texts: My advisor delays a lot of time in checking my paper before communicating. What should I do?

texts: I am in my 3rd year of PhD. After I have written the paper, there is a minimum of 10 times check and correction cycle going on between me and my advisor. He checks grammar and english errors, but never have I seen him give any technical input for improvement of the paper. Instead, after I have completed my part and given it to him for checking, he would say things like, "yes will check it", "very busy now", and by doing this 2 months passes by. Now he does this everytime the checking phase comes. So nearly 5 6 months minimum is wasted in just the checking process. Again he wants me to give 7 journal paper for PhD and I will be paid for a maximum of 3 more years. Right now, 1 paper has been communicated and 1 I am about to communicate. Its just too much of pressure. Please tell me what to do. Please help...


texts: Can an extended journal version of a conference paper include different list of co-authors?

texts: If a conference accepted a paper with 3 authors, and the 2 co-authors were mainly reviewers. When submitting an extended version to a journal, should the co-authors be included or they can be removed? Can the paper include new authors?


texts: I have a paper to which I am 3rd author from my previous postdoc, and recently I got another postdoc in another institution. Is it fair and ok to add the new affiliation now, at the proof stage?


texts:
Fairly high on my list of "I want those hours of my life back" is time spent wrangling my LaTeX to compile correctly with the style files provided by journal publishers, and subsequently dealing with copyeditors who introduce errors while making my papers conform to "house style".

Back when the primary medium of a journal was a print publication, I suppose maybe it made some sense for all the papers in one journal to look the same. But nowadays I acquire nearly all papers electronically, and I assume the same is true for many people. Is there any good reason for journals to continue to insist on a house style?

To be clear, I certainly understand that some minimal requirements are necessary. For instance, a journal that has a print version will certainly want consistency in font, font size and margins, to ensure a fair comparison of the lengths of different papers. And I recognize that copyeditors serve a useful function in general. But I don't see why a journal needs to require that I use their custom .cls file that is (for instance) incompatible with standard packages like amsthm, numbers equations as (1) (2) (3) rather than the more useful (1.3) (3.2) (5.3), or requires enumerated lists to be labeled 1.2.3 instead of (i)(ii)(iii).

I recognize that this sounds like a rant.  But I really intend it as an honest question.  I can think of at least three possible kinds of answer:

There is a good reason that I'm unaware of.
There is a bad reason that I'm unaware of (e.g. somehow it makes the publishers more money).
It's just inertia, leftover from older days of print journals.

I would really like to know which of those is the case, and if (1) or (2) then what the reason is.


texts: Citation to well-known results and reference to user manuals

texts:
There are some very well-known results and equations, e.g., Shanon Capacity formula, Erlang Distribution and Poisson Distribution, etc. Do we have to provide a reference for these results as well?

Also at times we seek help from a user manual while writing a simulation program or conducting a practical experiment. Do we have to provide reference for user manuals as well?


texts:
Say I have done a BA, two MA's, and then a PhD (which, technically, includes another MA).

Could I then just not mention one of my MA's on my CV or on my profile on the faculty website? Will I have to list everything, all the time?


texts: Can I write publications if I don't have co-authors?

texts:
I'm currently studying a BSc so I'm not fully involved in academia yet. I'd still like to write some publications and have them peer-reviewed about specific subjects.
According to Does one need to be affiliated with a university to publish papers?, I can publish even without an affiliation, but do I need co-authors? If so, how to find any?


texts: Am I not fit for grad school if I have a bad GRE score? Should I give up?

texts:
I have taken the GRE four times and got 148 Verbal, 157 Quantitative, and 3 on Writing.

By the way, English is not my first language. I am a foreigner that works in his home country. I want to do a PhD in the USA, but I can not get a descent GRE score.

Does these results say I am not fit to do a PhD?

I can not get good reference letters. I graduated from a developing country university which has no graduate programs and Faculty works part time. I did electrical engineering.


texts: Submitting multiple research proposal to the same RFA as PI and CoPI

texts: There are many benefits of being a PI while submitting a proposal to funding agencies, including that you often manage the funding and you get credits for tenure-track among others. Recently, I was invited to submit a proposal as a Co-PI to a specific RFA call by some colleagues. I accepted to be part of the proposal, however, I have been thinking about submitting another proposal as PI to the same RFA call. Would this be considered unethical, uncollaborative by the other PIs or reviewers? Obviously, the research would be different but I will still focus on my expertise.


texts: Authorship of code published in Zenodo for non-contributing authors of main paper

texts:
We are working on a paper that is heavy in both theory and numeric. The numerical code was exclusively developed by a subset of the authors (i.e. some of the authors have no made a single contribution to the implementation of such code).
The code will be published in Github and in Zenodo to get an associated DOI of it for citation. When doing so, one has to declare the authors of said code. Should all authors of the paper be included or just those that exclusively contributed to the code?

Arguments I see in favor: The code came from the developed theory and would have never been written without extensive discussions among the authors of the paper.

Arguments I see against: These authors do not even have a Github username and are not listed as contributors in the repository. Even if they join Github, the repository history explicitly shows who contributed to it.


texts: How to cite primary source that's also featured in a book

texts: This is a bit confusing. I'm currently writing a cookbook, and a chef said he would send me one of his restaurant's recipes. When he did, it was in the form of a scan of the recipe as it was featured in another book. So clearly the recipe came from him and I have his permission to use it, but it also exists in this book. Do I cite the chef, or the book, or both for this?


texts: How to find connections to go abroad as a visisting PhD student?

texts:
I'm PhD student and I want to go abroad as a visiting PhD student.

Is it recommended to contact professors directly if you want to collaborate as a visiting PhD student?  or it is better to get connection through your supervisor?
My supervisor doesn't have any connection for the places that I want to go!


texts: How to politely inform potential PhD supervisor that I must wait before responding to an offer? (Two-body problem)

texts:
I am a physics student in the UK.

A university (university A) has made me a PhD offer. The email from admissions was very clear that there is a 30-day time limit on this offer. As it happens I am likely to accept the offer, but do wish to take advantage of these 30 days. This is because my partner has also applied to university A, and their application is going well, we think it probable that we may both get offers from this university. However, there is a second university (university B) who has already offered my partner a place and will get back to me in 24 days.

In fact, we will both accept the first of A or B to make us both an offer. Perhaps this is not the best reason to chose a PhD place, but that is beyond the scope of my question.

The professor who would be my supervisor at university A has emailed me to encourage me to accept A's offer sooner. Clearly, I wish to remain on good terms with this professor, in case I do end up at university A. I'm not sure that telling A about the two-body problem is a good idea. How can I politely tell A that I will not accept yet?

Edit; I did inform A of my reasons for hesitating. Not only were they very sympathetic, they did their best to get my partner interviewed sooner, and helped them find an intern-ship with the relevant people.


texts: How to make the most out of a one-on-one reading course with a faculty member?

texts:
I am currently at the end my undergraduate / beginning of my graduate degree in pure mathematics.

Next term, I am going to take a reading course with a faculty member in some topic that I am interested in.

I see this as an amazing opportunity, but at the same time I worry that my habits can work against me. Until now, I've rarely stayed after class to ask questions, and I've never gone to office hours. The reason is mainly that I find it hard to ask lecturers for guidance. If I have any question (arising either from not understanding something in class, or from trying to think further about ideas thought in class), I would use the internet or the library.

To be frank, I even find the whole idea a little bit awkward. I find it hard to see how I can find enough "material" to to fill several hours a weak of one-on-one discussions, and I imagine myself having trouble coming up with relevant questions or comments. Of course, much of it has to do with general shyness. But there is also the factor of "knowing how to use guidance", which I believe is a bit more under my control.

I want to make the reading course a valuable experience, and to further my mathematical development through it. What can I do in my part to make the most out of it?


texts: How would I go about doing a PhD after an M.Eng in Biomedical Engineering?

texts: I have been accepted into Cornell for M.Eng in Biomedical Engineering. I had originally applied for an MS but since they've stopped enrolling students for MS I got into M.Eng which is an industry oriented course. I would like to get a PhD eventually in the field. Will going for an industry oriented course (M.Eng) over a research course end my hopes of getting a good PhD admit?


texts: PhD research results in postdoc talk presentation

texts:
I am a PhD candidate and have been invited to visit two labs where I had applied for postdoc positions after initial online interviews. My question is regarding the content of my talk, which I think should include my PhD research questions as well as a big picture of my research interest. I was wondering about the following:

I am still working on getting results with respect to an important question before my final defense. Should I include that as ongoing work in the slides and mention that this question is being currently worked on?

Because this would be a significant contribution, however I don't have the results yet. Does that leave an awful impression since my results are still incomplete and it can leave the audience to wonder if and when I will get those results? I do have results on the other questions I have addressed.

Is it recommended that I have some idea about how my skills/ interests would tie with the research interest at the lab and include that in the talk?


texts: Do grades obtained after applying to a graduate school matter?

texts: Suppose one submits his/her application to a graduate school this November and grades for the ongoing semester are due after that. Do these grades, received after submitting the application, matter in the admission process?


texts: How should I reference a repository of data and resources created to accompany my publication?

texts:
I'm writing a research paper and there's a large amount of code and data related to the study which may be of use to those who would read the study. They can confirm the correctness of the techniques, modify it for their own purposes, perform new analysis on the data, etc.

