35 and finish my PhD around age 45, is it possible to find a job in some university after being out of academia for so long?


texts: PhD in financial mathematics compared to masters

texts:
This may not be a suitable question for this but I wanted to seek some advice from some of you out there. I came into Florida State University as a PhD student in Financial Mathematics and I am finishing my second year here. I passed my qualification exams and started exploring in areas of Monte Carlo simulation for pricing American options. Although, I have considered putting my PhD on hold and getting some work experience within the field of Quantitative Finance, but I do not have any work experience.

I talked to the director here and he said that I could come back and finish my PhD after if I desired to get some work experience. I am wondering what the difference is in applying as a PhD student or applying as a Masters student since from what I was told working for a 3-5 years coming out of the Masters program would make you just as prepared as a PhD student coming in to the job market depending of course on the experience you get.

Is a PhD really necessary to get a job in the quantitative finance field? Or is a Masters with PhD level training good enough?

I am interested in what you all think. Any comments are greatly appreciated.


texts: Should computer science indexing sites be considered in rating research?

texts:
I am currently working at a university of applied sciences, in the field of Computer Science. Recently there has been formed a section that is in charge of giving stipends related to research. This group has put as a rule that they will only fund research that is indexed in Scimago and in Scopus, but that this could change over time. They have in mind that this would help the institution for increase their visibility in terms of research.

My question is, for our field, should there be other criteria considered, such as if the publication has been indexed in ACM, IEEE Xplore, or DBLP? I mean, there are some conferences that are not considered in Scimago or in Scopus, but that have a good reputation. How to propose that change? What do you think about considering these indexing venues also?


texts: Is asking questions with very short answers on major exams recommended?

texts:
As a part of TA work, I need to give questions for major exams. I need to evaluate the answer sheets of students later.

Let us consider the following simple examples of questions:

1)  Briefly describe natural numbers.

The answer to this question is not unique. It depends totally on the student's perspective on natural numbers. And the answer is generally long.

2) How many natural numbers are there in total? Is 6.6 a natural number?

The answer to this question is too short (Infinite, No). The answer does not depend on the student's perspective on natural numbers. It tests the knowledge of students regarding natural numbers.

I want to give questions of second type, which can test the student's knowledge and intelligence in detail and avoids long answers, ambiguous answers, long evaluation time, partial marking, unnecessary bargaining for marks by students, etc.

But some of my colleagues and faculty are saying that it is similar to multiple choice questions and fill in the blank questions, which are not recommended for major exams, which need long answers. I am confused, but strongly want to give answers of type 2 (single line answers).

Assume that there is no copying during exams.


texts: Can you upload an appendix externally for referencing?

texts:
I am submitting an article to an IEEE transactions journal with a strict page limit. We have already scrapped heaps of text, but can't shorten the appendix (or do without) since this would prevent reproducibility.

We have tried uploading the appendix as supplementary material, but this was not approved. Is there a way to upload the material externally for referencing? Or is this not done in academia?

Kind regards,

Ties


texts: Is it okay to use same figures in different papers?

texts:
Currently, I am writing for two conferences, independent from each other. One paper is a generic one, while the other one is more technical.

However, I would like to use some of figures I have drawn in both of them. Is this ethical or are there any issues doing that?

EDIT: The conference are about advances in IT, electronics engineering and the papers have not been published yet.


texts: I am a senior in undergrad who is a physics major applying to PhD programs. I keep on hearing people saying get rec letters from PIs or contact and have a good relationship with PIs.


texts: Is it OK to include public domain (wikimedia commons) image in a research grant proposal?

texts:
Obviously, with a proper attribution.
Thank you.


texts:
I recently stumbled over the term “shadow program committee”, e.g. here.

What is a shadow program  committee? Why is it put in place, and when? What is its relation to the normal PC?


texts: How should I react if my supervisor for my master thesis gives me low quality supporting information?

texts:
Currently, I am writing my master thesis at a German university. My work has a lot of to do with programming. However, there are some parts I need, but it is not part of my work. For this case, my supervisor told me if I need anything I can ask him and he will do this for me (as long as it is not part of my topic).

Unfortunately, the quality of work my supervisor delivers me is very bad. Basically, I would do it by myself, however the time scheduling is quite tight, which is why I am quite thankful that he tries to support me.

How can I handle this without making him angry or upset. I am quite thankful that he "helps" me, but when I look at the quality, I am thinking that I could have just done the work myself.

I still have to work with my adviser for about half a year more.


texts: Could citing a database like libgen get one into trouble?

texts:
Databases like libgen are considered illegal in most countries, I understand. So, if someone acknowledges libgen as the database from which a book has been retrieved on the Reference List, could he/she get into trouble?

This is in cases, where you have to cite the database, apart from the book. Suppose, you cite an e-book or an online article, you have to include the database too in certain referencing systems.


texts: Deal with academic failure as an undergraduate

texts:
There are many students (subject being basic sciences) in my university (considered a good university in India) who simply do not care about the subject in a course but have stellar grades. They aren't interested in the subject per se, just the grades. These students never doubt anything that the professor says or whatever is written in lecture notes. They never ask questions. They would happily write in exams what they have memorised without understanding it 'deeply'. When I discuss anything with them about a particular topic which I don't understand, they simply don't care about it and tell me to not think about it 'deeply', and just memorise the stuff. But these students have stellar grades.
A lot of students, almost all that I know at my university, engage in malpractices during the exam, especially in the current online mode when there is no supervision. Some students sit in groups of 6-7 students during an online exam and discuss the questions before submitting, i.e. they solve the exam paper collectively. They often get exactly similar marks as well. Many instructors turn a blind eye towards this.
I sometimes feel jealous of the other students and get agitated at the university system as well. The 'other' students get good opportunities for research internships when they have explicitly mentioned to me that they don't care about research and are doing internships just for the sake of improving their resume.
I, on the other hand, have extremely poor grades. I've failed a 3 courses too. I spend a lot of time thinking about the stuff. I ask questions to the professors, which are received encouragingly. Some professors have explicitly mentioned that my questions are good and it shows that I have thought about the material well. I ask questions and answer questions on Stack Exchange as well, and they are received warmly as well. I am interested in pursuing research after my undergraduate studies but no good university is going to accept me as a grad student considering my poor grades.
I am not saying that my failure is entirely the fault of others. I recognise vices in myself too.
What should I do in order to improve my situation?


texts: Stature vs relationship for recommendation letters

texts:
Im curious how important is the stature of an author of a recommendation letter (both for phd positions and fellowship applications).
A more answerable question would be what is the difference from a reader's viewpoint of (1) a letter that comes from a very new (< 1 year) non-tenure track faculty member with a very good relationship and experience with  the recomendee versus (2) a well established tenured professor with only minor interaction/experience with the recomendee (but enough to feel comfortable writing a letter).


texts: Should I put two loosely related results into one paper?

texts:
I'm working on a problem A, and recently have two small results:

The first result is using technique X for A1, which is a particular instance of A. A1 is a long-term problem, but nobody has used X for it before, and I achieve slightly better performance with it. In other words, it is only an incremental result.
The second one is solving A2 using technique Y. A2 is totally new problem that nobody has touched before. However, the method is extremely expensive, and only works on toy programs.

Since both two results have clear weaknesses, and we don't know how to improve them, my advisor is suggesting me to put the two results in one paper to submit to a major conference, since each of them is not enough contribution.

It is only a suggestion and I can decide whether to do it, there is no problem with the advisor. I'm only confused if it is a good idea to do so. My concerns are:

A1 and A2 are just loosely related. It is difficult to tell a story that connects these two problems.
The first method is only applicable for A1, the second method is only applicable for A2, while they are different instances of the problem A. Putting them together poses another weakness: the usability of each method.

