texts: How does Microsoft Academic Search generate its rankings?

texts:
Yesterday, during some idle time in the office, a colleague of mine has discovered that I am currently ranked at position 20 worldwide by Microsoft Academic Search for my subfield regarding the last 5 year impact. While certainly flattering, this ranking is also quite clearly bogus, as many much more eminent academics are ranked far behind me in this list.

The Occam's razor explanation that there simply is another researcher of my name in my field can be discarded, as Microsoft Academic profile does indeed list my, and only my, publications (as well as a profile pic that they seem to have grabbed from an old university web page).

So my question is the following: how does Microsoft Academic Search actually generate rankings (of individual academics, but there are also rankings of journals)? It seems clear that not all citations and publications are considered equal (otherwise I would not end up so far to the front with a comparatively meager set of papers and citations), but how do they decide what is "worth" how much?

I am mostly looking for answers that refer to papers or web links coming from MS insiders  on their ranking algorithms. Barring that, some well thought-through speculation from outsiders is also ok :)

Edit:

I just discovered that Microsoft Academic Search seems to employ the notion of a field rating for conferences and journals, and the rating for some of the venues that we prefer seems to be unreasonably high. However, that still does not fully explain my curious case (and it still leaves open the question of how these field ratings are generated in the first place).


texts: What's a novel way to say "all errors are my own"?

texts: Typical disclaimer is now just common fodder for all papers and books. Any advice on a more original take to this generic statement would be appreciated!


texts: Publishing a non-invalidating comment to a recent paper- should I contact the original authors if I know them?

texts:
This question is similar to this one: Publishing a comment or contacting the authors privately?
but has a few differences.

A colleague of mine has recently published a letter responding to another author's paper.  The letter agrees with the general points of the original paper (paper A), but offers specific additions that would improve the general idea from paper A.  After reading this letter (let's call it paper B), I think the additions have merit but should also take into account some new ideas which will build on both paper A and B. My comment would not invalidate paper B but it would argue that their suggestions should also take into account my own.  I know the authors of paper B personally and am in good relations with them.  I am acquaintances with the authors of paper A.

My goal is to provide comments that improve this general idea (by introducing new ideas) and reference both papers A and B directly.  I have two questions. Question 1 is, should I:

I) Write my idea without contacting the authors of the other papers
and submit it to the journal
II) Contact the authors of paper B,which my comment would most directly address, discuss my ideas, and suggest a collaborative paper on which I am first author
III)
Contact the authors of paper B, discuss my ideas and let them know I
intend to publish a comment (not to bring them in on the paper but to
let them know a comment will be submitted)
IV) Take another course of
action

Question 2 is,  if I bring the authors from paper B on my letter, will it hurt the chance of it getting published as a comment to paper B if the authors of paper B are also on my letter?

I think the authors will probably agree with my suggestions.  At the moment I am leaning towards option II as I think option I is unprofessional, but I have never been in this situation before so I do not know what is professionally appropriate.


texts: Dealing with professor after not getting back to him on a project?

texts:
I was supposed to do a project for one of my classes and I talked to one of the math professors at my school for ideas and he was excited about my project and even got one of his grad students involved.

The thing is, I didn't do well in the class and I didn't get around to finishing the project to it's fullest potential and so I never got back to him (the math prof) about it because I was too embarrassed.

I'm really paranoid now even when I'm just in the building he works in and it sucks because I'm a mathematics student so I'm there a lot. I don't want to run into him or his grad student because I don't want them asking me about the project. The semester's over now and I don't even know if he'd remember me.

I just feel like I've let him down and I really do want to work on the project I just didn't understand what equations and stuff to use after so it was just a mess by the end. Anyway, I'm just wondering what I should do about this? Should I email him? Should I just avoid him? I may want to work with him for research but I don't want him to remember this cliff hanger relationship.

Thanks!


texts: In single-blind peer-review, can you reveal your identity without the editor's consent?

texts:
In my field (chemistry), review is always done in a single blind process, i.e. the author does not know who the referees were, but the referees do know who the authors are. In ten years, I have never seen a referee breaching this anonymity, e.g. by signing their review, unless they got prior approval by the editor (in order to continue discuss things further with the authors, once the manuscript was accepted for publication).

So, it seemed logical to assume that in single blind peer-review, the reviewer should not disclose his identity without the editor's consent. Yet, some people have told me (here and there; also IRL a friend from human sciences) that they have seen people sign their reviews, or write emails to them after the review but before the paper is published.

So, in single-blind peer-review, can you reveal your identity without the editor's consent? Does it depends on the customs of each field, or is there a hard rule? (in which case, the few anecdotes I heard were outliers)


texts:
I'm currently writing my diploma thesis (old equivalent of master in Germany) in mathematics. It's about a fairly new combinatorical optimization problem which has military applications. In fact, the problem originates from that, even though in the formulation I'm studying it is a bit more theoretical.

I got this topic without the knowledge of its applications and of course I don't like optimizing the ways of killing people. (Just to clarify: luckily there are other (good) applications too)

It is likely that my research will end up in a paper, thus beeing widely available. Is it possible to restrict usage of such research to non-military applications only?

(side note: Probably no military organization will ever comply with such a restriction. I'm aware of that.)


texts: Non-binary, more modern alternative to "Dear Sir/Madam"

texts:
I'm emailing a graduate STEM admissions department in the UK, and don't know the modern preferred way to begin the email.
Many authors suggest "Dear Sir/Madam," but of course this implies a problematic gender binary. A common, gender-neutral option, "To whom it may concern" is often criticized as too formal or impersonal.
There is enough advice on this topic to suggest that the recipient will (for reasons that are beyond me) actually care about whether an inherently impersonal email has an opening line at all.
What's a modern, etiquette-conscious applicant to do?
(Feel free to answer for other countries besides the UK too.)


texts: Readmission after leaving for and being dismissed from a different graduate program

texts:
Consider this scenario:
I enroll in a graduate program at X university. Then I withdraw and enroll in an equivalent program at Y university instead. A few semesters later I get dismissed from Y university due to low GPA, but can apply for readmission to the X university's program after being dropped due to non-attendance.
What are my issues here? I would be continuing my education without skipping a beat, transferring over credits from the old program, even getting a clean transcript out of the whole ordeal. This all sounds like there is something unfair with what I am doing.


texts: Graduate course taken during undergrad: counting them for the course load in Phd

texts:
I'm an undergraduate student in Turkey, and am planning to do my Phd in US/Canada/Europe.

I've taken various graduate courses from my departments - Physics and Mathematics - in following status:

I enrolled to course, but it status was NI (not included), which means I didn't take any credit from the course, and it's grade didn't affected my GPA.

In this case, when I start to my Phd, is it possible to count these graduate courses toward the course load that I need to take during my Phd ?

As a side question, if I had enrolled those course in the normal way, i.e took credit from the course, and it's grade affected my GPA, could I still make them count for the course load that needs to be taken during my Phd ?


texts: Should student or supervisor be corresponding author for publications based on student research?

texts:
Papers published from an academic project (MSc or PhD) usually have two authors; the first author is the student who mainly conducted the research, and the second author is the professor who supervised the projects.

The corresponding author is the one who take the responsibility of a paper, and thus, some believe that students are not yet prepared to take this responsibility.

Ideally, who should be corresponding author for papers published by MSc or PhD projects?

I understand that it mainly depends on personal agreements and preferences, but I want to know which case is more reasonable from academic logic?


texts: Is it problematic to use a Wikipedia article I wrote in my PhD thesis?

texts:
I'm working on a specific subject, and I thought that sharing my bibliographical and synthesis work from peer-reviewed journals on Wikipedia could be a good idea. Moreover, there is no Wikipedia entry on that subject.

But as I will use that work for my PhD thesis, is this problematic because someone might think that I have plagiarised the material from Wikipedia?

Note that this question could apply to any similar collaborative encyclopedia, not just to Wikipedia, and that the article I'm writing is subject to collaborative change.

Edit : by synthesis work I do not mean :

  combine material from multiple sources to reach or imply a conclusion
  not explicitly stated by any of the sources

but

  reduce the information in lengthy sources to an encyclopedic length

More information on Wikipedias SYNTH policies and here

Also the question is related to sharing my bibliographical work on a collaborative platform, regardless to the platform policy (assuming I can), and potential problems re-using it afterwards, in a PhD thesis.


texts: It is worth to get a bachelor degree in education?

texts: What can I do with a bachelor degree in education and what are the pros and cons of getting a degree in education?


texts: What is a concise citation format for grant proposals given constraints on page counts?

texts:
Many grant applications have page limits. They also often allow the writer to chose their preferred  format for references.

Thus, I was wondering:

What is a good concise referencing system that minimises the impact of references on page count?

Equally, perhaps there are other considerations beyond being concise, such as readability or highlighting that an author on the paper is also an investigator on the grant. Or perhaps it's better to stick to the reference format dominant in your discipline?

My initial thoughts were:

Use numbered references rather than author (date) format
Use first author and then et al for other authors
Use abbreviated journal names
Show only first page number


texts:
The journal I'm writing a paper for has an author-year-like citation style which includes page numbers. For instance: "... by Doe (2018, 58) ..."

