texts: A measure implementation from my group deviates from an official implementation

texts:
In my master's thesis work, I am using several algorithmic measures to assess the difference between conditions.
One measure in particular is important to predict 'quality'. This may sound weird in abstraction, but there is a standard written by a number of related institutions in my field, and a reference implementation is given as the standard.
During course work, I was given an implementation of the measure which is written in a different programming language. It is labeled as meas_author, where meas is the name of the measure and author is the author of a well-known book in my field. The book also contains measure implementations that are often cited, in the same programming language as the one I received. I thought the versions were identical.
Now I have found a difference in outputs that is non-trivial (meaning that depending on the implementation, the outcome leads to different results and interpretation). After comparing the code, i noticed small comments like JSCHWARZ-04-04-2012:changed something for speed
and that the file structure is different.
Personally, this is a Problem because

The coursework I did based on the modified implementation has the same results as a paper from someone with comments in the code, suggesting both are not comparable with results obtained from standard implementations (!)
The code may have been used in other coursework, theses, or peer-reviewed publications (some of which received awards) from the people involved or using the measure
I need to decide whether or not to keep using the measure
I need to talk about this with my thesis supervisor at some point, especially about the flawed course work

Question: How do I handle this issue? I don't want to directly escalate it as I of course could be wrong. I could talk to the person supplying the code first, or to my supervisor. The former would be least drastic, but I'm not sure what I would do if he didn't cooperate/agree this is a problem.


texts: What is the difference of a BA/BS in Computer Science for obtaining a Ph.D?

texts:
I have looked around on Google, only to find zero answers. So, I hope someone could help me out with this.

So, for someone aiming to get a PhD in Computer Science (AI), would it be possible to obtain one with a BA in Computer Science? If the degree type doesn't matter, what are the positives/negatives of getting a PhD with an BA/BS.

Thank you,
Ash


texts: How to avoid copyright infringement when using figures in which original authors can't be identified?

texts:
I am almost ready to publish my research project. In my project, I used different clipart and created a couple of figures for my participants to view. For example, I created an image of a person walking in a park. In this image, the park consisted of trees, the sun, and grass. These are all separate images I downloaded online. As you can see, I put multiple images together and created my stimuli photos.

Now the biggest challenge for me is that I can't publish these figures in academic journals because I can't receive permission to do so. First, I can't find the original authors of the clipart. Second, most clipart has a "personal use only license". I don't want to violate any copyright. However, I desperately need to publish them with my work because it will provide good visual representation to the reviewers and the audience.

A prof suggested me to ask someone to redraw the figures I created. And put notes like the "this is reproduced version of the original image, the content of the original image is copyright protected". I'm wondering whether this makes sense? I think I do have the copyright of the figures I created, but I don't have the copyright of the images that were used to create the figure.

As you can see, this is a very complicated situation. I really need advice. If you have any other ideas, please let me know. I would really appreciate it. I realized I should have thought more about this when I first created them. I will never do this again.

Thank you in advance.


texts: M1 vs M2 in France: In the French system, which one is designed for those interested in Academia, M1 or M2?

texts:
I'm applying for Master's degree in France and have learned that there are two different ones - M1 and M2. I read the answers to this question and a few websites with general explanations, but couldn't quite figure out which one is more suitable for someone who is going to do a PhD after their master's, and intends to work in academia.

Would studying a 4-year or 3-year undergrad make a difference? I've done my undergrad in the American system (4-year bachelor, but a relatively broad education), with a few extra courses that were more advanced (graduate-level courses), but I still do need to take courses to prepare for Ph.D. Can I take introductory (but graduate-level) courses in an M2, or the courses in M2 are all very specific? Do I stand a chance for a direct M2, or is it the case that a 4-year US undergrad is not considered as qualified as a 3-year French undergrad + M1?


texts: What do all the numbers mean in a pubmed shorthand citation?

texts:
At the top of a pubmed abstract, there's a "shorthand" citation, and I don't know what the numbers mean. For example:

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008;1129:323-9. doi: 10.1196/annals.1417.017.

What do all these numbers mean? Obviously, I understand that 2008 is the year, but I don't know what anything refers to after that.


texts: How can our department solicit more (good) PhD applications?

texts:
Our department is awesome. But every year, I think: "why aren't we getting more awesome applicants? They could be super happy here, and we could do a great job of jump-starting their careers."

Well, this year, I am on the PhD admissions committee.

What can I do to improve the quality of our applicant pool?  Of course I realize reputation is a big component, but that is a long-term game (and we are already quite well-ranked by USN&WR; I don't think that's the core issue here). I'm wondering more about short-term, actionable, guerilla mercenary acts I can execute in the next few months.

If you have participated in grad admissions at your university, what (if anything) helped you get more quality applications?

For reference I'm in North America, in the sciences.


texts: Using present tense in the evaluation section of a paper

texts: Many scientific papers (at least in computer science) use present tense in the evaluation section to describe the setting of the evaluation (e.g., "In our experiments we use dataset A.)". Wouldn't past tense be more appropriate?


texts: Should I emphasize my existing PhD in my master's application?

texts:
Should the fact that I already have a PhD in another (useful) subject be downplayed on the personal statement? I'm concerned that it would make me look unfocused, but I also think I may want to emphasize it because it demonstrates prior success.

In case it's relevant, my PhD is in physics, and the Masters is in Computer Game Engineering. I am applying to a one year, full time taught Masters at a UK institution.


texts: How does PLOS ONE maintain its impact factor?

texts:
The PLOS ONE journal has an impact factor over 3. The specialist journals in my field top out with impact factors of about 3. As impact factor is in essence a measure of citations per article, it seems surprising that a journal like PLOS ONE that prides itself on not making subjective judgments on things like "importance" can maintain a higher impact factor than journals that prioritize "importance".

I have only cited handful of articles published in PLOS ONE and looking at what has been published in PLOS ONE in my field, the majority of things look "unimportant." It seems like in my specialty that PLOS ONE publishes a higher percentage of "unimportant" work than the specialist journals. This of course could be due to sample size and my own bias.

I am curious about what drives the impact factor of PLOS ONE. Are there specialties for which the PLOS ONE impact factor is low compared to specialist journals? Are editors and reviewers of specialist journals particularly bad at identifying "importance"? Is there something else?


texts: Withdrawal from a PhD program and apply to another one: is PhD transcript submission mandatory?

texts:
I am about to withdraw from a PhD program and apply to another one, do you suggest to submit my transcripts if I have low grads or just mention my former program in my CV? Both are among the top 30 universities in QS ranking. I am afraid that my grades would leave a potential supervisor with a bad impression.
Is it ok to explain in my statement of purpose that the reason for those grads was that I had to focus on my immigration and family matters?


texts:
How can an innocent person disclaim a plagiarized publication which he did not give consent for publication?
The paper has has been published without my consent and my name was included as a co-author but i want to disassociate myself from this paper?


texts:
At the moment, I have the following paragraphs solely about my research experience.

First paragraph describes the importance of the project. Second paragraph is about what has been done. Third paragraph describes what my lab is doing. Fourth paragraph is about my specific tasks in the lab and what I have learned.

Those paragraphs already take up more than a page. I am planning to use the remaining space for introduction and talking about why I want to attend this particular school. My concern is that I feel I discuss my research experience too much. Is it fine if my research experience is too detailed? Do you also have any suggestion about my approach to discussing research experience?


texts: How did Academia create and/or solve the chicken-and-egg problem of having a PhD?

texts: I've seen several English translations for "PhD", but seems to me that it did not originate from England.  Who introduced the term, what did it originally stand for and where did it originate from?  I'm curious where anyone has traced out this history.


texts: Should citations be as detailed as possible?

texts:
While writing my thesis (computer science), I was wondering how detailed citations have to be.

Let's assume I want to cite an article of a conference and have full information on author, editor, title, year, booktitle, subtitle, eventtitle, volume, location, DOI, ISBN, arXiv ID, ... you get the point.

Do I actually provide every piece of information in the citation or are some left out? Does any style guide (like IEEE, APA, MLA) address this topic?

Similar questions [1] cover only URLs, but my question is more general.

[1] Should I include a DOI/website URL for a publication in dissertation bibliography?


texts: How much guidance should I reasonably expect from an MSc Thesis Supervisor

texts:
As part of my MSc I have to produce a Thesis/Dissertation which forms an integral part of the program and classification (roughly 1/4 - I imagine the subject can make a difference, so I should say that my MSc is in Mathematics in the UK).

I am wondering to what extend I should expect to be completely on my own in this endeavor. I have a supervisor who has a pretty good research reputation as far as I can tell from his publications and collaborations, so I'm quite happy in that sense, however it s becoming increasingly evident, that he will not provide much guidance when it comes to specific topic selection or anything else for that matter.

Is this normal and to be expected for an MSc Dissertation, or is it a bad sign that should make me think whether it may be better to switch? (I was under the impression that at such a junior level one could still expect quite a bit of hand-holding when it comes to the selection of a feasible topic).


texts: The content of my manuscript is too complicated to be rewritten in the format of a journal. what should I do?

texts:
My manuscript is actually a new theory, consisting of four chapters, 15,000 words, so it cannot be rewritten in the form of a journal. If I delete some of the content to fit the format of a journal, readers will not understand the ins and outs of my theory.
What should I do? Can I publish it as a monograph? Does the monograph also have a scientific credit, and can be cited? Is it possible to publish a monograph without peer review?

