texts: How to publish a paper that does not seem to be within the scope of any journal?

texts:
I have written a paper on applying a mathematical theory to a linguistic problem. I privately submitted it to several renowned professors (some of them very famous indeed) in the field of linguistics, semantics and so on. They made some suggestions and expressed some criticism on some details, but for the most part they praised the quality of the paper.

Following their suggestion, I submitted it to a leading journal in the field. The answer I got from the journal’s preliminary assessment was that the paper had huge potential, but was too mathematical for them. They advised me to resort to their sister publication, where much more focus on natural language processing and mathematics is to be found. The answer was the mirror image: nice paper, definitely scienficially worthy, but too soft, that is, too linguistic or informal for advanced mathematicians or computer scientists.

Now I am in no man’s land. The paper is indeed interdisciplinary (as corresponds to a linguist using some mathematics as he needs them), but I find it very unfortunate that due to a false sense of the own domain, noone seems to feel responsible for its contents, which I deem valuable. Before trying any further submission, I was entertaining the option of submitting it to the ArXiv, but I do not know whether that will make any sense.

How can I proceed to find a journal that considers my paper to fit within its scope?

I posted this question on Math Stack Exchange before and was recommended to repost it here.


texts: Leaving my tenure-track position for industry in January 2021,

texts:
Things have really gone downhill in our department because of Covid-19, and I and a few other colleagues (also on the tenure track) are planning to leave at the end of this semester, for industry.
To whom should I first resign with?  The Chair of the department?
My mind is made up, so I'm seeking the least painful path forward.  I have a job offer lined up already.
Thanks in advance.


texts: What is "academic freedom", when so many professors and post-docs do only the research that is being funded by external agencies?

texts:
Do professors truly get to work on whatever they want, in research?

I just read a job description for a post-doc position; the job sounds extremely specialized, with no room to do anything else outside of that job requirement.

And generally professors are funded by external agencies to do pretty specific research.

Is there really academic freedom for professors in the United States?


texts: How to choose new advisor when advisor suddenly leaves in middle of PhD?

texts:
I did research and advanced in the proposal, but suddenly my advisor left the university. They said that I must choose a new adviser. I know some general criteria about selecting an advisor. could you please mention some specific things that I concern in order to reach to best case. for example, his/her scientific background is important yet?

P.S: It differs from the following question, that is about general case, but in our question, assumed that we have a "semi-solved research".

Why would one choose a particular advisor, other than having shared interests?


texts: Is it ok to show up to a conference without registering if I don't eat any meals?

texts:
I'm planning to attend a prestigious conference in computer science. The registration fees are very high (~150$ per day). I'm presenting as well, but on a co-located event directly after the main conference.

I don't know whether my university will fund my registration fee for the whole conference. They will most certainly fund the fee for the little event where I'm presenting. In case they don't fund the whole conference, is it acceptable to show up to the conference without being registered? (Of course, I wouldn't have the conference meals with the other participants on the days I'm not registered.)


texts: How to politely negotiate working conditions/expectations in an ongoing advisor/trainee relationship?

texts:
I have to decide whether I'm staying/leaving my lab soon, but would need a few changes on my PI's part to erase my doubts about whether it's a good idea to stay. Lets assume for all intents and purposes that my advisor really wants me to stay:

I need continuous advising. My advisor tends to have really busy streaks where she will basically lock herself in her office for weeks when overwhelmed (grants/papers etc). Although we still see her every day, it's just in passing, and she's mostly unaccessible. This has been at times detrimental to my project, which is also very exploratory. This is the most important thing for me, but I cannot think of a good way to "demand" it. Only good thing is that she makes it clear that she's also learning, and has asked for suggestions for how to improve.
I need constructive feedback. For better or worse, my advisor has taken to only praise me and give positive feedback. I'm here to learn though, and this is not helpful. I would like to ask her to teach and mentor me.

I also want to make it clear how important these are to me. If I stay and they are not met, I know I will end up dropping out instead of wasting my time, but that's definitely better unsaid.  So I have two questions: 1) do you think I should even have a conversation with her, and would you be offended if you students discussed "expectations" with you (I won't phrase it that way obviously. 2) Any advice on how to have this conversation effectively and politely?

Additional detail: I've never brought up any of this, and have just "sucked it up" with a smile. I can't continue doing that though, as it will be wasting years of my time.


texts: Graduate student with abysmal English writing skills, how to help

texts:
I am a math professor at an R1 university. I have taken up a new graduate student (my n'th for n<=10), who is mathematically quite strong, but whose writing skills are a couple notches below what I have had to deal with so far.

We have a new result, which he currently is writing up. He is relatively new to English, and his native language is much unlike English. Though one can understand what he says in a conversation, writing a paper is a real struggle.

Most research students that I have worked with start with poor mathematical English skills. Their first drafts have several major problems, and require many rounds of thorough revision. However, there is always at least something which is right from the start. In contrast, this student's drafts appear nearly unsalvageable: they have hardly a sentence in common with any proper exposition. I have lost the track of revision number, but it is likely to be in double digits now.

The student is working hard, and the draft is showing some signs of improvement. However, I cannot shake the feeling that there should be more that I can do than provide extensive feedback. I am also worried that if this continues for another few months, the student can get much discouraged.

I believe that a part of the problem is the sudden jump in writing difficulty. The mathematical content of the paper-in-writing is more complex than it is typical for a first paper of students that I have supervised so far. This makes the writing task harder. I wish only that the student could practice on a simpler, shorter paper first, to provide a smoother transition from writing homework exercises.

I am looking for suggestions. Note that I would like to avoid writing the paper myself (which would be far less work for me than this), for I want the student to learn how to write himself.

What I have done so far:

extensive comments on drafts, with some verbal explanations
suggested some mathematical readings which I know are well-written (to learn by example)
provided general encouragement


texts: Rejected article submitted to other journal?

texts: Once an article submitted for publication is rejected can I send it to another journal? If so, what are good criteria and tips for doing that?


texts: How to format ranges including negative values in tables?

texts:
I am working on a research paper where I am trying to format values in a table:
From −0.2 to −0.14. Is this formatting correct?

-0.2 - -0.14

Another question:
From −3 to 3. Is this correct?

-3-3


texts: Handling editor sent me a review invitation

texts: From your experience, is it some kind of sign when handling editor of your manuscript (which is under review) sends you a review invitation for other manuscript?


texts: Can my adviser publish an under review work without my consent?

texts:
I recently graduated from my PhD program. To put things into prespective I need to mention that I, unfortunately, don’t have a good relationship with my adviser. I currently have one under review paper with my adviser. We received the reviewers’ comments for this paper. However, I don’t have time to work on this paper anymore.

Recently, my adviser asked the area editor to extend the deadline. When I asked her to forward this email to me, she insistently refused to forward the email.

Can my advisers publish this work without my consent? Can they remove my name from the paper given the fact that I will not work on this paper anymore? How do I need to communicate this with area editor if at all?


texts: How to persuade my advisor to keep working with me even if my grades are poor?

texts:
I am an international grad student in ECE in USA, in the field of Wireless Communications, and I am on my second semester of my Master's program.

Last week I learned by advisor was unhappy about the grades I got last semester. More specifically, I took two courses and took B+ and A-. On the first course I thought I had scored A or more but I got a bad score on the final; something I wasn't expecting. On the second one, I had a panic attack during the final and I couldn't think calmly, so I got a score of 60, when having 90+ on midterms. I told this to my advisor, and also said that being away from home also made it harder for me psychologically, the reply was that many people have problems on the first semester, but also that if I don't correct my grades this semester it may mean that I am not suitable for doing research in this field, and that I would need to search for another research group, or leave with a master's and work at industry.

Note that my grades are over the department minimum for PhD entry. So it's my advisor's idea, not a department requirement.

So what should I do? Of course I will try my best to be improve this semester but I think I need to have a plan B in case my grades don't improve too much. What should I do to persuade my advisor?


texts: What is the average number of references in a PhD thesis in the humanities?

texts:
How many references on average are typical for a PhD Thesis?

More specifically, I'm looking for a comparison of the average number of references for an engineering PhD thesis and PhD theses in other fields.

I'm looking for references or data on the subject.


texts: Can an author decline to be on a biorxiv paper?

texts:
Asking for a friend.

If an author is added to a biorxiv paper, but does not want to be part of it, is there any recourse for him/her?


texts: Do community college transfer students have a disadvantage when it comes to graduate school admissions?

texts:
I spent a year at a community college working in industry straight out of high school. I recently got into a top cs program and will be attending starting spring 2015. However, the school only gave me until spring 2017 to finish my degree, which means I will be at the 4-year university for 5 semesters. Will I be at a disadvantage when applying to top graduate schools in comparison to my peers, who have been at their university for 4 years? I am a CS major who will attend a top cs program.