I now want to cite unpublished work. The bibliography entry has "To appear in Journal X". The exact issue number and page numbers are unknown. As far as I can see, this means that I can only use imprecise references (only year, no page number) to this article. Or is there another way? The paper I want to cite will appear in a journal that does not number sections.


texts: Should I participate in non-funded bioinformatics research?

texts:
I'm a PhD student. I will have some months free after writing my Thesis. I've been suggested to participate in a non-funded research, involving some bioinformatics tasks.

There are also other funded bioinformatics work I could do.

In my opinion an unfunded research normally has weaknesses and lack of review by other experts.


texts: Is there any time limit for writing comments on research article?

texts: I am from mathematics background, recently I came across an article published in 2009 in which certain classification problem is incomplete and inappropriately addressed, can I write comments on that research article after 7 years ?


texts: Can I submit my application before fall semester grades are released?

texts: I'm applying to grad schools, and my fall semester grades will be out before the deadline. I know my GPA is going to fall, so I'm thinking of submitting my applications without those grades. Is it acceptable to submit my application when the grades aren't out yet, even though they will be out before the deadline for the application or when the deadlines are in January, that means they expect to see the grades for the Fall semester? (They'll be out in a few days actually.)


texts: Where is the latex template for IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health?

texts:
I was trying to find the latex template for IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, but I am only able to find the .doc template. Do we have any .tex template for this journal?

http://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/create-your-ieee-article/use-authoring-tools-and-ieee-article-templates/ieee-article-templates/templates-for-ieee-journal-of-translational-engineering-in-health-and-medicine/

Usually there should be latex template as well.


texts: Is it good practice/advisable to sum up passages from a reference into a few sentences in my own paper?

texts:
Of course, I would retain the for me important points, but omit the details.

To the question in the title, I would like to add: If it is, how would it be best to point to that paper?
Should I reference this as a "regular" citation or is it better to include some explanation, like "From [5] it is clear that ..."?


texts: Is there an increase in papers authored by undergraduates?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student in STEM.

I have noticed that several of my peers (also in STEM) have published in journals or conferences (multiple times).
I have also seen that in online forums for graduate admissions (such as PhysicsGRE), almost all the profiles have published several times in conferences and journals (granted that profiles in online forums do not present a well-rounded view of undergraduate students).
Many of them are also first or second authors in their papers.

Has there really been an increase in papers co-authored by undergraduates? Does this mean that publishing a paper does not carry the same level of significance as it used to in graduate admissions?
I know I am being paranoid, but I am hoping to apply to graduate school and I feel under pressure to publish since it seems like there are so many who do this, and hence someone who has not published any of their research would not stand out to the admission committee. This pressure is at the back of my mind every time I am working on my research, and is preventing me from enjoying its process.
Of course, this could be confirmation bias and I tried to find statistical answers regarding this, but could not find any, so I am asking here, since several members here take part in the graduate admissions process.


texts:
I worked on an interesting project as a PHD student. It was rejected from a top conference with all but 1 reviewer agreeing that it was an ok paper but not good enough for that conference, because more work was required. The other reviewer said it was in top 15% papers. Do the reviewers mean "trash paper" when they say "ok paper" ?
 I don't have the time to finish it because I have switched my research area. In the project, I also collected and processed a large amount of data which would be useful for the computer vision community. Should I just put the paper and associated data/code on my website? Or should I put it on arxiv? In either cases, I wanted to acknowledge and include a link to the reviews from the conference. Is that a bad idea? The review process was double blind and hence the reviews are anonymous.


texts: Logistics of asking for letter of recommendation after graduation

texts:
I graduated from by undergrad two years ago (this May) and now I am applying to law school and require letters of recommendation from my undergrad.

Although I did well in their classes and spoke with them to some extent outside the classroom, I haven't stayed in touch with my professors, so I am not sure how well they would remember me, due to the length of time.

My question is how I would logistically go about asking for LOR's. I live relatively near the University, so I could conceivably ask them in person, but it would seem odd to just drop in on them randomly (at office hours?). Would this be the best approach?

Or should I email them ahead to ask to meet? If so, should I allude to the fact that I want to discuss a letter of recommendation in these emails or should I just ask to meet without giving specifics.

Final point: I am planning on applying September, so does it seem to early to ask     in this March, or is that not an issue?

Thanks for any answers/suggestions!


texts: What should I do if my professors don't reply to my email for recommendation letter

texts:
I'm applying to an undergraduate research program and I'm gathering recommendation letters. I am currently studying at a different university as an exchange student. The applications were not open before I left my home university but I spoke to two of my professors, explained the situation to them and asked for a recommendation letter. They both agreed to write me a recommendation letter and they told me to send an email to them when I needed the letter. So, I sent an email to both of my professors with reminding them who I was and mentioning that I've talked to them about this matter before. It has been almost a week but one of the professors still didn't reply to my email. The other professor first sent me an email saying that I should come to his office to talk about this and then he didn't reply to my following email where I told him that I am not able to come to his office.

What do I do in this type of situation? Should I just write a follow up email to them or should I start looking for other possible recommenders?


texts: How to cite a multi-part blog post with separate URLs for each part?

texts:
I'd like to cite a technical blog post that was published in three parts, however, the parts don't have links to each other. Should I cite them separately as if they were different articles, or is there a way I could somehow combine them? E.g., if I were to use the main title of the series, and include a list of all 3 URLs.

It's a computer science undergraduate honours thesis, if that's relevant.


texts: Is it bad to use the same interview instruments?

texts:
It is often recommended to use instruments that have been previously validated (e.g. satisfaction questionnaires). The rationale behind: that these instruments have been thoroughly validated and you should not try to "re-invent the wheel".

However, I've found myself in this scenario: I'm conducting qualitative research with semi-structured interviews very similar to a recently published study. We seek to explore the same topic but with different populations (i.e. hypothetically, they are studying apples and we are studying beets).

Since we are studying the same topic, is it okay (and is it even encouraged) to utilize their interview instruments? Part of me believes strongly in the original statement, "don't re-invent the wheel", but part of me feels like its close to plagiarism and that I should come up with my own questionnaire/instruments.

Our paper, if published, will likely be read by the other authors.

Note: For those who might ponder "why are you conducting such similar research" or "why don't you let them study the beets too", the research we conduct is possible because of access to "privileged" information. In the same way we might not have access to their tomatoes, they wouldn't have access to our beets.


texts: Is there anything inherently wrong with publishing in a bad journal?

texts:
There's a journal I read a paper in I wanted to respond to. The journal is open access, has no fee, and I have enough for a short paper (less than like 5 pages, there are no size limits). Writing this would take minimal time away from more important work. The journal is...not great. I don't think it's predatory (it's free to publish and is peer reviewed), though it might be.

I am a grad student. This response has nothing to do with my main research.

Would this come to hurt me later? Would people look down on me for having a short, goofy paper in a poor journal? What could they do that's dishonest? Even if they straight up steal what I write, I don't really care that much (though I would obviously not work with the journal again).


texts: Historical Course Descriptions for Master's and Ph.D in Statistics/Data Science Programs

texts:
I'm writing to ask whether there's any references for course descriptions for the classes required of a master's degree back in the 1990s, 1980s, 1970s, 1960s,...., 1900s. I wanted to know how the curriculum for masters degree in statistics has changed over time and how fast or when recent advancements trickle down to graduate education.

How fast does it take for institutions to change their curriculum with each new
fad in the development in Statistics? When was bootstrapping invented versus when was it taught in school? What's the newest technique in classification/prediction/machine learning or Statistical Theory or database management and when were those techniques marketed as courses taught in Master's or Ph.D programs?

Personally, I'm asking because I want to trace the development of Statistics and get a sense of how up to date my professors are in the field and find the most updated program. I'm not sure if they know how pervasive or old their knowledge is.

I'm not looking for individual program suggestions. It's the case that in computational sciences that things outdate. I don't know if some branches of Statistics are more updated than others are. Unfortunately there isn't a class in school called the History of Statistics and Data Science and Machine Learning and history of math is more famous.


texts: How to negotiate when professor asks for your help with a grant

texts:
A professor who I collaborate with on a project (not my advisor, he's not even from my university) asks me to help him to write a major grant proposal that is due in a week.

In an initial phone conversation with him, he said it would be great if I could help him for around four hours every day. I asked him whether (if I did everything he wanted) I could be hired as a postdoctoral scholar if he got the grant, and then asked about the salary and duration of the postdoc (just to make sure there wasn't a mismatch of expectations, because a two year postdoc is much more comfortable than a one year postdoc, etc). We eventually settled on him paying me at an hourly basis, and with no guarantee that I'll get funded even he gets the grant. We were both very happy with this arrangement, though I think we both felt that in the future, it would be better to come to an agreement faster so that more work can be done (we spent half an hour reaching an agreement).

If this situation happens in the future, how can I balance the need to avoid a mismatch of expectations with the need of providing as much help to him as possible?


texts: Extension work to a paper which is currently under review process : Is it good to communicate this?

texts:
I have submitted a paper for a math journal and it is currently under review for the past 4 months. Meanwhile I have come up with an important work, that directly builds on top of that paper, which I thinks increases the importance of current paper, when looked in the light of this new work. I can say that this new piece can be a good extention work to my paper increasing its value.

