texts: Will UK/US universities understand that in my country, it is common to deliberately fail and retake classes?

texts:
I wanna apply for Master’s programs at LSE and Oxbridge starting next year. I’m currently on completing my undergraduate studies, have the equivalent of a first-class honours will most likely graduate with distinction and Top 5% of my class.

So far so good.

However, I have just read here that it can be quite an issue with admission officers if there are bad grades and/or failed classes on the undergrad transcript. It appears that bad grades and/or failing classes are much more troublesome in the UK and USA. I heard that you can’t just resit a class and that such grades may even count toward your final grade (USA).

The thing is, where I’m from, it’s totally normal to (deliberately) fail a class for whatever reason. In fact, it’s pretty simple. If you fail a class it doesn’t count towards your final grade (why should it, if you didn’t pass?) and you can retake it whenever you want. At my university you’re even allowed to retake exams you have already successfully passed, a good thing if you want to optimize grades. Hence, it’s obvious that little attention is given to a fail or whatsoever.

I’m concerned, however, how this could be perceived with graduate admission at the top universities in the UK. On my home university transcript, failed classes doesn’t show up, only passed ones. I only have two classes where I passed with a 3 but I’m gonna retake them next semester and get a first on them. Unfortunately, I did an exchange in the US last semester where I passed two courses (A-, B+) but failed two and q-dropped one. I failed because I knew it was easier at home and I had other things in mind during this time. By now, I have already completed these classes I failed in the US and got excellent grades on them.

In light of these circumstances, is there even the slightest possibility that graduate admission would reject me despite a first-class degree just because there are 2 failed courses on an exchange semester transcript? Given that in my country the culture of failing classes for whatever reasons is commonly practiced. Does graduate admission generally understand those critical differences between UK vs non-UK universiy life?


texts: Does being a member of IEEE make it easier to publish in the transactions?

texts:
We are in process of finalizing a draft for submission to a good venue for publication (Comp. Sc.). I have never published in IEEE Transactions, though I have a paper under review with one of them. I note that the majority of the IEEE articles have membership details besides the author name.

Questions:

Do you need to be  a member of the IEEE in order to publish in one of the transactions?
If not, do reviewers perceive articles submitted by non-members less favourably?

Note: I am already a member of ACM and its specialized groups. I don't see any reason to join IEEE just to add something with my name in the article.


texts: Can I reference a result on a dataset without any research paper by that author as state of the art?

texts:
The best result on a given dataset has no trace in the form of
research paper or any sort of analysis.

We have no idea whose results were those, or what method was created.

Some competition was held, participants uploaded their resultant output files on leader-board.

When the competition was over, the best performing participant didn't come forward to share their methods.

The organizers wrote a survey paper, where they mentioned this unknown result but mentioned that they had no idea who the authors were, probably in the hope that they would write paper in the future.

After the competition, that participant still hasn't written any paper. The only information available is that survey paper by the organizers with the result in the form of a number and nothing else.

Can this be referenced as the state of the art result or does one have to pick the best scoring entry that has a paper as evidence by its author?


texts: Quality and effectiveness of remote/online vs traditional teaching?

texts:
Currently when a lot of traditionally taught courses are converted to online and remote education - what does science say about the effectiveness of that compared to the traditional classroom situation?

I am taking a language course and just had my first online (MS Teams) session and thought it was horrible (much more distractions sitting at home, no live interaction with the person next to me and so on).

I assume there has been a lot of research on this subject made before (and that even more will be done after corona) and am looking for "rule of thumb"-answers, just to get an idea in which direction the results are pointing


texts:
I'm trying to understand an excerpt from a New Yorker article about the mathematician Yitang Zhang. The excerpt is included at the bottom. If possible, please help clarify Yang's point about tenure and nontenure positions; commentaries on the accuracy of his point would also be helpful.

In the excerpt, Yang seems to be asserting that nontenure positions are generally undesirable when he states,

  There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected.

However, in the preceding sentences he seemed to be describing benefits of nontenure jobs:

  If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly.

I feel like he's contradicting himself. Is his point that while there are benefits to being a nontenure Calculus teacher, most people in such a position are “nuts” with “very dysfunctional personalities and lives” who “feel disrespected”? I feel like I'm not quite understanding him. The full excerpt:

  Zhang’s preference for undertaking only ambitious problems is rare. The pursuit of tenure requires an academic to publish frequently, which often means refining one’s work within a field, a task that Zhang has no inclination for. He does not appear to be competitive with other mathematicians, or resentful about having been simply a teacher for years while everyone else was a professor. No one who knows him thinks that he is suited to a tenure-track position. “I think what he did was brilliant,” Deane Yang told me. “If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly. There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected. Clearly, Zhang never felt that.”


texts: From a lesser known uni, but very prestigious in my country - do I tell my referee to make this clear in my LOR for USA applications?

texts:
I'm applying to the US and Canada for PhDs this cycle, my undergraduate university is very well regarded in my country (UK) and generally in the top 5 for domestic rankings/prestige. Even more so for my undergrad program (Physics), which generally accepts people who very narrowly missed out on Oxford/Cambridge places. However is pretty much unheard of outside of Britain (ranked in the 60s/70s globally). Do I ask my referees to make the relative prestige of my uni clear on my LOR so that admissions committees can understand the context of my grades and experiences?? Or would this be considered too on the nose?

I am preparing to send materials to all of my referees with some advice on how to write LORs for North American applications, which they may not have done before, so I would really like to clarify this before I do so.


texts: Common file-formats for writing research papers

texts:
This is a rewrite of a question that was perhaps-naively posed. I rephrase...

What file formats are ok/good/ideal/common/long-term-viable/archivable/useful for research papers?

And, also, there's the history-question:

What is the story of viable file-formats in the last 20+ years?


texts:
I am a research scholar who published a paper in an Elsevier journal recently.
My advisor had almost no contribution in the paper, but since it is mandatory to put the advisor’s name in the paper, I had to put it.
I was the first author and also the corresponding author.

Recently my advisor said he had got an article from the same journal related to my work and he wants me to review it as he does not have any knowledge in this field.
Shall I review it for my advisor or politely refuse my advisor that I wont do it?

I don’t understand why the journal contacted him and not me to review that paper though I was the corresponding author?
I feel very bad that even though it was my work the journals did not send me the paper for review.
What do journals usually look for when they send a paper for review?

UPDATE:

I did talk to my advisor that I would review the paper if he could mention my name to the Editor so that I get enlisted as a reviewer in their database.
But my advisor is not keen on saying that to the Editor.
He is arguing that this is how things work in academia.
He said that he also reviewed for his advisor but never asked anything in return like this.
When I published the paper he gave me the same explanation that in academia advisors dont work.
It is the duty of the scholars to do all the work and since he has read the draft once and I get my scholarship through him, he is entitled to get an authorship.


texts: How does publication of a society journal by a for-profit publisher work?

texts:
I have observed that, sometimes, non-profit academic societies have journals.  Usually, the journal is published by the society, or by a partnership between societies.  But sometimes, the society's journal is published by a for-profit publisher.
How do these arrangements work?  What aspects of the journal are controlled by the society, and what aspects are controlled by the for-profit publisher?  I'm curious about both content and financial control.
Random examples:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-the-european-ceramic-society/about/aims-and-scope
https://ceramics.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/15512916/homepage/contact
https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=societyInformation&journalCode=tsta20


texts: How to read/react to students' evaluation?

texts:
For my first course on CS topic (first course on the topic and not the first overall), I used the university evaluation system to ask students about their feedback.

In addition to responding to questions by giving rates, the students were also asked to specify what they liked and what they didn't like. There are some comments that are obviously wrong but among which, there are comments that the students believe are true.

One common comment is that the slides contain many formulas and they claimed that most of them are not necessary because they didn't understand the lectures. In contrast, they could understand the topic from youtube videos without all these formulas.

I wanted to teach the topic from the right perspective of master university level. but it seems that the students prefer animated lectures, which are useful to understand the overall idea but not the core of the topic, especially because math/algebra is important in this course.

I am wondering whether I should satisfy the students' opinion or I should keep the current way which I find more useful to reach deep understanding.


texts: Seeking Feedback on Research Topic Outside Department/University

texts:
I am about to start my third year in an economics PhD program and I'm starting my dissertation. Part of the dissertation involves subject matter that none of the faculty in the department know enough about to give specific useful feedback.

I want to ask faculty (who I know are knowledgeable) from different departments/universities  for some basic feedback on my current progress before plunging more into the research topic blindly (with only my understanding of the literature to guide me).

I'm thinking I will ask my current committee members to introduce me to anybody they know who might be helpful. If they don't know anyone I will consider cold-emailing.

So my question is:

Is my current plan a bad idea and is there a preferred alternative approach?


texts: Is there a way to report to google scholar some systematic mistakes?

texts:
I've noticed, for citations, that some BibTeX files provided by google scholar are having regular errors (I believe these are errors).