Also, due to my transfer situation, I feel that I am severely disadvantaged in terms of research opportunities. This is because for most of the labs at my school, professors have formal requirements which often entail good grades in high-level electives specific to the research. Unfortunately, I probably won't have time to complete many of these electives, and even if I do, it will most likely be during my last year. I want to get started in research as soon as possible, but I also know that I don't have much specific experience for my fields of interest (which include AI, NLP, machine learning, and data mining). How should I reconcile these gaps, and what tips do you have for a new student getting engaged in research?


texts: Is it cheating to give someone my old exam revision notes?

texts:
Last year I completed an exam at University and a friend is doing the same exam/class this year.
Would it be cheating  if I gave her my revision notes of the semester (written before I did the exam)? They don't have any exam-related answers, just summarized lecture notes.
I read that it is cheating if a student has an unfair advantage over other students.
I don't want to get her or myself in trouble.

Thank you.


texts: Is it OK to have a significant drop in grades when moving from the Middle East to the EU?

texts:
I did my Bachelor's Degree in physics in the Middle East, graduating with the highest honors and an academic transcript full of A's. I was accepted to pursue my graduate studies in one of the best universities in Germany. I was able to score above the minimum required score to be admitted to the final exams. My performance was awful in the exams, even though I studied very hard.
I try not to compare myself with my colleagues but they are much better than me, or at least I believe this is what my professors might be thinking. Is this something normal because I am studying in a different country now? Or because graduate school is meant to be that hard? Does it get better? Does anyone have any advice to survive graduate school?
Clarifications:

Language was not a problem (the course is taught in English, which I understand perfectly, though it is not my first language)
Due to the pandemic, the teaching was suboptimal, and the material was so dense that I did not have time to prove every equation and apply every concept.


texts: What part-time jobs are suitable for PhD students?

texts:
I know PhD is unsparing in terms of available time, but at times there may be situations that demand some extra income, for example, family situations or some medical emergency.

In such cases, are there any specific jobs PhD students could take up? This could be at some place within a university (a library, say) or somewhere in the city (assume it is a large one like London or NY). The desiderata are minimal time consumption and a sum of useful money which could be used to manage the unexpected expense.


texts: Does it matter if I present in a PhD interview a topic which is partially unrelated to the PhD one?

texts:
I have a PhD interview coming up on organic chemistry in a few days. As part of the interview process I have to give a short presentation regarding a research which I am currently undertaking. However the current research is more related towards bio-organic (more biology). Does this matter if I still present a topic which isn't exactly in the organic field?

I should however stress that I am a chemist and done a lot of organic research for my undergraduate but for my masters I took a different turn but now wish to return to the organic side.


texts: Acknowledging a reviewer from a journal from which the paper was rejected

texts:
My paper was rejected from a journal. However, remarks of one of the reviewers were useful, and I incorporated them into the next version of the paper.

Is there a general pattern of acknowledging such contribution (in the Acknowledgement section)?

Or should I leave it, not to advertise information that the paper was rejected from a particular journal?

(As a side note, this paper was rejected two times, each time with one positive review, and one of type "OK, but I think it is not of general interest".)

EDIT:

In my case (as in general in my field) reviewers were anonymous. (Otherwise I would just use their names.)

And in my case the helpful comments were in positive reviews (but I doubt whether it changes anything).


texts: Is citation required when answering/giving own opinion on case study questions?

texts:
If I am reading and analyzing a particular case study and then answering its questions, if I am just giving my opinion or a solution, should I 'cite' it? For example, if we are talking about branding and the question is about the power of the brand in the market, if I answer with the following:

'To lead a change in an industry, I think that it really depends on the brand equity and the market concentration factors'. So should I try to 'cite' my opinion? Perhaps someone spoke about this particular point before, but at the same time, I am just giving my view on the matter and the solution to the question.


texts: How can a US student (who does not hold UK citizenship) get a funded PhD in Engineering at Oxford/Cambridge?

texts:
Background.
I was a previously an Engineering PhD student at a decent US university.  Since I am a US citizen, obtaining funding for an engineering PhD was relatively easy.  I now seek to enter a PhD program in the UK, where I am not a citizen.

Question.

  ---Besides the Gates Scholarship, how does a non-UK citizen get funding for an Engineering PhD at competitive institutions like Oxford and Cambridge?
  ---Is it common for US citizens (who do not hold duel UK citizenship) to obtain funding for an Engineering PhD at these schools?  Or, are the odds of obtaining funding so low that it is a foolish endeavor?
  ---What are some common methods for self-funding at these schools?  Is a part-time engineering job feasible?  What scholarships/fellowships are available for non-UK citizens?


texts: Fear that my thesis topic is too broad and perhaps belongs to another discipline altogether

texts:
It is that time-dreaded for some, eagerly anticipated by others-where I have to start writing my MSc thesis and I face a serious dilemma. The Msc program I attend is in Computer Science and my Bsc was in Mathematics and the "normal" choice would be to focus on something that builds on my background-which offers a great variety given how connected the two fields are.

Initially I was planning to focus on exactly such a path, in particular in Cryptography, and I have done a preliminary discussion with one of my professors about a potential topic for a thesis.

But during my studies and combined with other interests and professional aspirations that I have, I developed a very particular interest in Artificial Intelligence, and specifically the broader implications AI advancements will have in warfare and their potential destabilizing effects on strategic security.

I did bring this as a candidate topic for a thesis with another professor, and he seemed quite interested, asking me to come by his office soon to discuss the specifics.

  The problem lies in that the topic-though I truly believe is worth exploring, and I am willing to fully commit myself-seems very broad to allow for a focused and scientifically rigorous approach, at least of the kind required in a "true" CS or Mathematics/CS paper. It even seems to me it would be more appropriate for a Political Science/Security student. Do you believe I am correct in this assessment and I should focus instead on a more "conventional" path?

To be specific, I plan to outline all the ways by which A.I. might affect strategic stability, for example Big Data and Machine Learning would allow real-time tracking/prediction of all enemy strategic assets thus opening the chance for a First Strike, or autonomous platforms might lead to a loss of escalation control where human operators would simply back down and so on.

Now, each one of these could be approached rigorously and in detail but all together it is impossible, though exactly what is required to cover the topic in question.


texts: Does it seems that my supervisor was reluctant to let me go for conference?

texts:
I have already finished the first draft of my thesis and now I'm reviewing chapter by chapter. A few days ago I submitted my abstract to a conference and was accepted. I emailed my supervisor and asked for permission to go for conference, but she didn't answer. From my experiences of working with her, she didn't answer means she didn't want to answer and she didn't agree.

I am confused at the moment why it happened like this. She always spoke highly of my work and told me that one of my results chapter can already been made into a journal article. So I'm wondering if I should ask her before submitting my abstract?

Do I have to ask my supervisor first and submit the abstract? Do I include my supervisor's name in the abstract? I'm working in the field of humanities, and I collected and analysed the data, but she involved in the research design in my early stage and now she is giving me feedback on my writing.

So I really want to know if it's just she didn't want me to go for conference or my unethical behaviour offend her? Shall I ask her in the supervisory meeting again for this issue to figure out what's the problem?


texts: How to tune algorithm performances in computer science papers

texts:
In computer science field is common to produce papers that present algorithms that estimate something with a certain accuracy and a certain speed.

Many algorithms can clearly be tuned to have high performances, compromising  a bit accuracy, or high accuracy, compromising in this case performances.

When an author proposes a new algorithm he should present empirical results about performances AND empirical results about accuracy.

Is it honest to present result about performances obtained with the algorithm tuned to be fast (and less accurate), and results about accuracy with the algorithm tuned to be precise (and slow)?


texts: PhD study (University accreditation) and the ability to teach in the USA

texts:
I'm thinking of starting doctoral studies at York University (USA). I found this on the York University website information about accreditation:

  YORK UNIVERSITY IS NOT ACCREDITED BY AN ACCREDITING AGENCY RECOGNIZED BY THE UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF EDUCATION

After finishing this doctorate at York University in the USA, could I work as a lecturer at the University or at others in the USA?

What is the general difference in the Universities accredited by the United States Secretary of Education, and those which are not?


texts: Do you write "letter of recommendation" on recommendation letter?

texts: Almost all examples I can find in the internet do not say "letter of recommendation", however there are a few which do.


texts:
In a paper, there is an Acknowledgements section, in which I can thank everyone that helped me along the way. But what do I do in a 15-minute presentation (e.g. in a non-archival conference)? I do want to thank the people that helped me, both for my and for their benefit (in case they may be sitting in the audience, or viewing the talk later in video).

How can I thank/acknowledge people during a short presentation?


texts: How do instructors grade a one-person project when everyone else in the class worked in pairs?

texts:
I shall note up front, I am myself a student looking for insight from any lecturers or professors who have had a class with this situation and what I might expect in my case.

I am on a "Computer Engineering" integrated masters degree for which much of the assessment is done via assessed projects and coursework. Most of these projects are undertaken in groups of two where students are expected to share out work and each create a logbook also which documents their progress and individual contributions.