ADD:
See below comments. I really appreciate all of you! I will take your advice. I will divide my manuscript into four themes, and submit the most creative ideal first avoiding arguments.

I am not worried that some people say that I maybe a "crackpot" because my manuscript has no "imagination" but LOGIC and math. I am an independent researcher, who thinks outside the box.

I just want to make a contribute to science. But I have no idea how to make a connection for these four themes when my manuscripts under peer review process.


texts: How to improve graduate student recruitment at a small, good, but non-elite department?

texts:
I am a mathematics professor in a small, good but non-elite department in the US. Several of my colleagues and I would like to work to improve our recruitment of strong prospective Ph.D. students.

We do not really know how to go about this most effectively. Obviously it is difficult, but -- what are some good ways to do this, in addition to

maintaining a useful and informative departmental webpage,
serving our present Ph.D. students as well as we can, making sure they are happy, and (hopefully!) helping them to land good jobs,
maintaining our own research programs, and
continuing to network and maintain professional connections with colleagues at other universities?

Edit: I see this question is related, although in my case recruiting is handled on a departmental rather than individual basis.


texts: Is it worthwhile to retake the GRE (math) subject test?

texts:
I took the math subject test recently and conservatively speaking I think my score range is mid 60s-mid/high 70s percentile, although it is hard to say for sure. My biggest problem was running out of time towards the end; I'm usually not a fast test taker since I like to take my time and think through the problems (I know this is not recommended for a standardized test like the GRE, but old habits are hard to break). As a result I don't think I scored as well as I could have (or at least my score doesn't reflect my abilities accurately). I'm wondering if I should re-take the exam (the next testing date, and the only one before applications are due, is October 24th. This is before I will have received my test scores from September).

On the one hand, I think and hope that more practice will lead to a more desirable score. But on the other hand, I would rather spend my time (and not spend my money) on more interesting things like my classes and my honors thesis. I have also heard that taking the test twice may actually not be so great since if I don't score significantly better (or if I score worse) on the second try, it will reflect negatively on my application.

A bit about myself for context: My interests are in algebra/NT; however, I'd like to go to a school with a large grad program so I can be flexible in case I decide to change my research focus. I have a good deal of research experience (2 summers at REUs with results from one published, and the other in preparation for publication. Also I have done and am currently doing work with two professors from my undergraduate institution). I believe I have strong letters; my grades are good and I've been taking challenging courses (currently in some grad classes). The schools I've thought about applying to (but have not finalized on) are: BC (very small program but close to home and I like the faculty), BU, MIT, UCLA, UWisconsin-Madison.

My questions are:

Are the GRE scores important enough that I should re-take it?
Or should I commit myself to other components of the application like grades/purpose letters?
What are the range of schools that my (supposed) scores will be acceptable at (taking into consideration the other parts of my application as well)?

Any other advice or comments would be appreciated.


texts: How much do research papers in arXiv count (for graduate applications)?

texts:
Wikipedia states that 'Although the arXiv is not peer reviewed, a collection of moderators for each area review the submissions.'

If a paper is not published in any other publication, does it means that it will not contribute to your C.V. when you are applying for an MS or PhD program? Because on arXiv it is not reviewed specifically implies that it does not have the same weight as compared to other publication.


texts: Authorship of an article based on semester project

texts:
I was teaching a graduate course in previous semester. One of my student implemented an idea I discussed with him during semester project. The results are astonishing and we decided to publish our findings in a prestigious journal.
I included his supervisor as co-author, and before submission I sent the manuscript to him for his feedback. But in response he said, he should be second and corresponding author. He has zero contribution in idea, write up and experiments etc. The student told me his professor is angry to him that why he is publishing article with other professor; although, it was outcome of semester project based on my idea.  Being a young faculty member how to handle this situation (Professor is very senior person in his 60s)? especially without hurting the relationship between student and his supervisor.


texts: Will stating a theorem in two papers result in text overlap flag on arXiv?

texts:
I have two preprints to be uploaded to arXiv. In one of the papers, I cite a theorem which is proved in the other one, so the statement of the theorem is the same in both papers. Will this result in a "text overlap" comment?

Edit: What if I split up a submitted paper into two, replace the old one by the first part of the two new ones, and upload the second part separately?


texts: Secondary Research Questions in a Master Thesis, where to answer?

texts:
My question concerns the placement of secondary research questions (SRQ) within a Master Thesis for a Software Engineering program.

Currently I describe my primary research question in a chapter on the Methodology of my Thesis. In the same chapter I describe 6 SRQs as auxiliary questions.

In the next chapter I describe my Experimental Design, and I answer 4 of the SRQs as they relate to the design and how it can properly test my hypothesis.

However, my supervisor suggested I cut the amount of SRQs to < 5 and that I answer the SRQs in my Introduction. I find that to be an odd place for SRQs since I would have to describe and answer them in the first chapter of my Thesis.

To be fair, the first 4 questions concern the Software framework to use, which dependent variables should be measured, which independent variables should be manipulated and how to guarantee reproducibility of the experiments (this is a big issue in Software Engineering and particularly for my subject). So I understand his issue with the questions. However, I feel that answering them in the chapter concerning my Experimental Design is actually quite fair and avoids a cluttered introduction.

Here is my current structure:

Introduction <- Supervisor suggests describing and answering 4 SRQs here, or to remove them
Use-case
Related Work
Methodology <- Currently describing PRQ and SRQs here
Experimental Design <- Answering 4 SRQs here
Results
Conclusion <- Answering PRQ and 2 SRQs here

I tried finding some literature on SRQs but I couldn't find anything on their placement, only what type of question they should be.

Any suggestions are appreciated.


texts: Is the the peer-review process different for special issues?

texts:
When I submitted my manuscript for a special issue of IEEE journal 3 months ago, the status of my article was:

  [Administrator]:  [name of publication manager]

  Under review

Yesterday it changed to:

  [Administrator]:  [name of publication manager]

  Awaiting Recommendation

I am afraid that my article may be desk-rejected because

  [Administrator]:  [name of publication manager]

hasn't changed to

  [Administrator]:  [name of associate editor or editor-in-chief]

Question: Is there any difference in the peer-review process of general submission and submission to a special issue?


texts: Accepted for Masters but Can Only Attend if I Have a Scholarship

texts:
I'm not a US citizen, and I was accepted recently for an MS Degree in CS. After asking the Graduate Office, I was told so far they don't have a scholarship for me (only 15 out of the 115 accepted got one).

I'm proceeding with the papers and such, since if someone drops, it will pass the scholarship for the next one, but due to currency exchange and the high price of US education, I can't go without the funding. Is there any way I can prove myself now or is it better to refuse the offer right now?


texts: Asked for PhD grade in application but no grades awarded in my country

texts:
I'm applying for a fellowship in continental Europe (Spain) and have been asked what grade I received. I think in many countries it's normal to receive grades over the course of a PhD, as well as an overall grade (of the form "with distinction", "cum laude" etc.) but this isn't common in the UK, where I received my PhD.
How should I answer the question? "N/A" seems most obvious, but should I explain in a footnote why I received no grade?


texts: Can I pursue a PhD in the Netherlands with no Masters?

texts:
I'm a 37-year-old student with 12 years professional experience in the field of the PhD and a strong BA (Hons) in the academic field of the project. Linguistic fluency in the indigenous languages and 1 peer-reviewed academic paper. I'm wondering if I can apply for a PhD in the Netherlands with this profile?

I have direct field research experience in the project area and I'm currently working as a research assistant/fellow at a social science research institute.

Do you think I have a chance?


texts: How do some Ws on transcripts affect PhD admissions in mathematics?

texts:
I am a senior who is graduating in December with a Bachelor's Degree in Pure math. I would really love to apply to the PhD program. However, I have been really depressed because even though I have a good GPA (3.85), and I have gotten mostly A's in all of my math classes (I have taken math classes up to Topology, measure theory, and Algebra), I feel like this is not good enough since I have 8 W's [withdrawals--no grade given] on my transcript. The horrible part is that 6 of these W's are on math courses. All those W's occurred during my first year at my university. The second year up to now I haven't gotten any W's.

My question is: How horrible (by the Committee who selects candidates for the program) is a W seen on a transcript? Is there anything I can do about it?

I feel like I have a big hole on my transcript, and it has been chasing me throughout my undergrad years even though I managed to hide myself from this monster and continued to take a lot of math courses, earning A's (and two B's) in all of them.


texts:
I am a junior academic (just finishing a PhD in computer science) and I'm considering starting an academic blog. My reasons for starting a blog are:

Fun.
Improving my visibility.
The benefit of science.

… basically, the same reasons I publish papers. (In a sense, academic blogging, is just a 21st century form of academic communication to supplement journals and conferences.)

However, I also have concerns:

Maintaining an active blog takes a lot of time and effort. (i.e. it may stop being fun.)
Fear of failure - many blogs die. (Does an inactive blog look bad?)
Being a junior researcher, I worry that people will not care about my blog or, worse, disagree with what I say.

