texts: Is it okay to disclose papers under review for feedback on the review?

texts:
One of the "learning outcomes" of PhD studies is to be able to critically evaluate a piece of work (for correctness and significance). Further, PhD students are expected to learn to conduct a proper peer review.

Under that aspect is it okay to disclose the paper you are asked to review to your group to get feedback on how to improve your peer review? The same goes for professors so that their PhDs can learn how to become better in writing / conducting reviews.

On what scale is this okay and not okay? 1o1 with a student and the supervisor? Within a group? A department (in a journal club style perhaps)? [If none, how do you learn this efficiently?]


texts: What happens if my GRE scores arrive after the deadline?

texts: There is a possibility that my GRE scores will reach the admission office 2 or 3 days after the specified deadline- Although the university will only start taking decision in April- Will my application be set as incomplete?


texts: The editor doesn't respond after accepting the manuscript

texts: The journal editor accepted my paper and told me to ask his assistant about the next steps in the publication process. Four months ago I corrected some minor points and sent an updated manuscript to the assistant. Since then the editor's assistant remained silent. About two weeks ago I asked him about the status of the manuscript and next steps, but he hasn't replied yet. What should I do? Could the editor reject my manuscript after acceptance?


texts: Question about unpaid presentations to organizations

texts:
I recently published a policy-based article in an academic journal that initially received some good attention from both practitioners and researchers.  Buoyed by the praise, I shared the publication with the Executive Directors of several nonprofit organizations that I admired in hopes that these organizations might find the arguments useful in their work (I am a both researcher and practitioner myself).

Much to my pleasant surprise, a few organizations wrote back and asked if I would have a Skype conversation with them (as well as forums of researchers with whom they have worked) to brief them on the publication and my findings.

Should I include these presentations on my CV to demonstrate my expertise on this particular policy issue?   If yes, how would I write this up and list this, especially since this is not a formal conference and the 'consult' with them is unpaid.

Thanks for the guidance in advance.


texts: Is this a legitimate excuse for missing an exam?

texts: The class I am teaching had a quiz yesterday. A student wrote to me 2 hours after  that he missed the quiz because he suspected he had a strep throat. He would see doctor and provide me a doctor's note.  Personally I feel this particular reason is a little lame. If he decided to skip the exam because he suspected he was really sick, he would have wrote to me earlier. My question is, if in the end the doctor says he did not have strep throat, should I still give the student a chance to make up the quiz (just because he suspected it)?


texts: How much harder is it for an American mathematician to teach in France rather than in the U.S.?

texts: How difficult is it for a U.S. educated (PhD level) mathematician to land a tenured mathematics research/professorship in France, relative to achieving the same position in the U.S.?


texts: If no funding is available at the time of admission, what are the chances of getting funding later, and when would I find out?

texts:
I applied to graduate school (masters programs) for an engineering major. It is not the most common type of engineering like electrical (my undergrad field) or mechanical. I applied to about 9 schools and heard from the 4th one today (accepted in all 4 so far). Three of these four are top 10 program (in the specific major) in US. Two of the four are top 15 graduate engineering schools in US according to published rankings.
The caveat is that all four of them have said that no funding/financial aid is available at this moment. If aid becomes available at a later date, we will notify you as soon as possible. Schools I applied to stated, if you apply before certain date you will be considered for funding and I did apply before this date. I read the post on this here and here.
What I interpreted from these two posts is that if they really like you they will offer you funding or sometimes it is offered after you accept to attend the program (does this hold any merit?). I am just slightly disappointed. It is just surprising to me that none of the school offered any funding. One of the school's professor contacted me first, after looking at my application, which I looked at as a plus (and I didn't feel like I messed up our conversation). Another school had a application deadline in January and I got positive news from them at the end of January which is unusually early (this was the most competitive university I applied to).
My question is, if they offered no funding in acceptance letter does this usually hold true or should I even consider that it might change and I might get some funding? Usually how much percent of tuition is covered with funding? Is it true that you get funding as you accept the offer?

I would not be a international student. I could be out of state, but not international. In US.


texts: Legality of universities posting sections of books online

texts:
Something I have noticed in my courses over the years is that in addition to all the online distributions of textbooks (which I understand to be mostly illegal), I can often times find universities posting sections of books online, particularly just the exercises. Doesn't this violate the same copyright law?

Here are some examples of what I am referring to from books I have studied from in the past.

Do Carmo, Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces

Here is a solution manual to about half of Brown and Churchill's book in complex analysis (sections of the book itself can be found as well, and it may be worth noting that this is not the university the authors were associated with, I don't know).

There are other examples from other pretty well known texts in mathematics.

How is this legal for universities to do? Do they need to consult the publisher or something first?


texts: Is it ok to cite my own paper, currently in review, in my own thesis?

texts:
My PhD thesis is due around October, 2015 (~6 months ahead of the time of writing this).

I would like to submit a journal paper which contains substantial results from my research, mainly the reasons for this are:

It will be peer reviewed.
It will be useful to others in the same area
I can cite it in my thesis
I can use parts of it that have already been written in my thesis

I have found two appropriate journals, one more prestigious than the other. One of them says it will be reviewed in 6 week (the less prestigious of the two), and the other says it is likely to not be reviewed by October.

It's now difficult to decide which to submit to, and this depends on if it's 'ok' to cite a paper which is currently in review, in my own thesis. Ultimately, I will have done the work and just want to be able to metaphorically point at it and say, "look, this is substantial and good enough to be published, this is why I have submitted separately". I believe that the viva, and writing the thesis will be easier with a number of accepted papers (I feel this is a sad truth, but true nonetheless).

I have viewed a similar question here:
How to cite my own submitted but not yet published work?

However this is regarding citing published work in other papers, whereas the difference here is that I am only citing it in my own thesis (hopefully others will cite it if it's accepted and useful, which I believe there is a good chance it is).

Any advice would be great and really appreciated.


texts: Would it be appropriate to consider applying to a new graduate program as a five-year/dual degree program student?

texts:
I am not sure if students who have deferred from graduate programs tell the school that they no longer can or will be attending?
I've been accepted into a BA/MA program where I am talking credits which will be counted towards the second half of the program. Since I am still a considered as a resident of my undergraduate institution, we are considered students who have "deferred."
I just learned about a Ph.D. program that would provide full funding for students as well as a stipend for housing (of course, this is only for the first year--funding will decrease over the years, but I think this may give me a chance to get a job to pay off the costs). These are two issues that I have been considering for the second year of the  dual degree program. I am pretty much secure in the first year because I am still receiving funding as an undergraduate student; however, in the second year I will be subject to tuition, housing costs, etc like a graduate student. I have accepted that. However, after learning about the Ph.D. program, I want to consider applying. Is it possible or worth it?


texts: Accused of cheating on a class that I passed a year ago. Can my "pass" be revoked? Could this missing prerequisite affect other classes I have passed?

texts: I’ve been accused of cheating in a class that I passed a year ago, and since then I have proceeded to pass the next class in line after that class. This class was a first year class, I’m now in my second year and I’m unsure on what this means. Are universities allowed to revoke a class that I have passed and other that I have passed. I don’t understand why that would be going back through an assignment from a year ago. What happens to the classes that I have passed since then that relied on the class that I am accused of academic misconduct.


texts: My adviser is leaving: what should I do as a third year PhD student

texts:
I am a third year PhD student at one of Universities, say school A, in the USA. I've already taken my qualifying exam and I'm planning to take my general exam next quarter. My adviser notified me yesterday that she accepted and offer from another university, say school B, and leaving my school in Sep.

She gave me two options:

Apply for school B. She said "Given the rules at school B, you have to start from scratch i.e., I have to take course and take qualifying exam again". In addition, I have to take GRE and TOEFL and go through the admission process. Still, there is no guarantee they will admit me.
Stay at my current school and she continues supervising me. However, my department at school A does not guarantee the funding (in the form of Teaching Assistant).

It is worth noting that I maintained a very good relationship with my department and my adviser and I have a good research record and TA evaluation.

In general,
how do you think I need to approach this situation?

In particular,
 - does that make sense that school B say I have to start from scratch even if I am a third year PhD student who passed qualifying exam from an equally reputable school?

After pondering this situation for a little bit, I came with a plan. That is,

I take my general exam next quarter,
I stay at my current school for two quarters (because I have to pass a certain dissertation credits)
Move to school B as a PhD visiting student for one or two  semester.
Get my PhD from my current school

Does this plan make sense?

I would greatly appreciate if you share your thought and experience with me.


texts: What is the German equivalent of "in press"

texts:
Just wondering if any German speakers can tell me how a manuscript "in press" is described in Germany. Writing up a German CV but I've never come across this phrase before. It could be a direct translation but I doubt it.

Vielen Dank im Voraus


texts: Does mathematical sophistication play a role during paper review?

texts:
I am currently in the process of writing a paper for an international conference in image-processing area. One thing that bothers me somewhat is that the mathematical formulation I use is simple(specifically, I quantify a measure as a simple ratio). I happen to have just 2 equations in my paper. The formulation is sound,though, and is a natural outcome of the framework I have developed.