For bib items, there is the "pages" field, in which we could input a range or a number of pages an article has. I've found at least two journals (in a short time span) whose articles have a wrong "pages" field. For instance

@article{baffou2009heat,
title={Heat generation in plasmonic nanostructures: Influence of                  morphology},
  author={Baffou, G and Quidant, R and Girard, C},
  journal={Applied Physics Letters},
  volume={94},
  number={15},
  pages={153109},
  year={2009},
  publisher={AIP}
}

or

@inproceedings{ammari2015super,
  title={Super-resolution in high-contrast media},
  author={Ammari, Habib and Zhang, Hai},
  booktitle={Proc. R. Soc. A},
  volume={471},
  number={2178},
  pages={20140946},
  year={2015},
  organization={The Royal Society}
}

Similarly, this last paper is not a proceeding, but an article from the journal "Proceedings of the Royal Society".

Probably there are some other mistakes around.

I know that these data are collected automatically, but, is there any way to report the errors to help google scholar to perfect their algorithms?


texts:
I'm considering submitting a paper to Annals of Applied Statistics, published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS).

According to IMS Journals on arXiv:

  Note that the IMS posts all accepted IMS journal articles on arXiv at publication.

However, the paper entries on the journal page do not link directly to the arXiv paper. Also, for at least the following publication, there is no corresponding entry on arXiv. I'm not sure what to conclude from that.

So, I was just wondering if this approach counts as open access. Also, the Wikipedia entry, Comparison of statistics journals lists Annals of Applied Statistics and other IMS journals as not open access.


texts: What are the benefits and drawbacks of a professor being interdisciplinary when they seek tenure?

texts:
Possible benefits: More grant money through other departments

Possible drawbacks: A significant fraction of their research might not be seen as research that benefits the department's standing in the area.

But what about others?


texts: what is the common academic way of linking a section of a paper to a previously published paper?

texts:
Assume you have a published paper in journal X. Now, you are writing a manuscript for journal Y. One section of this manuscript is very similar to what you published in X.
So how is the common academic way of referencing this section to that published paper?
I mean, it would probably look like this:

III. Method blah blah

This method has been previously addressed in this paper [ref].


texts: How to Fight Imposter Syndrome as a student by myself?

texts: I am facing maybe imposter syndrome that kills me everyday which leads to an intermittent sleep and a chronic headache. Unfortunately, the country I am in right now there is non-Anglophone speaking psychoanalysts, the university as well doesn't give any kind of support: there was a senior student suffering from chronic depression and didn't get the help and considering relocating. I seriously feel a constant headache and thoughts I don't deserve any thing, even I feel so stupid in programming although some people tell me you are working on a new topic. I don't know how to heal myself on my own. Hope to hear what I can do to overcome the imposter syndrome.


texts: What does the request to "benchmark your manuscript against recent articles" mean?

texts:
My manuscript was favourably received, with a recommendation to publish after a minor revision.  However, after submitting the revised version, the Associate Editor (or Editor-in-Chief) responded:

  Please benchmark your manuscript against recent articles in [other journal] to increase the relevance of your manuscript to the journal's readership.

What does this mean?

Does this mean the Associate Editor (or Editor-in-Chief) doesn't like my manuscript?


texts: How to deal with an unreasonable reviewer asking to cite irrelevant articles?

texts:
Two years ago, when I was doing my master’s degree, I was working on a computational project. My supervisor was well-known in the field and a highly reputed person. We were doing a great job, trying to solve a long-standing problem.

When we made significant progress in our work, we wanted to publish it in a journal that has significant outreach for works related to our problems (We were working on flow acoustics). So we submitted out our article to a journal. The article went into review. Came back after two months. There were two referees. One of them was positive and then came the arrogant reviewer report.

  I feel that the authors of the article have no knowledge of how certain computational methods can never reproduce physics.

  Authors should try to reproduce the result with more reliable experimental procedures. [cites two articles from author A, B, and C]

  Furthermore though the computational method is validated against work of author D, I believe authors should at least try to validate their procedure with works of [cites again different article from author A, C, and B, C, E and X, C]

  Authors did not cite relevant literature [mulitple articles from author C]

  I recommend publication after major revision.

It is rather obvious that author C is either our reviewer or someone close to our reviewer who is asking to cite irrelevant articles and threatens to reject our work on no scientific basis (our computational methodology was well established, robustly proved, highly cited and widely used). Unfortunately, the journal had no appeal process.

We wrote in our rebuttal to the editor that if author C is one of the reviewers, we would like to be peer-reviewed by a different reviewer.

However, the editor never seemed to care. No care was taken by the journal to provide us a fair review. Is there an efficient way to tackle such arrogant reviewers?


texts: Should the title be changed when converting a conference article into a journal article?

texts:
Recently, a (Springer) journal invited me to extend a (Springer) conference paper. The conference paper was published in April. After the extensions, I can submit the journal article as post-conference publication.

Regarding my question, should / must I keep the name of the conference article (when writing the journal article)? Or should I modify the name of the journal article?


texts: How do I cite a source from a another source?

texts: Suppose I'm writing an article about topic X. During research I come across a related article in which the author has made statement Y and referenced publication Z. For one reason or another, I haven't read Z. Perhaps it is an expensive textbook or I'm just lazy. Can I in my article also make statement Y and reference Z, bypassing the middle author, or is that wrong?


texts: Is there a way to influence research in multiple areas of a field?

texts: So, the title may be a little convoluted, but let me explain. My current interests are regenerative medicine and neuroscience. I'm an undergraduate working in a neuroimaging lab, and while I enjoy the research, I feel like I don't want to limit myself to a narrow research topic as is common in Academia. For example, I'm interested in working with other areas, such as stem cell research and nanomedicine. What kind of career should I be working towards if I want to maintain a broad influence in the field? I was considering something like an administrative position or an being part of some journal's board. Perhaps working in the industry would be good, but I like the whole intellectual/meeting researchers vibe in the academic world. Also, please let me know if I can clarify this post a bit.


texts: Should I list on my CV research assistantship positions under grants&awards?

texts:
Background of person is: first year Phd student, no publications, no research grants, but I have received a fellowship for my first semester that paid my stipend and tuition, so should I list the total amount with stipend and tuition?

Also during my MS I was hired as an RA and received stipend+tuition? Can I list that as a total amount per year, or total amount for the two years, or should I separate the different amounts (tuition/stipend). Isn't this a fellowship/scholarship/grant of some sort since rarely do master students get this kind of RAship?

edit: while RA's are common in the US and the fact that they pay stipend/tuition is well known, in other countries people might think that if I list it only as a job they might not realize it also paid my tuition, which for foreign students in the US can be quite high. I want to convey the importance of this achievement and monetary importance to a crowd outside the USA.


texts: Would it be ethical to hire a proofreader for theses and academic articles?

texts:
Proofreading documents for orthography is a pain. I consider that I am decent at writing in my native language (on the grammar and orthography side), but proofreading for typos and whatnots is a time-consuming pain. I’d much prefer to have someone else do it for me, but it's a pain to bother other people with it. Also, when I read students’ work, in some cases it requires two iterations (because it's hard to focus on the science when the spelling is… suboptimal).

So, given that a professional proofreader would be much more efficient at this job than me, leaving me more time to review the scientific content or otherwise actually do research, the logical conclusion is that I should hire one. This would work either for my own writing or for

I know some people actually do that (and also buy more extensive services) for grant writing. However, I wonder: is it ethical to hire a proofreader for theses and academic articles?


texts: To avoid legal battle, in bussiness world reference letters are written extremely terse. How do academics get away with this?

texts:
It seems to be accepted wisdom in the business world that reference letters for former employees should be extremely terse. They should confirm that the employee worked there, and essentially nothing else:

  To whom it may concern: Ellen Ripley was employed by the Weyland-Yutani Corporation from June 2137 to September 2139.  Signed, C. Burke, manager."

The standard reasoning is that if the letter contains something unfavorable and the employee is turned down for a future job, they might sue their former company for libel, claiming the unfavorable statement was a lie which damaged their career.  In order to avoid the possibility of such a legal battle (which, the reasoning goes, could be very expensive, even if the company wins), the company tells its managers to write letters with no content, so that there's no chance of them containing something actionable.

This question on Workplace Stack Exchange, Is there any evidence that giving references for former employees is inherently risky?, attests to this practice, and the answers provide some suggestion that the company's fears are justified.

On the other hand, in academia, detailed and informative recommendation letters are the norm.  They often run to multiple pages, and contain specific information about the candidate's history and activities at the institution, as well as the writer's (supposedly honest) subjective assessment of the candidate's strengths, weaknesses, and potential.  This is not only common but effectively mandatory; a minimal recommendation letter of the kind described above would immediately consign the candidate's application to the nearest wastebasket.

This would seem to be just the sort of thing that fills corporate counsel with horror, yet we do it every day.  No academic employer of mine has ever told me not to do so; for that matter, I can't say that I've ever received any official guidance, one way or the other, on writing recommendations.  Nobody in academia seems to be concerned that writing a letter that could be construed as less than favorable could result in legal consequences.  So how are we getting away with it?

Are universities treated differently under the law, making them less vulnerable to such threats?  Or do they willingly accept the legal risks in order to make the world a better place by providing actual information about their former students/employees?  Or is everyone ignorant of the risk of trouble?  Or is there something I have not thought of?