My question is, can I write to the Editor in chief, who has been communicating with me, about this new development. If so, would it speed up or have positive impact on the review process of the currently sumbmitted paper? Or does it also mean that editor may ask me to take back my current paper, add this new piece of extension and resubmit.

Or Should I submit this new piece of work as a separate paper to same journal, even when the current paper is still under review?

In any case, is it a good idea to communicate this to the editor in chief?


texts: Should I hold back criticism in an anonymous survey for fear of identification by the professor?

texts:
At my university, at the end of every course, professors have to submit an anonymous survey to the students. In this survey students can write the good and bad aspects of both the course's program and the professor's teaching skills.

Sometimes classes are of very few students (even under 20), so a problem arises: it is very easy to link a survey to a particular student, just by comparing his/her calligraphy in the exam with the surveys. So my question is: should a student mitigate his/her judgment in the survey for fear of a harsher revision of his exam?

Note, I'm not speaking about offensive and/or "off-topic" judgments (i.e. clothing habits), but of legitimate criticism.


texts: A quick question about deadline extensions

texts:
I'm applying for several summer schools, workshops, and travel funds. I've also applied for a few fellowships. Almost all of these have extended their deadlines for application submission and/or supporting material submission. I've completed (or plan to complete) all of the applications before the original deadlines.

My questions are:

What are the typical reasons that deadlines are extended?
Do you think it'll increase my chances for admittance since I submitted my application before the original deadlines?


texts: What to do about past errors or inconsistencies in assignments I graded?

texts:
I was a grader for my university couple of years ago. I'm also a PhD student. Out of the five semesters I graded..I got a "not fit for rehire" 3 times.
I was not responsive, didn't cater to the needs of the students properly, and occasionally would lose assignments submitted to me. I could not handle the logistics of taking in 100+ assignments(sometimes per week). Most importantly, I was thoroughly inconsistent with grading- I could not follow a proper rubric to the bone. Most often I'd have to make a rubric myself, even in really odd grading situations like having to grade students' notes as either 0 or 1(depending on whether they were relevant to the classroom, etc). I would grade the papers, but often I'd find myself grading differently towards the end of the pile as opposed to when I started grading.
Part of the reason this happened was due to my ADHD+OCD combination of mental disorders, but I am tired of citing that to my professors and also myself. The reason I was fired so many times was not due to Grading incompetence, but because I was late to deadlines, would miss TA meetings, and because of reasons like having to leave town before I could finish grading.
The grading incompetence is something only I know. If I think about how many students got, say, a C+ instead of a B- because of MY negligence and irresponsibility, I start feeling like the worst human being on planet earth.
I have considered confessing to my Professors about this, but have never been brave enough to do it. All my semesters of being a TA are long over, grades collected and put up on the students' transcripts. I have somehow managed to get an RA position but have been struggling very badly since the past year mentally due to all this.
I am posting here because I just want some possible solutions. Do I confess, and get terminated from my PhD-most importantly is it technically possible to roll back grades like that en masse? Should I quit graduate school myself? I don't intend to ever be in academia after I get my degree..but I don't feel like I can take that amount of psychological burden and keep feeling worthy of a PhD. What would you do if you were in a similar situation, hypothetically?


texts: Is it appropriate to give your supervisor an early thesis draft that has informal self-addressed notes?

texts:
I will have to show my supervisor a thesis draft soon. It is an early draft, just to see where I am standing. It obviously misses full chapters and some areas contain personal self-addressed notes like, "make a fancy diagram about process A". Should I go through the work of removing these notes, written in an obvious informal style, before handing in the draft?

On one hand, I would like my supervisor to know that I will include a diagram there, but should I at least formalize the notes like in, "process A diagram will be added"?

Edit: I will give a few more examples so that my question is clearer:

My question is more about having an informal approach to the notes than their existence. For example is it fine if I have notes like: "I should spiff this diagram, too ugly", or if I use as a placeholder for the subtitle "Fancy subtitle" instead of "< Subtitle placeholder >", or if instead of a figure that I know I am about to add, I have a placeholder image that says "here comes the really nice and cool image that shows the A-B relation" instead of saying "A-B relation figure placeholder"?

I also feel the need to mention that I would never use such informal writing style in the actual text, nevertheless in a final version.


texts:
I have a full-fund offer for PhD in computer science from a university in New Zealand. I know work opportunities in NZ is low after my graduation. I really like to study my PhD in the US, but since US universities need GRE scores, I cannot apply to them.

Now, I have one question. What do you think if I get my PhD from NZ and then move to US for job, such as postdoc? How much do you think I can find a postdoc after my graduation, considering a solid research record.

Another option is to postpone my application till next year, in order to be prepare for GRE exam, although it is very tough for me now. Is it worth to wait for a further year, in your opinion?

More importantly, is there anyone who have had similar condition, I.e. doing PhD in non-US universities and then moved to the US for an academic job?

Thank you


texts:
I just noticed that most of the research papers published (in the engineering faculty) are formatted such that each page contains two columns worth of information, side by side, for example:

If I were to write a research paper, then each page would only contain one column of material.

Furthermore, some material (such as the abstract) can occupy both sides at the same time. This is impossible to do using Word document.

Can someone enlighten me as to what type of formatting is used to produce this effect? Is there a standard template?


texts: Computational neuroscience postdoc prospects given computational neuropsychology Ph.D. research?

texts:
I have been accepted for a Ph.D. in computer science (CS) and funded projects I am applying for are computationally focused whole brain neuroimaging (e.g., MRI, DTI) cognitive neuropsychology research with new experimentally-derived human data. My end goal is to do computational neuroscience at a molecular electrophysiology level using experimentally-derived subject data which my biology, math, and CS background and prior neuro research projects help with (also, would greatly enjoy the positions but end goal strong favorite).

Would doing a Ph.D. with my research in those funded positions (which are more top-down whole brain, as opposed to my bottom-up individual neuron end goal) prohibit me from being a good applicant for postdoc positions in my end goal research area? How much of an extra challenge would this cause compared to doing a Ph.D. directly with research in my end goal?

In general terms: would agreeing to do funded research for a Ph.D. in a related area to the one that is eventually desired allow for getting a postdoc in a position one most wants? Also, what are good ways to do extra work during the degree toward the postdoc wanted?


texts:
One of the contribution chapters in my PhD thesis (computer science) is a work (paper) that I was actively involved in but the experiments (simulation etc.) was carried out by another co-author. After talking to my supervisor I decided to include this work as one of my contribution chapters but without the results (plots, etc.). Know I want to write a paragraph at the end of the chapter to justify why I did not include any results, clarify my contribution and also refer to the paper where they can find the results in and my name as a co-author.
1- Does this look like a good approach?
2- This is what I am planning to write:
The experimental results have been omitted from this chapter to maintain the originality of this dissertation as the experiments have been carried out by other co-authors. These results can be found in [paper x].


texts: Reviewer wants me to do massive amount of work, the result would be a different article. Should I tell that to the editor?

texts:
I received a major revision decision. But it is a strange one:

Reviewer 1 loved my article, called it excellent and recommended publication with very, very minor comments against it.
Reviewer 2 believes that my article's scope is too narrow and wants me to take on much more research, which would yield a different article with the same structure but longer. R2 has no other major problems with the idea or content of the article, in fact I believe that R2 liked the idea and that what R2 wants me to do is enlarging the article to provide additional support for what it countenances.

To take on all the additional research and writing for a much longer article would take time away from my current PhD research. Should I tell the editor that my article's scope is what it is and that I think it does a good job whitin that scope?


texts: How do I find call for papers for special issues?

texts:
I found that announcements of special issues for many journals are quite hidden. Often the calls are not even visible on the journal's homepage.
What is the best way to find call for papers for special issues?

I hope the rejection rates are lower there, but I've also heard that special issues are sometimes for friends of the editor to get their stuff published.


texts: What can I do if my advisor wants me to keep working, even while I'm on medical leave for severe depression?

texts:
I'm a Master's student right now. Due to previous incidents (What can I do if a student in my lab threatens to tell lies about me, and my advisor doesn't want to fire her?), I'm clinically depressed and currently on medical leave as a result. My adviser however, still wants me to do experiments for my thesis. I have 0% energy. I don't want to wake up, and I sleep 16-18 hours per day.

He still demands results, but all I want to do is sleep. I'm seeing doctors and psychologists, and all of them agree that I should take a break. I don't feel safe at the lab anymore.

In my country, people with mental illness are incredibly stigmatized. I don't know how to deal with this whole situation, and it's causing me undue stress.

My adviser wants me to work while I'm on medical leave. Actually, I did the majority of my experiments while in that situation, but I can't take it anymore. My physician knows this, and my therapist knows too. I never took my two medical leaves fully because my adviser still wanted me to work.


texts:
I've been a faculty member at two universities.  Both have been very "disorganized," generally speaking. By "disorganized," I mean things like: Faculty are not formally hired until after the semester begins (due to administrative failure to sign contracts on time); courses are scheduled in rooms that are far too small for the number of students enrolled; facilities are poorly maintained (e.g., it's not uncommon for windows to break or heat to stop working in a room and not be fixed for months); HR departments don't answer email or even phone calls; pay checks are sometimes late or inaccurate, etc.

