texts:
I'm applying to grad school (Fall 2018) and am searching for Professors in a specific Computer Science field that I'm interested in who work at universities relatively close to where I currently live.

I have been reading publications by professors in this field. I've been looking at authors they've co-published with and searching which universities the co-authors work at to try to find any near to where I live.

I was wondering, could I automate this process? Search through a co-authorship graph and then maybe do some web scraping to figure out which locations Professors are based. But while it seems there are many sites that allow you to search publications and see co-authorship (Google scholar, Microsoft Academic) these don't allow you to download their data set. I also found https://api.crossref.org, but this doesn't have unique identifiers for authors (either same author appears with variations in their name, or different authors are indistinguishable).

Is there a good public dataset (or query-able database) of publication co-authorship that has unique identifiers for authors?


texts: An article on Martin Luther's "Ninety-Five Theses" indicates that he posted the document on the church door according to "university custom". The reference included indicates various books. I recall hearing that this was the source of the public defense of some university degrees, but I cannot recall the source. Is this attribution correct or apocryphal?


texts: Practicality of attaining a law degree despite difficulty remembering facts?

texts:
I am > 40 years old and have been heavily involved in IT for my adult life. 20-25 years ago I successfully studied 2 years of Information Technology at a polytechnic (I've always been good with computers).   I have subsequently enjoyed a moderately successful career as a systems administrator.

I am fairly certain I have a mental deficiency with respect of memorizing lots of facts - although in my current profession I have been largely able to compensate for this by having strong working models based on fundamental principles, and - of course - ready access to the Internet to help me over memory related hurdles.

I have a solid understanding (for a lay person) of the basis of law and a fairly analytical mind, and would like to study law part time in New Zealand or Australia - either online or in Auckland.

Is attaining a law degree "down under" with my impediment for recalling facts realistic, or does my difficulty recalling the names and minutia of case law by rote preclude me from completing a degree which would allow me to pass the bar?


texts: How to find h-index in microsoft academic?

texts:
I am wondering how do we find h-index here:
http://academic.research.microsoft.com/


texts: I am missing deadlines for coping with anxiety. What should I do?

texts: Ever since I knew about anxiety five months ago, I started going easy with life, started to distract myself from all the stressors. I used to be very alert before deadlines previously and hence it used to interfere with my life severely. Now that I try to relax and use stress handling techniques, I feel better but I am missing deadlines. Today I got the rejection letter for a paper I submitted, which I know happened because of going easy on the deadline. Now what should I do to balance both sides?


texts: Charisma vs. credentials in academic hiring

texts:
While it's clear that having a sterling CV with lots of high profile papers will be beneficial to getting hired, I often hear from other faculty that, when hiring, they are looking for someone who "fits in", "could be a friend", and overall is "nice". These, to me, are ways of saying the person is charismatic, or at least quite pleasant to be around. It is unclear to me how much this is actually true, or said in retrospect to talk up the newly hired person. Here are my questions:

Have you ever been part of a hiring committee (or just hiring a postdoc for your group) when you and/or the committee chose someone who was "friendlier" over someone who had a better CV and/or gave a better talk?
Why did you ultimately make this choice?
In hindsight, do you feel it was the correct choice to make?
Alternatively, if the most credentialed (but possibly less friendly/charismatic) candidate was chosen, what was the discussion about this? Did the relative charisma of the candidates come up when making the decision?


texts: How do I judge a conference's trustworthiness?

texts:
I asked a question here How are travel expenses paid by conferences? , and the answer mentioned that it depends on how well I trust a conference (to pay back expenses).

That raises a new issue - how do I judge a conference's reputation (not in its field but in financial matters). Is there some objective way to judge that?


texts: Common practice for references to articles with different spellings of author's names

texts:
It quite known that the transliteration of names of non-latin-based languages is quite ambiguous: a known example is Chebyshev (where at least 8 different transliterations are accepted, not counting incorrect spellings).

Now suppose that I want to cite three works by the same author: one published in French in one spelling (call it SP1), another in English in another spelling SP2, and the third was published only in his native language (the correct transliteration of the name, according to the current rules, would be SP3).

What is the common practice in this case?

If I preserve the historical spelling of these articles, then it seems that they were written by three different authors.

If I choose one spelling for all three references (I'm tempted to choose SP3), then it historically inaccurate and could lead to problems with finding the referenced article (not all search engines use flexible enough to take into account different spellings).

Any advice would be welcome.


texts: How to cite primary source first found in secondary source?

texts:
I have the following situation (I am in the humanities):

I am writing a paper. In that paper, I several times cite a particular scholar's book. Now, in that book, this scholar cites (not quotes) a particular historical primary source.

As this looked interesting to me, I traced down this primary source (a diary entry), but I found it in a source collection different from that cited by the author. Moreover, when looking at the original source, I discovered that it contains additional content not summarized by that scholar that is useful for me. So I went ahead and directly quoted the primary source (including bits not mentioned by the author) in my paper.

Now, in the footnote, I am currently just providing a reference to the original source, not to the mentioned author where I first found a reference to that source. My question is whether this is okay?

According to the Chicago Manual (my citation style) and sources on the web, my understanding is that I only need to provide an additional comment in the form of "Source X, cited/quoted in ....." if I do not actually trace down the original source. So, it seems to me that what I am doing is fine.

Still, as especially the advice on the internet is somewhat unclear and mostly jut designed to discourage citing of primary sources without having checked them, I thought I could also ask here.

Thanks!


texts: What is the best English equivalent for the Spanish 'Profesor Contratado Doctor'?

texts:
This is a question about academic ranks or positions. I am interested in knowing the best equivalence for the Spanish 'Profesor Contratado Doctor' in English language (UK, US, etc.).

Description of 'Profesor Contratado Doctor':

tenured (i.e. permanent) position,
not a civil servant,
not an entry-level position to the tenured track,
is the previous position to 'Profesor Titular de Universidad' (which is sort of equivalent to the Associate Professor position).

So it is something between Assistant Professor (or Lecturer) and Associate Professor. Is it a sort of 'Non-civil-servant Associate Professor', 'Senior Assistant Professor', 'Assistant Professor with PhD'...?

According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_in_Spain), 'Profesor Contratado Doctor' can be expressed as Associate Professor (but not a civil servant yet). I am writing the current question becauase I want to be sure about whether Associate Professor would be the best way to translate this Spanish position or not. I would like not to mislead anyone when I say I am an Associate Professor (meaning 'Profesor Contratado Doctor'). At least, I would like to mislead as little as possible.

EDIT:

I've seen in Wikipedia and also in this other thread here that mapping academic titles or positions from one country to another is really very difficult and there are too many particular cases.

So, maybe the point is finding a neutral, generic classification, something that can be understood for everyone. Therefore, assuming that we have the following kind of generic tenured positions (sorted in ascending order):

Assistant professor (entry)
Associate professor
Full professor (top)

what would be a name for something between 1 and 2?

EDIT:

More facts:

In this WordReference thread they conclude that Associate Professor is the most appropriate translation.
This sort of official PowerPoint presentation states that 'Profesor Contratado Doctor' is equivalent to 'Assistant Professor (tenure track)'.
This report says that a 'Profesor Contratado Doctor' is a Lecturer.


texts: Is it customary for a student to reply to professor's email within 24 hours?

texts:
I got an email from professor M asking me if I will have time for a tea with her on Friday, and then I came up with this question:

Even if it is an important email from your professor (e.g. select your thesis or advisor), when you need some time to think before you make the final decision, how fast should a student reply to the a professor's email before the student is considered a lazy student, or a student who tries to slack off in studies?

If I write the reply to my professor's email after 3 days, will she get angry or even unfriend me?


texts: Strange/impolite to request a faculty I've not met before to have a look at a postdoc research proposal I've written?

texts:
I'm submitting postdoctoral applications to a few places to receive external grants, and I've written a proposal all by myself. However, I'm planning to come back to academia after two years in industry that didn't go very well, and also my postdoc application subject (statistical machine learning) is significantly different from my PhD thesis topic (differential geometry and low dimensional topology) and also I was forced to divide my time in the US and Europe (in Europe now and planning to stay that way), so I'm feeling academically isolated and I'm not fully confident that the research proposal will generate interests.
So I think if I can contact a faculty member who works in the relevant directions, (s)he takes a look and gives me her/his honest opinion, I'll benefit a lot from it. However, since I'm academically isolated because of the reasons mentioned above, my only chance to write to a faculty who could be kind enough to take a look. Just to make sure, I'm not planning to work with her/him directly - I would if I could but geographical constraints prevent me. So will it be strange or impolite to try my luck this way? And what will be the best way I can write my email and its subject to make sure (s)he takes a look?
P.S. As mentioned in comments, no, my PhD advisor can't do anything here, even though he's a very accomplished pure mathematician, and I've all the respect for him.
P.P.S. The real problem is: I don't know people in person who do research in this topic.


texts: How to find balance between overconfidence and lacking confidence?

texts:
Main Question:

I am a current undergraduate student who just attended my first conference and gave a podium talk on my research from last summer. I tried talking with a researcher who is well-known in the field about his views and he was rather dismissive.  I am not sure how I should have handled the situation at the time or in reflection.

On one hand, his view is likely shared by only a small minority of people in the field, the view that no machine learning should be used in healthcare unless it is explainable. He proposes we should use methods such as symbolic logic AI instead (what he did most of his career).