The other option is of course: submitting them separately to lesser conferences. We only want to do this if the first option is not promising.

Some context: my advisor is a leading expert on X and Y, but knows very little about A (but wants to explore). On the other hand, I did my PhD on A, and only have some minimal background on X and Y. I'm a new postdoc, hired to work on A using the tools for X and Y that my advisor had developed. Therefore, none of us are 100% sure about what to do in this situation.


texts: Issues when splitting one long paper into two papers

texts:
I've got a long policy/economics paper that will need to be split into two papers before any journal will be able to publish it.  I can make them into freestanding pieces.  But there will be significant overlap, particularly in the introduction, data description, and methods.

Is it frowned upon to have entire paragraphs be identical between two papers?  Structure will be something like the following:

Introduction
    Para A1
    Para A2
Methods/Data
    Para B1
    Para B2

and for the other

    Introduction
        Para A3
        Para A2
    Methods/Data
        Para A3
        Para B2

In addition, some of the plots will probably appear in both papers. Will this be viewed as a problem?


texts: Is it appropriate to ask a professor via e-mail for a letter of recommendation?

texts:
I have been out of school since May now, and I am considering applying for graduate school. I currently live nowhere near the university I attended.

Would it be appropriate for me to ask for a letter of recommendation via e-mail? If not, what would be the best option?

[Suggestions as to how I should approach such a communication would be appreciated as well.]


texts: When does one go for a double doctorate?

texts:
I would love to know the circumstances under which people opt for a second doctorate degree.

Could a professor working in a university write up a thesis and submit it to his department to earn a second doctorate?
Do only those who want to remain in the university forever as students go for a second doctorate?
Are there any general merits/downsides to earning 2 PhDs, if you are perhaps assured of a research career after a good first one?


texts: How does supervisor contribute to students' papers

texts:
I know my question maybe too broad, but as someone who's planning to stay in academia, I want to ask anyone who is supervising PhD students about how you contribute to their papers in order to be included as authors.

Do you just need to discuss the problem (e.g what is it? Is it feasible or worth to be solved), point them to potential directions and review the drafts? You can also help writing other sections which don't directly involve in solving the problem such as: introduction, motivation or conclusion. This is the approach that my supervisor and most lecturers in my department are taking.

Or, do you have to directly take part in solving the problem such as analysing it, designing system, performing experiments and evaluating results?


texts: Interview for pure math graduate program

texts:
I will have an interview for my graduate school application in the coming days. I don't have much research experience but I am taking a few graduate courses which are related with the potential research field, so I think the main part of the interview will be on my coursework. The interviewer is my potential supervisor whose research field is theoretical PDE and applied analysis. The professor is very famous and has a real authority in this research area (at least in my region).

I have talked with the professor before, and he said he will ask me to talk about my "understanding of mathematics" in the interview. To be honest, I don't quite understand what the professor mean. What are the questions a professor will ask in an interview for a pure math program? Is it common to ask me to solve some exercises immediately? I think comparing with solving a specific exercise, "understanding of math" is more high-level, for example, the development of real analysis. Could you give me an example or share me your interview experience?

This is a short summary of the interview. The entire interview took around 1 hour. First the professor read my transcripts and found I had took a course about Fourier analysis. Hence he asked me what is the most useful technique I had learnt in that course and what were the most interesting materials of the course?  Then he asked me about my understanding of graduate-level real analysis. He asked me to state Lebesgue dominated convergence theorem, and asked me why this theorem is correct. I tried to prove the theorem using Fatou's lemma and he thought it's too technical. So after several attempts under his guidance, I finally found out what he wanted is an intuitive understanding of Lebesgue integrable function (what kinds of properties that a Lebesgue integrable  function has, but a riemann integral function does not necessarily have). Finally he asked me to prove some statements/ find some counterexamples related to Lebesgue differentiation theorem, which I thought were selected from PhD qualifying exam. I didn't know much about the differentiation theory at the time, so I just finished what I knew.

Basically the professor only asked me a few questions in the interview and he turned out to agree to take me as a student even though I didn't solve all the problems immediately.


texts:
I am currently collaborating with three researchers on three non-overlapping and independent research projects/papers (i.e. one with each). I have been asked to review a paper for a journal, for which the same three researchers are the authors.

I am tempted to take it and try to do an objective review, but I wonder if this would represent a conflict of interest. Of course, as they are constant collaborators, I am not sure if there would be any unconscious bias.


texts: How to deal with premature student questions during a lecture which will be covered in a subsequent slide?

texts:
I teach a group of bright students who will interrupt the material presentation with questions that will be answered in the next slide or sentence.  I appreciate that they are thinking ahead but I have times when I just need to get the information out there and then discuss it when everyone has had time to process.

What advice can you give me? What are best practices for this?


texts: Theorem & Lemma In Short (arXiv Version) and Extended (Peer-Reviewed Version) Papers

texts:
I'm writing a short paper from my master thesis to put on arXiv that includes a Definition and a Lemma/Proof.

If I want to publish another extended version for a journal or conference later, can I include the Lemma and Definition directly in the new paper or do I have to cite my previous paper only (without writing them)?
(They are the beauty of my work and I'd like to include them into the extended version as well)


texts: Will minor mistakes in my bachelor's thesis harm my future career as a researcher?

texts:
I'm in a total disaster right now because it feels like I have no chance of being a researcher anymore. Months ago, I submitted my Bachelor's thesis. Days later, I realized that I printed a wrong version of it (the version before the final) so I asked permission from my adviser and the librarian if I can replace the copies because of the mistake. They allowed me.

Weeks later, I realized that there was a term in my abstract that might need to be cited. But for the record, I cited this term in the body of my research. I consulted my adviser whether or not I violated something with that. She said that it was okay because I already cited it in the body of my research. However, I insisted and ask if I can add a citation just to be sure. She said okay. So I had to replace my copies of thesis again.

Lately, it occurred to me again that there was something wrong again. I think that I failed to cite a secondary source in the 'limitations' part of my thesis. Although I already have cited this secondary source as a secondary source 2 sentences before the sentence in question, I still feel that it was not sufficient because we had another similar quotation from an author in the sentence in question. I don't remember exactly why I failed to cite the secondary source in that sentence again. But as far as I can remember, I accessed the primary source. Maybe that is why I did not cite the secondary source.

But it still bothers me because even if that's the case, it might still look like I copied that part of my thesis (although not verbatim, but it totally bothers me still). That's the only problematic part of the whole research. I would like to correct this and give a more sufficient citation  for the secondary source, but as I have mentioned, I already corrected my copies twice and they might not allow me anymore. I am so devastated right now, I am afraid that this might bar me from doing research again. Or worst, they might take away my degree which I really worked hard for.

How do you think will my adviser react to this? The last time I amended my thesis, I said that it will be the last time. But this mistake is unbearable and I can't live a day without thinking about it. What if the other faculty members will know? What will be their reaction? I have a perception that academicians are perfectionists and might persecute mistakes like this even when done unintentionally. I don't know what to do, I really don't know what to do.


texts: Are academic associations obliged to comply with the US government?

texts:
I'm shocked by the news that IEEE is forced to ban Huawei employees to be editors and reviewers.  It makes me wonder if, hypothetically, the US government determine to "ban" a certain group of people, which happens to include some academics, then under US law, are organizations such as AMS, APS, ACS obliged to comply and ban these people from academic services?