Ideally, simplicity or sophistication of equations occurring in a paper are not a measure of its worth, but I wonder openly -- what role does "density" and sophistication of mathematics used in the paper play in impressing the reviewers ?
Just for clarification, I am not saying it should or should not. I would like to get a candid view of reviewer experiences and inclinations.


texts: Do exercises in a theoretical reference book need to be solved when doing research?

texts:
I am a first year graduate student in a computational math program. Based on my background (I just finished a one-semester graduate real analysis course), instead of reading a specific textbook, my supervisor suggested me starting reading papers. And if I find unclear concepts, I can refer to some books in library, learn the specific knowledge and come back to the paper.

In general I agree with this method since I think this is the most effective way to learn a new technique, that is, applying the new knowledge directly to my research. But I am not sure what I should do if it's a pure math concept, instead of a numerical scheme. For example, say the existence of weak solution of a particular PDE. After reading the relavant chapter or chapters of a classic book which I borrowed from the library, should I try to do the exercise after those chapters before moving back to the paper? Based on the suggestions here, I should try to solve as many as exercises in that book to make sure I understand the theorems and techniques, and this is what I usually do in my undergraduate study.

But I have several concerns about this approach. Firstly, it may be time-consuming and may delay the research process. Secondly, unlike reading an undergraduate textbook, I started the reference book in the middle, while the exercises may require some previous chapters' techiniques,  which I may not know and may not be directly related with my current research.

So may you share your experience about how to deal with this senario? Do you come back to the paper immediately (say after knowing the statement of a theorem) or do you spend some time solving exercises? If the exercises involving previous chapters' concepts, do you usually read previous chapters as well or do you just skip those exercises? I know it's good to learn more things, but given the time constrains and tons of things I need to learn, sometime it may not be practical.


texts: In applying to graduate programs, what are best practices for proposing research to investigators before and during the application process?

texts:
I am a recent graduate of biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park and am currently working as a postbaccalaureate fellow at the NIH in Bethesda, Maryland.

For context, I work in a group studying rare inborn errors of metabolism. Our lab is transitionally oriented as we are working on the development of animal models of the disease and gene therapy.

I pursued research in a rare disease group as I am a patient of a rare congenital skin condition. I am currently enrolled in a study which is working to defined the molecular characteristics of my disease (outside of the NIH).

I would like to remain translationally oriented in my graduate pursuits. My proposal in its basic description would be to develop an animal model for my skin condition and pursue gene therapy or gene editing to correct its manifestations. This area of research (gene therapy in dermatopathology) in general is relatively underrepresented in the scientific literature (does this make my proposal stronger?). If anybody would like any more information I can absolutely elaborate.

I will be applying to graduate programs next year. How should I approach investigators (relevant to the described field) with a research proposal such as the one above before and or during applying? I would appreciate hearing your perspectives!


texts: First-year PhD student with weak CV/Resume; how to stand out in fellowship competitions?

texts:
I am a first year PhD in a large Social Sciences program at an American public institution. My CV is very weak as I am not yet published. I have research assistantship experience and teaching experience as well as a stint on a Fulbright. I'm applying to fellowships for the summer to gain more research experience.

I am working on a fellowship application and would like to stand out amongst the crowd. Other than my attributes above, I have nothing! My CV barely fills two pages. Will I be written off because I don't have much experience? I need fellowships like these in order to grow my tiny resume- but- I'm worried can't compete to get them without more.

Thank you for your help!


texts: Should previous final exams be released to students?

texts:
In general, you can find the past exams for the past 15 years or so at my school. However I had one prof in Calculus III who chose to withhold his exams. This was the only instance in which a prof has chosen to do so in my two years at university studying engineering. His justification was that he didn't want students studying exams rather than the actual course material which I find to be interesting.
As a student, I notice that solving past exams from the same instructor as practice can be helpful for a couple of reasons:

it helps you get accustomed to the instructor's style of exam so you're less nervous when you're writing the actual exam. I find that even seeing the familiar cover page helps in calming me down just before an exam starts.
it  helps you figure out what type of questions the instructor likes to put the focus on (i.e instructor A prefers to put conceptual questions, instructor B hasn't put a question on the laplace transform in 5 years so maybe I'll study that later if I have time, instructor C always has a 2nd-order circuit as question 1, etc...)

Of course, the 2nd point is exacly why my calculus instructor chose to withhold his exams. But at the same time, some students may benefit if they use them responsibly as challenging practice problems without jeopardizing their learning experience (i.e someone with the mentality of "I know instructor B hasn't put a question on the laplace transform in 5 years, but I need to study it anyway because it's important"). Most of my other instructors release their past final exams, but do not post full solutions (or full solutions to just last year's exam). A few have chosen to release just the final answers to the questions without the full solution.

Is it better for the students if the instructors released the past final exams? What about full solutions (or just final answers) to the finals exams? Are there studies that show if one strategy is better than another?

I understand that the answers and arguments may vary depending on the field so I should add that I am particularly interested in an answer for the fields of mathematics, science, and engineering.


texts: Use academic degrees in thesis acknowledgments

texts:
In theses, students typically write acknowledgments thanking their supervisor, co-supervisor, other advisors, etc.

Maybe everyone can just do it at will, but is there any best practice, if academic degrees should be used in the acknowledgements?


texts: 3 years into my phd program, want to shift to theoretical physics

texts: I joined a phd in electrical engg 2 years back. But requiring physics, I did log of physics courses and I have now developed a deep interest in mathematical physics and condensed matter. But that has lead me to undergoing coursework in maths dept as i had already finished lot of basic/masters level courses in physics and which gave me a feeling that doing math courses thoroughly first is the right way to do any physics. But my supervisor now is terribly disappointed with me. Also I am confused about shifting university as I am already 2years + into a graduate program. Also there is a feeling that once am through the coursework , I might find some problem interesting to electrical engineers that I might solve with the new skills. But a few professors and my current supervisor are discouraging me saying it is a vague plan. So what should I do, any suggestions?


texts: Should I cite logos and clip-art in my thesis?

texts: In my presentation I am using a block diagram which contains few logos (like Mathworks, visual studio) and some clip-art (like desktop, hardware board) . I got these from various random websites from Google image search. Should I  cite them??


texts: If one wants to generate several papers from a single research project, what is a reasonable way to do so?

texts:
As a follow-up to "Whether to publish one big paper or many smaller papers for a given research project?":

Suppose one wants to generate a number of publications from a single research idea or project, because other things being equal, more publications is better. What is a reasonable way to do so; one that does not dilute or compromise the quality of ones papers?


texts: Advice on getting a Ph.D with scholarship in Australia (Neuroscience)

texts:
I intend to write to potential supervisors soon and I had a few questions.

I am currently in my second year of Masters of Neuroscience (In France, I'm Indian) and won’t finish until June 2018. I see some positions open that I really want and I don’t want to miss out on them but I also don’t want to write to them too soon.

When is the right time to write to them? What should the first email contain? I guess one should attach a CV but should I also send letters of recommendation?

Any tips on the scholarships and funding and what that requires?

Any other tips?


texts: Selecting journal reviewers through cover letter

texts:
I was planning to use mdpi.com to submit a paper to "Entropy" journal. The journal perfectly matches the area that my paper covers. However, they require a cover letter to five reviewers selected by myself:

http://www.mdpi.com/journal/entropy/instructions

  Coverletter: Check in your cover letter whether you supplied at least 5 referees. Check if the English corrections are done before submission.

Is this the standard procedure? Can you propose other similar journal? I am getting afraid that receiving feedback is not an easy task, and I can wander with the paper for a year or so.


texts: Very odd interview/hiring timeline for physical science field

texts:
Due to the circumstances surrounding my graduation and other factors, I didn't apply in the Fall of 2013 for any jobs. I did happen to see an opening that was still posted in February and applied on a whim. In a short period of time I was asked to do a phone interview followed by campus interview followed by request for more info from my references. At this point it was summer and quite a bit of time went by before I was asked for some start up costs (nothing substantial for my field) at which point the dean said it shouldn't be a problem.

Fast forward 2 months and all I've heard is "you'll hear from us soon" and that the process is moving slowly. Every time I think they must have filled the position they tell me just enough to make me think I am still in the running. At this point we are way off of the normal hiring schedule so I do not know what to think.

Does anyone have any thoughts--is it likely that they have offered the position to someone else and are in negotiations? Why bother getting all of my startup details? Has anyone else had any experiences with a super long, off-schedule hiring timetable?


texts: How exactly do graduate students collaborate on a research project?

texts: My question can be elaborated as follows: When graduate students work together on a research project, are they usually expected to work on the same exact things, at the same exact time, or would it be more reasonable to have a division of labor and divide the work load?


texts: Research on practices in addressing faculty bullying/harassment in academia

texts:
Recently, the chair of the faculty senate at my institution began an effort to systematically address issues of faculty bullying/harassment. In particular (but not exclusively), we are worried about the exploitation of non-tenured and non-tenure-track faculty by senior tenured faculty. The institution has a policy on employee-employee harassment that is vague - something like "all employees have the right to be treated respectfully. The institution will have a process to address claims of harassment."

