texts: My professor presented a problem that I solved. He says I can send it to a conference. What is the etiquette in cases like this?

texts: But I don't understand if it is ethical because he was the one who identified the problem. I wouldn't have thought of the answer if he hadn't asked the question. I am an undergraduate and this is my first time in research. I do not understand the process, I think. But is this how research works? What is the proper way to proceed now?


texts: how one is not accused of plagiarism when including an article in a MSc thesis?

texts:
Let us suppose that I am following my MSc studies. At the end of my compulsory courses I have an accepted article for being presented in a conference with my advisor. For graduating, I need to prepare a thesis, and I want to include this article as the main part of my thesis (80% of the thesis). So I have the following questions (I believe it is not necessary to open another thread for this):
a) How should I do this thesis? Should it be an extended version of the article that is about to be published?
b) How should I cite the article that will be published in my thesis if most of it is based on my article? I believe it would be somewhat troublesome to cite one's work at every moment in the thesis?
c) What would happen if, after the article is published and my thesis is in the digital library of my university, somebody passes a plagiarism checker (like Turnitin) to it? It would detect my thesis in the university repository. I could be blamed for self-plagiarism or even plagiarism (because my supervisor's name would not appear like an author in the thesis document, but as a supervisor).
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thank you very much.


texts: What to do about academics who fail to fulfill their collaborative responsibilities?

texts:
So, a colleague at another university and I agreed to collaborate on a series of papers 5 years ago. To avoid clashes in style, etc. we agreed that I would write a couple and he would write a couple, with us both commenting and editing each other's. So far, so good. I produced my couple of papers in the first year or so and these were published with me and my colleague as first and second authors, respectively. I was expecting to see the same from my colleague but didn't. I have been waiting ever since for them to materialise but they haven't. We have repeatedly set deadlines, which come and go, with my colleague saying he has been very busy (teaching, marking, blah, blah) but that he'll get to them in a couple of weeks. 5 years later, I am still waiting to see something but I think it's now safe to say that I have been well and truly shafted.

Does anyone else have any experience of this behaviour and, if so, what, if anything, have you done about it? I am on the verge of writing a rather snotty email to this individual's manager to point out the retched state of affairs as, after all, it doesn't reflect at all well on his institution even though they have benefited from having their institution's name on effectively my work.


texts: What are the proper venues to talk about the ethics of software engineering?

texts:
I am sure we all know about codes of ethics such as the "Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice", and "ACM Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct". But as technology changes, we need to talk about new ethical challenges. I am having a hard time finding proper venues, such as (non-predatory) journals, or conferences in this topic. I am a little surprised that stackoverflow does not even have a tag for ethics or professional conduct, but I suppose nobody wants to talk about their ethical dilemmas in public.

So far I have found a conference that seems legit but that is it.
I was hoping someone else out there knows about serious, sound, venues to discuss the ethics of programming, software engineering, computer science, in lieu of technological advances, if you do, I would appreciate your sharing of details about such venues.


texts:
Given that in many areas the peer-review process is quite lengthy (even a couple of years), it often happens that, by the time the journal version of a paper appears, the preprint version (e.g. arxiv) has accumulated a couple of citations.

My question is: do citations of the preprint count as citations of the journal version?


texts:
I wrote a paper that I wish to propose to a certain CS conference. Two of the deadlines mentioned on the Important Dates page on the conference's website are: Abstract submission and Paper submission.

My paper already has an abstract section.

I know what a paper is supposed to look like, but what is an abstract, as a separate entity, supposed to look like? Do I simply copy the abstract from my paper? Is it supposed to be submitted as a pdf document? Do I need to add a title? My name?

Could someone please post a link to an example abstract document that is adequate to be submitted to an abstract submission deadline for a conference?


texts: Is there anyway to "get credit" for post Masters work on a resume?

texts:
I quit my PhD in physics about a year and a half ago. I started school in 2011, got my token Masters in 2013, and passed my quals. I then did about 2.5 years of research, mostly coding, to verify the theoretical models my advisor and I were working on.

This actually turned me on to high performance computing. Combine this with a distaste for poverty and I jumped ship to be a software engineer.  Now I'm looking at a promotion and I'm trying to get credit for my time working as a developer for my advisor.  HR "requires" 3 years of professional experience for promotion to the level I'm trying to achieve.

Can I spin the time as a sort of free lance dev? If so,  how? I refuse to let HR dismiss this developmental time of my career.


texts: How should a high-school student approach professors in research institutions about research opportunities?

texts:
I am a high schooler who lives in the vicinity of many premier research institutions and am very interested in going into STEM. I know that I will have to ask a lot of professors to let me work under them before one agrees, so I was wondering how I could go about asking several professors.
I know that I will need to write a proper email for each one, not a mass email that I can just copy-paste. Another issue I thought about is if by some chance two professors agree to have me. What do I do then? How can I avoid that situation?


texts: Undergrad students grading other undergrads: ethical, professional, or even legal?

texts:
As an undergraduate, I've been working as a TA in an electronics lab for a while. Recently I have been asked to grade other students' lab reports. I have also done some oral examination, but I guess that's relatively fine, since there you can indeed see if he knows what he's supposed to know.

However, when it comes to grading reports, they may be to some extent copied from other reports, may have data tampered with after the lab so they look correct, and in general are made to look correct through collaboration and some Google copy-paste, it becomes very hard to tell who deserves the grade and who doesn't.

Also, I myself wasn't getting good grades at those reports, and I never could understand what those correcting were expecting from me, so I would be grading on a different basis than they are. In fact, I really can't find much wrong with the reports, so I feel like I'm doing a lousy job (even though any time I express doubt about my judgement I am assured that stuff can't go wrong).

One final detail is that it's a hardware lab, and while I'm not bad at it, I'm headed straight to software, so I probably look at things from a different perspective, not to mention that what's important for me may be quite different.

Considering the above worries, does it seem fair that undergrad students grade the reports of younger undergrads, does it seem professional for those in charge of those groups assign such work to undergrad TAs, and finally, is it even legal for an undergrad to affect another undergraduate's grade by handling grading processes?


texts: Saying no to miscellaneous administrative tasks as a Grad student

texts:
In my university, graduate students under scholarship have to perform certain tasks like tutoring and grading. I have no problem with that since it is part of the contract.

There are also some miscellaneous tasks like offering to help out for a departmental party (takes 10 hours over a few days), or volunteer to bring some visitors around the school, etc. These are theoretically on a voluntary basis, but when no one volunteers the admin staff starts to get very pushy and "hard sell" people to volunteer. To get a sense of how pushy the admin can get, I recently had to reject the same task thrice (via email), with the admin getting increasingly curt and rude in their email. (The administrators are not professors, they are in charge of departmental duties including paying our stipend.)

I plan to reject around 90% (edit: maybe 50-60% selectively, as there are some events that I am genuinely glad to help out) of such "voluntary tasks", and have already rejected a few, and accepted one. (I am a new graduate student) Will there be any negative repercussions if I do that (reject majority of the tasks)?

Most of the tasks require at most 10-20% of the students to help out (around 10 helpers out of 60 students). Some tasks just need a single or one or two volunteers.

(Edit: my personal background is that I used to be a "yes" person to the extent of burning out (previous experience not in school), hence I need to learn how to say no firmly to certain things. I have also discovered through the hard way that "yes" people get asked to volunteer more and more, few  actually takes into account that I am already volunteering for another event and may need a rest. )

Also are there any tips on how to say no, with respect to Academia? I may try a new strategy of ignoring such emails, the emails do "require" us to respond whether we can make it or not, not sure if ignoring such emails may be a better policy since I think that is what some students do.

Edit: I have found a personal solution is to read up on more self help books on assertiveness. Thanks for all the help (including sarcastic comments, which confirms my new belief that I should not care about what others think). Especially thanks to Professor Romik for restoring my faith in humanity. Hope this thread can help students facing similar predicaments.


texts: What is a suitable gift for an Italian PhD advisor based in the UK?

texts:
This question is already asked here. But I found the answers unhelpful, so I would like to ask again, and narrow to the case the advisor is Italian (but has lived in the UK for 20 years).

I would like to buy a gift, so suggestions such as in the accepted answer "be someone who is easy to advise" is not helpful. I already finish my PhD anyway.

I am thinking of possible options:

Chocolate (sound informal)
Shirt (I don't know his size)
My PhD thesis with beautiful hard-bound cover (I doubt that he will ever read it again)
...

Please give me some suggestions. I'm an Asian, and do not know much about European traditions. At first, I intended to invite him (and all people in the group) for a drink on my viva date, but it turned out he insisted to pay for all :(


texts: I submitted a manuscript to a journal in the social sciences.  The response to the initial submission was "accepted with conditions".  The only feedback I received related to a few typos and grammatical errors.  I reviewed the entire paper for additional typos, made some minor edits to improve overall flow, and resubmitted the manuscript.  Four months later, I received a letter indicating that the manuscript "can be publishable with major revisions".  To me, this decision sounds like the manuscript is farther from being accepted for publication than it was after the initial "accepted with conditions".  Am I interpreting the journal's decision correctly?


texts:
I am in graduate school pursuing a PhD in applied math. I study high dimensional probability/statistics, but most of what I do is theoretical. I am almost finished with course work (so the next years will be all research), and I had a question I wanted some opinions on.
Is it useful to self-study topics that are outside my field, or would it be a waste of time and I should just focus on my research? For some reason, if I obtain a PhD in math, I almost feel obligated to know at least a little about topology or abstract algebra. I feel obligated to know a little about computer science or physics.
The most knowledge I have of these subjects is just an undergraduate course, to which I have forgotten the content of most of them by now.
Is it normal to feel like this?


texts:
I was invited for a postdoc interview. It was 1h 30min long with 2 professors (via Skype). After the interview, they asked me to present at their lab meeting in the next 2 weeks (optional, about my PhD studies, also via Skype). In addition, they also asked me to send my PhD thesis (optional, before the meeting). So is it normal for PI to request so many things like this for non-advertised postdoc position? Should I agree to do all of the inquiries? They ask for my thesis before the meeting - it looks like a second PhD defense.