Is this a common experience at most universities, or just the ones where I've taught? Both of the places where I have been are well-known institutions -- not elite schools, but ones that are prestigious enough, and which you wouldn't expect to be poorly run.

For that matter, does this type of stuff happen in non-academic jobs, too? I have only ever worked in academia, so I don't have a lot of perspective on just how much disorganization is normal for a workplace bureaucracy. I kind of suspect academia might be a special case because it's run in large part by administrators (department heads, deans) who typically have no actual management training. But I suppose managers in the corporate world might have little idea what they are doing, too.

These are both private universities in the United States, by the way.


texts: US university scholarship for international students

texts: what the US universities look for for giving scholarship?Can an international student get scholarship from US universities through sat exam?


texts: How to format a large diagram with many formulas that does not easily fit on an A4 page?

texts:
I have a large diagram that does not fit into horizontal space of my A4 book manuscript (see below).

What to do to make the diagram easier to read?
Should I replace big formulas with numbers or letters to label the arrows with numbers or letters and describe the corresponding formulas below (or above) the diagram (so called, "legend")?
If yes, what to use as arrow labels: numbers or letters?


texts:
I had submitted a manuscript to an ESCI journal.
It has been over 1 month since I submitted but the status shows "with editor".

I mailed the editor to check the status of my manuscript. The editor informed me that he had sent the manuscript to some referees but he has not received any reply from the reviewers.
He/She further said that if I want, I may consider submitting my paper elsewhere.

How long should I wait for the reviewers to give a decision whether they will review my manuscript or not?

Also my deadlines for submission are due in 2-3 months, i.e. I need to get my first submission within 2-3 months.

What time can be considered enough to withdraw my submission?


texts: A journal is interested in my column proposal, but so is another journal that initially rejected it. What are my obligations?

texts:
Earlier this year, I submitted a column proposal (not a peer-reviewed article) to Journal A.  The proposal was rejected, and so I submitted it to Journal B.  Journal B seemed interested in my proposal and asked me to submit a draft as soon as it was completed.  I thought all was well, but now Journal A has come forward and said that they changed their mind and would like to see a draft.

This wasn't a double submission situation, but I'm still concerned about an ethics involved since both journals would now like to see a draft.  Since Journal A initially said no, am I obligated now to go with Journal B?  Or do I have the freedom to chose between either?


texts:
Context: A paper has been conditionally accepted (subject to my major revision). Main issues that have been raised by two reviewers are:

The author should compare the testing times of different algorithms.
Some  methods can be added for comparison.
Negative example used in experiment is 50%. According to the size of the dataset, the algorithm may overfit.
The algorithm should be evaluated according to the protocol of a known dataset.

It is clear that the main issues are related to the experiment.

Question: Is it mandatory to conduct new experiments to address issues made by reviewers? If I do not conduct new experiments, what is the probability of getting rejected?

I mean if reviewers are not convinced with experiments, the editor is supposed to reject the paper, but he didn't do that.

What should be done under such circumstances?


texts: Old friend wants to use me as an academic reference

texts:
I was recently contacted by a friend to give an academic reference, as we were both students at the same university.

The problem is that, he only completed the first 2 years of his degree and then stopped attending. I think he received a job offer and decided to take that instead.

Me and my fellow classmates finished our 4 year degrees and got jobs in our field.

So, is it reasonable for him to ask me for such a recommendation?


texts: Are there any measures to ensure "academic honesty"?

texts:
I have been reading some reflections on research and academia lately, and it has gotten me to think more critically towards what we do, and what the life we are pursuing has in store for us.

Some of you might remember another recent question of mine, where I was inquiring about the right way to set up projects based on an open-letter I read  about how academia is not what it claims to be. Now I have stumbled upon this blog entry which focuses on the shortcomings of the single-blind peer review process overwhelmingly used in biomedical research publication.

Now it all brings me back to a disturbing idea that I had some time ago; that the quality of the research and the truth to all we do is essentially hanging on a rather fragile virtue, what one could call "academic honesty". We count on the reviewers and editors objectivity, we count on publishers and researchers naive and good intentions with their work, we count on people not putting their personal benefits before that of the society.

As anyone out on the streets will tell you, we do not live in an ideal world and [call me a pessimist if you will] thus I don't believe in the inherent good of the people (at least I do not rely or count on it). I don't see how academics should be exempt from a degeneration in the society that affects everyone else.

That brings me to my question; what measures exist to ensure this "academic honesty" we seem to rely so heavily on? How do we know/ensure:

that the reviewers do not lose their objectivity, for instance when looking at a manuscript of a competitor
that there's no collusion between high-profile PIs and editors of "high-impact" journals?
that academics (at varying stages of their career) do not consider/prioritize "pushing up" the numbers (e.g. "h-index" or "impact factor" etc) when they set out with their research projects?
that grants/prizes/titles are actually given to the better projects/people from the perspective of the greater good, and not based on how well-connected the applicants are? (after all such committees need to have or be composed of other researchers, who else is going to be able to judge the impact and importance of cutting edge research than other researchers?)

I realize that it's a broad question, but I have tried to give a thorough background story to give you an idea about how I got to this idea. Likewise I tried to narrow my concern to one over-arching question (rather than to seek discussion), with a couple of example follow-up questions to make my point clear. I can ask them separately if-need-be, but I think they sit better together, as is.


texts:
I previously asked this question in Mathematics.SE (which is now removed from that site):

  How to be a professor and a researcher in academia if I only have a baccalauréat in maths and don't have much money?

And one kind user from France said that I can't unless I have a PhD. (French baccalauréat is only graduation from high-school.)

But how to get a Doctorat in France? I search for informations about a PhD in general: like how much would it cost me?...etc

Also I heard of 'classe prépa', should I take them first?


texts: What if a call for application does not mention a letter of motivation?

texts:
I will apply for a fixed-term position (max. 6 years contract) at a German university and the part on the necessary documents and information that should be send to the university reads as following:

  Please send all required documents (curriculum vitae, copies of
  certificates, lists of publications and courses taught, details of
  third-party funding and cooperation arrangements; also include
  teaching evaluations and plans for future teaching and research) along
  with a completed application form (see link above)

Hence, it does not mention a letter of motivation. The 'completed application form' is basically a short CV.

Now, I am wondering whether such a letter might not be even necessary, but because I am not very experienced with such applications, I was wondering whether others have seen similar job application descriptions or experiences with such (unmentioned) requirements.

Thank you in advance!


texts:
I have a PhD acceptance letter from an institute in Germany. They have written that my salary would be according to TVöD (collective salary scheme for the German public service).

I searched about that, but there are different ideas.


texts: How to refer to someone consistently who has multiple names/spellings?

texts: I am writing a research paper in which I mention Moroccan explorer Estaban quite often. In the books I have, his name is spelled in different ways; the Wikipedia article linked above lists even more variants, though I never saw a single scholarly source use the name "Mustafa Azemmouri". The problem I get when researching is, every scholar uses different spelling/variations on the name, so I have to search the 5 or 6 different spellings for articles and books to come up in my searches in ProQuest. How do I pick which name/spelling/variation to use?


texts: Is an engineering PhD enough to publish math stats research?

texts:
I'm in the second half of an electrical engineering doctorate but have come to realize that mathematical statistics and the theoretical side of information theory might be more my calling. I am too far along in my research to pivot my doctoral thesis to this abstract of an area, especially considering I am in the engineering department.

I am relatively strong in math (Tall for a hobbit... taking the grad functional analysis sequence, albeit late relative to when math students see it) and have a (very conservative) original math side project, so I believe I am at least capable of understanding math research. However my environment is still most conducive to studying engineering problems, not math/stats ones.

If someone in this position wanted to research and publish in mathematical statistics later on, would an engineering doctorate be enough credentials to do so?

There are several reasons I ask:

The amount of math knowledge implied by a typical engineering doctorate is not anywhere near the amount necessary to do research in statistics theory.  (Not to say the EEs I have met here aren't extremely capable in their field,  just most aren't focused on research level math).
The direction my adviser and I are headed with my current thesis is interesting and useful. I'm not about to drop my engineering degree.
If it isn't necessary I would rather not jump through all the hoops of getting a PhD all over again.


texts: Is there any problem with giving lots of extra credit?

texts:
In the past term, my teaching evaluations were full of complaints that I assign too much homework. To solve this, I've scaled back the assigned workload and threw several assignments into extra credit. This seems to make many student happy:

Students just passing through complete the basic coursework and meeting the course objectives, without feeling the course is harder than other courses.
Students who enter the course finding the material is too difficult can complete the extra work to offset their poor mid-term exam grade while getting additional practice for the final.
Students eager to learn the material are happy with the extra work and feel they can get more out of the course.

In the next term, I hope to offer much more extra credit, equal to 20-30 hours of work, to meet the needs of those top 20% eager learners.

All of the work aligns with the course objectives.
The point values are kept low, to discourage students from skipping regular work.