To forestall a couple of objections: I know that academics usually try to write only positive letters, and decline to write if they have nothing good to say, but that's evidently not enough in the corporate world.  Anyway, candidates often end up damned by faint praise.  Also, I know that we send letters in confidence, with the understanding that they won't be shown to the candidate, and sometimes this is backed by having the candidate sign a waiver, but I have to believe that a sufficiently determined and litigious candidate could get access anyway.

(I know this question may sound rhetorical, but I ask it in seriousness, and hope to learn something from the answers.  My context is the US, but if things are substantially different in other places, that would be interesting to know as well.)


texts: Can I use a Google map in my PhD thesis?

texts: I want to use a map downloaded from Google maps in my PhD thesis. Does Google allow me to do this? Do I need permission from Google?


texts: Academic position in the UK, do universities in the UK pay for dependent tuition?

texts:
I'm an assistant professor in the US and I would like to move to the UK. My daughter will be starting college this September and I was wondering if universities in the UK offer any tuition waivers if my daughter enrolls in the same university? and which universities in the UK would offer something like this.

Update: it's worth mentioning that my daughter and I are US citizens. we don't hold any UK or EU citizenships.


texts: If a student is dismissed, is (or how is) that indicated on their transcript?

texts:
As faculty, I've had to report academic misconduct (usually plagiarism) many times but that doesn't mean I know everything about how it works.  My understanding has always been that the only people who know about the report are the faculty who reported the incident, the student being reported and the conduct officer or honor committee (depending on the institution) investigating the report.  The student can certainly tell whoever they like but regardless of the outcome, everyone else is required to keep the information confidential.

But what happens if the result is dismissal (permanent separation from the university)?  Is there typically any indication of this on the student's transcript?  I've heard from colleagues that at some institutions, it will be indicated on the transcript but I'm not sure if that's correct.  If the dismissal is indicated and the misconduct was especially serious, e.g., rape, is that fact also reported?  What would it say?


texts: Switching university for PhD but staying in the same city

texts:
I am currently a graduate student in mathematics at the University of Montreal. I also did my undergraduate studies there.

I know it is often frowned upon to do all your graduate studies at the same university. I have read online it is often better to go somewhere else for your PhD.

How far does one have to go for the PhD studies?
In Montreal, there are three other universities (McGill, Concordia, UQAM) and I was wondering if just switching university (while staying in the same city) is sufficient in academia. Will it be frowned upon?


texts: Has anyone, based on great performance, ever been awarded a higher degree than the one they enrolled for?

texts: Out of curiosity, I was wondering if anyone, historically, has ever been awarded a degree that was a level higher than the one they were enrolled in and studying for, simply because their performance warranted a higher award? For example, somebody could have been awarded a MPhil instead of an MSc or a PhD instead of an MSc?


texts: Placement of period in sentence that ends with "et al." followed by reference number?

texts:
I have a citation that is at the end of a sentence with dual punctuation. What I mean is that I have a sentence of the following form:

  Blah blah blah is mentioned by Author et al.

What is the proper way to include the citation in this case?

  Blah blah blah is mentioned by Author et al[##].

  Blah blah blah is mentioned by Author et al.[##]

  Blah blah blah is mentioned by Author et al.[##].

Other


texts: Are math grad students increasingly consulting SE and Wiki, ignoring research librarians and libraries, to their own detriment?

texts:
Judging by posts and comments by graduate students in math.stackexchange.com and mathoverflow.net, I have come to the conclusion that a large part of their knowledge comes from SE sites and the Wikipedia, as opposed to traditional publications such as books and papers.
I was deeply shocked the first time I heard of a student researching the literature through Google, which spits out at least as many SE and Wikipedia answers as references to books and journals.  But, of course, nowadays I do the same, certainly more often than going to the library!
Are traditional publication forms becoming obsolete, in the face of purely electronic forms? Or, contrariwise, do younger people who ignore traditional forms miss out on essential information?


texts: How frequently can you ask for a personal reference without being disrespectful?

texts:
When applying for post-doctoral and faculty positions you are typically asked for three (sometimes more) reference letters to support your application.

Given that it is competitive out there, it also makes sense to apply for all positions that are good matches to your qualifications and career development goals (in the case of post-docs).

Sometimes this may mean asking for several reference letters (or pre-application "can you support me if required?" requests) in a short space of time.

Also, there may only be a small pool of people (i.e. 3 or 4) who know your work sufficiently well to give an excellent reference.

I have also been told that referees want to help you out, and that there is no reason to fear asking them.  And, that in many cases once a letter is written it can typically be quickly repurposed.  But there must be a breaking point.

How do I manage this without being disrespectful?  How many requests in a given unit of time is too many, or harms my credibility?   I am asking this question in this forum, as I am interested in the norms in the academic world, which are often somewhat different than the rest of the working world.


texts: Is it common practice for book reviews editors to be excluded from chief editor(s) meetings?

texts:
I'm a book reviews editor (volunteer role) for a newly established journal (running just for the last couple of years). The journal has a couple of chief editors, myself as the book reviews editor, and then an editorial board. I manage the book reviews (including soliciting, organising, reviewing, editing, etc) which are eventually sent off to the editors for approval. We've never (to my knowledge) have had an editorial board meeting. The editors meet every two months to discuss the journal (strategic and administrative), but I have never been invited to these meetings.
Not having worked with a journal in this capacity before (I have guest edited special issues, published, and done peer reviews), I'm unsure as to whether or not book reviews editors should be included in at least some of these meetings/discussions since they pertain to the shaping of future journal issues (and book reviews may be a part of that, such as limits on word lengths, which books to focus on, etc). However, as I'm quite new to this, perhaps it is normal for such editors to be excluded from bigger picture meetings/discussions?
I have this horrible nagging feeling that I'm being excluded purposely because I'm a young woman working with older men, but I think I'm just overthinking it due to my lack of experience in journal editorial practices.
Edit/Clarification : This is a purely academic role. The editors are not paid for running the journal.


texts: What are the factors one needs to take into account in order to choose an appropriate mathematical journal?

texts: Several months ago I submitted a paper to a journal. The area covered by the journal is the same as the one covered in the paper. However, I waited several months and finally the paper was rejected by the journal, and they explained to me that it was not of sufficient interest for them. What can I do to avoid having to go through this again if I submit my paper to another journal?


texts: Showing book cover in public presentation

texts:
I have a follow up question from my previous question that I thought could be of benefit to others if they had the same question.

I’m giving a public talk for a sci-com event and wanted to show some books that people could read if they were very keen and wanted to learn more.

Is there a copyright problem if I just showed the cover of these books in the presentation? I’d imagine it’s the same as looking at a book at a bookstore, but I could be wrong (has happened before!).

Would I need to at least acknowledge the authors and publishers?


texts: Talking about the topics I have independently studied in my statement of purpose

texts: I'm applying to PhD programs in physics. However, there are no good research opportunities at my school. I have produced no original results that I can talk about so far, and I'm worried that I will be competing with candidates who have several publications, original results, and so forth. However, I independently studied some subjects in depth. For instance, condensed matter theory topics, such as topological order, the quantum hall effect, the renormalization group technique which, I think, are normally studied at graduate not undergraduate level. Is it appropriate to elaborate in my statement of purpose at length about the topics that I have studied and the calculations that I have done even if these are not original results of mine? Otherwise, I will not have much to say about my academic experience.


texts: Elsevier's 'MethodsX' journal as an additional article to my original research article (plagiarism)

texts:
I recently submitted a paper to an Elsevier Journal (Biomedical Signal Processing and Control), in the revision stage they propose to me to send a part of my work as MethodX article https://www.journals.elsevier.com/methodsx alongside my revised research article and if my paper accepted for publication the MethodX article will automatically be transferred to MethodX where will be reviewed and published as a separate article.

Now, If I prepared the MethodX article, should I change the original text, rewrite  (not be guilty of plagiarism) or just take parts from the original article and format a MethodX article?


texts: What are the strategies for getting feedback on articles?

texts:
As an academic, one has to publish. Often, an article is drafted, and you need feedback of a colleague.  I see that quite often some perspective articles are often written by long-term collaborating pairs of authors.

What are some strategies people use to get feedback on their articles  (outside of immediate boss; and in the case that none of the friends in the field of work in the specific domain of the article, and one needs specific (not general) feedback)?

How do you approach a colleague to simply read your article. Or do you just mention it at a conference to the most suitable colleague - would you like to read an article and give me feedback? How do handle the co-authorship or acknowledgement? Do you establish the limits at the "approach time"?

What are some strategies to establish a "publishing" duos (buddies).


texts: What is the best way to publicise an on-line survey for research?

texts:
I am doing my graduation project to become a Software Engineer. The project aims to study the behavior of freelance developers to subsequently design a process that allows more quality and efficiency.

To know the freelancer behavior I have made a survey, but I don't know what is the best way to publish the survey and get responses; after which I'll post an article.

I have published the survey in at least 7 forums, but in most of them my post has been closed for spamming.