In a particular unit my class has an odd number of students, which after being split into pairs (using a random process) left me as the "odd one out". I discussed this briefly with the unit lecturer who felt that it would be inappropriate to create a group of three as there would then not be sufficient work for each student to demonstrate mastery over the subject.

I agreed that I would attempt the project on my own (admittedly there were not any other obvious options). Fortunately I have significant prior experience in the subject area and have therefore been able to keep up with the workload despite working alone. However I cannot help but feel that I would be able to accomplish a more polished and complete piece of work if I were not working alone.

I am therefore concerned that my work may not reflect what I would otherwise have been able to accomplish in terms of feature richness and polish and fear that this could negatively affect my grade in the unit. Note that I have completed all the basic requirements of the project fully but feel that the lightened workload from having a partner would have allowed me to explore and research in greater depth as well as complete a range of interesting optional features which would have been credit-worthy.

Firstly, what should I expect in terms or grading? Should I expect that they will grade my work exactly as they would that of a normal team of two, or are they likely to take into account the situation?

Secondly, should I try and talk to my lecturer and see if there is some way I can express my mastery of the more advanced areas without having the time to implement them in the project? or is this likely to come across merely as begging for lenient marking? If I were to have such a talk is there anything specific I could say to clearly express my concerns as I have stated here?

My institution does not appear to have any specific policy regarding uneven group sizes such as this case and as it has not happened before (as least in my classes) so the lecturer has not made any statements of how they will treat this situation.

TL;DR:

I am the last odd numbered student in a class for a pair project and am therefore working alone. What can I expect regarding grading and are there any actions I can take to express my mastery of the topic area to my lecturer without enough time to implement all the features in my project to prove this?


texts: How to choose good journal in neuroscience with no fee?

texts:
I'm a post-doc but with some other post-doc from other labs we are doing research in neurosciences in our free time, and so we are not funding for these projects.
But we would like to publish in a recognized "serious" journal (but no need for a high impact factor).
We tried to look at https://doaj.org/ but we do not know on which criterion to sort the thousands of journals listed or decide if it is a serious journal or not.
On which criteria can we consider a journal being "serious"?
Thanks a lot!


texts:
I was hoping to get some opinions on my current situation involving leaving one advisor for another.

Background: I am a second year graduate student in applied mathematics and I have passed all my qualifying exams. In my first year, Distinguished Prof. K reached out to me and I began doing research with him. Prof. K is very well known in his sub-field of applied math. In the past year or so, Prof. K has helped me apply for two large fellowship awards (I don't know if I will get them or not yet) and we have met once a week for about 15-20 minutes. My concern is that when we are meeting, Prof. K doesn't doesn't help really at all on the math side of things and he is often distracted by emails/phone calls which interrupt our already short meetings. In short, he has become extremely difficult to work with and I don't feel like I have accomplished much mathematically.

Last semester, I took a class in numerical PDEs from a younger professor, Prof. N, at my university. I really loved the course and reached out to him about doing a research project last October. Prof. N is definitely one of the smartest people I have ever met. We meet once a week for a full hour and he is completely focused on helping me further the mathematics of the project. I asked Prof. N last week if he would be willing to be my advisor and he said he would be happy to. I cannot stress how much better the whole experience has been with Prof N. I really feel like he can help be really successful in my thesis.

A few notes:
- Prof. N and Prof. K are in very different sub-fields of applied math.
- Prof. K doesn't know about my work with Prof. N yet.
- Prof. N has offered to reach out to Prof. K for a joint project if I want.

At this point I am fairly certain that working with Prof. N would be better for me and my career. I really feel like I can be more successful with Prof. N in numerical analysis than I can be with Prof. K. I actually question a bit whether or not I could finish the PhD with Prof K at all because I receive almost no math guidance or help.

Questions:

1) Is the prestige of an advisor super important? Prof. N is definitely a much better advisor for me and, in my opinion, much better at mathematics than Prof. K but Prof N is not as far along in his career. I am wanting to make sure I can get a post doc position after I graduate without a super prestigious advisor.

2) Should I consider the joint project? My first instinct is that I definitely don't want to do that because I want to focus in the area of Prof. N and learn as much as I can from him. Prof K is just really difficult to work with and I am worried that joint collaboration with Prof K will just ruin the currently perfect project I have going with Prof. N. There is also some possible tension between Profs. K and N (all due to Prof K) that I am aware of and don't want to create a problem (I am not even sure if Prof. N is aware of this possible tension). I am sure they could both be professional if we were to collaborate though.

3) I really feel that I need to tell Prof. K about my work with Prof N at this point and I am really struggling with how to do this. My first instinct is to do it in person; however, I struggle to finish thoughts in meetings because of interruptions by Prof K. Because of this, I was considering writing him an email and then talking in person if need be. Either way, I will of course be very grateful and professional in the way I do it.

Thank you very much for your thoughts and input. Please let me know if you have any questions for me.


texts: What do you need to work in administration at universities?

texts:
I would like to work in administration at university and I was wondering if there is any specific course/qualification that will increase my possibilities of doing so.

In particular, I was thinking of any job in the "support staff" in charge of general administration. This would include posts related to providing support to students and/or staff with general questions or paperwork but also including organisation of activities, improving processes/how things are done, etc.

I am currently living in the UK so I would also be interested in any specific information for this area.


texts: Know how academically successful and respected A professor is

texts:
I have a lot of professors, and I want to have a way to know how respected and successful academically speaking each one of them is.

The reason is that some professors talk very highly about themselves and it seems that they are very good at what they do but I suspect it sometimes isn’t the case.
I want to go work at the summer in the university under some professor and I want to try to get accepted my someone who really does interesting things.

I tried searching for a professor rank system or something similar online but I didn’t find anything. Does some ranking system even exists?

I also tried looking on the published papers of some professor, I saw a lot of papers but how can I know if they are of quality or low level and meaningless.

Thanks


texts: Coping with not speaking local language, as an academic?

texts:
One requirement in academia, especially as an early career scientist, is the the willingness to study or work in different countries.

Personal motivation for the question: Apart from the professional side (having a job, developing as a researcher,...), the positive aspects of going abroad are clear to me: I really enjoy getting to know new countries, their mentality, culture, nature, etc. It is also a great opportunity to meet new people and make new friends. But on the downside: I only speak English and German, and I’m really bad at learning new languages, I might add. Also, I’ve seen a lot of non-German speaking colleagues struggle with learning German at my home University for years (and I assume that a lot of people in academia must have the same problem).

I’m currently in the third year of my PhD and doing a medium-term research stay in Norway. Not understanding most of what is said around me makes everyday life more difficult and also somewhat more lonely (even though most people do speak English in Norway, so I am able to get by). Moreover, I feel that I really miss out by not learning the language while I’m here. But for my job it is not required to know the language, which makes it not immediately necessary.

Thinking about PostDoc options for after my PhD, I don’t want to limit myself to only English/German speaking countries. However, I hesitate to take a longer position, knowing that I might not be able/willing to learn the language. Knowing that I will always force people around me to either be impolite or to not speak in their native language.

If an academic doesn't learn languages easily apply only to jobs in countries where s/he already speaks the local language?

I’m specifically posting this here as opposed to some language forum. I’m interested in how other people in a similar position deal with this situation. I'm aware that it is in theory of course possible to learn every language but I'm interested in in opinions and experiences from real life.


texts:
I have read the term "soft-money research position" a few times.

E.g. Path of a postdoc.

  Another consideration for interviewees is whether to pursue a
  "soft-money" position. A tenure-track university professor is
  typically paid a nine-month salary to teach one or more courses,
  conduct research and train graduate students. During the summer
  months, the professor can optionally pay his or her salary from grant
  money. In contrast, non-tenure-track research professors often hold
  soft-money positions, which require them to cover 100 percent of their
  salary from research grants, teaching and/or administrative
  responsibilities. Soft-money positions offer the advantage of few
  teaching responsibilities, which frees time for grant writing and
  conducting research, but at the expense of job security, since winning
  grants is a necessity. The Hutchinson Center and some other private
  institutions offer a compromise between these systems, covering up to
  half of a faculty member's salary from institutional funds, so
  research grants only have to cover the remainder.

Advice for stats students on the academic job market gives a clear distinction between soft and hard money:

  Before listing the options I should explain the concept of hard versus
  soft money. Revenue in academia comes from tuition (in public schools
  the state kicks in some extra $), external funding (e.g. NIH grants),
  services (e.g. patient care), and philanthropy (endowment). The money
  that comes from tuition, services, and philanthropy is referred to as
  hard money. Every year roughly the same amount is available and the
  way its split among departments rarely changes. When it does, it’s
  because your chair has either lost or won a long hard-fought zero-sum
  battle. Research money comes from NIH, NSF, DoD, etc.. and one has to
  write grants to raise funding (which pay part or all of your salary).
  These days about 10% of grant applications are funded, so it is
  certainly not guaranteed. Although at the school level the law of
  large numbers kicks in, at the individual level it certainly doesn’t.
  Note that the break down of revenue varies widely from institution to
  institution. Liberal arts colleges are almost 100% hard money while
  research institutes are almost 100% soft money.