So I want to ask for advice from people who have (or had) an academic blog:

Is academic blogging a good idea?
Does it become too much effort?
Is it worthwhile?
How likely is blog-death?
In general, what are pitfalls to watch out for when starting an academic blog?


texts: Is tutoring (outside university) while doing PhD a good idea?

texts:
Just to ask some advice regarding tutoring students while pursuing a PhD to supplement my income.
Is this a good idea? Tutoring pays well in my country, and I am intending to teach twice a week(2 hours each), which would generate a side income equivalent to 30% of my stipend.

(Side info: I am researching Mathematics)

Thanks for your advice!


texts: In a computing/software paper, is it acceptable to talk about alternative tools in a literature review?

texts:
I have to write a short literature review for a practical, technical white paper relating to computer security.

Googling around, I find that most literature reviews focus only on previous papers or books ("purely" literature).

I was wondering if it was acceptable to talk about both literature and tools that are similar to what I'm developing? Or should the focus be exclusively on previous literature?


texts: Is a bachelor in Computer Science Engineering a viable idea if my ultimate objective is to be a mathematical modelling engineer?

texts:
I want to mathematically model reality and use these models to solve problems. Will a degree in Computer Science Engineering allow me to do this?

Additional background. Reading the overview of a master's graduate degree (MSC to be exact) in modelling mechanical engineer, it really spiked my interest. I am not a mathematical genius though, and I need to at least see applications and more or less concrete problems/implementations. Also relevant could be that I am a senior in high school and I learned programming all by myself.

Systems I would find interesting to get to know better by creating mathematical models

I am most interested in physics and general mathematical patterns, like the approach found in Albert-László Barabási's book Network Science.
I am not interested in specializing in any particular field just because of the field itself.


texts: I have been shortlisted for a professor position in Germany (ranked 3 out of 4). What chances do I have to be offered the position?

texts:
I recently got to know that I am third in a shortlist of four candidates for a full professor position in a German university.
I am not that experienced about German academia, since I worked in other countries, so far.
Unofficially, I have been told that the first candidate, who is already a full professor, quite likely is not really interested in the position, but rather she/he is trying to negotiate better conditions in her/his current university.
I have no info about the second candidate. In case also this second candidate does not accept the job, I would be invited to the negotiation.
According to your experience, what are the chances that candidates, who are not in the top positions of the shortlist, can access the negotiation? In other words, what are the chances that top candidates leave the position to lower-ranked candidates, for any reason?
I have been told that anything could happen, even that none of the shortlisted candidates accepts the position (well, actually I would accept). But I have no clues about statistics. How likely is, according to your experience, that I will be invited to the negotiation? Having a hint would be very useful. Thanks a lot!


texts: Do I call my supervisor “dean” or “professor”?

texts:
My supervisor is the dean of an engineering department at my university. Should I address him as Dean Smith or Professor Smith? Personally, dean sounds a little clunky for me talking to my faculty supervisor but I’ve been using it so far, and he hasn’t really mentioned anything about it.

Is it normal to address someone as dean or should I start using professor instead?

Also, I don’t know if he’s the type to care about such things.


texts:
I have a paper due tonight, and I have done my part. I have also volunteered to compile the texts from the other authors and hand it all in (there's four of us). I have all texts except one and frankly don't expect to get it on time (our internal deadline was two days ago.)

How should I handle this situation? Leave the whole section empty, with an explanatory editor's note? Just take it out? Send an explanatory email to my lecturer?


texts: How much would I have to publish to get an entry-level job?

texts:
*Edit in response to comments: I'm not asking "What is the number of publications n of quality q1 such that anybody who has n many publications is guaranteed to get a job at a school like Y?" There is no such value of n. What I'm asking is, "Is there a number of publications n, of some quality q such that without n many publications of quality q, one will likely not get a job at a school like Y?" I realize the title is misleading.

This is in response to a conversation that developed in this thread.

I would like to hear from academia.SE members who have been search committee members on a junior search. How many publications, and of what quality would be required to get a job at different kinds of universities?

Let's say for the purpose of this exercise that we are in the U.S. and that there are five kind of universities.

2 year community colleges with incredibly heavy teaching expectations (4/4+)
4 year public or private colleges with heavy teaching expectations (3/4)
Elite small liberal arts colleges with moderate to light teaching expectations (2/2 - 3/3).
Non-elite state universities with graduate programs and light teaching loads (2/2).
Elite universities with little to no teaching (1/- or 1/1).

It would also be helpful if respondents would identify which discipline they are in.


texts:
Someone graduated from a university few months ago. She asked for certificate but university staff informed that it will take around 9 months to be ready and stamped from authorities. They offered to give Graduation Letter signed from university only and transcript.

The degree is in Arabic Literature.
Can she use this letter for registration in another university for post-graduate studies or finding jobs as a teacher. she is looking to study/work in another country.

Thanks


texts: Dealing with aggressive student suspected to be cheating

texts:
In a previous test one of my TAs discovered a fraudulent pattern in six of the exams. The answers were uncomfortably similar, actually identical in many places. I called the students to my office and brought two colleagues to help me "interview" them individually (ask them questions about the test, gauge their level of knowledge about the subject, ...)

One of the students reacted very explosively at my one and only question: "Could you please tell me how you solved 'problem 2'? He told me he felt threatened by the question and that I had no right to ask him questions after the exam. To what I reply: "do you or do you not know?"

At that point things spiraled very fast out of control, he reacted violently, stepping out of the office while muttering some insults. On the way out he hit the door. I tried to calm him down but he got only angrier and the color of his words became redder. After seeing this, the other students refused to continue the interviews with my colleagues and left.

I definitely don't know if I should have approached the situation in a different way. Should I make them repeat the exam? Start a disciplinary process?

EDIT (Jan/09/18):

In case of suspected misconduct I should bring the case, along with evidence, to the Dean. He then reviews it and decides whether to bring it to the Academic Council or stop it there. They ultimately have the power to decide what to do. However, almost a year ago a colleague also faced a situation that involved fraud during a test, and the Dean decided to not do anything because the potential punishment for the student would be too harsh (he might be expelled)

EDIT (Jan/10/18):

Just to add some details into the situation: At the moment of the incident I was talking with one student, and each of my colleagues was doing the same with a student. The six of us were in the same (big) room. And the other three students were waiting outside.


texts: How do I find out when grad schools host their open house?

texts:
I'm looking to tour a few grad schools in the near future, but I can't find any dates for tours for any of the schools I'm interested in.

The school I attend has tours for potential grad students, but I'm not sure this is a thing all schools do.

Do grad schools typically have days where they hold tours?
Should I contact the schools I'm interested in? If so, who should I contact?

(I have not yet applied, I'm about a year away from that.)


texts: Using the same control pictures/data in two different papers

texts:
:-)
We would like to ask a question of general interest, as it might be the case in other studies. It is the first time I stumble upon this situation.

In our research, we have used the wild-type of a microbial strain and mutants for about 7 distinct genes. They were all subjected to different treatments and assessed by the same response variables. The seven genes, however, are not strictly related to each other, so that 3 of them as a group make-up one story, and the other 4 make-up a different one (thereby, two distinct manuscripts). The reason why they were all worked together (the wild-type and the mutants for these genes) were simply logistics and efficiency of resources usage.

One of the authors are concerned with the fact that for both papers with different groups of mutants (hence very different stories), the wild-type controls were the same!  Therefore, he is afraid that using the same pictures and data in this case would configure a self-plagiarism issue between the two manuscripts.

Could you please help us on deciding whether this will indeed be an issue, or not?

Thank you very much in advance for your kindness and attention to this matter.

Best regards,
Dr. Leandro.


texts: Dependence of answer on the length of inquiry

texts:
When contacting some scientist with a specific inquiry that goes beyond a simple research question, e.g. an inquiry concerning a specific career with a description of personal educational background and a request for advice - after all, it makes more sense to describe the personal situation instead of only asking "How does one end up doing ...?" -, what would be the limit of length of the inquiry where one should not expect an answer anymore?
One A4 page? Two ... ?


texts: Centralized DB For EU Projects' Publications & Deliverables

texts:
A lot of times I face a difficulty in finding the public deliverables and/or publications lists of EU FP6 and even EU FP7 projects.
Usually, these are hosted on the respective projects' websites.
Lately, I've been finding sites that don't list them or are down because of misconfigurations, expired leases, etc.
I've found that repositories such as Cordis et al. usually only host flyers, awards, and posters for example, but no deliverables & no bibliography.

I would like to avoid the brute-force methods of:

Tracking down the publications lists for each PI assigned to this project for the time span of the project and sifting through it for project-specific publications.
Tracking down the PI's and mailing each until I receive responses with parts of bibliographies and possibly even some of the public deliverables.

My question, in two parts, is as follows:

Is there a centralised database that hosts public deliverables and publications lists for EU FP projects?
If not, are you aware of any method other than the above (time-consuming) brute-force techniques?


texts: How to write/represent the state-of-the-art analysis in a research paper?

texts:
I have found that one of the most common remarks from the reviewers is regarding the "state-of-the-art". Especially in terms of applied research. Something like:

The authors have not discussed the state-of-the-art methods properly.
The experiment/results should be compared with the state-of-the-art methods.
Etc.