So is it a good place to work? Do you guys think this PI is too hard?


texts: Statement of purpose: How to state PI backup

texts:
I am a foreign Biology student applying to USA phd programs.
I have contacted several PIs asking if they had an available position (because they work within my interests). I've got a lot of no responses, some "No funding/no position" and I've got some positive feedback. I have one particular university in which 3 PIs sent me back an "encourage to apply" mail.
Examples of these are:

You seem like a good fit (...)
I'll keep an eye out for your application
I might have some influence on comitee X
If you get accepted (I have no influence) ask to chat with me

Or just "I encourage you to apply".
From my point of view, the universities take into account that the PIs are willing to accept the candidate (they say the measure is "fit" not only grades). Then it would be more than wise to state clearly in my statement of purpose that I've spoken with Professor X about working there and received positive feedback. However, it might seem pedantic to state that "Professor X...". Just to make things clear, I'm not an outstanding, perfect grades, so I believe this could be a very important feature of my statement.
Finally, it is also stated clearly on many programs that PIs have no influence on comitee decisions. I believe that there's some "legal hole" in which they don't want to give control to PIs but they find themselves needing PI's approval or something.
My question is: Should I include this information? How to do it politely?


texts: How secure is it to receive an offer of post-doc position in email?

texts:
I received an unofficial offer for a post-doctoral researcher position a few days ago from a well-known and respected professor in the field, and the institution is very well-ranked. At the same time, I already have an official offer from a different place, but not comparable in value. So, I need to know how certain the unofficial offer is to justify declining the official one.

Actually, after I received the first offer officially, I contacted the other places to which I had applied, and asked them to decide on my application, and set a deadline for them by when I had to decide about my already-issued offer. I received the second offer right before the deadline as an email in clear and strong words ('I am pleased to offer you ...') similar to what you see in an official offer letter. I quickly accepted the offer.

I think that since he knew I would have to decide about the other offer, he tried to be clear in the email, encouraging me to decline the other one. However, I'm not sure whether it would be wise to do so. More specifically, does such an email work as a legally binding document (e.g., capable to be held up at a court)? I'd say the difference between the values of the positions actually justifies 1%  risk. What do you suggest?


texts: How to write a teaching statement without any classroom teaching experience?

texts:
I have a friend who is applying for teaching positions in biochemistry with no teaching experience. She has a strong research background, with several publications as a grad student and post doc, but is interested in transitioning into teaching (partially to gain employment and solve a two body problem, but also out of genuine interest). The position she is applying for asks for a "Statement of teaching interest". While, I think I can give good advice for someone who has taught before, what should someone write about if they have never taught or TAed a class. She does have some background tutoring and showing faculty, grad students, and undergrads how to use various machines in the lab. But that is about it. So

(1) What is a "statement of teaching interest?" How does it differ from a "teaching philosophy" or a "teaching statement"?

and

(2) How does one write this statement without any classroom teaching experience?


texts: PhD at top department (path - MS (unfunded) to PhD) vs mediocre dept (path - funded PhD) , differences in experience?

texts:
At the present, I have got MS at Uni A (rank 16 usnews dept grad school)w/o funding for tuition and on the other hand I have a fully-funded PhD offer from uni B (rank 69 usnews dept grad school). At B the research is interesting, the advisor is a great person but the few drawbacks would be that he's relatively new (i'd be his only student in the lab apart from a few UGs, i'm the 2nd PhD), many of his grants are pending, ranking of the dept is relatively low. The reason I didn't apply to PhD programs was due to my avg U-GPA. So, my plan after masters, at least as of now would be to apply to PhD programs (looking at northwestern, upitt, emory, uofchicago, jhu). If I take CWRU, the advisor that I have lined up is willing for me to do independent research, write grant proposals, and work on a number of collaborative projects.

Can you tell me the main factors to consider when choosing where to do PhD apart from research interest and advisor relationship? I am trying to look at whether this risky choice of MS->PhD (which I am more inclined to) would be better than the PhD offer that I have right now. Risky because i'm not sure if the MS would better my chances at those schools for PhD and if it's worth the 2 years which I could have used for maybe a post-doc after PhD at B. Do top dept's have an edge over relatively lower ranked one's?

One reason that i'd probably want to do a MS would be to maybe expand my research focus and work under more renowned researchers in the field. Though I could do the same in UH by collaborating with great professors in other dept but would have to work much harder. Any thoughts or inputs?


texts: Can I reuse part of a paper for my thesis?

texts: I am finishing writing my master's thesis (~100 pages) and I also just submitted a paper (8 pages) to a conference. Since both are on the same subject and I am an author on both, is it ok if I reuse one page from the paper and put it in my thesis without many changes? The paper will not be published until 2013 (if at all). Is it necessary to cite it in any way?


texts: Negotiating mathematics postdoc salary when having an offer with higher salary

texts:
I recently won an NSF mathematical Science Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at University 1. At this University, the math NSF postdocs have a have a much lower salary and benefits than regular "named postdocs" (XYZ Assistant Professor)and during their 2 years of half-time NSF support teach two thirds the amount (despite only half the salary coming from the university). I did not get a regular postdoc offer from Uni 1.

At the same time, I have a 3 year postdoc offer from a fancy institute at US University 2, with significantly higher salary than regular postdocs at Uni 1 (which is already much higher than NSF postdocs at Uni 1), more travel funding than the NSF MSPRF, and NO teaching unless I want to.

Research wise, Uni 1 is a better fit.
Would it be reasonable for me to leverage the Uni 2 offer to perhaps convince Uni 1 to raise my salary during my NSF postdoc there to the level of their regular postdocs and maybe give me the title of a regular postdoc at Uni 1 for one or two years when I am there?
Or perhaps reduction in the number of courses I have to teach?
If so, does one go about it?


texts: A professor may have stolen an idea I discussed with him: how to proceed?

texts:
I'm really not sure how to proceed from here.

I'm an undergraduate Computer Science student, planning to earn my MSc in the next couple of years.

A couple of weeks ago, I spoke with a professor (I'll call him A) on an informal setting, and, since he was my teacher on an area relevant to the subject, I discussed with him an idea I had, and about how I was trying to make it my own thesis project.

I have also previously "pitched" this idea to another professor (B). He liked it, and we agreed that once I graduated, he was willing to be my advisor, and I could work on it.

However, I was recently shown the list of thesis proposals for current students, and my idea was among them - being supervised by prof. A, and an unrelated professor, C.

The details are so close to what we have discussed that this is almost surely no coincidence.

Now, I can't say I'm 100% sure he stole my idea, but he didn't mention any of this when we talked, and this thesis list was made after our conversation.

Anything could have happened: either I'm right, or prof. C actually came up with the same idea, or prof. A had a similar idea in the past but didn't tell me about it.

I don't know how to proceed. I am already skeptical of academia - seeing my peers work on projects and write papers that didn't interest them, for the sole purpose of earning an MSc, means I'm not interested on working for it unless it's a subject I really care about. That is - I either find anything I want to work on, or I don't care about earning an MSc at all. This was the case. I found a project I wanted to work on.

My question is on the ethics of what may have happened. I have zero experience on academia or research environments, but I have always considered ideas as important as research. That is, copying an idea is as serious to me as copying research. This would fall into plagiarism.

Is this perspective shared among actual academics? Am I naive in thinking like this?
Am I right in wanting to "keep" an idea to myself, in order to work on it later?
Should I just stay quiet the next time? Shouldn't I be able to discuss these kind of things with people I consider to be honest or "bona fide", without having to be afraid of being copied?

I see multiple possible courses of action, but in the end, I don't know what I want to achieve. The thesis is already assigned, so I probably won't be able to take it away from the student who got it. I also don't know whether this is an ethics violation from prof. A or not, since this is "just an idea" that I voluntarily shared with him.

I can confront prof. A about this, either sending him an e-mail or speaking with him in person, to get his side of the story.

Or I can go to prof. B and tell him about this situation, to see what are his thoughts on it. He looked interested on working with me on this, so maybe he'll know better how to proceed.

What is the best (or "a good") course of action now? I don't feel I should forget this whole story and move on to a different subject, but I don't see what can be done now.


texts: Interpersonal skills, lab dynamics, and personality

texts:
What happens to grad students who are disliked by all other grad students in their labs?

For background on the situation:

I started my phd recently, and I'm in a lab with three other grad students, a post doc, a tech, a computational analyst, and the PI. For the first three months, the three other grad students and I were incredibly close. It felt like working with best friends.