On the other hand, I am just an undergraduate in the field and he is a very established researcher.  I would expect him to be more correct than me.

1) How should I view the interaction?  Should I assume I am probably wrong? Should I assume that he is wrong?  Another option...?

2) In the future, should I press the debate more rather than only asking a few questions and thanking him for the info?  Would this be impolite at a conference?  Would it be an unwise career move?

Supplementary Info/Thoughts:

I find this balance of overconfidence vs underconfidence confusing in general for academics.  As background, I am fairly successful relative to others my age.  I have several first author publications, triple major, high gpa, and some awards.  I was told by my adviser I would be a strong contender for the top PhD programs in my field.  So regarding my placement relative to others my age, I view myself near the top, but not an outlier.

Placing myself and therefore my possible contributions regarding people older than me is more difficult.  It is easier to place myself in formal sciences such as math where if I disagree with a senior research then there is a 99% chance I am wrong and they can prove it to me definitively. However, in less clear-cut fields such as health informatics, I am sometimes unconvinced by the arguments of a more senior researcher.

Should I raise my disagreement when this occurs?  How long should I debate the issue if we don't agree?  If we don't agree in the end should I assume I'm wrong?

I must sometimes come up with ideas that are both new and correct as evidence by my publications.  However, given how much more likely a senior mathematician is to be correct than me in the event we disagree, I am not sure what to do/think when I disagree with senior researchers in fields such as health informatics.

Edit: If anyone would be interested in discussing symbolic AI vs ML in healthcare I would be glad to do it.  I currently feel unresolved since I could not do it during the conference and would like to know what points I am failing to see.


texts: Need a thesis extension due to mental illness, but supervisor seems unwilling. How to proceed?

texts:
"Prependum" clarification:
Strictly speaking, the supervisor has no actual authority in this decision (I think)-- it is between myself and the course convenor. However, I feel that `overruling' my supervisor by appealing to the convenor is unprofessional, and would inevitably affect the working relationship. This could be very counterproductive, and make an extension somehow pointless without the willing agreement of my supervisor. More importantly, they are the only potential academic referee (who knows me well) for use in a PhD application.

I know there is a similar question here, but I am looking for advice in my particular hairy circumstance.

The Issue
I am currently writing an Honours Thesis in an Australian university due in less than a month. Since the end of last year, I have suffered from severe depression (been to hospital; self-harm; seeing a psychiatrist; etc) and have made this known to the Honours convenor who has pre-approved any reasonable extension I might ask for.
The problem is with my thesis supervisor. They are highly averse to extending the project, as they are a very busy person. I understand this; it is not their responsibility. However, they also believe that obtaining an extension would be inequitable for other Honours students. I have made them fully aware of my condition, and stressed to them the magnitude of the impact it has on my studies. For instance, I (conservatively) estimated that I work less than half of the amount of time I would be able to if not afflicted. I also have had a meeting with them with several visible cuts on my arm.
Their response to my concerns is that regardless of my condition, I have made significant progress. They believe I am capable of obtaining a High Distinction with my current progress. It is apparent from their other comments that they do not understand what depression truly is (i.e. "everyone gets nervous at the end of an Honours thesis").
At this point, I feel very pressured by my supervisor into submitting my thesis on time, but I do not think this is fair. I think that regardless of their perception of my academic performance, I have had dramatically less opportunity than other students due to my severe condition. However, it seems that mental illness is so poorly understood in this situation that what I think is a reasonable and fair extension (i.e. 6 months onto a 6 month thesis) is probably never going to happen in my institution, despite my gathering of evidence over the last six months in the form of letters from a psychologist.
On one hand, I recognize that it's not fair to ask my supervisor to continue supervising for the duration of an extension (and neither do I think they will willingly). On the other hand, I have been open and clear about the possibility of this happening from the very beginning of my project, and I believe they are seriously wrong about what they deem equitable. Their claim that an extension would be inequitable makes it clear to me that they are judging my condition based on my academic performance rather than on the actual opportunity I have had.

The Question
I'm really unsure what to do in this situation and would appreciate advice. Here are options I've considered:

With the aid of my psychologist, push for a significant extension that I believe to be equitable. This is problematic, as it is difficult even for me to judge how long that should be. Furthermore, my supervisor probably won't be available. If they are, they will be so reluctantly and perhaps begrudgingly.

Concede to my supervisor's wish for me to finish on time, and possibly end up with ~HD anyway.

Obtain a short extension (~1-2 months) and spend that time refining my thesis without the aid of my supervisor.


texts: Is it OK to exclude 'extra courses' from the GPA reported in my CV?

texts:
I am a PhD student in a physical science major. I finished ALL of my required courses. Assume my current GPA is 3.5. Currently, I am taking 'extra' courses from another engineering department. Some of these courses are indirectly related to my research, but some are completely unrelated (am taking them for pure personal interests).

Now, say I got less than 3.5 in these course. My official University Transcripts will include these courses and report a GPA of less than 3.5.

However, in my CV, I plan not to do so and exclude these courses, and report 3.5, nothing less. My stand is that these were not required in the first place, and some of them are even not relevant at all. It is not fair for me to have them included.

Is there any problem with this?


texts: Getting a patent after a poster abstract got accepted

texts:
I have submitted a poster abstract with my supervisors. The poster abstract got accepted, but we have not presented the poster yet.  The poster describes a method we have invented and now we consider applying for a patent.
Can we still do this? I know this is not possible if we have published the method in an article, but does an accepted poster abstract count as a publication? I'm a PhD student in Europe.


texts: What is the correct protocol for including peer reviews that I have done in a CV?

texts:
I have been advised that I should include the peer reviews in my CV, particularly when I am applying for academic/research positions.  I am not too sure how to go about this, thus my questions:

Is it ethical to include the full details?  I would imagine that as reviews are anonymous, this would be a no-no.
Should I just say something along the lines "Reviewer: Journal name"?

Also, what section of the CV should this information be included under?


texts: Did my professor properly accommodate my disability?

texts:
In August, I had surgery and shortly thereafter started chemotherapy. Despite being sick, I was only enrolled in 8 credit hours and felt I would be able to handle it. (I did very well in my other classes.)

There was a period shortly after the start of the semester where I got sick from the medication and had a really rough time with homework. I filed for accommodations with the disability coordinator at the school.

I turned in a take-home exam a day late and two homework assignments late. There was no penalty on the exam, but one assignment was reduced by 75% (it was not graded, I just received a flat 25%) and the other was reduced by 50%. I was also yelled at by the professor and had to beg him to take the exam (I was actually in tears saying, "I'm begging you" even though university policy mandated he accept the exam.)

I withdrew from the chemotherapy as a result and my coursework grades significantly improved. However, due to some assignments and an exam being cut from the syllabus, I was unable to recover my grade from the early bit of the semester.

He argues that he felt I was apathetic to the assignments, I did not alert him of my disability, and that he accommodated me by grading the assignments. However, I contacted him early on several times regarding this, but I didn't learn until later that he doesn't read emails (per university policy.)

The disability coordinator made the professor aware and made several attempts to contact him when he was unresponsive to her emails and phone calls. He eventually responded to a letter he received via campus mail. In addition, I attempted to contact him via email. He eventually approached me and expressed that he felt I was apathetic about the assignments.

If my assignments had been graded, I highly doubt I would have received 100% on them. I do feel I performed on par with the others I turned in.

As a side note, he accepted late work with no penalty from other students, but their work was less late than mine.

I contacted the Dean of Students, but unfortunately, the best option is to appeal the grade. The chair contacted the professor multiple times, but the professor maintains he was fair.

My question: Did my professor properly accommodate me? I don't feel as such, but he feels he did. How do I know if he did?

What do I do going forward? It's a really small school and he’s telling everyone how frustrated he his about my complaint, so I feel like even with having submitted a complaint that I've burned a lot of bridges there. I'm a senior and my last course would be with this same professor.


texts: Why are dates (of writing or publication) missing in scientific papers?

texts:
When I read a scientific paper I usually would like to know the point in time when it has been written or publicized. I would expect such a date written near to other meta data like the the author's names.

Unfortunately often these papers lack in such a date. I can't see why. Okay such a paper may be the work of years, but it is publicized at a single point in time. When I wrote my thesis I wrote down the date when I have submitted it to my university for approval.

Such a date is very useful for finding, classifying and evaluating papers.

An example would be this:
https://www.cs.ox.ac.uk/files/6487/pwvault.pdf

The papers I read are in the field of computer science. This may be different in other areas.


texts: Do graduate schools in mathematics typically send out acceptance letters all at once?

texts:
There have been a few grad programs that have sent out acceptances to many people - in particular, Ohio State, UCLA, and GA Tech.

I am wondering if this means that these schools are done accepting students (with the exception of wait-listed students).


texts: No specific license & no copyright transfer agreement: do I retain rights without restrictions?

texts:
I have a question about publishing. If I publish a paper in a journal that does not specify any type of license used, and I am never asked to transfer the copyright.
Apart from this, the journal defines itself as "open" and there is no copyright notice of any kind in the journal's articles.
I think that I could retain all the rights without restrictions. What do you think about this?


texts: What is the name of the college curriculum based around famous politicians?

texts:
I recall encountering some private college schools that offered a fixed curriculum, in which students specifically studied a list of autobiographies written by famous politicians. I believe it had autobiographies by larger-than-life figures, like Churchill, Stalin, Wilson, etc.
What is the name of this college curriculum?


texts: Can dysfunctional graduate admissions processes be improved?

texts:
I am an assistant professor at a lower-tier research university. Recently I learned that my university and department have a dysfunctional system for reading and evaluating applications to our Ph.D. program.