As a novice researcher, my questions are:

What exactly does "state-of-the-art" mean in applied research?
How to properly discuss or analyse the state-of-the-art method in a paper? Should it be discussed in the literature review section only or somewhere else too?
In terms of applied research (like the application of data mining algorithms), how to compare the obtained results with the results of state-of-the-art methods? How to consider the results of state-of-the-art methods as a baseline and compare your own results with it?

Could anyone please explain with examples?


texts: Getting into new field after tech career / PhD in STEM, should i start a new degree as undergrad or at postgrad level

texts:
I have an undergrad and PhD in a STEM field (engineering), and a few publications in some decent journals. since passing my PhD, i've been working in a management position in a tech company for the last few years, but needing some mental stimulation / diversification, started doing some papers in economics and philosophy after hours. I've done pretty well and i'd like to continue diversifying. After many years of self guided research, being back in the teaching environment as a student has actually been very cathartic and enjoyable and it turns out social sciences / humanities seem to come more naturally to me than i had thought previously.
My question relates to whether it would be wiser to start in a new field 'from the bottom up' (ie undergrad) or try to get into things at a higher level. I dont want to be bored but i also enjoy the rigour of starting at undergrad level. I'd like to get some opinions on this since most of the academics i know  tend to stay in their research fields. I should note i never intended to do a PhD but was promoted from a masters after my field year. I also seem to believe that education is not only about specialisation as is more common in the modern era, but more in tune with academics who covered many fields during their careers for instance Liebniz (law, mathematics etc)
Are their any PhD's out there who have diversified effectively into a completely new field? What is your advice? Did you end up 'starting again' ?


texts: Is there a database of granted and declined funding proposals available with abstracts?

texts:
I´m looking for a database of granted and declined scientific funding proposals. The applications should contain an identifier of the subject as well as the semantic components of the application and be available for download. The area of applications does not matter.
I have already found the website of the National Science Foundation (NSF). In my opinion, there are only the granted applications. In addition, I find in the database only the application, but not the announcement.

Thanks in advance.


texts: Applying for NSF math postdoc fellowship with a non-U.S. institution as sponsor

texts:
I will be applying for the NSF mathematics postdoctoral fellowship this fall, and I was surprised to find out that the sponsoring institution need not be located in the United States. One of the universities I am now considering as a sponsoring institution is located in Europe. I'm curious if anyone here has experience with this situation and can give some perspective.

Does the location have any effect (including indirectly) on my chances of getting the fellowship? I'm currently already doing a postdoc in Europe; does this have any bearing? Is it important to communicate, in some form, an intention to return to the U.S. after the postdoc? Or to emphasize that you will still be involved in the U.S. math community?

Are there any challenges or pitfalls with a foreign institution that might be less obvious, or particular strategies that might work well? How might you write a convincing "broader impact" statement if you'll be going abroad?

I'm American and I did my PhD in the U.S.


texts: Say a published paper has 4 authors. How many directly contributed to writing the paper?

texts:
As in the question, let's say that a paper has four authors. Clearly, all authors contributed something to the work. However, can I deduce that only the first person wrote the physical paper? Or do authors normally write different sections of a paper? For instance, is it possible that author 1 writes the first part of the paper and author 2 writes the second part of the paper? Or, can it be the case that the first author listed contributed the most to the work stated in the paper but did not write the actual paper?

Main questions:

Given a paper with multiple authors, on average, how many people wrote the physical paper?
Is the first author always the person who wrote the physical paper?


texts: Can you gain admissions to a top UK Engineering PhD program with limited research?

texts:
Background.
I completed both a BS and MS degree in Engineering, from a decent US University.  My Masters GPA was 3.75/4.00.  I have since left the program and began working. I want to enter a top UK Engineering PhD program but my research might be slightly subpar, depending on the standards.  During my time as a Masters Student, I was only 2nd author of 1 journal paper and 1 conference paper.  I was NOT 1st author of any publication.

Questions.

  Can you get into a top UK Engineering PhD program (Imperial, Cambridge, UCL, Oxford) with limited research experience (in my case, zero 1st author publications)?
  What are the credentials of a competitive candidate for top UK universities (for an Engineering PhD)?


texts: Safely negotiate a salary for a PhD offer - Germany

texts:
I have recently received an offer from a group which pursues topics I find very motivating and whose equipment is above average for my field.

The salary offered is 50% of the German TV-L E13 salary, which I think is acceptable by academic standards. However, all other offers which I have received are 65% of TV-L E13, though all of these other groups pursue topics which to me are slightly less interesting. To give you a bit of background, 50% has been the standard for a long time, but since a couple of years ago most groups in my field are deciding to award their PhD employees 65%.

I am very motivated by my particular interests, and had the salary been equal for all offers I would have taken this one without question. Sadly, the situation being as it is, I am quite split. Additionally, the professor made it quite clear that I would also have to get involved in teaching (not all other groups were as forward about this) - which I do not mind in the slightest, but which I think would give cause for extra consideration when calculating a salary. Regarding the professor's interest, he seemed very keen to have me on board, but also very confident I would take his offer.

I would like to ask whether he could accommodate for 65%. But, since I am yet to decide, I would not like to lose the offer or put great strain on our future relationship if he refused.

The way I see it, academic culture treats monetary interest with a certain disdain, and I would like to ask you how I could best formulate my request.

FEEDBACK: I have followed the advice offered here, and stated in an email to my prospective PI that I had received better paid offers, and that I would ask him if he could increase the pay, though I am aware of how difficult this could be for him. He took some time to reply (which initially gave me cause to worry), but apparently now he managed to arrange for 65%. I would encourage any of you to follow the advice presented here; and do try to negotiate as long as you do it very respectfully!


texts: How would I preface being on the president's list in the same way that someone can be a “winner” of an award, on a bullet list

texts:
(Referred here from English SE)

I'm trying to write a bullet list of accomplishments for a scholarship renewal, and I'd like to include that I am on the University President's list.

Typically in a bullet list of such things, you (and this is extremely difficult to phrase) "preface" each item with a word, such as "Winner of x award", or "member of x club." (Where "winner" and "member" are the words in question.)

Seeing as the Presidents list is neither an award nor an organization per se, how would I preface such an accomplishment?


texts: Is there such a thing as a "general semester"?

texts:
I’m an MSc student and write my thesis about academy retention.

So far the only model I know is that a student enrolls to a certain faculty and begins his studies there.
I’m trying to find models in which the students start their studies in a global semester or year and only after finishing it, choose their desired faculty.
Are there universities or colleges with such a model?

Also, is there a formal name to such a “global semester/year”? I haven’t been able to find anything on the net.


texts:
Suppose a journal editor rejects a manuscript with only one reviewer’s feedback, but the few comments the reviewer and editor made were almost entirely minor comments (e.g. “use these units for this figure axis”, or “this section heading is misleading”).

Suppose one author shows the feedback to several trusted faculty members at their institution who are familiar with the work, and they say it looks like the reviewer, the editor, or both are feeling threatened by the paper and may be trying to make sure it doesn’t get published quickly, if at all.

A similar question has been asked here (How to deal with an unethical editor?), except that question was asking about an editor who was making up comments for a reviewer. Suppose the authors have no reason to believe that the editor is making up comments for a reviewer, as in that question, but do have reason to think the editor may have too quickly dismissed the paper (after only one reviewer’s comments rather than waiting for the second reviewer, and based on very minor details that should have prompted minor revision). Suppose, for the sake of the question, that the editor and perhaps the first reviewer indeed appear to be acting in bad faith, which of course would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove. In other words, what if several experienced researchers suspected real foul play, rather than a grad student feeling miffed about a rejection?

What options are available to the authors in such a situation? (This is not a “what should I do?” question.)

Background

This question is most useful to the community when it is asked generally, so I originally omitted details. Several have asked, so I am including vague details here, but my question is not about my colleague's situation — it's intended to be general.

I read the feedback. In my colleague's case, the editor rejected the paper based on the feedback from a single reviewer and their own reading of the manuscript — without waiting for the feedback from the second reviewer. Most of the comments were easily addressed (add a sentence here, change units on this figure, rephrase this confusing sentence there, etc.). A comment about some inconsistency in their approach seemed legitimate, and a section title was confusing. The first author, a grad student, sent the feedback to me and the faculty they talked with to see what we thought. There was absolutely nothing about the feedback that indicated it should have been rejected rather than sent back for revision. I'm also a grad student, so I do think much of my own opinion, plus it's not my field. Instead, I trust that the senior faculty who reviewed the feedback and called it highly unusual know what they are talking about. The editor was in a different (tangentially-related) field than that of the paper.


texts: How to /Should I include a disadvantaged youth in personal statement

texts:
I'm currently writing my personal statement for a big ten university, I have read many guides on the subject and have written out most of my undergrad research experience, my academic interest, my involvement in student life, connections to faculty and involvement in sports.
On to the subject; while I was growing up my father was an alcoholic, for what it's worth he managed to go through life with this illness, and I growing up had no real need uncovered. While i was in High school he really let go and seemed to hit low in his life, eventually passing away from a gun related accident (alcohol related) just before I began college. I feel no resentment towards him now.
Should I include this somehow in y personal statement? I'm mature enough to know that what I lived through might not have been the single best infancy, yet I didn't lack of any real necessities, albeit most of the time struggling for money.