I have never seen a course instructor ever give more than a little amount of extra credit. Is there any reason why it would be a poor choice to offer a great deal?


texts: Allegations of harassment by a faculty member and reporting?

texts:
This issue is about a university in a 3rd world country.

I friend of mine (I will call her "Z") is a faculty member at a reputable university. During one of her sittings with an undergrad student ("A"), she learned that another faculty member ("T") is sending "A" some inappropriate text msgs and emails. "A" also mentions that she has heard similar stuff from another student "B" about "T". "A" offers to show some texts to "Z" to which "Z" refuses. But "Z" does tell "A" that office of student affairs handles such matters to which "A" says that she is aware of that office but does not want to report. "A" just wants to graduate ASAP and thinks that "T" might damage her as he is quite powerful within school administration. Therefore no action.

I am convinced that, given "A" is not the only student who is being harassed, "T" will misuse his position and will continue his inappropriate behavior. And I am also convinced that office of student affairs will take action if notified. I guess that my friend "Z" does not want to be a whistle blower although she thinks that "A" is being truthful.

I think that keeping quiet will only make things bad for other vulnerable students. Please mind that for a female going to university in that country is a privilege. And "T" is not on the university's radar. So I am thinking of dropping an anonymous email to office of student affairs. Is it ok to do such a thing? I mean I have not even an iota of business with that university, "A", or "T".

So my question is:

Is it ok for a person, who has nothing to do with any of characters in the story, to drop an email asking administration to take a look into these allegations?

Note:
I understand that accusing anyone wrongly has serious consequences, both professionally and personally. But at the same time if these allegations are true and are left unnoticed, students and the university will be at the receiving end.


texts: Is there a recommended font and size for a job application?

texts: Is there a recommended font and size for academic job application? Usually I see Times New Roman being used with a 10 point font size for research papers, but I don't think that it is the best font and size for reading.  Can I pick a font that I prefer, or is there some "best practices" that people expect and I should follow?


texts: Is it unwise to get a recommendation for philosophy phd apps from a professor you had relatively early in college?

texts:
I will be applying to philosophy phd programs after completing my BA in philosophy and while completing a one year masters program (immediately after college) in philosophy. I impressed a certain professor in my third year of college during which I took two classes with her.  If I want a recommendation from her is it important that I take another class during my senior year of college so that her opinion of me will be current? My last class with her was in spring of my third year, and I will apply at the end of Fall of my masters program (equivalent to 5th year of college). If I don't take another class with her, there will be applying after three consecutive semesters of not having her.

I understand that the fact that I will have learned more material means that a letter based on later coursework might be stronger. But I'm mainly curious if admissions committees would partially discount a letter because they thought it to be based on 'outdated' (in my case, by a year or two) information.

thanks


texts: Good methods for creating high quality scatterplots

texts:
What free programs/software are best for creating publication-quality scatterplots?

I'm looking for something like this:

Square, small (take ups about 1/4 to 1/3 of a single column in a two-column paper) but high resolution. Preferably with ability to add axis title and trendline.
Thanks


texts: What role do relevant (!) foreign languages play in grad admissions?

texts:
Say I want to apply to a program like Comparative Literature or Classics, where it is required that during the program I will pick up at least X languages and will have to sit language exams etc. but it is not required in any way to already speak these languages at admission to the program.

Question:

Will stating that I already speak relevant language X (because it's my native language say) or have already studied language Y for two years (because I want to focus on writer A who wrote in language Y) be an advantage? And if so, how much of an advantage will this be?

I guess it is obvious that schools will care mostly about the quality of the candidate's research etc. but what role would knowing (relevant) foreign languages play here?

PS: Note that I am talking only about foreign languages relevant to the program here. So for example latin for a classics program, or german & french for a comparative literature program where someone wants to focus on precisely these languages.


texts: Is extra time on the GRE looked down upon?

texts:
I have a friend who generally gets extra time on tests within my University, but is worried that if she requests it on the Math GRE it'll be denoted on her scores somehow, and places she's applying to may count it against her.  So, I have the following questions:

Does the Math GRE subject test currently indicate whether a student used extra time on the exam (as a disability accomodation)?
If so, how do grad schools in Math/CS take this information into consideration?


texts: Optimizing conference paper solution to be eligible for Journal article

texts: I have presented recently in one of IEEE computer science conferences. My paper's main contributions was optimizing an algorithm to achieve 3.5X times speed up. Now, I am planning to submit another paper to one of Springer's journals with IF 0.7. However, the only new contribution here is I optimized the gain to be 4.5X in addition to theoretical comparison between the algorithm and other 3 algorithms to justify why I have chosen this algorithm to be improved. The paper has been re-written completely and I am aware of the plagiarism issue. However, I am still concerned, is that contribution sufficient to make my paper qualified?


texts:
There have been a number of other questions about grading oral exams, or about which countries use them, etc., but for those of us who come from places that don't traditionally use oral exams, how do you go about, for lack of a better term, write them?  Given the amount of online transitioning for courses lately, it seems to me that oral exams would be a good way to ensure that that the student actually learned the material and didn't get someone else to write their paper or copied answers from some repository.

For example, in a Latin class, would a typical question be to translate a passage on the spot?  Or would it be questions about "what are the declensions for X?"?  Or something totally different?  Does it ever integrate previous work ("on your midterm paper you said X, can you explain why you didn't think about Y?") or is it generally totally standalone?  All of them above?

Note that I just use Latin as an example, I'm mostly curious on a generic process level, so it would be applicable to all disciplines.


texts: Seven years of postdoc with no first-author publication – what are my career prospects?

texts: I have been a postdoctoral fellow for seven years, but I have no first-author publications. I am really struggling with my projects; none of them could be completed. I have several review articles, one book chapter and one publication as a co-author.  I am too depressed and livid with myself. What are the prospects moving to company or other non-academic jobs? I had five publications as a first author during my PhD. Can I become a medical writer or science writer. My professor advises me to try and complete at least one project, because I have one last year of funding left.


texts:
I would like to be able to live-stream presentations online in case my school closes. My presentations are in power point. Ideally I would like to share my screen so I can use other software simultaneously. Finally I would like student to be able to ask questions from home and be heard by everyone, but I would like to have control over who is heard.

Any software recommendations? Even better if it's open source, or at least free


texts:
I am having trouble keeping organized the files for the computational component of my research project. In brief, I have written computer code which I use to run computational experiments. For each experiment, I get a set of output files, from which I generate output such as plots and tables.

The trouble stems from the fact that I have multiple experiments (say exp1, exp2 and exp3) and each experiment has multiple output files (say a.txt, b.txt, c.txt). This is further complicated by the fact that I have multiple versions of each experiment (say exp1 2014-01-02, exp1 2014-05-06, etc).

How should I organize the code and the output in a systematic way?
The system should satisfy the following key requirements:

It has to be easy to rerun version X of experiment Y.
I occasionally have to rerun earlier versions of the experiments in order to check the results or to make slight modifications.
It has to record the output for each version of each experiment.
I often have to run many slight variants of a single experiment
to tweak some small aspect of the results,
so it is essential to record the output for each run.


texts: Manuscript acknowledgement for students who helped with lab maintenance

texts: I am working on a manuscript for research I performed in graduate school - the first manuscript from my research has been accepted for publication, so I am getting things started for the second one. Anyways, I am thinking about how best or whether to acknowledge other students in the laboratory who were involved in background maintenance work for the project. I have already acknowledged individuals who contributed working space/instrumentation and performed tests that were directly impactful on producing the manuscript. The background work includes items such as washing/drying glassware, being the student who received and started maintenance of microbial cultures that were shipped to us, was involved in discussions with myself and our advisor about the culture medium, etc. One of the students had a similar but different project that required us to use the same type of culture medium, but I prepared all of my own and adapted the process (not the final chemical concentrations) to my needs. It's been a couple of years, and I vaguely recall that somebody may or may not have assisted with sampling one time for the experience. Any advice on how to address these minor/negligible contributions?


texts: How to stop sexual harassment by teacher?

texts:
I'm a student in India.  My music teacher was kicked out of the school about 1 month ago due to sexual misconduct.

Today, he messaged me on Instagram with a fake ID and started talking nastily to me so I blocked him. He again messaged me with a new ID and asked for pictures and so on. I had to block him 3 more times.

He again messaged with a new ID of a girl.
I gullibly replyed to the message but again he asked for pictures and some sexual chats so I blocked him once more.

This is not ending. He was my teacher and this attitude of his is not good.

What should I do to stop him doing this?
And to prevent many girls from getting affected by this teacher?


texts:
I am not well enough prepared for an oral exam I will have soon. I should probably pass the exam but with a bad grade I wouldn't be happy with. This comes due to some bad time management and some personal problems during the semester. Unfortunately I still decided to take the exam....

Since we have 2 tries I am planning to fail it. Now I am unsure how to do it politely. Is it ok to come by and see how the exam is, but answer bad on purpose or should I sent a mail that I'm not well prepared and apologize and come to the retake date?