I'm still confused regarding the exact definition of a soft-money research position: what is the threshold soft-money : hard-money above which a position is regarded as a soft-money position?

Conversely, what is a hard-money research position? Is it any research position that is not a soft-money research position?


texts: Ethics in putting my co-supervisor's name in a conference talk: his name did not appear in the book of abstracts

texts:
I am a PhD student who gave a talk in a conference three weeks ago. The conference had this condition that only three names will appear in their "synthetic program" with the speaker's name as the first author. The names of other authors will appear only in the book of abstracts. So when submitting the abstract (4-5 months ago) I first added my name, then my principal supervisor, then my industry partner (who covered all costs for me attending this conference). I believe that I entered my co-supervisor's name as the fourth author. The book of abstracts was published three weeks ago but I did not check whether my co-supervisor's name is appeared in the book because I was certain that I entered his name while submitting the abstract. Unfortunately, one week ago I realized that his name was missing from the book.

About the conference

It was a prestigious conference that was held abroad. However, we did not submit a conference paper. All we submitted was just a one paragraph (7-8 sentences) abstract that included only general aspects of the problem we studied without giving any results.

About my supervisors

I really like my principal supervisor. He is very kind and supportive. Each time we have a meeting I learn something new from him. My co-supervisor is a post-doc in our department and not a faculty member. I chose him as my co-supervisor around one year ago. I ask him to become my co-supervisor after my previous co-supervisor left our university. I mainly considered him as a friend not a co-supervisor and that is the main reason why I asked him to be my co-supervisor (he does not really help with my studies). I am a relatively independent student and I never expected him (or my principal supervisor) to contribute. However, I expected him to know that I will never remove his name from the list of authors intentionally. I am mature enough to know such basic principles and based on our conversations I think he must have realized this after 2-3 years being friends.

How did I realize that his name is missing?

Around 10 days ago right after my flight, my principal supervisor sent an email to me and asked for a meeting. I went to the meeting with my co-supervisor and after I explained my works my principal supervisor told me: "what were you thinking you did not include X's name in the paper?". Then I told them that the conference had that condition and his name should appear in the book of abstracts. Then my principal supervisor told my co-supervisor that "we should have checked the conference website first". My principal supervisor is the head of school and he is very busy. He is very famous and he does not care about his name being appeared in the conference talk. This is true especially because his field of study is different from what I do in my studies. So I am sure that my co-supervisor had told him about this. After the meeting my co-supervisor sent us an email attaching the book of abstracts proving that his name is not in the list of authors. He asked me for a reference to his name. Then I realized that his name was missing and I explained that it could be an error from the conference side. It might also be that I did a mistake when submitting the abstract. Anyways, I apologized for the inconvenience from this error.

My question

This situation taught me a lesson I already knew, the hard way. I already have a number of good journal papers and at least in this respect I know what is right and what is wrong. I have not seen or heard from my supervisors after I sent that email. We may have a meeting in 1-2 weeks.

What do you think I should I tell them in the following meeting?
Is my co-supervisor's way of handling this situation considered professional conduct? I am really sad as I expected him to tell me first. We were friends and I expected him to know I am not that stupid to intentionally remove his name. With regard to this situation, how should I behave from now on?


texts: My name on transcript has no surname. Should I list it as a "former name" when applying for universities in U.S.A. and Canada?

texts:
I'm in the process of applying to graduate schools in U.S.A. and Canada as an international student and run into this issue:
The name displayed on my passport and national ID consists of first name, middle name, and family name. However, on my transcript, my family name is not shown. I presume that this makes a difference.
Some of the universities' registration page has fields for former name(s) listed on previous records/certificates. Should I indicate the name on my transcript in the former name fields since it lacks the family name while the one on my passport has my family name?
In addition, should I make an affidavit letter to state that the name on the passport and the transcript belong to me?

About on how I ended with only my first name and middle name on my transcript:
In my country, as far as I know, the way the name is put on every academic record must be the same as the one on those preceding them. Also, it's usual here to write the only the given name in full and either omit the surname or make an initial of it if the space permits since many ethnic groups here do not actually use family names. I have many friends at college who did not use their surnames for their records. Back to academic records, my name has been written without a surname in academic records since elementary school, when my dad did the application process.


texts: What should I do if someone else claims an award that I actually won?

texts:
I am a PhD student. A few years ago, I won the best paper award at a conference.
However, they didn't post the list of winners on the conference website.
But when I google the name of the conference, the very first search results include someone who already graduated and claims on his personal webpage and LinkedIn profile that he won that award.
The only proofs that I have are the award itself and a congratulation email from the committee.

Currently he works at a company so I don't know how to handle this case especially after his graduation he may no longer care about consequences.

What can I do in this situation?


texts: What does "All deadlines are: 11:59 PM UTC-12:00" mean?

texts:
For example, what would this be for July 1st, 2020, in New York (Eastern Time)?
Is UTC-12 the same as AoE ("Anywhere on Earth")?


texts: How does a university award honorary doctorate?

texts:
Important scholars (e.g. Nobel laureates) regularly receive honorary doctorate from different universities. I know that the Board of Trustees (or a similar board) reviews available nominations and awards an honorary degree to a person, but I wonder how the nomination process is conducted.

It seems to be very chancy, as there are many universities and many famous scholars. Usually there were no previous relationship between the awarding university and awardee.
For example, it is common for a Nobel Prize winner to receive honorary doctorate from 30 universities. He/she could have previous connections (e.g. collaboration, contribution, etc) with only a few of them.

How does a nominator suggest awarding to an eligible but irrelevant scholar?


texts:
I sent an e-mail to a professor along with my CV explaining my research background and expressing an interest in joining his research group as he has asked to send CVs if anyone is interested in joining his group. After a few hours, I got a reply from him saying that my research background is quite relevant to his. He has also encouraged me to apply to the college and take the English tests.

When I checked the college website, it seems that the interview date for the possible candidates has already passed and they have stopped taking further applications.

I haven't yet taken the English exams as well. What should I do? Shall I send an application anyway? Is there a chance for me to get the scholarship?


texts: Why is the IEEE Computer Society associated to two IEEE Divisions?

texts:
The IEEE "Technical Activities Board" (TAB) defines the "IEEE Societies" and the "IEEE Divisions" in its "Technical Activities Board Operations Manual"

A Society...

  provides a forum and community for the exchange of technical information among members in the respective discipline and industries of electrical and
  electronics engineering and related arts and sciences. Societies may represent either an identifiable segment of the electrical and electronics industries, or a discipline having applicability in different industries and functions. A Society's scope or mission shall be approved by TAB.

(page 89, section 4.2 of the TAB).

As for Divisions...

  There shall be ten Divisions. A Division is typically composed of one or more Societies, and may contain one or more Technical Councils. The Technical Activities Board shall determine the specific composition of each
  Division. The composition of the Divisions shall be specified in the TAB Operations Manual. If a Society warrants representation by more than one Division, the voting members of that Society shall be voting members of all those Divisions

(page 86, chapter 4.0 of the TAB).

The above is followed by the listing of the ten Divisions.

Most Divisions have several associated Societies. The IEEE Computer Society is unique in that it is associated to both "Division V" and "Division VIII" and this exclusively (i.e. there is no other Society associated to either Division V or Division VIII).

Why is that? Is it only because of the size of the IEEE Computer Society?

As an aside, note that elections of the Division Delegates (who are also Directors on the IEEE Board) take place each year but alternate between odd and even-numbered Divisions. Thus, this year the Delegates for Division V are being elected, whereas last year the Delegates for Division VIII were elected.


texts: How to improve student seminar presentations and seminar papers

texts:
During the last semester my supervisor Prof. X held a seminar for bachelor and master students (mostly computer scientists). According to the study regulations the students have to

give scientific presentations (based on journal or conference papers) and
hand in seminar papers on the topic of their presentation (i.e. their papers should cover the results of the original paper, lay out details of proofs, add additional explanations or examples, etc.).

The final grade consists of 2/3*presentation + 1/3*paper.

Prologue.
At the beginning of the semester Prof. X's research assistants compiled a list of interesting research papers. At the first seminar meeting the students were able to choose the paper they would like to present to the rest of the group at the end of the semester. Furthermore Prof. X made it very clear that understanding the topic is just a portion of presenting and writing down scientific ideas. Every student was assigned to a seminar supervisor to whom they could talk when they ran into problems.
Half-way through the semester there was an obligatory meeting with the supervisor and a deadline for handing in a draft of the presentation slides. At the end of the semester we organized a little "conference" and the students presented "their" papers. Afterwards, they received written feedback on their presentations from all participants (students, research assistents, and Prof. X). Six weeks later they had to hand in their seminar papers.