This question is different from Elsevier actions following US sanctions on Iran in that Elsevier is a publisher for profit.  IEEE might also count as a publisher for profit.  But the organizations that I'm asking here, namely AMS, APS and ACS, are purely professional associations.  If they are legally in the same status as Elsevier, it was not previously known to me, and possibly not obvious to others.


texts: Sending more than three letters of recommendation to neuroscience PhD application

texts:
I am currently a rising undergraduate senior who plans to attend graduate school after I finish this last year. I want to work toward a PhD in neuroscience.

I know this question is commonly asked, but at this point I feel like it's important for me to get input on my personalized situation.

Many of the schools I'm applying to take three or more recommendation letters, often up to five or six. I've had three research experiences (two summer internships plus undergraduate research), so those are my three core reference letters.

This is where my main point comes in: I have been debating about adding a fourth letter from a professor for whom I have taught a weekly chemistry workshop class since freshman year and TAed/proctored for other aspects of his chemistry courses as well as a fifth letter from a professor who is my senior thesis adviser/reader (with whom I also took a graduate course where a large part was based on proposing new experiments in the form of specific aims papers). Essentially, I feel that these additional reference writers (with whom I am in good contact) would only add to my application, but I don't want to overdo it. What are your opinions on adding these letter writers that, to me, speak on different parts of my ability to act as a graduate student and beyond (in contrast to my three research PIs)?

Note that by no means am I trying to “fill the gaps” and reach the highest number of possible reference letters. If I were to do that, I could easily ask for six letters. But I'm approaching it more strategically – I will make sure to only include effective letters that speak diversely on my ability to conduct research and act as a graduate student/young scientist.


texts:
I am wondering if academics (Professors, Researchers etc.) who usually have to spend their lives on research get bored of the subject or get tired of research?

In this case, I want to know how they stay motivated - for example Nobel Laureates more often spend a large part of their life (15 - 20 years) on specific research. So how do they stay motivated?


texts: How to find research areas that will have high impact publications?

texts:
I've been in academics for past 6 years. For the first four years I was doing research in Fluid mechanics. Then I moved to work in Physical chemistry. After such a transition I find that the impact of my current work and the speed at which I get new, exciting results far exceed the time I did research in Fluids. However, I tend to log less hours now compared to past.

My reason is that certain fields are far more young, where all your efforts turn fruitful. But how can one find such young and impactful fields for building up a research career? How to find a research field that constantly provides me with high impact publications? (Provided I work hard and smart)

P.S: Fluid mechanics is a beautiful field; however, it is so mature that we almost know everything about it.


texts: If someone conducts unethical research unbeknownst to anybody, but produces positive results, what would happen to the research once discovered?

texts:
I was just wondering about this specific scenario.

Say someone was researching nature vs. nurture, but his experiments involved keeping babies in a controlled environment for the first 10 years of their life. His research is secret and he has ways to smuggle children for his research (don't ask how).

After 15 years, he publishes a paper and confirms that there is a set amount of characteristics that can be transferred via genes.

What would become of the researcher and his research? Will the researcher be jailed, but the research results recognized?

This question is about unethical research in general, not just ones involving human subjects.

P.S. No babies were harmed in the making of this post


texts: Is it important to maintain a work-life balance as a PhD student?

texts:
My apologies in advance for asking such a trivial question. My concerns may not be as urgent or serious as some of the others on here, but I have been worrying about this for some time now.
My life since starting my PhD has can typically be summed up as waking up early, getting to the office about 7AM and working on some part of my research until 5PM before going home to study some more theory. I adore my field - I really think I'm the luckiest person ever for having the opportunity to work on such interesting problems.
However, I often get comments about my work-life balance being unhealthy. People often tell me to get a hobby that isn't related to physics or mathematics. In fact, a friend even brought me evidence that the vast majority of highly successful scientists, including my scientific heroes, have had a creative hobby.
I've honestly tried to maintain a hobby but I keep getting pulled back into my old routine. The progression typically goes like this:

I start a hobby, say drawing.
I draw consistently for a week or two. I even buy a course book for drawing and work through it. I'm making progress, all is great.
By the third week, I'm plagued with thoughts that slowly erode my motivation to draw. Thoughts about how I could be studying complex analysis, or working on that atomic configuration generation code...
By week four I've forgotten that I was trying to draw in the first place and am now back to the old routine.

Yet, as my friends point out, the evidence really is against me here. A lot of successful scientists do have hobbies outside of their work. It strikes me that the problem might be a bit more deep-seated: it may just be that I've developed a very unhealthy work ethic that'll cause me to crash and burn down the line.
As academics, how important would you consider hobbies as a part of your lifestyle? Would you consider the cultivation of a field completely unrelated to your own to be an essential component to an academic career - or, as my eloquent colleague puts it, being human in general?


texts: How do I use/add first name (or forename) in citation?

texts:
I like to use first names (or forename) to cite the work of others.
It has become even more relevent when I found that somebody working in my field shares my initial and surname.

However, this is not the most common practice and in many cases, I do not know the forenames of the people I would like to cite.

Do you know of any pratical way to find these information ?

I usually resort to Google and Google Scholar search but that does not always solve the issue and can be time consuming (considering it is a detail).


texts: Publisher (online, refereed journal) is not publishing the volume containing my paper - what are my options?

texts:
In 2010, I had a paper accepted for online publication by a refereed journal.  I was given a URL for my article, and told which volume would contain the article.

The journal has never published that volume. Repeated inquiries (via emails) with the journal editor have produced nothing that indicates the journal ever intends to publish that volume (containing my paper).

The Journal is IJAMT (International Journal of Applied Management and Technology). It is published by Walden University. When you go to look at the listing of volumes, Volumes 8, 10, and 12 are published. There is no mention at all for the volumes Volumes 9 and 11.

At this point, I am considering submitting to another journal - however, am I 'bound' to IJAMT, seeing as they have not actually published the article?

What are my options here?  Can I 'undo' this, and be free to submit to another journal?

Update: Thanks for the comments, All...  I am not employed at Walden - my submission was 'external'...  There was no signed agreement.  I think I'll take the advice to send them an email... it has been a few years now, so I'm of the opinion that sufficient time has occurred.  Thanks again!  Pete


texts: Is re-using parts of one's own SoP (or research statement) considered self-plagiarism?

texts:
Are the following considered instances of self-plagiarism?

Re-using parts of one's own statement of purpose (submitted as part of a graduate admission application) in SoPs submitted with other graduate admission applications, during same/different admission cycles
Re-using parts of one's own research statement in SoP(s) or vice-versa


texts: How to email professor with group concerns about class?

texts:
I'm currently taking a 20-25 person graduate-level course in Computer Science. It's about 60/40 theory/implementation, which means the discussions in class tend to be a bit more abstract that the typical undergraduate course.

I've recently talked with a few of the other students in the class, and we've all noted that it's become particularly difficult to ask questions in class for three reasons:

The professor moves very quickly and jumps back and forth between slides.  (We're less concerned about this - it's a pain to follow, but that's grad school, and we're all willing to learn outside of class if necessary.)
There's a core group of about 5 students who sit at the front of the classroom and are constantly asking questions.  Normally, none of us would mind this - however, they tend to interrupt the professor and talk loudly over other students (especially international ones).
When someone other than these 5 students does ask a question, those same 5 students usually interrupt the professor and try to answer it themselves - frequently in a way that we feel is more confusing than if the professor himself was to try and answer it.

We have nothing against this professor or these students - they're interested in the field, which we understand - but with midterms approaching we're concerned that our understanding of the material is less than we would like.

I'd like to email the professor and bring up these concerns - I had planned on doing so anyway, but then the other students asked me to do so too because (1) I'm not international and (2) I'm (for lack of a better word) loud when needed.