The institution does not have a process beyond 1) informally complain to the deans and 2) file a formal complaint with HR. The second process is a matter of record keeping and thus does not lead to negotiation and resolution except for egregious and repeated offenders. The first process is not formal, so each dean handles cases as he/she sees fit.

  We are seeking to propose a process and are looking for research on best practices. We are aware of the ombuds model that some institutions use. Are there other models? Has research been done on how effective they are?

Note: We are only concerned with non-sexual harassment, like "I will not support your application for tenure unless you X," where X is some activity not normally required for tenure, like teach a number of extra courses without pay, perform clerical duties for other faculty, etc. It also includes abuse of full-time and part-time adjuncts - "We won't renew your contract unless you do X," again where X is not in their original contract. Our institution has very clear and legally mandated processes for addressing sexual harassment.


texts: What does it mean if a professor does not respond to an email about research in a week

texts:
I emailed a professor a week ago about any potential undergraduate opportunities he might have in his research lab. I have not yet gotten a response. Is this normal? the end of my email went like this, was I too pushy or was I not explicit enough with my question? would it be rude to send another email asking again? thanks for any comments

  I would appreciate the chance to talk with you about any possible
  undergraduate opportunities you are currently offering for the Spring
  2016 semester or Fall 2016 semester. I understand you are very busy.
  We could schedule an appointment or I can drop by your office when you
  are available. Please let me know if there is any other information I
  can provide. Thank you, (my name)


texts: Should a postdoc advisor be on a journal article published out of the postdoc's PhD Thesis?

texts:
My friend is in a new postdoc position. Her PhD thesis is unpublished. Her new adviser hired her with the mandate that she get it published (or a paper based upon it) in a good journal, with his help. He also expects to be last author on that paper (she is first), something at which my friend has balked, and is now fighting.

To me, this sounds very reasonable. He stated it upfront, before she was hired, and she accepted. He has certainly put in time helping her to rewrite it and address reviewers.

As a related question, the current version of the paper has no other coauthors. Her committee is not included. To me this sounds odd.

The field is Engineering, and this is happening at an R1 in the USA.

Thoughts?  Should her postdoc advisor be on a journal article published out of the postdoc's PhD Thesis? Should her committee?

Update: She and I spoke this weekend, and she agreed to let me post this.She has removed him as an author mid-'revise and resubmit'. He was gracious, and has not contested this with the journal. The journal rejected shortly after the resubmit; she will need to find a new outlet. She further negotiated that she be sole author on all future pubs. The situation is certainly to the detriment of their relationship, but I think she feels much more comfortable with the situation going forward. A second and third piece planned are now shelved: she does not have a the statistical skillset to reanalyze the data for these pieces. She now looks toward one day hiring her own postdoc to do so. Her role has been changed to one more focused on writing proposals for funding and data acquisition, toward future projects with publication.  She does not believe her postdoc was threatened by this change beyond the inherent risks of a mid-position role change.

I certainly learned a few things.


texts: Quitting research halfway -- how unprofessional/irresponsible?

texts:
for background: I am a second year Master's student in computer science. I had gone to the same university for undergrad. For my undergrad honors thesis (during last two semesters), I worked with a Professor on a paper which I had designed and implemented, and eventually wrote the manuscript for. The Professor was pleased with the work and the paper was submitted to the top journal in the field. This was over half a year ago. I stopped/withdrew from officially doing research 4 months ago, and two weeks ago the journal got back to us and said the paper can be accepted with major revisions.

The professor is excited of course, and I had told him that I would be available if further work is needed on this, but I honestly, honestly do not want to do research anymore. I am also in the processes of interviewing/finding a job among some other things, so I have a lot of things on my mind. But it would be leaving unfinished work that I started, and this seems very unprofessional. Since I worked on the manuscript/project alone, I feel like it would be a burden to him and others for me to just drop the paper because I'm "busy". It would also be going back on my word that I would be "available".

Basically, I feel bad. I'm not taking research for credit/graduation requirements, but I just feel bad. I have had trouble concentrating on anything for the past two weeks because this is constantly on my mind.

Question: How can I go about telling the Professor I don't want to work on this paper anymore? It is winter break right now, so I would be telling him over email. The professor is expecting me to begin working on the paper the second week of January.

Any advice or criticism is appreciated, thank you in advance. (Sorry that this is a child-like/emotion-based question, I'm not very good these types of things)


texts: Can a project be "too good" for a Master's?

texts:
Pretty straight forward. I am starting to apply to grad school and I was discussing possible projects with some (grad student) friends of mine. When I mentioned something in particular one of them said "that might even be too good for a Master's, sounds more like a PhD..." Then he also went on to say that I could use part of a project like that for a Master's and then use the rest to finish it off with a PhD. For some time I thought about this, then I decided to ask it here.
So is there such a thing as a project that is too good for a Master's? And if so, should my future advisor generally know where this "boiling point" is?
Note: if you need more info about my major of study or the specific sub-field, leave a comment and I can make an edit.


texts: How to comfortably interact with famous professors?

texts:
I know that they are "just as human as we are", but I feel somewhat uncomfortable to talk nonchalantly with the top-notch math researchers and professors in my department because of their social position, their extremely superior knowledge and talent, and also because of their age.

Still, I feel that it is like a waste to have such interesting mind-expanding people around and not to interact properly and talk about maths when I meet them in the department (outside the lecture hall).

So my question is: according to your experience, what is the best (where best means: most polite, appropriate, acceptable, but also profitable) way to interact and make the most of the presence of such awesome professors? Can I discuss "lower" [mathematical and non-mathematical] subjects with them even though their actual (research) interests lie in much more abstruse topics?

Any suggestion (even in the form of a comment) is really appreciated.


texts: How can I distinguish harsh treatment from my advisor from "tough love" and direct feedback?

texts:
Usually during our meetings my advisor will complain a lot and tell me I am doing stuff wrong.  How can I tell if he thinks I am a bad student or if he is just trying to give me direct feedback?

Keeping this general so this question becomes a reusable resource.


texts:
"give a solid overall biographical record of your subject based on the book you have read.  Be sure to include a brief synopsis of all of the high and low points and successes and failures of your subject."

This my assignment, fro writing about a person of my choice. I've realized I don't exactly what a biographical record is. Google wasn't much help for a solid answer either. Can some one explain?


texts: First author added random co-authors to our paper without informing me (second author)

texts:
Our paper in the computer science area has been accepted to a well-known conference and we are getting ready to submit our final draft. This is our first publication and I'm an undergraduate student.

The first author of this paper added 2 extra random people to the co-authors list for revising and proof checking the paper. I'm the second author and I wasn't made aware of this at all and I found it as I was getting ready to edit the paper. They didn't make a significant contribution to the content/material of the paper. Before the 2 people were added, we already had 6 people on the list: 3 students and 3 professors.

Now there are 8 authors and I'm concerned whether my work and the effort I put in will be diluted because of more authors. I don't want it to cheapen the paper. I talked to the first author and he's being stubborn that they deserve to be on the list and isn't interested in changing the list. Should I discuss it with our professors or is it not worth the time and effort? I'm interested in obtaining a PhD and I don't want the additional authors to negatively affect the way my contribution is seen by graduate schools.


texts: Term for a meta-analysis without a literature review

texts:
I'm in the midst of revising a manuscript that compares the results of a sequence of experiments. These experiments, most of whose results have already been published elsewhere, have some components that were shared and some that were unique to each experiment. This manuscript focuses on the shared aspects, comparing across the different experiments in order to draw conclusions about precision, reproducibility, and sources of error.
Since we're performing a statistical analysis over the findings of multiple studies, we have described this as a "meta-analysis."  The handling editor, however, has requested that we change the title, because the use of that term is now dominated by systematic reviews:

Please consider amending the title to more accurately reflect the nature of the work. We note that 'meta-analysis' typically refers to an analysis following a systematic review and utilising a specific framework.

I'm having a hard time, however, figuring out any other word than "meta-analysis" to describe an analysis over multiple studies.
Is there any good word besides "meta-analysis" to describe a meta-analysis that doesn't incorporate a systematic literature review?


texts: What is meant when a job says PhD or equivalent required?

texts:
I saw a job posting that says

  PhD or equivalent required.

What is meant by equivalent? What can be an equivalent for PhD? Expertise gained through work experience and publications?


texts: Phd Supervisor is asking me to work remotely with him for next 3-4 years? What should I do?

texts:
My current university is not good and the other faculty are not good enough for my field, I only joined that particular university to work with my supervisor and now he is leaving. Please help.

I am currently considering applying to a better PhD program but it is going to cost 2 more years of my life as the deadlines for applications are on December and I can join the programs only in next September.


texts: Can your colleague use your unpublished data for their postdoc fellowship application? I think it is unethical. But I don't know which organization in the US handles academic ethics issues if the school does not have an ethics department at all.


texts: What tool or process can I use to see revisions on papers I am grading?

texts:
Like many professors, I ask for drafts of papers of more than a few pages (1500+ words). I provide comments focused on content. (I might make occasional corrections to grammar or word choice--particularly if a term of art is misused--but since I am not teaching writing-focused courses, would be more likely to refer a paper with consistently poor grammar, misspellings, etc., to the campus writing center.)