Problem.
Unfortunately the quality of many seminar papers is relatively poor; even the papers handed in by students who had understood their topic "quite well" and had given good presentations are surprisingly different from what we expected.

Main issues:

Even though they were allowed to use their native language, many papers had bad spelling (obviously no spell checker was used) and bad grammar.
In some cases it was impossible to understand the basic ideas if one had not already been familiar with the subject.
Imprecise language and almost no sources cited, e.g. "Algorithm Y is rather efficient in comparison with other algorithms." [citation needed].
Some students only cited a single source (= "their" research paper).

Questions.
How should we address these issues? Of course, we are going to give some feedback on their seminar papers. I am worried about the next seminar. Reading all these papers was (mentally) exhausting. Should we require that seminar papers must be handed in first? How could we install an iterative feedback process?

I am looking forward to your ideas and experiences.


texts: Why aren't there submission fees for submitting papers to conferences?

texts:
Current scenario (A):

Submit a paper for free. No matter the quality of the paper, submit anyway. What have you to lose?
If your work is accepted, pay to actually confirm the acceptance of your work, and present it to the world.

Proposed scenario (B):

Submission fees: Anyone who wants to submit to a conference pays a certain amount. $200, say. Hefty enough to discourage 'spam' submissions.
If your work is accepted, you present without having to pay any extra registration fees.

I don't understand why (B) isn't obvious, from a quality control point of view, as well as a more obvious way of funding conferences. Only work that an author knows (thinks, really) is worthy of acceptance need submit, please.


texts: Is copying methods from a paper from the same group plagiarism?

texts:
I just wanted to see what people think about a possible plagiarism issue. I found a new article which, as far as I can tell, uses data first shown in an older publication from the same group but with a different first author. This may be irrelevant but I thought I'd mention it anyways; this new article's only novelty is to analyze the old data with a model developed in another group.

To the point: this new article has many (more than 8) sentences taken from the older article from the same research group. These sentences describe the experimental setup. It's clearly the same setup as the older article.

Is this plagiarism? I've been taught that it is but I've talked to another academic who says it's not since there are only a limited number of ways that methods can be explained.


texts: Can I include a note on extra-curricular activities in my SOP?

texts:
I am a Molecular biology graduate, aspiring to do my doctoral study in U.S. Currently I am applying for several graduate programs. So far, my statement of purpose (SOP) mentions about my academic and research activities conducted till date. Should I mention about extra-curricular activities like playing badminton, active volunteer (weekend art classes) in an orphanage, etc.? Or I should be just professional by not adding the above stated activities.

I am confused of varied responses when I surfed internet for SOP templates. To be precise, I want to know whether adding extra-curricular activities in Grad school applications will boost my admission or not??

Thanks.


texts: Does it cost universities less to teach online?

texts:
As more colleges stay online, students demand tuition cuts
The article talks about students demanding tuition cuts because online classes are less effective, and because lots of things they pay for are no longer relevant (such as campus transport). It notably doesn't say if it is actually cheaper for the university to teach online. If it isn't cheaper, then if the university cuts tuition fees it would have to make up the shortfall from somewhere.
Is it cheaper for universities to teach online than in-person?


texts: Is this mathematical notation correct in academic papers?

texts:
I've repeatedly encountered the following notation for mappings in computer science papers:

I believe, however, that the correct notation is the barred right-pointing arrow, like this:

I think the first notation is a bit illogical and counterintuitive, to be clear. Am I missing something, or is this perhaps a computer science idiosyncracy?


texts: Can I ask a publisher for a paper that I need for reviewing

texts:
I was asked to review a technical paper for a journal at a large commercial publisher. The paper extends on another publication that is cited several times throughout the document. The cited paper was published at the same publisher but in a different journal. I work for an R&D department in a private company. We do not have a subscription with the publisher and no budget to buy articles (at least not in cases like this). I.e., I cannot access the cited paper. Would it be acceptable to ask the editor of the journal I review for to provide me with the cited paper?

Additional Information: The review process is double blind, so I do not know if the cited paper and the paper I'm reviewing are from the same authors. Given the specific topic, it seems likely to me. This is why I did not ask the authors for a copy. I was also unable to find a free version of the paper online.

Outcome: I asked the editor for the paper and received a copy within hours. Along with ads for a subscription of that journal.


texts: As a beginning graduate student I am not passionate about my field

texts:
Question: If I don't feel passionate about a field should I stick with it for at least my first year, or should I leave before putting my time in?

Background:
This fall semester will be my first semester in graduate school. This summer I am doing student research in space physics, which is the field I am pursuing in graduate school. I have also had 2 other summers of research in space physics. Not because I enjoyed the field, but more because they were easy research positions to get at the time.

When I had applied to graduate schools I was desperate to just get in, so I applied to space physics programs only, thinking I had a better shot.

I've heard transferring into a different program in graduate school is really difficult, and you can burn a lot of bridges that way, so I think my only options are to grit my teeth for the next 5-6 years/ try to find some passion in the field/ try reapplying to graduate school from the beginning/ or just get a job.


texts: Should I mention that I will be opting for the non-thesis option in my statement of purpose?

texts:
I am planning to apply for Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I have prepared most of the application requirements (GRE,TOEFL,transcripts,LORs,Resume). The only thing left is my SOP. I intend to take up the non-thesis (project option) in my final semester. Should I mention this in my SOP?
If yes, How do I go about stating this?


texts: Should we add reference of achievement awarded to a project in the final project report?

texts:
My project received the third prize as part of the open project fair hosted by the entrepreneurship cell of my institution.
Is it good to add any kind of acknowledgement or reference to this achievement in the final project report which will be published via some recognised publisher?
Any suggestions are appreciated.


texts: What are the disadvantages of opening the source of your own science tools

texts:
I am currently finishing my PhD thesis and, as a great deal of the job was to create tools and protocoles, I am considering putting the different scripts I wrote on open source directories (such as SourceForge or GitHub).

The advantage I see for opening them is:

They will be available for everyone and can be reused by the scientific
community
They could be improved (and corrected) by others
It ensure my authorship for the different scripts (I can prove I put them there)

  However, I was wondering if there is any drawback of doing so (for
  future publication, version maintenance, and so on).

I have to precise that not all the work was published yet. My field is biological science.


texts: Propose modifications to a travel arrangement to visit graduate school

texts:
I have been accepted to a Ph.D. program in St. Louis, MO and will be visiting the school in late March. I will be reimbursed for flight tickets. The scheduled Open House runs from Thursday to Saturday, and I have been told to book my flights with arrival on Thursday and departure on Saturday. The flight ticket per those specifications is at least $510, while if I arrive on Thursday and depart on Sunday, it would be $50 less. Since I will be committing 5 years of my life to studying there, I would like to know that I like the place, in addition to liking the Department (which I do). So is it okay to ask the secretary if I can book my departure on Sunday and save them $50 (lodging that extra night will be on me)?

Additionally, the secretary said they will book my hotel stay themselves. I would like to know St. Louis a little better, so I would like to stay at an airbnb place (which is more than 50% less expensive). Would proposing to stay at the airbnb place instead of the hotel they provide considered a strange request?


texts: does resbmit paper go to the same reviewer?

texts:
We sent paper to a reputed journal. After 4 months we get:
Reviewers have now commented on your paper. You will see that they are advising that you revise your manuscript. If you are prepared to undertake the work required, I would be pleased to reconsider my decision.

Im confusing about revise? what it does means? The reviews was easy and we already resbmit them. Does the paper will be reviewed by the same reviewers? What is our change for our paper to be accepted? how long in average will take to get the decision?


texts: How can I find out a researcher's current affiliation?

texts:
What is the best way to find out a researcher's current affiliation? Let's say I know a name and a field, but not much more.

A google search seems like the most obvious approach, but unfortunately university personnel or research group pages often seem to be quite poorly maintained, and it is not uncommon that someone is listed even if they left more than a year ago.

Early-career researchers are particularly difficult to track down since they often have less of a "presence" on institution webpages and are likely to be moving relatively frequently.


texts: How to spend the last months of a CS postdoc usefully before leaving academia?

texts:
My current computer science postdoc ends in the summer. I'm planning to leave academia after that. For the purpose of this question, because reasons I won't go into, we may assume I will never return to academia.

One of the peculiarities of the field of computer science is that research has not really happened if one doesn't travel to present it in a conference over 4 months after the paper has been submitted.

For all relevant conferences that take place before my contract ends, the paper submission deadlines have already passed. Since I don't know what my next job will be or in what continent I'll be living, I cannot commit to traveling to a conference after my contract ends. (And also even if I could, I would not because no matter what people say, I don't want to endorse such a practice.)

I currently have one ongoing project that I've been working on with my advisor. However, it is uncertain how much time is required to finish it. In addition, there are some ongoing projects in our group that I perhaps could join, but I don't know how much I actually could contribute to those projects.