What I'm not sure is how I should email him.  Should it be an anonymous email from one of my dummy accounts?  Should it be a group email in which I cc the other students? Should I mention names or not? I'd appreciate some guidance on how to do this such that it will be best received.


texts: Differences between MSc Program in Engineering in TU and Research Universities in the Netherlands

texts:
In the Netherlands what is the difference between universities of technology (TU's) and research universities?

Also both universities of technology and of research offer engineering MSc programs. Is there a difference between them? Is one inferior to the other in any way?  Would it be better to study a MSc program in engineering in a university of technology?


texts: Is this a common honors-designation system?

texts:
At my undergraduate university, one could earn three types of honors that are designated on your diploma:

Departmental Honors, where the requirements are set by the department, usually involving a thesis.
Interdisciplinary Honors, which involved an interdisciplinary curriculum of about 45 credits (nine classes). In my opinion, it was a valuable program.
College Honors, which is what you get when you do both.

I earned College Honors, for both doing a bachelor's thesis and completing the interdisciplinary requirements.

Would graduate schools know what it means if I put "with College Honors" on my resume/application? I assume not, but Latin honors seem to be common enough. Is it worth explaining? Or should I just designate them both and not even bother with the "College Honors" phrasing?


texts: Is the level of difficulty of the Physics GRE on a par with the Math GRE?

texts:
I have been speaking to someone who is going to take the Physics GRE, and to get an understanding of what that entails, I wanted to compare it to the one subject GRE I had personal experience with: the Math GRE.

How does the level of difficulty and preparation time required for the Physics GRE compare to the Math GRE?


texts: Online Masters in the US without GRE and TOEFL

texts: I am a full-time Software Development Engineer and am looking to pursue Masters in Computer Science through an online learning program from a reasonably reputed University. Georgia Tech's OMS came very close to what I was looking for, but I do not have TOEFL, which is a requirement (I don't qualify for a waiver). I wanted to know if there are any other options out  there which offer online medium of instruction and do not have a requirement GRE and TOEFL?


texts: A question in the future research section - is it considered appropriate to write a paper on it?

texts:
I recently read a paper, which posed some interesting questions in a section named further research.

They concluded the section by writing, "we leave all these questions for our future research".

I am really interested in one of the questions, is it considered inappropriate to write a paper handling one of those questions? The pronoun "our" indicates that the author wish to dig in to this question himself. However the paper was published in 2012, and by browsing the authors personal webpage I get no sign of a paper like that in progress.

In case I wish to write a paper on that particular topic, should I notify the author who posed the question? (Say, by asking, is question X still open?)


texts: Book publishing or a peer review journal

texts:
I have written lately, a theory about the whole existence. Do you guys think that I should publish my writings as a self-publishing book or aim for peer-review and publish in a journal?.
Keeping in mind that I want my writing to have an impact
I am an engineer, specialized in classic physics, my writing contains concepts of time, gravity, elementary particles, cosmic inflation, gravitational collapse, and lensing.


texts: Should an errata contain header and footer text and a page number?

texts: When writing a paper and adding an errata list (spelling out some mistakes that were made in previous versions of the paper), should that list contain the same meta-information as other pages, i.e. header and footer text and a page number? (If it's relevant, I am using APA for this paper but cannot find any information on the subject.) Additionally, should it be included in a table of contents?


texts: Why don't Universities pay PhD students more?

texts:
I've worked in higher education on the administrative side. I've been able to get a very thorough look at University budgets. From my perspective it's really a travesty that research Universities, with their multi-billion dollar operating budgets seem more inclined to hire largely purposeless administrators than to increase PhD stipends/wages such that a PhD wouldn't be so financially painful for students.

From my own perspective working in administration, it seems to me that the blame can be placed squarely at the feet of the near universal tendency for bureaucracies to naturally increase in size over time if left to their own devices. The discussion of why this is the case is beside the point, but this near universal law seems to be at work here. This limits graduate student stipend size because when faced with the choice of expanding the bureaucracy or paying graduate students more, the administrator - as a bureaucrat - will almost invariably decide to expand the bureaucracy.

That said, there are other dynamics at play in Universities that make me wonder why bureaucracies have been so successful at vacuuming up funds. Elite Universities often compete for top PhD candidates, so why haven't the competitive forces that drive up wages in the face of labor demand also driven up the stipends offered to accepted candidates? Are Universities coordinating to keep stipends artificially low? Or is the bureaucratic tendency to expand overpowering the market dynamics that would otherwise compel Universities to offer higher stipend packages? Or are existing stipend packages already at what we would expect the market level to be?


texts: We have submitted one article to a journal. The editor gave us two weeks for the final manuscript submission. However, he also informed us if more time is absolutely necessary then he can allow us some more time. We have sent him two emails asking some more time. But, he never responded. What should we do now? If I take some more time, will my article be automatically considered as a new one (in the email, he has written so)? Or should I send him some more mails until he replies.


texts: Is it acceptable to use the word "trivial" in lecture?

texts:
Suppose you are introducing a new concept, and you start with (what you think is) a toy example.  Is it okay to refer to your example as a "trivial problem?"

Does this depend on the field and/or level of the class you are teaching?


texts: Author did not make the major changes asked during the review process

texts:
I recently had my first paper to review. Since it was the first one, I took great care to be as constructive as possible and to formulate correct and accurate questions / suggestions. At that time, I recommended two major changes for the paper and a couple of minor ones (figures, typos, ...).

I just received the revised version of the paper, with the response to reviewer. One of the major changes I recommended was not fully taken into account by the authors. They did provide a very short answer, but it did not convince me. I read the new version of the paper carefully, to see if the content was changed to fit my suggestion, but it was not.

I am wondering what I should do now? Should I resend the same suggestion, pointing out it was ignored by the authors? Or should I let it go and tell the editor all the other changes were done according to my review? How should I tell the author they did not take my suggestion into account without being rude?


texts: What typesetters do with the submitted paper?

texts: I am informed that submitted paper supposed to be sent to the typesetters today. I am advised to check the mails. Until now there is no acknowledgement except the first mail. I am curious about the typesetters job in this process. Do they make considerable updates? Do I have much work to do, after typesetter is done with the paper? Since, I am on holiday, I wonder if the workload will ruin my holiday?


texts: Should medical conditions that affected performance be stated in personal/research statement? And how?

texts:
Condition

I have been suffering from day time sleepiness (9-10 hrs of sleep and still struggle to stay awake), fatigue, memory loss and lack of concentration. The doctor found that I suffocate in my sleep: I stop breathing several times per hour.

In a few days, I will be undergoing surgery to modify my airway (nose, throat) that, according to the doctor, will completely resolve these problems.

Background

My profile is OK: undergrad valedictorian, scholarships, awards, numerous research experiences and skills. But my condition was exacerbated during the masters and I graduated "B+" instead of continuing my straight "A" performance during undergrad. Also, I felt that I could have performed better in standardized tests (GREs), do more research etc without my condition.

Questions

Should I make this medical condition known in my research/personal statement? I fear the reader might assume that I am not as "able" as completely healthy candidates. Or perhaps there is no benefits at all to bringing this up?
If so, how should I put it to avoid sounding like I am making excuses or whining?


texts: How can I start to write my final paper? I have been doing nothing during the whole week. I just stayed at home and slept. I'm afraid to do anything even cooking. I can't focus and can't concentrate on work. I'm just afraid to write a single sentence. I don't know how to start. I mean that I know how to write but I just can't start. I am incredibly anxious and don't know how to get started. Can anyone  help me?


texts: What's the best way to find where a paper is mentioned in a paper that cites it?

texts: Sometimes when I read a research paper I want to read what later researchers said about it because I find their summaries helpful. So I look on Google Scholar at who cited the paper and take a look at those papers. What's the fastest way to find where the original paper is mentioned? My current approach is to search by the last name of the author until I find the citation number down at the bottom. Then I search for that citation number. This doesn't seem like a good approach and is especially bad when the citation number is a single digit. What's a better way? Is there some software that can help me with this?


texts: Is it unusual to get an informal offer before any recommendation letters have arrived?

texts:
A person I know applied for a time-limited position (i.e. a post-doc) somewhere in western Europe.  Xe gets invited for an interview.  The next day, xe receives an informal e-mail, We will recommend HR to send you a formal offer.