Would it be safe to share this in my statement? I feel somehow it pushed me towards the student life somewhat, yet it was a struggle each day as effectively he was drunk most days of the year, and despite of it I excelled in school (high school). Is the admissions committee likely to be inspired or view this as a crutch as it happened too far back as I hold a bachelor's, and there is some water under the bridge now in regards to how I perceived my father.


texts: How to write an email to an academic asking for a summer research project?

texts:
Summer research projects sound like a good way to find out about a university before applying to do  PhD there. Hopefully, it would also advertise ones research abilities, making it easier to obtain a PhD position there.

I know how to obtain a summer project within my own university. One can simply go to a professors office in their office hours and making tentative enquiries. Obviously this is only possible because I am already working there.

I would like to email some professors from other institutions (in other countries) to find out if there would be a possibility of doing a summer research project with them (in their university). How should this email be phrased to maximise the chances of it getting a reply?

If it is relevant, I am a theoretical physics student, who is in the penultimate year of a degree with integrated masters.


texts: Citing papers that use unpublished data that I want to publish

texts:
I am getting ready to submit a method paper which describes a dataset that I had created. However, I was late getting the paper ready, and a couple of other colleagues used the dataset in their own papers, and those papers are already online (I am coauthor in them).

The other papers do not describe in detail how the dataset was constructed. I am afraid that if cite them, it might harm my chances of getting my own paper on the dataset published. Any suggestions on what would be the right thing to do?

thanks!


texts: Ask for a letter of recommendation after 11-year hiatus?

texts:
Is it unusual to ask for a letter of recommendation from an advisor who sat on my thesis committee a decade ago?  I received my MA in (human) geography in 2009.  One of my committee advisors was a sociology professor.  At the time he encouraged me to consider a Ph.D. in sociology.  The recession and personal life factors intervened and I ended up working in government.  A few years ago I started on a second bachelor's program (online) in sociology while working, which I have just completed.  Based on this experience, I realize I do indeed want to pursue a doctorate in sociology.

I do of course have professors from my recent sociology program who will provide me with LORs, but I would really like to ask my former thesis advisor.  Yet I am embarrassed that I did not maintain contact with this advisor.  Any advice on how to approach this?  Any thoughts much appreciated.


texts: How do you think about volunteering helpers and two-body problem for PhD

texts:
I am an international student and I just got the offer of a very good D.Phil. program in an elite university in the UK. My only concern is the "two-body problem", i.e., I have to get involved into a long-distance relation with my fiancee, who is currently in Asia.

To balance her career goals and our relationship, my fiancee decided to find a research position in the same university. She has graduated from a master program in biology from a recognized local university with several years research experiences and one publication. We understood it is difficult for a (non-UK/EU) foreigner to find a job in the UK, and hence we decided to send emails to potential supervisors with relevant research interests and asked for an unpaid volunteering helper position.

May I know how would you think about such an email as a professor? Whether it is possible for a university to offer an unpaid volunteering helper position? Will a university help to solve the "two-body problem" for a perspective D.Phil. student?


texts: Can a person write a thesis years later if illness set in?

texts: Can a person write her thesis years later for the mere sake of doing it if illness interrupted her upon completion of graduate courses in English Literature?


texts: What should I write for "Research and Teaching Merits" when applying online for a PhD?

texts:
Recently, I want to apply for a PhD position in a place which uses an online system to submit applications. The position is going be filled by either a PhD student or a Postdoc. There is a section in the application form titled "Research and teaching merits" with a mandatory field "Field of research". I wasn't sure what exactly I should write in this field so for now I left a '-' character there.

I searched on the internet but I couldn't find a clear answer about what I should write there. I also contacted the emails provided with the advertisement but there was no response.

What do you think I should write in this field of the application form?


texts: What can a letter writer say in a teaching letter to make a candidate stand out?

texts:
When applying to faculty positions at teaching-focused institutions, recommendation letters that speak to a candidate's teaching ability are (presumably) very important. But often the person writing the teaching letter is a faculty member at a research-focused institution, where teaching experience of faculty applicants is not emphasized, and so they may not know how to write a good teaching letter (due to lack of experience evaluating such letters).

For example, Pete L. Clark said in this answer:

  Many teaching letters are not worthy of more than a very brief reading. They simply do not separate out the candidate or provide any really incisive or useful information. If teaching letters are to be believed, then approximately 99.5% of all candidates are above average teachers. Why do I find myself skeptical of this?

What are the characteristics of a strong teaching letter? What can a letter writer do to emphasize a candidate's teaching abilities in a way that makes them stand out?

Of course it will depend on the candidate... but I'm interested in hearing from users who have been on search committees at teaching-focused institutions, regarding what kind of things they look for or appreciate in teaching letters.


texts: Is there any reason not to go up for promotion?

texts:
I started my first permanent academic position as a Lecturer at at UK university in Autumn 2019. More than one of my senior colleagues seems very eager to get me promoted to a Reader as soon as possible, looking out that I tick the right administrative boxes to make this happen and encouraging me to apply for promotion this month. This seems premature to me as I don't even feel like I know the my way around the university yet, and with Covid I haven't accomplished much in my research since joining the university.
My question is: Are there any reasons not to pursue a promotion? A promotion is a great thing, right? But are there any downsides? E.g. it might make it harder for me to move to a different university in a few years if I want to, or I might get saddled with more administrative responsibilities? Are there any other downsides I haven't thought of?


texts: Is it possible to participate as a research assistant as a nondegree student?

texts:
Does anyone have any information, either formal or anecdotal, about being a research assistant as a nondegree student, specifically with the aim of getting published?

In particular, I am referring to a situation where someone with a bachelor's degree takes coursework as a nondegree student and tries to participate in research in preparation for graduate study.


texts: How to refer to an Academic, NGO and private partnership organization?

texts:
What would you call an umbrella organization that unites a university faculty, an extra-academic non-profit research center, and a NGO?

These organizations plan to pool resources to facilitate scientific research, apply for grants, and co-publish. As there are advantages to developing a single entity to those ends, we plan to form an umbrella organization. But how to call it: a hub, a research centre, a working group… it seems there are no standard terms.

Do you guys have any experience with such entities and how they are called?


texts: Is there an American alternative to the PGCE?

texts:
The UK offers a Post Graduate Certificate of Education which certifies teachers domestically and is useful in the international school system.
As an American teaching abroad, I am looking for an equivalent.
What is the US equivalent to this?


texts: How to prepare for undergraduate research of which I have no background in?

texts:
I recently applied and got accepted to a very large research lab in the U.S. Although the catch is that I did not get put into my major ( Biology ) and instead was placed into computer science ( simulations/super computing).

I reason this is because I had several computer science classes in the past, but I eventually changed majors to biology due to not flourishing with high level maths or coding.

I assume that to prepare for any research, one must read the supervisor's papers and self study. Although the issue is I feel I am totally outmatched for this position, due to my struggles in computer science before. Is there a good strategy for approaching this upcoming internship or should I resign instead?


texts: Does cum laude mean the end of an academic career in Germany

texts:
I have recieved the grades for my PhD, and the defense is yet to be done.
I have a magna cum laude for the course work, and a cum laude for my dissertation. Do I have an academic career in Germany if I end up with a cum laude for the PhD?
Is there any way I can salvage a magna cum laude? The defense remains.
Neither of my supervisors read any of my drafts. They said that I should submit, and then gave me cum laude, which is the second-to-lowest in Germany. (There is rite, cum laude, magna cum laude, summa cum laude.)


texts: Is it normal to feel too rushed to publish as a PhD student?

texts:
I feel I am in a strange position as a PhD student. On the one hand, I understand that the sciences have become much more fast-paced in terms of publications. I completely understand this.

On the other hand, I am feeling extremely rushed into publishing, not being more than a year into my PhD. The pressure is quite immense, considering that I used the whole first year just to build a foundation of knowledge so that I could stand on my own two feet. But being pushed to publish immediately after that year is up, with threat of termination of my candidature looming so suddenly and without warning - simply: My PhD students need to publish ASAP or leave - has really made me suffer as a student.

As far as I hear from other students in my field, it's common to have no papers published until even the third year. Sooner is better, of course, but the vast majority of other PhD students I've met or spoken to tell me their supervisor is significantly more relaxed. I really feel that this is making me suffer in that I don't have time to build myself as a researcher because my time has so quickly been reallocated to only doing the grunt work for someone else's project for 3/4 papers a year. At times it really feels like this is a bit of a paper mill and I can't become a successful researcher in my own right like this. Maybe in terms of quantity, but not quality.

Is this situation common? If so, how can I do about it? It is causing huge issues in my life and making me sincerely question whether this is in my best interest.


texts: What quality do top schools look for, besides normal requirements?

texts:
In his answer in How do you get a bad transcript past Ph.D. admissions?, InquilineKea says:

  By the way, elite private schools (for whatever reason) tend not to have GPA cutoffs. If you're a student with a low GPA applying for an elite private school, you probably have something else in you that's extremely unusual, since very few students with low GPAs apply to them.

Sooo, what exactly are they? I guess, you are thinking this right now:

  Research ability. Number of papers. Period.