Anyway, I'd like to spend the remaining work time of my contract doing something that's worth doing, when I'm at work working. It seems that there are no good solutions in my situation. But certainly many CS postdocs have had a similar problem before. Is there a solution to this that I'm missing?


texts: How do junior professors build up a team of lab personnel?

texts:
In the field of computer science how does a junior professor recruit graduate and undergraduate research assistants to initially build up a lab at a university? How long would this normally take? In the mean time, does the professor have to engage in the time-consuming 'grunge work' of research (ie. programming and running experiments), to generate papers?

Where would be a junior professor initially get the money to pay lab staff?


texts: Do I report conference posters to researchfish?

texts:
For RCUK funded PhD students in their 3rd year onward they are asked to report to researchfish.

I'm in this position and can't find any information on if I need to report conference posters or not.

Does anyone know if I need to report conference posters to researchfish? If so what category does it fall under?

Thanks


texts: How uncommon or weird is it to put my citations in a powerpoint slide at the title ? I really want to put the citations in the slide and not only at the very end.


texts: What to do about a student whom I suspect of having plagiarized but who claims not to have?

texts:
I caught a student plagiarizing on a programming assignment by copying someone else's code and replacing some variable/function names. I gave the student a zero, and shortly afterward he emailed me maintaining that he's innocent and I'm falsely accusing him of cheating.

What should I do?


texts: What universities are recognized by USA universities?

texts:
I just completed my bachelor of Electrical engineering with first class honors at The University of Western Sydney. I am now thinking of doing a phd in one of the good universities in the USA.

When I look at the minimum entry requirement for graduate admission in MIT, Stanford, UCB, ..., they all indicate that I should have a bachelor from a recognized university. How can I know the university that I completed my undergraduate degree, is recognized by these American institutions?


texts: Is it possible (practically, in real life) to pursue two very distinct research interests (e.g. in AI and theoretical physics)?

texts:
TL;DR: Is it possible to pursue applied research in AI and theoretical physics after a PhD degree in CS focusing on applied AI (as a professor at some universities)?
Long version:
Hello, I'm a 3rd year undergrad at a university in Vietnam.
I've been wondering about the practicality of the above questions for quite some time but I have not yet been able to decide.
For a little bit of background:
I have a fairly good foundation on CS because I have been doing competitive programming since I was 13. Until recently, I feel that research in AI was too applied (I did some research with an advisor on computer vision recently), and then, I discovered theoretical physics and got the feeling that "This is for me,  my true self".
However, the problem is, in my country, pursuing theoretical research does not really guarantee a stable future career (with good money). So, I'm thinking about doing a PhD in CS focusing on applied AI and self-study physics. After that, I will probably get a position at a university and conduct research in both direction (more focus is put on only one direction, of course).
Can you kindly provide me some pieces of advice for my future career path, or, is my plan possible?
Thank you for spending time reading and answering my question.


texts: Manuscript is in same 'With Editor' status for 3 months. Is it normal?

texts: I am a researcher (doing my PhD) in Computational Biology. I have submitted a manuscript to an Elsevier journal 3 months before. One day after my submission editorial status changed to 'With Editor'. But after that no further change (change to 'Under Review') has been noticed. I already has one publication with Springer Verlag. In that case within a week of being 'With Editor' the status changed to 'Under Review'. This time this is opposite. Is it likely of being 'With Editor' status for long 3 months?


texts: Applying to summer research project, should I tell prof about mental health issues to explain poor grades last year?

texts:
I'm currently a junior undergrad in a mathematics program, and emailed a prof at a different school if I would be able to apply as a candidate for a summer project he advertised on the school's website. I'm interested in attending this school for graduate work, and mentioned that to the prof.

In his response, he was very excited about my interest in his project (work in ocean sciences) and in the graduate program, and asked if I could send a transcript. I'm very happy about the response, because the prof was very enthusiastic, but due to (what I now know was and is) depression, my grades took a dip, which can be seen in my transcript. For reference, I've done poorly in a mathematics class and computer science class in my sophomore year (2 Cs, and a D in a genetics course, but that's unrelated to this project). Since then, I've gotten Bs in Calc III and Adv Calc (the only other courses relevant so far).

I know this is not a representation of of my ability, as I've done research projects utilizing the material from classes I've done poorly in, and have done well in the projects. At the same time, I don't want to make excuses for myself, and I don't know if it's fair to disclose that information to the prof to make him choose between a candidate like me, and someone else who is "normal".

How should I respond to this? Should I tell him I can't do his project because my grades aren't up to par, or should I try and explain myself?


texts: What is the best time to apply for a PhD in physics?

texts:
I am currently an international senior undergraduate physics student, with a 3.41 GPA and no research experience.

I want to apply for PhD program in USA, and I am confused when it is best to apply;
1) before finishing my bachelors degree.
2) waiting to finish it and get engaged in research during my senior year.
3) finish my bachelors degree, get engaged in research, and do a masters degree.

I need to know: does waiting for option 2 and 3 really increase my chances in getting accepted for a PhD program in physics or biophysics? Or should I apply now and save some time?


texts: Is it ethically acceptable for university book stores to market homework help websites?

texts:
A university bookstore, which is operated by a well known bookseller, is selling subscriptions to a "homework help and textbook solutions" website.  The subscriptions appear beneath the university logo and the words "University Official Bookstore."  If you select a course, the required books appear.  Below that, it says "Optional" and the subscription is listed.
This seems to imply the subscription is endorsed by the instructor, very probably without the instructor's knowledge.
Is this marketing by the bookstore ethically acceptable?
This bookseller operates over 700 campus bookstores.
Update:  The bookseller has changed the page to read "Bookstore Recommended" which seems more appropriate.


texts: What's the best way to progress and prioritise my reading?

texts:
I'm having trouble keeping on top of my reading and am looking for advice on a day-to-day strategy.

My diet is as follows:

Papers for current research, teaching and exploration. I have a large number of articles in Mendeley tagged as "to read", but don't get through them as fast as I collect them, giving me a large backlog
Web articles, again saved carefully in Pocket but building up
Non-fiction, I have three books on the go right now, but only really seem to make progress at weekends
Fiction, for relaxation
News, to get a reasonable analysis of current affairs

I need a better approach to keeping up with all of this, particularly the papers, which tend to get de-prioritised due to greater cognitive load.


texts: Citing a Hollywood movie in a scientific paper

texts: I realise this is a bit of a silly question, but I'm writing up a conference paper on a model that's named after a Hollywood movie. What is the appropriate way to cite the movie in the paper? Should it have its own entry in the references (and if so, in what format?), or should I simply say something like "...after the 1986 movie of the same name"?


texts: What are the most common prerequisites demanded by Promotionsausschüssen (German PhD boards)?

texts:
Reading the German universities' regulations on doctoral programs, one often comes to paragraphs about sanctions that can be demanded by the PhD board (Promotionsausschuss) as perquisites before they admit a candidate.

For example I have seen [updated to reflect the given answers]:

own publication(s) needed
take selected courses/modules offered by the university, which contents are related to the planned topic of thesis
submitting an exposé
letter(s) of recommendation
certificate of good conduct ("Führungszeugnis")
supervisor actually employed at the same university

Are there other common requirements demanded by such boards?


texts: Grad School ~ Submitted Personal Statement Instead of Statement of Purpose

texts: I submitted my applications for United States doctorate programs in computer science with a personal statement. This statement detailed the meaning of research, academia, and AI to me, as well as my experience in the field and why I wish to attend that school, instead of career goals and in-depth examples of why I wish to pursue my specific subset of AI. This initially happened because I read a few posts detailing what people like to see in a computer science application that required a personal statement, which I absentmindedly assumed was the same thing as a statement of purpose. How much of an issue will this pose? Do I still have a change of getting accepted? I've applied to top 30 schools as I am coming from a fairly strong undergraduate university and have research experience.


texts: I've collected years of data using a defective piece of equipment. How to salvage my thesis and graduate?

texts:
I'm writing my thesis for an Engineering PhD. Our department has a tool for measuring trace metals (an ICP-OES) that I was supposed to use to collect my data.
Unfortunately this equipment proved to be unreliable, and at the time I did not know whether it was my experiment/hypothesis or the equipment that was at fault. I raised concerns about the equipment for years, but everyone brushed me off. It turns out that the equipment was defective after all.
I was awarded extra funding so that I could get samples analysed externally. These results were exactly what I had expected all along. My concern is that my thesis now seems pretty insignificant. If the equipment had worked from the beginning, I would have pursued several additional lines of inquiry.
At this point, there is no time/money to do more work; my advisor wants me to finish up. So: how should I address the rather modest scope of my research when writing and defending my thesis?


texts: what is the difference between a double major and dual specialisations in regards to a masters degree?

texts:
I'm reviewing a masters programme in counselling and consulting psychology, but am confused as to whether this is a dual specialisation or double major.

What are there criteria for both?