However, we are still waiting to receive recommendation letters from your references before we can do so.

And I thought the content of recommendation letters were essential.  In this case they are apparently a formality.  Is this indeed very unusual, or is it more common than I think?


texts: Reviewing: potential conflict from knowledge of other researcher's activities

texts:
I do methodological research in Field A and am aware of the the related methodologies of Field B but have not used them. I was asked to review an article from Field B, which I initially declined due to lack of expertise. The editor asked me to reconsider because the article makes some claims about Field A and he wanted comments specifically from that perspective. I agreed to review.

I am reviewing the article and the editor was right to be concerned. The paper is otherwise excellent, however the authors are claiming that what they are doing in Field B is actually Field A (and using terminology from Field A but have ignored substantial literature). I am fine to write the review. However, I would really like to make a comment recommending that any mention of Field A should be removed from the paper (it would be fine without it) and noting that the overlap is an interesting question in its own right that should not be dealt with from the perspective of just one of the fields within an empirical paper about a specific topic.

I actually think that a specific methodological paper about the overlap and differences would be very worthwhile, coauthored from both fields and preferably written as the outcome of some sort of discussion at a workshop where each field trained the other. While the review is blind, I strongly suspect that the authors are from the institution that would be the most appropriate to develop such a workshop and paper. However, I am already aware of a researcher in my field who is drafting a paper (from the perspective of Field A, with no involvement of authors from Field B).

If I make the comment about interesting question in its own right, am I suggesting the separate paper? If so, is that a problem given that I know someone is working on something similar? Can I suggest to the person working on it that perhaps he should involve authors from the other field? Can I suggest a workshop to both the person working on it and the authors of the paper I am reviewing?


texts: How should I write thank you letters to members on my thesis comittee?

texts:
I have just completed a graduate degree and want to thank the members of my thesis committee for their support. I have just sent a thank you email to my supervisor and advisors but, I am not sure what I should write for the other members. My questions are as follows:

Are there any sample templates I can follow? Yes, I will customize for each person, but I find that if I have a good baseline my writing is improved.
What are good things that I should be thankful for? I feel that good thank you letters provide some specific examples on what people did to help you. However, the only thing these people did was examine me. Some did not provide a lot of comments. Being on a examination committee is more work for over worked professors, but I am having trouble coming up with good points.

Notes

All of the professors on the committee are from Canadian universities.
If you have any questions feel free to ask.


texts:
In the past I have never worried too much about accreditation, because it was fairly easy to tell reputable schools apart from the mail order degrees.

Unfortunately, this line is getting blurred by the proliferation of online degrees that range from highly rigorous courses of study to buy-a-diploma programs. The tricky part is that many reputable colleges and universities seem to be running online programs which may be less academically stringent than their on-campus courses.

How exactly does the accreditation system work in the United States and what steps are accreditation authorities taking to verify that diplomas acquired online are genuine evidence of real knowledge and expertise?


texts: Do I have to make someone coauthor if he/she solves a problem in StackExchange, asked by myself, which is later used in my paper?

texts:
Suppose, in my research (mathematical) I have a critical step that I need to solve, and, due to various reasons I cannot find decent answer to that step by myself or by contacting friends or colleagues, so that I decide to post a similar but simpler problem to the relevant StackExchange (Math). Now, if someone comes up with a good answer that I can use to further my research, will it be enough to acknowledge the contribution of the author of the answer and citing that particular thread of StackExchange, or do I need to include that person as a coauthor of the paper that I might prepare based on that answer?

I emphasize here that the paper is supposed to be not all about that particular result, there are many other things, and that particular answer is useful, albeit critically, at an intermediate stage of proving some results in the paper. I personally feel that citing and acknowledging the contribution is respectful enough. However, I want to know what the standard norm is.


texts: E-Mailing supervisor during Masters Thesis - How often and how much?

texts:
I am in a terminal masters program in the Humanities. I will have to write my masters thesis at some point and have been told that I will have 3 meetings with my professor.

I have never worked on a thesis or with a professor as closely as this (I did not write a thesis as an undergradute), so I am a bit worried about the whole process.

What am I expected to do exactly? Am I allowed to email my professor with emails? Is it even expected? And if so, how often and much is appropriate between the meetings, and what can I expect to get out of the emails (as opposed to the meetings).

Sorry if this seems basic to some of you - it surely is. But it would be great to know if there are certain academic standards or rules I might not be aware of.


texts: Why don't more professors utilize their students as research help?

texts: With more and more data science students being interested in collaborative communities like Kaggle, and with faculty constantly being asked to do more with the same amount of resources, there seems to my naive mind an opportunity for a more symbiotic relationship.  These community's successes are evidence that many students (in the broad sense of the word, at least) are seeking additional opportunities to reinforce their education through applied learning.  Beyond the obvious ethical issues that might arise from a sort of indentured service, I am curious why more professors don't offer opportunities for students to practice and realize the practical application of their skills by doing even some of the exploratory or data clean up grunt work that most research requires, as this might provide them more time to engage in higher value add activities.


texts:
I have built a school where English, Mathematics and Georgian language are taught to minorities living in the Republic of Georgia.  I named the school as "Alternative Education Center".  This is (09-27-2019) our second year, and last year we had an average 50 students.  For me, the school is non-profit, which means I have not taken money for myself, but the school is a registered business entity in Georgia.

ATM offers good quality education for the lowest possible tuition, and we have been paying our teachers twice more than public schools in Georgia.

This year, I am planning to offer IT courses, which includes software and web development lessons.  Plus, we will open a "tech park" where young minds gather and develop their projects.

However, we have three classes with very limited conditions. The land where our school is belongs to a friend, and he is willing to donate the land to ATM, but I need funding to construct a new building that will fit to education standard.

How do I find funding?!


texts: How does the US plan to avoid research falling into Chinese hands work?

texts:
U.S. doubles down on protecting university research from China
Apparently the US is taking action to "prevent sensitive technology from being stolen by the Chinese military". The article doesn't go into many details of what that action is, but it does say:

The NSCAI [National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence] recommendations would require more disclosure on research funding and partnerships at universities. It also proposes creating a database of individuals and entities to flag risks in advance.

How does this plan work? In principle everyone is a security risk, since everyone can defect or seek to immigrate to China. Even if we neglect defections/immigration, unless US universities stop admitting Chinese students or exclude Chinese postdocs/visiting researchers entirely, they could always take their knowledge back with them. Checking the source of resource funding and partnerships doesn't seem effective either - one could always change funding sources or partnerships after the PhD/postdoc etc is over.


texts: What unforeseen dangers might exist when choosing an open access textbook for a new subject?

texts:
I must create a new module (first time to do from scratch). In the past, I've had either existing course descriptions, textbooks, etc. as a base on which to structure a module which is new for me. This time, I have nothing (blank canvas).

My thought is to use an open access textbook and some initial looking makes me believe I can find something either usable as-is or that will allow me to mix-and-match the chapters into something suitable.

