texts:
I recently finished my PhD and work as a Research Tech for a bit. At that time, i got two postdoc offers. I joined the one which gave me my own postdoc funding for two years. I worked there for 9 months. I was given another offer from another university. They mentioned about the quality of research and how lab is well funded. I gave away my funding to join this new position. within first three months, I realized that this was a big mistake because of the work environment. In the first week of the appointment, i asked him if we should buy the multichannel pipette to reduce the pipetting errors. His old postdoc jumped in and said "We never used that in past and he is saying just because of lot of work". At another occasion she said "If you want to work here you need to ask people before doing anything"
My mentor is obsessed with her. when i tried to discuss with him he said if this is not the place for me, i have to find other lab. I have been continuously doubted and humiliated in lab meetings. They criticize that my PhD training is below the level of a masters student. I am really concerned where my career is going to move. I cant even apply for other jobs as i switched two labs in last two years. I would appreciate if i can get any guidance in this forum. I am really really scared and feel like my career is finished.


texts:
In a previous question we stated that soft skills are pretty important for admission decisions in universities, so I suppose that you'll agree with me if I said that they are very important not only during the admission phase, but throughout the whole career.

Which do you think are the most important ones?

Thanx!


texts: What do I do with my exam tomorrow given that I supplied medical certificates

texts:
I missed 3-4 weeks of class this semester due to a medical condition. This was around 3 weeks before exams which meant I had to catch up with other subjects  as well as doing assignments and tests.

I have to sit an exam tomorrow even though I missed a chunk load of the material and was too ill to be able to study at home during those weeks. I sent the university all of my medical certificates as I missed a couple of tests and had to resit the exams.  I also sent  my medical certificates to the special consideration committee telling them that I want my exam deferred, but this was denied. I sent the lecturer my certificates and told him about the situation but he told me the matter was out of his hand.The thing is I really studied hard during this swotvac period even though they only gave us a week before our first exam,  and I had to study for the other subjects that I missed as well.

I want to get a good GPA to transfer universities but I know if I sit that exam tomorrow I will probably fail because it's a hard subject and I'm just lost.

Should I fake sickness and get a medical certificate like food poisoning? What do you suggest? Any other suggestions on what I can do in this situation?


texts: To what extent does the wealth, connections and alumni donation of a parent help their children be accepted into a college in the US?

texts:
Is there any research/study/survey/dataset that looked at to what extent the wealth, connections and alumni donation of a parent help their children be accepted into a college in the United States?

(E.g., a notorious case: John F. Kennedy's Harvard application)


texts: What can I do if one of my referees falsifies information in a Letter of Recommendation?

texts:
I am in a difficult situation in regards to letters of recommendation and I would like to ask for a bit of advice from all of you.

This past June, I applied to several different medical schools across the country and each one required me to submit at least 3 letters of recommendations (1 from a non-science professor and 2 from science professors). All of the faculty members that I asked were happy to write me letters of recommendation. However, one of the faculty members delayed writing the letter of recommendation for a very long time (almost 5 months) despite several reminders. One of the medical schools had a strict deadline by which they wanted their application to be completed and because of the delay from this one letter writer, I was automatically rejected from the school. At this point, I decided to return to my university (I already graduated) and speak with my letter writer in person.

From the discussion with my letter writer, I found out some very disturbing things about his intentions. He was very displeased with my in-person visit to his office (even though I did email him several times beforehand without him bothering to respond). It was at this point that he began accusing me of things that were 100% false and was threatening to include this false information in his letter of recommendation. He eventually submitted his letter of recommendation, and, at this point, I could not stop him from doing so.

Now I know that many of you will say that I should have been able to see this coming and avoid asking this faculty member for a letter of recommendation. But, with all honesty, I was completely under the impression that this professor will write me a strong letter of evaluation. I viewed this person as someone that was a true mentor to me throughout college, and this situation is very disheartening. In my honest evaluation of the situation, I believe that writing a negative letter of recommendation that includes false information about a student out of spite is completely unethical. I also believe that I should have the opportunity to defend myself.

There is no way that I can see what he wrote in his letter of recommendation. If anybody here has any sort advice in regards to this situation, please I would greatly appreciate it. I would hate to see a letter of recommendation that contains false information ruin my chances of pursuing my academic goals. Is it possible to take legal action in this matter?


texts: Courses to take in Machine Learning for applying for PhD in ML?

texts: I just finished my BSc Hons. in Mathematics and CS from one of the leading research institutes in India (Not IITs). Now I'm going to continue my masters in CS. I like ML. But I haven't done any proper course. I wish to apply for PhD in this area. Can anybody tell me a detailed idea about the courses that I need to take so that I can apply for PhD in US or Europe?


texts: Should someone mention her admission to other prestigous universities in past years when she applies for a PhD program?

texts:
Last year, one of my friends received a competitive PhD offer (including a full-time research assistant position) from a highly prestigious university in Canada, however her request for Study Visa was rejected because of some Social Tie issues.
This year, she has a plan to apply for universities in Europe and Australia. Is it worth mentioning her last year offer in her emails to the potential advisors or put it in her CV in order to increase her chance of acceptance?
Roughly speaking, the acceptance in the aforesaid Canadian university is considered harder than the European and Australian universities she wants to apply.


texts: Can I hide the fact that I dropped a PhD program when I apply for another PhD?

texts:
I am an international grad student in the US. I would like to quit the PhD program(mathematics) in where I spent 2 years without "any degree" for some reasons. I am in the status prior to the research. If I want to apply for another PhD in other universities, will leaving the fact that I dropped a PhD program without a degree off make serious problems?  Does it make some legal, ethical, moral trouble in the academia?

Lastly I just wonder whether, if I am admitted to another grad-school, the department will track or check my previous academic record by inquiry VISA status, SSN, or the other ways.

According to the FERPA(Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act) act, can I control my educational records myself? I asked about this to some schools, they said, even if it's true, the school can also have the right to require the student's educational record in the case of application to the school.