Points to note: the time frame is 30 months (2.5 years)


texts: How large are the largest conferences? (Number of attendees)

texts:
I am interested in which academic conferences have a large number of attendees.

There are many reasons why academics want to know this information. Researchers and administrators who organize many interdisciplinary academic activities need to know the biggest conferences across seemingly unrelated fields so they can proactively avoid scheduling conflicts. In addition, all research that compares the policies of large academic conferences needs to start with a manageable list of conferences. For example, it is easy to find the list of R1 universities if one wants to study university policies, but what is a comparable list for conferences if one wants to study conference policies. Of course, one can google conferences, and ask colleagues in other departments for their favorite ones, but that is hardly objective. One objective way to study conference policies would be to only study conferences with more than X attendees.

For example, one might want to study sexual harassment policies at academic conferences. But really there is a lot of research that could benefit from a short-list; and some statistics on the distribution.

Below is a list I've come up with so far.

Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting ~30,300
The American Geophysical Union conference ~23,000
European Geosciences Union General Assembly ~14,500 source
American Chemical Society National Meeting & Exposition ~12,000
American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America & Soil Science Society of America International Annual Meeting ~9,000
Society for Research in Child Development - SRCD Biennial Meeting ~6,500
Joint Mathematics Meetings, ~6,300
Joint Statistics Meetings, ~6,000
Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting ~4,000
Applied Social Sciences Alliance annual meeting ~must be over 4,000, but how much?

I would like to know the number of attendees at academic conferences [to keep things manageable, let's only consider conferences for which attendance is greater than 4,000]. While the conference could include quite a few practitioners and government officials, to keep this on-topic at "academia" only include conferences that are at least primarily academic.


texts: Why do big funders not act as publishers?

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Scientific publishing absorbs a lot of money from the budgets of scientific organisations, either by publication fees or subscription fees, and many feel that the value added by the publisher is questionable (source). That money comes from funders such as NIH, NSF, the EC Framework Programme, national research councils and large charities (Wellcome, Gates). Why do such funders not close the circle and offer a not-for-profit mechanism for publication, either individually or collectively?

Many (most, I suspect) scientific societies operate journals, and some of these offer travel grants or small project grants for research with no restrictions on the submission of resulting papers to their own journals, so I don't see how it could be a conflict-of-interest thing. Some universities do the same. I also see sites like PubMed Central and EuropePMC which are funded by research funders and act as repositories for full-text publications.

There are some suggestions of a move in this direction from the mathematics and physical sciences (link), although this would be run by the academic community, not the funders.

[edit] I forgot about this when writing the question, but PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases was started using a $1.1 million grant from the Gates Foundation, so this is a relatively high-profile example of a journal that was (at launch) directly funded by a grant-funding body. And I'd also forgotten that PLoS is explicitly non-profit, although they do use the income from some journals to help support the others financially so some individual journals might run at a profit.

[edit2] I'd also somehow forgotten this announcement back in July that Wellcome was launching a journal called "Wellcome Open Access". This one will only accept submissions from Wellcome-funded researchers, but will also accept negative results, null results and data-only papers, so will arguably overlap less with traditional publishers.


texts: spending time to get into top school PhD vs getting done with PhD

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I have a funded PhD offer from a R1 university in texas but its ranked in the 180s based on USNews, the advisor and myself click very well, he is nice, open-minded, and a young motivated and driven advisor always searching for new collaborations and the research area is in my area of interest. His background is in the sciences and I want to focus on engineering which isn't an issue as there are professors in other depts that I could collaborate with. Finally I will be his only student, he occasionally has undergraduates and his last PhD student will be graduating by the time I get in.

My research focus is in neuroengineering and rehabilitation for movement related disorders - focusing on restoration of grasping and posture. The main difference from top universities is the prestige, level of work (more translational and more grants), will have a better contact base when starting off, many professors working in the area.

Due to having a low uGPA from India ~ 55%, which is why I applied to mostly masters programs despite having around 2 years of research experience during my undergrad. I feel like I was lucky that the prof had an interest in my profile and asked me to switch to PhD and then I got it (as mentioned in the 1st para). I have also got an MS offer from a 40s ranked university based on USNews with funding only for stipend (would most probably have to take loan for tuition).

In the hypothetical situation that I take the MS offer I would have to apply for PhDs at the end of my 1st year @ around sept/oct of 2021 and I feel that I would only have a slightly better chance to get into top universities with professors that do amazing work in my area of interest like northwestern, ucsb, rice, university of chicago, and upenn. But at the same time I feel that my horribly low GPA in undergrad will hold me back as I would have to get exceptional grades and do good research; good research seems like an impossible goal in 8 months. Though I may be able to get something useful at the end of my masters but most probably not within 2 semesters. If this scenario of getting into the universities mentioned seems impossible at this point, another option would be to apply to these universities the next year 2022. When I would have finished my masters, but would have to use another extra year working in a research lab and then join the university for PhD.

My question has two parts:
1. The likelihood of getting into the mentioned universities for PhD after 1 year of masters and after 2 years of masters.
2. Is it worth using the 2-3 years to just work towards doing a PhD at these top schools with amazing professors or should I go ahead with PhD straight away and probably think about post-doc with those professors. I just feel that I may miss out on the environment and opportunities that I may get as a student.

Please do not take into consideration about what I want to do in the future like industry, academia etc. as I am set on doing research with these intellectual people and am driven to produce and make an impact on both human knowledge and the patient population (i know this seems like a child's fantasy but this is something that I like to think about) at the end of the day I may go into industry as I am a high-maintanenece person or I may chose to stay in academia as the gratification may overwhelm my needs.


texts: What does a US university expect of a student applying from the UK?

texts: How understanding are American Top-10 universities of different expectations abroad? In the UK, nearly  nobody publishes anything before they start their PhD. The master courses are much shorter and usually include mostly courses instead of research. We are not expected to do any teaching. I am therefore wondering whether all of this will count against a UK student applying to the US. Personally, I have a very good profile for a UK student (Top of my class in undergrad and masters), but I only have 2 research internships outside of my courses. Is it expected of UK students to achieve the same things as US students applying to the same universities?


texts: How to deal with a student who tricks a professor into accepting a late exam?

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There are multiple cases of movie or TV show students who are attending an exam and are too late to turn in, but then ask the teacher "do you know who I am" at their desk. Then when the teacher says "I have no idea", they mix in their exam with the pile of completed exams and then walk away. 2 examples of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CqgnZhb--Q and https://www.reddit.com/r/BollywoodRealism/comments/hzeu2u/i_so_wish_this_was_how_it_worke/
Now, I know that these are just fictional scenes from comedy movies, but if a student were to try and pull a stunt like this during a real exam, what are ways to deal with this and/or avoid this problem to begin with?


texts: I found a nontrivial mistake in my currently-under-review paper. Should I send a correction to the editor?

texts:
I submitted the paper to a respectable journal about five months ago. My field is mathematics, and I'm at the postdoc stage of my career.

The proof of one of my theorems is more or less completely wrong. It's not just full of small errors; the approach I use doesn't and can't work. The theorem is actually true, and I have a correct proof now. (I've checked the new proof with senior colleagues--yes, I should have done this before submitting the previous version of the paper, but that's neither here nor there.) For context, this is one of three main results of the paper, but its proof only takes up about two manuscript pages (out of 18 total).

Should I send a corrected version of the paper to the editor, or should I wait for the referee report? For those with experience serving as editors: would an incorrect but correctable proof of a main theorem cause you to reject outright a paper you would otherwise accept, or is this more likely to lead to a recommendation of major revisions? I say correctable because neither the theorem nor the (correct) proof is particularly surprising in the context of the problem, and there's a good chance a referee with experience in the subfield would, upon discovering the mistake, have a rough idea of the correct approach to take. (Which, of course, makes the mistake all the more embarrassing.)


texts: Recommendation Letter v.s. Ph.D. opportunity

texts:
Last year, I started collaborating with a high-level professor in the field in a good but not the best institute. Before leaving there, I discussed with her a possible opportunity to having her recommendation letter. Also, I asked about the possible opportunity to becoming her Ph.D. student. She seemed okay about this, however, she told me there will be an interview.

Now, I want to send an email to her letting her know that I want to be considered as her potential graduate student while having her recommendation letter because I do not know yet what options I will have. Her recommendation letter will really help me, but I do not want to lose the chance to be considered as her potential graduate student.

I worry that my asking her for a letter of recommendation, while at the same time asking to be considered for admission as her own graduate student, might look like I am too ambitious! How does it sound to a professor? What are the possible reaction of a natural professor to this? Is it mature and rational to send such an email? If I were the professor, I will definitely realize the student is looking for as many opportunities as feasible, however, I may not consider him as a potential student. Please help me to clarify my thoughts on this point.


texts: Contacting prospective advisors before graduate school applications - courtesy or annoyance?

texts:
Last year, rather late during the MSc application cycle (after one round of funding was allocated - tardiness due to an abrupt change in my life situation), I emailed two professors from two schools that I most wanted to go to. I had perused their webpages and decided these professors had the specific research interests closest to my own.