There is no way to read the applications online, or indeed to collect all the applications together in one place so that applications can be compared. Instead, applications were printed out as they arrive, passed around with a comment sheet on top, and then discussed. This happened several times; after each go-around, the files that were just evaluated would disappear, usually to not be seen again.

As my colleague on the committee put it: "While I took notes, it was incredibly difficult to compare people even a week apart. ... Overall the process was much too opaque for me."

This is in stark contrast to our hiring, for which we used MathJobs. This system is designed perfectly: it provides online, secure access to all the applications online. When I was on our hiring committee we individually read applications in detail (and were able to read the files of candidates on our shortlist as frequently as we wishes). We came to meetings well prepared; these meetings were short, to the point, and resulted in excellent hires.

There is a similar site MathPrograms which we could use for graduate admissions, which is also extremely well designed, requires almost no effort to set up, and which costs well under a thousand dollars. If we were allowed to use this, we could evaluate applications much easier without the Graduate School's "help" than with it.

Two questions:

Are graduate admissions systems this way for some "good" reason which I may have overlooked?
As a faculty member, is there any way I can usefully push for using MathPrograms, or some similarly sensible system?


texts: Master of Research (MRes) schools in the U.S.?

texts: Are there brick-and-mortar or online schools that confer Master of Research (MRes)-type degrees in the U.S.?


texts: Avoiding confusion over the term "Research Assistant"

texts:
When applying for non-research related work in the commercial sector, how should confusion be avoided over the term "Research Assistant" being used in a CV?

Are human resources staff at companies, and recruiters, at risk of assuming "research" means market research, as opposed to scientific research, especially if they're skimming through the CV?


texts: Moving to Europe and seeking research assistant work after undergrad / masters - best approaches?

texts:
I have just finished an honours degree in Psychological science in Australia - this is a 3 year bachelors with an additional selective entry 4th year involving 50% coursework and research.  In addition to this I have about a year of research experience across a few different labs and areas.  I'd like to move to somewhere in central / western Europe (e.g. Berlin).  The aim is to eventually do a Phd there (although nobody there ever seems entirely certain whether my degree is eligible or if I need a masters), but ideally I'd like to get some involvement in a lab / institution first.

Does such an aim seem reasonable and achievable, or would I be generally expected to just pursue a Masters / Phd path?  What is the best way to go about finding such a position?

I am pursuing the networking angle, but don't have many contacts in that direction.  I have a sporadic collection of mailing lists and web sites I check, and will turn to 'cold emailing' academics of interest at some point.


texts:
Despite experiencing a lot of drama and negativity at my university, I love my city and hate the idea of relocating. Sometimes I even think of reapplying there just so I could stay in this city (this is its only university) and still attend grad. school, but the negativity would be a lot to deal with. There's another program that seems like a good fit for me, but I think I'd be miserable in another city, even if I enjoyed the program itself.

However, is relocating a necessary part of academic life? For example, with the job market being so tight, I've heard that you have to be willing to move almost anywhere for a job. I've also seen posts where Ph.D. advisors suggest their students apply to specific post docs/jobs etc. Can you specify that you refuse to move from a specific city? Is it even realistic to pursue an academic career if you're not willing to relocate (perhaps even multiple times)?

Edit- I'm from the US


texts: Do new professors typically get paid for course prep done prior to starting their job?

texts:
I will be starting as an Assistant Professor this fall (in the US). My official start date is one week before the start of classes. This means I will need to develop the course during the summer, before I have officially started my position. I asked the department if there was compensation for class prep, and they said there was not because it is included in my job requirements.

Q: Is this the standard for new professors in the US?

I think it's a little odd, as I'm currently working a full-time job and developing a course on top of that will take substantial effort. If I were being paid for class prep, I could leave my current position earlier. I'm not suggesting that I should be paid for subsequent course preps, but I have never been asked to put so much effort into a job before officially starting the position.

I don't hold it against the department-- I don't think they have anything to do with this decision. I would just like to know if this is typical or not.


texts: What content should be on a CV vs. LinkedIn when applying to graduate school?

texts:
I tried asking this elsewhere and got answers from people who do not know the difference between a resume and a CV. I figured academics would.

I ask this question because my LinkedIn is pretty detailed. It has a lot of the same content as my CV, except in the terrible organization enforced by LinkedIn. I figure it might be more effective to use my LinkedIn more like a resume with the highlights, pointing to my CV (which is linked) for extra details. But I'm not sure how to go about it.

For context, I am an undergraduate applying to graduate school. I have many research presentations, awards, and experiences so it is a lot of content to shove on a LinkedIn. I only included content relevant to my research or related technical experience, but it is still a lot to read.


texts: No reply to the referee report from the author of a manuscript

texts: Let assume that a manuscript needs to be revised after referee's report. If there is no reply from the author of manuscript, what happens? What are the rules and next steps in such cases?


texts: Is it acceptable to require a post-doc to teach a course?

texts:
I am an American working on establishing an endowed, permanent post-doctoral fellowship at a university in the UK and am wondering what the usual practices are.

In my case, it would be beneficial to require the fellow to teach a course at the university, but I am wondering if that is acceptable, or whether that will drive away potential candidates that just want to do research. Will having a teaching requirement cause my fellowship to get shunned, or is it a normal thing for fellowships to include a teaching requirement?


texts: How does one determine he has a learning disability?

texts:
How does a graduate student determine if he has a learning disability? Are there any signs to look for? At what point is it worth seeking a professional opinion?

Some people, at least, believe there are a significant number of adults who would be identified as having a learning disability if they were children now. Some of these adults are in academia, and have succeeded academically despite their disability, perhaps through developing good coping mechanisms. Never-the-less, it may be that there are other techniques they have not thought of/come across that would benefit them.

What signs might suggest that this is the case, in a context where past academic success is the norm and future academic success is the expectation?


texts: Switching theoretical base for Ph.D. studies

texts:
I have a Master's Degree in a Humanities/Social Sciences discipline. I'm interested in pursuing a Ph.D. studies within this discipline.

My Master's thesis had a Posthumanist theoretical base. Would it be possible to so to speak "switch lanes" to a methodological-theoretical perspective more aligned with Culture Studies/Sociology?

I do understand that this all depends on circumstances and University orientation, but would it be possible to give a general answer to this question?


texts: High impact journals - Do they always guarantee high quality papers?

texts:
In academia is common to hear the phrase 'publish or perish' and also that your articles have to be of high quality. So e.g. 4 articles in low impact journals worth as 1 article in a well ranked journal.

But then my questions:

Is it always guaranteed the high quality of your papers if you publish in a high impact journal?
Or there can be the possibility that your (theoretical) high quality papers, published in good journals, are actually low quality?
Is it all about number of citations?

I am new to Academia so please forgive my naivety.
Thanks


texts: Does equipment purchased with grants stay with the PI?

texts:
Similar to this question What happens to equipment purchased using a startup package after an academic leaves the university? , I was wondering what happens if the items are not part of a startup package, but instead from grants received.  Is there a universal rule or does this change between universities/countries?

I would like to know about all funding, but if it varies, let's say specifically an industry funded project.

I am not sure if this is relevant, but when receiving grants, I have been told if I were to leave the department, I would be able to transfer the grant to my new location (given the funder agrees).  This was, however, with the grant money itself, and nothing stated about after its completion.


texts: Effective Strategies for writing papers and be more productive?

texts:
Have you found any effective strategies for writing papers which you apply every time? Do you have a system as to how you work? What things have worked for you, what things did not?

If you have any tips on how I could become more productive and produce better papers faster, that would be welcome.

I think I am lacking some structure, and sometimes I am finding it difficult to put it all together, and I am wondering how other people do this.


texts: How to find the list of relevant IEEE journals to publish a paper in?

texts:
If one has research findings in a topic X, and wishes to publish it in one of the many IEEE journals, which is the best way to list the journals that includes X within its scope?

Note that the solution to X might use one or more of frameworks of [A, B ..], where 'A' can covered in the scope of journal J1 and 'B' can be within the scope of journal J2 and so on.

The obvious method might be checking up on the keywords in IEEEXplore and look for journals corresponding to previously published papers that come up. But is there any other way?


texts:
This question is somewhat inspired by the question in When is a supervisor unable to request paper retraction if a paper gets published without her consent?, although I've no reason to suppose that the following situation describes the one prompting that question.

Suppose Alice and Bob do some research together, with Alice providing ~75% of the intellectual contribution (perhaps Alice is Bob's PhD student). Alice writes a draft of the paper, and lists both of them as authors.

Bob does not agree with part of what Alice has written, and says he does not agree to the paper being published in this form. Alice, however, is not willing to remove the offending section. (For the sake of argument, let's assume that neither Alice nor Bob can be said to be objectively 'in the right'.)

Is there any route out of this impasse? Can Alice treat Bob as refusing authorship of the paper, and publish the manuscript without his name?


texts: Does the admission committee for graduate studies look down on foundation courses

texts:
Many universities do not accept international secondary school qualifications unless there is an agreement between countries. The agreement I think compares the standard used in the country of the university (e.g. GCSE A-levels or SQA (Advanced) Highers in the UK) with the qualifications of another country.