The problem comes when I am grading revisions. Occasionally a student will overlook some of the recommended changes. Maybe they ran out of time, maybe they disagree with the suggestion, maybe they're just surly. I don't know. But sometimes when looking at revisions, I will want to know what has changed in the text, and will end up having to look and awkwardly compare their draft submission.

My question is what tool or process can I use to see revisions as I am grading the final submission?

I will briefly share some experiences and biases:

Microsoft Word with Track Changes: I'll entertain arguments that this is the way to go, but I have two issues which I'll make clear up front. I have tried this, and when students get my revisions, they will accept my in-line revisions, but it doesn't make them think about what they are writing. Of course, they could still make changes based on margin comments. Another issue is that I am using Linux. Doing track changes in LibreOffice does seem to work, but I am not confident that this won't lead to errors.
Crocdoc (tool built into LMSes like Canvas and Blackboard): I love Crocdoc. The student can upload in MSWord or PDF and you can view and edit in the browser. You can do copyediting marks on the page, but unlike MSWord Track Changes, the students have to make the proposed change themselves, rather than just accepting your edits. Margin comments and global (assignment) comments are also supported. The problem is that you can't simultaneously view versions without actually downloading the files.
Version control system (e.g. GitHub): Might be able to get away with this in a technical program. Would be happy to hear people's experiences if anyone has used this for grading papers as opposed to coding projects.
Plain text/markdown: Even without using a version control system, I could use diff tools to view revisions on my local machine.
Use strikethrough and bold in the document: Would be similar to my experience of journal article revisions. Main problem is sometimes drafts are very preliminary, in which case the final "revisions" will be almost an entirely different paper. Maybe don't use in that case?
Google Docs: I've tried this. It wasn't bad, but without typical LMS tools I had a huge problem keeping submissions organized (in terms of what I've already reviewed, when student edits constitute a submitted revision). This would work better for supervising a thesis or independent study, but was tough with a class of 20. Also, I was annoyed by constant emails as student marked my comments as "Resolved".

These are just ideas. Feel free to expand or ignore, and please suggest things I haven't thought of.


texts: Etiquette for notifying personal contact on faculty search committee about applying for a position

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My question has to do with the proper etiquette for notifying a personal contact on a faculty search committee that I am applying to.  The question is based on the perspective of U.S. institutions.

Background:

I am a doctoral student about to go on the job market.  Several months ago at a conference, a colleague from my master's program introduced me to his boss, for whom he has worked for around 5 years. The boss, it should be noted, used to work at my current institution.  While I am not sure of the circumstances of his departure, it seems he is still friends with some of the professors in my department. Through our conversation, I found out that their department was going to hire several new faculty members sometime in early summer.  I went on their university's HR website about 3 weeks ago and saw the posting.  I reached out to my colleague to reintroduce me to his boss, so that I could ask the boss questions about the faculty search that he (the boss) may be able to answer, i.e. whether the position was "truly open" or if it was only posted as a formality (having been on the other side of the hiring table in my previous life, I knew that sometimes institutions already have an internal candidate, but they have to post the position as a legal requirement, particularly if it is a public institution).  The boss replied to my e-mail and told me that: 1.) the position was truly open, and more importantly, 2.) he is the chair of the search committee.  He also asked me whether I had already submitted my application (I have not).  I am in the process of replying to his e-mail, and would like advice on how I can maximize my connection without sounding desperate or annoying.

Questions:

Is it appropriate for me to tell him that I am putting my packet together and that I will let him know when I submit the application?
Following (1), is it appropriate for me to ask him to be on the lookout for my application when/after I submit it?
Is it appropriate for me to ask follow-up questions about the person they are looking for, for example whether there are specific courses they're trying to develop within their department, whether there are research areas they're specifically looking for, etc. so then I can "tailor" my cover letter/teaching statement/research statement to what they need?
Should I be taking advantage of the fact that the search committee chair is still friendly with several people on my dissertation committee by having them contact him?
The expected start date is sometime in late fall of this year, but the posting shows a closing date sometime in the summer next year.  Can I ask my contact when he expects to start reviewing the applications?


texts: Can a theoretical physicist win a Nobel Prize anymore?

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The background: The big news in the science world this week is that, on Thursday, it will be officially announced that LIGO has detected gravitational waves. Some people have even started talking about a Nobel Prize. I agree that this is a momentous accomplishment and these people deserve all the nerd glory the world has to offer; that said, I feel that, in a fair world, this Nobel Prize should be shared between LIGO and (posthumously) Albert Einstein. After all, he is the one that came up with the theory of physics that predicts things like gravitational waves.

The observation: Nobel Prizes can't be awarded to deceased individuals; the Nobel Committee doesn't award Prizes for theoretical work before its predictions are experimentally confirmed; and theoretical physics is churning out ideas that can't be directly tested with today's technology and resources. Put these factors together, and  I have this uneasy feeling that  Englert and Higgs might have been the last theorists to receive a Nobel Prize. It really looks like Stephen Hawking and Ed Witten, which are widely recognized as among the best theoretical physicists ever, will never get one. For practical purposes, the Nobel Prize in Physics has become the Nobel Prize in Engineering Physics.

The question: are there any theoretical physicists that are young enough, their work groundbreaking enough, and the testing technology sufficiently within our current reach, that a Nobel Prize could reasonably be awarded to them?


texts: What are the industry career prospects for a CS Ph.D. student who doesn't publish in CS?

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I am a computer science Ph.D. student, and my advisor is in a different department.  My work is very computational, and kind of CS related, but my advisor mostly wants to publish in journals outside of computer science.  How will that affect my career prospects?  I don't want to be a professor, but it would be nice to secure a good job in industry.

More specifically, I heard that Google/Facebook/other tech companies mostly give the interesting projects to people with Ph.D.s, and give more boring projects to people with bachelor's degrees.  If I have a Ph.D. in CS, but don't really publish in CS conferences, do I still qualify for an interesting project?


texts: experience/ability in teaching and securing external funds for getting professorship

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I'm a postdoc in Engineering. I am aiming for a tenure-track professorship in research-oriented universities.
But most of the posts require 'demonstrated ability to secure external funds and teach undergraduate/graduate level'.
I feel there is barely a way to gain such experience as a postdoc.
Postdoc fellowships are the only external funds I (as an early-career postdoc) can secure. Teaching opportunity is also limited.
How can I demonstrate/develop such abilities during the postdoc phase?
I found some people have been hired without the evidence of securing funds and teaching experience. So I assume the experience is not limited to actually securing funds and giving lectures.
Are there other ways to advertise(?) the ability in securing funds and teaching, in, say, research statement and teaching statement?
I'm helping my PI write proposals and advise Masters' students. These are usual tasks for postdocs, so I wonder if these suffice.
Does a publication of a tutorial-like book chapter count?
Thank you.


texts: I've taken two classes in a row that require research papers to be written as an assignment, and since the second one has had a similar criteria for which topics are allowed, I decided to continue researching the same topic. However, after checking with the school's plagiarism checker, it flagged me for roughly half of my 2nd paper's sources being reused. Is this something I should be concerned about? The rest of the paper is completely original and not copy-pasted from my first one at all, plus all of my sources are cited correctly.


texts: Rankings of Computer Science conferences and journals

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I was wondering if there is any kind of "reliable" CS conferences ranking available on the web. I have searched on SCImago, but I believe it only ranks journals, and there is no mention about conferences. Actually I am curious about it because in the faculty that I am currently working we want to know which papers are presented to good conferences, and which ones are presented to bogus conferences.

Is there any way to know that for the field of Computer Science? I know there are some tools like Google Scholar, but I believe it is not so trustable after all. Should we rely on Scopus maybe?

Any advice?
Thanks


texts: Working with a professor who does both mainstream and non-mainstream physics research

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I'm currently an undergraduate physics major in my final year at a US institution; I've recently finished applying to physics graduate schools for theory. With one of the schools in particular, I'm facing a bit of a dilemma:

Within said school there is a professor who is very well known and well regarded within the field of my utmost interest. What's more, said professor is still doing interesting research within this field and as such I would love to work with them, especially given that this field tends not to have dedicated research in many US departments.

But at the same time, this professor also does research in a non-mainstream, but not to say crackpot, field. That is, it's perfectly legitimate research but it's not mainstream. There are very few people in the US working on this particular subject and it's often looked down upon by people working in its much more mainstream competitor. While I think the subject itself is pretty cool to learn, I don't want to work in it by any means.

As such, do you think it would be potentially harmful for post-doc applications or general physics academia related career goals if I end up working for this professor? Would working for said professor also associate me with the non-mainstream work, even though I don't want to involve myself in it whatsoever? Would there necessarily be any kind of negative impact?

Thank you all very much in advance!


texts: Having Trouble Finding a Faculty Member for Math Undergraduate Research

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I am an undergraduate pursuing mathematics and computer science in the research university at U.S.  Inspired from the applications of algebra to math and statistics, I have been trying to find a suitable project in the mathematics with supervision from a faculty member, or a reading course in some topics of the pure mathematics.  I have been sending emails to professors at the math department for either a reading course or a project (regardless of the difficulty) I can pursue, but they are either not interested or ignoring my emails and corresponding followup reminders.  When I visited one of faculties during her office hour, she told me that she have been ignoring my emails since she is not interested in my proposal of research idea (I felt sad for a while as I hope she just informed me she is not available).