My reason for contacting them before finishing my applications for their respective schools was that the applications included a large section for specific research questions that I wanted to investigate. So, I emailed these professors asking a bit about their work, because their webpages of course featured surface-level stuff.

One professor was very receptive and invited me to Skype with her so she could better explain herself and I could ask her questions. With her support, I was able to write an application that met her standards quite quickly.

The other professor told me - paraphrasing, of course - that he was too far into the process of choosing a new student for his research group to spend time helping me finish the application.

Let me be clear that the latter professor didn't say any harsh words and I have nothing bad to say about him. That said, the purpose of my question is to decide whether it's better for me as a prospective MSc student to email professors ahead of time like this. Was the latter's rejection likely due to my tardiness rather my emailing him? The more receptive professor made the point that she always wanted to have prospective MSc students write their own research proposals and get her approval before submitting the application. Is this common? If so, then I guess reaching out beforehand is a good thing to do, but earlier in the application cycle?

Thank you.


texts: Can I deviate from my fellowship proposal?

texts: I got the prestigious Marie Curie individual fellowship (postdoc). The proposal I wrote is good but I'm not sure if I want to stick to it 100%. What is the expectation for such fellowships in this regard?


texts: How will expulsion for physical abuse and sexual misconduct affect a student's future educational career?

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I recently had a university student (my ex) expelled from my undergrad university when he was found responsible for physical abuse and sexual misconduct. How would this expulsion affect his future educational career?

How would the expulsion affect him if he tried to apply to law school?


texts: Lack of available reviews on scientific papers

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It is common practice in computer science to have papers peer-reviewed, however this is often not made public and after the paper has been published it is hard to find ANY reviews on the paper. There will always be mistakes in scientific papers and if someone points out the flaws in a simple manner in a review it could save everyone a great deal of time. Some things are of course too complex or subjective, to be put into a single paragraph, but there are plenty of things that can be pointed out.

My question is why are there no reviews included on sites like ACM or IEEE? Papers sometimes have thousands of citations, but not a single comment or review has been linked. Or are there simply no reviews and comments available? Does the conversation and discussion take place somewhere else?


texts: Does rushing work in a PhD happen by nature (of the degree) or is it applied (by supervisor)?

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A research paper may take several months to understand for a beginner, based on its complexity. Although a student is good with the required background in that broad domain, she has to understand several other research papers in backward chain, which takes a lot of time.
So, I feel that PhD is not a degree which has an inherent property of rushing.
If it is true, then why do most of the supervisors do rush their students instead of leaving them for sufficient amount of time? Is it a phenomenon in developing countries only or is it a global phenomenon?
Note: Rushing in the question refers to the phenomenon of asking student to perform a task (including publishing, comprehension) given insufficient amount of time, which may cause tension, panic or sense of urgency in students.


texts: Translation of academic papers from Japanese?

texts:
I am a Japanese translator and (amateur) math autodidact.

For practice and learning, I want to start translating Japanese academic papers into English, especially those related to mathematics or statistics.

My question:

Is there demand for such papers to be translated (volunteer or otherwise)?

Any guidance on where to start or whom to contact would be much appreciated.


texts: How to properly withdraw an application for a faculty position?

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I applied for an assisstant professor position in Germany, and was invited to an interview. However, I have since come to the conclusion that I would most likely would not accept the position even if I should get an offer. In a nutshell, this is due to various factors that have come to light and make the position much less attractive than it did seem originally, including

The primary location of the position is not very attractive and would require frequent travel for teaching to a different location
There is no compensation for costs of travelling and accommodation for the interview. This is very usual compared to all previous invitations for interviews I received. While in itself it may be a relatively negligible amount of money if I should get an offer (and take the position), I perceive the chance of the latter fairly low
In contrast to the job announcement, the area of research expected by the candidate is in a rather specific subfield where I have no previous experience, and would have a hard time to write a research concept
It is relatively likely that I will receive an offer by a different institution within the next weeks which I would prefer over that position.

Some weeks after my application, I received in informal email expressing the intent to invite me for an interview. At that time, I accepted the invitation, but was not aware of the factors summarized above.

I have now received the official invitation, and am almost certain that attending the interview would be a waste of time and money for me and the committee.

Is there a good/polite way to withdraw my application, or should I just "bite the bullet" and go anyway (at least this would be some additional job interview experience)? What are possible negative consequences for future applications (e.g. regarding the impression that a withdrawal will make to the committee members)?


texts: What metrics do universities use to evaluate their performance?

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I am curious how different universities evaluate their performance.  I am curious to know if there is a standardized (or even just generally accepted) set of metrics that universities use to rate their performance or to determine if their college is succeeding ("succeed" being a very open term here and likely varying between institutions).

What does it mean for a university to perform well? (High graduation rates?  Low dropout rates?  High endowment?  High fill rates for their classes?)  Is this even a well defined question?
What sort of metrics do universities typically use to evaluate themselves?

I keep mentioning universities but knowing how two year colleges approach the problem is also interesting (I'm less interested in the primary/secondary schools).  The question is also not location specific and might even be more intriguing to see how non-US universities measure themselves.


texts: Why should a P.I be motivated to write a strong LOR even if that means losing a undergraduate from his/her lab?

texts:
Suppose, you are the head of a lab, and there is a particular undergraduate in your lab that you want them to continue working in your lab while doing their graduate studies in the university you are working.
You know that the student wants to go abroad for their graduate studies, but if they can't, they will stay where they are (in your lab).
And they ask you for a letter of recommendation for their graduate studies.

Why should you write a strong recommendation letter for them, even though you know that it will increase their chances of going to another university for their graduate studies?

Note that, I've read this question.


texts: Will it hurt my grad school chances if I don't mention/contact a particular proffessor-potential guide?

texts:
I'll be applying to Physics grad school in US in the next cycle. Several of my seniors who have entered grad school have suggested me to mail a professor-potential guide before or immediately after applying and maybe even mention this in my application. However, I am not set with my research topic. I confused between 2 closely related fields and want to explore a bit more once I enter grad school before choosing a potential guide. So I don't to get tied with a group right now.
So, if I don't mention a prof or contact them, will it hurt my chances? Even here in Stack I've seen a post saying contacting professors will help my chances. So, I'm worried about how to proceed. Please give me some suggestions.
I am not from US and hence do not know US grad school system very well. So please do let me know if I'm missing something.


texts:
Currently it is my job to schedule (Date+Time) my PhD defense which shall take place in approx. 2 months from now. Hence, I have to ask all committee members about their availability. How should I approach this task:

Using a tool like doodle. I worry that this is too "modern" for some committee members.
Proposing some dates and hoping that all members will accept one or more dates?
Asking for their availability and trying to find an intersection set. But what if there is no intersecton set with respect to their time?

Any help is appreciated


texts: Colleague asks for feedback on a paper of which I am a reviewer

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More than once, I have found myself with a curious ethical dilemma.  Due to the nature of the dilemma, however, I have waited quite some time to ask this question, in order to increase the anonymity of those involved.

Here is the dilemma: a colleague of mine sent me a copy of a paper currently under review, saying they thought it would be of interest and wanted to get my feedback, since it is a subject on which I am known to have expertise.  The only problem was that I was one of the reviewers for the journal (and indeed had already turned in my review before my colleague approached me).

There was no ethical conflict for me performing the review, and no impropriety on the part of my colleague for sharing the manuscript either: we have similar research interests but have never collaborated closely, and the circumstances of the sharing mean there is no reason to think this could be an attempt to influence a possible reviewer.  Still, I found it challenging to interact in such a way that it would not breach my anonymity as a reviewer.

What do you think is the best way to handle such a situation?


texts: Does having an article retracted due to professor's ethical misconduct mean my career is over?

texts:
When I was in my first year of M.Sc. a professor told me to work on a project for which the main data belonged to him. He had sent me an early draft and told me to translate it into English, so I did along with recalculations and adding some stuff to the paper. We sent the article to a journal and got published there. But a year later the journal contacted me because of a duplication based on a conference proceeding with the professor's name and another student which was from 3 years before this.

As of this moment the journal retracted the article, they didn't charge me guilty at all in my university but they fired the prof because he had multiple other misconducts before that.

Is this the end of my academic career? I am trying to apply for a PhD, does this mean no one will ever accept me?
What should I do when I was not even guilty but yet there has been a retraction based on this issue?

I might really be overthinking this, but I am really scared that nowhere accepts me for future studies.

UPDATE:
Thank you all for answering my question.

Unfortunately, I live in a dictatorial country in the middle east.
I have told the department head of our faculty but he doesn't AT ALL.
I have told my supervisor he said I am sorry but nothing we can do in this situation. I have talked to an attorney he said in a country such as ours that copyright is not a thing these cases don't matter.

I have applied for multiple PhD job positions in European countries but I got rejected from most of them.