International Students with unaccepted qualifications are given a conditional offer in some UK universities. The student has to do a "Foundation Course in ......" in an institution affiliated with the university (an "International College") and by passing with a certain grade, they go to 2nd year of a 4 year bachelor's degree or to 1st year of a 3 year bachelor's.

Beside the topics related to the degree, the foundation course focuses a lot on academic skills such as writing, presenting, note taking etc..
On the university transcript, the first year appears as a "credit transfer".

My question (finally), does the admission committee look down on such certificates even if the student got the bachelor's degree with a high GPA?

If it makes a difference, I would appreciate it if answers are given related to: 1- entry to MS degree 2- direct entry to PhD.


texts: How to approach a professor for an independent study course?

texts: I'm a first year masters student and I want to do an independent study with a professor, because I find some of the first year graduate level courses too easy (I got permission from my concentration advisor to do an independent study). How do I decide the topic for the independent study with the professor? If I just pick a topic I want to study, I doubt the professor would want to do it. Should I ask the professor if she has any topics she wants to do an independent study on?


texts: How to determine effectively whether my paper is in scope

texts:
Given the title and the abstract of a yet-to-be-published paper, I asked the PC (co-)chairs of several A/A* conferences whether my paper would be in the scope of the corresponding conferences. Surprisingly, I got an unconditional "yes" answer each time, even for really far fetches for which DBLP showed nothing close in the past years. I suspect that the PC chairs wish to lower the conferences' acceptance rates by welcoming my paper and having the reviewers rejecting it quickly for some formal reasons unrelated to the content (since the content wouldn't be that interesting to the reviewers).

Officially, the scope is formulated very broadly for each of the conferences.

Now, what's the right way to get an objective opinion about whether my paper is in the real scope (vs. an official one)?  I'm working completely alone without helpful colleagues to ask.


texts: What are predictors of the success of PhD students?

texts:
Every year we organize a competitive international call for PhD students (in the area of biology). What measurable criteria should we use to predict their academic success and award them research fellowships?

I realize that part of the question is ill-defined because it is not clear how to define “success” for a PhD student. But since I imagine that many of us have this problem and have potentially thought of a solution, I would love to read your thoughts on this question.


texts: Having a low tier publication as an undergraduate student?

texts:
Is a good thing for an undergraduate student to publish in a low-tier conference as first author ? Or should the student avoid from such places and only publish in atleast reputable places ? If it is a good thing, how should the student present his study in graduate admissions process to admissions members, since the conference name is mostly unknown to much of them.

Note that, by low tier, I mean the conferences which are ranked at "C level" according to ERA (Excellence in Research for Australia).


texts: Is it possible to pass a PHD without full understanding of ones own thesis?

texts:
This is likely to be a rather strange question.

I have been working in physics in an attempt to obtain a PHD.
My initial plan was entirely experimental, however I have not obtained enough data by itself.
This is due to a combination of difficult experiments, and temperamental equipment and its repeated failures; I was and am simply not capable of repairing the systems without any replacement components by myself.

This is ok I had thought, I can attempt to slightly extend a pre-existing theoretical framework to explain the few results that I do have.
However this is not my supervisor, or even departments expertise, so I have for the last year and half attempted this myself.
After much effort I have been able to replicate the prior theoretical calculations of the model.

However despite having the best grasp of the model out of anyone I have spoken to in my department, there are significant parts where I just do not have a clue.

I have reached a point where I have 2 months left to submit, and I do not yet have a sufficient understanding of the theory to be able to tell if it is actually valid for what I am trying to use it for.

Is it acceptable to just shut up and apply it anyway, and be deliberately vague and sparse in describing it and the necessary mathematics so that I do not include things I do not understand?

Or do I just throw in the towel and save myself another 2 months of absolute torment?

Many thanks.

Edit in response to comments:
it's rather that I do not understand some of the mathematics necessary.

There is a set of 6 eigenfunction equations, where they all have the same eigenvalues.
All the authors in the literature only care about the eigenvalues, where I need the eigenfunctions.
I had assumed that they were all the same, like the eigenvalues, but upon attempting to write a thesis chapter on them I now realise that they are not.
This is a problem as my calculations are based upon the eigenfunctions.

There is only one of the eigenfunction equations in the literature.
I am able to, with initial difficulty, solve it and obtain the same eigenvalues as the literature.
I then do some stuff with the eigenfunction that was not done, and obtain another different eigenvalue equation based upon an operator corresponding to the measuremrnt data I do have.
But I cannot derive the original equation in the literature, and I cannot derive the other, not stated in the literature, 5 equations.

Noone has worked on it for decades, and the original authors, and those who initially extended their work, are all dead.

Hence why I state that I do not understand it.
I can state what I have done, that I cannot derive the equations, and that I know it is wrong without the other 5 solutions.
I am 90% certain I can solve the other 5 equations if only I could understand how they are obtained.

Unfortunately I just get bogged down in attempting to follow the derivation, 1.5 years of attempting to follow it and I still just do not follow it.


texts: Advisor professor asks for my dissertation research source code

texts:
I am a PhD student and I wrote a computer program for my dissertation research. Recently my advisor professor got a grant and she wants to use my computer program in her grant and she asks me for the computer source-code. I will graduate next May and I am planning to use this program in my other studies. So I am not willing to share the code with her. She didn't mention future cooperation and I will also not cooperate with her because of huge differences in our research interests and perspectives.

So how can I refuse her properly?

Note: I was not a RA for her when I wrote the computer program, but this semester she got a grant and she set me as RA.


texts: Effect of "D" grade in PhD-level course on job prospects

texts: I am a PhD student and have a D in one of my exams due to some family issues. I also have a B in 3 subjects and A in one. I am worried about my future. will the D have an impact on my job prospects even if I maintain my GPA above 3.3?


texts:
I am a computer science PhD candidate. I have been reading and learning a lot of my interested research area - and now it's time to formally defend my research proposal.

There is a computer architecture that has already been discussed (online articles) over blogs and videos and some companies are using it already. it's relatively new architecture though (2 or 3 years old). But I haven't found out any academic research done on that architecture for deploying/implementing it with use cases. But it has been referenced (online article, blogs etc) in academic research journals and articles.

I was thinking to write my PhD research on that new architecture with proper use cases and references. But at the moment I am having doubts about whether I should proceed or not? Or what approach should I apply in order to proceed?

Your suggestions/opinions will be highly appreciated either positive or negative.


texts:
Is there any rule concerning the use of lower/upper case letters in figures, charts, diagrams etc. to be used in scientific papers?

I tend to use lower case only (e.g., axis labels and legends), but a reviewer recently suggested that I should start each word with a capital letter.

I would be very thankful for any advice!


texts: Math PhD adviser - The easy choice or the more unconventional choice

texts:
I have kind of an interesting scenario that I would like to get advice on. I apologize if this is a bit lengthy, but I want to get all the facts out there.

A bit about me first: I have just finished my first year of grad school in an applied math program at a top 40 program in the US. I have undergraduate degrees in both pure and applied math, so I really have a love for both topics, although I lean more towards applied.

I have spent about 9 months doing some investigatory research with a distinguished professor at my school. Let's call him Dr. G. I have really enjoyed this research and I feel like it is a no-brainer to pick Dr. G as an adviser. He is very active in research, he has plenty of grant money, etc. He is also one of the top people in the world on the work that he does. On top of that, he is very supportive, great to work with, and willing to be my adviser.

So I thought I had definitely found my advisor.

Here is where my doubt comes in. There is another professor, Dr. T, who recently spent 3 hours helping me with preparing for my qualifying exams (this was way above and beyond what I thought he would do). I had so much fun talking about the math with Dr. T. He was so patient and helpful. We talked briefly about my research with Dr. G as well. He told me that sometimes people struggle with working with Dr. G because Dr. G is so busy traveling and such. This kind of made me doubt my decision a little. Dr. G is very busy, but we meet almost weekly, although not for very long. Dr. G has also told me that he is a very hands off adviser.... and I think a more hands on adviser might be better for me.

With all this said, I was considering doing a reading course with Dr. T IF he was interested in having me as a student. I don't currently know if he is accepting students or not. My thought was that if Dr. T was willing to spend 3 hours with me working out problems together, that he might be much more involved in helping me when I am working on a thesis than Dr. G could be.

I don't know if I have a misconception on this or not, but those 3 hours that I spent with Dr. T talking about the math problems was what I really pictured an advisor doing for me. Maybe not 3 hours worth, but enough time to really talk and ponder the problem at hand. Maybe someone could comment on the truth of this idea for me... Is it true that some advisers actively work on the problem with you, or do they just check in with you on the work that you have done?

A couple further notes: Dr. G has had about 5 students graduate and Dr. T has had 2 (only 1 recently). I also don't know about the level of research that Dr. T is doing; however, the quantity is definitely much less than Dr. G.

I would really welcome any advice or comments you may have. *My big question is if I should even ask Dr. T if he is interested in having students or not (I don't think he has any right now). I just feel like that although Dr. T might not be as flashy as an advisor as Dr. G, Dr. T may be way more involved and helpful. So I am trying to figure out if working with Dr. T is worth looking into, or if I would be unwise to not work with Dr. G.