If I got a degree in a school, I also think I should put the fact in the application.
But should I write my all post undergraduate record in my PhD application even if I didn't get any degree and just quit?


texts: How to transfer non graded subjects to gpa?

texts: Hi I am sending an application and the university needs all of my grades in GPA format.  I am using a GPA calculator to convert my grades, however there is a subject which was not graded it is only accredited. I talked to the university and they say they need all actual grades. They have been slow to answer me, how can I put the grade? as an A?


texts: Consulting potential postdoc positions: Good idea to avoid the email being ignored

texts: I'm planning to consult a potential future advisor for a postdoc position. However, they do not put up any advertisement for postdocs, thus there is a large possibility that they cannot afford a postdoc. However, even if they cannot afford any postdocs, I still prefer them to read my email, as our work are close in some degree and I do not wanna lose the opportunity for them to point me to someone else. For this reason, is it a good idea to not mentioning postdoc position upfront in the subject and only mention it much later in the body of the email?


texts: Should academics allow student to submit a possibly flawed paper?

texts:
I let a student associated with me (but who is not really my PhD student) submit a paper to a fairly-local meeting (some people do come from abroad). Because I'd been tasked with supporting the student, I let him put my name on the paper and also helped with the presentation, but I found the content unconvincing.  However, he was exploring an area that I knew little about and had little interest in, so I'd hoped he'd get reviews & (if accepted) discussion that would give him more guidance than I have been able to.

In fact, no one seemed as sceptical as I was of the work, and it got into the meeting and was presented both in our department and at the meeting with if anything positive comments.

However, yesterday I got an email from a postdoc who was cited in the paper (the student compared himself to the postdoc's work, the meeting's papers are on a website, Google Scholar alerted the postdoc) and was incensed at the paper's low quality and inaccuracies.  I think the postdoc is being a bit paranoid, but is broadly right on the technical issues. I have also previously noticed that one of my more-successful colleagues I've been collaborating with recently had a less tolerant attitude towards student publication than I do.

I'm wondering if I should put more effort on quality control.  The cost would be possibly stifling a student unnecessarily if I'm wrong, and allowing fewer students to have fewer presentation experiences since I'm already working flat out keeping up with giving feedback on their journal articles & dissertations.


texts: Reviewer comments are in complete contrast about research article

texts:
Recently my research article has been reviewed after first round of revision and has been sent back to me by editor. In addition, editor has written in a very clear manner that a thorough response and revision will make my paper eligible for second round of revision otherwise it would be a waste of time.
In the light of reviewer's comments, one reviewer has completely recommended the paper and didn't ask for any change but what surprised me the most was other reviewer comments as he hasn't recommended my article for publication. both reviewer comments are complete in contrast with each other.  for example, if first reviewer is telling that research article has explicitly stated its significance the other reviewer has stated that it is missing significance.

my question is, can i email editor to change this reviewer and request him to look for other reviewer although editor had told me before the reviewer in my field are not much in number. or just simply withdraw my paper from this journal?


texts: In the U.S educational system, would a GPA below 3.25 really disadvantage a student?

texts:
I am taking a TOEFL lesson and encountered a lesson in which a student is (almost) complaining he had got B- because he would like to maintain 3.25 GPA average.

To me (outside of US) it sounds very "average and O.K" to me.

But would that grade point be so disappointing for the student to come to a professor's room to consult about this? Or is this just an example for my TOEFL that is not meant to be realistic? Just curious.


texts: Chair Offers COVID-19 Compensation... But Asks ME to Put Out a Number

texts:
The chair of my department has very generously offered to try and secure funding for some of the part-time and adjunct professors working in the department as compensation for adapting our originally in-person courses to an online format (this is in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic).  I currently am an adjunct only teaching one upper-division class at this institution.  The catch here is that my chair has asked me and the other part-timers to throw out numbers that we feel are appropriate.  I really have no intuition about what to ask for, or to simply respond (graciously) saying that I trust my chair's judgement and allow them to come up with a number for me/us.  I don't want to come off as greedy and pick a number they might claim to be inappropriate, but at the same time I feel that it's rather passive to blindly let my chair pick.

For reference, I'm a fairly new hire in this department and not really clear about my future there.  The chair and the other faculty are very friendly and inviting, so I'm not particularly worried about setting off any personality conflicts.  Just not sure what the appropriate response is here.


texts: Why has the time spent studying declined so sharply in the United States over the the past few decades?

texts:
I read on https://www.aei.org/publication/leisure-college-usa/ :

Study time for full-time students at four-year colleges in the United States fell from twenty-four hours per week in 1961 to fourteen hours per week in 2003.

The authors give some inconclusive statement regarding the reasons behind the trend:

The decline is not explained by changes over time in student work status, parental education, major choice, or the type of institution students attended.
Evidence that declines in study time result from improvements in education technology is slim. A more plausible explanation is that achievement standards have fallen.

I wonder why the time spent studying has declined so sharply in the United States over the the past few decades. I am only looking for data-supported answers (or pointers to them).


texts: When is it most appropriate to transition from first to senior author?

texts:
I am transitioning from junior to senior researcher status. I have several publications as first author, many as coauthor, and a few as senior (last and corresponding) author.

As people perceive differently the role of authors according to their position, especially when looking briefly at a scholarly paper, I am wondering when it is most appropriate to transition from first to senior author.

Does it depend on biologic age, academic age, ranking, tenure, or what else?

My field of interest is cardiovascular research, but I think that a general answer followed by some details on the main different academic fields would be beneficial for ACADEMIA readership.


texts: What is the real benefit of tenured positions for universities?

texts:
People are interested in tenured positions to have a secured job, as they do not need to worry about their contracts. Tenured position gives a professor security that s/he cannot get fired easily (e.g., simply not renewing his/her contract). But, what is the actual obligation for the professors? In return, what is the motivation for a university to offer tenured position, which is accompanied by less flexibility from HR point of view.

Apparently, tenure is just for the sake of academic freedom, and has no real benefit for the institution, except a one-way service to professors (probably satisfying more applicants). Am I right? Then, a university must prefer not to offer tenured positions at all, as HR has more freedom with non-tenured positions.


texts: Is it okay to include a historical summary of your research area in a MSc thesis?

texts:
I am doing my MSc in mathematics/statistics, and a large part of it concerns fractal geometry.

I want to include some background of how early geometry arose, why fractals were largely neglected, and finally how they found new use/interest in the 20th century. I want to do this because it interests me a lot and I feel it helps explain the role fractal geometry plays.

I am concerned with whether or not this is in bad taste though? Presumably a master's thesis, especially in mathematics, should be concerned with the work you are doing and not a history lesson.

So basically my question is: Is it acceptable for an MSc/MPhil student in maths (or other science) to include a historical background to the subject they are studying?


texts: Should I change my major to something more useful yet less interesting to me l if I already secured an internship in that field?

texts:
I'm currently majoring in Political Science with a computer science minor. I managed to secure an internship with a large, multinational software company for the summer of 2020 as a data analyst (more on the business side than CS side). I was thinking about switching to Economics for more rigorous mathematical training and either keeping the minor and graduate on time or dropping the minor and graduating a semester early (the minor is 22 credits for some reason).