All these relevant files exist in a public repo, but I'm uncertain what's the best way to reference these. Would it be a citation? Just drop the URL directly into the paper? Other ideas?


texts: Are there journals that prevent authors from contacting reviewers?

texts:
This question stems from a comment to a recent question - "instructions for authors at some journal(s) stating that authors should not contact (potential) reviewers".

I was wondering whether journals do punish authors who reach out to reviewers. Has there has been instances or has anyone heard of punishment or submission rejection when authors approach their reviewers, especially if the reviewers complain or report the interaction to the editor.

There was a 6 month study of 239 authors that found a 11% accuracy of authors guessing the reviewer of their submission.


texts: About solving research papers involving complex Mathematics

texts:
Throughout my Ph.D., I have had difficulty in solving (maths in) research paper from other researchers. After the basic few steps, the researchers assume either one thing or the other thing, or have a complex integral or derivate (or any other) format and then come up with the solution that is entirely unknown to me. Sometimes after rigorous effort, I find the way authors solve. But mostly, I assume what they did is right and then carry on (which is not the right way).

How do other researchers (students) deal with this issue?

PS. I am from wireless telecommunication background


texts: Is going straight from undergrad to a PhD program cheaper than doing a Master's degree first?

texts:
I've been led to believe that it's much easier to get money (assistantships and fellowships) as a PhD student than as a master's student, and so it's cheaper to go straight to a PhD program if you know you want to get a PhD. This is supposing that you spend the same amount of time in grad school with both routes. Is this correct? And are there other significant factors in determining whether or not it's cheaper to go straight to a PhD program?

Edit: I'm hoping to study computer science, if that's relevant. If I do a master's, it'll be in the US, but I'm not sure if I'd want to do a PhD in the US or in France. You can just assume the US for this question.


texts: It is worth to apply for a postdoc position a few days after the deadline?

texts:
Is it OK to apply for an advertised postdoc position a few days (not more than one week) after the deadline? It is not an on-line application form, but sending an email with attachments.
Will this application be dismissed? Or more like "Let's see this candidate too". How does such hiring work? Are there any downsides (untrustworthy candidate etc.)?


texts: How can I convey my knowledge about a field without publications in a PhD application?

texts:
I'm a CS undergrad interested in Machine Learning. During the past year, I've delved deep into a theoretical book in Machine Learning and wrote many programs to demonstrate / visualize concepts and algorithms. I hope, when I apply to a PhD program, the advisor can know about this, because it displays my dedication and passion about this field. However, I don't know how.

Any broad or specific advice will help.

Additional notes: I'm not in a desperate situation in which I have to depend on showing off the books I've read to get into a PhD -- I have relevant research experiences and recommendations.  I am currently a sophomore.


texts: Abstract, Preamble, Acknowledgements and Introduction all in Thesis, how to order them?

texts:
This might be a bit of a complex situation (to explain), so bear with me:

For my Bachelor degree, I am currently carrying out a nature management project. A nature management project normally consists of a management plan but can include other results as well.

As you might have guessed, this is the case for my project. Next to the management plan, I also write a guide and I develop a database. I do this to enable the organization I do this project for to become more autonomous in setting up management plans adapted to their situation and provide a step by step guide to replicate it.

However, my thesis should include all these results. I already decided to put the guide in the Annex. However, the introduction to the thesis is now different than the introduction for the management plan part. That's why I decided to call the introduction to the thesis the preamble, which explains the situation in detail.

-Is this a good idea? Any suggestions?

The abstract is required to be above everything else, so that stays just where it is. And the explanation I put in my Preamble is too long to put in the abstract, because it can be regarded as a introduction to the thesis instead of just the management plan.

I must also include acknowledgements. And I just don't know where to place them.

-Between the Abstract and the Preamble?
-Between the Preamble and the Inroduction?
-Or should I just do the acknowledgements after the references?


texts: At what point should a student decide they shouldn't try to be a researcher anymore, assuming they still have the desire? My personal situation is that I have ample cognitive ability (in the opinion of my professors and me), but the "mental" side just doesn't seem up to the challenge and my grades are sporatic, even as an undergraduate. I would have to drop a lot of money on a Master's program to get into a PhD program highly ranked enough to possibly make it research-wise, but that would only (possibly!) work if I succeed. Part of me feels like indulging my dream further would just build up to a worse let-down, even though I have no competing priorities such as creating a family, becoming rich, etc.


texts: Is it counter-productive to admit obvious weaknesses when applying for a position?

texts:
A bit of context before hand. I am a second year PhD student. In the course of my studies, I have slowly shifted from aerospace engineering towards computer science. Now, my research involves developing software applicable for aerospace systems. I am fairly competent in programming and related subjects, even though I sometimes find my lack of background in those subjects to be penalysing.

I found a summer program in which I am highly interested in. However, it was mainly designed for CS students. In my application, I want to make a case that even though I am not an ideal candidate for this program (which in my opinion is quite obvious, even though I have proven capabilities in some of the subjects required) I still think I should get accepted. One of the my main arguments is that everything I have learned so far on programming and related subjects was through self-study (mainly online tutorials), which shows I am highly motivated and can work independently.

So it got me thinking. In general, is it a good idea to admit his own weaknesses when applying for a specific position?


texts: In North America, why Medicine not an undergrad degree high schoolers can apply to directly?

texts:
My kid showed me this New York Times article. Why don't Canada and US offer medicine as undergrad?

Australia does.

  If you want to go to medical school in Australia, you need to sit the UCAT in your final year of high school.

UK does.

  In the UK, it can take either 5 or 6 years for the undergraduate degree, then enrol on a 2 year foundation programme, during which they must complete work placements according to their specialisation, before applying to Medical Specialty Training. In total, then, medical studies in the UK can take up to 8 years.

  In Canada, medical study is only available at graduate level, so you must take 4 years of a pre-med undergraduate degree (although some institutions will accept only 2 years of this or offer a fast-track option), with the graduate medical studies taking another 4 years. After this, you must complete a residency training programme, which can take between 3 and 8 years, depending on your specialisation. Medical studies in Canada, then, take a minimum of 11 years.

  This is because the UK undergraduate qualification is equivalent to the combination of undergraduate and graduate degrees in Canada.


texts: Co-authorship for a revised but relatively new article?

texts:
I am a fresh PhD. In search of postdocs and permanent positions in last 4 months, I learned about two things which evaluating/hiring committee look in their potential employees:

1) How much the candidate has grown post their PhD? If a candidate keeps publishing article with previous supervisors even after his/her PhD it may mean that they have a good working relationship, but it also means that candidate has failed to collaborate with new partners. As the present research world is considered to be highly collaborative. Also it means that even after the PhD, the candidate still needs supervision from his/her former supervisor.

2) The greater the number of coauthors are for your paper, the less weightage you get during the evaluation process.

Now main problem: One of my articles of my PhD thesis was submitted in Phys Rev Lett, and it had received one very good feedback and one very bad. That article basically consisted of an interplay of formulas and some mathematical tricks to derive a desired equation. The idea was mine and I had written the whole article by myself.

My main supervisor contribution's was that he asked me to reverse the order of two paragraphs of the final submitted version of article.  Also during most of my PhD my main-supervisor always helped and polished my work.

My co-supervisor's had initially given some ideas but I proved them to be mathematically and physically incorrect. Also during most of my PhD my co-supervisor hardly contributed anything.

Update: Now I am planning to rewrite the article and submit to the same or some another journal, but this time I will have computational fluid dynamics simulation included in the article which will prove my derivation to be correct. I assume the new article will have 50% overlap with the previous version and new 50% material will be added to it.

Question: Should I include my supervisors as co-authors, or may be just one, or may be none? I do not think I will get any input from them in this particular article.

Background: 1) Academic world acts in 3 ways I guess:

a) Do buttering of seniors, collaborate with many and cite one another, and get timely promotions by feeding on the opportunities of others. I have seen a unqualified person getting promoted from Assistant Professor to Professor in just 8 years.

b) Do not do buttering, but then suffer. I have seen a well qualified person has remained as an Assistant Professor for last 23 years.

c) Make your credentials/ profile gigantic so none could affect you significantly.

So, If I rewrite the article as a single author, it will be a great boost for my long term career.

2) But I cannot deny that a recent postdoc offer I got has some contributions from my main-supervisor since he has highly recommended me to the professor at the new institute, since both are friends. Although the professor knew my work  from before, he had attended a presentation of mine earlier, I cannot ignore the recommendation of my main supervisor. I guess that is how academia works, also it seems difficult to draw a line between buttering and seeking help. I guess when I will be looking for a permanent position after 2 years, I might need the help of my main supervisor once again?

So, how to deal with this problem?


texts: What to mention in your introduction to your research methodology chapter

texts:
My supervisor told me that I should write paragraph in which I introduce the problem that will be addressed by this chapter (research methodology).