But that's nothing new for me (do I miss something?). I'm looking for the extremely unusual things that he mentioned. Googling around, I don't see much information given for grad students, only for the undergrad. In an answer in Quora, a women who self-claimed to used to interview applicants to MIT lists four qualities (again, for undergrad):

  Deep intellectual curiosity and a passion for learning that goes far beyond the norm.
  Self motivation, tenacity and grit.
  Lack of arrogance.
  A burning desire to attend MIT above all other schools, and can explain why.

Do those unusual qualities ever exist? How heavy are they in the final decision? And where should I represent them? In the emails to the professors, or in the SOP to the adcom, or just in my website? Or should I just stick to the research ability?


texts: If an editor appoints a non-expert reviewer by mistake, is there any way to convey this to the editor?

texts: What to do if somebody is suspicious after reading the review report of a research paper that one of the reviewers may be his ex-coworker, who is not an expert in the subject of the paper?


texts: On the definition of research - are 'what' and 'how' questions also considered as research?

texts:
In Philips and Pugh's How to get a PhD, the authors describe the general philosophical concept of research 'in all disciplines'. I have two questions in this context.

A. They said that an activity that tries to answer a question like

  'What are the age, sex and subject distributions of doctoral students in
  British higher education?'

is considered descriptive, intelligence-gathering activity, but not research. This is pretty clear and agreed upon. However, they attribute that to the 'what' nature of the question.

Later, they said:

  Research goes beyond description and requires analysis. It looks for explanations,
  relationships, comparisons, predictions, generalizations and theories. These are the ‘why’ questions. Why are there so many fewer women doctoral students in physics than in biology? ...

  All these questions require good intelligence-gathering, just as decisionmaking and policy formulation do. But the information is used for the purpose of developing understanding – by comparison, by relating to other factors, by theorizing and testing the theories.

Is it sound to consider only 'why' questions as research? How about some 'what' and 'how' questions?

B. In the same text:

  All research questions have comparisons in them, as the words ‘fewer’, ‘different’ and ‘less’ in the examples above illustrate.

Should all real research questions really contain comparison (explicitly or implicitly)?


texts:
Am I allowed to compile the index to a journal and publish it, or should I ask permission to the journal first?

(By index I mean a list of all articles in all issues of the journal)


texts:
I have recently accepted a postdoctoral position at a reputed institute in the UK. I am an oversees applicant, who will soon be moving to the UK to take on this role. During the interview, I did not enquire about relocation expenses, assuming there would be support for that, but I have now been told that postdocs in this institute don't get a relocation support. On top of this, new regulations on the UK visa mean that I am now having to pay almost 1200 GBP just to get a visa and permission to be in the UK.

The town I am moving to is quite expensive (almost London rates) and I am now having trouble raising money for the airfare and paying initial rent and deposit, let alone having money for food and miscellaneous expenses. I am in a very tight spot and don't know how to take the next steps. This role has come after a lot of difficulty, and this situation is making it very difficult. Any advice on what I could do ?


texts: Advice for switching PhD programs back to my undergrad field

texts:
I'm a first-year PhD student who switched from field X in my undergrad to field Y at my current university. The program I'm currently in is ranked #1 in field Y. I am genuinely unhappy here and am looking for advice on switching programs.

I joined this program because I had done research here before and enjoyed it, and it's an excellent university, so I figured it'd be a no-brainer. I was a little worried about switching fields, but everyone said things like "classes don't matter" or "choose the PI, not the school", so I figured this decision would be best. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.

I'm quickly learning that I do not have interest in many of the required courses (I think I wrongly convinced myself that I would), and there is a large amount of classes I need to take (about 12). I'm not enjoying the material I'm learning, and I'm also finding that I don't have many pre-requisite classes I need to truly excel and understand the material. I am sitting in on lower-level classes and giving it my all, but this is just adding on more and more time between myself and what I want to do -- research.

In all, I do not find myself happy here. I am very passionate about research still, and I think pursuing a PhD in my undergrad field at a different institution would be a better fit for me.

Does anyone have any advice about how to do this most effectively? I plan to be up-front with all those involved, and I intend to briefly but clearly explain why a new program would be a better intellectual fit than my current one without bashing my current university. I can get a strong letter from someone at my current university, although he is actually in the field I want to switch to, not the one I'm currently in. I hope my letters writers understand if I explain my scenario to them.

I imagine this will be a sticky situation, since I doubt I'll be funded to stay in the program next semester if they know I plan to leave, and I'm definitely not going to pay out of pocket. But I'm not going to lie by omission!

If anyone has been through this process, I would be eager to hear any advice. I just want to do this in the best way possible, for myself as an applicant and for others involved. I plan to re-apply to some universities I got accepted to in the past as well as other universities I didn't apply to before but think would match my interests.


texts: Would you consider a very short, non-standard thesis that lacks a research questions, a thesis?

texts:
I recently met an artist. He was very proud of the shortness of his Master's thesis, which was published back in early 90's and has only 3 pages! He had been graduated from the California college of arts with a MFA (Master of Fine Arts?) degree.

I have heard that some PhD theses in mathematics are sometimes very short. However, his thesis had no introduction, no background, no question, no references, nothing! In fact, it was nothing similar to a thesis. It was basically his idea of modern arts. To me, it looked like a research proposal; albeit one without a research question!

Having said that, I mentioned his thesis as an example and I am not looking to find ways to criticize something he has done many years ago. I just want to know if the idea of very short theses is correct or is it a hoax? Shouldn't a thesis have a standard (-or at least, some) structure?

Cheers


texts: Do I have to pay back an Australian IPRS Scholarship, if I decide to quit my PhD?

texts:
I am currently in an application process for a PhD position in Australia and my advisors said that I might be eligible for an IPRS Scholarship.
Obviously this is a great opportunity, but at the same time also a major life changing decision to leave my home country for a three year PhD program abroad.
Before I make my final decision, I of course want to think of all possible risks involved.

So here is my question: Do you know if I have to pay back the funds recieved by the IPRS Scholarship or and University / Project money if I decide to quit my PhD?
Does anyone of you have any experiences regarding this issue?
Thanks!


texts: PhD dissertation burnout duing pandemic (COVID-19)

texts:
I am in the process of writing my PhD thesis and it happens to be during the global pandemic crisis. My submission date was supposed to be June 2020 (we are in April 2020), but my supervisor has been kind enough to extend it to September 2020 due to the current circumstances so as to give me more time. However, I feel completely burnout, and I'm scared it will evolve into a depression.

I don't live in the country of my origin, so I am away from my family, support system and anything familiar. I also have a tendency to feel lonely and get stuck inside my head but I went to therapy when I first moved to  where I am now and made so much progress. Normally, I have things under control, I go to the gym regularly, and hang out with friends on weekends, play basketball, go on hikes, maintain a relationship with my colleagues at the institute, and volunteer, which all help.

But since we are in quarantine, the isolation and the PhD stress are taking their toll on me, and I feeling super unmotivated, lonely, and defeated. I have extreme self-doubt and pretty much a negative outlook on my personal and professional life. I cry daily and I feel physically exhausted even though I have been getting enough rest and sleep. I try to write, but I can't concentrate. And the more I don't make any progress, the more anxious I become. This is in addition to the feeling of just wanting to be done with this phase and moving forward with other things in life. I feel stuck.

I don't know what to do, and I'm scared it would evolve into depression. What can I do before things spiral out of control?


texts: How do I help minimize interruptions during group meetings as a student?

texts:
The project I work on has numerous members -- several graduate students, a couple of postdocs, and my advisor. We meet every other week to discuss progress and update one another on our status. Almost to a point these meetings run over, as we continuously find ourselves in tangential discussions.

One effect that I've noticed from these tangents is that certain individuals in the group tend to get interrupted more than others. Specifically, there's a single female postdoc (hereafter referred to as postdoc A) in the group, and it seems to me that she gets interrupted more often than anyone else.

There are multiple guilty parties here -- my advisor, the other postdoc (who is male and is hereafter referred to as postdoc B), even my labmates and I (the other graduate students). We (my labmates and I) have noticed this and are making a strong effort to no longer interrupt postdoc A while she is speaking. My advisor and postdoc B seem to be oblivious to this, and often times will discuss potential ideas and pitfalls about postdoc A's research during her own presentation.

I'm guessing there may be multiple factors at play -- issues of gender, societal norms (postdocs A and B and my advisor are all from different countries outside the US, while my labmates and I are all from the US), power dynamics, etc. And I also realize that I'm a bit biased here -- I work most closely with postdoc A, so I have a sense of loyalty toward her especially. But it's gotten out of hand in my opinion, and I'm not sure as a student how to best assist her.

This post has some suggestions for students and advisors on how to conduct effective group meetings, but it doesn't directly address this issue. I'd appreciate any advice the Academia S.E. community has on how I, as a student, can best support this postdoc during group meetings.


texts: For conferences with an abstract deadline shortly before full paper deadline, does the "no simultaneous submission" rule include abstract submission?

texts:
It's generally forbidden to submit the same paper at two different venues at the same time. In addition, many computer science conferences have two different submission deadlines: a deadline for the submission of abstracts, followed by another deadline (1-2 weeks later) for the submission of full papers. A complete submission consists of an abstract and the accompanying paper.

Let's say we have a situation that involves two conferences, A and B:

Conference A had its abstract and paper submission deadlines some time in
October. A's website says that acceptance notifications will be sent
to the authors on December 7.
Conference B has its abstract submission deadline on
December 1 and its paper submission deadline on December 8.