The thing is, I don't like econ. I am in intro Micro now and it's by far my least favorite class. However, this is likely not helped by the fact that the teacher is not the best, it's a 300 person lecture and from 4:30-5:45 twice a week. However, the higher level applied mathematical parts of econ intrigue me even if they are hard. I think the analytical classes would benefit me a lot paired with computer science.

Anyway, my question is should I still switch to the more useful major I don't love as much and possibly graduate late, or stay where I am since I got an internship with a large company that is gonna help my resume a lot and rely on that experience?


texts: Why do some academic papers have sentence-cased titles?

texts:
I noticed that many academic papers that I cited in my thesis have sentence-cased titles, for example, this one "Comparative analysis using K-mer and K-flank patterns provides evidence for CpG island sequence evolution in mammalian genomes."

I was just wondering why and if this is correct?

I was about to manually fix all of them so that they will appear with the proper title-cased titles on the Bibliography.


texts: What is background check for the graduate admission processing?

texts:
I received an unofficial offer  for graduate admission. The graduate director mentioned two steps which will be required to get the official admit.

Background Checking
Signing on the offer letter

As I'm an international student, is it for the security purpose? How long it could take to complete the  process?

One of my friends said that, It could be  aa check from USA gov. Could you please explain?


texts: Can a University put a Creative Commons document containing a NonCommercial element (NC) behind a wall?

texts:
Can a University force web visitors to connect with their University ID to access a document licensed under Creative Commons containing a NonCommercial element (NC)?

Enrolling into at University a student often costs money, and the ability to access the document could be viewed as a perk for employees (i.e. indirect compensation): as a result, I wonder whether putting the document behind the University wall is considered as a commercial use of the document.

For example, I see that Stanford University forces web visitors to log in with their university account to access this CC BY-NC document:


texts:
I was recommended for a post doc in Norway. I was wondering how is the research typical atmosphere in Norway. Here in the UK you spend more time writing proposals or trying to do research that can be published quickly and get funding rather than anything that contributes in my experience. Should I expect the same in Norway? It's fine if the answer is yes, the subject in question is interesting enough and the pay seems decent and I need a job.
Thanks


texts: Is there a difference in perception between a UK and a US Masters?

texts:
I grew up in the UK and I have a Masters degree in Aerospace Engineering from a highly-rated UK University. However, for the past 7 years I have been living and working as an Engineer in the US.

I am wondering if there is a difference in perception/value between a UK Masters and a US Masters? I am aware that a UK Masters is typically one extra year of study; however, in the US I believe a Masters is typically two years. So, is there a general perception that a US Masters is 'better'? If so, then how much of a perception difference is there?

Also, is there any difference in perception of the degrees, if we compare industry to academia? Let's say, if I was to apply for Engineering jobs, compared to applying for a PhD.


texts: "Very Similar" vs "Based On" for purpose of paper "narrative"

texts:
I was trying to solve a sub-problem as part of a greater problem for which I am writing a paper to propose a solution.

I'd been working on it for quite a while, when I had the thought that it could be transformed into a special case of one of the most famous and well researched problems in computer science.

I spent about a month doing that transformation while working on other things.
All the while though, I was thinking: "Someone else must have had this idea -- its too good not to have had." I didn't spend too much time searching for it, though, because I needed an implementation and not just an idea.
I finished up the method about a week ago, and ran it, and found it to work excellently.

Today, I finally found a paper where someone did have the idea.
Almost identical to mine (I'm really not at all displeased by this)
There are, as expected, a few differences, but nothing I can't explain in a few sentences.

So the question is, in my writeup I could say:

1a. We extend the method of X, by adding ...
1b. Our method is based on the method of X, but with the following variations...
2a. The method we propose is very similar to the method of X, except ...
2b. This method is similar to that of X, but developed independently. It has the following difference.

The options 2a/b  are what actually occurred.
However, I wonder if I should not write instead 1a, or 1b because they provide a better narrative.  I've been told paper narrative is important.

I don't like the way 2b sounds, even if it is the most truthful. It sounds like I feel I have something to prove.

Is it generally worth distorting the actual order of events, for a clean narrative?


texts: Accepted in MSc program but not invited for a visit?

texts:
I tried looking this up online and could not anything related to this, so figured asking here would make sense. Kind of related to this. Here is the story:

I live in US (not an International Student), and applied to few graduate programs in engineering (MSc program). Last week of January, I got an acceptance letter from my top choice with no funding currently available (my top choice because it has consistently been top 3 in its program for the last decade). Since this school was out of state I have never visited and I emailed the coordinator asking how to go about scheduling a visit. The reply said the department would invite selected students to campus for campus visit events.

Well, I wasn't invited for campus visit. So now I called the advisor and essentially stated "before making a decision I would like to visit the campus see how I fit in. What would be the best way, to make sure I get to talk to someone." I kind of emphasized I don't want to show up there unannounced and not be able to  communicate to the faculty. The reply was that they had an event couple weeks ago, which was invite only and if I want to visit the campus I need to reach out to the faculty and schedule something with them on my own. This particular part  kind of got me irritated. This advisor also stated no reimbursement will be available (this is okay as I am currently working but some sort of reimbursement helps, plus I live in west coast and school is in mid west which would be an expensive trip). Every other school I have been accepted, have stated that they encourage me to visit and to contact them if I want to visit and offered some sort of reimbursement.

This is the highest ranked school I have been admitted so far. Earlier, I would have loved to go here without question but am not so sure any more.

Am I just being overly sensitive here, or is this pretty common? I feel like why would you accept me so early, and not even be courteous enough to schedule a visit (wasn't even asked  about campus tour)? Again, I'm not complaining about reimbursement, I can accept that. So now, should I contact each professor who I would be interested in working with or take this as cautionary sign on how life would be when I get there?


texts: Should marital status and its international characteristics be included in a CV/cover letter?

texts:
This post is somehow related to a previous post on
extra-curricular activities.

My question is this.
Beside standard extra academic activities (previous work, particular sport achievements, participation to student associations and the like), is it advisable to write in the CV or cover letter for a post-doc position the marital status, if the applicant thinks this information conveys positive characteristics about him/her?

Say, there is a Spaniard married to a Canadian, they live in Norway (where the Spaniard just obtained his/her PhD) and they are open to moving to another third country (i.e., a country where both of them are foreigners). In my eyes, the information about the marital status and citizenship of the two spouses is providing evidence for multiple positive non-academic characteristics of the applicant (the Spaniard), such as determination, stability and flexibility that are beyond average.