What are some of the key aspects I should focus on? I understand that it cannot be a too detailed description, as my supervisor recommends only a single paragraph but I also do not want to write too little.


texts: MSc in education for an assistnat professor in computer science

texts:
What are your thoughts about getting an MSc in education while being an assistant professor? my UK university requires assistant professors to go through a number of courses, and upon completing them staff members are offerred to enrol for free in an MSc in education where they would continue to take follow up courses.

The schedule is relaxed (around 40 hours a year), but although I am not very concerned about the time impact, I wonder if a better use of time is to write another paper or a grant application. My position and institution are research focused, and while I still need to teach a bit, the weight of research achievements is the heaviest in our promotion criteria.

Most people find these courses boring, but I usually learn a thing or two in each course that do reinforce my teaching skills. Apart from learning a few things that would help me with teaching, I am not sure about whether it helps my academic profile; it is usually assumed that PhD holders are able to teach and I am not sure how an academic's CV with an MSc in Education + BSc/MSc/PhD in computer science is perceived like.


texts: When submitting a research paper as an independent researcher, is it advisable to have a professor look at it first?

texts: Is it advisable to have a professor from a university look at your paper before you submit it to a journal, since they might want partial credit? and would it take the journal a longer time to referee your research paper if you have no affiliation?


texts: How much research experience or publications are required to get into a good PhD program in USA

texts:
I am an international student(south Asia) who has recently completed his 4th semester in CS.

My current CGPA is 3.2 (social science courses in my freshmen year messed it up)  and Major GPA of 3.6.
I am expecting my CGPA to be around 3.5 by the time I graduate.

I do not have any research experience and I am worried that I might not get into any good program.

My question is that How much research experience or publications are required to get into a good PhD program in US? or that How much experience does an average accepted candidate has? Phrased in a different way:

What kind of experience should I aim to get by the time I apply to grad school that I get accepted into a good program.

I am not talking Stanford, MIT etc but may be among the top 30-40.


texts: How to find all of the responses to a published research paper?

texts:
While searching through various journals with my library's on-line journal search tools, I have occasionally found short articles which are simply comments on other published papers. These short articles might have various kinds of comments, but generally describe why the first paper's research or theories are flawed. In addition, sometimes I have found replies from the original author of the first paper, responding to these comments, for e.g., to clarify the meaning or perhaps to give further support to their original arguments.

Do such exchanges generally only occur within the same journal, i.e. the responses are published in the same journal, or can these occur across journals?
Are there any special tools to assist with locating all of these "replies"?


texts: Authorship and reputation for British/Australian academic systems

texts:
I have recently been offered a position for a "postdoc" (fixed term level A position) in Australia.

In the British/Australian (and European) academic systems, career progression is very different from the United States, as outlined in this answer.

In my field (a subset of engineering) we have an authorship order for publications based on contribution level, with the last author being the PI/Advisor of the lab (receiving a lot of credit in the process).

In the British/Australian systems, there is an expectation to informally supervise a few students for post docs. I have been informed that I will be expected to help supervise or actually supervise students and perhaps obtain my own funding as well. In the US most post docs in my field exclusively focus on research, and nearly always get first author.

Additionally, if I'm moved to a B and/or C level academic (sort of like assistant and associate professor respectively here in the US) this supervision and funding responsibility will increase. This part is similar to the United States for a tenure track associate professor.

The difference between the US and the UK/AUS systems is that at the B academic level, I still would not be a professor, and I would have a PI above me. This brings up the authorship question...

Given the different structure between the two systems, does the UK/AUS system dilute the competitiveness and career advancement of junior academics in the UK/AUS system, especially if they intend to migrate back to the US academic system?

The reason that I ask is because in the US, once you are an assistant professor, you will get last author on any papers produced by your lab, but in the UK/AUS system, there may be a professor in charge of junior academics (assistant and associate professor equivalents) who would instead receive last author. This then dilutes the rating of the junior academics among their peers, because they become a middle author instead of the last author.

If this isn't the actual practice, please correct me.


texts: Will one with record of unfinished PhD on his/her CV be doubted of his/her ability?

texts:
A PhD student of my advisor (I am a master student), having been enrolled the doctorate program for less than a year, is now unsure about whether or not to finish it.

One of his concerns is that if he continues, but eventually quits the doctorate program, and applies for a normal job, the future interviewer, during interview, may suspect his lack of ability due to the record of an unfinished PhD program.

However, if he does not write on his CV about the years during PhD program, the interviewer may further question about the absent years.

So, does a record of an unfinished PhD program makes employers doubt a person's ability? Or are there other negative consequences in it (besides, of course, the opportunity cost of the time interval)?

In addition to helping me reassure him, such information also helps me to decide whether to get a PhD in the future.
(Not being anglophone, if I misused some terms in English please correct me.)

Edit: Wow, to my surprise, this is probably the most popular question among SE questions I have asked (in all sites). I appreciate every answer and have read all of them, but chose Mr Romik for being the earliest among all good answers.


texts: Why do lecturers give only couple of days to do exercises?

texts: I have always been on a courses where lecturer teaches something and then gives the exercises on that subject. Is that a better way than reveal all exercises when the course begins? I mean, why I should always have only one week time to write solutions and then wait until the next set is revealed? I understand that this gives equal amount of time to think every problem but is it always necessary, as people learns by various speed?


texts: Google Scholar has lumped two publications into one

texts: How do I correct a google scholar error or omission or duplication?


texts: Research opportunities (in machine learning) for undergraduate students at colleges without good research programs

texts:
I am fascinated by machine learning, and have been experimenting with ML techniques in code for a few years now. I would really like to run an experimental study about the most effective ML systems for a certain problem, and incrementally improve the model. Basically, I'm looking for research, but my college doesn't have well-defined research programs. Are there opportunities to do research with other institutions for undergraduate students?

Update:

I see it's now worth mentioning that for various reasons, I attend a community college. Hence, no local research opportunities.


texts: How should I behave when my undergraduate research marks reduce without any reason in the evaluation process?

texts: I'm an undergraduate IT students currently in 4th year. I am doing my individual research these days. My supervisor guides me well and under her supervision I'm doing my research well. But the research evaluation done by a professor and another senior lecturer where they always asked me to do lot of changes to my research. Once I do the changes and present it again, they said that the changes are inappropriate and out of my research scope. I am fed up with this process now. Apparently  they cutoff my marks or reduce the marks in each submission. I have to give my last  research submissions, but with this situation I feel afraid of presenting it. My supervisor doesn't aware of this issue as she is a best friend of that above mentioned senior lecturer. How should I behave in this kind of situation? Any answer would be highly appreciated.


texts: how important is the master thesis work while applying for phd abroad?

texts: I did Master's in chemistry (overall CGPA 8.5). my master thesis was not well written. I want to work on a different field during my PhD. Will my master thesis be a obstacle in my PhD application?


texts: Scientific research paper – how broad should the introduction be?

texts:
My research answered a very specific question. But the hypothesis I was testing will also likely have very broad application. I want to make sure to convey that importance in my paper. Is the first line of the introduction an acceptable place to do that?

I am thinking the first line of the introduction might be something like:

  For decades our knowledge of myTopic has been insufficient to answer questions like A, B, and C. I considered scenario C₁ to test my hypothesis, which now shown to be correct in this case, will likely play a key role in answering these other questions going forward. Some background on scenario C₁ is...

Or should the introduction only mention background info which is directly relevant to the scenario I actually investigated? And then I can suggest the larger importance of this discovery elsewhere in the paper?


texts: How should I tell a professor the answer to something he doesn't know?

texts:
Last year, I asked my physics professor a question that he did not know the answer to. This year, while doing a research paper, I also figured out the answer to the question I asked him. I want to send an email to my professor explaining the answer I found simply because he's a curious guy.

Typically, if I asked something that the professor didn't know, I'd email them a few days later saying:

  Hi Dr. Professor, after some reading, I figured out the answer to why so-and-so happens. Here's what I learned.

But since it's been so long, he definitely doesn't remember what I asked him. So I'd like to remind him what my question was. However, writing:

  "Hi Dr. Professor, last year I asked you a question that you did not know the answer to, and this year, I figured it out. Here's what the question was, and here's what I learned"

sounds a bit insulting to me, because I'm writing that he didn't know the answer. What is a good way to share an answer with a professor without being "insulting"? Am I just overthinking this?


texts: Can an Iranian journal accept submissions from Israeli researchers?

texts:
I am an Israeli researcher and am planning to submit my paper soon.

I noticed that an Iranian journal¹ has suitable editors and am considering submitting there. I wonder whether such a journal might accept my submission.

Are there are any general rules prohibiting Iranian journals from accepting submissions from Israelis?

¹ It is a journal of an Iranian society, published in Iran, and almost of all of its editors (but not all of them) are Iranians.


texts: What is the best technique to represent similarily among different methods?

texts:
Lets say I have 3 different methods. I am trying to find the best technique to represent similarities (or differences) among these methods.

One way I thought of is to create a table and create my own correlation methodology (e.g., high, medium, and low). However, I am not sure if this is the best way to do it.