Then, my PI offered me a chance to attend a conference, and I said yes. The other students, upon finding out, got livid and won't speak to me. This has been going on for three weeks. I've asked if we can talk about it, I've asked if they feel like I did something underhanded (I can't think of anything), but they either ignore me entirely or don't respond. I feel horrible (I also have a childhood history of being gaslit, so while I don't think I've done anything wrong and confirmed that with my PI, it's hard for me to not feel guilty).

I've spoken with my PI about it because it is affecting my ability to find reagents and protocols (given that I'm the newest member of the lab), and he thinks it will change over time, but it has been three weeks and I'm still having to search through all the boxes myself to find everyday reagents.

If I need to switch labs, it's going to be easier to do it now than at any other time, but I don't have a replacement already set, and I'll lose a training grant I was accepted for.

My specific questions:

1) Does being a black sheep in the lab mean that I should try to switch labs? If I stay, how do I make sure I get the things I need?

2) Is this going to ruin my professional life? What are the consequences of having my labmates hate me enough to act like I don't exist, and how can I counteract this situation?

3) This one is more interpersonal, so please ignore if not appropriate for this forum. If this situation is my fault, how do I learn the skills to avoid doing this again?


texts: I have 6 weeks to hand in my Thesis. Should I quit?

texts:
I'm a PhD student with 6 weeks to go until I need to resubmit. I had my first viva last year and got an MPhil or major corrections with another viva. I decided to carry on to try to get a PhD but I think I was bit depressed about it and basically had very little motivation to do the corrections. I limped on with it until about a month ago when it hit me that I would need to do a second viva and my stress levels went through the roof. I couldn't sleep, was panicking and crying all the time. I ended up going to the doctors and they gave me beta blockers. I told my supervisor this morning and he thinks it's not worth my health and that I should just submit and take an MPhil. However, I just wonder if I should just hang on for the next 6 weeks for a chance at the PhD even though the thought of it is really stressful. I'm honestly not sure my thesis will be good enough and I get so nervous in situations like vivas and feel like my performance in the first viva played a role in not getting awarded a PhD and I'm not sure it will be different this time.

I don't have a job lined up, but I don't want to go into academia and am hoping to go into R&D in industry.

Any advice?


texts: Adding an author to a conference paper only for sharing the cost of conference registation

texts:
Is it unethical to add an author to already finished conference paper just for the purpose of sharing the cost of conference registration?

The added author shares similar research interest but has contributed nothing to the paper in question.


texts: API, EULA, and scraping for Google Scholar

texts:
I love Google Scholar as my go-to place to search for papers. Some features like "forward-citations" and their nice-ish  autogenerated bibtex are life savers. However, sometimes I (and others) wish we could write scripts to help us:

Google Scholar with Matlab

Automatically building a database of forward and backward citations

However, Google Scholar does not provide an API, their robots.txt disallows scrapers on most pages of interest (for instance the cited-by results are not suppose to be accessed by bots), and if you try to make many requests (as a bot would) you will get an CAPTCHA.
Last year they used to have a EULA that said:

You shall not, and shall not allow any third party to: ...
(i) directly or indirectly generate queries, or impressions of or clicks on Results, through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent or other invalid means (including, but not limited to, click spam, robots, macro programs, and Internet agents);
...
(l) "crawl", "spider", index or in any non-transitory manner store or cache information obtained from the Service (including, but not limited to, Results, or any part, copy or derivative thereof);

Some Google services like custom search (for which I could find a EULA) still state this in section 1.4, but the link in the SO answer is now dead and I have not been able to find a new EULA for Scholar. From anecdotal evidence, I know that you can get in a decent amount of trouble of you try to circumvent Google's efforts to prevent scraping of Scholar.
Is there an official source where I could look up Scholar's terms of service? Or does the new unified ToS Google unveiled mean that I should be looking for the terms elsewhere? Is scraping still disallowed?


texts: Is it appropriate to phone a researcher/academic? (Germany)

texts:
I am applying to do a master's thesis at a German research institute. The institute's website encourages applicants to contact the researchers directly (and does not give more information about the application process). I have been wondering whether initiating this contact over phone could be a way to make a strong first impression, and would make it less likely that my subsequent application mail will disappear in their inbox. The goal of the phone call would be to ask whether their group has an open spot for a master's student etc. On the other hand, I am worried I would be breaking some social code by making such direct contact with someone 'higher up in the hierarchy', or that they would think I am wasting their time by calling in person.

So, my question is: Would it be appropriate to phone a researcher/academic with such inquiries?

I realize this will depend on the person being called, but I think it is still possible to answer whether this is generally acceptable within cultural norms.

Note: Many, but not all, of the researchers list a phone number on the institute's homepage.


texts: Citing my own thesis in the extracted paper

texts: I am going to extract a paper from my MSc thesis. But I am not sure how to point out that this paper is the synopsis of my thesis. What is your suggestion? In which section should I refer to the thesis, in introduction or related works? Is it allowed to insert some part of my thesis to my paper without modification?


texts: Should I include teaching feedback from students in my CV?

texts:
Some time ago, I worked as a teaching assistant in a college. That college had an online form for collecting student feedback. After the end of the year, they sent me an official letter with my final "teaching grade" and the verbal feedback, both of which are very good.

Now, I am near the end of my Ph.D. and I am working on my CV. Should I include this feedback? I thought of including it in the end, after the "recommendations" section, since these are officially-documented recommendations from past students. Is this a good idea?


texts: Can I pursue a PhD while working as an Instructor/Lecturer?

texts:
So, I'm applying for jobs as an instructor/lecturer.  They explicitly only require a master's degree, which I have, in addition to some valuable industry experience.  It's plausible that I could get one of these jobs.

If I get one of the jobs, I would be hoping to potentially stay in academia for longer, so logically it would help me to have the PhD I currently lack.  Ideally, I'd like to pursue my PhD part-time while working as an instructor.  My thought is that this would give me the opportunity to eventually get a professor position, later in my career, once I complete the PhD.

My questions:

Is this something that universities are okay with their instructors doing?
Or is it not okay for someone to be teaching undergrads while simultaneously doing graduate research?
If I wanted to do this, would it be more appropriate to pursue the PhD at the same institution as or a different institution from the one that I'd be working at?

Some additional helpful info:

All of the schools that I'm applying at have part-time PhD programs, so I have no reason to believe that the part-time study schedule is an issue.
I'm not in the U.S., so the specific rules of American academia don't necessarily apply.  For example, here, we rarely have grad students teach classes.


texts: How to Reference three authors and their papers in a stretch

texts:
Scenario:

My own version: The authors in [5,6,7] focused on the problems associated with the production of X.

[5] ABC et al 2018

[6] DEF et al 2018

[7] GHI et al 2019

A corrected version from editorial production team:

ABC and Co-workers [5,6,7] focused on the problems associated with the production of X.

Question: Can one say: ABC et al, DEF et al. and GHI et al. [5,6,7] focused on the problems associated with the production of X?


texts: How many articles should a PhD candidate in applied linguistics /humanities optimally publish during their PhD?

texts: I'm just wondering of how many publications /articles a phd student in applied linguistics /humanities should optimally publish during the course of their studies? I'm talking about what would considered as an indication of hard work.


texts: What is the difference between CV and Resume?

texts:
I'm applying to some schools in US for my PhD studies. In the application form there are two different places for uploading CV and Resume.

What is the difference between them?


texts: Submitting two articles to the same journal at the same time

texts:
I was wondering about the acceptability of submitting two papers to the same journal at the same time. (I see some similar questions here, but they don't quite address my particular situation.) My area of interest is Media Studies. The two papers would be related but stand-alone, and I would be the sole author of each.

Rather than explain further, I'll give an example. One paper might be something like "Race Relations in Star Trek: Discovery." And the other might be something like "Does Star Trek: Discovery perpetuate some social stereotypes?"

The two papers would be on a somewhat similar theme and would share some references but would, I submit, be different enough to warrant separate treatment in two separate papers. So I would hope they would not be seen as salami slicing or duplicate publication.

Does that sound right? And would it be acceptable to submit them to the same journal at the same time (e.g. to a journal similar to Television Quarterly, which, lamentably, ceased publication a few years back)?


texts: Rationale for Passing Students "by Compensation"

texts:
Certainly in Ireland at least, there is a mechanism whereby students, with otherwise  good grades, are allowed to "pass by compensation" a module(s) that they have failed.

For example, a student presenting with 12x5 credit modules has an average of 55% in 11 modules (with marks above a passing grade of 40%) but one module is failed with a grade of 36%. Such a student is usually allowed to pass the module "by compensation". Usually the threshold is 35% but sometimes 30% and there is a condition on the quality of the other results presented.

I am doing a quick study of the compensation rules in Irish third level institutions (as far as I understand all but one offer this mechanism), but am trying to understand the rationale for the mechanism's existence. I list two below:

Perhaps even early in a programme of study, a student specialises, excelling in one subject while struggling with another. The student should be rewarded for excelling and allow excellent performance in one area to 'compensate' for poorer performance in another.
A student who performs badly in an assessment task may, for whatever reason, have achieved the learning outcomes but not demonstrated them in the assessment. In particular, a module(s) with poor grades at odds with the rest of the student's module results might signal that such an event has occurred. Rather than requiring the student to repeat the module, the student is given the benefit of the doubt, and is allowed pass by compensation.