Is it OK to submit a paper to A and an abstract to B simultaneously, cancelling the submission to B in case the paper is accepted at A?

(It surely seems advisable to ask the conference chair of B, but since I know the chair of B personally, I don't feel comfortable asking, since this might come off as a request for favouritism.)


texts: When is it acceptable to write a bad letter of recommendation?

texts: For reasons that elude me, a student I taught several semesters ago sounded me out about writing a letter of recommendation for graduate school. I won't go into it, but my recollections of this student are uniformly bad. There is no way I would want them pursuing graduate study in our department. I am torn between declining to write a letter, or taking the opportunity to quietly warn colleagues at other institutions about this person. Do I have an ethical duty to only offer to write a letter if it will reflect positively on the applicant?


texts: Is it appropriate to have multiple recommendation letters for an application?

texts:
I'm currently enrolled in a university program and looking to switch. I know the program I'm looking to switch into is notoriously competitive, and I'm looking to improve my chances in any way I can. I have a few profs who I know quite well and I think would write good letters of recommendation for me. That being said, is it appropriate to submit multiple letters of recommendation?

My inclination to submit so much more than is required is because the application process caters to high school students rather than university students, on top of the already competitive nature of applications.

A letter of recommendation is not required for the application, but I know it will improve my standing significantly. So I assumed having multiple really good ones would put me even higher up. On the other hand, it could also seem like I'm reaching for praise, especially when no letter of recommendation is technically required. I may be completely misinterpreting the purpose of a reference letter.

In addition to that, if the answer to the above question is that only one letter of recommendation is necessary at most, then is it ethical to ask multiple profs to write letters anyways and then choose the "best one"? My gut reaction is that this is very unethical, as it is wasting the time of the profs, especially after reading this question, but I thought I'd ask it in this context anyways since it might be slightly different.


texts:
I'm doing a Phd in math. Unfortunately it didn't go very smoothly. I'm in the fifth year now, and a Phd is not in sight.

This is due to several things, personal problems (I suffered from a depression for several years), but also my advisor and me just not getting along very well.

I know I should have left him years ago, and I tried, but I'm still stuck in this situation. That's my background.

Now today I had a depressing conversation with my advisor. He offered me to continue my Phd with him, but at the same time he also said it would be "highly unlikey" that another advisor would accept someone like me with this difficult background, as there are "plenty of talented people".

So I would like to know how other people (preferably people who advise) would rate my situation. Is my advisor right? Is it too late for me to change? Is my background such a turn-off?


texts: SOP for two programs, but in the same department?

texts:
Within my field, I have strong interests in two subfields. Those two subfields are quite different from another though. There is also no overlap between the two fields. (assume all of this)

The department I want to apply to offers two PhDs.

a general PhD (PhD A)
a quite specific PhD with a focus on one of my subfields (PhD B)

I am now considering to highlight my subfield A for my application to PhD A, and my subfield B for the (more specific) PhD B. I am applying to the same department though. Is this a viable strategy? Will the department notice my two very different statements and look on them rather bad? My fields are very diverse within the field, but they are, nevertheless, in one and the same general field.


texts: Citing a Datasheet or Technical document in IEEE style

texts:
I am working on a thesis in the Engineering field and I came across the problem of citing datasheets, technical documents, test reports, application notes, reference designs... that the manufacturers of integrated circuits publish.

The problem to cite those documents in IEEE style are:

Usually there is no author, but a company (e.g. Texas Instruments)
These documents are not a book, article... with a clearly defined citation template
They are usually identified by a code (e.g. LM555) that corresponds to the integrated circuit part number. Finding the document on the internet is easier searching for the specific code (LM555) than for the title of the document or part (Highly Stable 555 Timer)

Therefore, I think that incluiding the part number or code is essential for providing a good reference, but I don't know how to insert it in the citation, plus, reference tracking software like Zotero or EndNote do not include any special field for storing this codes.

So far the resources I have found on the topic are:

Monash University datasheet citation gide in IEEE style
Tex StackExchange question on standards and datasheet citation with no author
Victoria University standards and patents citation guide in IEEE style

For further clarification, the types of documents I would like to cite are:

Datasheet LM555 http://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/lm555.pdf
Test Report PMP21771 http://www.ti.com/lit/ug/tidt117/tidt117.pdf

Any suggestions on how to cite appropriately these documents or how to store them in a citation software will be very much appreciated. Please, share your views on the topic.


texts: Reasons for a request for reference being ignored

texts: What are the reasons that emails for a request for reference might be ignored or delayed in response, a long time after the deadline by an intimate academic advisor?


texts: Dealing with professor's death on my thesis

texts:
My professer, regrettably and very suddenly, passed away yesterday. He was my mentor for my graduation thesis. His teaching capabilities were not great, but he was a great man. Always helping out with everything he could and very supportive. I have very fond memories of him.

I have to hand in my thesis in two weeks time. Currently, I have his and another mentor's name on the front page to make it clear they are my supervisors.

How should I proceed with his name? I'd prefer not to erase it from my thesis, as he helped me and supported me. Would it be appropriate to leave it? Is it appropriate to add a little symbol like a cross next to his name to mark his passing? Should I just leave it the way it is now?

If it matters, I'm from the Netherlands.


texts: What are some altruistic reasons for submitting to top-tier journals/conferences?

texts:
It seems to me that there is a preoccupation within academia to getting published in venues which are highest-ranked in terms of some sort of metrics rather than venues most suited to one’s subject area albeit not high-ranked.

It occurred to me that any reason for this must be self-serving. I don’t feel comfortable with this idea. As opposed to self-interest as the actual motive, are there any better reasons for submitting to top-tier journals/conferences rather than low-tier ones?


texts: Phd Thesis vs 5 years publications documentation

texts:
I am doing my PhD in data mining and I want to start writing my thesis. Is there any acceptable percentage of similarities between the final thesis and the used published research to create the final thesis?
For example, one of my research papers is published by IEEE as full research paper and at the same time I extended that paper and got published with a journal. Now, I plan to include them in my thesis and I almost ran out of phrases and words to describe the work without having duplication from the two works.


texts: What is "fair game" for a Master's thesis in Economics?

texts:
I am a currently in an MSc program in economics, and I'll be writing my master's thesis in about a year. I have a variety of interests, including game theory, statistics, and trading strategies. I'm also on the fence about applying to PhD programs in economics and finance. My question is as follows:

Given that economics is a broadly defined field that, in a certain sense, encompasses finance, how appropriate would it be to write a thesis on, say, the effectiveness of a particular type of trading strategy, or more broadly, on the use of certain statistical methods in finance? Would the department react negatively to my choosing something that is maybe more closely related to statistics or finance than it is to economics? Or would they welcome proposals that are somewhat multi-departmental?

Maybe I'm looking at this in the wrong light, but I don't know much about master's thesis expectations.


texts: Is it possible to do a cheap or free online or distance Ph.D. program?

texts:
Is it possible do to an online or distance Ph.D. program at all?

If so, are there ones that are cheap or free?


texts: How to get the word out about an academic competition?

texts:
I'm hosting an academic competition, and I need to get the word out to any peers that may be interested in participating. My advisor told me to search for academic mailing lists, but I can't find any. What are the best venues to get the word out about academic information? I'm particularly interested in publicizing the competition throughout the USA and Brazil, but any advice is warmly welcomed.

Clarification: My objective is not spamming or any kind of malicious activities. The same way that conferences and activities are spread by someone inside the universities, I would like to reach to reach a wide audience to invite them to participate in the competition, with pure academic interests---specially since the competition is part of an international conference.

The topic is related to machine learning. But any tips for any kind of topic are welcome.


texts: Should research papers that require millions of dollars to development be evaluated on the same track as those that do not?

texts:
I have previously asked many questions on the encroachment of tech industry on academic research in the past few years [1], [2] I am here again because this encroachment not only hasn't stopped, but accelerated.
The latest is the news that GPT-3 developed by Open AI won the best paper award in NeurIPS 2020. https://openai.com/
Open AI is backed by at-least 1 billion dollar of Microsoft funding. This software/program required countless millions of dollar to develop, the kind of funding that is only available to tech companies. The research is not reproducible and proprietary. A estimate is that it would required $12,000,000 - $1,900,000 USD for any individual (in academia) to redevelop this model from scratch.
Given that it has won a best paper award, it begs one to question whether if academia can ever compete on the same level as these multi-million dollar companies. These large tech companies can continuously pour millions into these projects and create ever more impressive results with far reaching impact on society. In light of all this, should these type of research be evaluated on the same track as regular (say, theoretical) papers in terms of awards and other metrics?


texts: How to keep track of current physics after graduating?

texts:
This summer I graduated from college, majoring in physics, but for reasons outside my academic career, I won't be able to attend graduate school for at least a couple of years. Despite that, I'd rather not neglect my physics education until grad school becomes possible.