Here is the corresponding LaTeX code I created (just in case):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{booktabs}

\begin{document}
\begin{table}
    \centering
\begin{tabular}{llll}
    \toprule
             & Method 1 & Method 2 & Method 3 \\
    Method 1 & High & High  & Low \\
    Method 2 & Medium & Low & Low \\
    Method 3 & Low & Low  & Low \\
    \bottomrule
\end{tabular}
\caption{Level of correlation among different methods}
\end{table}
\end{document}


texts: How to deal with unruly, unengaged students who complain about me?

texts:
I got a job 6 months ago as a university lecturer. I was assigned two subjects with the same students. Due to COVID-19, classes are online and lectures are recorded.
From the beginning, the majority of the class was ill-mannered. They would make noise by opening microphones, opening cameras, removing other students, muting my mic.  When I threatened to involve the chairman, they said "he is our buddy."
So I made some rules, threatening to mark students absent if this continued. The whole class then requested a meeting and asked me to discard these rules. I agreed. Since then, the students have largely stopped their shenanigans with the microphone and camera. But only a few are engaging with the material and answering or asking questions during lecture.
I try calling on them one by one, to ask if there is any confusion, and they always say they don't understand anything. This hurt my feelings. So I said them that tell me that will they be responsive in my class or I will talk to chairman. No one replied except one student, who said "as you wish."
I called chairman I was about to start my point but before that he told me: be soft with your class, they have issues with you, they have complained to me and sent me a recording. He said that he didn't watch the recording, but I should be careful.
I asked one student (the one who instigated the discussion about the rules) whether they still have an issue with me, and she said no. I said asked why she complained about me when issues were resolved among us. She denied making the complaint. But clearly someone has a grudge against me.
I am really hurt by these allegations. The situation is getting worse day by day.
Did I do something wrong? What should I do differently? Should I be worried about losing my job?


texts: Academic 'rehabilitation' after poor undergraduate results

texts:
I'm an undergraduate studying Mathematics & Philosophy in the UK, about to sit my third-year exams. My course is structured as a three-year self-contained BA and a fourth year 'integrated masters' with its own exams, which I automatically progress to as long as I get a 2.i classification from my combined second- and third-year results.

I've not been a good student. My tutors consistently report that I'm clever and engaged but I've suffered real motivation and work ethic problems. My results in second year were poor, and while I'm reasonably confident I can get a 2.i in these exams I'm unlikely to achieve stellar results this year.

I'd like to have a shot at going on to further study. Obviously I would need to do well in my fourth year, and as well as is possible this year; that's a given. I'd like to know if anyone has any advice on other things I could do to 'rehabilitate' a potential application, both from the perspective of being a better candidate and with a view to getting reasonable references from tutors.

While I'd welcome general answers as well, for specificity the most likely further study I'd be applying to would be a masters programme (combination taught/research) in philosophy.


texts: How to write recipients address in electronic cover letter for PhD program

texts:
I am going to send my cover letter for a PhD program, but I don't know who should I address exactly (I have written Dear Professors). Now the problem is for postal address what should I write. I don't know who exactly will receive the application.

Thank you


texts: Can a graduate student friend of mine help me get into a different grad program at the same school?

texts:
I have a friend who'll be attending a graduate program in Physics, at a school I would be interested in for when I am applying to grad schools. However, I'm a CS major, so I'd be applying for that.

My question is what can he do that would help at all in making my admission more likely? I know the research he'll be doing is interdisciplinary (Physics and CS) so he'll have some interaction with CS. As a first-year grad student, he won't have much weight, but I'm still curious.


texts:
Say, I want to publish a research paper. But, for some reason, I don't want to expose my identity.
Is it possible to publish a research paper using an alias?


texts: When should I give up on hearing back from a potential PhD supervisor?

texts:
I am really interested in a position at this particular university and the deadline for applications is the 30th of April. On their website, they say not to contact more than one potential supervisor at a time.

Anyway, I wrote to one of their lecturers who is currently accepting PhD students two weeks ago and haven’t heard back. To me, he was the best fit for my research. However, there are other academics at the university who I think will be capable of supervising me.

My question is, as time is running out, should I give the lecturer I already emailed a little more time or should I forget about him at this point and ask someone else?


texts: Pursuing research before applying to grad schools

texts:
I graduated last year (Bachelors in Computer Science) and am currently working in the industry. I am thinking of applying to grad schools next year but don't have any research experience under my belt (did not pursue any research-oriented project during my undergrad, regret it now).

Therefore I was thinking of pursuing research under a professor before applying for masters (to get a good LoR, as well as get in a publication, if possible). In what circumstances do professors take up requests such as mine, and how should I approach him/her? Currently I am shortlisting the ongoing research projects relevant to my field of interest in prospective universities.


texts: How to get a decent recommendation letter?

texts:
I am trying to ask one of my professors to write a recommendation letter for me, but he did not say yes directly, instead, he said he would be willing to talk with me to hear more about my plans.

I did not interact with him too often when I took his course(a PhD-level pure math course). But I did get an A in that course(I did bad in the midterm, but pretty well in the final). I think he is still hesitant as to whether to write me a letter or not. When I go talk to him, how can I persuade him?

I am certainly not expecting a strong letter from him. I think my background is okay(8+Phd-level courses all A or A+, 1 REU), but the problem is that he probably did not know much about me. So my plan is to take my list of schools and abstracts of advanced courses with me when I go meet him. Is there anything else that I can do?


texts:
I'm a PhD student in experimental biology in the UK. My funding grants me a monthly stipend for 3.5 years (including money for consumables/conferences etc).

In my group, the standard practice is for people to work for 3.5 years and then write up (though actually different people have different funding, and the funding that the department provides directly does last 4 years).

When I started, I was quite happy to stay for 4 years (the stipend is sufficiently generous that I've saved enough to cover me), but, relationships with my PI have deteriorated significantly. * At this stage, I've said that I wish to write up at the end of 3 years, and be  ready to viva by 3.5. This is something that she refuses to grant.

  What should I do in this situation? I don't feel that anyone can be expected to work for free (theres no expectation that I should have saved money), and therefore feel that (1) she should either give me her blessing to write up, and all the support that goes with it, or (2) she should find additional funding for the final 0.5 years in order to force me to write up in the department.

Note: the UK has a different funding model to the US, and I'd prefer to just hear answers relating to the UK funding situation (i'm well aware that students in the US have a far tougher time of things, both in terms of money, but also in terms of the very very long PhD's that some people must endure).

*: We've had  a difficult relationship from the start, truthfully. She is fairly old and established at this stage, and has very little interest in discussing things, but rather dictates her wishes via emails from her secretary and then comes to the lab to complain when things don't work. This has slowed my work appreciably as we're constantly jumping around to keep her happy.


texts: What do universities usually do with a student's graded final exams?

texts:
Personally I do not recall ever having seen any of my final exams I have taken during my undergrad (except in my nightmares). Midterms, quizzes and homeworks are usually returned to the students before the final exam, but I am really curious as to what happens to the final exams after they have been graded.

Are the exams hauled off to a secret storage facility for keepsake? Are they photocopied and kept as a student's permanent confidential academic record (unbeknownst to the student)? Are the exams hastily moved to a recycling facility and turned into fodder for new exams?

If I were to request a copy of my final exam from undergrad (say after one year), what are the chances that the school will still have a copy?

Can someone (administrator/professors) shed a light on the secret life of a final exam?


texts: How best to split up a comprehensive literature review

texts:
I've written (with a co-author) a comprehensive literature review on a particular subject. Here's the preprint (it needs some editing).
We're very happy with the way it turned out, but the problem we are running into is that it's too long: 49 pages, 23000 words if you include the references and a big summary chart at the end. It's "only" 33 pages and 16000 words if you remove those. We've been rejected from two journals already just because of the word count; most journals in this field max out at 8000 words. So, we're looking to split this up into 2-3 smaller parts and submit them separately.

But this is turning out to be tricky because it's a literature review, which means that while we do summarize research literature on four separate topics, we are also synthesizing what the whole of the research says and looking for broad trends. So it's very hard to disentangle the parts of the paper and repackage them without losing context or repeating ourselves.

The paper is currently structured as follows.

Overview
Methods -- including our methods for finding the research, databases we searched and queries we used, our inclusion criteria, and overall characteristics of the research literature we found
Findings on specific research questions (there are four of these; in the preprint we have each question as a separate section but we've since combined them all into one big section)
Discussion -- Primary themes over all the research literature, limitations of the studies, current holes in the research literature
Conclusion

It would be easy enough to write up just the findings for the different research questions, since our first and second questions are closely related and the other two could be lumped together, making two papers. But what's the best way to deal with the methods and discussion?

If I were to split this up into two papers, should I include all of our methods in the first part and then just refer to those methods in the second part? Or summarize the methods from part 1 when we write part 2? Or something else?
Should the discussion be split up so that the discussion section in part 1 only deals with the findings for part 1, and similarly for part 2? Or, should I save all discussion for just part 2? Or something else?

I worry that if we put all the methods in part 1 and all the discussion in part 2 (or part 3, if there is one) that people reading part 2 won't have the info they need for part 1 and vice versa. But if we split up the methods and discussion, I worry that we'll lose the sense of the big picture, which I think we did a good job capturing in the Too Large version.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.


texts: Is it OK for an MSc Student to Review a Scientific Paper?

texts:
I am an MSc Student of Computer Science at a department that is considered to be in the top ten CS departments in the world (QS Rankings here). I am telling this, just to let you know, that I have some good enough (I guess) general background in Computer Science. However, I am just an MSc student, not somebody who is a specialist, knows a lot of things including the current research conducted in a specific field.