I have conflicting feelings. I see that this kind of information provides positive non-academic information about the applicant, but maybe who will be reading this information won't be paying enough attention or won't have the experience or empathy to understand the implications of having this type of family.


texts: Did I screw myself out of graduate school?

texts:
I graduated from a state school in 2009 with a 2.77 overall GPA. I technically should have graduated in 2008, but was only going part time, so I stretched it out and became a "super senior." I'll be the first to admit...I struggled with undiagnosed mental health and alcohol abuse issues for the majority of my early-mid 20s, so I simply didn't apply myself as much as I could have.

After I graduated, I had a really tough time finding a job in my field, so I decided to start taking some courses at a community college to see if perhaps I should try for a post-baccalaureate degree in another field. Many of which I did well in, with the exception of one F. THEN I made the asinine decision to go full time at a school about 1.5 hours away that I had to drive to. That lasted all of 2 months and by the time the semester had ended, I bailed...I didn't even take the time to withdraw. I simply allowed myself to fail out.

A decade later, I'm a marketing professional with 10 very successful years under my belt. I've worked some odd jobs to make ends meet, but I ended up excelling at a small nonprofit...then I moved into working as a contractor at a well-known retail store corporate office, now I work at and volunteer for the local branch at a nationally recognized nonprofit.

I'm married, own my home, have an amazing child, and I go to therapy regularly and take medication daily. I finally have my life together, but I've grown bored in my field and need something more in my professional life. I decided to look into graduate school awhile back and really took an interest in instructional design. I feel like my background, which includes a lot of graphic design, could prove to be quite useful in the field...and I have a genuine interest in helping people learn. I could go into more detail as to why I feel I'd be a good fit in the profession, but I'll save you all the elevator pitch. haha

The trouble I'm afraid of running into is my past...While I didn't give my all academically in my 20s, I KNOW I would as a person who is now in her mid-30s. I want better for myself and of course I want to show my daughter that you can do whatever you set your mind to. A lot of the programs I am looking at will accept a 2.8, others (like my Alma mater's) program will accept a 2.4 if you've been out of college more than 5 years, with 2 letters of recommendation. I have co-workers/supervisors/etc. that would be happy to write these letters for me... However, I'm scared the grades I received while screwing around at different schools while trying to figure out my life AFTER I got my bachelor's degree are really going to negatively impact my chances to move forward.

I guess I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight on whether or not grad school could be in my future with the history I have or it's simply a pipe dream at this point. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!!


texts: I authored a research paper with a group for an internship last summer, which can be retrieved online. Is it worth providing a link to the paper on my resume, or is this unnecessary and a bit superficial? I also listed it as my only publication in a section for "First author publications." Is this necessary to do if this is my only publication?


texts: Does one need a master's in math before taking a PhD in pure math?

texts:
I finished bachelor's in mathematical finance and am nearly finished with master's in mathematical finance (I am already done with thesis), and I plan to pursue a PhD not in mathematical finance but in pure mathematics particularly stochastic analysis.

Is getting into a PhD in pure mathematics possible without a master's in pure mathematics? If so, how can I best prepare for it what difficulties may I encounter?

I have two concerns in particular:

I feel I do not have enough training in mathematical research. In undergraduate studies, we did not have many mathematical research projects. Some of our projects included researching on particular topics involving applications of mathematics we learned (since we were an applied mathematics course) and problem sets, but I don't know for how much they count towards mathematical research experience. We had some statistics and finance projects, but obviously they don't count.

We did not have a thesis in undergraduate studies, and most of our theses in master's did not involve much pure mathematics (which in mathematical finance would be stochastic analysis since as far as I know no other non-statistical math is used in mathematical finance). I have a hunch none of us this batch or in the batches before us ever had to research in mathematics for our/their theses.

I do not have much exposure to other kinds of mathematics. One of my coursemates helped me realize that one of my reasons of choosing stochastic analysis is our limited exposure to other math. I was aware of this but did not think this was a problem.

As far as I know, MS Math programs require Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra and then some electives and thesis. I don't think the lack of classes is a problem as I guess I can take those during the PhD program. To me, it seems my concern is the lack of a mathematical thesis.

So, is my limited exposure to other math a problem?

Our math classes besides Calculus I, II, III, Linear Algebra and Elementary Probability are:

1 class of each: ODE, PDE, Discrete Mathematics, Numerical Analysis/Scientific Computing, Elementary Real Analysis (the one with Riemann-Stieltjes), Advanced Real Analysis (the one with Lebesgue), Advanced Probability (the one with Measure Theory)
4 Statistics classes. (As I like to put it, "More statistics than I'll ever use in my life.")
NO Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Topology, Graph Theory or Number Theory (though the last 2 are in our discrete mathematics, they weren't taught in our discrete mathematics classes).
2 Stochastic Calculus classes

This comment says I should be "be comfortable with mathematical proof in a variety of areas"


texts: What are the rules for surname and pseudonymous for US and/or UK?

texts: Given some deep personal issues I don't use my father's surname and aren't usually reconized or even cited by it. Although, in my country it's almost impossible to change your name or drop a surname. Neverthless, you can have more than one way of being cited registered in our national databese of researchers. I would like to know if in countries like US and UK it is possible to use one mother's surname or a pseudonymous when trying to get published at a journal.


texts:
After a short-term period working as a postdoc (same institution where I got my PhD),  and I felt the need for a change and spent the last few months teaching in Italy, where I'm from. I really enjoyed teaching. Now I'm back to applying for postdocs, and in case nothing interesting comes up, my plan is to move to India or somewhere else in Asia together with my girlfriend and work there as teachers. We both have MSc in physics, and we could teach maths and physics up to high school level.

Do you have any advice on how I should approach Asia -- who to contact, where to look, etc.? Any tips would be very helpful.


texts:
I can't think of a better title, feel free to edit.

I'm retaking a course at university, and the basic assessments are very similar; if I can assume that I'm studying effectively, could there be any issues with modifying my assignments to fit the new criteria, and effectively resubmitting them?

From my perspective, this cannot be collaboration or collusion, but it could be defined as plagiarism, at least by a computer. I don't see why I would have to reference my own work here if it is adapted from previous writings, is it therefore sensible to assume that there will be no complication from an ethical perspective?

I'm also interested in the general concept for academia - would I have to reference my previous writings, and if so, how?