I realize that a B.Sc. doesn't mean I should be able to read all the latest articles coming from the frontiers of research. However, I'd like to keep track of current affairs in physics to both be in touch with my field, and to help me decide on which sub-field I will focus once I return to the academia, and perhaps even decide where to go and under who to study. What would you recommend is the best way to do this, and what are the resources available that I should be aware of? (Note: I will probably not have access to paid scientific publications after I receive my diploma in the next few months)

Also, I wouldn't want my physics skills to rust in the meantime. Apart from participating here on the physics stack exchange, do you know of any good resources for physics questions/riddles/puzzles, hopefully at the appropriate level for a college graduate, so I can spend some spare time solving those to stay in intellectual shape in the next few years?


texts: Do Professors Get An Education "Allowance"?

texts:
One of the most common things I think any students has seen is walking into the office of a professor to a miniature library of textbooks and books geared towards disseminating research to researchers and practitioners. I am wondering how often these books might be paid for out of pocket or if it is common for universities to pay for these books as if they were something like an educational allowance.

How do universities (if at all) try to financially support professors in their continuing education?

I understand there are travel grants for conferences, but I am wondering if professors can take MOOC's or purchase books to help them explore new research areas and receive financial support from their academic institutions?


texts: Is this a useful pagination style for a PhD thesis?

texts:
I write my PhD thesis in LaTeX and I am unsure about one aspect of the pagination.

Usually books have three different page numerations: the frontmatter counts in Roman letters, the main matter with Arabic numbers, and the backmatter in a combination of letters and Arabic numbers, like A 1, A 2, B 1 etc.

The general layout of my thesis follows a book style, where the number of the pages are on the top left corner on even pages and on the top right corner on odd pages. So far, so common.

As I would like to design the thesis so that it gives readers steady feedback for orientation wherever they are in the thesis (this is why I added chapter-wise table of contents and a list of references cited in the corresponding chapter), I have the following question:

Is it good practice to give a feedback to the reader where he/she is in the main matter by adding the total sum of pages to the actual page number, i. e. adding something like Page 13 of 200 or 13/200 to the top left/right corners?

Or may it be considered unnecessary, redundant, distracting or demotivating ("What? Page 13 of this mess and 187 to go?")?


texts: Some economists seem to have a second PhD from a U.S. institution, conferred one year after their European PhD. How is this possible?

texts:
Some Economics professors (e.g. here and here) obtained a PhD in Economics in Europe and then obtained a PhD in economics in the U.S. in just one year. I would like to do the same as I am finishing a PhD in Economics in Europe and I would like to get a PhD from the U.S. for obvious reasons (e.g., higher prestige, better job prospects).

How is it possible that they did the PhD in the U.S. in just one year? Is it possible that it was some kind of joint PhD? Or maybe they only did the preliminary examinations? I would appreciate any advice that would be useful regarding obtaining a second PhD (from the U.S.).


texts: Rejected journal paper for submission as a book chapter

texts: My paper is not accepted in journal. I contacted other journals as well, but they considered it out of scope for their journal. I want to now submit it as a book chapter in springer or IEEE. Please tell if it is possible or not? Is publishing a paper as a book chapter equivalent to publishing in an impact factor journal? I want to acquire scholarship in Australian  university.


texts: Transition from Finance to Applied mathematics

texts:
Currently studying a Bsc in Accounting & Finance. During my studies if found an increased interest on subject such as Stochastic calculus, measure theory and mathematical analysis. I want to pursue a Msc in Applied Mathematics but wondering whether the transition is possible.

I would be pleased if someone could provide me certain similar cases/experiences or some advice with reference to study material.


texts: How to gracefully step back from academic administration duties during the pandemic?

texts:
I am a tenured professor who holds some administrative positions (e.g., graduate director) in exchange for teaching reduction. I had previously asked about the administrative tasks consuming all my time, and this community helped me reprioritize my efforts.
The trouble now is the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the exceptional situation, my management work has increased exponentially. This is not "what I signed up for." I am burned out from administration and want to step back from this position and focus on my research (i.e., quit my leadership position while retaining my professorship).
My concern is that if I quit my leadership position abruptly in the middle of a pandemic, it could reflect poorly on me and burn bridges. I am thinking of announcing my resignation now, but sticking around for 3-4 months to ensure a smooth transition. Is this reasonable? Are there other things I could do to ensure a smooth transition? Or should I just force myself to finish the two years left in my term?


texts: PhD programme dilemma: Doing it in a good faculty with strong supervisor or weaker supervisor but more interesting project?

texts:
In the past days I was accepted in two PhD programmes about biomedical imaging processing and I have a big dilemma about which one to choose. Both of them are in similar biomedical imaging fields but the mathematical and computational techniques to develop are not the same. Lets call them Phd program A and B.

I find PhD programme A really motivating, fits my interests and I like the mathematics involved in it. Although, the institution where it is done is a good place to do research the supervisor has just ten years of research experience, not big amount of citations and the journals in which he publishes have not a big impact factor.

About PhD programme B, I do not find it so interesting and I guess that after some time I could loose some motivation but it is also fine (in fact, if programme A would not exist I would accept programme B without too much hesitation). Nevertheless, the supervisor has a huge experience, he publishes in good journals (like PNAS) and has contributed to the writing of some books in the field. Moreover, the research centre is quite tough/challenging (there would be more pressure but I find it necessary for doing good research) and students there are motivated and enthusiastic.

About other aspects of the programmes, like country or funding both of them are more or less the same, good public funding but perhaps I prefer the country of project A but it is just a guess.

Has anyone faced the same situation? What would you do? Perhaps I am missing some important point?

Thanks in advance for the answers.


texts:
It's not that I cannot hold my attention - I find it a lot easier to put in sustained effort during research - literature surveys, practising derivations, and coding. I also find myself actively engaging in 1-1 (or smaller groups) discussions over long periods of time.

During lectures and seminars, it is a completely different story. I invariantly doze off within 15-20 minutes, irrespective of the content, presenter and class size. I despise it, and sincerely want to change it. Any suggestions?

EDIT : All your answers made me go through all the possible reasons for nodding off. In my case, it is most likely a case of lack of interaction (Peter Teoh's answer) since I have made through with long hours of both mental and physical work for consecutive days (hence mostly not a case of sleep deprivation). Thank you!


texts: Associate Editor is our faculty member, so he/she will not handle our paper, right?

texts: We submitted to peer-review journal that has several Associate Editors. One of them is a lecturer in our department. Thus, the editor will not assign our paper review to him/her. Do we understand correctly?


texts: Are there any professors with PhDs in Humanities from Asian Universities working outside of Asia?

texts:
tl;dr: "Are there any professors in Humanities working in North America or Europe who have recieved their PhDs from a University in Asia (Japan in particular)?" (I'm specifically interested in Asian Studies, but any Humanities would be of interest. Also, any permanent or semi-permanent teaching position would be of interest)

I'm currently a second year masters student from the U.S. in an Asian-studies related field at a University in Japan, and am considering whether I should continue on for a PhD there. Graduate students  and professors from the U.S. have more or less told me that getting a degree from Japan would be more or less "career suicide" (my words not theirs) because degrees from even well known universities in Japan are not considered on the level of well known schools in North America or Europe.

Obviously there's a lot to consider when thinking about going for a PhD, but I am specifically looking to contact people in the humanities, particularly Asian Studies, working in North America or Europe who got their PhD from a University in Asia. I'm specifically interested in Japan, but degrees from S. Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, China or even India or other parts of South or Southeast Asia would be welcome. Thank You.


texts: Applying for a tenure-track job at my undergraduate alma mater

texts:
I'm in the final year of my PhD program (in Applied Math, though this isn't too relevant).  I made the personal decision a while back that I would only consider tenure track jobs if they happened to be in my home state.  My research is sufficiently applicable that I have industry backup plans that I would be perfectly happy with, so I don't see this as a bad career choice.

Well, lo and behold a tenure track job is available in the math department at my undergraduate school.  I'm excited to apply, but I'm wondering if anyone has any specific advice on how to structure my application since I know most of the professors in the department?  Is there anything I should emphasize or avoid?  Obviously I need to demonstrate that I've "grown up" since I left and could return as a colleague, but I'm not sure how best to do this.


texts: Ethics behind using external excel freelancer to help with my thesis?

texts:
I have been working very hard on my thesis and I have reached a point with my data where I am required to code.

I am no where near experienced in coding, and there is also not enought time left to learn it.

Simply, the coding is required to re-format the information and figures I already have.

I have used an external source (freelancer) to re-format my data and provide instructions as to how he has done it. I asked for instructions so I could carry out the task myself, and the reformatted data so I could  check this against my work. Now, I am not sure if this is ethical and could compromise my degree?

I have not used the re-formatted data or instructions yet - as I am now unsure. I want to ask my supervisor about the ethics of using external assistance but I am unsure if this is a good idea?

In order to re-order my information and make it easier to process my initial formula instead of the manual way which I have been doing (there are close to 980,000 rows), the excel freelancer constructed a macro to essentially do the same work (which I still have not completed manually). I 100% want to give credit, and of course do not want to do anything unethical which is why I am asking here for advice.

What I mean by reformat is creating a macro/code  that performs a process. I have been doing this manually and have not scratched the surface considering the large volume of data. The creation of the macro gives the same answers I have been getting manually. So essentially it is not creating anything new, except for the macro. I hope this clarifies things. Again, I do not want to pass any work as my own so I would appreciate any more advice!

What concerns me is that I paid this freelancer to create the macro, a very small fee. Nonetheless, it does not sit right with me. So, What exactly should I explain to my supervisor? Should I mention I have already found someone? Or will this raise suspicion?