Thanks for your time.


texts: How do I get rid of a mental barrier with respect to continuing research work that I have already done?

texts:
It happens quite often that I have done some work and have got some result. If I pause working on that same problem for some time and then get back to it later, I find a mental resistance towards continuing it. For some reason, I feel intimidated to confront my own work and thus lack motivation.
How do I get rid of this mental barrier?


texts: How do you read, learn from, and assess a textbook?

texts:
This seems like a vague question, but please bear with me before voting to close it:

Often times, when searching for a good textbook on a particular subject (mostly mathematics or physics), I see users who confidently suggest multiple textbooks on this same subject. (Here is a good example.) My guess is that these users have not actually read through each of these textbooks page by page.

I'm currently going through a few textbooks to learn and/or brush up on different subjects. I am reading them carefully, doing the exercises, taking notes on things I don't understand, etc. A chatper, at best, takes me a couple of weeks (and I spend the majority of my free time studying).

This being said, how does a person read these text-books in-depth enough to have a founded opinion on their contents? Is it done after already knowing the material?

(I know this is a strange, perhaps difficult to answer question, and I'd be glad to take any suggestions or criticisms to better it).


texts: Does the International Math Olympiad help research mathematics?

texts:
I was reading a note of Hojoo Lee on inequality which is written for International Math Olympiad (IMO) participants. Although he writes that “target readers are challenging high schools students and undergraduate students“, it appears to be quite advanced.

It occurred to me to ask, do these IMO problems contribute towards research work in math? Do these math notes/books give good overview for research work?

I am not interested in examples of Fields Medal winners who had previously participated in the IMO.


texts: How to answer a professor asking "what your masters work is about?" when my thesis is not in English?

texts:
I have contacted a professor, looking for a PhD position. He replied that my field is so near to his research field, and to consider my application; he needs to know more about my masters thesis.

  I need to see your masters work.

My thesis and most of my publications are in a non-English language. I have one English paper published in a nation-wide conference's proceedings, and this only presents no more than a quarter of my master's thesis.

How should I reply to this professor to better describe my master's work?

PS: I have a detailed CV in which I have brought all my transcripts of my BSc and MSc, translated titles of my publications and projects and all my job experience.

UPDATE: I sent a copy of my English paper, my CV, my thesis abstract and some parts of my thesis besides to a research statement in which I wrote some research topics I am interested to work on.


texts: Is it unethical to cite a paper or book that you have never looked at?

texts:
Suppose I see that Book X is cited by several papers with reference to some particular Fact Y. I wish to cite Fact Y. As far as I know, Book X is the only reference for Fact Y.

I have never looked at Book X. Nonetheless, I cite it like this:

'Fact Y' (see Book X)

My question is: Is this ethical, given that I've never looked at Book X?

More context for my question. I am NOT asking whether this is good scientific practice. I am NOT asking how a good scientist should actually go about citing Fact Y. I am NOT asking if this could undermine your credibility as a scientist.

Instead, I am asking this question because it seems to be a somewhat-common practice. And moreover, as far as I know, no scientist has ever been issued even an official rebuke (much less fired) for engaging in such practice. This would suggest to me that this practice is not considered to be unethical.

Of course, it is not binary as to whether a practice is unethical. But I would simply like to know whether the academic community in general considers this to be even a mildly unethical practice. Or if it is perhaps very slightly unethical, but not a big deal. Or if it is not in the least bit unethical.


texts:
Let's assume that while researching and writing a paper you find a Twitter conversation between domain experts that is particularly useful for you.

Given that it is not the sources that these experts list, but the spontaneous grouping of these sources for an argument that is useful, wouldn't it be dishonest to find sources that verify this information and then just cite the papers without citing the experts that led you down this line of thinking?
Is it acceptable to cite a conversation from a social media source, such as Twitter, in an academic paper?


texts: Using unpublished data from previous supervisor for thesis

texts:
I'm considering a change of my PhD supervisor due to strained relationship with my supervisor and changed of thesis direction (from practical to theoretical based on same topic). However, my thesis is heavily based on a set of data collected by a collaborator, but is given to me as my thesis project by my current supervisor.

My question is, if I switched supervisor, would it be fine if I continue to use the data for my thesis? The data is unpublished, but I do not intend to use the data for any publication purpose.

Any advice is much appreciated.


texts: Can I use an exact sentence from reviewer in the later submission?

texts:
I submitted a paper and received reviewers' comments on it. Would using an exact sentence (just a single sentence) that one reviewer used in his/her comments be considered plagiarism? The sentence is so beautiful put that I can't say it any better.
The comment is:

The problem is X. Maybe you can try Y.

I did Y, and to motivate why I did Y in the text, I added a paragraph, and I want to use "The problem is X" in that paragraph. I'm afraid that I would alter the meaning by changing the wording.


texts: How can we differentiate a "completed working paper" from "incomplete working paper"?

texts:
There are many governmental or non-profit or for-profit research institutes in economics or finance. I see working papers and discussion papers which were cited many times. Although 3-4 years passed, the authors probably did not consider publishing it in a journal. So, what makes a "working paper" a "completed paper" ? Without publishing it in a journal how can we know that it is really an incomplete piece of work or actually complete work but has to be named as "working paper" because of the "environment that paper available"
Is it possible to have a "final draft of working paper" without publishing it in a journal?


texts: Is it ethical to post an exam question and answer to the internet?

texts:
I am a private tutor for (mostly) high school maths and physics students.

Recently a student came to me with an elegant little problem that he had been given on an exam. The problem was very short, and easy for him to remember, but he and others had found it difficult to solve. It required synthesizing the material he had studied in a way that required some creativity. (At least, at the high school level.)

I worked through the solution with him.

I create content (videos and papers) that I publish on the internet. I would like to share this intruiging application of high school precalculus.

Here's the concern: Does the teacher or whoever else who created the problem own the problem? Am I unethically making the problem useless for other exams or homework by publishing it? What if I alter it so that the process is the same, but the numeric solution is different? Do I need the permission of the problem's author to use it at all?

To be clear, it's not a "word" problem, but simply a "solve this interesting equation" problem.


texts: Low GPA, any chance of grad school for math?

texts: I have a cummulative 3.5 GPA from a top 20 school but a 3.1 GPA in my math classes. In particular I got a BC in linear algebra and a C in abstract algebra. My goal was always to go to graduate school but I fear these two classes are going to crush that. Also my school doesn't allow for retaking of classes (BOO!). Any advice besides the obvious of trying to raise the GPA, ace the GRE, get great letters of recommendation or do research? Or will this be too much to overcome?


texts: Missed including undergraduate degree information in graduate application

texts:
Whilst applying for a part-time graduate degree, I only stated my most recent graduate degree in the application (completed a year ago). I thought (possibly incorrectly) that I need only state the most recent and relevant information.

I did not state my earlier graduate degree (obtained 12 years ago) and undergraduate degree, received over 15 years ago.

I subsequently interviewed with the programme director regarding my application and I'm awaiting a decision on the outcome. During the interview call, there were no questions raised about the education information in my application?

How can I mitigate this situation? Should I call the department and supply the omitted information?


texts: How to prevent having prospective students use me for free help, and then ghost me to go to another university

texts:
In many countries there are funding sources that enable students or postdocs go study or work at a university of their choice, usually abroad. Usually for these applications, the applicant has to get in touch with a potential supervisor to get a letter of invitation and approve their research statement. More often than not, the potential supervisor is expected to discuss the ideas in detail, and also help improving the cover letter and research statement, since the award of the fellowship depends on it.

I have noticed the following situation recently: students from abroad approach me with interest to do research in my lab, and ask for help in checking their application and aligning ideas to my research. We have a call or two, we discuss the details, we come up with a strong application (that looks much better than the one they initially approached me with). As the application deadline approaches I don't hear back from them anymore nor they respond to emails.
Soon I learn that in parallel they approach a more famous lab with a much better application (thanks to me). Since the cover letter and research statement are now of high quality (for someone at that stage in their career), they are accepted easily, and get funding (sometimes directly from the lab).

This is new to me, and in just a short period of time I had three similar cases. I spent at least a day on each (calls, emails and checking the application), so it is a waste of time, and frustrating.

Is this a new trend? What is the best way to avoid this, while not discouraging genuine applicants?


texts: How should I write an appropiate email for a PhD position?

texts:
I am a graduated Master's student from Asia and really want to take a PhD position in Canada, America or Germany. My English language skills are good but I don't have an IELTS degree. Some of my friends say that if I talk to a professor who I want to work with, I do not need a high grade in English exams like IELTS and I do not have any reaserch or projects or paper because it is unusual in master of pure math(which I studied) to have any of them(because it is so hard to do). On the other hand, I wrote the following email but I am so nervous of the whole structure and its content. Would you please guide me for sending a better email for a PhD position? Thank you in advance.

Dear professor “ “:
My name is Dal.OL. This year, I graduated from
Shahid Beheshti University with a master's degree in geometry with GPA
3.69. My interesting field for researching is dynamical systems in geometry and my master’s dissertation was in hyperbolic dynamical
systems which was really exciting for me and made me Curious about the
hole concepts used around it, therefore I am deciding to continue
studying in this field of Geometry. I am seeking admission to the PhD
studies in related with my master’s dissertation and I also like to
work on the manifold concepts and their extension in dynamical
systems. In the other hand I reviewed your profile and thought that it
would be wonderful if you would be willing to take me as your PhD
student.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Thanking you for your consideration. Sincerely,


texts: A working paper or a discussion paper or something else?

texts:
I have some papers from google which I don't know to what type they belong: a working paper or a discussion paper or something else? I need this for my bibliography

Below are some examples of such cases.

The first one has an abbreviation JEL Classifications, but is this enough to refer this to Journal of Economic Literature?