Can any one tell me some advice for doing the survey? (on internet)


texts: Can we add articles downloaded from Sci-Hub to a meta-analysis study?

texts: Is it safe and legal to add articles downloaded from Sci-Hub to a meta-analysis study(unpublished)? Will it make any difference? Are there any consequences?


texts: How do I stop feeling intimidated by my advisor?

texts:
Whenever I meet my advisor and interact with him, in class or otherwise, I can't help feeling intimidated. I feel scared of the fact that I may fall below his expectations, and I become tongue-tied and mind frozen even though I know stuff.

How can I avoid this? Is this common at this stage? (I am an undergrad and just beginning research.)


texts: Citing another author’s summary of other works in a journal article

texts:
I want to use the information from this block of text talking about psychoanalysis:

  Some authors (e.g. Allison et al., 2006 and Turkle, 1995) compare the player and avatar's relationship to a transmission field, as roughly defined by psychoanalysis: the avatar is not in exclusive competence of the player, while not being completely separated from them. It lies somewhere near the boarder of external and internal (psychological) reality.

I am unsure how to put it in my paper. Do I still say that the information is from the article I'm reading it from, or would I mention the authors of that information? Something like:

  Lukas Blinka in his article entitled "The relationship of players to their avatars in MMORPGs" compares the relation of a player to their avatar to that of a transmission field...

The relevant style guide is MLA.


texts: Should I ask a reference letter from someone working where I am applying to use it for another application?

texts:
I am applying to a PhD program. I worked in the past with researcher A from research team T who was my bachelor thesis supervisor. Now, I am applying to a PhD progam within the research team T and also to another universities.

Researcher A would be a perfect candidate to ask for a reference letter, since my internship under his supervision went really well. However, I am wondering whether or not it would be appropriate to ask him, since I would use it to apply to other universities (he would know that of course).

Details:

I already applied at team T and am waiting for news.
A is not the team director but the team is quite small and A knows I applied there.
A is not the one who would supervise the PhD I applied to.

I am afraid that asking him for a reference letter could make him think that I am not that much interested in that lab L and that this could have a negative impact on my application at this lab.


texts: As a new faculty, should I attend students' thesis defense in my department but not in my field?

texts:
I am a new assistant professor.  My department is very weird — a combination of very different fields. An associate professor sent out invitations for her students' dissertation defense to all the faculties in my department. Should I attend them?
She is not in my research field and none of the topics are related with my research, so I ignored them.  However, one of my friends (who is at a different university) says that I should attend them to show my interest. So I am unsure.
Any thoughts and advice will be truly appreciated.


texts: I was recently in a meeting with other university professors and one of them introduced himself as a "pseudo professor". The other, when introducing themselves reiterated that they understand what it means to be a pseudo professor as they have to raise more than 60% of their salary (or loosely pay themselves?). My question then is, who is a pseudo and a 'real' professor? This is in reference to the US higher education system.


texts: After with editor the current status is submitted to journal

texts: I have communicated my article to one elsevier journal. After being with editor for more than one month, the current status is "submitted to journal". I am confused regarding this status? What does it signify, kindly answer me?


texts: US postdoc application with one-page research statement (no cover letter!) [psychology/linguistics]

texts:
For a one-year postdoc position (extendable up to three years) in psychology/linguistics in the US, I'm asked to submit a cv, two published works, and a one-page research statement (so, no cover letter).
I am wondering if I should understand this research statement as a short "cover letter"-type of writing, including past experiences, future plans, and why these plans fit in this department, or should I only describe my plan for the research project that I would like to carry on during that time?  Should I be really precise as to what and how I want to conduct research during that year?

Thank you!


texts: I submitted an article to one of the OMICS journals and also paid for it only to find out they are a predatory journal. article not yet publish. Any advice what I should do?


texts: Do authors have to be politically correct in article-writing?

texts:
My colleagues and I have recently submitted an article in a biology-oriented journal about a new technological system. While describing the interaction between the different modules of the system, we used the terms "master" and "slave", as it describes the communication protocol in a very comprehensive manner.

One reviewer raised an issue that these terms were not suitable for publication in an academic journal, without proposing an alternative wording.

We understand that writing a text aimed at being read by a broad community of people imposes a high degree of decency, and that's of course what we always tried to do. Given the context it is extremely clear that these terms are used to describe an interaction between to electronical devices, and are in no way a reference to slavery. We are Europeans, and have never heard of any controversy on this. Also, the "master/slave" terms have been and are still widely used in engineering lingo.

So we have two questions regarding this situation:

Is there an alternative wording that we could use, still expressing clearly the same idea?
More generally, do authors have to write politically-correct articles, even though this not a very well-defined notion and can significantly vary from one region of the world to another?

We don't really want to enter into a long discussion with the reviewer on this particular point, so the latter question is more something of general interest about what one should have in mind when writing an article.

Edit

Thanks for the numerous answers and comments, this is really helpful. Since I can choose only one answer as the good one, it's the one that proposes a useful  alternative. We believe that the most problematic word in this case is "slave" and not "master", so we'll propose the terms "master/worker" as a replacement for our article.

In addition, a thought I had in the meantime is that using these terms as adjectives instead of nouns may help a little bit. A "slave device" may be a slightly softened wording than simply a "slave" (though not resolving the issue). More importantly, I feel that "master device" and "worker device" are expressing the general relationship between the modules in a clearer way than simply "master" and "worker".

For the more general question about PC, it seems to be still an open question. As suggested in one answer, this certainly desserves some changes in our writing practices now and then.


texts: In law schools do JD professors supervise PhD students?

texts:
I know that law schools, unlike most other academic faculties hire a significant portion of their professors without a doctorate (PhD, D.Phil, etc) but just with a JD law degree.
I come from a science background so this notion is pretty foreign to me.
Do the JD professors supervise doctoral and/or master's students? I know that these professors will still engage in legal scolarship/ publishing papers but it would seem inappropriate for them to be issuing doctorates if they themselves don't have one.


texts: Does it make sense to let a colleague know about his repeated misspelling?

texts:
I have been working on a project with a collaborator for several years. I have never met my collaborator in person but we've been a part of weekly calls and sent hundreds of emails together so I feel like at this point I know this person fairly well.
In what seems like hundreds (at least 10's) I have noticed my collaborator always misspells "a lot" as "alot". This person is my senior (he's a graduate student, I'm a pre-doc) and I am wondering if I should let him know in a polite way that he is making a common misspelling. It does not particularly bug me or anything, and I am not a particularly fantastic speller myself, but I just want to help him out in case he doesn't know already. Does it make sense to bring this up with him as a colleague or is this not my place?


texts: How to remind a professor about my previous mail that was sent two months ago?

texts: I sent an email to a professor in my university two months ago for a research position in the lab since her research was about my place and interests.She told she will contact me sometime in feb (since she was on a maternity leave till December and has joined again in January).How should I remind her gently about my email or should I wait till the end of the month?


texts: Converting from and to British grading scheme

texts:
I've tried googling around for this but I haven't really understood how the British grading scheme works. I am specifically interested in knowing the following things:

What is a 2:1?
What is a level A?
How can I convert from and to A, B, C grades to numerical grades?


texts: I recently submitted my thesis for viva and have since noticed that by transferring from one computer to another endnote has changed my references. The end result of this is that there are 3 extra references at the beginning of the list (which throws out all the other references by 3). Is there anything I can do about this? Are my supervisors allowed to contact the examiners and make them aware? Or do I need to suck it up and face it head on at viva.


texts: Any place for people with fear of writing?

texts:
This isn't the best moment to ask the question, since I should be writing an overdue document and presentation.

However, is there any place where a person with fear of writing can work? I am studying for a PhD in Europe in a STEM field. I was always quite good at school and university. I was on schedule with my studies, but the preparation of my master thesis was quite painful and I have the impression than I should have completed it in 60% of the time it took me. After a short experience in the industry in a field close to my own (but for which I didn't have all the skills), I took the opportunity of a PhD in my field. Of course before that I had been making interviews for jobs in my field, but never got anything. Being extremely introvert doesn't help. I already feel embarrassed writing my CV, and adding details as hobbies or strength points (actually I ended up skipping those parts).

Now it's been more than one year that I'm in this PhD and each writing task is really making me desperate. Initial proposal, internal reports, and presentations torment me for weeks. From this emotional distress, I am often impaired both in my writing and research work. I have ended up crying at home at night in front of a white page (once even at morning at work, but I managed to hide in the bathroom in time).

I'm lucky that my advisor doesn't put too much pressure on me, but I feel so bad not being able to hand in what I am required, sometimes even after a deadline. The problem is that even if a deadline is reasonable, sometimes I cannot make it because it takes me 2 days to write 1 paragraph (no kidding). Guess how many papers submitted?

Still, I enjoy much more my time here than in the industry. I enjoy academic reading, I have thirst for knowledge and so on, but I see that communication is an essential part for a PhD student. So far I am willing to continue with the PhD program, but I am starting to doubt that I will ever be confident in writing and that this will cripple my academic future.

Any suggestion on how to turn the career path? Also a suggestion on how to overcome fear of writing would be good, but I am afraid I've already read all the good advice here on SE and in many blogs about procrastination, perfectionism, impostor syndrome...