I'm grateful for any advice how to handle the situation.


texts: Should the Advisors and PIs always be a coauthor?

texts: I am collaborating with another person on a paper and I was wondering if we are suppose to write our advisor's name in our papers merely because they funded us and looked over the paper?


texts: Writing CV's for a "summer school" course

texts:
I would like to apply to a week-long master's course offered by a university in another country. The only thing they require for the application is a CV.
Since I have no significant experience in the field of the course or any publications, I have no idea what to include in my CV.

I thought about including (outside basic details) the title of my diploma work, the name of my supervisor and the main subjects (relevant to the course) I've learnt as an undergraduate. But I am wondering if it is too detailed.

I've also taken some MOOCs, but they are not strongly related either. I could include the titles of the conference presentation I've held and my language and computer skills and scholarships I've got.

Which of these would be appropriate to include?

Thanks for the help!


texts: Are there opportunities to support cancer research through volunteer IT or software development?

texts:
Several friends and acquaintances have recently died from cancer. The chemo treatments are crude and destroy quality of life. Furthermore, chemo treatments depend on the efficacy of antibiotics for protection while one's immune system is compromised.

We have to do better.

Who is developing the "personalized medicine" processes? It seems like there should be a way to look at the DNA of a cancer and reprogram it to settle down or go away.

My expertise is in systems engineering and software development - not in the biological sciences. I am just retired, so I don't need reimbursement. How can I contribute to improving this situation?

I suspect the answers depend on more fundamental research, that is why my question is:  How can I contribute on a volunteer basis to cancer research?

Update: I plan to upgrade from a 2006 MacBook Pro to something that can run BOINC problems a bit quicker. Rosetta@home seems like a reasonable target.

I have found Rosalind - a site for exploring bioinformatics.
The next step for me is to ask friends who might have contacts in academia.
Thanks for looking!


texts: Is it safe to list my publications on the Internet if I am being stalked?

texts:
I am being stalked by someone who probably poses no physical threat to me, but his actions were concerning enough that we filed a police report, and the dean of students moved me to different housing.

Do you think it is worth taking my academic website off the Internet?  With my publication list, my stalker could find the names of my collaborators, and the name of my PhD advisor (who already knows about the situation).  There is a tiny chance he might contact some of them.


texts: Ethicality of submitting a manuscript without a peer's name on it if they didn't contribute and you didn't pursue their edits?

texts:
I work at a very large institution with multidisciplinary faculty and staff, and I was acquainted with someone (we'll call him Dr. StackExchange) by a close friend of mine for a collaboration prospect, as it was believed his input would be highly valuable. I allowed him to look over a manuscript over a novel idea, and he completely missed the point which was a little concerning regarding his proficiency. Moreover, his edits took away from the spin we wanted on our paper and made it very conservative (debased it to a topic that is relatively published as opposed to something novel). Nevertheless, I went ahead.

Later, Dr. StackExchange approaches me with the premise that they have an editor invitation for a topic that I have an expertise in, and if the manuscript is based on sound ground, it will be met with a positive reception. Excited, I dropped everything I was doing for the past few days to punch out a manuscript with data, and my trusted friends in the field are impressed. I e-mail this Dr. StackExchange a copy of the manuscript and inquire further on the nature of the invitation (APC, etc.) and it turns out this wasn't an invitation but merely thought that having a manuscript in this journal would be a good idea. Essentially this is an unsolicited manuscript, and I spent less time with my wife and family to crank it out by an artificial deadline.

Needless to say, I am livid and I do not want to collaborate with Dr. StackExchange for this false premise. They do not have substantial influence even though they are within my institution. We share a senior in common, but I have a great relationship with this senior that is mutually exclusive of this individual. Based on this person's preliminary text messages, he again wants to make edits that my group and seasoned researchers into this topic think are asinine. In terms of contribution, I would say I did roughly 88-92%, and my close friend who initially referred me to him did the rest. We place our senior on there as a PI after he gives his opinion. If I do not carry out Dr. Stackexchange's person's edits, ignore him, and send this paper to our senior as a PI, would it be inappropriate or unethical to exclude Dr. StackExchange as an author? In retrospect, he comes off as exploitative and I believe we have identified lower ranking students who have fled his projects.

I intend on carrying out this scenario, but I want to make sure I am not doing anything grossly unethical. My belief is simply if this person contributes 0% to a paper and he is not even ingratiating me with a receptive journal as a target...what does this person serve? Especially if they lied to me (this is not a "misunderstanding", initial e-mail correspondence explicitly states that there is an editor who asked him personally for a manuscript over this topic and it will be met with much anticipation if we submit before a certain date for an issue)


texts: Is physics taught using phrases that are too easily misinterpreted, and can this be improved?

texts:
To explain, let me pick a particular statement: "the electrostatic force is mediated by the exchange of photons".

When a physicist (or a lecturer) says this, they mean one thing: the process described in detail by QED. When a student (or an amateur) hears this, they think of two electrons, and they imagine photons flying between them. You can imagine what follows: questions like "how do they know where to fly", or "what is the frequency of these photons", or "where does the energy to create those photons come from" etc.

When I was growing up, I had no access to anyone who really understood physics. All I had were books filled to the brim with phrases like the above. It is nearly impossible not to misunderstand something when such loose statements are used, as popular literature tends to omit the extremely important "but"s.

For example, in the statement above, the "but"s omitted are "but we don't actually mean photons, in fact we don't mean any particle at all; what we mean is a mathematical tool we use to calculate how the interaction works, which is reminiscent of actual photons in so many ways that we can often treat the calculations as if they involved actual photons".

What is the most effective way to educate students about such phenomena, where our language we use to describe them risks obscuring the reality, and/or misleading the students? Is there evidence in the pedagogic literature on this?


texts: Cite something I overheard as personal communation

texts:
A couple of years ago, I was at a conference and there was the typical Q&A after someone gave a talk.  I can't even remember what is was about, however in the audience was one of the big-shot researchers in my field (papers, citations, grantmoney).  She made a comment, that kept stuck in my mind, and now I would like to borrow that information for my thesis.  Can I cite this as a personal communication?
Note, I have not talked personally to her, just was in the audience and "overheard" the comment.  Note also, what she said was related to some government research contract, and is not published.

Edit: some clarifications:
It was a public comment on the talk, made to the whole audience.
She mentioned that they are using a certain instrument in their research (the government thing), which I like to mention in order to point out the relevance of that instrument even in other areas than what my own reserach is covering.


texts: How can I oppose my advisor granting gift authorship to a collaborator?

texts:
I am a masters' student. I have written an article, which was part of my thesis. This was my first article. After I handed it over to my professor, it was highly commended. My professor was not the least involved in writing the paper. He just gave me the idea, which I am sure was his.

But after a while I realized that my professor had given my paper to a colleague for submission. This corresponding author is my professor’s old student, who now teaches at another university. I never ever met him. My professor confirmed this. I am listed as a co-author of the submitted paper. As far as I know, they haven't changed the content. Meanwhile, my article has been approved by the referees and has reached the revision stage.

This is a theft. How can I tell the journal that this article was written by me alone and that nobody other than me and my professor should be authors? Can my reporting to the journal prevent this theft? As I have heard, where I live, such behaviors are commonplace. I am looking for a way to stop these acts.

Appendix:
After talking to advizor about it he
told me my paper was in trouble (while my paper was highly praised by him). I asked: Why didn't he tell me to correct my paper myself? (He didn't answer) And finally he said my article was rejected. (While I have seen on the Journal site the referees agree with my article and the article has reached the revision stage.)


texts: Degree programs or careers with a focus on plagiarism detection?

texts:
Are there any formal degrees that offer training in tools for detecting plagiarism? Or on understanding fair-use, proper attribution of sources, and avoiding plagiarism?

Are there career options which focus on exposing plagiarism?


texts: Should the website contain information which is discouraged to have in the CV?

texts:
Here and there in this site, I get that you should have your own website. It is one way to networking, making you standing out of the crowd. It can also be your extended version of CV or SOP, helping others knowing you more.

But what about the information that is discouraged to have in such documents? For example:

Contests. A math contest indicates that you can solve hard problems, but it doesn't say anything about your research ability. A chess contest is worse, it doesn't even relate to your field.
Courses.
Volunteer activities.

The main point is that they show that you are not investing your time properly. But does this contrast to the "a place to show yourself more" point?

And how about putting things like life objection, music I like, drawing my kid draws, etc? These are obviously not suitable for a CV, but they are just hobbies. Everyone knows that investing your time on this isn't a bad thing for your career, but a way to balance your life.

Links:

Is web-presence important for researchers?
Are participations in competitions well recognized for a Ph.D. application?
Can I include the completion of Udacity and Coursera classes I have attended in an academic CV?
Why are contributions to the education of the broader public not valued much within academia?


texts: Can I use one job offer to speed up another offer (on my dream job)?

texts:
My question is all about academic job offers. This is my first time on the job market post PhD, so I'm completely new to this. Here's my dilemma:

I was interviewed for an academic position last month at University A and they made me an offer today, but want me to decide within the next two weeks. The job at University A is ok, and actually pays very well (more than I expected) but is in a location both my spouse (a non-academic) and I greatly dislike. And I am not completely thrilled about the job itself. I think for the most part I'd enjoy it, but there's a lot more "managerial" aspects that I am not particularly interested in.