I am interested in hearing what other good reasons there are for having such a mechanism.

Thank you.


texts: For publications, what do I do when my first name is abbreviated?

texts: I'm Muslim, I use Md. as for Muhammad. So when submiting to journals, should I stick to the 2nd & 3rd names? I'm currently facing problems in submitting to arxiv.org which asks for only first and last names.


texts: How to give feedback on a course when no evaluation was offered?

texts:
I just finished a course in organic chemistry this semester, where we had absolutely everything go wrong. Our TA had immigration problems, and only showed up to the first few days. Our stockroom was mostly always empty of chemicals, and most of us didn't have enough glassware. Our fume hoods stopped working, and the list goes on and on.

A lot of the students had been looking forward to the course evaluation, to express our frustration of having to teach ourselves organic chemistry, and lab techniques without any supervision.

However, on the final day, after we took our final exam, which was given by the supervising professor, we were not offered a course evaluation.

I'm wondering if there's some kind of protocol for giving feedback to the chemistry department, as I don't know who is even aware of what went on in our class. I also do not want to come off like a whiner.

Also, the professor seems to be giving a huge curve to try to stave off a revolution. For example, I scored a 99% in the class, and my lab partner got a 72%, and we both walked away with an "A", which is even more frustrating.


texts:
When listing keywords for a paper written in English, is it better to write keywords in singular or plural form?

I am interested in both keywords stored in meta-data:

and keywords listed at the beginning of the paper:


texts: On the use of grant funds for extracurricular research

texts:
While reading the PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH section of some completed NSF award abstracts, I expected to find papers only within the limited scope of the goals of the proposal.  To my surprise, I have found some papers in completely unrelated topics credited to the research grant that funded it.  It doesn't even seem like a serendipitous finding or semi-related tangent either, but rather a complete deviation from the grant's intended purpose.

I'm sure that there are other justifications for attributing research grants for publications as stated in this post, but it made me wonder...

How can one justify using grant money to fund research outside of your intended purpose of the grant?  Is this a common practice?  Are there any negative consequences to using your grant to fund extracurricular research activities?  Under what circumstances is it valid to do so and when is it inappropriate to do so?


texts: How often do Master's programs accept applicants with online Bachelor's degrees?

texts:
I'm looking to embark on an online Bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics in the coming year with the intent of doing a Master's degree in either the US or UK afterward.

However, after doing some research, I'm a bit skeptical about the odds of getting accepted into a Master's program with an online Bachelor's degree.  Most of the figures I saw while researching is 5% US schools.

Questions:

Is it true that Master's programs in the US/UK accept only about 5% of applicants with an online Bachelor's degree?
Are there any authoritative sources that can confirm the acceptance rate figures?


texts: How long between the acceptance and proof correction of Elsevier?

texts:
My paper has beed accepted by Elsevier's International Journal of Electronics and Communications (AEUE).

I want to know how long I should expect to wait until I receive the notice of online proof correction.


texts: What is an "Advanced Studies Diploma" equivalent to?

texts:
To be admitted to my PhD in Mechanical Engineering, I had to have a 1-year coursework, with 8 subjects and a research-proposal defense. Here in Portugal, an “Advanced Studies Diploma” in Portuguese "Diploma de Estudos Avançados" is awarded, but I would like to know what it’s really worth because I am thinking of moving to another country, and I am not sure whether I will finish my PhD.

What is that equivalent in countries such as England, Germany or the USA?
Can I ask for a degree recognition in an university of one of those countries? Here in Portugal it is not considered a degree, just a 60 ECTS diploma.
What does this diploma give me in terms of jobs? Do I have an easier access to some jobs? If yes, which kind of jobs? I am a Materials Engineer MSc., with an Advanced Studies Diploma in Mechanical Engineering


texts:
I am writing a report for a paper using APA format. which used specific antibodies and other chemicals in the process of obtaining tissue samples and am confused as to where I should include the catalogue number, company, and company location of the chemical.

Should I include this in my references or as a separate appendix?

Is there a rule of standard for including something like this?

Note: I am using LaTeX's APA6 package for the paper.


texts: Publishing while working from home independently, what affiliation to give?

texts:
Currently I do not belong to any institution and work from home.

Now can I put the name of the last university I attended  in place of affiliation in a journal paper?

I have masters degree from Linkoping University, Sweden. Do I need to ask permission in this case ?

Regards,
Umair


texts: How to sign copyright form in ManuscriptCentral website

texts:
Does anybody know how can I sign the copyright form in ManuscriptCentral website?

The portal provided an online form as the copyright form to sign.


texts: I'm on last year of my Ph.D. However, I got an offer from investors for my project and investor required to full-time work in a new company. Would it be an advantage or a disadvantage to have worked for a couple of years, when continuing Ph.D. again later?


texts: Is it common/ ethically acceptable for PhD advisors to propose and supervise topics on which they lack basic knowledge?

texts:
I've just graduated in STEM in a small but respected university in Europe. I had two supervisors who hold their PhD in my field.  The aim of my PhD was to utilize a particular chemical compound in the synthesis of various materials. Very little literature is available about the topic and neither of my supervisors had ever published a single paper about it.
I had a tough time during my PhD because I was left figuring out completely on my own how to do research without having a real expert beside me I could learn from. Moreover, I was prevented from asking for help to anyone. Whenever I asked them for help, my supervisors would just throw out some buzzwords or vague explanations to the data I had produced, which were seldom appropriate. Sometimes, I was also given the silent treatment. Back then, I thought that this was the way a PhD is meant to be done. You know "you have to be independent", "your PhD is only yours"....
However, I eventually realized that my supervisors were not those experts they were supposed to be and came up with the reason behind their "hands-off" attitude. I found out they did not  aware of the physical, chemical, and even toxicological (!) properties of the compound I had been working with for the last three years. They were even oblivious to the appropriate scientific terminology and apparatuses relevant to the research topic: one of them was unaware that the term polymerization was also applicable  in the context of inorganic compounds, not just organic or biological polymers, while the other did not know a (very) common technique you are supposed to learn during the second year of your bachelor's degree. As an "expert" of the topic, he should have been definitely knowledgeable of. I could continue with other examples, but my thread is not about shaming my supervisors. Their knowledge and expertise are under their responsibility, not mine.
After my graduation, I left both my supervisors as I felt I had been deceived and lured to work with them. I do not trust them anymore. Right now, I continue to feel as if I were used, exploited and tricked. Probably, my PhD served only as a +1 in their CV. I do not think they were so interested in the project or in my growth as a researcher. At the same time, I do not regret my time as a PhD student. It was a stimulating intellectual experience: I learnt a lot of new things and I met many interesting people during my journey.
My questions are: how "normal" or common is it for a supervisor to put forward a PhD project without any expertise or even knowing the terminology and techniques relevant to it, especially in the STEM field? Is doing so considered ethical?
IMPORTANT: this post is NOT a vent or a blame game. I am not interested in discussing about red flags or the specific behaviour of my advisors. I am sharing my story just as an example to kindle a meaningful discussion.
What I am actually interested in is your opinion and/or experience regarding this kind of supervision style and its possible impact on the professional life of a freshly graduated PhD.
Clarifications:

They asked me to join them in this project as I was one of the top students of my cohort. I know I should have asked more questions to my supervisors when I first met them. But, you know, I naïvely thought that they were experts. Otherwise, why taking the role as a PhD supervisor?

Switching supervisors is not an option here, moreover I couldn't walk out (or run away, as JeffE would say) because I unfortunately realized the lack of knowledge of my supervisors at the end of my project. If I had dropped out from my PhD, I should have paid a hefty penalty of several thousands quid.

I was fully funded by a public institution. Is this the reason why they were not so invested in the project? They would not have lost any of their money.


texts: Statement of Purpose conventions in Canada and Europe

texts:
I'm applying to universities in Canada and Europe (The Netherlands, Belgium and France) for admission to their computer science/mathematics master's programmes.
I showed my statement of purpose to a professor in a European university who I've worked with in the past - they said that while my statement of purpose would work well in the European context I may have to advertise myself more aggresively to the Canadian universities I am applying to. They did however clarify that they aren't familiar with the Canadian system and were speaking from the experience they had with the US system.

Is there a difference between the expectations that Canadian universities have of an applicant's statement of purpose compared to those of European universities?
Would I be at a disadvantage if I were to submit a statement of purpose written to the standards of a European university to a Canadian university?

If the answers to the above questions are in the affirmative, I would be grateful for an example highlighting this "aggresiveness". Here is what I understand it to mean presently:
European: My thesis in X has prepared me for Y research.
Canadian: I am the ideal candidate for Y research since my thesis was on X.
My objection to the above explanation is that the Canadian method seems redundant; naturally, applicants would only write good things in their statements of purpose.

Does my objection highlight an invalidity in my present understanding of "aggresiveness" or does it simply stem from a poor understanding of Canadian expectations and culture?


texts: Starting collaboration through first e-mail. Can it work?

texts:
I was an undergrad student with Professor X a few years back. Prof. X used to be a co-author in all the publications with Prof. Y. Prof. Y is very popular in the field.

Now, I am working in a university. I have keen interest to work with Prof. Y on a few problems of interest.