I was asked today, from an editor of a journal, to review a paper. I would loved to do that, but I will probably respond negatively, as I can understand the danger of saying yes to a paper that does not actually show a good amount of research just because I am unaware of the current research and/or expertise on that field.

However, I can understand most of the papers in Computer Science and I found mistakes some times that were reported to their authors, who admitted that their papers had some mistakes. Therefore, I may be able to find some errors, but I am afraid that I may be unable to say whether a paper fully justifies and in a correct way what the authors want to show.

My question is: What should I respond to the editor provided the above?


texts: List of majors offered by each US College/Univ

texts: Where can I acquire/obtain a list of majors offered by each US college? Preferably in excel?


texts:
According to my daily schedule I need to study for long hourd each day including weekdays and weekends sometimes I find that this is just too much sometimes.

What are some methods to get the optimal efficiency while studying.

Can you suggest me some great tips for effective study or in general give me some tips and techniques which I  should follow so that I can get the maximum output for my input.

It's actually for an exam , which is after 1 year and the syllabus is vast ( 2 years of schooling worth of syllabus) and of  Maths(Basic algebra, Calculus, Co-ordinate Geometry ) Physics(mechanics electrodynamics, modern physics and optics) And Chemistry (basic organic inorganic,physical) (about 30 chapters each)

So also some methods to remember what I study for long time might be really helpful :)


texts: What is the affiliation of an industry author that works for a consulting company?

texts:
If I am correct, (co)authors from industry are mentioned with their current employer as compared to PhD students that mention their university.
I know a case of an engineer that just started working in a certain company, as consultant of an external consulting company. He is (co)author of a paper based on his thesis. I wondered what he should mention on the paper:

His university. He wrote the thesis itself as a student, but is currently no longer working there.
The consulting company. This is his official employer, but has no link with his daily job as to its content.
The company in which he works. No, because it is not his official employer.
Both the consulting company as the company in which he works.
Nothing. Is this possible?


texts: How do I find a research topic without the guidance of a professor?

texts:
I have been out of uni for quite some time now, but I would like to apply for UK (!) PhDs (so not the MA including US-PhDs). I am in the Humanities and I know the general topic within my field which I would like to focus on.

However, I am not sure what would make a good research question and even less sure how to find one. Any advice? How will I know? I am worried I will propose something ridiculous that will make me look immature, but I don't want to squander my chances with potential supervisors by looking so clueless.


texts: Do I mention that I was an adjunct on my CV

texts:
I am currently an adjunct professor.

I'm wondering how to best label this on my CV.

Specifically, should I use "Adjunct Professor", "instructor", "instructor of record", etc. as my job title?

I think adjunct (unfortunately) has a negative connotation associated with it, so I'm worried that my experience will be devalued if I include adjunct in my job title/description.
Does using just "Professor" imply that I am a full -time tenured professor?

So what is the best way to go about titling my adjunct position at this institution on my CV?


texts: Informal vs Formal Acceptance (Graduate)

texts:
So I might just be really paranoid
But I received an informal acceptance email from my potential faculty advisor! Yay! Really good fit for me!

But...Should I be feeling like I'm not really accepted, and that I shouldn't get my hopes up? I went to celebrate last night and now I feel really guilty.

The email says that I have been accepted, but the formal letter has not been released because of pending funding decisions.

What does that mean? "Pending funding decisions"

Thank you everyone! And happy New Year's!


texts: What to ask a prospective supervisor regarding advertised PhD position?

texts:
I have completed my master's degree in aerospace engineering from India, and I am continuously looking for PhD opportunities in Europe in the field of aerospace propulsion.
In this regard, I have come across a few advertised PhD positions in line with my research interest. I have met the minimum requirements for admission into these programs (Language and GPA requirements).
Before applying to these positions, I would like to know if my profile fits their requirements. In this regard, I would like to first email the professor and explain my case.
I have seen many people have answered on how to write to a prospective supervisor and ask them if they have any open positions or upcoming projects. But, I would like to know what to specifically ask the professor when I write a mail regarding the advertised position.


texts: What do you do when you can not solve basic things?

texts:
I am a phd student in math. I am studying abroad. I need some advice.

When i started my Phd, my supervisor gave me a book and she(my superviosr) asked me to study it. In the first year, i passed 5 courses. Then, i thought, maybe that is good time to ask her(my superviosr) to give me a question.

She gave a question at once. Even, she did not think about it. I worked on it in several weeks, then i found out it follows from some paper.

She gave me another question. She did not think about it again. I workd on it several monthes but i could not move it. She gave another question from another area. I spent some monthes to read about it. Whenever i asked a question from her, she asked some basic question from me, sometimes i could not give answer to them. Then, when i came back home, i regreted a lot why i can not give answer.

I felt, i lost my self confidence. During of this time, i was studying a area that i liked and i was getting pretty good on it. In fact, i watched some lectures about it on youtube that helps me a lot. She gave me another question from another area. I spent some monthes to read about it, then she told me , she could not work with me and she wasted her time. That was big shock for me. I am working with my master superviosr.

I still have some problems. I lost my self confidence and there is a fear in body. When i am studying, i am scared a lot. I checked every thing many times . For instance, i check what is countable set.

She never helps me. All of my colleagues have been either taught ot given idea by their superviosors. She told me, i did not know any things, she told me, how i passed bachelor and master. On the other hand, she told me, i am good the area that i worked alone. I have passed all of my courses.  But, i am not good like before. I am really scared. That is so difficult to explain it.

I need to mentioned i have passed all of my courses during of PhD. This semster, i have a course but i was not good in the course at all, as i lost my self confidence.

I would like to be good mathemacian, but now i can not even calculate geometric series. I do not know how it happens that i can work in PhD but i can not solve basic things. I am scared to ask my colleages, even though, i ask here. Do you know all of basic things? Is it big problem sometimes we forgot basic things?  Baisc things means that things, we learnt in Bachelor.

What would you do in this situation?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Will it be considered duplicate submission in a venue, if we knew that the article will be rejected for sure in another venue?

texts:
The reviewers have already commented on our article and the conference management system shows us each of their comments. Based on the comments, we know that the article will definitely be rejected. The final verdict is scheduled on 15 days from today.

We are interested in improving (based on the presently seen reviews) the manuscript and submitting it to another venue.

Will it be called duplicate submission in the new venue, if we submit now?


texts: Is it appreciated to contact old phd advisors with updates on what you have been doing?

texts:
I did my Ph.D. 2 years ago. After that, I moved into the industry where I am now working in a similar field. I like to think that they would be happy to get a mail every now and then on what I have been up to or if I bump into some interesting research questions. I have been sending them a mail once every 8 months or so if I had something to share (e.g. a job opportunity, relevant research paper) or just for giving them an update on my professional life. It does not seem to annoy them.
But is it generally appreciated that I reach out/stay in contact? Or is it strange that I still contact them now and then?


texts: How do I find applied math tenure track positions at at liberal arts / four-year colleges?

texts:
I'm having difficulty isolating tenure track positions in applied mathematics at institutions with more emphasis on teaching than research.  I've heard that 'liberal arts colleges' and 'four-year colleges' are the way to go, but it seems difficult to find ones with openings for applied mathematics professors.

I tried mathjobs.org, but there seem to be an overwhelming bias toward research-oriented institutions and I can't seem to isolate the ones with less research focus.  How do I find applied math tenure track positions at four-year / liberal arts colleges with little to no focus on research?  Do they even exist?  Or these institutions prefer pure / unspecific mathematicians for general classes?

For the record: I'm starting a job search for fall 2015.


texts: Applying to US PhD during first year of Master's program

texts:
I am in the last year of three-year Bachelor's program in Computer Science in Europe. I am interested in doing PhD in the US, but I did not apply for it this fall because I did not have any sensible research, nor strong recommendation letters by the deadlines (though I have perfect GPA).

This summer I am going to do a research internship, and for the next year, I think to enroll in Master's program (two-year) at my current university and work on a project in a research institute (being enrolled is often required to do any project or internship). But I am not interested in finishing that particular Master's program.

I believe I may have a relatively strong background by the next fall and would try to apply to grad schools in the US (and probably non-terminal Master's programs as well). However, I sometimes hear that admission committees frown upon applicants who are already enrolled in other programs and some do not admit students with unfinished degrees at all.

Can having unfinished program really hurt my application? Would it be better if I delay my graduation from Bachelor's program instead?


texts: Should I mention my Stack Overflow (and other Stack Exchange sites) reputation in my CV while applying for a post-graduate position?


texts:
How do you cope when a department chair is all out to cause you problems? Especially when he is doing it for personal reasons that I have no control over (e.g. gender, skin color, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, accent, etc). My chair hates me, so he harasses me with bad teaching loads, too many preps, assigning me one class at 8am on one campus and another class at 8pm on a separate campus three hours away, making me teach every day when others teach only twice a week, denying me funding to go to conferences, not permitting me to go on a sabbatical, etc etc etc. He is highly unethical. I suspect he discards good teaching ratings I get and pencils in bad teaching ratings but I have no way to prove it. He makes up untrue anonymous complaints from anonymous students and anonymous complaints from anonymous faculty / staff. When a particular person is not hired and everyone wanted to hire that person, he whispers to everyone that I am the one who voted against hiring. He tries to turn everyone against me. When anything even remotely goes wrong, he blames me.