I found my dream academic job at University B and applied there a couple of weeks ago. University B is in a location that both my spouse and I love, but it would pay less than the job at University A. I am extremely qualified for the position at University B and am confident that my application will stand out. But, they are still taking applications for another week. The problem is that the timelines are really not matching up here.

If I had both offers in hand, I'd take University B, even for less money. I am that much more excited about the position and the location. The problem is, I don't know when University B will really make decisions. I'd like to email or call someone to try to speed things up, but don't really know the correct etiquette in academia.

I guess what I'm asking is this: what's the most appropriate way to call University B and say "I recently applied for this position, and I think I'd be a great fit, but I have another offer in hand. I'd much rather be a part of University B's project, however. When might you know what candidates you are interested in?" I don't want to be rude or sound arrogant, but really think I have a good chance if they can move fast enough.


texts: Can I say no when my principal investigator asks me to help cover lectures next semester?

texts:
I'm a postdoc at a US university, and my principal investigator (PI) asked me to cover some of his lectures next semester. I do not want to do any lecturing as I want to focus solely on my research. I am involved in two funded projects, and I therefore have a lot to do research wise.

Can I say no to covering lectures or would that be considered a mark against me?


texts: Thesis supervisor is too much focussed on formatting and typos, rather than content. Is it normal?

texts: I'm a master's student and my thesis supervisor is quite a perfectionist. She's too much focused on pointing out errors relating to formatting and typos, and less on the content. She gets absolutely furious at even the slightest use of passive voice in thesis, and whenever she comments on the content, she just writes "why?" at the end of the sentence. How can I handle this problem?


texts: How to provide attribution to a media source in a research paper?

texts:
I'm working on a project report which we plan to publish as a research paper later after some more work. In my report I have used some images from the Wikimedia Commons and Wikipedia. They all are either in the public domain or licensed under the Creative Commons license.

I would like to provide attribution to the media source in the report and the paper. I have googled it but could not find a source which explains it with an example.

Is there a standard way of providing attribution in a report/paper?
Can I provide attribution in the  bibliography along with the cited papers?
I'm using bibtex for references. Is it possible to handle the media attribution using bibtex?
Does anyone know of a published paper which provides attribution to the media sources so that I can have a look?

EDIT:

Does anyone know of a proper way to provide attribution in captions because I think attribution in captions will reduce readability.


texts:
I remember having heard of a large distributed computer network being operated by several universities. As far as I remember, it would be possible to get several (hundreds) of virtual machines to perform computations, testing, evaluations, etc.

Unfortunately, I do not remember this network's name, but I have the feeling that it was similar to "ResearchLab" or "ScienceLab". However, I was not able to find a network with such a name...

Hope that anyone out there can help. Thanks a lot!


texts: Can you present data on non-participants?

texts:
Are you allowed to present data on those who declined to participate in your study?

The following is an excerpt from a study on whiplash-traumas where the authors clearly publish some basic statistics on people who declined to participate [1].

  Emergency departments identified 6952 eligible participants, of which 3851 (55%) agreed to provide follow-up data (figure). People who participated were older (mean age 37 years vs 32 years) and more likely to be female (2133 [55%] of 3851 vs 1435 [42%] 3430) than the patients who did not participate, but not different in whiplash associated disorder grade.

[1] Lamb SE, Gates S, Williams M a., Williamson EM, Mt-Isa S, Withers EJ, et al. Emergency department treatments and physiotherapy for acute whiplash: A pragmatic, two-step, randomised controlled trial. Lancet [Internet]. Elsevier Ltd; 2013;381(9866):546–56. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61304-X


texts: How to quiet noisy undergrads students during lecture

texts:
I am teaching a class of about 100 undergraduates.
The class meets for a three-hour block every week
in a lecture hall which seats about 120.
We have about 2-3 breaks every lecture,
to give students time to buy food, go to the restroom,
and also to work on some in-class problems
which they have to submit after the lecture.

The problem that I am facing is
that many of the students like to chit-chat even when I am talking.
I find that this is distracting for the students
who want to concentrate on what I am saying.

What are some techniques which I can apply
to nicely tell the students to keep quiet?

Clarification:
When it's time to work on the in-class problems,
the students get 20 minutes to do so,
and are free to talk as much as they like.
The problem with the students being noisy
is that they are noisy during the lecture
when there are supposed to be quiet.


texts: Is the invited author of an editorial always the first author, even if their co-author wrote the whole thing?

texts: I've recently had an experience where I wrote an editorial at the behest of a distant colleague.  He was invited to write it by a journal and asked that I do so with him (for him actually).  Is it still appropriate for him to be first author even though he did not write any of it (but he was the invited author)?


texts: Where to use MLA in-text citations for Computer Science paper

texts:
I am currently working on a paper on the subject of Probabilistic Turing Machines. To do so, I will be using several print sources, as well as online resources. I have never written a computer science/mathematical paper before, and I am unsure where to place in-text citations (MLA). For example, I am giving a formal definition of a PTM using information from a specific section of a textbook; included in the definition are a couple of equations. This is about one paragraph in my paper. Would I place an in-text citation citing the book at the end of the paragraph?

In general, does every fact need to be cited? For example, if I were to say a PTM is a type of NTM, would this alone need to be cited with an in-text citation?


texts: Can I copy my own work within the same class?

texts:
I've seriously never encountered what I just have, nor have I had to ever ponder this before. I am taking an international business class where we have to write six papers and six journals. I am currently writing my third paper and am now stuck here. One of the criteria for the last paper I wrote was to explain the cultural components in international business. Further breaking down the components, I had to write about learning language in international business, so I did about three paragraphs on that. Now I am writing a completely new paper and one of the criteria is to do what I just said I did in the last one regarding language. I'm sitting here thinking: do I seriously repeat myself? Can I even? In this case, what exactly is expected of me when the same thing is being requested to be written essentially back-to-back?

I just want to make sure it is clarified, this is the same course. This is not about re-using content from one paper in one course and asking to use it in another.


texts: Why do open access consortia affiliate themselves with questionable publishers

texts:
The open access publishing world has a number of predatory publishers. Many know about Beall's list which identifies publishers and journals that engage in questionable practices. The existence of these questionable publishers and journals makes choosing a quality open access journal difficult. Consortia like the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association and the Directory of Open Access Journals seem to promise a level of scrutiny. For example, members of OASPA include the Royal Society and PLoS and while I cannot find a link confirming it, it seems like the AIP is also a member. To me these are above the board legitimate and well respected publishers. There are also members, like Frontiers, that I am not sure how I feel about. I like that Frontiers is trying to push an innovative model of publishing, but I am not sure that I want them to have a large say in defining "good" open access publishing practices. Finally, there are members like MDPI which Beall classifies as predatory and Hindawi which while it never made Beall's list, did make his "watch list".

I think I have two questions. First, why do these consortia affiliate themselves with questionable publishers? Second, how can the academic community pressure open access consortia to consider their members carefully?


texts:
According to Dr. Daniel G. Amen, each person has his personal definition of success. Therefore, you can't argue with anyone regarding their personal definition of success. My personal definition of success is to have a Ph.D. in CS and become a teacher in a university. To me, not having a Ph.D. is like living as an incomplete human being. I have become so obsessed with the idea of having a Ph.D. that I have already sacrificed various things for this ambition, and I am prepared to sacrifice more.
Now, for me the problem has been, due to my undiagnosed clinical depression and, apparently, insufficient math background, I dropped out of two Masters in CS programs from two different EU universities. Now, I am taking the medication regularly, and in a stable situation.
I never wrote a thesis before, and don't have any publications.
What should I do now to go ahead and restart my aspirations to become an appropriate candidate for a Ph.D. program?

Do I need to go return and complete my MSc degree in order to get accepted into a Ph.D. program?
If I must go back to an MSc degree, would a 1-year MSc suffice given that the MSc programs I dropped were of 2 years in length?

A comment by Peter caught my eye:

obviously, I can't tell with certainty because I don't know OP but mental health issues, an obsession with completing a degree just for the sake of the title, and subpar math skills are not a promising combination.

I would like to reply this.
Firstly, if I were not stuck with my health issue and math skills, I wouldn't have come to academia.SE, and probably would be answering this type of question for others. academia.SE is here to give suggestions.
Secondly, I am having my medication regularly, and I am having good health now. That is why I am thinking about restarting my journey.
Thirdly, I have been studying college and graduate-level mathematics for the last three months. I have been improving. Probably, I will sit for the GRE Math subject test at the end of this year.
Fourthly, yesterday, I have received a national scholarship from an EU-country to work on a research project. So, I think, I still have something in me.
Fifthly and finally, read Napoleon Bonaparte's story about Line of Fate. This is probably a fictional story, but you get the idea.


texts: I have a bachelor's degree in Oenology and Beverage Technology and I would like to apply for a master's degree in Brewing Science and Technology.  However, my bachelor's ECTS in mathematics and statistics are far fewer than those required by the M.Sc. Is there a way to add more ECTS to my degree? Could I take a course to reach the minimum requirements?


texts: How to know which citation style is applied?

texts:
How to know which citation style is applied, if googling its characteristics does not reveal the name?

In specific, do you know what is the name of this citation style?