I have less idea on how to collaborate in such a situation where I don't have indirect contact apriori. The option that I have is to send a mail to him which looks as follows:

  Subject: Request for collaboration -- Problem A and Problem B

  Dear Prof. Y

  Greetings!

  I have learned about you from Prof. X during my works with him.

  I have gone through your recent papers: [this] and [this]. I am good in Method1 and Method2 which could suitably address your problem.

  My recent works can be found in [this profile link].

  Looking forward to hearing from you.

  Sincerely,

  me

  --
  [my signature]

Is this approach a suitable for my collaboration with Prof. Y?

Update: I had sent an email to Prof. Y after incorporating the suggestions from the fellow academia.SE community members here. I got a response from Prof. Y and looks like he is also interested in working together.


texts: A bibliography with entries in several scripts

texts:
How should a bibliography cite works titled in several scripts?

Up to now I've been putting all titles into a single list, in the original scripts and in the alphabetical order informed by their otherwise unused transliterations. For example, Матюшкин (Matyushkin) could come right after Mason, but the transliteration Matyushkin would not appear.

I have a book in hand from Princeton University Press in the 1950s that also uses a single bibliographic order, but includes only transliterations and title translations, not the original-script references. That makes it hard to track down a source because the reader has to be able to back-form the other spelling, which may be ambiguous or nonstandard. The title translations are useful, though as they involve the creation of new text, they can make an entry not match references elsewhere to the same work.

Filled with doubt, I wonder if there is a standard approach to this problem.


texts: Someone asked me for advice on their paper a few months ago. I pointed out an error. I received no reply. What should I do?

texts:
A few months ago, a PhD student I had never met sent me an email asking me for advice about their paper. I have written papers on related topics and apparently I answered a question of theirs on the relevant SE site.
The paper was interesting and I was happy to give advice. However I found a mistake in a crucial lemma that puts several results in jeopardy. I wrote back with the advice and added an explanation about the error. I never received a response (not even thanks for the advice), and the preprint remains on the public preprint server untouched.
What should I do at this point? Do I write back asking for an update? Do I wait until the preprint is updated?
I guess what I am afraid of is that the paper contains results I am not unlikely to use in the future. But if the proof is wrong, that's a problem. I would like to avoid the public humiliation for the student to write in one of my papers that their proof is wrong and that I have a correct proof, or even worse for the paper in question to be published (because the student didn't care that I found an error) and then corrected/retracted once I inform the editor of the error. On the other hand I may be overthinking it as I am not responsible at all for these things: I don't know the student, they asked me for advice.


texts: Why am I taught theory that I have no idea how to apply in practice?

texts:
I am a third year Computer Science student. The question that I reach out to you with is featured in the title.
There are some lectures that make me ask such questions. For the sake of this discussion it is worth noting that I am also working as a developer.
It may be true that the first (at most) two lectures try to introduce a new field of study in a way that somehow speaks to me (I affiliate that with a feeling that a new segment is being build onto my mind and the way it holds on are at first only a few nerve connections between the segment and my brain). However, the concepts introduced next stop falling into place. In order to deal with that I've tried reading books that take up a given field of study in a scholarly way and the effect seemed to be similar.
Another approach that I've taken is studying tests from previous years in order to see what are the key problems the lecturer is trying to convey. Now, that can only work provided that the teacher himself intends to create the test focusing on those points, which is not always true. Regardless, in most cases the tasks focus on small differences between two (or more) very similar notions which during these 3 years I have observed in practice only a couple of times.

The problem with the last point is that if those small differences are to be noticed at all it has to happen now, and not when I have working experience of 5 years, because I won't remember them then.

In other words: How is it, that despite being active professionally in the field I am studying and working on projects for university lectures it is so hard to find connection between practice and the theory taught during lectures?

Or pessimistically: What is the point of studying this way if there is one? How to make it beneficial for me?


texts: In US, universities often have a fixed overhead rate around 50%, or at least that's what I heard. But I don't know what it exactly means. How does this affect how much grant money goes where?


texts: I asked my thesis advisor to write me a letter of recommendation, giving her a copy of the letter of recommendation written by another professor for me the last time I applied to colleges. Turns out, she has submitted the same copy I sent her, with a few minor changes. While, this is not problematic per se, I am applying to a few colleges that I had also applied to last time. Will the admissions office view this negatively, considering pretty much the same letter has been sent by two different individuals in consecutive years?


texts: I successfully completed degree called Aspirantura from Russia. is it equal to PhD in Europe and US?

texts: I completed a four-year Aspirant course and successfully defended my Aspirant thesis


texts: How can teaching assistants deal with grade disputes?

texts:
From the answers to this question, it is clear that TAs in the US are usually responsible for grading students' work.
In my country, most of the TAs face the following challenges:

Students confront TAs and attempt to negotiate for extra marks in order to pass, or to improve a grade;

Students confront TAs and attempt to negotiate for extra marks by using a friend's answers as evidence to support their case;

Students inquire about the subtle methods used in grading: the amount of marks awarded for each step, the reason for a decrease of even 0.5 marks, or they ask to see the solution manual, etc.,

And then these conflicts evolve into personal enmities, which may eventually cause the TA serious consequences (a heated confrontation, loss of students' respect, etc.).
The issue is worst if the assignment's answers are quantitative or mathematical. There is no solution manual and sometimes no way to guarantee consistent and fair marking over a great number of student assignments (even for a single particular question).
So I want to know how TAs in the US—or in other countries—avoid these complications. What are the key techniques?
Note: Some say it's a minor issue. No. It is a major issue and often arises with TAs in my country, where the professor is not involved in the distribution or evaluation of grades.


texts: Why don't colleges make terms shorter and with fewer classes?

texts:
Instead of the typical 4 classes every 10 weeks, why not 2 classes every 5 weeks?

Condensed courses usually means:

Taking less courses at the same time which makes compartmentalization for memorization easier.
You (typically) take the same course every day, thus actively refreshing the neurons on that topic.
Taking the same course every day over a shorter time makes cumulative exams much less intimidating.
You see the same students everyday. This encourages a more natural stimulation of getting to know your classmates and seems to result in more collaboration outside of class.
If you're doing poorly in a class, for whatever reason, only the last 5 weeks of your academic life are wasted (as opposed to 10).

Overall, the same material is taught to students whether it's in 5 weeks or 10. The difference in that in the 5 week plan, students take half the classes they normally would per 5-week term, and the lecture for that class is everyday of the week.

An example being instead of taking intro to biology, chemistry, calculus, and psychology over 10 weeks, you take biology and psychology during the first 5 weeks and then calculus and chem the second 5 weeks.


texts: Increasing the chance of being accepted by keeping a Ph.D. Co-Author

texts:
As a final year student (B.Sc.) I wrote a paper, but didn't keep my supervisor as co-author since he hadn't contributed at all (in research and paper-writing). I am about to submit my paper to a journal(single-blind peer review).

Does the chance of being accepted a paper to a journal increase if one of the Co-Author is Ph.D./Professor ?

Should one keep his thesis supervisor as co-author for above?

I mean, is there a chance that the reviewer will consider my paper a bit differently/lightly/neglectfully ?


texts: Citing sources and the "Right to Publicity" (USA)

texts:
Something that came up the other month, I was asked to sign a declaration that something I'd scribbled, amongst other things, didn't contain the names of any individuals: living, dead or fictional.... without "consent". Which lead me to ask a few questions such as WHY, and how can a fictional individual grant consent to cite a nonexistent work they haven't created. Anyway the WHY is apparently down to "Right to Publicity" statutes in various US states (There's no direct equivalent in the UK).

Anyway I'm still wondering if similar declarations are standard in all US publishing agreements, and whether there really is an assumed grant / waiver, on having something published, for others to cite it?


texts:
What is considered a standard time for asking a status update from the editor for various stages of peer-review?
I have heard that editors get irritated for asking a status update for the manuscript.
But the problem is getting timely reviews is absolutely necessary for submitting a PhD thesis.
Hence it is extremely important to get review within a stipulated time.
Since peer-review is time consuming,  my question is:
When can I ask for a status update from the editor for  a manuscript which is roughly twenty pages long for the following stages of peer-review?

Manuscript is "With Editor" and it is not yet sent for peer-review.
Manuscript is sent for first round of review  but the reviews have not yet reached the author
Second round of review when the manuscript is under minor revision which includes correction of typos, grammatical errors etc.
Second round of review when the manuscript is under major revision.


texts: If you had the chance to give your past self advice for your thesis, what would they be?

texts:
As mentioned in the title, when you look back on your master thesis- the one that brought you to your Phd life, which advice that you think if you had known them before, you would have had a better thesis and a more promising academic career?
I think those advice would vary from advice on relationship with advisors, work-life balance to something more specific like "Do not get carried away too much by the premature results that you come up with" -which may not be true for everyone.
I expect to learn the most from you, more about your failure and how you cope with them than your success.
Sincerely,


texts: when sharing source code to more than one party, should I notify them that others also were interested

texts:
A few weeks after my work was published in a conference, I received an email from a research group from another university asking me to provide my source code. The email was very polite and explained the reasons for the request, i.e. the direction of their research. There was really no reason to deny them. However, yesterday (ca. 6 weeks after the first request), I received a similar request from another group asking for the same code to conduct research in the same field as the first group. (To clarify, I'm in CS, but both groups work in statistics) I see no reason to deny them either.