He has the Dean in his pocket. He is also the chair of the faculty senate, childhood friends with the university president, brother-in-law of the provost. He is not the research type - he has one of those Ed.D. degrees and is a career administrator who has been the department chair for 17 years now. When I was hired, he was on medical leave, so he had no say in my hiring decision. He is also the only person in the department who does not teach or do research related to the department. He is a politician - former mayor of a small city - so much more astute and politically shrewd than I can ever be. He is dishonest, a blatant cheat and a frequent liar, so sitting down with him definitely never helped. He has superb contacts within the town and in state politics. Short of finding a new job, is there anything I can do? I cannot leave this university for personal reasons relating to the two-body problem, family whose help I need to take care of a severely handicapped child and other personal reasons.


texts: How to respond to a reviewer's comment when he is asking for experimental data but your paper is based on theoretical calculations?

texts:
We submitted a research paper in physics.
In this paper, we take structural parameters from the experimental work and then perform simulations using density functional theory and present our results. No one has performed similar calculations or experiments before through which I could validate my results. One of the reviewer’s comments is:

Main problem of this work is a lack of the experimental data that could validate relevant calculations and which would be very important especially in actual case, at least from my point of view. Why?

My question is how should I respond to this comment?


texts: What to do if international student exchange supervisor doesn't answer my email?

texts:
I am applying for an exchange program in Romania next semester. The teacher in Romania sent a research topic one month ago to my teacher (So I guess they both found an agreement and I should be able to go?). I am now expected to do most of the rest . So I sent a first e mail asking for more information about that topic as the research topic has to be accepted by professors and lectors at our university. A few days later I sent him another e-mail specifying exactly who I was as it may have been unclear in my first e-mail. Its now been one week and still received no answer.

What should I do? Keep waiting until I maybe don‘t receive an answer? What would be a good way to deal with that type of situations?


texts: how does faculty search committee judge a research scientist applying for a tenure-track position

texts: Postdocs are considered on regular path for tenure track position. What about a candidate that did one postdoc and then moved to an associate research scientist position instead of a second postdoc? Are there any inherent bias against these candidates who applying for regular tenure-track positions? Do the faculty search committee evaluate them fairly ?


texts: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing (AISC) template for Latex?

texts:
While I am looking for Latex template of the AISC template (Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing), I could find only its word format in following link:

https://www.springer.com/gp/authors-editors/journal-author/word-template-zip-154-kb-/22044

Does it mean that there is no Latex template for AISC?

Meanwhile, after downloading the word template, it seems to be similar to LNCS (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). Could be they the same?


texts: This is probably me overthinking a lot but I really don't want to screw this up. There was a flyer sent to me by my adviser for a research assistant opening for one of the psych professors on campus. The flyer says basic info such as what the research is about, requirements, and benefits. On the bottom of the flyer it says please contact if interested. I am not sure what to email the professor besides "hello I am interested in your study and I would like to join as one of your research assistants" something like that. What else should I add?? or should it simply be something basic like that. Also she is looking for students that have a 3.0 gpa or higher. I have a 2.7 gpa but I am really working hard to get a high gpa taking many classes. I want to let her know this and let her know not to look at my gpa but my hard work and determination. I have a bad gpa from my mistakes I made in my first year at community college. Well any advice helps I just overthink a lot and I really want to become an assistant and start helping my career little by little.


texts:
Thank you for submitting your
  manuscript "Article title" which we are regretfully unable to offer to publish.

  It is YYY' policy to return a
  substantial proportion
  of manuscripts without sending them to referees. Decisions of this kind are made by the editors of
  YYYs according to the demanding editorial criteria of the journal.

  In the present case, while your findings may well prove
  stimulating to others' thinking about such questions, we regret that we are unable to conclude that the work provides the sort of
  firm advance in general
  understanding that would warrant publication in YYY.

  We are sorry that we cannot
  respond more positively on this occasion.

Why they do not send my work to referees while they  are unable to conclude that the work provides the sort of firm advance?


texts: Does a lecturer have the right to prevent students from making their notes public?

texts:
A lecturer does not make slides or lecture notes available (e.g. on the course website) in an effort to force students to show up at lectures.

However, many students learn the material just fine without attending each and every lecture. It also seems unethical to force us all to show up, even though the attendance is not a requirement because we may just choose to do something else and there is no rule against it.

As a response, some of us have decided to write extensive notes together and put them up on a filesharing website, and we've notified other students of this using the course websites' discussion forum. The lecturer has now messaged one of us (the one who made the post on the forum) and told him to stop doing this.

What should our response be? Does the lecturer have any say in this? Are we in the wrong?


texts: Can I contact the referee if I know their identity after a double-blind reviewing process?

texts:
The referee process is technically double blind but I managed to figure out the identity of the referee by writing style. I am 100% sure about this finding.
The referee rejected my paper and I cannot understand several points raised by the referee. May I send a very polite and humble email gently ask for a little bit further comments? To my understanding this action does not break any rules.
Will the referee hate me for this, or if the referee later complains to the editor about my email, will the editor punish me?
Re: This thread is not about referee identification. Besides writing style I have one other ethical source to confirm that identity. I almost never claim 100% but in this case I can claim this.


texts: List of publications for funding applications

texts: What does a "List of publications" mean? I'm applying for a scholarship and it says I have to add that file, so I need to know what this file should contain and if it's necessary.


texts: In academia, does the amount of material that one has to learn diminish as time progresses?

texts:
From my own point of view, the first year of a PhD is heavily packed with new information, theory, techniques, conventions, experimental abilities, etc. Let us call all these elements "material". This new material required a lot of effort which I felt as a heavy burden in comparison to my master thesis or any previous academic experience. This burden was also complemented by requirements of the PI, funding entities, bureaucracy, etc.

The second year was also heavily packed with new and deeper material. But the burden of acquiring this new material was in my opinion, lower. This perception of a lower burden can be due to better learning methods, more experience, a more relaxed view on life, due to actually less new "material" to deal with.

I felt as if I had to sustain the same first year burden for several years, I would eventually collapse. And even though the second year burden was lower, I would not be able to continually perform at a good level under such burden.

Is there any point in an academic's life where the burden diminishes? I enjoy learning new stuff, carrying out new experiments and acquiring new skills. But the rate at which I feel this is necessary during a PhD is for me too high and I would not like to have a permanent life under this burden.

Just to be clear, it is obvious that in Academia it is necessary to acquire and master new "material" continuously. My question focuses on the "rate", if it makes sense.


texts: How do universities deal with the length of assignment submissions (e.g. word count) in pdf?

texts:
My university requires all written work (essays, reports and dissertations) to be submitted electronically in Microsoft Word format. At my previous university, PDF was also acceptable (in fact, recommended).

In the UK, where I study, assignment length is determined by the number of words (not pages, as is usual in some countries).

As a LibreOffice user, submitting in Word format regularly results in formatting issues for which I can lose marks. The university has sympathised with this, as well as my ultimate preference of being able to use LaTeX, but insist it is not possible to accept PDF files because they can't easily do a word count.

Looking at other UK universities, it seems that a majority accept PDF submissions either exclusively or in addition to other formats. How do they deal with the issue of assignment length?


texts: Potential Impact of Pass/Fail vs. Letter Grade in Elective Courses

texts:
The current grading system of my university allows graduate students to either receive a letter grade (A through F) or receive a Pass/Fail grade (where A-C is Pass) in any course offered. Each student must indicate his/her grading preference for each course within the first 2 weeks of the term. Most departments have a strict requirement that all "required" courses must be taken for a letter grade; however, elective courses can either be taken for a letter grade or Pass/Fail. Many of these elective courses are advanced versions of "required" courses, or they might be intermediate to advanced courses in other departments that are still related to one's research area.

When it comes time to apply for postdoc or junior faculty positions, could choosing to take elective courses Pass/Fail negatively impact hiring or funding decisions? For example, suppose a postdoc advertisement states that the position requires knowledge of a technique or area covered in an elective course. Would the fact that an applicant received a "Pass" in the course be considered the same as if the grade was instead an A or B? Alternatively, is it better to risk getting a B (or C) in a hard elective course instead of "playing it safe" by electing to Pass/Fail the course (where A, B, and C all get the same grade)? Are there any situations where the choice between letter grade vs. Pass/Fail can impact anything negatively or positively?

I've often heard that grades don't matter as much in graduate school compared to things like research output and networking, which may make this question a bit irrelevant. Still, I would be curious what others think.


texts: Should I request a letter of recommendation from current employers that don't want me to leave?

texts:
Let me explain in more detail... I currently occupy a fixed-term temporary faculty position that is set to expire at the end of this academic year. The position I have now will go up for a national search for a tenure-track appointment starting next academic year.