Edit: Let me clarify that this particular case is not a significant assignment, but rather a small "checkpoint".


texts: Changing research field mid Ph.D. vs Leaving Institute with no Ph.D

texts:
I am doing my Ph.D. (physics) in a country where there is a countrywide Ph.D. entrance exam. I appeared for the entrance exam and got into (arguably) the best institute in my country. This was 3 years ago. The problem is that the institute decides our department before the entrance exam. After my 3 years B.Sc, I did not know any better and applied for the Experimental High Energy Physics Department. After joining, I realised that I did not like HEP that much and wanted to change my department. But my institute would not let me do that.

I finally found a supervisor in our department who works in a lot of different topics like Optics and Quantum Computation. I joined his lab and worked with him for the last one and a half year during my coursework. Two months ago, I registered for my Ph.D. under the same supervisor.

Recently, the conditions in our lab deteriorated a lot. There is a general feeling of depression and anxiety among the other students. Work is going really slowly because of the following reasons:

All the students are working in individual experimental project that have no overlap with one another.
The supervisor is a big-shot and has his own research interests. And
he is not particularly interested in our work. (This is a feedback I got from all my lab seniors).
We have to do all administrative and engineering work related to our project by ourselves.
There are no publications from our lab in the last 5 years. I was made to believe that it was the students fault that there was no publication. But the more I see, the more I realise that this is the rule and not the exception. I mean, all the students can't be at fault. I know that this should have been a red flag but as I said before, I was made to believe something else.

I am realising now that staying in the lab is not an option. Even my seniors are contemplating on leaving the lab. I have two options now.

Leave the lab and join someone else in the same department. Note that there is no one in our department who works on a similar field.
Leave the institute altogether. Then I have to do a one-year M.Sc thesis project before leaving. There is only one other group in our country that does a similar work and they are already full. Also, it is really hard to get into the labs in other countries even with my research experience.

I am planning to follow the first option and join a different group in our department. This group works on a field that is neither HEP nor my present field.

So my question is; Is it wise to change the field mid Ph.D.? Or should I risk it and leave with M.Sc and apply for Ph.D. abroad? In either case, I will have to start from scratch and my one and a half year of work would be for nothing.

TL;DR: Due to problems in our current lab, should I leave our lab and join another group who works on entirely different subject or leave my institute altogether and apply in universities abroad (which is difficult).

P.S. I have about 4 years of institute funding left, if I plan on staying in the institute.


texts: Deciding about publication venue with Advisor

texts:
I have been working on a paper as the first author. The paper looks good to my advisor and other collaborators, and we are almost ready to submit. I have already submitted the abstract for a good conference, and the full-paper is due in a few days. In the past week, my advisor let me know about a special edition of a reasonably good journal, that is due in a few weeks time (special edition = faster publication time. Period).

My advisor first asked my opinion about the venue choice, and I gave +s and -s of both, but refrained from providing a clear choice, saying that my experience in publishing is limited. In my mind, the +s of conference will be opportunity to travel and interact with community at large. Also I have never been to a conference before, so was excited about it. But I realize that the paper is a dead-end of sort, and doesn't have much scope to expand and publish later in a journal (Researchers in our field are usually interested to expand conf. papers into journal). Ultimately both me and my advisor agree that "getting it published" is the end goal that both of us would be happy to see.

I wonder if I should intervene and provide a strong opinion? or just let my advisor take the call? I have seen my advisor being pretty good at making such decisions. and I want to avoid looking like a jerk, when I have a long way as a PhD student with him.

I would like to thank Everyone for their suggestions. Things played out a bit differently than I would have anticipated. I talked to my advisor a day before the submission that I would like to submit for this conference, since my coauthor (ex-postdoc, 2nd author, experienced) recommended that's its a good venue and there will be scope to expand the paper into a journal later with xyz extensions. I had already discussed those extensions with my advisor before, but maybe i didn't sound as prepared / convinced. After our conversation, my advisor gave another quick review on the paper and let me submit it. Luckily it got accepted and I will be traveling to present it :). In retrospect, I feel my advisor was waiting for me to have a constructive discussion before giving me a go-ahead. I wasn't being as proactive earlier, was just too busy working on the paper and following up with coauthors.


texts: Why do universities place a weight on GRE/TOEFL scores?

texts: This is one question that has been bugging me for a long time now. Why do universities consider GRE/TOEFL scores at all? Perhaps it is fine for master's degrees, where there will be an enormous number of applicants whose language abilities cannot be otherwise established. But what is the necessity for a PhD degree? Why not zero in on a small group of candidates based on their profiles and then conduct a Skype interview? That way the professor gets to know both the verbal and the research potential of the student. Why isn't this the case for PhD admissions?


texts: In my thesis, can I use results for which a collaborator wrote most of the simulation code, or do I have to independently replicate the simulations?

texts:
In the course of my PhD I have written a few papers that I am planning on incorporating into my dissertation. I was first author on these papers and legitimately wrote and developed the high majority of the papers (as in, I wasn't just gifted "first author" status). In the course of our papers, my co-authors and I used some computer simulations to verify our theoretical results.

While I developed all of the theory for the paper independently, another graduate student did some of the grunt work writing the code for one of the simulations. This was done mainly just to expedite the submission of our paper, and not because I had no idea what was going on with the simulations. I actually helped develop the intricacies of the simulation; it just was not my hands on the keyboard coding it. Can I just cite our own paper in my dissertation and use its results as if they are my own, or do I need to independently replicate the results that my fellow grad student found in order to use them in my dissertation?

The underlying question here comes down to how much I can "self-cite" as my own a part of a paper that I was the main author for, but did not explicitly produce? I am aware that citing a paper I wrote is fine. I am even okay copying wording directly for certain potions of the dissertation (with a note explaining the replication). However it is unclear if I can use results that someone else found as part of my dissertation. His results give application for the theoretical framework that I am establishing for my dissertation.


texts: Is it worth it to master LaTeX or MS Word?

texts:
I want to know, if I submit a paper to a journal, will they change the formatting of the paper? For example, will they change the position of the tables or the figures?

If they change these, then I think it is not necessary for me to learn MS Word or LaTeX in depth. As long as I can write the paper in a readable manner, it should be fine because the journal will make the format better if the paper is accepted. But if there is a specific style and format of the papers published in the journal which must be fulfilled by the authors, then it is a different story.

My field is physics and biophysics.


texts: Italicization of mathematical symbols: quantity symbols vs units symbols

texts:
The SI conventions state that variables and quantity symbols should be italicized, while unit symbols should be roman (see, e.g., this useful reference/cheat sheet).  For example,

Here the proton mass (m_p) is being used as a quantity.  But you could use the same quantity as a unit, in which case should you use a roman font?  For example,

Or is it really that SI units specifically should be in roman font, and everything else should be italicized?


texts: Is it worth it going to academic conferences as undergraduate without any research to present?

texts:
In particular, I would like to focus on CS Theory conferences like STOC or FOCS.