The second one has nothing at all.

Can someone give me a hint? Any help would be appreciated!


texts: What happens if my PhD interest has changed after a year?

texts: I have had an admission for Spring semester (2019) with funding for PhD in Physics at a USA university. In my application, I mentioned that my area of interest is biophysics and experimental condensed matter physics. However, if my area of interest got changed (Assume for high energy physics or Astrophysics etc.), what happens then? Do the first two years for all PhD Physics students are the same in USA universities?


texts: Is it right to be put as the last author although I have done the bulk of the work?

texts: I am doing my PhD at a research institute, where we have just finished the draft of a 8-hands long paper to be published as a short book with a major editor. I have done the bulk of the work, i.e. at least 80% of the total. However, my coordinator sent me the draft back with the authors reordered by seniority, and I now figure as the last author although my contribution was the largest. I should mention this would be my first publication. Shall I react?


texts: What is the difference between a literature survey and a conceptual paper?


texts: How to tell what is 'widely accepted' or 'consensus'

texts:
How can I find out what theories are 'widely accepted' in the scientific world at the moment? When I read about a theory, or read a paper, how can I tell what 'the scientific world' thinks of these?

Background:
When hearing about development or history of science, the phrase 'widely accepted' is quite popular. One of the common stories seems to be of some discovery which nobody wanted to believe when published, but a decade or a few later the scientific world came to accept it and it turned into consensus. Prime examples in history would be the heliocentric world view or the theory of evolution.
More recently, I have read 'The Selfish Gene' by Richard Dawkins. He takes every chance to provide evidence that the theory of group selection is unnecessary to explain evolution. The book was published in 1976, when group selection was apparently quite popular. In annotations of the current edition, he gives comments about how the scientific world has now more accepted that group selection is wrong. I asked a question about one of his claims which I did not fully understand (irrelevant here) on Biology.SE and - unexpectedly - promptly got answers by people claiming that group selection was presently very widely accepted.


texts: Applying to MPhil in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Cambridge

texts: Is participating in the international competitive programming contests and achieving an excellence degree graduation compensation for the low rank of your university when you apply to MPhil in Advanced Computer Science at the University of Cambridge?


texts:
I am from Germany and about to finish my second bachelors degree (two different fields). And am now considering options for masters studies. Now i know that in Germany i can study two masters simultaneously and it generally does not matter too much if i need say three years to complete both instead of the two years advocated.

I would like to study at a good university in another country where tuition fees for EU citizens are rather small/zero.

Now is it possible to enroll in two master degrees simultaneously in France, Sweden, Norway, Denmark or other countries fullfilling the criteria?


texts: What is the etiquette for thesis acknowledgements that thank God?

texts: I saw that some theses acknowledgements thanks God, so are there any rules or suggestions about that? Is it ok to do it for believers or just don't mention your religious affiliation in a scientific work?


texts: Topology vs. Complex Analysis for Math Grad School

texts: I'm majoring in math and am considering graduate school in either pure math, applied math, or stats. The problem is that, due to schedule constraints, I can only take either Complex Variables or Topology. How necessary is Topology for pure math admissions? Is complex Vars. more necessary? Does either matter for stats and applied? Thanks.


texts: Is it okay for a PhD student to go on holidays in breaks?

texts:
I am a first year STEM PhD student in a US university, but I come from a different country. I took a couple of weeks off in this winter break to travel within the US, as it was too expensive to visit my home country.

Now, I have two options -

1. To visit my home country in the next winter (2016-17) for around a month.
 2. To visit my home country in the coming summer (2016) for a short period (say 2 weeks) and get back to work AND to go back again in the next winter for around a month.

Now, the problem with 1 is that there is still a year to go (well, almost a year), and so there is a possibility of being homesick.
So, there is 2. However, I am concerned if it will be seen as I am slacking off / going on holidays too many times etc. Now, I obviously understand that I should discuss this with my advisor and s/he should take the decision, but I am concerned if this is even a reasonable discussion topic (as opposed to the idea being so preposterous that there is no point even asking, and I should just stick to 2)

Note that even if I go on a short holiday in the summer, I plan to spend most of the summer doing research at my university.

So, tl;dr:
Is going on holidays in 3 consecutive breaks considered reasonable? Or is it too preposterous?


texts: What is the difference between a Panel Study and a Cohort Study?

texts:
I am having a special subject named "Methodologies of Scientific Research" in which there is a reference on Panel Studies and Cohort Studies for conducting a longitudinal survey. I am confused to what is the difference between Panel Study and Cohort Study ? In Wikipedia they look the same, that is Panel Study redirects to Cohort Study.

Edit: My field is related to Computer Science and more specifically Information Technology in an undergraduate level. The subject "Methodologies of Scientific Research" though is not constrained on applications on IT, rather it is more general and we have research examples from other sciences like Sociology, Biology, Economics etc.


texts: Is it advisable to publish a paper in a Journal Issue edited by my PhD Supervisor? Or is it better to try to publish it somewhere else?

texts:
My PhD supervisor is co-editing a Journal Special Issue, in a good journal, even if not top-ranking, with double blind peer-review (three reviewers are asked for the review). And I'm tempted to submit a paper (which fits with the topic of the Issue).

I've recently obtained my PhD, and I see that in order to apply for prestigious grants (such as the ERC grants) a requisite is "having produced at least one important publication without the participation of their PhD supervisor" (ERC starting grant).

In this case, it would be a solely authored paper (not invited by the Supervisor but submitted to blind review).

Is it worth to try and publish it there? When the paper is evaluated by a judging panel, will the fact that the Issue is edited by my supervisor be a negative factor?


texts: How to cite when writing a paragraph in my history paper that is composed entirely of historical facts?

texts:
Since almost everything I have found is something I pulled from a source, how do I write my essay without citing basically every single line?

Edit: Yes, in my paper I am arguing something which will be said in my own words. I am writing a few paragraphs about the historical background of the situation, and that is where my question comes into play.


texts: A job application asks for a "sample of current scholarship," what is this?

texts:
I am filling out a job application, which asks to attach a "sample of current scholarship."

What is this?

I am guessing this means something like a published paper, but as a new PhD graduate, does the thesis count?


texts: Can I Submit a Professor's Recommendation Letter from my Personal E-mail?

texts:
I'm currently applying to a Chem Eng PhD in the US.
One of my professors wrote me a recommendation letter, but requested me to submit it myself to the university's website using my personal e-mail, as he will be very busy with some year-end obligations.

Is it okay to do such a thing? I cannot find any information about if this is acceptable or not...

Of course, I wrote an explanation on the page right before the Recommendation Letter, explaining the situation and listing his contact information if they ever need to confirm its authenticity.

Thank you for your answers!


texts: Emailing a professor in another country for a feedback on a project that I'm working on?

texts:
I am a telecommunication graduate (Bachelors holder) and currently getting my master degree"completed one semester" .

I am working on a project and developed a new  original idea and constructed multiple algorithms based on it, however my professors could not provide me with a feedback about this new idea since they are not specialists in the field of my work, So I need a feedback from a specialist.

How can send a decent email to professors in another country for getting an answer on whatever my idea is valid and can be published.


texts: How do you determine if you don't have interest in research or merely don't have the discipline?

texts:
I finished my PhD in probability a few years ago and left to go work in the industry as software engineer in operating systems and databases.  I sometimes ponder whether I can go back to doing research, perhaps on a part-time basis, if I somehow transform my character to have more self-discipline.  When I was an undergraduate student, I really loved mathematics.  Even now, on my spare time, I frequently go over my old courses and, as Terrence Tao puts it, learn and re-learn old materials.  Each time it brings me great pleasure and newer insight.

What I have trouble with is actually spending time solving research problem.  With absolutely no intention of offending mathematicians, I find that most of the open problems in mathematics don't hold that much interest to me because I find them too narrow.  I really had a tough time with the proofs in my PhD thesis because they are hard and I couldn't sustain consistent work each day. I prefer discovering new connections and asking my own questions, such as pondering on the connection between complex analysis and probability or asking "what if I remove this assumption" and see if I can derive new theorems.
Even then, I usually can only do that for one day or two.  I simply cannot do it day after day like a professional researcher.  I would go back to my old habit of debugging and writing programs which I can do for 8 hours a day five days a week no problem.

Thank you for reading so far.  My overall question is, how do I determine if my lack of success in research mathematics is due to lack of interest in research or lack of self-discipline?  Can I just use something like the pomodoro technique and build up my tolerance for prolonged mathematics research?


texts: How to write a rebuttal for a conference

texts:
What are good practices (does and don'ts) when writing a rebuttal for a conference?

For example, for a journal rebuttal letter you can make changes to your paper, and resubmit it for another revision. However, for conferences (and for the tough ones) you cannot make changes to your paper (as far as I know). So you can only address the reviewers comments', don't you? In that case, what are good things to do and what things you should avoid to get a good rebuttal.


texts: Prof asked to interview me, now I can't get in touch with him - what's the etiquette?

texts:
So here's my situation. I'm currently finishing up my masters (and that's a tale for another day) and have applied to a few universities for PhD.

Late Feb I was emailed by a postdoc who wanted to interview me on behalf of his prof who was inundated with grant applications and whatnot. We spoke on a week later, that went well, and I was told that if I was successful, I would hear from the prof himself. The following week (on a Friday) the prof himself responded to me that he wanted to have a follow-up conversation with me about it.