But should I explicitly state that the code was already asked for and provided to another research group? If so, should I also notify the first group?

I found myself in uncharted territory since I haven't expected anyone to be interested in that code, let alone to receive two requests. Also, this situation has potential to escalate into misunderstanding(s), if information is withheld or provided, but misinterpreted.

PS: I haven't talked yet to my adviser, as he is on vacation and I really don't intend to bother him with this matter.


texts: Publish at the Open University as an undergraduate

texts:
I'm an undergraduate at the Open University (OU), which allows me to study part-time and from home (actually even from a different country). Getting my BSc will take me other several years, but I want to start gaining experience with doing research and start publishing papers. Specifically my field would be the Semantic Web and I already have lots of industry experience in this subject, just not much academic experience yet. So I found this institute at the OU called the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) that actually does quite interesting Semantic Web work. I contacted some professors from various labs in the institute and none seem to offer remote internships.

Now to my question: how do other OU students start publishing given that there isn't really a campus and you're most likely in another country?

PS: I know research is usually accomplished face-to-face, but this relates specifically to OU which is a highly-accredited online university. There must still be a way to do research for an undegrad at OU.


texts: Academic affiliation on papers written while between jobs

texts:
There have been many questions in the past about choosing an affiliation to write on your papers. This one has a nuance that is a bit different from having two jobs.

I am currently between two jobs (PhD student and postdoc) and currently not academically affiliated to either. I am currently writing a paper and I am trying to figure out if I put my PhD affiliation or my postdoc affiliation.

The reason for the PhD affiliation is because a lot of the work was done there.

The reason for the postdoc affiliation is because then anyone could contact me for correspondence with respect to the paper.

I feel there must be a hard and fast rule to this, so I was hoping someone could enlighten me.

Thanks!


texts: How long should I wait after PhD interview in Denmark?

texts:
I had a PhD interview last week, the professor send me an email:

Thanks for taking the time to participate in the Skype interview.
We are a bit delayed in making decisions, but I to get back to you on Tuesday 3 November.
Have a nice weekend,

However, I have not got his Email yet.  What happened?  I wrote a email to him after Tuesday, but no reply. I think that I am just a substitute. I gave up hope of this position. But I really like this project. What can I do?


texts: Switching to academia from industry in a world during/after COVID

texts:
EDIT:

  Thank you to all those who commented asking for more clarity in the question - it pushed me to think harder. My apologies for a lack of clarity, I hope the community would understand as this is my first time here.

Questions:

Return to academia: How can I prepare myself to get into a research oriented graduate program after spending 7+ years in the industry assuming that university admissions and operations return to normal after COVID-19? If you think it won't, what could change?
Sustaining/excelling in academia: What changes do you anticipate in research job prospects in a post COVID-19 world?

Background:
I hold a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and currently work as a data analyst. My goal is to be in a place to conduct cutting edge research (and maybe teach as well). I intended to keep my job and pursue an online MS in Computer Science. After a failed attempt of getting into an online program offered by UT Austin, I’m starting to think I should focus on just one thing and go to school full time, without a safety net job (also for the reason that an online program doesn’t help getting into a PhD program owing to research experience).

The current economic climate is unprecedented and I’m quite sure life wouldn't continue as planned. Pursuing graduate education may require that I borrow money which adds additional stress while navigating an economic slowdown. I’m looking for advice from people who went through similar experiences during the ‘08 crisis. It’s not the same, but possibly there are important lessons.


texts:
As far as I know a PostDoc in USA is 2 years of research program. Habilitation is 4-8 years program. So, why is this difference in time frame?

What are advantages/disadvantages of Habilitation over PostDoc in case of academic career?


texts: Article about doing a PhD by prominent mathematician or computer scientist

texts: I vaguely remember reading an article(as an online pdf - possibly via twitter) on why one should/should not do a PhD; what doing a PhD entails. It was well structured and specifically mentioned that a PhD isn't for everyone. I also remember it was written by a prominent computer scientist(or a mathematician). Can anyone provide suggestions/hints about what article it might've been?


texts: Weaker chance of admit if classmate has already been admitted to graduate program?

texts:
One of my classmates just got accepted into the graduate program I also applied for. We both are strong candidates but she is a stronger one, hence the earlier acceptance.

I was wondering if it hurts my chances for an admit if someone from my undergrad university already got accepted for the program I also applied for?


texts: Are there publicly agreed-on standards or definitions of what constitutes peer review?

texts:
It seems like a very difficult problem to discern whether a "peer-reviewed" journal is reputable. When a journal claims to be peer-reviewed, is there a commonly-agreed-on definition of what this means? Is there a publicly verifiable process to verify whether a journal is peer-reviewed?

This question mentions "vanity press" as a whole class of disreputable journals, and this question mentions Pubmed and Scopus as authorities on what constitutes legitimacy, but I can't find their standards anywhere. Scopus says they vet articles with an "independent review board," but I'm really looking for an answer about what they verify a journal does.


texts: Does Trump's federal hiring freeze affect academic jobs in any way?

texts:
How does President Trump's Presidential Memorandum Regarding the Hiring Freeze affect academic jobs in the United States?  Does it have any impact on public universities or research labs?  Does it have any practical effect on people currently seeking academic or research jobs?

I am not fully familiar with how education and research is organized within the US.


texts: Pursue a German PhD with a Masters from the USA?

texts:
In December of this year (2020) I'll graduate with an MA in Applied Linguistics from a US university (via distance learning/online). I have been living and working as a full-time teacher at a bilingual school in Germany since 2012 and specialize in bilingual education (English/German) with a focus on the subjects of History and English. After graduating, I would like to pursue a PhD in a related field (linguistics) at a university in Germany with the career intention of conducting research and lecturing/instructing at a university. I have seen a lot of German universities host paid PhD research projects with very interesting topics, which seems like a direction to pursue, but I am not sure if the pay will be enough to support my family. I am the main provider for my wife and son (3 y.o.) and we won't be able to financially handle a huge cut to my current salary (about 4,000 Euro gross/brutto per month).

As to my questions, I am looking for some advice about the potential career-path. Does it make sense for an American to pursue a German PhD with a BA and MA degree from the US? Financially, would it be possible to continue to support my family while pursuing a PhD in Germany? Is it worth it at my age (35 y.o.) to pursue a PhD?

If the information helps, I plan on staying in Germany permanently as my wife is German, I do not want to continue teaching at the secondary school level, and I am fluent in German. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Should I list my work as a frequent journal reviewer as a volunteer work in LinkedIn?

texts:
I am a frequent reviewer for a particular (computer science) journal, and I wonder if the review work I do counts as a "volunteer" work?

I do already list this work in my CV under (PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES) section. Should I also add it to my LinkedIn profile under (volunteer experience) section?


texts:
In applying to the NSF postdoctoral fellowship for mathematics, the instructions include the following paragraph for the biographical sketch:

  A list of: (i) up to five products most closely related to the proposed project; and (ii) up to five other significant
  products, whether or not related to the proposed project. Acceptable products must be citable and accessible
  including but not limited to publications, data sets, software, patents, and copyrights. Unacceptable products are
  unpublished documents not yet submitted for publication, invited lectures, and additional lists of products. Only
  the list of 10 will be used in the review of the proposal.

My question is what exactly does "unpublished" mean? Is a paper uploaded to the arXiv but not yet submitted for publication in a journal considered "unpublished"?


texts: How important is the country of academic experience in applying for US academic jobs?

texts:
I have long academic experiences in African universities (where I studied and am based). I had various administrative positions such as head, dean, vice president. Academically, I have supervised tens of students and published many paper in high impact journals. Now I want to apply for a position in American universities (for example, a Dean position).

When I compare my credentials and academic/administrative experiences with current Deans of American universities, I am fully comparable, but my worry is:

Do the search committee needs American experience for appointing someone in an American university?
Do the search committee consider academic experiences in developing countries not-competitive to American candidates?

I understand that there might be personal views, but is it the general strategies of search committees?


texts: Is it appropriate to show concern for a professor's well-being?

texts:
I am an student and in one of my college courses, the professor seems stressed or frazzled. He is always running late and unprepared, which seems odd because the Powerpoint slides are already done and he uses previous tests and quizzes. The tests, homework, and most of the quizzes are computerized and graded automatically. So, He can't be overwhelmed with grading. Which leads me to believe that he is having problems at home.

My question: would it be appropriate to ask him if he is okay, either by email or face-to-face?

I don't want to invade his privacy but I don't like seeing anyone in distress.


texts: Fixing mistakes from math's thesis and put that to the Internet?

texts: I wrote a bad master's thesis, got a work but now I'm unemployed. I would like to improve my probability to get a work and show that I can write a better thesis. How wise it is to rewrite the thesis and say that I wrote the thesis on the subject, the grade was bad but I have learned from my mistakes? Some students might think it is easier to read my corrected work than the original paper. I wrote my thesis on particular mathematics article. I'm going to say honestly that this is not my thesis but a learning material for someone who is interested about the subject.


texts: How to emphasize the main contributor to a paper when the field typically orders authors alphabetically?

texts:
I am working on a graph theory paper with two of my friends. The problem stated in the paper is solved by me. However, our supervisor professor pointed out that in all of the graph theory journals (and other mathematics journals as well), names of authors are sorted by an alphabetic order which puts me in the third position after one of my friends who was mainly in charge of half of the editings (which I greatly thank his efforts) and our supervisor professor.