I am interested in the presented topics and, of course, it would be useful to learn more about it for potential graduate research. But on the other hand, one can always read the presented papers when they are published. It seems that the most important part of conferences is networking, however, I do not see myself being efficient in networking at this point yet.


texts: Should I talk about my PhD acceptance in follow up email to potential advisor in different school

texts: I got accepted in one of the top-tier school in US for PhD program in Engineering however my dream is to go to different graduate school. I am planning to send a follow up email to one my potential advisor. Can you please tell me how to start and should I mention that I got in to PhD program in one the top-tier school? Should I start with as we talked before or as I mentioned in previous email?


texts: Is there any regulation governing the accessibility of research papers? (to ensure they can accommodate the reading preferences of the users)

texts:
There exist some regulations regarding the accessibility of educational materials  (mirror), such as the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (mirror) or the  Section 508  (mirror).

Is there any regulation governing the accessibility of research papers?


texts: World map with academic works graded by relevance?

texts: I remember of some article that was published in which the author showed a world map with circles that represented the number of articles published by country and their frequency in which a groundbreaking academic work was released in each country(One of them was represented by the size of the circle, the other by the color of the circle). But I can't find it now, could someone help me find it? I've googled some things but was unable to find it - my native languange is not english, so I ran out of permutations of words to find the article.


texts: Should I remind someone of a previous invitation to give a talk?

texts: I recently emailed a senior professor in a neighboring state, that I've never met, with some comments on his recent paper and pointing to some of my papers with related results. It turns out he was aware of my research and invited me to give a talk at his University. I promptly agreed, but never heard back from him. Should I assume that he gave up on the invitation, or should I write back to him "inviting myself"? Several months have passed since our email exchange.


texts: How do I cite CVPR workshop conference "short" paper?

texts:
CVPR doesn't add workshop "short papers" into the proceedings, but they have uploaded all of it onto a github.io repo.
How do I cite this when it's not in proceedings?


texts: Replacing a shorter manuscript with a longer manuscript on arXiv

texts:
I initially wrote a short manuscript (4 pages) intended for physics journal A and posted this short manuscript on arXiv. After referee feedback from journal A, I am now seeking to instead submit this manuscript to physics journal B but in a longer format (15 pages) with more comprehensive details and additional information/examples included. Given this significant update to the contents of the manuscript, is it all right to simply replace the original short manuscript on arXiv with the new longer manuscript? Or should I create a new entry on arXiv despite the central theme of the two manuscripts being similar?
On this point, if I submit the new longer manuscript to physics journal B, is it unethical if I don't update the original arXiv submission at all? (Namely, the short manuscript on arXiv and long manuscript published in physics journal B will have the same titles but contain differing contents.)


texts: Plagiarism of former supervisors copying from my master thesis

texts:
I graduated a couple of years ago performing a master thesis with two supervisors. They both were happy about it and wanted to write a paper from my thesis, including me as author, but after my graduation I didn't hear from them again. It is worth to say that my supervisors had the pdf file of my thesis and all the figures and plots in vector graphics.

To my surprise and deception, I found out that my two former supervisors have published a journal paper based on my master thesis, which is not cited. Not only they have reported all of my plots, but they have also copied the captions (with almost no modifications), equations, tables, and entire sentences (some of them just copy-pasted, other ones with very minor modifications). Moreover, the simulations section reports 2 simulations that I carried out during my thesis, and both the parameters, the plots, and the analysis of the simulations is basically copied from my thesis. After all this content taken from my thesis, I only see that the authors have just acknowledged me in the article for the simulations only, and not even for all the plots and all the sentences they used.

Needless to say, this situation makes me very angry and frustrated. I would like to know, given this situation, whether:

I can accuse my former supervisors of plagiarism, contacting the editor of the journal and proving that a very large portion of the paper is taken from my thesis, which is not cited. Although my thesis is not available online, the authors could have included it in the list of references, and I can prove that they have a copy of it;
I can ask to be included as author of the paper, since most of the work published is based on my master thesis, and not only the "simulations", as the authors wrote in the acknowledgements.


texts: How do academic position job search committees evaluate potential for intellectual leadership?

texts:
From what JeffE says over at Priority of application materials for admission decision

  The list is not that different for postdoc hiring (not "admission"),
  at least in my field (computer science). The big differences are (1)
  grades do not matter at all and (2) the focus changes from "potential
  for research" to potential for intellectual leadership backed by
  actual published research.

So I'm curious - how do committees assess potential for intellectual leadership? And how do graduate students demonstrate it?


texts: How do you know if a journal is registered on PubMed

texts:
I have several research projects that I am looking to publish but as a young research who is new to the field I am confused as to which journal to submit to.

I know that to get published on PubMed you have to publish on a journal that has been accepted by Medline or PMC. When I look up journals a few say they are affiliated with PubMed but do not specify if this affiliation is through Medline or PMC. Does this mean that mentioning Medline or PMC is not necessary and a PubMed affiliation is all that matters?

In the medical field what seems to matter is being published on PubMed regardless of the journal you published with. This means that submitting to a less known journal which is affiliated with PubMed will guarantee your research is published and available on PubMed. This seems to me that you can make your life easier by always submitting to a less known journal and in the end enjoying the same benefits as a publication in a well known journal.

Is this all that there is to it?


texts: Should a PhD student use his academic affiliation for his publications which are not related to his thesis?

texts:
If a PhD student is working on a research project which is neither related to his thesis topic, nor supported by the university in which he is studying or a faculty member; Does he have the right to use his academic affiliation and contact email?

There are two points here,

If the student is using the university facilities, he may acknowledge that support in the Acknowledgement section of his paper not by using the university affiliation.
The university in which the student is studying in doesn't necessarily want to be associated with whatever research he does in his free hours.

P.S.: Does this consideration apply to the researchers who work in a research institute or company?


texts:
I'm pursuing a Ph.D. in a computer science-related field (more particularly, in Artificial Intelligence). During my studies, I was involved in several projects, some of them got published in top-tier conferences. I'm ought to submit my Ph.D. thesis this year and was wondering what's the role of theses these days in CS.

Generating a polished thesis would take at least two months. However, collecting the work we've already published into a huge Latex file with a shared (newly written) introduction and discussion would take one week. I believe I can use the spare time to advance my research even further or start new collaborations.