If can be of interest, writing this question took me more or less 40 min.


texts: How to follow up with potential PhD advisor met at conference?

texts:
I recently attended a conference and met a professor who I would be interested in working with for my PhD. One of his students introduced us, and I mentioned some of my research interests, and he asked me about my GPA and GRE scores, and encouraged me to check the school website for application instructions and more information. He didn't seem very interested in talking more then, and I was not very familiar with his research, so I ended the conversation by asking if I could email him if I had any more questions.
Now that I am back from the conference, I am wanting to follow up with him. I have read some of his papers now and was planning to ask a question about his research, but I was wondering if I should try to get a more committed response as to whether he would be interested in having me join his group? How should I bring this up?


texts: Is It appropriate to put code in slides for a technical presentation?

texts:
I am doing a technical presentation on Minimizing Real-Time Data Stream Latency:  Node.js and Asynchronous Operations. I've done some thorough research on the topic and I want to add some code blocks to a few slides to visually show Asynch Programming in Node.js as well as to visually show pros and cons.

The presentation is for 30–40 minutes.   I want to keep it to about 10–12 slides.

Questions

Is it appropriate to add code blocks to some slides?
If it is appropriate, how many slides is too much?


texts: Using materials from a CC-BY-licensed poster with logos

texts:
I would like to borrow a figure (likely as is) and/or a stylized table (likely adapted) to use in a survey research paper, to which I'm contributing my part(s) as one of co-authors (those materials nicely summarize the trends of the subject matter). The source, from which I want to borrow the above-mentioned materials is a poster, licensed under CC-BY and shared on figshare (). According to the CC-BY license, it seems that there should be no problems whatsoever, given that I will follow the terms of the license. Specifically, I plan to properly cite the materials (including DOI) as well as make a note, specifying which one is adapted, if any. Is there anything else I should keep in mind?

Also, the CC-BY license "stamp" on the poster states that companies'/products'/projects' logos on the diagram are not covered by the license (obviously!). So, in this case, I assume that I should either include the same note or a statement along the lines of "logos of companies, products or projects are the property of their representative owners", which seems like a valid case of fair use.


texts:
This question is inspired by this recent answer that mentions that whether downloading articles from 'questionable' sites is legal (not ethical) may depend on local law. That is, law is local.

Are academic ethics global or local? Clearly, legal principles and conclusions vary from place to place, but does the same apply to academic ethics, or are academic ethics the same no matter where you go? That is, while there may be (and may continue to be) genuine debates on various ethical matters in academia, do these debates and disagreements apply fully to academics everywhere in the world, or are there "local" ethics?

At first, I figured that getting large numbers of people scattered throughout the world to agree on anything is so remotely implausible that there must be local ethics, but then I realized that I couldn't think of any rational set of circumstances where I would advise a colleague that they could solve their ethical issue not by changing their behavior, but by crossing a border, e.g.,

  Dude, while fooing the bar does not violate any specific statute in the Civil or Criminal Codes of Florin, it is near-universially considered academically unethical here! Have you considered a transfer to our branch campus in Guilder? You can foo the bar all you like there - they even have a Department of Fooing the Bar and award annual scholarships for the most bars fooed that year. Just take care that Guilderian ethics requires that you disclose your blood type to research subjects before you ask them to fill out a survey - people who don't are not charged in court per se, but their names get published in Guilder's Most Annoying Unethical Jerkfaces Quarterly and are rarely, if ever, allowed to return to academia there.


texts:
I am currently studying Mathematics as a undergraduate, but I'm also very interested in Physiology. I was also recently accepted to an Applied Mathematics master's program.

Is there a field of research in physiology/pharmacology that admits, or even encourages mathematicians with a decent knowledge of physiology?

I've found that there are a few undergraduate math modules named "Mathematical physiology/biology"; this is sort of the reason for this question. There are also books upon books on the field of mathematical physiology, which makes sense as in many cases it seems like rates of change are important (glycolysis, etc).

This seems like a radical change in subject, but perhaps someone who has been through the rigor can shine light on this.


texts: What should I do if I have been away from writing a dissertation for some time?

texts:
The subject of my research is very broad and has many aspects. I have measured the aspects many times before and thought about related topics. But I've been away from doing research for a while, I've collected a lot of books and articles. It is difficult for me to choose and organize them.
How do I regenerate my mind?


texts: Remote work employment opportunities for someone with chronic health problems

texts:
I have a PhD in physics, and my career path of choice has always been in physics. Unfortunately, I have been struck with a series of chronic health problems which have caused me to be fired and homebound much of the time. However, as physics research is mostly a mental activity, I am still able to work remotely from home, provided I am also given flexible hours. The problem is, despite my continuing ability to continue working from home despite my chronic health problems, no employer so far has been willing to hire and pay me. The resulting financial problems have forced me to leave my chosen career path for the past few years, which only makes me look worse and worse on my CV, when coupled with being fired.

Do you know of any organization or employer willing to hire researchers remotely? Thanks.


texts:
I am a senior who is graduating in December 2020. In May, I contacted a potential PhD advisor at my own university, and he was interested enough to offer early admission (in Spring as opposed to Fall). It took the professor 2 hours to respond.
I emailed him 4 days ago about confirming the offer still existed, along with the possibility of starting research in Fall (why not get a good start?).  If he does not respond for another couple days, would it be appropriate to do a "walk-in" during his designated "office" hours? I don't expect him to immediately reply, however I am a bit anxious to make sure everything is good-to-go.


texts: Should a undergraduate rely on PhD students to publish papers or do it individually?

texts:
I am a undergraduate student who is trying to publish something so as to facilitate my PhD applications in the future.

I have a few seniors who help out in the lab and have been included as non-1st authors in some publications. Basically, what they do is helping the PhD's do some implementations. Thus, actually there is not much real research involved. But at least in the end, they are the authors, although not 1st authors, of some publications. It is quite nice for undergraduates to have such publications.

As for me, I am currently working on an individual project under a supervisor, who is extremely busy every day. Instead of being a helper, I am actually initiating the research all the way. I am also working towards publishing a paper to present the work.

Nice as it may sound, I am facing a lot of difficulties. As a undergraduate, my knowledge is so limited, and meanwhile I have to attend lectures. My time is also very limited. So I am really afraid I can publish nothing at the end of the research.

Since I have already started the research, no matter the decision to initiate one project my self is wise or not, I have to fight to the very end.

Could anybody help give some suggestions to make my work get published more likely?


texts: Will an online minority student PhD recruitment platform be valuable in the US?

texts:
I know many faculty are concerned about diversity in their labs and it seems to be an ongoing issue. Will it ease PhD recruitment pains to have a searchable database of propsective applicants? Especially for minority applIcants. Not so much to manage the application process but just to find good fit and increase diversity in the group/lab.
My advisor prides herself in building a diverse lab and went through a significant amount of effort to find right persons in the direct applicant pool that fit her criteria.
Anyone have any experience with efforts to diversify their labs that proved successful? Will a secure searchable repository of minority applicants make it easier?


texts: Should a professor give students a take-home exam when the answers might be available online?

texts:
A professor at a top USA university recently assigned a take-home exam for a masters-level computer science course. One of the questions was extremely difficult, but the answer was available online. However, the exam clearly stated, "Do not look online".

Most of the students know enough to discern whether the online answer is correct. It will be practically impossible for the professor to detect any cheating, assuming there is basically only one way to answer the question.

While writing the exam, most students will assume that the answer is available online, as many answers are, and that some students will inevitably cheat. They will know that the cheaters will have an unfair advantage, and thus may obtain the highest grades. So there is pressure on all of the students to cheat, to eliminate the unfair advantage.

However, there is an extremely remote chance of getting caught, and being penalized for academic misconduct. Moreover, the honest students naturally want to be honest, because they have integrity.

I have four questions:

Is it ethical for a professor to give such a take-home exam, which tends to reward and encourage cheating?
If the professor becomes aware that one answer was available online, should he discard all answers to the extremely difficult question?
Should the Dean intervene to ensure fairness and to stop such take-home exams?
How can an honest student report that the answer was available online, without risking retaliation? (The student has no evidence that the professor or Dean care.)


texts: In Economics, should I submit first and arxiv second?

texts:
I'm working outside academia, and have a background in applied maths. In the past few years I've studied economics in some depth, and have nearly finished writing a paper.
I have a good idea to which journal I should submit it, but have doubts on the way to proceed.

should I submit first and arxiv second, or the other way round?

Since the paper has not been seen by someone else, it might be better to get feedback from arxiv readers first. At the same time, I gather competiton is quite fierce and I'm a bit anxious about being scooped: submitting first and arxiving a couple months later would be some form of protection.


texts: If I saw a research result similar to mine from my PC duties, should and how should I contact the authors?

texts:
It happened many times that I saw a paper submitted to a conference where I am on the PC, or a journal where I am editing, and such paper had something similar to what I am working on. The situation is worse when I already have something better.

Of course I should declare a conflict of interest and should let others handle the paper. But I always wonder whether I should contact the authors.