I wonder if there is any way to point out who was the main contributor in a graph paper or not.

I think this may be a very deciding factor in being accepted by a good university for a master program because we can only have a few papers before graduation.


texts: Student not giving mid-project report and not coming to defense

texts:
Context:

I am a researcher in a Western European university.
As part of a masters courses in my uni, students have a rather long project to do (each student has its own project). This project is divided in two parts: an analysis part (short, they need to understand their project and state how they want to achieve it) and an experimentation part (the main part of the project, they need to achieve as much as they can). Each part is evaluated with a report and a small defence.

In this context, I have a student working on a project I submitted. The first part of the project has now ended and I have the following problems:

the student lied to me on the submission date for the report
they did not submit anything
they did not come to their defence

What I did as an advisor:

during the project: took several hours to explain the project and provided help to prepare the experiments (they are not done right now)
offered my help for writing the report (asked for the student to send drafts regularly and to ask about anything unclear, never received any draft)
I was present at the defence to help them if they could not answer questions

What happened then:

they scored the worst marked for the first part of the project
I did not received any explanation nor excuses
I can decide whether I accept that they continue the project or not

So my question is: what do you advise in such context?

Here I listed a few options:

let them do the rest of the project and help them with the experimentations (note that at this point I do not expect any workable result anymore, but maybe they will work better than on the first part)
forbid the student to finish the project (it is likely that they won't be able to validate the project anyway due to their mark at the first evaluation, and I will have more time for my research, perhaps doing their project by myself)
ask the student to submit the report before deciding (we will loose some time on the rest of the project, but it was explicitly asked to submit this report and I could make sure that they understood what they need to do).

Any help / advice will be greatly appreciated!


texts: Asked to Provide a Submitted Manuscript that is not Published Yet

texts:
A student of mine and I submitted a manuscript for publication. It is currently under review. My student applied for a postgraduate degree program. The advisor (professor) of this program asked her to provide him with the manuscript or pre-print in order to finally assess her qualifications.
As I mentioned, the manuscript is not published yet and is under review. What is the best way I can advise her to respond to the advisor? I don't want her to get rejected because we declined to provide him with the manuscript. This is somewhat new to me since no one, in principle, asks for a submitted manuscript that is under review!
Thanks a lot!


texts: Classifying empirical and non-empirical research in the social sciences

texts: I am looking for a definition or a classification system (or a reference to an existing system) that can be used to reliably classify a very large set of articles into empirical vs. non-empirical research.  The articles are all from the social sciences and represent the full range of study and article types, including qualitative and quantitative research.


texts: What advantage is there to getting a PhD in the life sciences when you can do research with only an MD?

texts:
During an interview recently Dr. Fauci, the top doctor in the US, called himself "a scientist, and a physician". It appears that he only has an MD, but is an immunologist and a highly cited researcher. This is not a special case, there are many examples of labs run by a researcher with only an MD. That makes me wonder: why bother getting a PhD in say, immunology, when it appears that an MD is objectively better. With an MD you are qualified to run a lab despite not having the terminal degree of a typical researcher, and you are trained as a physician or whatever specialty so you always have something to fall back on.

To me this seems like the 5+ years spent becoming an expert in your field by doing novel research doesn't really matter as you can get a research job with an MD that doesn't require any of that. So what advantage is there to getting a PhD in life science fields that overlap with medicine?


texts: In which section of the thesis should I give information about formatting? How?

texts: I am writing my Ph.D. thesis in mechatronics field. I used some notions from mechanical engineering and control engineering, but my work is mostly about a software solution. As the content is really multidisciplinary, it is possible that some of the readers do not know the even the basics of software-related practices. I want to inform them about the formatting of the text, for example an XML-element looks like <element>, or I have written a class name like Class. Where is the right place to do that? Introduction? And any examples how?


texts: What to look for when doing research for an institution-specific statement of purpose

texts:
I am applying for a taught MSc programme in software engineering.
I understand that my SoP should be specific to the programme/institution I am applying to.
However the guides I have read so far only told me that I should do some research. And not what I should look for.

So far I have researched the following: Academic interests of the professors, if there are famous professors (answer: no), rankings and content of the lectures.

I have also read the prospectus, but found that it didn't add anything new. I.e. it contained marketing nonsense, the list of lectures, administrative information and some pictures.

Now I am out ideas.

There is also the point that I, personally, don't care about famous professors, the academic interests of the professor or how my school is ranked. Of course that is because it's a taught course and only takes a year. In a research degree I would want to get a specific research topic.

I choose the programmes I am applying for to 70% on the module description, 20% on the location and 10% on if the title sounds impressive. And yes, I am serious about the last one. That title will be the first thing every HR person sees.

That means that this research does not reflect my personality very well.


texts: how to find whether this paper is already available or not, if authors just changed the Paper title & author name?

texts: I am the editor. I received a paper from some author. I need to check whether that same paper is already published in some other journal or not. For example some authors downloaded a paper from some other journal, they just change the paper title, and author name and they send that paper to us. So in this case how can I find whether this paper is already available or not?


texts: What can students do if a professor penalizes an entire class because one student cheated on an exam?

texts:
Today, I was taking a test in my intro to sociology course. It is a difficult enough class when the minimum requirement for an A is 96%. It is also difficult when the professor gets off-topic and does not cover important enough material. I'm taking the class pass/fail, so I'm not terribly worried right now. I have kept up a B+ so far.

We have an online textbook, which allows the reader to use the audio version, which reads the page out loud.

Today, during the test, someone near the back decided to play the audio on one of the chapters on which we were being tested. It played loudly for about two minutes, and the professor (who is not exactly relaxed) stood up and said the obvious about cheating policies. She said that if the cheater did not come forward before she left the classroom, she would penalize everyone's tests. She did not specify how, but just that she would do that.

She held behind everyone in the area from which she heard the audiobook, and let the others go. I was allowed to go, because I was not too close to the back, and also probably because I'm always on time and never on my phone in class.

I don't think she is allowed to penalize the entire class for the reason stated, but if she does, I'm reporting it to the dean of the university. However, our dean is known to not be the most responsive person. My question is: What should I do if the dean does not take the appropriate steps to help us? I may not be really affected by my grade in the class (again, pass/fail is how I'm taking it), but others are. Failing everyone for one person's actions is unacceptable. Please help!


texts: Postdoctoral length before landing a professorship job?

texts:
professorship: tenure-track position, or "good" assistant professorship. Basically, a position that upgrades the postdoc status, and gives a much higher chance of a future permanent position.

I'm currently going to start a postdoc in applied mathematics and I wish to land a permanent position at some point in my life. Naturally, the situation seems dire, and albeit I'm highly confident of my skills, one never knows.

So, my plan is to fix a deadline time to do my best, and if I don't get a professorship by that time, I should start, without a question, to seek for a job at the industry.

The natural question arises, which is this optimal stopping time? According to my advisor, I should land a professorship in 3 years, but I'm not sure if this is true.

So my question to academia.stackexchange: What is, in your experience, the postdoctoral length of a freshly hired professor at your institutions?

For sure my question is highly dependent on country and research area, I would appreciate answers for my specific case (Germanic world, Applied mathematics), but I think the presented answers could be meaningful for a lot of other fellow postdocs.

For what is worth, I would love some sort of database on newly hired professors, as it would also make possible to compare "strengths". But I've briefly scanned the internet with no positive results.


texts: After my PhD how much salary should I expect as a professor of computer science?

texts:
It's easy for me to find out salaries for tech-jobs but it seems Professor salaries are quite hush-hush. I really love to teach and would be more than willing to join academia. However, I may choose to work for a few years in the industry before doing so. But even for information sake it's really really hard to figure out a tenure and tenure track professor's salary. It's rude to just ask my professors/colleagues directly :P

I'm interested in knowing an 'expected' range for the following countries - preferably both state and private universities (Computer Science). I'm not sure if there is a difference between the MS/PhD faculty and BS/B.Tech/BE though, but it'd be great to highlight the same.

United States
Europe (Switzerland, Germany more preferable)
Australia/New Zealand
India/China

Intent of information - awareness to take a better decision on the 'money dimension'. Please don't get me wrong, I am not intending to take a job with the most money but if a faculty position pays USD $50,000 per annum after 5 years of intensive effort, I'd like to hold off for a while. If "it depends" then on what does it depend and after I satisfy those dependencies, what can/should I expect?