My current department head and Dean both have repeatedly expressed their desire that I apply for the tenure-track position and I intend to. However, there's no guarantee that I'll keep this position and I want to be employed next Fall. I have found another position that would be a good fit in case my current position goes to someone else (a very real possibility as my field has many qualified applicants and few jobs) and as part of their application they want current letters of recommendation.

I know my department head and Dean both would recommend me highly, but I see a potential conflict of interest. I'm also unsure if asking them for recommendations could be perceived as a slight and I don't want to burn any bridges at my current position because keeping it would be my first choice.

Another complicating factor is that this is my first university position and all other potential references either worked with me as a student or professional colleague in a non-academic capacity.

Any advice on the best course of action to take in my position?


texts: Is it possible to acquire a letter of recommendation without meeting face to face?

texts:
Of course it is not a good idea, preferably one would meet up with the professor to make the agreement.

In my case, I've talked to the prof for a year, and then went off work for a year, now I need a recommendation letter. In September I emailed him my situation WITH the invitation for a meet up at his office. He told me he is willing to provide a reference, but did not address the meeting up issue.

Now it is close to application deadline and I've yet to received the letter from him despite a few follow ups. I'm worried it is the reason is that I did not meet up with him so he might have forgotten who I was (which is understandable). I will attempt to email him once more with a more urgent tone, perhaps he will respond this time, but should I also invite him again to a meet up or is it too late?

Any profs care to share their ideas?


texts: Where can I find resources on how to be a good supervisor?

texts:
I am a relatively new tenured professor. My responsibilities increase gradually, and this year I have started supervising students' thesis: a bachelor thesis and a master thesis. (This is in Europe, so master thesis is not PhD-lite).
Somehow it feels like I am expected to already know how to be a supervisor. There are no resources anywhere that I can find. The training I received at the start of my tenure focused exclusively on classroom teaching, and my PhD/postdoc only prepared me to be a researcher, not a supervisor. Of course, I already know more or less what a supervisor does - after all, I have been supervised through many academic endeavors myself and I was able to observe. I also have experienced colleagues who have supervised students for years that I can observe or to whom I can ask advice.
But I don't think that this is "good enough". There are certainly some skills that I can improve, some issues that I can plan ahead for, etc, that I haven't noticed while I was myself supervised: after all, I was busy with my own project at the time, I was not learning how to supervise. I'm also sure that there are some things that were done / should have been done by my former supervisors that I can't have noticed (e.g. how to set an agenda and stick to it for a meeting, how to adapt to roadblocks, etc). Moreover, like everyone, my own experience is unique, and the students I'm going to supervise are not me: what do I do if a student loses a relative, becomes discouraged, or on the contrary outperforms everything I've expected, needs more guidance than I can provide, needs a less hands-on supervision, needs career advice about a career I've never thought about...???
I realize that this is a huge task, so I am certainly not asking for a full answer right now - knowing stackexchange's reputation, such a question would probably get closed immediately for being too wide without concern for whether the question would actually be helpful to myself and, I hope, many other people. Anyway. I will instead ask for resources on supervisory skills: books, websites, classes, etc. What have you found that helped you become a good supervisor?


texts: Is it ethical to accept masters admission from two different countries?

texts:
I have obtained admission from a well reputed university X from lets say Country A, and I also accepted their offer. Now I have also applied to another university Y, from country B, but which still did not publish their admission decision. Now after a while I got an offer for admission from University Y and for some reason I want to switch from university X to university Y.

Do I need to tell university X that I am not interested in their decision? Is it even possible?


texts: Use paper as master’s thesis or sign up to a “direct” PhD program (and use the paper for this)?

texts:
I’m currently a computer science (and mathematics) B.Sc and M.Sc student in my third year (since I started my B.Sc).

At the second year of my B.Sc studies, I have started to work on research (in computer science) and I have two (amazing) advisors, I have written (i.e, submitted) a couple of papers so far and currently working on a few more.

One of the papers I have already submitted was quite big and accepted to one of the top conferences in my field, so my advisors suggested it will be my master’s thesis.

As I’m still finishing the B.Sc courses (and the M.Sc courses at the same time) I have two options after finishing the courses:

Submit the thesis, get the B.Sc and M.Sc and sign up as a PhD student (signing up will be more of a technicality as I’m [obviously] staying with the same advisors and our current work will be a part of the PhD anyway).
Not submitting the thesis and signing up to a “direct PhD” program, which I don’t know much about, but it should basically mean doing the same as an M.Sc and a PhD minus submitting the master’s thesis.

My question is, is there any reason for me to choose the second option? Are there any benefits to having or not having a masters degree? (My thought of this right now is: Maybe the direct program will be faster if it is not allowed to include the masters thesis in the PhD thesis and then going in the direct program will allow me to include that paper in the thesis?)


texts: Should I reply to Editor of a journal after acceptance?

texts:
One of my papers got accepted yesterday. We had received conflicting opinions from the reviewers even after three rounds of revisions. We also had written a rebuttal directly to the Editor in response to one of the reviewers' comments in the last revision.

I never reply to an Editor after receiving an acceptance letter. However, this time I am sure the Editor had to take a decent amount of time to review our responses and reviewers' comments and make an informed decision.

Is it common to thank the Editor after acceptance email?

Thank you for your comments!


texts: Finding Post-PhD employment in Mathematics - How difficult?

texts:
I have completed a 4 year bachelor of Mathematics at a decent university, and a comment was made by Pete L. Clark, on this website, here: "post-PhD academic job market is one step shy of airtight at the moment."

I was intending to study a PhD in america, and am wondering if his statement rings true in the most part. Is it truly difficult to find a post-PhD academic job, specifically in Mathematics, and if so, are there relevant statistics backing this up?


texts: How does a recognized and well-known Professor help his students in getting an academic job?

texts: It is often told that working under big shots (I mean, recognized professors) in a particular research field is always beneficial on the way towards getting a faculty job in top research universities (perhaps in the US). My concern is how a big professor can help his students (PhDs, postdocs, project scientists who are badly seeking a faculty job) in addition to providing a recommendation letter? Is there anything else they could favor me on? Or, in other words, is there anything else I could ask them giving me a favor for? For instance, can I ask my professors to give a phone call to the faculty search committee (where I submitted my application) to consider my application with care? Such effort is nothing but highlighting one's application so that the search committee gives a special attention to it.


texts: Seeking a permanent job during a postdoc in a different country/continent: official and moral responsibilities

texts:
I'm going to refer two countries/continents as X and Y. I'm citizen of neither. A week back, I started my third year of postdoc in X (with no teaching duties), after living two years for my first two postdocs in Y. I did my Ph.D. in X, and realized/strongly felt that apart from work, there's really no connection between X and me, whereas there's definitely very much so with Y, and I'm happy in Y, unlike X(I'm not talking work here) . One can say happiness is a choice, but I just can't force myself to like X, which I tried during my Ph.D. days, all in vein. And I trust my feelings.

My postdoc advisor in X seems to be nice, and I already told him that I'd apply for permanent positions in Y after this postdoc, and he has no problem with that. What I didn't tell him is that I don't like even spending one more day in X and I'd like to take an offer from Y now if it comes, since saying something like that would prompt the question why I had accepted his offer in the first place. I'd not have accepted had I had any options in Y, where the postdoc funding eventually ran out, and I had to find another option.

To solve my problem practically, I'll start searching for permanent jobs in Y very soon and here're my questions if you could please answer:

1) My initial appointment in X is for a year (extendable). If I can secure a job in Y, and want to leave my postdoc before that or before any significant project is completed, will that necessarily be a problem? Will either the university or the postdoc mentor be able to sue me?

2) It's a harder question and I'm trying to deal with it. Is this morally wrong not to tell him that I'm looking for a job in Y now/pretty soon (he's clearly okay with afterwards)? I understand that for now, he wants me to focus on his project only and give him something back in return because he's paying me for that, but on the other hand, I trust my feelings and feel really not good living here in X.

Thank you very much!


texts: Proceedings-level paper but no proceedings invitation

texts:
I'm in mathematics.

There's a specific example in a framework my collaborator and I outlined that many people ask me about. It did not fit into previous papers due to space considerations for journals. I feel that writing a note that explains this example in our point of view would be useful for the community.  This example would have a few minor results along the way but mostly it would be a detailed example of our previous work. For that reason, I think it makes most sense in a proceedings; however, I have no proceedings invitations at this point in time.

Should I just sit on the paper or is there another venue or method to deal with this type of issue? Should I put it on the arxiv until a proceedings volume comes along?


texts: How do I go from Math BS/MS to Exercise Physiology PhD?

texts:
I'm graduating with a BS in Math in April 2014, and I'm starting a Math MS program in September 2014. I realized (a little late) that my true passion is in Exercise Physiology. How do I get from a Math MS program to an Exercise Physiology PhD program?

The only relevant courses I've had are freshmen-level general biology, junior-level chronic disease prevention, and senior-level plant physiology.


texts: How to explain a life as a researcher to friends, family and partners who aren't?

texts:
My friends, family, and partner often mention that they worry about my life as an researcher/academic mentioning how I work too much (I love my job!) am never satisfied (I want to go great work, and great work is hard to do!), and that I'm often distracted (I think about my research a lot!). I've tried to explain these facets of academic life to them, but I have trouble completely communicating each of these feelings.