If I don't contact the authors, they might doubt the independence of my paper from theirs. This will be worse if their paper was not published at that point (perhaps it got rejected several times).
If I do contact the them, they may feel that I push them to do something they don't want to, such as making their paper public or collaborating with me.

There are more pros and cons, but I will stop here to keep the question simple.


texts: Assessment of an IT-related extended abstract

texts:
For an assignment at our university it was our task to program a prototyp and document it in an extended abstract.

Intro text: The Idea is to create a system, which allows data exchange (contacts, Images, videos) via Bluetooth based on a QR Code and/or NFC triggered action. Code Exchange would not be necessary.

Due to the last sentence we assumed that we did not have to publish the source code.

We put much work in to our prototype and the abstract and did not receive the grade we were wishing for. The feedback: "Abstract documents the app only and no source code was provided."

We do not care very much for the grade itself, but what makes this really unfair is that another group with a similar assignment received a better grade despite their abstract not citing any scientific papers.

Therefore we have the following questions:

How would you interpret "code exchange not necessary"?

Is it customary/obligatory to publish the source code for prototypes in academic papers/abstracts?

Are scientific paper references not a requirement for an extended abstract and by some degree an indicator of the quality of the paper?

How would you assess the abstract in terms of project execution, accurracy, tracability?

Thank you for any input.

Edit: Removed links due to the actual documents not being relevant.


texts: Choosing between a Post-Doc and a faculty position at "2nd-tier" institution

texts:
I am Ph.D. student in India working in computer science. I will be graduating soon. I have two options: 1) post-doc 2) join a "tier 2 institute" (i.e., an institution ranked between #11 and #20 in India) as a faculty. I don't have sufficient publications to join a tier 1 institute.

I am inclined to go for a post-doc because I want to improve the quality of my research. Many people are suggesting that I join tier 2 institute and then keep working. My research field (computational mathematics) is such that if I have to work alone then I can only publish one paper per year, but in a collaboration I can publish with more speed. Some people told me postdoc will impact you badly if you do not publish enough. I don't know what to do, but I want to pursue my carrier in research.

What are the pros/cons of doing the post-doc vs. taking a tier-2 faculty position?


texts: Is it weird to contact a professor in foreign university for research internship opportunity if I am not a student?

texts:
I got a Bachelor degree few years ago and I have worked (non-research job) for few years since then. Recently, I would like to pursue a master degree in a foreign university but I cannot obtain sufficient academic references because no professor from my previous university seems remember me.

I am planning to seek for an short term(< 1 year) research opportunity (internship would be fine) of a foreign professor whose research area is really attracting me so I can hopefully ask for his reference after that.

Is it weird or appropriate for me to contact him directly for such research opportunity since I am not a student (Assume I have already been granted a 1-year working visa from that country)?


texts: Self-archiving of a preprint whose title has changed in the journal version

texts:
After a revision that included a change in the title, I recently got my last paper accepted. The policy of the editor about arXiv is that self-archiving is allowed at any time for preprints, but only after 1 year embargo for postprint.

Because I would like to make my paper more accessibile, I'm keen on archiving the preprint right now, and wait till next year to upload the final (but of course still unedited) postprint.

My question is: which title should I put in the metadata during the arXiv submission? Is that OK to use the final title even though the preprint title is different? And if I use the old title for 1 year until I'am allowed to upload the postprint, will google scholar eventually understand that? Will preprint, postprint and journal paper appear as different versions of the same thing (including the citation list)?


texts: How to list my former affiliation when it changed name (and character)

texts:
As the title suggests, the issue is as follows:

  I finished my (4 year) Bachelor and my (2 years) MSc at department A. A few years ago, the department changed its name and also the character of its undergraduate studies. Now it's a department of Engineering (5 year studies) and it belongs to the Engineering division of the university, as opposed to the division of Natural Sciences where it was before.

Question:  Does it matter how to list it? In any case, what is the best way to list it on my CV?

The most obvious thing would be to list it as it was formerly known. But this department does not exist anymore and, moreover, it changed division so there is a chance some people would be confused. Another option is to list the former name/division and in parentheses it's current name, but it's way too long and I do not like it, not only for aesthetic reasons. The option to list the current name/division is out of question for obvious reasons.

Thank you in advance.

Note: There is a possibly relevant question about changing the name of the university. I am not sure if it is the same as my issue because I am talking about the change of the name and character of a department. The context is possibly different and could generate different answers.


texts: Style in citing two authors in the same sentence

texts:
I have a sentence with two concepts and two quotations from two different authors. It goes like this

  Some is true because of concept one, that is "quotation one",
  and concept two, that is "quotation two".

Concept one and two are both from Author A while quotation one and two are from Author B.

What would be an elegant way to cite both authors at the end of the sentence making sure:

The reader will be able to attribute each concept/citation to the write author,
The reader will be able to understand which work (and from which page) the quotation is from


texts: Is it ethical to refuse a postdoc offer after lab visit

texts:
I am a Ph.D. student, close to finishing up. I am looking for a post doc position and have been in talks with multiple professors in various universities. However, most of them want me to visit their lab for a talk or a presentation, without having directly confirmed anything. Although they sound positive about me, there is no confirmation yet. Moreover, this being a relatively early stage of my post-doc job hunt, I haven't truly made up my mind yet.

I would like to know if it is unethical to accept reimbursement for travel and stay to these labs and subsequently refuse the offer, since obviously I can't accept all of them (if they happen to confirm me). Please share your opinion on this.


texts: I had performed mediocre in my core subjects during my PhD, is it justified for me to think about a future in academia?

texts:
I am a final year PhD in mechanical engineering. I did average/below average in my core courses, during my undergraduate, and PhD coursework. My research area involves using finite element and volume methods to model material and fluid flow. I had got B-'s and C's in my mathematics, mechanics, numerical methods courses during my undergrad and grad school. I love the subjects, but I am not good at them. I decided to go for PhD in them because the research area fascinated me.

I really enjoyed working on my research during my PhD and was quite productive. My research was not mathematically intensive and focused more on developing optimization procedures while making use of existing numerical tools. My advisor, my committee think I did a fair job on the research projects I worked on.

However, since my goal eventually is to be in academia, I feel that my poor academic performance is an indicator of not pursuing a career in university academic environment. I am confident that I can do good independent research.  And I like teaching, though, I did not get any opportunity to teach the core courses during my phd. I am worried that considering my poor background, I will fail to teach a core course when given the opportunity to do so.

Is it justified for me to think about a future in academia in a university setting?


texts: How to clarify that supervisor writing a reference is not related to me even though we have the same last name?

texts: By chance, I have the same last name as one of the supervisors of a project I worked on. If I ask him to write me a recommendation letter, will the admission committee misconstrue that we are related and how do I provide proof that we are not? By the way, I am Chinese, so there is perhaps more overlap in last names.


texts:
This is going to be long as I believe that the context is important.

I have always been fairly good at maths and physics (won state wide prizes in the math contests and even won a gold medal in the national physics olympiad.) I live in USA/UK/AUS (trying to hide my identity).

However, after going through grade 12 I got a spot in medicine and happily went along with it because most of my friends were high achievers and I thought why not? I got a fair bit of recognition for getting into medicine (I admit I enjoyed the ego stroking) but luckily medical school is a graduate course (M.D), so I still had undergrad to go. I initially enrolled as a double major - math and physics but within the first week switched to a pre-med track as I thought that it would ease the transition into medicine.

Here's where things take a turn for the worse.
By the end of second year I absolutely hate medicine and I realise that I truly do love maths and physics. I had luckily taken a couple of the first year mathematics modules  - multivariate calculus and intro to linear algebra and two 2nd year course as well - intro to DEs and intro to probability.

So I talk to my course office and beg them to let me transfer into a mathematics track, but I am only able to do courses where I have the prerequisites satisfied  and hence now (end of 3rd year) - have done, in addition to the courses mentioned above, courses on:
nonlinear dynamics, intro to stochastic processes, a modelling course and a course on systems of coupled dynamical systems.

However, my true passion had always been physics and not only have I not done any meaningful university physics, but also haven't learnt a lot of mathematics - analysis, algebra and geometry.

I am thinking of going on to do a masters and try as hard as possible to steer myself back onto the path of physics and mathematics, but I haven't done a lot of the necessary coursework. Furthermore, my family is low income (another factor pushing me into medicine (no parental pressure) but the thought of a good income was tempting) and so I don't think I can afford to take a couple years to essentially redo a bachelor's degree.

My question is: am I screwed? I am more than willing, and passionate, to learn these subjects by myself - through books. In fact that's how I've learnt most of the things I have to date. But I realise that universities want to see another university giving a student their stamp of approval saying - this student has successfully learnt (insert subject.) I truly believe most of the time these stamps are meaningless, but in the case of admissions it truly is everything.

Please help, any advice is much appreciated.


texts: For applying to math postdocs on mathjobs, does "N Reference Letters" include one for teaching?

texts:
I'm a graduate student in the US, currently applying for postdoc positions on the mathjobs website. The format of the job postings is basically a description of the position, followed by

  Application Materials Required
  Submit the following items online at this website to complete your application:

  Curriculum Vitae
  Research Statement
  ...
  N Reference Letters (to be submitted by the reference writers at this site)

  And anything else requested in the position description.