UPDATE: Just for clarification, I am on the verge of completing my PhD thus piquing my curiosity about the remuneration since it's difficult to ask your advisor or other faculty members. I have and mostly been asked to wait for infinity for the response, hence the question :) I just wanted to know so that I can take an informed decision when I'm at the crossroads of applying for academia vs industry. Please don't get me wrong. I DO NOT wish to undermine the value of a PhD. I'm genuinely curious and I personally enjoy every bit of my work and it's NOT ABOUT THE MONEY :)


texts: Is doing Ph.D from a US university regarded as an absolute advantage in future career for international students?

texts:
According to the UTD Top 100 Business School Research Ranking, there are some Asian (Hong Kongese) universities that rank higher than many US and Canadian universities. What are important factors to consider for international students in case of Ph.D admission especially with respect to funding, region and ranking of the university?
And with respect to future career, networking with academics, publication, shouldn't international students aiming for a Ph.D prefer the US first?


texts: Seemingly-irrelevant papers, all with author in common, suggested by reviewer

texts:
I recently received a decision letter calling for minor revisions prior to acceptance. One anonymous reviewer was extremely knowledgeable and provided many helpful suggestions to better explain and clarify my work which I have implemented. However, the other anonymous reviewer simply listed seven papers to include, suggesting I make a "theoretical comparation" and to "plesea [sic] compare them."

I noticed all seven papers listed had one author in common, and none of them are relevant to my work. Given that their review was two sentences with typos followed by a list of papers, I assume they spent little time on my manuscript and perhaps are trying to get their own papers cited.

How can I best politely reject these suggestions? May I address them all together? Could I email the editor with my concerns? Can I request another reviewer to assess my paper?


texts: How to contact Researchers once you are accepted

texts:
I'm a physics student from Argentina and I've just been accepted for a Physics PhD in Cornell University. There are a few research groups that I really like and I was wondering if it is a common thing to mail them introducing myself and asking if it is possible that there is going to be an available position for me in the future. I wouldn't like to study there for a year to find out that the groups I like wouldn't have taken me in the first place. Thanks!

P.D.: Also, does anybody know when does research begins? I thought that the PhD program was 1 year of courses and then research, but now I've read that there are actually 2 years of courses before you join a research group.


texts: Is it possible to get a PhD with personal research?

texts: I'm a master computer science student. I decided to leave the academia after graduation, but I'm still into research and would like to do personal research independently for like 10 years. Suppose I publish a lot of papers in valuable journals, is it possible to get a PhD after that somehow?


texts: Is there a standard mapping between "English" and "Latin" honors?

texts:
I know of (at least) two sets of phrases used to indicate a degree awarded with honors:

English: With distinction / High distinction / Highest distinction
Latin: Cum laude / Magna cum laude / Summa cum laude

These phrases are almost literal translations of each other, but can they be treated as exactly equivalent for academic purposes?  Or are there subtle distinctions (no pun intended)?

Suppose an academic received a degree with honors from a school that used one system, and is asked to fill in a form which uses the other system.  Should they try to translate, or leave blank as inapplicable?

(I realize there are no universal standards dictating on what criteria such honors should be based, so there is not a lot of meaning conveyed by these phrases anyhow.  But the academic does not want to be accused of misrepresenting their credentials.)


texts:
Lets say a member of a lab has an entirely theoretical idea like "wouldn't it be nice if we wrote software that does X?"  The member did give a talk showing how such code would work if implemented.  Due to general skepticism about the idea, nothing ever comes of it.

The member never actually writes any of the software while in the lab.

After leaving the lab, the member uses publicly available data and implements the software, as well as developing the mathematical theory.

Is the member required to acknowledge his former lab in authorship? Is this a breach of ethics?

What if the former lab member had previously agreed to letting the PI use his idea in a grant proposal, but the PI then forced him out of the lab and thus out of the grant proposal.

1. Can the former lab member write up his work for publication? 2. Does he have to make the PI a co-author if he does?

Extra Information:

The idea was documented as a presentation to the lab.  A small simulation with fake data was used to argue this could work.  There was some discussion of how it would work when the grant was written, completely the member just saying to others how this idea worked and so the idea was written up in the grant.  The PI does not have any training in this area.  However, there are plenty of emails where the PI refers to this as the former lab members idea etc.  I feel certain everybody in the lab would acknowledge this was the former lab member's idea.

The former lab member didn't actually write any of the grant as the PI claimed to want to collaborate with someone with greater mathematical expertise. So the collaborator wrote the grant, with occasional emails to ask the former lab member questions.


texts: I recently started my machine learning PhD and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing

texts:
I started my PhD a few months ago.

Seriously, I don't know how I got accepted, but here I am. I am not a computer scientist, but come from a different STEM background. My knowledge in machine learning in general is pretty limited (for now, trying to catch up) and publishing something seems so far out of reach that it's overwhelming. I don't even know where to start. I'm reading papers on semantic segmentation and similar topics (which is the direction my topic goes in), and while I understand most of them technically, I completely lack the intuition to ask good questions about them, let alone identify some gap in which I can dive into to publish something. I read them and think "And now what?"

I don't dare to talk with my supervisor about this. She will think I am completely stupid and not suitable for the position.

Can someone suggest a pathway for me to somehow get the ball rolling and systematically work towards successfully graduating with a PhD? I'm really willing to put in work, it's just that right now I have the feeling I'm stumbling around in the dark and it's not productive at all.


texts: How can I decide on taking four classes for first year in graduate school?

texts:
I just finished undergraduate degree from a mediocre liberal arts college. I am attending a graduate school ranked about 30. I feel that I am lacking a little in my basic knowledge. Therefore, I was thinking about taking three to four classes in basic subjects (two semesters each of algebra, real analysis, complex analysis and algebraic topology) during my first year.

Coming from a liberal arts college, I have never taken four classes in a single semester and my plan is to do exactly that for two consecutive semesters.

If it helps, those four classes would be 16 credits in a semester. Algebra and analysis are 5.0 credits each. Complex analysis and algebraic topology are 3.0 credits each.

Also I am on a fellowship for first year of my graduate school, which means I do not have to teach and can dedicate my time for studies.

How can I approach this decision? What aspect may I not have taken into account?


texts: Reasons to ask to waive a GRE test score

texts:
I am interested in pursuing a master's in computer science at the university where I completed my undergrad (also in computer science). I haven't taken the GRE which is required for entry. Some graduate programs at my university waive the GRE requirement if you're a graduate from the university, I asked the program director and he said it could be waived with a good undergrad record and a letter of justification or a recommendation from other faculty. I have a 3.5 undergrad GPA which is more than enough to get into the program.

What kinds of justification would be a "good" justification in the case of this? I haven't taken it because I'm nervous and since I started a new job right after graduation I haven't had time to study for it. However, by the time the fall semester starts I would be more comfortable in my job and will have more time to devote to the program.

I am very serious about this program and fear if I don't get admission this upcoming semester then the professors (and department chair) who were my references would either forget about me or not write me another recommendation. Not to mention the year that would pass and all the knowledge I would lose during that time.

Should I take the GRE under prepared, or wait until next spring and hope that I can find equally good references?


texts: Which could be considered an appropriate number of self-citations?

texts: I am currently writing a paper that cites other works authored by me. I was wondering which percentage of self-citations is recommendable in a journal paper.


texts: Coming up with a PhD Research Topic after 10 years away from academics

texts:
I am looking at going back to University after almost 10 years in the Corporate World (I am exploring a PhD in Business and Quantitative Methods in Spain...line of Research is in "Innovation, Organization And Strategic Management").My MSc/BSc are relevant, only I bagged them in 2004.

I am really trying to figure out how to come up with a relevant topic. Applicants for Spanish PhD are required to write a thesis describing their topic. This becomes a bit difficult for students who have been away from the Ivory Tower for such period of time. Any suggestions?


texts: What is a good GPA for acceptance into a top mathematics graduate program?

texts:
I am in a Master's program which is graded 100% on my research thesis. I also have a first class Honours in mathematics with average grade somewhere between A- and A, where A+ is best. Also, my university's math department is ranked somewhere between 40th and 50th in the world.

In short, my grade point average is okay but not great, and so is my school. I would like to go to a First tier (Harvard, MIT, Oxbridge), or at least tier 2 (Chicago, Michigan, UPenn) graduate school. Do I have a realistic chance at any of these places? Also will age a disadvantage (I'm 28)?

Edit: My GPA on the US scale is around 3.6 plus/minus 0.1.


texts: PhD student lost fellowship 1 week before school starts, what should I do?

texts:
I am a rising 2nd year PhD student in a US public school.

I was promised 4 years of funding by my department. Last year, I received a fellowship which covered tuition and stipend. I believe most people get 2 years of funding, so I was expecting it to be renewed. Over the summer, I kept asking about the status of my renewal application and only until yesterday (1 week before next school year) did they inform me my renewal was rejected. The secretary who communicates with me still has not told me why.

The next school year starts in <1 week, and all my classes will be dropped tomorrow if my tuition is not paid. To make matters worse, I am an international student, and if in ~3 weeks my tuition still isn't paid, then my visa will be invalidated and I fear I may be deported.

I will talk to my advisor tomorrow, but much advice is appreciated. In particular, I wish to know whether there is any standard procedure for this kind of situation and whether I should pay my own tuition first in case of any visa problem.


texts: Is there anything I can do if a professor agreed to supervise me but I was rejected by the admission committee?

texts:
Some time ago I contacted a professor at another university and, after some discussions, he agreed to supervise me and told me to make a formal application to the department. Unfortunately, the admission committee rejected my application. I asked that professor why, and he said he had no idea and I don't know if he tried to follow my application.

I am sure I meet the program's minimum requirements, submitted all necessary documents and even indicated that professor as a supervisor in a dedicated field. I would like to ask if I can do something, like making an appeal (although the department has no such thing), or keeping on sending email to the professor? Is this situation common?