The general outline is that I approach professors doing research similar to my interest, and ask them if they have any available project.  If they do not have projects, then I ask them if they are interested in hearing about my own ideas.

I am started to feel anxious about it as I really like to work with professors in the mathematics (my interests are not really in the domain of CS, but more or less the pure mathematics and its applications in theories of CS); I am interested in their research, but they are not interested. I understand the busy schedules of professors, so I am curious if there us any way to approach them to acquire the opportunities of project or reading course. So far, none of the professors at the department is interested or available...


texts: Would a Professor be responsive to a meeting request from a PhD student like this?

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I am a graduate school applicant and am considering requesting a meeting with a professor while I'll be visiting a city near their university town.

The current e-mail format I have in mind goes roughly as follows:

  Dear Professor X,

  I am a graduate school applicant at University A. Before this I
  graduated from University B and have worked with Professor C* on some
  research projects. I am visiting City D for the next two weeks or so
  and I would be delighted if you could meet with me for a few minutes
  to discuss your latest work on topic E. I've been very interested in
  topic E and have been spending time trying to learn more about it, writing up
  some notes on this and related topics along the way (which you can
  find on webpage F).

  Thanks for your time. (signed, me)

*Professor X has coauthored many papers with Professor C and they still collaborate frequently.

My question is that would you as a Professor be responsive to an email of this nature? What improvements or extra information would you suggest to add that would make you more likely to grant such a request to meet? Is there something in the above which would make you not want to meet?

Other info: I have never had any contact with Prof X before this. Prof X is a big name and an extremely active researcher in the relevant field.


texts: Reviewing a revision, after the original review did not reach the authors

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A couple of months back, I reviewed a manuscript and recommended a Major Revision. Ten days ago, I received the revision for review, with a note from the editor asking me to expedite, since the review process had already taken a while (not due to me).

However, from both the initial decision letter by the editor and the authors' response, I see that my initial review did not reach the authors (I checked: my review is in the system). The other review, which did reach them, mostly raised points orthogonal to mine, so if I were to review the revision again, I would likely reiterate my original points.

I immediately notified the editor and expressed that I would be happy to re-review, but would appreciate a confirmation that this review would then actually reach the authors. No response. A week later, I wrote again. No response. That was three days ago.

To be honest, I am a little miffed. Not so much that my initial review, which I did spend a considerable amount of time on, was not forwarded - stuff happens. More that I am not getting a response to what to me appears a straightforward question. After having been asked specifically to move quickly on this.

At the moment, I am vacillating between either doing the review ASAP or waiting for any kind of response from the editor first, but this second option seems passive-aggressive to me. Additional info: I know the editor, we meet regularly at conferences. I know that since he has been appointed dean, he is drowning in work.

Questions:

Has this happened to anyone else? How did you react?
Am I overreacting? Should I just review and stop whining?


texts: For graduate admission, would 3-year bachelor’s program without thesis suffice in chemistry field?

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I am a Thai graduate from a university in New Zealand with a 3-year Bachelor of Science (Chemistry) without having completed a thesis. Although I could have done my fourth year doing a thesis which is called “Bachelor Honours Degree” in New Zealand, my scholarship sponsor did not allow me.

I am now a research assistant at the research center in Thailand. I really wish to continue my career further in academia abroad since I feel more comfortable when studying or working in English. However, I found it difficult to apply for the international scholarship and admission for master’s or PhD program as the general requirement would be either having completed bachelor’s degree with practical components (I assumed this could be a thesis) or graduated with 2:1 honours degree equivalence such as in UK.

I tried to apply for master’s degree at one of the Northern Irish universities but got rejected since my academic qualification wasn’t enough and they required me to complete my fourth year with thesis.

I am wondering if there are any countries/universities that thesis would not be generally required for a graduate admission?

My employer suggested me to keep sending emails to many potential professors to see if I can be exempted from the requirement. Would that be possible?

Thank you so much for your time.


texts: I'm about to graduate and enter a 1-year master's program. I don't really know any professors, and I've never done research. How can I get involved?

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I'm a senior in CS and will be finishing my undergrad this coming semester at a university with a well-respected CS department. My school has a 1-year extension to our B.S. that gets you a master's, and I'm in that program. The program does not require any research, but recently I've gotten interested in the idea of doing research and possibly a PhD after my master's.

The thing is, the whole research thing being a recent interest, I have no experience whatsoever with academic research. I also have had very little contact with my professors throughout my time here, since I've been doing fine in classes and I've never really needed to talk to them. I do ask/answer questions in lecture more than the average student, but I rarely see professors outside of class. I do have a number of fairly complex projects on my resume (several that I'm still involved in), but that's complexity in terms of coding on a large code-base and not in terms of fancy theoretical stuff.

Is it too late for me to get involved in research? If not, how do I actually get started? Do I literally just send someone an email?


texts: Is it acceptable to ask a question concerning a proof in a thesis?

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Is it against the "code of honor" to ask a question concerning the correctness of a mathematical argument in one's doctoral thesis?

I'm unsure about one argument in my thesis and I would like to discuss it. Would it be considered inappropriate? In which circumstances is it appropriate to talk about one's own work on the internet, i.e., when to be mindful of it?


texts: How can I prove my proficiency in a math subject that I've learned on my own after I graduated?

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After I graduated university in an unrelated field, I decided I want to learn a couple of math subjects. So I've gathered the interned resources I could find and I studied them on my own. I've been doing this in order to increase my chances of being accepted to a masters program that would require these as prerequisites.

But how am I to prove in my application that I've been learning these subjects through self study? If it were coding, I could have provided some github projects, but regarding mathematics I find it hard to find some meaningful way to attest that you've covered some area unless you've taken a university degree in that field.


texts: How do I look up grant information of PIs in Germany?

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I know NIH allows you to look up grant information of PIs in the United States. Is there a similar website in Germany (DFG?) that allows you to see grants information of PIs?

Also if someone knows of a similar website in Sweden?

Thank you!


texts: How should I reference this? Should I reference this?

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I was having a problem (a mathematical one) in my research, and tried to find the solution. I had some ideas, but none of them solved my problem, I did some research but found nothing, tried to talk with my advisor too (mathematics is not his field), without success. I was stuck in this part. Therefore, I decided to reframe the problem and ask in Quora for help. Within 2 days I received some answers, one that I already have considered but did not helped me, and another that I had previously considered too, but extended.

I implemented the second answer using my problem constraints and needs and it worked, worked better than the state of art for this particular problem (using of course the rest of my job). Intrigued, I asked how the Quora guy (a mathematical professor) found the solution, he said that it was pure logical intuition and little bit of statistics. Later I searched if it was a published solution and found a similar, but not identical solution, buried inside a part of an algorithm in a published paper.

I told my advisor that I had found the solution, but did not mentioned Quora or the paper, he did not asked me either how I found the solution. Now I am considering to use this solution, found on Quora, as part of my research (With intent to be published), but how should do this? If I do not mention Quora could I be in risk of being accused of plagiarism? Should I point the name of the Quora professor in a "thank you footnote" or cite the Quora answer? Should I use as reference the published paper?

Note: I know that I should talk with my advisor about this, I will. But first I need some arguments on how to present the idea to him.

Any informed help would be appreciated.


texts: As a TA, Should I allow students to ask their doubts without schedule?

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In the first or introductory lecture of a course, either associate professors or professors of my university tells to students to clarify doubts with teaching assistants. Faculty do not say to students any explicit statements regarding how, when and where to ask doubts.

In general no course site or any centralized communication channel is present.

Most of the students comes with lot of doubts without proper study and asks for TA time individually. For example some students asks TA to tell the entire course in an easy manner. Some students asks advance questions that TA cannot answer. Some students ask for mobile number, personal mail etc., Some students asks for appointment and lot of time for discussions.

In the scenario of academics, is it apt for a TA to inform to the corresponding faculty about these issues or is it apt to give strict instructions to students in the absence of the faculty regarding how to ask, where to ask and when to ask their doubts based on TA's personal comfort?

Note: I am asking this because faculty consider these as minor issues. But as a TA, one mayn't able to manage such unorganized stuff.


texts: How to deal with students leaving the class for 10 min during the lecture?

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In the freshman classes I teach (the class is like 30-35 students), some students would step out the class for 10-15 minutes and come back. The class time is 1 hour and 15 min. This is always interrupting.

I have asked the class before that this is a poor classroom etiquette, you have 15 min between classes to do whatever you want, so if you leave the class during the lecture please do not come back. Yet, they still do it.

Anybody is facing similar situation? and how you deal with it?

Clarification: I made it clear in class that if you need to leave, please inform me in advance. Or if you have a medical condition that requires you to leave regularly, please let me know. My question is not about those cases


texts: As adjunct faculty at four-year university, with no PhD, what should I have my students call me?