I'm concerned about what, if any, dangers might not be obvious to me at this stage but might cause significant problems for the students, myself, or the department later (say, after the semester begins).

After reading this question, I still find myself wondering.

If anyone has designed a course using an open access textbook in the past, what are the key considerations which should be considered for first-timers?


texts: Where can I find statistics on the average number of papers published while working on a PhD?

texts:
I'm interested in this, because I want to know if there is something like an average number that we might find.

I am looking for statistics on the number of papers published while working on a PhD, preferably by general field of study (e.g. Physics, History, etc., not "Quantum Electrodynamics") and the country where the PhD was completed. If possible, the duration of PhD and amount of course work should also be parameters.


texts:
I answered a challenging question in one of my courses, I sent my answer through an email. The professor replied that I won a gift card for buying stuff from the university.
It has been 2 months he has not issued promised gift card.
Is it normal if I ask him to issue it?
If yes what is the appropriate way?
or should I forget that gift card?


texts: How to keep track of deliverables for supervised students when you supervise many students?

texts:
Background: In my area, academics often supervise a large number of students (e.g., 10, 15, 20 students). Many of these students are doing a small thesis as part of either their fourth year or coursework masters.
I am able to keep all these projects in my head, I do have documentation around each project, and I generally have a good understanding of what needs to be done next on each project. I can also see that one of the skills that a student learns whilst doing a thesis is project management and self-control.

However, I feel like I could develop a better system for recording and managing deadlines and deliverables on student projects. Such deliverables include concrete assessments (e.g., assessed literature reviews; the thesis; project proposals) and informal but required steps (e.g., finalising study materials; ethics applications; literature reviews; preliminary training; etc.). Such a system could let me know when a student has not provided an agreed deliverable by a given date. It would probably also have to accommodate some of the more fluid activities that unfold over time (e.g. data collection; data analysis; write-up; etc.).

A few features that would be good:

It shouldn't be too onerous too maintain
It should notify when deadlines are not met
It should highlight current tasks
It should integrate into the supervision process and make it easy to share deadlines with students
It should accommodate different kinds of deliverables (process; outcomes)

Question

What is a good system for helping a supervisor oversee deliverables and deadlines for a large number of research students?


texts:
I have some questions regarding secondary citations (in an computer-science research paper that should be published in a journal). I know that they should be avoided when possible, but it is not always that easy. More specifically, my situation is this:

Article A says:

  The average value of ... in ... is ... [B]. [C]’s study says that in ... the value is ...

This statement is exactly what i need for my paper.
If I read [B] and [C], I see that [A] cited them correctly and if I would have found these two other articles myself, I would have written the same.

Now how to cite this in a correct way?

  [B] and [C] say (cited in [A]) ...

and do a “bad” secondary quote;

  [B] and [C] say ...

and neglect the investigation done by [A] and peform citation plagiarism;

  [A] says ...

and neglect that the data was the achievement of [B] and [C].

  [A] says based on the findings of [B] and [C] ...

and do a secondary quote again.


texts: Does it look good to have a paper without your PhD advisor as an author?

texts:
I am a senior PhD student in computer science. I have published several papers with my PhD advisor already.

Someone told me that, when applying for faculty positions, it looks good to have a peer-reviewed paper without your advisor listed as an author. I guess it implies that you can complete a solid project without someone holding your hand. Is this true?


texts: Publishing approaches that do not outperform the state of the art on the field

texts:
In the papers I usually read, it is common to present a new idea or an optimization of an existing idea that outperforms the known approches in the field.

Can a paper reporting that a new Idea or method (presented in this latter) doesn't outperform the existing approaches on the same fields be accepted for publication?

I'm asking this because I think that such papers could help the community to know that these approaches cannot improve the current state of the art on the field.


texts: After publishing many articles in the last few years, why does my work have few citations?

texts:
During last 3 years I have published 17 articles, but I have only 15 citations (excluding self citation), which I find disappointing.

My articles have 100s of downloads almost every month.  They seem to be in  high quality journals: 2 articles are in Q1 journals (i.e., a journal that is among the top 25% based on avg JIF percentiles), 5 in Q2 journals (i.e., 25-50th percentile), and the rest in Q3 journals (i.e., 50-75th percentile).  I share my work on LinkedIn and upload them on arXiv as well, so I don't think  reach is the problem.  I work in the field of networks and security.

Does this mean that my work is not worthy enough?  Or I am missing something in attracting the research community to cite my work?


texts: Should I use abbreviations such as PDE or DN map in a paper?

texts:
Should I write PDE or partial differential equation in the body of a mathematics paper? In a similar way, should I expand Dirichlet-to-Neumann map or write DN map or DtN map?

A somewhat related question Can I use abbreviations in the title of a research paper? considers only the title; I am more interested in the rest of the paper.


texts: Finished a research paper and feel horrible now

texts:
We've all heard of postpartum depression, though I'm not a woman so I have no idea what it's really like.

I am wondering if there is any medical/psychological evidence to support similar (reported) feelings after the completion of a big research project.

This is my (I'm the sole author each time) fourth time sending a paper to a journal after spending countless hours working to finalize the draft.
 This typically involves a frenzy at the end where I work 12 hours a day trying to perfect the paper. This is in addition to the stress incurred while actually creating the research  (in my case, mathematics) in the first place.

Each time I finish a paper, including my most recent, I have feelings of emptiness  and anxiety.  I'm not here for medical advice, I'd just like to know if anyone is aware of some scientific basis for these emotions.


texts:
I have joined an institute as an assistant professor from some time. I have done my PhD in computational mathematics. I am very much interested in research and spend lot of time and I really enjoy it. During my Ph.D I have done my research independently as well as some time with Ph.D supervisor. During my Ph.D  I use to spend large amount of my time in research. The problem is now I have been involved in academic and other activities, so I am not able to spend that amount of time. I am not able to collaborate with others as there is no collaborator in the university.

Question : How to do research after Ph.D when you have less time?


texts: Should I send a 60 percentile Math GRE score to Applied Math PhD Program?

texts:
I didn't do well on math GRE(700, 60 percentile) and I have no time to retake the test. I am applying for applied math phd programs(some examples include Rice CAAM, Upenn ACMS, JHU's Department of Applied Mathematics & Statistics or my dream school Stanford ICME), and almost all of these programs do not require GRE subject but they recommend me to send.

I know that this score will definitely hurt me a lot if I am applying for pure math programs, but someone said that applied math is different. So I wonder if my score will have seriously negative effect? Should I send the score to those programms?

Thank you, I appreciate any advice!


texts: Received a book review request, how to know if publisher is credible?

texts: I received a book review request from a publishing company called PACKT. How do I know if the company and book is credible and if the effort would be worthy?


texts: What is the best way to publicize the existence of a fraudulent journal?

texts:
Earlier this year, I was anonymously informed of the existence of a fraudulent journal, Reactive Oxygen Species.  When I investigated, I found that the "Editorial Team" of "international experts" consisted of three rather unlikely names -- middle initial Z -- and on further investigation, I found that none had any internet presence whatsoever that was not connected to the journal: they were fictitious.  The Editorial Board had 280 members, though the journal had only published about 150 papers in its history. A large fraction were from minor institutions in underdeveloped countries.  In fact, I joined the Editorial Board myself simply by registering on the site.

It turned out that the journal had an "Honorary Editor".  Coincidentally, his name was on 20+ of the 150 published papers, and his wife's name was on another 20+.  He even co-authored papers with the fictitious editorial board members.

The journal is owned by a for-profit corporation registered with the North Carolina Secretary of State.  The address of record is the Honorary Editor's home address, and he files the annual reports.