(where N is usually 3 or 4).

Sometimes, the position description says explicitly

  N letters of recommendation, one of which should address the candidate’s teaching qualifications.

My question

If the position description does not have an explicit statement asking for a teaching recommendation letter, is it supposed to be one of the N letters I submit to them anyway? Or, should I submit N letters all having to do with my research? Is there any harm in submitting N + 1 letters in order to include my teaching recommendation letter?


texts: When does "distributing the submissions" process usually start for conferences?

texts:
For a conference, when do the chairs distribute the papers to referees for review?

I have submitted a paper and discovered an error in the paper. Now, I want to withdraw before the submission deadline. Is this something advised against?


texts: How to address the lack of seminars in my department

texts: My CS department greatly lacks invited talks hosted by faculty members and/or seminars organised within/by the department. Except for the seminars done by graduate students as a requirement for their degree, during the last year there was no seminar organised by the department/faculty member. If curious, the department size is relatively small (around 20 faculty members) and some faculty members are well-known figures in their areas. As a PhD student I like seminars and wondered how to address this to the department.


texts:
I am finishing my Master's degree in Mathematics and will be enrolled in a PhD program in the U.S. starting from fall. In my country (Russia) we have thesis as a mandatory requirement for all degrees (including BSc and MSc, not just PhD). I hoped that my Master's thesis would be good enough to be published, but my advisor says it is not (I derived some new results, but they aren't very generic and groundbreaking). My Bachelor's thesis was not published too.

My question -- is it bad to have no publications prior to PhD or is it normal to begin publishing only during PhD years? In my view no publications is understandable for BSc students, but I'm not sure about MSc. The question is not about admission (I was admitted to a couple of decent programs this year), but about general timeline and expectations from students in sciences, especially from Master's degree holders.


texts: How to get an advisor to finish their part of a publication when they have not done anything on it for over a year?

texts:
I graduated from a reputed North American university with a master's degree in 2013. Due to severe personal problems (deaths/illness in the family, war-torn homeland, divorce, financial issues, and so on), it would be fair to say that I did not perform well. My thesis had a critical error which was duly pointed out during my defense by my examiner. My advisor had not noticed it before. I managed to pass but with major corrections to the thesis.

While I was waiting for the situation in my home country to settle down, we improved the results significantly. We wrote much of a paper with the agreement that we would correspond over email when I go back home to finish it and send it for publication.

This was a year and a half ago. I am back home and I have been trying to get her to finish writing her part but to no avail. Once every couple of months she responds with "I need more time" but that's about it. It would be a huge help in my career to have a paper published. But I am paranoid about being rude to her and keep nagging her because I need her reference if and when I decide to apply for a PhD later. Also I believe she's a genuinely a nice person! So my questions are,

Is a year and a half a normal amount of time to write on a paper in
which the research is finished?
How do I politely convince her to hurry up?


texts: How can I get copies of library of congress's archival manuscripts?

texts:
I require photocopies of "Archival Manuscript/Mixed Formats" from the Library of Congress. They have a collection from one author which has otherwise unpublished technical documents that are very relevant to my area of expertise. Judging by the indicies, there are at least 20 boxes (out of 106) that are relevant. None of these are digitized and most are very technical documents with information not seen by people in my field.

I'm not sure the best way to attack this problem because travelling there is far from where I live now (6 hrs by plane) and the librarian I spoke on the phone with didn't think that our library could request it. LoC seems very restrictive about working with their material, that is they won't let me personally go the stacks and browse the boxes, and they say they only allow 5 books to be reviewed at a time.

Are there any tips or alternative ways to get the materials? Our research team is rather large for an academic team, so would it be worthwhile to ask a Congressperson to request it on our behalf? Just looking for input.


texts: How do grad schools look upon students with chronic illnesses?

texts: The chronic medical illness has affected my ability to take the most rigorous schedule and led me to withdraw from one class and also take a year break in my undergraduate education.  I'm wondering how this will affect my grad school chances. I have excellent LOR and GRES, good GPA.  Should the illness be discussed in SOP or elsewhere?


texts: Are there boycotts against publishers other than Elsevier?

texts:
Academics have called for a boycott against Elsevier, with some success for instance because it has led to resignations (recently in the Lingua journal).

As I understand it, Elsevier is not the only publisher with absurd subscription prices, but it is being targeted because it is the largest one. Are there any similar initiatives against other publishers? (Springer, Wiley, Taylor and Francis, ...) If not, why?


texts: Does publishing a paper in a fake journal get someone in trouble?

texts: I am a young graduate student in Egypt. I have published few papers in high ranking journals in my field. One of the professors in my department is constantly publishing papers in these fake journal that accept a paper in a couple of days in exchange of money. He practically publishes a new paper every week. Universities here don't know much about fake journals and they recognise any paper as long as its published in journal with impact factor without knowing that some of these journals have fake impact factors. Also, his papers basically talk about the same thing and he keeps changing the title and spinning the content. Anyway this guy is constantly getting honoured for his research even though he has never published a paper in an honourable journal and he has just been made the head of the department I am in. I am not bitter but I just think its not fair and I don't know what to do about it. I am afraid if I say something he may cause a problem for me.


texts: Where to put my professional (academic) personal page after my PhD

texts:
I am a PhD student, and the defense of my thesis is at the end of this year.
During my PhD, I had an institution server account to put my page.
However, it is closed (I finished my PhD longer than the expected time).

Although it looks like difficult, I still want to try to obtain post-doc position.
During several months (or even one year) after I graduate, I don't know where
to put my personal/professional page, which should be good for applying the job.

I found there are some personal website provider (e.g. wix.com), however
after a quick look on the templates, the styles not seem very academic professional.

Do you have any idea what should I do to create my page during this time?


texts: Is it ethical to get participants' consent for the inclusion of their data in the research after data collection?

texts: Suppose that there's a student who has done a subject-based study with ten participants involved. The research settings required not telling the participants that it has been a research before data collection (they participated in an online job interview, but there was no job in reality for them, so none of them got any job in fact [Attention: This was just an example. In reality, they only took an online translation test, at the time they desired.]). Can the researcher get their participants' consent for the inclusion of their data in the research after data collection? Would it be a problem for publication in journals?


texts: How to work collaboratively with previous supervisors?

texts:
I am a PhD from institute-A, recently completed 1 year postdoc from institute-B and now joined as a postdoc in another institute-C. I have  few pending works in my previous institutes A and B. So I would like to work collaboratively with my previous supervisors so that I can finish those works and get more publication. In a recent conversation, my previous supervisor of institute-B has offered me a visiting scientist position (no salary; only DA, accommodation and airfair) for 3 months to finish my pending works. My question is can I accept this offer being a postdoc in institute-C?

I will definitely ask to my current supervisor and administration office about it, but I need some feedback before asking to my current supervisor. Is it really possible to visit for few months to my previous institute and work collaboratively to finish my pending works or take joint works and then return back?


texts: What must a researcher know or understand about another researcher to ensure successful research collaboration?

texts: What must a researcher know or understand about another researcher to confidently conclude that he or she can become a good partner in collaboration? Specific opinions will be appreciated, e.g. the researcher must understand how his or her potential collaborator's skill set.


texts: When there are multiple ISBNs, which should be reported in a reference list?

texts:
Which ISBN number should I use in my literature list?

I have for example used a book about Design Patterns for my thesis. But I found that books have two ISBN numbers. Which is prefered to use?

This is an example from a book I used as reference:

Print ISBN:978-0-596-00712-6 | ISBN 10:0-596-00712-4


texts: Is the reputation/prestige of the scientific journals where you published a paper really important?

texts:
Excuse me for the naive question, but is the reputation/prestige of the journal you chose for your publication really important?

In the end, I believe the scientific content of your paper must be the key part. Surely you want to publish it into a scientific journal which guarantees high visibility to your manuscript, possibly with Open Access and a strong social media presence. Surely you want your paper to go through an in-depth peer review, with honest comments and reviews. Surely you want fast processing times. Surely you want the journal to be about the paper topic. Surely you want a journal with the audience who are interested in the paper subject.

But in the end, is a specific paper P on scientific novelty N published on a journal J1 having impact factor 50 really more important/relevant/better than the same paper P about the same scientific novelty N published on a journal J2 having impact factor 5?

If yes, why?

Will it affect your career?


texts: Student put my name in the acknowledgement section despite the fact I have never talked to him

texts:
A high school fresh graduate was applying to undergraduate schools in the united states. He is a friend of a family acquaintance. Despite the fact that I did not even know his name, I was surprised when the family acquaintance asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him and for his friend. I do not know them at the slightest level. It seems that they were working on a research project, which looks completely silly to me (paranormal research related to the secrets of the pyramids, I did not bother to look carefully). I refused the requests to write the letter of recommendation. In the letter that the student sent me for me to submit, he says I worked with him on various things and I think that he is a genius. This was completely dishonest.
Now, I discovered that the student posted the said project on pyramid secrets (I think it is related to non-sensical theories on generating power from triangular structures) on a website, called academia.edu. In the acknowledgement section, he repeated the same claims that I worked with him on the project. I actually have never talked with him before. Now, I am a graduate student in science. This has been incredibly annoying to me. I wonder what is the best way to proceed. I have sent that person a message on academia.edu but he did not respond. I do not know how to contact him. I tried looking for a way to contact academia.edu to report this dishonest behaviour, but I do not know if there is a way to contact them. Any suggestions will be helpful.


texts: Should universities give extra time or related accommodations for students with mental illnesses?

texts:
Based on this question: Is it unethical to accept extra time on exams when I still do well?