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I will be teaching at a four year university as adjunct faculty. Is it okay to have my students to call me Professor LastName, even if I do not have this title formally? If not, what other options do I have? I quite dislike Ms.. At my old college, I had my students call me by my first name, but instead I got a strange combination of "Teacher" and "Ms. FirstName" and "Miss FirstName" which makes me feel like a kindergarten teacher.

(Note: I have seen this question asked in a variety of ways but not in the case where the asker does not have a PhD.)


texts:
I would like a small comparison of the Universities PhD programs tuition fees between the US and the EU : what's the cheapest universities to pursue at a PhD, in terms of tuition cost, in the EU and the cheapest in the US ?
Thanks


texts: Is paying researchers royalties for publications a bad idea?

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I would like to entertain a thought that a researcher could get paid for publishing a research article just as textbook/fiction authors do.
The readers of articles already pay large sums of money (either directly, or indirectly through institute subscriptions) to read articles. Thus it would seem that they value the information contained in these articles and are willing to pay some amount of money for it (I understand that this practice is also under question due to open access movement, but open access movement also wants publications to be free, which remains a different open debate. This question is under the premise that readers continue to pay for the publications).
The two models of research that I'm aware of are the following:

Publicly funded: first receive grants, use the grant to fund research, and then as perhaps an obligation to terms of that grant make research available to the scientific community through journals for free.
Commercial research labs: conduct research, gain technological advantage before competitors and capitalize on it or file patents.

In the first, those who put up funds (the government) get their return through some altruistic measures. In the second, those who put up funds (the company) get their return through using the research themselves. Neither are perfect systems (not all research may be good / profitable, not all good research may immediately do good / immediately turn a profit) but they do well enough to justify the spending.
A third (also imperfect) model which I can think of is where the funds are recovered simply due to the popularity and the price tag of the research publication. The publication goes through the regular publication process, but when someone purchases the article (or the entire journal proceedings containing the article), researchers get paid their cut (and perhaps the peer-reviewers are paid an honorarium as well). Other researchers (academic/industrial) may be inclined to pay for this because they believe it would help them toward their respective goals (and perhaps get a refund if it doesn't live up to their expectations).
As I already admitted, this model may be imperfect (bad research publication may end up turning a profit, good publications may take a decade after author's demise to start selling like hotcakes) just as the other two. And just like academic research doesn't suit all (people/projects), industrial research doesn't suit all (people/projects), this may be unsuitable for people due to lack of promise of a stable income, and for some projects because only short-sighted "best-selling" research might benefit from this model.
I also see some structural challenges in current world which may prevent it from happening (current journals might be against this due to their own profit motive, academic/industrial research already incentivizes research to be popular through honors, distinctions, and bonuses)
But is there something inherently wrong (morally, philosophically, or practically) with this idea of peer-reviewed publications opting to turn a profit just from the article's readers and benefactors while choosing not to rely on the other two models of funding, or is it only because of historical reasons (as detailed in a similar question) that this is not a viable model today?
Has this already been tried, or discussed (just as open access has been discussed as an alternative to current system)?


texts: What is feasibility analysis in thesis proposal?

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I'm undergraduate student majoring in software engineering, right now I'm preparing my thesis proposal which indicates that one of the chapters should be about "contents and feasibility analysis of the research", I get the content part but what confuses me is the feasibility analysis.
Because the topic I'm doing is defect analysis for a website developed by our college, and I don't have any idea about how a feasibility study about this specific topic could be carried out.
I tried listing some case studies that can be somehow relatable to my defect analysis topic, but I'm not sure whether this is a good approach or not.
Any insights would be appreciated, thanks.


texts: Can a paper proposing an algorithm use pseudocode only (and not a high-level mathematical description)?

texts: If it greatly simplifies the explanation, is it possible to present an algorithm in a paper without a high-level mathematical description but simply with pseudocode and very clear elaboration? Or should a high level mathematical description always be included?


texts: Is it appropriate for a prospective PhD student to contact phd students at a target school?

texts:
I am a prospective phd student. I wish to know if it is fine to contact the phd students of my target schools?

If answering this question requires more information, please feel free to state that.


texts: Getting admission in the US after a BSc and MSc from India

texts:
Since the US considers BSc and MSc together to be equivalent to a B.Tech degree (or any 4 year degree) how should I report my result?
With both degrees from different institutes and in unrelated subjects, how do I add the score and present it as equivalent to a four year course?
Further, I had percentage system for BSc and CGPA (out of 10) system in the Master's so what would be the conversion factor?


texts: How long and detailed should be the rejection comment when reviewing and rejecting a paper?

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If someone is a reviewer and recommends major revisions to a medical journal paper, the review can be quite lengthy. (e.g., list of 10-15 points to work on)

On the other hand, how detailed should be the rejection review. Are you expected to provide more than 2 paragraphs justification for the rejection?

Is there any study on length of reviews that reject the paper. I would guess it would be most likely under 2 paragraphs of text. Is that correct?


texts: What to do when the reviewer of a conference submission provides very negative ratings and almost no comments?

texts:
I submitted a paper to an international conference and some strange things happened along the way. First, the reviews did not meet the date in which they were supposed to be send to the authors. After like four days, I saw a message in the submission site that said that my paper was rejected. So I waited for the notification to be sent to me my email, because I wanted to know the reviews to improve my paper and maybe resend it to another conference.

I did not get any reviews by email, but after like 4 days more after the notice that my paper was rejected they appeared on the submission site. When I saw the reviews, they were very harsh, and nearly non-existent, with the following characteristics:

It appears that there was only one reviewer.
In the marked items about Originality, Readability and so on; all was marked with 0.
No reviews about what was wrong, just a very harsh comment that the paper was not focused and that does not seem to be a credible research.

Is it normal to get this type of reviews? I remember that even when I got rejected from other conferences, there were like three reviewers, and each of one put their qualification and make some good comments for improvement. I have just checked the paper with my colleagues and they do not find it like is an unreadable paper or that the paper is unfocused.

What could have happened in this situation?


texts: How to list a series of related experiences in CV

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Problem

I am applying for Ph.D. in electrical engineering. Since the first few deadlines are coming, I am making final revisions to my CV.

There are two related questions

I have a rather long (about 15 months) research experience that yield several preprints and a thesis. Is it fine to list all of them under one entry (see below). The issue is that the items (a, b, c...) become too many (8 in my case).
Or maybe I need to split them base on milestones (based on preprints and thesis results).

  My Awesome Research Topic

  a
  b

I have taken two projects-based courses, where the professors talk about details about each particular algorithm and we need to do projects which use the algorithms. The same question re-emerges, do I split these experiences project by project or maybe organize under one common entry?
If the latter is preferred, what should be the entry called, maybe something like "xxx Project Series"?

Appreciate any input.


texts: Any data for average number of papers per year at different career stages?

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Is there any data for the average number of papers published per year by individuals at different career stages (ph.d. student, postdoc, tenure-track, tenured associate/full professor)? It would obviously be dependent on research areas and I also realize that such data may not be easy to obtain - hence the question to put it out and hope to get some direction for my study. I am interested in data from the Computer Science and/or Applied Mathematics fields, but answers for other research areas could also be interesting. In absence of data, anecdotal experience in one's branch may also be helpful.

UPDATE:
- Obviously, the number of paper per year is highly field specific. So is citation counts (which includes all the analysis it comes with such as average citation counts, h factors, impact factor of a journal and so on).
- Several countries such as the New Zealand, have their own research evaluation system in which one of the important evaluation criterion for research-groups or even individuals is the number of papers published in one to six years span. The data for average number of papers by individuals in different disciplines may put these evaluations in perspective with the global averages. e.g., individual publishing two paper per year in a sub branch where the average number of papers per year by individuals is one should not be directly compared to those publishing 10 papers a year in subbranches in which 15 papers per year is the average norm.
In short, the purpose of obtaining such data is to provide corrections to the evaluation systems in such countries.


texts: How to cite a conference paper in an "extended" journal version?

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I recently presented a paper at a conference which was published in its proceedings.  Now it is time to submit an "extended" version with "30% new content".  The new content isn't a problem, I've added several figures, a couple of genuinely new findings and some helpful illustrations that I developed while preparing my talk.  However, the instructions from the publisher state:

In the extended paper clearly cite the conference paper and list it as one of the references.

In my opinion, this can be interpreted in one of two ways:

Write a new article that assumes knowledge of the proceedings.
This is kind of a scary option because it implies that it really has to be a new work.
Explain that an earlier version exists and what's new here. This is a comforting interpretation but seems kind of uncharacteristic for the style in most journal articles.

What's the best path to follow here?


texts: Need advice regarding my possibly conflicting research idea

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I'm an undergraduate student just getting started with a proper research in machine learning. Oftentimes, when I'm experimenting with new ideas, I find that a similar or better research was already published few years back. In most cases, since the research I found was much better than my current experimental idea, I read that paper and move on.

But recently, I have found that many of my newer ideas are NOT yet published anywhere but most of them are submitted for review to different conferences (on OpenReview etc.) or some form of pre-print manuscript for them is available on arXiv.