I am aware that this scholar is the subject of an ethics investigation at his home institution.  However,   even if he is dismissed as I hope, he will be under no pressure to dismantle the journal.  The journal very clearly claims to be peer-reviewed, and there is the obvious danger that honest scholars may rely on the research.  There is also a danger that legitimate authors will continue to submit and publish papers to their own future embarrassment.

In addition, he (or someone) has recently removed the fictitious names and his own from the masthead, probably owing to the investigation (not COVID-19.)  He is now advertising for applications for Editorial Team positions.  It turns out that even the position of Honorary Editor still exists and is open to applicants.  There is some danger that a naive assistant professor somewhere will see an opportunity for advancement, when it is just the opposite.
It might seem fanciful to think that anyone would fall for this, but he and his wife have held NIH grants, and he holds adjunct appointments at four or five institutions.

So my question is: what should I do to let as many people as possible know not to rely on papers in this journal, not to submit papers, and not to involve themselves with the journal in any way?


texts: Faculty (lecturer in UK) interview presentation - what to include around teaching?

texts:
I have been shortlisted for a job interview later this month for a lectureship in a UK university. The interview will consist of a presentation and a panel interview.

As per the HR's email, the presentation should talk about how I can contribute to the school's research, teaching and engagement. My question is, what to include in the teaching part? I will specify the school's existing modules that I can cover. Meanwhile, should I suggest one or two modules that I can develop but are not in the school's teaching portfolio yet? Or should I not include this in the presentation, but simply wait until the panel interview bring up this?

I'd like to show that I have done some research on the school's teaching programmes. But I don't want to sound like I am challenging the school's existing programmes. The job description does not mention the development of new modules, either.

Any comments and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


texts: How much of advantage do US citizens have in American academia?

texts: How much of a disadvantage are you if you are not a US citizen, but want to enter American academia? It seems Americans have lots of advantages starting early, including NSF graduate fellowships, continuing with more access to DARPA money, US-citizen specific awards like PECASE, etc.


texts: How to build relationships with professors in such a way that results in good letters of recommendation?

texts:
I know a lot of questions are asked about letters of recommendation, but I was unable to find anything on this site or the internet in general that spoke to the particular issue of how to build the sort of relationship with a professor that results in good letters of recommendation. I get that you should of course do pretty well in the class and participate and go to office hours and be generally easy to work with and stuff (and ideally do research with the professor), but apart from that, is there nothing more you can do?

I know some might be eager to answer that you shouldn't be so mercenary about it (i.e. you should just organically be interested in the material and the professor and the good letter of recommendation will follow), so allow me to provide an example where this did not work out. I got a letter of recommendation from my favorite professor in college, which for some reason I was able to see (it was about a decade ago, so I forget how; I had waived my right to see it). Even though I thought he liked me (I went to office hours multiple times; I had two classes with him, both of which I did well in; he encouraged me to go for a fellowship; he even went out of his way to see a play I was in), the letter was the most basic "this student was in my class" sort of letter you could possibly imagine. It was such an incredible slap in the face.

Maybe he was just a jerk and that's that. Maybe I should have asked for a "strong" letter of recommendation (which I didn't know at the time was what you were supposed to ask). But regardless, given the vagaries of human relationships on top of the limitations of your own abilities, how is it even possible to get a strong letter of recommendation?


texts: Citing a Video Game in Harvard Format Format

texts:
I have to write an Extended Essay as part of my IB diploma, and I'm writing mine on the episodic adventure game of Life is Strange as an English EE. One of the issues I've encountered during the writing process was citing the game correctly.

After consulting online sources, these are the two citations I ended up with for two versions/episodes of the same video game (it has 5 episodes in total):

Square Enix 2015, Life Is Strange: Chrysalis, video game, PlayStation 4, Square Enix.

Square Enix 2015, Life Is Strange: Out of Time, video game, PlayStation 4, Square Enix.

Are these correct? I looked at how the cited it in Wikipedia, and looks quite different:

Dontnod Entertainment (30 January 2015). Life Is Strange. Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360. Square Enix. Level/area: Chrysalis.

Dontnod Entertainment (24 March 2015). Life Is Strange. Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360. Square Enix. Level/area: Out of Time.

The guideline I followed, however, was the one I found from the Harvard citation site, which states that I should include: Publisher year of publication, Title of game, video game, Console type, Publisher or Distributor in Australia if different to publisher, Place of publication if known. Any special credits and other information that might be useful can be noted after the citation.

I still have several issues that I can't find the answer to from the site though.

Firstly, should I include the developers in the citation? Dontnod entertainment was the developer of the game, but I'm not sure if it fits within the category of "special credits or other useful information".

Second, how do I go about making an in-text citation for a specific chapter/part of the game? Would it be acceptable to have something like (Square Enix 2015, ch. 4)?

Third, if the year of publication is the same for all episodes, how do I make their in-text citation so that a person could differentiate between the two? For example, if I wanted to make an in-text citation for the two games cited above, they would both be (Square Enix 2015) would it not? What should I do so that a person would know that I'm citing two separate episodes? My guess is that I should add a letter after the year i.e. (Square Enix 2015a) similar to how a letter should be added when someone is citing two different books from the same author and with the same publication year, but I'm still uncertain.

And... that's about it. Hopefully. But yeah, I would really appreciation it if someone miraculously has some of the answers to the questions, because the librarian at my school isn't experienced with referencing a video game, and I really want to have all my citations done correctly : I.

Thank you for your attention!


texts: What should I do when my students use their phones in class?

texts: On the first day of class, I told my students that they are not allowed to use their phones in class. However, a lot of them use their cell phones and don't pay attention in class. How should I deal with this problem? Do you let students use their phones during the lecture?


texts: Are rejections usually quick for papers submitted to journals?

texts: When submitting papers to journals, I understand from experience that acceptance can take quite some time (on the order of several months), even when a reviewer is immediately assigned to the paper.  But can a referee usually tell fairly quickly if the article should be rejected?  Are there any horror stories of waiting several months after a reviewer agrees to look at your paper, only to get a rejection letter?


texts: Travel grants for International students in the US?

texts:
I am an international student in the United States (originally from India) and have been here for my PhD in Mechanical engineering since Fall ’06. I've attended a bunch of conferences all in the US and Canada and mainly the ASME or APS DFD (division of fluid dynamics) meetings. As I get close to finishing my PhD, my source of funding (NSF) is running low!

As an international student, I find it difficult to find institutions that provide travel grants for conferences in the USA conducted by organizations such as the APS, ASME, AIAA etc. It is also unfortunate that India doesn't have travel grant opportunities for Indians students outside India.

Does anyone have an idea on where I might look? I have two conferences coming up: the ASME Fluids engineering conference in July 2012 and the APS DFD in November 2012 that I'd like to get travel grants for.


texts: Pros and Cons of assigning homework for large classes

texts:
In small classes (with <50 students) I have mostly had positive experience for assigning homework. The homework allows the students to better learn the concepts and to better prepare for the exams. Usually, the score of my homework has been 10% of the total grade. Usually the homework are graded by a teaching assistant.

What are the pros and cons of assigning the homework for large classes?

What are the effective methods for assigning homework for such classes?

(If the subject matters, I means a calculus class of about 200 students).


texts: Would students feel uncomfortable if I include in my lecture a quote which is somewhat sexually suggestive?

texts:
In my lecture, I am thinking of using a famous quote by Winston S. Churchill:

  A good speech should be like a woman's skirt;
  long enough to cover the subject and short enough to create interest.

I like this quote because it clearly expresses the idea that
while you should go over the important details in your speech,
your speech should not be overly detailed.

However, I don't know if some of the students may feel uncomfortable
if I use this quote in class.