I replied that Sunday  letting him know I was free any time. I heard nothing, so I sat on my hands for a week and sent another reply letting him know that once again I was available that week if he wanted to talk. He informed me he would let me know but was on his way to a conference. This time I gave two weeks, and yesterday (April 7) called twice, about an hour apart, leaving a voicemail the second time, and sent a follow up email about an hour later as well. So, it's now been almost four or five weeks.

His voicemail mentioned an assistant that I have not contacted and I have likewise not emailed the postdoc since our previous conversation.

Is there anything left that I should do about this? How should I take this?

When I was interviewed by profs the first time I applied for grad school I don't recall having these issues. I want to be assertive/not look disinterested but also don't want to overstep any bounds. How responsive should I expect a potential prof to be?

To my knowledge this question has not been investigated elsewhere on this site.


texts: Submitted conference paper with errors a short while back. How do I solve this?

texts:
BACKGROUND
I'm an electrical engineering graduate student.  I submitted and abstract to a conference and it was accepted.  This happened about 3-4 months ago.  Since then, I have mainly focused on other unrelated work.

CURRENT
The paper deadline approached and I submitted the paper.  About 10 days later, I realized there were a few errors.  These errors include plots which were left in the paper that I intended to replace with updated accurate plots.   So I submitted the paper with errors.

QUESTIONS
What do you recommend I do? Will this negatively effect my reputation with the conference?  How big of a problem is this?  My advisor was not happy with me for barely submitting this on time - so this mistake further complicates my problems.

Thanks


texts: How to cite an old poem which appears in a new collection/anthology put together by a different editor? (Chicago)

texts:
According to CMS, we should cite a poem in an anthology as we would a chapter in an edited book. But, what if the poem was orginally written in another year?
eg.

Hàn Mặc Tử. [1939] 2009.“Hồn là ai?” (My soul, who art thou?). In Hàn
Mặc Tử. Tác phẩm chọn lọc [Hàn Mặc Tử. Collection of poems] edited by
Nguyễn Đăng Điệp. Hà Nội: Nhà xuất bản giáo dục Việt Nam.

Is this correct? Putting this way might be confusing to the reader as they might think this collection was reprinted in 2009. The correct understanding should be that this poem was written in 1938 and published in 2009 as part of a collection.
Following this, should the in-text citation for the poem be

(Han Mac Tu 1939)
(Han Mac Tu 2009)
(Nguyễn Đăng Điệp 2009)

Please help!!


texts: Applying to top CS PhD programs with a great record but bad GRE scores

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I have a good GPA (over 3.5) from a top 5 CS school. I also have lots of research experience and a few publications. I also expect to have very good recommendations. The only problem is that I did badly on the GRE general exam (just under below average). The exam seems like a big scam, so studying for it felt like a waste of time.

One of JeffE's blog posts mentions that schools filter applicants into three piles based on GPA and GRE: MAYBE, PROBABLY NOT, and NO. Will my GRE scores land me in the PROBABLY NOT pile, even though I have an otherwise excellent record?

Will my GRE hurt my chances of getting into CMU and Stanford? Should I try to retake them, even though it's getting late? Application deadlines are around December 13.

Edit: should I say something about my bad GRE scores in the statement of purpose, or do something else if I don't end up retaking them?


texts: Repository or university working paper series

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I am from the field of economics and preprints are ok with econ journals. I just cannot understand what is the difference between repository (like ArXiv) and publishing results in some working paper series?

I read somewhere that repository assigns DOI and working paper does not. Also, it is possible to update the repository's version, and I am not sure about working papers. From another point of view, working papers might be registered to more databases and make one's research more visible to the public....

So what are the main pros/cons in publishing preliminary results in a repository and in working papers (or discussion papers series??)? What are the differences?


texts: What graduation gown should a PhD-holder wear when later receiving a Master's in another field?

texts:
I already have a PhD, but now I'm graduating with a Master's in another field from another university.

Question:  What academic robes do I wear?

I know it is normal to wear the regalia from the highest award but that seems strange in this case.


texts: Do you list a long-term visit as an affiliation (in a paper, presentation, etc.)?

texts:
As a frequent long-term (more than a year) visitor (with official visitor status) to a different nearby institution, would you list it as an additional affiliation?
Much of the experimental work (the field is physics) on a project has been carried out at the other institution by myself.


texts: Change the "under review" date after revision

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I submitted a paper to a journal in Springer system. After a revision, I resubmitted the revised paper to the system, and the system change the status to "Under review" on Nov 24. After that, the status didn't change but the date was changed to Dec 06.

I wonder that what can cause this situation?

Thanks.


texts: IRB (Institutional review board) : Do journals ever check? Does anyone ever check?

texts:
I've got a project underway that involves human subjects, and I got IRB (Wikipedia Link) approval.  I'm thinking about my next project while working on this one.  I'd like to collect some exploratory data for the next one, and potentially make use of it in any resultant publications.  Nothing involves any real risks to respondents, so I feel that there are no ethical constraints binding me.

But as a practical matter, will anyone ever check that any findings were pre-approved by an IRB to be looked-for?  What might the consequences of ignoring IRB be?

This is social science.


texts:
I am going to apply for a visiting research program in Physics. The institute asks for a Curriculum Vitae (a single pdf file) which will provide all my  academic background and professional background info, copies of my academic transcripts, and a Statement of Purpose describing my background and explaining why I feel that the program is right one for me.

I have an "ordinary" CV. Now I am a bit confused about how to add all those things into one such CV. Please suggest me how to go about it. If there are some sample documents,please let me know.


texts:
I am writing my CV for an application for a graduate program. The application process starts in February and the graduate program begins in September.

I recently accepted a position as a teaching assistant at my current university, and my employment officially begins in April.

Is it acceptable/advisable that I put this fact in my CV, which I will send in before my teaching assistant job officially starts?


texts: Will an off-topic Masters hurt my chances of a PhD place?

texts:
I have just completed the third year of an integrated master's degree (a three-year undergraduate degree plus an additional year of study at a master's degree level, with the final degree being an MPhys) in Astrophysics at a UK university. This summer I have to decide the topic of my final year dissertation, which counts for 50% of my final year.

I am almost certain I would like to continue in research and hence I am also starting to look for PhD places. I am very interested in cosmology, but with no idea of a specific area I want to go into and so I had thought of doing something in the field for my Master's dissertation, to get an idea of what it would be like to perform cosmology research.

However, the university I am at does not have a research group in this area and no facilities or expertise either. I have approached a potential supervisor (the lecturer who taught my one cosmology module, who is a plasma physicist), but he has told me that it is entirely up to me to decide on a topic/ question, which I am wary of doing due to my complete inexperience and lack of knowledge.

So, my question is this: if I decide to do my Master's dissertation on a different topic (eg solar physics), will I be at a disadvantage when applying for cosmology PhDs?


texts: Before entering into a computational research PhD, should one gain strong coding & software engineering skills?

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Main Question: Should someone gain good computer programming skills/experience through a software engineering job before entering a 5-year PhD program in Computer Science (Tentative specialization: Reinforcement Learning, Machine Learning, Deep Learning)?

IMPORTANT NOTE:-
The reason for asking about gaining programming skills & experience is:-

NOT from the perspective of resume/application strength (i.e., whether one would get accepted to a PhD program or not), but rather from the perspective of whether one would be more productive (hence faster) during computational research in AI (i.e., running computational experiments).
NOT related to being or not being able to complete the research and get the PhD degree.
As mentioned earlier, it's about whether having strong programming and software development skills would enable one to implement and test ideas more quickly. As some PhD students say that a lot of their time goes into implementing the ideas, during the initial months of their PhD.
Slow implementation of ideas → Slow progress.

Many (not everyone!) students interested in pursuing research and planning to get into AI research through a PhD program, have limited to no software development experience. Many of such students have only worked on research projects involving limited programming skills, often having no software development experience.
Clearly, such students would have limited ability to implement and test ideas, by running computational experiments.

So, would doing a software engineering job and gaining strong coding experience significantly help them during their (computational) experimental work in PhD?

Please consider that the potential candidate aspires:-

To disseminate research findings or knowledge (during PhD and beyond) not just by (traditionally) writing papers or blogs, but by deploying models on the web like Andrej Karpathy did through some of his famous projects like ConvnetJS, RecurrentJS, tsneJS, ReinforceJS, or by interactive visualizations like Distill, etc.
To be able to do so, I believe that one would need to be good at software engineering.
Aspires to perform reproducible research and writing re-usable code, which can only be achieved by good software engineering practices, generally acquirable by working in software engineering sector.

To achieve such task, one would need to spend a significant amount of their time, during the initial PhD months, on getting good at programming and software development. Clearly, this amount of time and effort would have been better spent on doing research, and testing more and more new ideas.
So, that's what my question is focused on.

What advice/suggestions do you have on what should one do considering his/her current coding capabilities and above expectations from the PhD?


texts: Appeal process for PhD dismissal due to health issues

texts: What is the best way to craft the appeal letter based on health issues to have one last chance for taking the qualifying exam? Those health and mental issues have been already documented through a medical doctor and a licensed psychological counselor. Please, anybody has such advices or suggestions to draft the letter in a way that showing how the health issues have a significant impacts on qualifying exam preparation.


texts: Is there any field in which applicants to PhD programs (in any part of the world) usually have publications?

texts:
We get occasional questions here from people who are applying to PhD programs, and are worried because they have no publications. This is puzzling to me, because most of my friends in PhD programs did not have any publications when they applied.