Is it ethical in such to submit my idea to another conference as a publication ? It is really demotivating for me since I can't provide any publishable research for my thesis. Can someone suggest me a way to avoid situations like this ? (Searching on arXiv/Google doesn't help because the terminology used is sometimes very different)


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I've been asking around my department recently for opportunities assisting with research (I'm in electrical engineering). Some of my professors work in labs, but others do largely computer-based work. The computer-based work interests me more.

I understand research experience is very important when applying to grad school. What do graduate admissions committees really consider "research", though? Is it working in a lab? Is it "contributing to some certain extent to a research project?" Is it simply helping out a professor with his research? Is more independent-study type work considered research? Or is it necessary to be actively helping a professor with their research program?

As an undergraduate sophomore, I'm really not in a position to do groundbreaking research. What's considered a good research experience for me?


texts: How can the reader verify the validity of the claims in a published clinical trial paper?

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I am from the field of Mathematics. If you find some published articles in a mathematical journal, you can check the validity of the claimed results just by reading the proof or provide a counterexample even if a wrong claim passed the peer review process.
Recently I was reading  a spectacular paper in one of the most prestigious medical journals (The Lancet to be exact). This paper collected data from all over the world to study the efficacy of a drug (Hydroxychloroquine and antibiotics) on COVID-19. When reading the study, even as a non expert, I found that the paper contains fake data since -for example- the paper claimed to study a number of positive patients in five hospitals in Australia, but this number turns out to be greater than all the positive patients in all of Australia.
The readers asked the authors to provide raw data but the authors failed to do that. The paper was retracted days later.
I am not familiar with the way research is done in the medical sciences. So I just want to know

How is peer review performed in this field?
In case the peer reviewers missed something,  how can people reading a medical paper see the proof that the study handles real data so we can verify the validity of the numbers claimed in the study?


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I am working on a paper in which I cite two resources from an online reference work with no author:

Ransomware. (2016). Malware Protection Center. Retrieved from http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/mmpc/shared/ransomware.aspx
Ransomware. (2016). TrendMicro. Retrieved from http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/us/security/definition/ransomware/#logo

Unfortunately, these two works have identical in-text citations: "('Ransomware,' 2016)."  The only material I can find on situations like this is when the authors are the same, and the remedy is to append the letters "a" and "b" to the date, like (2016a).  These works, however, do not have the same author, so I do not think this fix can be used.  How should I differentiate between these two citations?


texts: When I reapply to universities which have previously rejected my applications, do I have to pay application fees again?

texts: I applied to a few US universities last year and they rejected my application because of my low GRE scores. Now I want to reapply again to the same universities.  Can you explain the process to reapply?  My concern is about application fees.  Is it required to pay application fees for the second time?


texts: Is creating your own "experiment" considered cheating during a physics exam?

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Consider a qualitative question on a physics exam such as, draw the path of an object's center of mass as it is dropped. I have included a graphic here:

Would it be considered cheating in practical terms if I were to make a mark in my pencil and drop it on my desk to observe its path? This is just one example of something that could be helpful on a mechanics exam.

In general, would a professor consider the act of carrying out a small physical experiment during an exam as cheating as long as it is with reason and does not interfere with other students? By experiment, I mean something of the nature of what I mentioned earlier; I am talking about something that can be done with the instruments you are allowed to have during the exam. I do not mean using lab equipment.

To clarify, I something like this would be to gain a physical intuition of a solution. For the example listed above, simply dropping your pencil can give you an intuition as to the path its center of mass takes. This isn't intended as a substitute for work for a more complicated solution.

I ask because I doubt and am currently unaware of any rule that prohibits this.


texts: Starting of cover letter for academic jobs

texts: I have sent an academic job application with a cover letter starting "Dear Madam or Sir,..." and I've just realised that the correct form is instead "Dear Search Committee Chair,...". Have I made a huge mistake?


texts: Can someone change PhD supervisor without changing research direction?

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Background: My supervisor wants to quit my supervision due to reasons beyond his control. He suggested few colleagues to replace him. My only concern is that I be asked to switch my current research direction to meet that of my potential new supervisor. I have spent considerable amount of reading and review, designing simualtors and coming up with new ideas and I don't want to restart all over. I found a co-supervisor who is closely related to my field and agreed on supervision (He is not affiliated with my university anymore though), but still need a main supervisor.

Question: Am I obliged to restart over and lose all my reserach?


texts: Is it a good idea to include a work draft in application to US Physics graduate school?

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I and my research advisor have a manuscript that still requires some final polish to be sent for peer review. In the meantime, I am applying for graduate school. Some graduate schools allow me to upload any additional material I think helpful.
First note: We are not worried about our idea been stolen even if we expose it on the internet(My advisor even put all his finished manuscripts on arXiv, including those rejected by peer review. He in fact wants his work be read by more people and more people could exchange ideas with him, unlike the majority of academia who would keep their work not openly-accessible before published).
I ask my advisor for consent that if I can include the current version of the manuscript as a draft of our work in my application to those schools? The advisor is not familiar with how grad school admission goes in the US so he said he understood that I want to present research experience but he prefers that I state them in SoP instead. He further said nevertheless if I really want to present a draft, I need to follow the ethics code in that the ultimate rule is that I cannot damage his academic reputation, at least point out in the draft that it's not the final version in his view.
Although I have this consent, I still hesitate about it. Which one makes a stronger application? Including a Draft? or just state my work in SoP? Or the difference is trivial?


texts: Ref. request : book or survey about conducting experimental studies

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I am currently conducting researches that are almost mainly theoretical (I am a TCS researcher gone rogue = I also work on applying theory stuff to real life problems). In the future I plan to conduct several large experimental studies involving technical experiments AND human validation of the results.

I am a neophyte in conducting this kind of very large studies involving technicalities and "humanities". I ask around and search on the web for a textbook about this matter and do not find any comprehensive resource.

So the question : do you have any pointer to a book/survey/other explaining the whole process of a large scale experimental study? It can be from any domain.


texts: Getting back into academics after an industry stint: what can I do while still in industry to improve my research profile?

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I am a computer science engineer with around 3 years of experience designing and implementing large scale software systems. I chose to join a job right after my masters, to get a feel of what the industry holds. Having spent my bit here, I now want to get back to academics, especially back into my areas of specialisation. I hold a masters in computer science with a specialisation in Information Security, but no publications. I have a decent (mediocre?) GPA of 8.8 in my masters. I also managed to publish a thesis during my stay in college. However, there is no publication associated with the subject matter of the thesis itself.

What should I do to build upon my profile? Here's a list of things I'm already trying -

Contributing to Open Source Software in Security.
Changing my job to fit a more "security" based profile. However, as I have not worked directly in this area for the past three years, this is proving to be a tad difficult.
Trying to learn the ropes of ethical hacking (think bugcrowd for instance).

What I have NOT done (yet)-

Directly contacting professors/post-grads (or even peers who got into research) working in the areas I'm interested in.

I'm not sure if all this, even though time consuming, would lead to any concrete results. Can my industry experience lead to anything? Am I on the right track? What are other things I could do?

To be more specific, I'm looking for pointers to things that can be done while in the industry to construct a research profile.


texts: How should I start my own private post-doc research project?

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I am interested in pursuing my own part-time postdoctoral research in computer science, with a view to getting one or two publications over the next two to three years. My motivations are personal interest, and also to keep my options open in case I decide to apply for an academic or research post in 2016.

I am not sure where I should start looking for a project.  Should I read academic papers until I get ideas?  Should I just try and brainstorm my own ideas?  Should I go back to my current university supervisor, or my previous PhD supervisor?

My Background

I am nearly 41 and married with two children (aged 10 and 13).  I gained my bachelor's in computing in 2006. In 2012 I submitted a thesis in artificial intelligence (case-based reasoning) and the PhD was awarded in 2013.  My family are not keen on moving and we live in an area with very few high-tech or academic employment opportunities.

I can't see a way to extend my PhD research.  I have never worked as a post-doc; before the PhD I was a database administrator and immediately afterwards I was a software developer.

Fortunately, late in 2013 I found a position on a UK government scheme known as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships.  I am employed by a Scottish university to work within an English manufacturing company, to use AI techniques to solve a particular engineering problem.  I am based at the manufacturing company and I see my university supervisor very rarely.  I am not allowed to publish anything from this employment. The contract ends in August 2016.

The KTP project will probably use standard AI methods; I won't be inventing any new techniques.  If the manufacturing company consented (and they will not!) it would be possible to publish, but it would only be as an interesting application of AI, not a new way of doing AI.

I have a substantial training budget (GBP £2000 a year) which—with the approval of my employer—I can spend going to conferences, buying books etc.

I have discussed the idea of doing research with my university supervisor, either performing experiments myself, or a literature review paper.  She made some nice noises but she was not overly enthusiastic.  I think she is worried that it will divert me from the KTP project (for which her university gets paid a lot of consultancy money) and possibly upset the construction company who I am based with.

My interests and skills lie in artificial intelligence (neural networks, case-based reasoning), computer-aided design and software engineering.

I still have my PhD supervisor on my LinkedIn page and I could approach her.  However, I worry that she will think it is strange if I ask to collaborate with her, given that I am currently employed by a different university.