If that matters, my career plans are to start a postdoc position, followed by seeking an academic position.

So, is there any significant downside to hastily constructing a "sandwich thesis" as opposed to carefully polishing a cohesive document? Assume that my committee would accept both.


texts: Is impracticality of Short Classes Tested Or It Is Just A Common Belief?

texts:
While knowing that students lose their focus on lecture after twenty minutes, due to the inefficiency of moving between classes every twenty minutes, universities timetable lectures for an hour up to even three hours. Nevertheless, e-learning has made it more practical.

This has been completely explained in the following two publications:

Kinchin, I. M. (2016). Visualizing powerful knowledge to develop the expert student: A knowledge structures perspective on teaching and learning at university. Springer:

  Many curriculum structures within universities have long historical origins and are bound up with issues such as internal politics and research funding as much as they are to do with any underpinning pedagogical claims. However, that is not to say that they cannot evolve and outgrow some of the more dated and restrictive practices that have helped to shape them. For example, that universities still tend to timetable lectures for about an hour even though we ‘know’ that students will typically only concentrate for about twenty minutes of that hour is a practical outcome of the logistical impracticality of moving in and out of classes every twenty minutes.

O'Flaherty, J., & Phillips, C. (2015). The use of flipped classrooms in higher education: A scoping review. The Internet and Higher Education, 25, 85-95.

I was wondering if there is any experimental evidence that having breaks every 20 minutes in classes is not practical, or it is just a common belief and no one has ever tried it?

UPDATE:

This thread answers many concerns mentioned in the comments.


texts: How to automatize the making and sending of event's attendance certificates?

texts:
Our department make a lot of attendance certificates, for events we run, and we waste a lot of work typing attendance lists and sending them by email. Most of the public are students are from my institution, and we can get a list of names and email address. We make about 1.500 certificates by year.

We are thinking about using a event system, but I'm having trouble to find one that makes certificates and don't cost thousand of dollars.

Anyone have a suggestion? A better solution?


texts: Moving away from academia? How to get contacts and create your opportunity

texts:
I have always worked with academia and have recently started thinking about leaving it.
Background
I have done a PhD and after that a post-doc, and am now about 2 years after my postdoc working as senior researcher in a permanent staff position. This amounts to about 4 years after PhD.
However, I feel that I'd enjoy going to industry as it would not be working just to get papers. My hope is that I could work with others with a more applied focus (in the sense of working on a product for instance). I have currently no issues in my job, and still find it exciting as I'm learning a lot. But in the long term, I feel that the lack of career progression and that working only to get papers will be motivation to move away from academia.
I'm aware that I currently have a good number of good publications and desirable skillset - for the time being, at least. I have no time constraints that would make me have to rush this.
The problem
I have identified a few companies that I see as good targets for me, but don't know who to approach to create an opportunity. I have perhaps 1 contact in 3 of the companies, but even this is more of an acquaintance in a low level position. I'm wondering what are your suggestions in how to get contacts or get the first step in moving. I feel that in academia this is very straightforward, in the sense that you can just email people and introduce yourself (this worked well before). These companies occasionally have openings, but I feel that creating my own opportunity would be more helpful to find a better fit.


texts: Do résumés written in LaTeX show more promise when applying to graduate schools?

texts:
I am a computer science student from India. I noticed that most of the résumés and thesis papers etc. I see are written in LaTeX.

If I write my résumé in Word (say) rather than LaTeX, will it have a negative affect when I apply to graduate schools in the U.S.?

If not, then should I even learn LaTeX for my future academic prospects?


texts: Will doing my CS PhD by distance learning make it harder to get a job as a professor?

texts:
I've seen very reputable universities such as Georgia Tech and Berkley, to name a few, offering MSc degrees in Computer Science through distance learning. However, I'm not seeing the same distance learning opportunity available for PhD programs. After a Google search, I've found few well-known universities that take off-campus students - I only recall University of Florida - for PhD degrees.

I want to earn a PhD because I would like to become a Professor after that, so I want to know if doing a distance learning PhD program would harm my  employment opportunity.


texts: Paper A that cited Paper B is found via GoogleScholar, yet the citation is not counted for Paper B. Why?

texts:
As stated in the subject, Paper A that cited Paper B is found via GoogleScholar (as is paper B), yet the citation is not counted for Paper B. Can anybody offer some insight into how this can happen or why?
Note that the paper B was properly cited by paper A, via a citation export on one of the popular services.

Is this common? I thank you in advance.


texts:
What does "TV-L (E14, 100% position)" mean in terms of gross and net pay? What lifestyle does this buy you in Berlin?

This is in the context of a postdoc at a research institute.


texts:
I have a master's degree in the UK, titled MSc Advanced Materials Engineering.

I would like to know if it would be correct to put MSc (Eng) as a post-nominal?

There is no clear guidance. By using just MSc in a post-nominal it is of course not implicit that the qualification is in an engineering subject. I would like to make that distinction if it is permitted to do so.


texts: Can I submit a paper years after finishing my graduate studies?

texts:
I completed my Masters of Science in September 2014 after over 2 years of work. My supervisor wasn't particularly helpful or supportive of the project since he seemed close to retiring and also most his money was dedicated to other fields of research. However, the field I studied in was my passion and I did it anyways.

Right after my graduate studies, I found a job in the private sector and at the same time I started working on a paper because I felt it needed to be done and I thought it would be important for my career. When I sent my draft to my supervisor, he would submit his feedback weeks to months later, and it was usually something like "It's too long". So I did the edits, sent it back, waited 2 months again for his comments, and so on. In Spring 2015, I abandonned because I could never finish it at this pace, even though most of it was done. His last comment was "Some more analysis could be necessary" even though it didn't seem necessary for the thesis.

Now, it's been 2 years, I haven't touched it since then, but I still feel I should submit the paper anyways. Here are my questions:

His is too late for me?
If I send the paper for review, do I need to put my supervisor as secondary author?
If my supervisor is secondary author, do I need to notify him? Could he refuse?
If reviewers demand that further analysis is required, is it game over for me? I did most of my work on a supercomputer and my account has expired.


texts: How to use a summary of a paper that references to another paper?

texts:
Imagine we have a paper A that references to paper B by a summary, if I want to use that summary what is the best course of action?