Are there any good articles or stories that you have found particularly useful in helping others understand your lifestyle as an academic?

For people outside of academia who you feel understand your passion and drive, how did they come to do so?


texts: will a part time job to make extra money effect my MBA application?

texts: I graduated from undergrad 5.5 years ago and have been working full time ever since. I worked in the hospitality industry in operation management for catering and hotels. I have now decided to take a break from my career path and pursue an MBA, wanting to shift my career to the next level. I left my job in May, moved back home an have been studying for the GMAT exam and work as a part time bartender at a steakhouse. In my top school application, they ask my current job. Do I put that I am a bartender? will this effect my application?


texts: How to address students in the USA, as a university instructor: first name or last name?

texts:
It is often asked whether students should be encouraged to address their instructors by their first or last name. My question is the opposite.

I teach at a large US university but I have not grown up here. Most students address me by my last name or by 'Professor', which seems to be the traditional way to do it.

Questions:
It turn, would I traditionally address students by their first name or their last name? Or just "student"? Is the communication symmetrical or asymmetrical? Is there a difference in email and personal interaction?


texts: How can I better deal with position papers?

texts:
Here is some context, I am currently a graduate student in education but I come from an art background. Needless to say, writing papers is not something I've done on a regular basis since high school.

Although I've gotten good grades on the two previous ones I wrote, I suspect they drained me a lot more than they should have had. I tend to be able to see the contradictions in everything, which I find is very helpful (as well as annoying) in my life in general but it makes writing position papers a living hell. I always feel like I am presented with a question that can not be answered and that I am forced to give a definite answer to it.

An example of question from a previous paper would be:

  Learner-centered approaches should replace teacher-centered approaches

Once I find an angle on how to go about it while feeling reasonably comfortable, things flow and it's not a problem but I always have this nagging doubt that it's not good because half the time I end up not really answering the question but dismissing it because nothing is this black or white. I tend to want to run everything by the teacher to get feedback because I'm never sure what we are really expected to do. I would fare much better if the question was in the likes of:

  What should one take into account when choosing between teacher-centered
  approaches and learner-centered approaches?

Don't get me wrong, I have opinions but I feel like they're not applicable in all scenarios.
Sometimes I feel like those papers are only used to see how well we can write, how well you can form an argument and be convincing but I see little value in convincing just for sake of it. How can I get out of this rut?


texts: What to do when completing a full-time masters by research, and a part-time job interferes with grades and progress?

texts:
I'm currently in first year of MS by Research in computer science. The first year includes coursework and second year is research thesis.
I've been working part time 20 hours a week in a software company. I have 4 subjects. So far I have managed to complete assignments but haven't really studied well.
Now as the semester is close to end, I have projects, assignments and exams. I'm struggling to decide if I should continue working here. Sometimes I think it's doable but it's a little risky. I may not get proper marks to progress to next semester. What would you do in such situation?


texts: How to find the list of universities running a specific program?

texts:
Is there any way/resource for finding the list of universities offering a specific degree?

I want to find which universities have a specific program (both undergraduate and graduate).

My target is the US and UK universities, but other countries are also useful (though, I think it is difficult to search because of different terminologies in different languages for a discipline).


texts: Is a researcher with the same name in a different field likely to cause confusion?

texts:
I would like to get some advice on what may or may not be a problem, namely the lack of unique identifiers for scientific authors.

So there is a researcher with the same first and last name as myself, who works in a different field (physics vs computer science), but is in a similar stage of academic career (PhD candidate).

Are there potential problems? Is there a danger that publications are associated wrongly, with negative consequences for either one of the authors? Will this cause confusion in databases like arXiv?

What would you suggest?

don't care?
disambiguate by adding middle initials to future publications?
...

When I add initials for future publications, is there a change that I might somehow "lose" 3 earlier publications?


texts: How can I overcome the fact that I attend a weak undergraduate institution?

texts:
I am currently a traditional sophomore math major at a large university in the southern USA. I'm interested in attending graduate school once I graduate, but my university has a weak math program, and I am afraid it will severely effect me in the future.

For example, the department only routinely offers the most basic undergraduate courses, such as a two semester sequence of real analysis, one complex analysis class, basic topology, and algebra. Starting my junior year, I will be running out of math classes to take, and it will be hard to construct a schedule that makes me a full time student. By my senior year, directed studies will be my only option for classes.

Some solutions I've thought of

Apply to math summer programs and other enrichment programs like REUs
Transfer to a different school
Get a relevant minor or double major

The problem with transferring is that my upper division math classes are not transferable to other schools in the state. I would have to retake every math class I've taken other than calculus, and it would take me at least 3 additional years at another school.

The only constructive advice I've received from faculty at my school is to graduate in three years. I do not like the idea of graduating early because I've simply exhausted the departments offerings. I also do not think a PhD admission committee would look favorably upon that.

What other courses of action should I look into?


texts: I got a very bad review from one reviewer, but the paper was not rejected

texts:
Some time ago, I submitted my paper to a reputable journal (but far from being one of the best in my field) and have recently received two reviews. One review was positive overall and the reviewer recommened to accept my paper. On the other hand, the second reviewer was very critical of my work. The reviewer explained, in great details, why everything was wrong with my paper (even including the notation I use) and why such research is absolutely pointless and irrelevant. Moreover, the reviewer also criticized my other publications, implied that my research is way below the international level, and recommened to reject the paper. Despite such a bad review, the editor did not reject my paper and asked me to provide a revision without any additional comments.
To be entirely honest, I would've preferred my paper to be rejected after such a review, because I think that no revision can change the second reviewer's opinion about it. In addition, I do not really know how to revise my paper. I can change the notation and rewrite some parts of it in response to some of the comments, but I cannot change the topic of my research to make it relevant in the eyes of the second reviewer.
What would you do in my situation? I'm thinking about writing an e-mail to the editor in order to ask their opinion about the situation and what they would consider as a proper revision of my paper.


texts: Are undergraduate math courses required to do well on the GRE subject test?

texts:
I'm in the process of selecting courses for my third year, and I wasn't planning on taking certain mathematics courses (in particular, "pure" courses, such as Algebra). However, upon speaking to come colleagues, I've found that I might want to substitute Advanced ODEs for Algebra, given that I could probably learn the former on my own, and the latter weighs more on the GRE Subject Test, so I should have a good handle on it.

This has made me ask two things:

1) Is the Subject Test even required for all Grad Schools? I'll be doing the GRE, and the schools I'm planning on applying to fall into sort of an "Applied/Computational" category, so I don't know how much of the Subject Test they'd be interested in.

2) Do courses (and their subsequent grades) matter more than scores on the subject test, or is it vice versa, or are they both pretty equal?

I'd love to hear any and all advice. I'm doing a combined honours in general sciences and mathematics, if that makes any difference. I'm close to course selection, and I'd like to have a good idea of what would be useful to take.

Thanks!


texts: Advice for a hypersensitive postdoc who has a hard time reading social cues and making small talk

texts:
Sorry to bother everyone, I am currently a postdoc at a research institution.  I have trouble in my scientific collaborations/discussions because I am hypersensitive to (get easily offended at) insensitive criticism/disrespect/microagression, whether expressed verbally or non-verbally (raising of voice, shrugging of shoulders, disdainful facial expression and other non-verbal expressions of annoyance/contempt/disapproval). I am totally okay with criticism which is well thought through, well explained, expressed in a pleasant/neutral voice, and without showing negative emotions.
I also have trouble reading social cues and making small talk because I am always afraid to talk about things I am really interested in since they may not be interesting to others and/or may seem simple-minded/sentimental/emotional, and I am very bored/not good at talking about politics/sports/other popular topics. I am also afraid that people are subconsciously discriminating against me/judging me because of my gender. When I was a Ph.D. student, I was able to work with my advisor with a degree of success because he had a very mild personality, soft voice, was supportive, never criticized anyone harshly, and in addition to this had some common interests with me outside of work. However, I was able to find very few such people in the scientific community, and their research interests/methods are not close to mine (my research area also has very few people of the same gender as me and they don't seem to have research interests/methods which are close to mine).
Therefore I am experiencing loneliness and dissatisfaction in my career, though I really like the area that I am studying (I am not able to continue working with my advisor effectively because it is much easier to talk to/understand him in person than online, and I moved to a different city). I also have trouble interacting with people at scientific conferences for the above reasons, and therefore cannot derive the expected benefits from them. In addition to the above problems, sexual attraction (note: I was never a victim of sexual harassment, but these things can show in subtle ways and disturb a sensitive person) which sometimes occurs in the course of scientific interactions can make them problematic and negate their potential scientific benefits (which could produce something valuable scientifically, but end up futile).
On the other hand, I enjoy and actively use StackExchange for scientific discussions because the above problems do not occur when using digital media. I would like there to be more online resources suitable for scientific purposes for people like me who have a hard time socializing in the scientific community in person. Anonymous online scientific communication also has the benefit of hiding the gender and eliminating associated subconscious discrimination/exclusion. Could you give me any advice (both for in-person and online interactions with colleagues)?
Maybe I should ask this question on a different forum, if it is not very suitable for this one (could you suggest one as I could not think of one myself)?