I can commute to my current workplace (it's about an hour away) and there are 2 good universities (and another two not-so-good ones) about 60-90 minutes' commute from our family home, so location is the biggest restriction for me, I can't force my wife and children to move.


texts: Appropriate description of image processing algorithm in engineering

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I want to write a paper in the field of mechanical engineering. For the evaluation of my experiments, I would like to use image processing. When image processing software is used in my field of research, it is for the most part heavily based on or at least closely related to digital image correlation. However, in my particular case, I believe it is more appropriate not to rely on digital image correlation and solve the problem on my own using "classical" image processing. Using my hardly existent programming skills, I developed some python code and want to incorporate it into said paper. I should probably mention, that the code shall not be the focus of the (mostly experimental) paper and more of an "accessory".
Now, I have encountered a problem: I could not find many research papers in my field that got into detail with their self-written code, especially regarding image processing. Hence, unfortunately, there are few examples to learn from. Furthermore, I do not think that many of the readers of the paper will be familiar with image processing to a greater extent in the first place. However, in my opinion, just stating I developed some software and showing the results is not sufficient.
How much details on my code should I give? Is it already sufficient to show a flowchart and to briefly describe the software? Should I state which python libraries and modules I used? Are there some guidelines that a non-computer-scientist should use when describing software to non-computer-scientists? Does one of you have good examples? Unfortunately, as my programming "skills" are mostly self-taught and rather poor, I am afraid to just upload my code into a repository to "speak for itself" would neither be helpful for comprehension nor good for my reputation.
What do you think? I would very much appreciate all your ideas and opinions.


texts: Is it possible to contribute to academic research after retirement from the industry?

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Currently, I have a master’s of science in mathematics and a potential plan to couple my qualifications with a masters of science in analytics. I am actually nowhere close to being retired in the industry. But thinking way beyond the scope of the near future, I am curious if there is any possibility for someone who officially is retired from the industry to contribute to academic research? If so, how should a recent graduate prepare himself to make this a possibility.

Ideally, I would like to contribute to research in machine learning after completing a rewarding career as a data scientist. I have been continually expanding my knowledge by reading mathematical references on the train ride to work each day.


texts: Can non-teaching staff write teaching recommendation letters for academic jobs?

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When applying for academic jobs in the US, one is often asked for a recommendation letter from someone who can attest to your teaching abilities. Suppose someone has been involved in various workshops, programs, discussion groups, etc. about pedagogy through a Center for Teaching Excellence (or a comparable office) as a graduate student or postdoc; is it acceptable for a non-teaching staff member from this center, who has facilitated such activities, to write a teaching recommendation letter for academic jobs? In particular, how are such letters perceived by hiring committees?

Edited to clarify: I was envisioning that such a letter would be in addition to a teaching letter written by a faculty member in one's department.


texts: Is it considered unethical to pay participants differently based on some quality?

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Let's say you are recruiting two groups of people, English monolinguals and bilinguals. If you're having a hard time recruiting enough bilinguals, the natural, free-market thing to do would be to offer to increase how much they are compensated to attract more.

Assuming that both groups complete similar activities in the same time frame, is it unethical to pay one group more than another?

Would the answer be the same if the quality wasn't the part of the design? For example, if your monolingual group is older on average, is it unethical to post an advertisement for an increased rate for young monolinguals to bring your group averages back to comparable?

I have never seen a research group do this, presumably because of how time-consuming it would be to do, but I haven't found anything to suggest that it is wrong to do.

I'm asking here because I briefly discussed this idea with someone, and she seemed to think the IRB would take an issue with it but we didn't got much further.


texts: Can I use the whole mathematical proof from references like books and reputed research papers for my own paper?

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Currently I am trying to publish my research paper on cosmology. I have found some useful proved equations in other research papers. As this is my first research paper, I have no experience with plagiarism in a research paper.

Can I add these proven equations from other papers into my paper?


texts: As a PhD student who starts his last year, I will soon start to look for post-docs. In this process, I will update my Curriculum Vitae. But as a title of this CV should I put "PhD in XXXXXX" or "PhD Student in XXXXXX" ?


texts: How to engage interdisciplinary professors in forming an MS thesis committee and project?

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I am sort of stuck in a quagmire. I am just starting out in a 2 yr bio-manufacturing program, which has a thesis component. I was looking to add a minor from an interdisciplinary department biotechnology, which requires a few classes and a person from this area must serve on my thesis committee. My problem arises from the fact that I want my thesis topic to leverage skills from both groups. As of now the projects offered to me are not really all that exciting and would not be as multifaceted as I would like.

I know part of the problem is that I am a masters student, so that limits the scope of what I can do which is a turn off for some. In my initial outreach to professors for the minor component, a common response was I do not have anything for MS students.

The other issue is that since both areas are interdisciplinary, each area is made up of individuals from a number of departments (engineering, microbiology, biology, plant science, animal science, genetics). The dual appointment makes things  a challenge. I wanted to ask out there if anyone else needed to do more leg work to form a committee and secure a project.

What are some pitfall I could avoid?
What is the best way to engage professor who have no real vested interest?
Is it possible to generate a fusion project leverages skills from both programs?


texts: How common is it to get an academic position in a different country after getting a PhD in the US?

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For someone who is doing his PhD in a US institute (STEM filed), how likely is it to be employed (as a post-doc for example) in another country (which is not my home country, in general) ?

For example, for a PhD student, it should be much more easier get a job in an environment that you know; for example, the school that your are doing own PhD, or some other instituted that you are familiar (possibly in US also), but, in general, is it common for such a student to get employed by an institute in Europe or elsewhere?


texts: Accepting a tenure track position if I know I won’t stay till tenure

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I am currently a fixed-term faculty, with the hopes of a tenure-track position somewhere. The last two years I’ve bounced between fixed-term position, both in at least reasonable long-distance driving from where my fiancé and I live. Now a tenure track position has come available for next year still not close to us but again reasonable long distance driving (I've worked anywhere from 1.5-3 hours away).

I am hoping in the time it would take to get tenure at this new position, a tenure track position in our actual city will become available (pretty big metro). Would I be screwing myself to leave the long-distance tenure track position without tenure, if I got a tenure-track position in our local city? Would it be a red-flag that I’m even applying without tenure or could I explain location as the reason for the move in my cover letter?


texts: Exactly _what_ is different about being a graduate student vs. undergraduate? (Think: day-to-day)

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I'm entering the last year of my undergraduate. In all honesty, I'm getting tired of it; I want to move on to something new.

For a long time, I thought a master's degree was New Game Plus (that is, just a more demanding version of a bachelor's). Don't get me wrong; I've had little to no trouble with my undergrad, but you couldn't get me to do another one ever again!

Well, here's the conundrum: everyone tells me I have to do a master's, and that it's not what I think it is.

Well, what is it?

What are the real differences between an undergraduate program and a graduate program? For example, what are the differences in your day-to-day dealings? In what way are yours and the professors' motivations different?

--

For bonus points: if you personally chose to do a master's, or to avoid one, why did you make this decision?


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When I wrote my syllabus for this term, I added the line "Late work will not be accepted." In the past, I just took off a large percentage of the grade per day, but I became tired of the added work of managing papers that students handed to me at random times and places.

The students, naturally, complain this policy too harsh, especially when some larger projects are worth 25% of their grade. I searched the Internet to try to establish what the norm is. I found many syllabi from famous universities, but found very few even list any policies at all.

Is "no late work" a typical rule?


texts:
I'm studying in Polish language. One of my courses was named "Metody otrzymywania nanomateriałów". Which roughly translates into "Methods for obtaining nanomaterials". However in my official transcript of record, this course is named "methods of receiving nanomaterials".

Is receiving equal to obtaining?
And if no, how would recruiting stuff on the foreign university react to such error?


texts:
In a recent conversation with tenured CS professors, they mentioned that grad student enrollment (in their experience) tends to follow the inverse of the economy. When the economy is doing well, grad student enrollment dips. When the economy isn't so hot, it increases.

This made me wonder, does enrollment affect the likelihood of getting tenure?

I would expect that having grad students working with you as a new assistant-professor would help make you more successful at getting tenure. If that is true, it would seem that if enrollment is down, it would be harder to get tenure. Any truth to this?


texts: No response from Professor; how should I remind him about writing a recommendation for me?

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I'm applying to a BS/MS program and I'm gathering recommendations. I'm an international student from China and I was transferred to my current college last year.

Two weeks ago, I went to see my professor during his office hours to ask if he could write me a recommendation letter. He agreed and told me to email him.

I sent my request a week later and it was just a general email asking for recommendation (without mentioning when I'd visited him).

I still haven't got a response from that professor. It's possible that the professor didn't recognize me in the email, since I sent that only one week after going to his office.

Should I leave him a reminder in a follow-up email? Or should I do so in person?


texts: Do all schools have candidates at tenure-track campus interviews meet extensively with faculty members and administrators one-on-one? Are there schools where it is customary to devote a campus visit primarily to group interviews (faculty and students), job talk and/or sample class, tours of the facilities, and meals (with faculty)? Basically, does such a schedule signal lack of interest or is that the usual in some places?