We've also previous agreed that it is not generally mandatory to have a publication when applying to PhD, although it certainly helps. I am interested in knowing if there are any fields that are exceptions to this rule.

Are there any fields of study where (in some parts of the world, at least) most students have publications already by the time they apply for PhD admissions?

By "most," I mean that publications are common enough that a lack of one is seen as worrying, and possibly indicative of some deficiency in the applicant.


texts: Advantages or disadvantages of using public repositories for paper writing?

texts:
What are pros and cons of using public version control system such as github for writing my papers and reports ?

Is it good to store copies of papers/reports being submitted to conference/journals on such repos. If no, wouldn't it make sense to not use them at the first place itself.


texts: Using an abbreviation of another language in the abstract

texts:
I'm writing the abstract of my bachelor’s thesis and need to refer to a German research project. The abbreviation of it refers to a German spelling – so I can’t write it out. The English translation wouldn’t explain the acronym and is super long.
Is it possible to use a footnote for this? Even though it is very uncommon? Or are there other possibilities?
I don't have strict rules to follow but generally APA as guidelines.

The exact abbreviation I refer to is STEER which stands for Erhöhung der STEuerungskompetenz zur ERreichung der Ziele eines integrierten Wassermanagements.
In English: Increasing Good Governance for Achieving the Objectives of Integrated Water Resources Management.


texts:
Does anyone know of any prestigious summer courses(in-person or on-line) on data science from Ivy League Universities? Based on my research most of them were for undergraduates.

Ivy League because I want to pad up my resume-nothing else.


texts: Writing style when discussing other people's research in discussion/introduction

texts:
I was editing a friend's manuscript and I noticed that they do something similar to what I have been told not to do when referring to previous work done in the field of interest being discussed. I would often refer to the citation i.e. the study and then go on to say what they found in the study For example, I would sometimes say:

Smith et al. (2020) modeled how the life history of species x was affected by environmental pressure, they concluded that increased pressure would also lead to earlier maturation.

I have been told by different advisors that this is considered "bad writing", in that it is generally preferred to refer to the work at the end of a sentence as opposed to the beginning. However, no-one has explained why this is the case. I passed this information onto my friend as well, but I am curious as to why?
An example of how my advisors edited the above sentence:

Modelling of the life history of species x showed that increased environmental pressure would also lead to earlier maturation (Smith et al. 2020)

I understand that technically the edited version sounds better, my question is why specifically it is considered bad form to mention your citation/reference at the beginning of the sentence?


texts: In a manuscript, how do you know when you need to source the brand and location for materials?

texts:
I'm writing my first manuscript and haven't received a lot of guidance on it. The journal that I plan on submitting to has an "Instructions for Authors" page, but I've scoured it and there is no information about sourcing the brand for your materials in the methods. I've looked at several articles from their most recent issue, and some but not all the materials were sourced.

Here's an example:

"...containing an aliquot of RT mixture (SsoAdvancedTM SYBR Green Supermix, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.)..."

How do I know which materials I should be sourcing in my manuscript? It doesn't say anywhere on the journal's information website, yet so far all the articles I've seen have done it.

(Also, why is this necessary? Shouldn't it be a given that if I'm using some industrial solution then it should be the same independent of the brand I use?)


texts:
I would really appreciate it if someone could help me!!!
Aptitude and background
I am from the UK, and for A-levels, I am studying Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry, and I am predicted decent grades in all of them.
For my Morrisby Assessment taken a year ago: Numerical reasoning 70%, Abstract reasoning 80%, Verbal reasoning, 95% - This was slightly lower for numerical then I expected, but it does make sense since I have to try pretty hard in maths.
For me, chemistry is my strongest subject, with physics close behind-ish
Interests
Physics:

Pros: [1] Family likes the idea of me studying physics, [2] like quantum, thermal, chemical and nuclear physics, [3] opens the most doors out of compared to the other two, in that I can transfer into engineering/machine learning, [4] well-respected known undergrad for non-physics jobs.
Cons: [1] More difficult for me [2] dislike electricity, EM, fields, waves which are integral topics [3] On the surface, there seems to be less direct jobs related to physics compared to chemistry, in/out of academia (please prove me wrong though, i am only 18, hence why I am here asking!)

Chemistry

Pros: [1] Easier for me aptitude wise [2] Like all parts of chemistry, apart from some niche topics [3] (could be more transferrable to material science and nanotechnology? - therefore opening the 3rd option up as well [4] right now quantum chemistry and orbital approximations are my favorite subject [5] well-respected and known undergrad for non-chemistry jobs
Cons: [1] Less transferrable than physics [2] Don't want to be stuck in an industrial/pharma job, where I am glorified lab rat following a list of instructions [3] Lower job satisfaction on the internet compared to the other two

Material science

Pros: [1] Very large interest for it since it combines chemistry and physics components I enjoy [2] Possibly better paid, due to the large amounts of engineering involved [3] able to go into nuclear materials research, and medicinal too, therefore opening more opportunities than chemistry.
Cons: [1] less-respected well-known undergrad, and could always do it at postgrad level [2] Studying metals and ceramics seems boring, I prefer nanostructures!

Conclusion
Therefore, It would be amazing if you could answer the following questions! [or just provide info in general]
Is chemistry or a physics undergrad better to become a material scientist?:
Using the above information, which degree out of the 3 may be better suited for me?
Which out the 3 jobs, will be most in-demand in 6+ years, a chemist, physicists, or a material scientist?


texts: How to inspire people to learn things they don't understand

texts:
I have seen far too many people that just cannot or are unwilling to learn due to the subject being rather uninteresting or boring. They tend not to want to learn things they don't understand because it requires effort and dedication.

For example, people wanted me to teach them how to create robots, android apps, games, etc. but when it came to programming and using database, no one really wanted to pay attention or cared about it, and what was worse, they complained about how difficult the assignment was even it was just creating a simple calculator program. I gave them tools to solve the problem. They had everything needed to create the program on their own without hand-holding but it seems like it just wouldn't happen.

Is this due to a lack of experience in teaching based on the method used or is this the student's fault for not even trying to learn? If this looks like a problem with the method of teaching, how should I improve or inspire learning?


texts: How do I make submitting letters of recommendation to multiple institutions easier for my supervisors?

texts:
I presently work for a biotech company in biotech manufacturing with some other duties (QA/starting a research project) thrown in.  I graduated with my bachelors degree in 2010 and am 31 now, and now am finally getting to apply to some PhD programs this year after gaining industry experience and dealing with some psychological  issues.  I currently work with two supervisors both with MSc and 10+ years biotech experience.

I am presently working/volunteering with a professor at a local university for just over a year who has encouraged me to apply to do a PhD.  Right now he will write me a letter of recommendation and also my supervisors at work will write me recommendations.

My question is then if I apply to 5 different grad programs, will my supervisors have to email the same letter to 5 different institutions?  What if I had them email the letter to HR and then HR emailed the letter to the different institutions?  I'm just a little unclear on this.


texts: How Should I Write a Scientific Write-up?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student in mathematics from India. I have been shortlisted in the written test of TIFR GS-2020 (a nationwide entrance), and for the second stage of selection, they are asking for a scientific write-up within 200-250 words. The write-up should particularly address questions such as:

(1) Which particular area in your preferred subject appeals to you most? (2) Are there specific problems you would like to work on? (3) Can you suggest methods to deal with such problems?

Can someone please help me regarding how should I proceed to write this?


texts: Do Mathematics Grad schools in the US expect a research paper from a Masters Student for admission into a PhD Program?

texts:
I have recently joined a Masters program in Pure Mathematics in an Asian University.

My course does not have a research component, only coursework like - Field Theory, Algebraic Topology, Topology-I,II, Differential geometry, Module Theory, Fourier Analysis, Computational Differential Equations, Measure Theory , Complex Analysis, Algebraic Number Theory, Homology Theory etc.

Though, I would love to do research and publish a paper, however, some of the topics above would be new to me. So, I am not sure, if I would even get time to do research and do well in the coursework as well.

I plan to apply to the US for a PhD after my masters. So, would the school expect a research publication towards the end of my masters? Will not doing so affect my application for a PhD?


texts: Is it OK to add citations from low impact factor journals?

texts: For example, let us consider that I write a manuscript which is to be submitted to one of the prestigious journals such as PRL, PRB, etc. In this manuscript, is it OK to cite from some journals which are generally considered as not-so-prestigious journals? If I cite more papers from low impact factor journals, does it play a negative role?


texts: What does "upper division" mean in the context of undergraduate classes?

texts:
I'm in the process of researching graduate programs, and one of the ones I'm interested in prefers their applicants to have a B average in "upper division" classes. I just want to clarify what this means. I'm in a 4-year undergraduate math program, so would "upper division" be 3rd and 4th year courses, or would 2nd year courses be dragged into the mix?

Edit: I am talking about US grad schools, but I go to a university in Canada. Right now, I have a GPA of about 3.3, which I hope to surpass in 3rd and 4th year to look better on my grad school app.


texts: Graduate Recruitment Weekend Lines Up With My Vacation

texts: I have been invited to a graduate recruitment weekend for a school where I have applied for a Master's, and they are offering to pay my travel costs. Unfortunately, this lines up with a vacation for which I have already paid some nonrefundable costs. I have not yet been notified of acceptance or rejection, and would like to go if it weren't for the conflict. Will it hurt my chances of acceptance if I don't go to this event?