To my knowledge, I don't think my university or home department has a policy on extended time exams or a "disability office". In my entire stay in the university, I have heard of only three people with mental illnesses. Two graduated. One is still in the university, but I have not yet asked her. It seems like she is entitled to have extra time on exams or homework or something that evens the playing field.

Are there any legitimate reasons a university may have for not allowing extra time or something for mentally ill students, assuming of course that the student can prove mental illness? It seems that they ought to give extra time or something to be fair to students.

Relevant links: this comment, this answer, this answer.


texts: Low quality postdoc application and deadline extension

texts:
I was interested in a postdoc offer and forgot about the deadline.

I remembered the deadline to apply was today. I rushed to make a CV and motivation letter and sent it at 23h59. The day after, the PI sent a message on a job offer mailing list saying that the deadline is extended for one week.

The question is: should I rewrite a better application and send it again, or just wait for an answer on my poorly written application? Or, maybe there is another solution? (And yes, the best solution is to prepare an application before the deadline)

If anybody has any ideas as to what to make of this situation, please do share. In advance, Thanks for your time.


texts: Are DOD Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) grants transferable to new universities?

texts: Backstory: a colleague has a YIP with the AF, funded, and has been hired by a new university. The Program Officer is on personal leave (3 months now, no end in sight). He is pushing harder, and hearing non-options like 'don't go to the new post' and 'reapply'. Has anyone seen a DOD YIP move successfully?  If so, how?


texts: Too many people writing a letter of recommendation

texts: I am an undergraduate student applying for a study abroad program that requires I submit two letters of recommendation. I just received the notice that the deadline for submission is in two weeks and in my frenzy to get the letters, I contacted a lot of TA's and professors. Since then, I've already had two TA's agree to write letters on my behalf, but an additional professor and TA also agreed to write letters for me. Is it rude for me to let them know that I've already found someone else? But I'm also worried that it's simply such a waste of time to let them continue with writing the letter. Any tips on how I can politely let them now it's not necessary anymore without jeopardizing my chances of potentially getting them to write letters for me in the future?


texts:
How hard is it to adapt to post-graduate studies after an academic pause of 16 years working in sort of relevant industry?

I graduated back in 1998 with B.Eng. in computer engineering, worked for 16 years in IT related jobs, and decided to go back to school this fall (2014).

Is it hard to be ready after such long academic pause?
Any particular skills I should work on while waiting for the program to start?


texts: Am I required to return sabbatical payment if I do not return afterward?

texts:
I am about to go on sabbatical. I do not know if I want to return to the institution afterward. Our faculty handbook says that sabbaticals are granted with the expectation that faculty return for at least one year.

Does that mean I am legally required to pay back the money if I don't return, or only morally required to return it? This is in the United States.


texts: Should I use Japanese title for Japanese people instead of English title?

texts:
I'm in contact with a Japanese student support staff of a Japanese university. Because he is a staff, I don't know how to address him properly: Mr. or Dr. or Prof. However, I know that in Japanese culture, there is only one title for this job: sensei:

  sensei: (for example Sato-sensei)
  This is a title used for teachers, doctors and other people with a higher education and from whom you receive a service or instructions.
  www.japan-guide.com

As a member of the Sinosphere culture, I understand that correct title is important. Also, this would indicate that I'm trying to learn how the culture works, even thought I don't know Japanese.

Should I?


texts: Why did SoftwareX’ impact factor drop from 4.5 SJR to 0.4 last year?

texts:
I planned to submit one of my long-developed software pieces to the prestigious journal SoftwareX. I was preparing for this for a while and making my code ready, and was just about to submit and realized its huge drop of impact factor on SJR.
It steadily built its position as a respected and leading journal, growing its impact factor close to 10 and topping the lists at SJR and Google Scholar for publishing software. And now it dropped a lot, to the level of paid open-access journals of disputable reputation.
Is there a systematic reason why this happened? Too many papers, too many poor papers, bad leadership, bad management, poor peer-review?


texts: How much does the future career of a PhD student matter to the advisor?

texts:
I am struggling with my Post-PhD career. I am still looking for positions and I getting zero response. My advisor is giving me no leads and I don't know if she's even bothered about my career prospects. She has offered me a one year postdoc position in my current lab. Apart from that, there's no further help.
I don't know if a PhD advisor even cares for their students. I feel so unsupported and lost.
Edit: The problem is I work on a modeling technique and research area that's not in her expertise. I started the entire work and now she has other PhD students working on the topic due to the multiple papers I published. I have already staying around 6 years with her. My PhD went so long due to my own faults. Now I am absolutely lost and disillusioned.


texts: Summer Research with Advisor or at National Lab?

texts:
I have the option of doing research with my advisor this summer (yay, funding!) or working with a collaborator at a highly-regarded national lab (a research position, but called an internship). I have worked at this lab two summers ago, and it was very enjoyable, fairly productive, and I networked with people with whom I would love to work with in the future. I realized that this kind of work in this environment would be my dream job. To work there, however, I almost need a PhD (it's possible with a MS, but a PhD is obviously more competitive). Working at the lab has built friendships and has provided several networking opportunities since.

Unfortunately, the summer research at the lab doesn't further my dissertation. Working with my advisor does.

Should I go for the position at the lab for the summer, or should I stay and do research? If I wanted to work with the internship, how would I breach the topic with my advisor?


texts: Is it worth getting a masters in a secondary field as part of an interdisciplinary PhD?

texts:
I'm in the process of making a decision with regards to graduate school and my number one choice is an interdisciplinary PhD program in Computational Science and Engineering. On the computational side of things I'll be focusing largely on data science, but I'll be looking to apply those skills to land use modeling. So effectively I'll be doing a lot of work in environmental policy.

My goal is to go into academia after my degree and as such I'm wondering if it would make sense to pick up a second masters in Environmental Policy as part of my coursework? Doing so would likely add a bit more time to the PhD, but would this make me more attractive as a candidate for a tenure track job afterwards given I already hold a Masters in Software Engineering?


texts: Feasibility of obtaining an “individual doctorate” in Germany while working?

texts:
I will be working in Munich, Germany for a relatively small engineering company.  I have always wanted to obtain an engineering PhD on a part-time basis.

I have been intrigued by the “individual doctorate” option in Germany, which seems to allow the flexibility to work full-time or part-time and thus continue to move forward in one’s career.

My questions are:

Is this option of an individual doctorate generally available to anyone who can find a professor/supervisor to work with them throughout the research agenda?
If one's current project at their job qualifies as original work and one can find a willing supervisor, can one simply proceed with their work at their current job and simultaneously earn a PhD?
Is it generally feasible to work full-time and obtain a PhD via the “individual doctorate” path?  If so, how common is this?


texts: Am I naive to think I can focus on professional programming and still be active in the field of CS as a whole?

texts:
I am working full time currently as a programmer in a summer internship.  In the fall I will be continuing school and working part-time as a programmer.

I believe that I want to be a professional programmer and someday a software engineer.

However, I am very interested in all the areas of computer science that I have been studying.  I hear occasionally about how some computer science majors end up being "just programmers" and not "computer scientists."  There seems to be a common thought that becoming a programmer means that you give up the field as a whole and the possibility of contributing to the field.

I would like to be a professional programmer, but also a lifelong learner in the field of computer science.  Am I naive to think this is possible?


texts: What can be done about a disruptive classmate?

texts:
There is a classmate who repeatedly interrupts the flow of lectures in various ways. We assume he has learning difficulties of some kind due to how he acts and because he has an assistant with him in most lectures.

Generally, it will be things such as asking an excessive number of questions. Often, in the middle of going through something, he will interrupt and ask the lecturer to repeat something said or written half a page ago–or will interrupt to try and jump in with the answer to the problem we are working through as a class. Or a question on a semi-unrelated topic, or on a different method of solving the problem will be asked.

The issue with these questions is they will be blurted out in the middle of an explanation, breaking the flow, and are extremely common, taking valuable time away from the lecture.

Additionally, he will often tell the lecturer to stop or go back a page so he can take a photo of the screen with his phone–and will often take up to 4 minutes before the lecture can go ahead.

Our lectures are recorded and posted on the student's area of the university website within a day, and previous years lectures are also available–with both the written and spoken information.

Overall, I would say these disruptions take up around 15 minutes of each 50 minute lecture.

It is probably useful to note here that I myself have learning difficulties–which means these are incredibly distracting and disruptive to me personally, more so than my classmates–although in conversations I have gathered that several others are also feeling this is impacting negatively on their education.