Question:
Should I play safe and avoid using this quote in class,
in case some students are offended?

What I decided to do

Although the Churchill quote is quite memorable,
I agree with the answer which says:

  Whether you actually believe that or not, telling that joke gives students the impression that you do. That perception makes the classroom environment more unpleasant for a female student and less conducive to learning.

I will find another way to express my idea without the quote.

In response to comments

Several commenters have pointed out that:

  My general advice is if you need to ask someone else if it is appropriate, you already know you will get into trouble.

That is good advice.
I had a "gut feeling" that it was not a good idea to use this quote;
partly I asked this question because I wanted to understand
why it was not a good idea.


texts: Creating video recordings of R Studio and R console

texts:
I am teaching a course of Methods in the Study of Animal Behaviour and, of course, a large part of the course is dedicated to Statistics and R scripting. COVID-19 emergency and lockdowns are pointing the finger to deliver our teaching using video recordings or online streaming of lessons. I've used various popular apps like Zoom, Skype, and Webex, to give lessons online. I have also been recording my screen using QuickTime and other software. Still, I've never been fully satisfied by the quality of the results when it came to recording the R studio interface. With the perspective of having a semester of full courses online, this worries me a lot. I was wondering whether someone more experienced than me would be happy to share good practices for teaching students using R and R studio via videos, possibly including video editing or the use of different programs for screen recording. Thanks in advance.

Stay Safe!


texts: What is a reasonable rate to charge for editing someone else's thesis?

texts: I'm a PhD student in engineering. My supervisor would like to pay me to edit a colleague's thesis for grammar and form. He asked me to look around for the going rate and let him know, but I'm not really sure of what figure to go by. Some thesis editing services are run by people with PhDs in literature and charge a lot, and others are run by upper year undergraduates and only ask for a small fee. What would be a reasonable rate to charge for such service in North America?


texts:
I'm a sophomore undergrad and had approached a professor from my department towards the end of my freshman year to work under a project under him in the summer. However, the projects he supervised required learning (I didn't have the necessary background for research projects) and hence rather than just a summer project it was going to be a longer project. Due to COVID, I did some tasks and communicated twice within 2 weeks but ended up replying to him after 3 months during the next time because (external factors, I said in a mail to him) I was just very confused about the work. He still replied and confirmed if I was interested in the work but around the same time my college resumed virtually and I got slumped with a lot of work. I'm still confused about the task and I didn't get to work on it at all. It's been again 2 months and my university's schedule keeps me so busy that I feel it'll be bad if I reply with no work. I get a lot of smaller slots to work rather than a larger slot. The latter helps me focus if I'm learning something new or thinking originally, the former do not. I really feel like it's a disrespect to him even though I didn't mean to. I really want to do the work. Is there anything I can do to salvage this situation?
Usually, at my university, newly sophomore students do not get to work on research projects under professors due to lack of necessary background. I had the opportunity to learn too, I feel like I wasted an opportunity on hand.


texts: How to stop hopping the learning chain and actually begin somewhere?

texts:
Here is what I feel whenever I find something interesting and feel like pursuing it :

Oh so I like X (Computer Graphics), let me read up papers/books about it.
Ok let me begin with reading up Y (OpenGL)
But Y needs W (Linear Algebra)
Well reading up Z (Probability) first makes more sense.
Umm, you shouldn't jump to Z without learning U (Permutation/Combination).
And how come I forget about reading V (Number theory)
And what not..

I always end up searching and reading up "Best books to begin A/B/C/D.." instead of actually making myself begin somewhere. This consumes all my energy and I never really start.

Q. Have others faced this ? Q. How do you handle this and actually begin somewhere ?

Any help would be really appreciated.

Background : I am a working professional, with Masters in Computer Science (fascinated with Computer Graphics etc). Its been two years since my masters but I still kind of miss academia, my thesis work and other interesting stuff I did there. My current work is also pretty interesting and partially overlaps with my interest areas. However, other than work, I would really want to continue doing things related to my masters side by side (and MAY BE take up a Phd somewhere down the line). But the never ending feeling of not knowing anything takes over.

Its not that I am being forced to study any of this. Its purely for my personal interests that I want to pursue it.

Update 1 :

Thank you so much everyone for such overwhelming response. I really like several answers and points raised but haven't marked any yet because I am in the process of trying some and would update if something actually works for me. Meanwhile, I also found this talk really helpful :

https://www.ted.com/talks/tim_urban_inside_the_mind_of_a_master_procrastinator


texts: Trouble choosing an appropriate arXiv category for a paper

texts:
I am having trouble choosing a category for a paper to upload to the arXiv.

The paper gives some results concerning substochastic matrices, M-matrices, and algorithms to determine whether a matrix is an M-matrix.

I am having trouble choosing an appropriate arXiv category. Certainly, if there was a category for matrix analysis, it would undoubtedly be the right choice. There are a few possible approximations which I list below, along with some reasoning.

math.RA (Rings and Algebras): I often see papers concerning matrix analysis here (C^{n x n} is a ring, after all).
math.FA (Functional Analysis): Matrix analysis is certainly a subset of functional analysis, but I'm not sure if this feels quite in spirit with the category.
math.NA (Numerical Analysis): M-matrices appear frequently in the numerical analysis literature.
cs.DM (Discrete Mathematics): algorithms in the paper analyze and manipulate the adjacency digraph associated with a matrix.


texts:
I completed my dissertation a few weeks ago, and submitted it the night before it was due and thus did not check it on turnitin etc for similarity reports. However, on Friday night I received an e-mail basically saying that my work was being 'withheld' from marking as a result of an 'allegation of academic misconduct'. They did not tell me what this allegation was, and all that was attached to this e-mail was the University's general statement of academic misconduct and what it can entail, and a letter addressed to me saying the exact same as the e-mail.
I looked on turnitin, and there is a similarity report of 39%, though it is entirely just the reference list at the end, and the ethics clearance documents (which take up about half the page count and had been previously submitted in order to have them checked months ago).
I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this sort of thing; for example, if it was automatic due to the high similarity score? They said that I won't know the verdict until I either get summoned to a discussion to essentially fight my case, or I get given my grade back, which is making me increasingly anxious as I do not know what the allegation would be for, if not for the similarity score (and since it's been three weeks since I submitted it, I would assume it would have been flagged up for that automatically before this.)
Any kind of help/reassurance is greatly appreciated.


texts: Universities accepting non-cs background students to masters programs in cs

texts:
My greetings to all users.

I am a student with my UG in Electronics and Communications, planning to enroll in a masters program in computer science (preferably with thesis, but open to coursework option as well). In my UG, I had the following courses related to mathematics and computer science:

Maths:
1. Calculus
2. Discrete Mathematics
3. Optimization techniques
4. Numerical Analysis
5. Information theory and coding

Computers:
1. Computer Programming (basic C)
2. Computer Architecture

Apart from these, I had Data communication also.

Apart from US universities which offer flexibility to non-cs background students to enroll in MS in CS, do Canadian and European universities offer this flexibility also? I visited some university websites, and they have listed some courses like Data structures and Algorithms, DBMS, Operating systems, which I did not have in my UG. Does this mean elimination therein or do I still have a chance?


texts: Publications and International Standard for bibliographic references

texts:
I'm applying for a job which requires the list of all publications.
Quoting the call:

  Publications over the last 10 years in chronological order within each category following the International Standard for bibliographic references with DOI whenever possible.

I'm a bit confused because I have no clue how to write my publications in this format.
Since I'm a computer scientist I usually take the bibtex from databases like DBLP or Scholar, but I'm not sure if it's equivalent for this International Standard.
Do you have any suggestions?