  Merlis, Timothy M., and Tapio Schneider, “Atmospheric dynamics of Earth-like tidally locked aquaplanets,” Jounal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems 2 (December 2010); DOI:10.3894/JAMES.2010.2.13.

Authors: roman
Title: roman in quotation marks, with ending comma inside the marks
Journal: italics, with issue date in roman

The style is taken from the book What If? from Randal Munroe. I'm translating it so would like to know its style to know how to put the translation of the reference properly.


texts: What is the difference between a Bachelor of Arts Honours and a regular Bachelor of Arts?

texts: I'm applying to Oxford at the moment for graduate study. Under the section asking what undergraduate degree I'll be receiving, it gives me the choice of "Bachelor of Arts (non-UK)" and "Bachelor of Arts Honours (non-UK)." What is the difference between these two? I might receive departmental honors when I graduate, but I suspect this isn't part of the distinction.


texts: Double blind peer review: authorship can be inferred from the manuscript

texts:
I am considering submitting to a journal that only does double blind peer review.
As I have no experience with this kind of review process I have a question. I removed any direct reference to the author information (name, address, email address, affiliation and so on). However, the paper deals with an extension of a numerical code that I previously developed, so it is overtly clear from the manuscript and from references to my previous works that I am the author. There’s no way to remove these self-citations without making the discussion poorly referenced and extremely vague. And besides citations, the paper is clearly part of the same activity as the previous ones. ‘‘Hiding’’ this would be impossible and is certainly not in the interest of the readers, as the clarity of the paper would inevitably suffer.
I have no particular interest in having a double blind review, I am considering that journal because it fits my work and has an excellent impact factor.
However, I can consider other journals if this may be a problem or ground for rejection. Do you think this may be the case?
EDIT: I know there are similar questions, but this time it is not about some little giveaways. The paper would not survive without putting it into its context, and that's what mainly reveals who the author is.


texts: As a PhD student, how do I benefit from reviewing a book my adviser is writing?

texts:
My adviser is writing a book for a course in computer science he will be teaching next fall and I will be the teaching assistant for that course. He wants me to review the book and go through the problems and give him feedback on both.

He didn't say that I will get rewarded or recognized for my work in reviewing the book or the exercises associated with it, but I am guessing that my name will be mentioned in the thank you notes section at the beginning of the book, as usual with most published books based on courses. So my questions are as follows

What benefits do I get from doing this review, if any?
Also, is this work considered part of being a teaching assistant?


texts: How to promote research commercialization?

texts: What efforts have there been to promote research commercialization (e.g. connecting researchers with investors interested in commercializing the researchers' research) and how are these done?


texts: Is it unprofessional or a bad idea to use my department mailing address for personal mail?

texts: I will start a PhD in another city next month, and I need to update my address with the USPS, my bank, and so on. Since I'll be living in graduate housing and expect to move a few times during the program—say I take a summer internship, and graduate housing assigns me to a new room the next academic year—, I would like to make my permanent address my department address. Is this unprofessional or a bad idea? I would be receiving credit card statements, junk mail, and everything in between at my department address. Alternatively, I could just keep changing my address with the USPS every time I move.


texts: Associate Editorship in a high-impact journal

texts:
Is an Associate Editorship in a good journal a very busy position? Should junior faculties at the very early stage (i.e. at the time of joining the department as a faculty) put an effort of being an associate editor in a high-impact journal?
Or two or three years after working as a faculty, one should get into these editorial activities? To get tenure on the way down the road, how helpful this role is?


texts: How is grading by curve fair at all? Are there any arguments in favor of it?

texts:
Per definition, grading by a curve usually means that the students are assigned grades based on the statistical distribution of the test/exam results. No matter what, say 20% of students will always fail, and only say 10% will get a perfect mark.
I see a number of serious problems with this, and I fail to see anything in favor. In my view, for a fair system, the following are necessary; and neither are fulfilled by grading by curve:

A test/exam should have clear and absolute rules and requirements. Here, the students do not know what are the exact requirements to get the result they desire, as the point limits are, obviously, only known after the test/exam.
The grade of the test should directly correspond to how much of the course material did the student learn and understand. The fact that the same ratio of comprehended material can give an A in one year, then a C in the next year,  tells that the requirements of the course itself are also very unclear.
Similarly, the grade should directly and absolutely reflect the knowledge of the student. An A+ should worth the same every time in the same test. But here, the grade only reflects the student's knowledge relative to class members. It can't be correlated to the amount of learned knowledge.
The grade should only be influenced by factors under the direct influence of the student. Here, the mark depends on factors like how "bright" are the other students, how much effort they put into preparation, and even on whether they cheated. Hence, the student's mark is influenced by circumstances completely outside of his control, and unrelated to his knowledge.
No matter the collective results, a given number of students will always inevitably fail. If almost everyone is a genius, there will be the same number of failures as if everyone did poorly. Good students may fail, and bad students may pass. In a similar way as the point before, a student shouldn't be faced with the negative, possibly serious, consequences of failing, just because by chance there were a lot of very bright students in the class.
Also, it creates and encourages an unhealthy and harmful class dynamic. Ideally, the students help each other in preparation. If an otherwise smart student doesn't understand some part and is roadblocked, others would explain. If a student missed a class due to valid reasons, classmates help to give and explain the missed material. But learning by curve creates an artificial race situation, where the students are actively harming themselves by helping others. Decimating the collective amount of obtained knowledge, this goes against the very spirit of education.

All these problems, and I'm struggling to come up with any argument in favor of grading by curve. In fact, I see only two cases where it may be used, and both of them are a fault of administration:

The department expects an exact number of students to pass the course. This is against the spirit of education IMO. If a student is good enough, he should pass. If not, he shouldn't. Regardless of others.
The responsible teacher failed to set exact, absolute, and clear requirements, and/or is lazy or unable to do so. Because of his fault, the students are exposed to an unfair grading system.

Am I missing something here? Are there any objective arguments in favour of grading by curve, and what are these? If not, or they are weak, what are the reasons it's still used, apparently widely?


texts: Is membership in learned societies important in academic career?

texts:
Countries have different strategies and procedure, but academic career is somehow similar: research publications, teaching, funds, awards. I mean academics do the same thing in all countries to be promoted in their academic career.

However, I see a big difference in membership of learned societies in the US and UK.

UK: Academics care about their status in several societies, Member, Fellow (particularly the latter), and always use the designatory letters after their name: MXX or FXX.

US: Academics only join one or two societies in which they want to be active. Fellow is rare, and no one can directly apply for that, still people do not mention it boldly.

Is really the status of membership in leaned societies important? For example, in academic promotion, research proposals, awards, etc?

Is it useful to join several societies (connected to your field, but you do not have time to be active in all of them) to reach high grade membership? Is it somewhat like an award to be listed in CV?


texts: Mature PhD Project Application - How are these received?

texts:
I guess this is a question to group leaders and those who have some influence on what PhD students join their group. Essentially - I want to know your thoughts if someone like me applied to your PhD project.

At 20 I graduated with a 2:1 BSc in Human Biology from a top 50 Uni, then achieved a Merit MRes in Functional Genomics from a top 10 Uni. I pretty much went straight into industry working on lentiviral vectors for gene therapy treatments; however, after three months I was running low on money, having a pretty hard time at home and this all affected my work so left the company after 3 months.

In the economic downturn I had more trouble getting jobs and money so went did waitering and sports coaching to get by. For the last 3 years I've been in international IT sales and have picked up lots of skills - sales, communicating, negotiating, presenting, strategy, training, motivating and leading teams. I've also earned a fair amount of money and I'm in a pretty safe position financially to the point where I could not earn anything for 1-2 years before I hit zero.

At this stage in my life (27) I'm looking back at research and really want to give it a go, but have no idea whether I'd get accepted onto a PhD course. At my old University there is a project based on baculovirus vectors that's right up my street.

I'm definitely applying for it but wanted to understand how an application from a 27 year old with this history might be received. Essentially - what positives and negatives can you see from a mature application?

I feel like I have a good chance. I've got (old) experience in a related field; I'm more mature than a freshly graduated student; I have a lot of skill useful for promoting the groups work and teaching classes; and I'm used to working long hours in a results driven environment, dealing with rejection but making things happen - especially racking through large amounts of work based on personal plans and goals. This is all in a legitimate way rather than a lip-service way.

I'm hoping I can address any negatives people come up with and enhance the positives!

Cheers!


texts:
I've received several one-year extensions on my graduation deadline, granted by the PhD progress committee. I've used them all up and am running into the hard deadlines set by the university. I completed my courses and oral exam already, it's just the dissertation and user studies I have left.

Please don't write me off as lazy. The PhD progress committee, my thesis committee, and my adviser all agree me my work is extremely ambitious, and everyone is satisfied I am making good progress towards it. I encountered some setbacks, the most major being my adviser making the tough call that much of my previous work couldn't be used because its age. I work 80+ hour work weeks like any other PhD student and have been forgoing writing papers in the interest of time.

Bottom line, I'm doing everything I possibly can to hurry, but there's not enough time left. Giving up is not an option I'm willing to take, and the technology to clone myself doesn't exist (yet).

What are my options?