1. Use the A summary and cite to A.
2. Use the A summary and cite to B.
3. Write my own summary of B and cite B.

As it is my first time to write a paper, I'm not sure which one is the best action and I appreciate any help.


texts: How to help my school advertise assistant professorship job searches in USA?

texts: I want to help my school advertise job searches for assistant professors in STEM so we may have professors who teach more different classes and expand the curriculum. How do I help them post or what are posting job boards not commonly known or somewhere they probably haven’t tried?


texts: How difficult is it to get a paid PhD studentship in physics in Germany?

texts:
I would like to ask about the possibility of getting a paid PhD position in Germany.
 I am going to defend my thesis in Physics after a few days and I am thinking of applying for a PhD.
My specialization is in nano-science and surface physics.
The average of my Master's degree will be at most 2.7, which is between good and satisfactory.
Does the average play a pivotal rule ? Is it difficult to get a paid PhD position?


texts: Will addressing reviewers comment and accepting drawback of work take back my acceptance?

texts:
Recently I got a paper got accepted by a well-known conference (computer science). I am about to submit a camera-ready version of the paper for the conference proceedings, trying to incorporate the comments of the reviewers.

Two out of five reviewers point a problem in my research design, which is something I have felt too, but didn't weigh in much to address at my paper. Now, before submitting the camera-ready version, I feel that I should address the opinion of the two reviewers, but that would come up as a major drawback of my research. If I do so, what are the chances that it will have a negative effect on further publication?

I am new to academia and don't have appropriate advising regarding what to do regarding this.


texts: Manuscript status changed from Review in progress to Ready for review

texts: After two months the status of the manuscript under review changed from review in progres to ready for review. I dont understand is my paper yet to be reviewed? Dont know the workflow of River Valley Review.


texts:
Here's my story. I moved from my home country to the UK in October to start a PhD in the UK with lots of excitement and positive expectations. However, what I discovered once I started was that the division I am in had never funded an Academic PhD project before (they focus on professional doctorates), the environment is not a research one (I share the office with lecturers and tutors, apart from another PhD student who won my same scholarship). My main supervisor, although supportive, is only at the university for for 3 days per week, has never supervised a PhD and has not an Academic PhD (but has the professional doctorate). My second supervisor does have a PhD, but follows me very occasionally, since only taking care of the 20% of the supervision.

Therefore, since the beginning the experience has been very isolating and not really stimulating. In addition, for various reasons, I have changed the theme of my original project and since then I have the sensation that my main supervisor is not really interested in this, even though saying otherwise. Also,  has no particular expertise in the specific subject I am doing research on, but has to supervise many people from the professional doctorate as well and is generally very busy (and yet doesn't even check emails during the whole weekend).

Moreover, I am doing clinical research and I have to face many logistical difficulties, such as the fact that the hospital in which I should work in is quite distant from the university (at least hours roundtrip), the collaboration from the staff and patients is hard to get and basically my PhD depends on lots of people whose sudden disappearance may lead to very big problems.

As a result, I am now approaching the 10th month and I haven't done anything yet, apart from having started the literature review the draft for a survey. I feel as this project is going nowhere and even if I managed to fix some of the logistical issues, the isolation, the lack of expertise of my supervisor and the lack of a research environment really bother me. My supervisor actually said my PhD is a "pilot" for the division to see if they should fund any other PhD in the future, but the problem is that the pilot is not going well.

I find myself thinking about quitting quite often in this period, but I am terribly concerned about the possible consequences: even if I quit I still would like to pursue a PhD somewhere else, but what are the odds of getting any other scholarship after having quit one? Also, I obviously can't apply somewhere else without quitting here, because I need updated cover letters, so this means that I would have to move back to my home country just to restart submitting applications. And without any money, of course.

I haven't spoken about it  because I think that once I disclose my reservations  with my supervisor would definitely lose interest in the project, so I am taking some time to think before doing anything. The problem is that I really don't know what to do. I moved to the UK because I thought I could have better opportunities compared to my home country, but I think I ended up in a quite peculiar and difficult doctoral experience; I am afraid that the fact of having already obtained funding is going to prevent me from having any other opportunity if I quit. Also quitting would have a very big impact on my psychological well-being, since I do not see myself as a quitter and I would totally feel it as a personal failure, despite all the variables that I have told you.

What do you think?


texts: Can an extended journal version consist of more than a conference paper?

texts: Can an extended version contains 2-3 conference papers? If yes, should all authors be listed or only the key contributors?


texts: Contacting Faculty While Applying For PhD programmes

texts:
Possible Duplicate:
  Contacting professors for PhD vacancies

I will be applying for PhD programs (particularly TCS) for Fall, 2013. Should I personally try contact advisors for this purpose? At some universities, there are multiple faculties whom I want to work with. If I don't contact them then am I at a disadvantage? What should I write about if I should contact them? Any other advice is appreciable.

I am sorry if this sounds a stupid question or not a real question but since many of the users are here themselves faculty and PhD students, I thought it to be the best place to ask this question.


texts: When publishing, should every author officially sign off on the final work?

texts:
My PI often submits papers without waiting for feedback from all the authors. Sometimes this behavior is relatively anodyne. For example, I was once the second-to-last author on a paper and would have only been able to make minor suggestions to the work. Other times, I think he does not want to waste time—I am sure he would not phrase it this way—considering the opinions of junior people. For example, a summer student may collect some data, and he will write and submit a paper with that student as an author without soliciting his or her feedback. But in other cases, he will do this to a first author. For example, I have been working on a project, wrote the first draft, and now he just submitted the paper without even allowing me to read the final draft. He simply ignored my requests to read the final draft. I am not the only person to whom this has happened.

Is this ethical? There is a power imbalance, and the publish-or-perish mindset incentivizes everyone to play along. I'd rather publish than not, but it leaves a sour taste in my mouth, and demotivates me.


texts: Can I cite almost total literature survey from a textbook unit?

texts:
Suppose I'm writing a research paper on topic T.

Additionally, suppose there is a textbook or research paper on topic T that covers all the progress of the topic from its initial time to 2018 December.

Since I'm writing a paper during April 2019. Can I cite the research paper or textbook for literature from early days to 2018 December and only explicitly cite the remaining literature from January 2019 to April 2019 or do I need to also write a total literature survey for my research paper? If yes, what is the need to write again if I'm citing a credible source for literature?


texts: PhD admissions: master degree university ranking or additional research experience

texts:
First of all I'd like to say that I'm aware that questions are not supposed to result in opinion based answers or discussions. However, with the experience in academic settings that many of the members have here, I still think my question can be answered rather straightforwardly.

I am a engineering student that, after having done a bachelor at university "A" and after having done an extra-curricular internship, is now looking for a master track. After my master track I am sure that I want to pursue a PhD (this will be important).

In my country I have two options for for rather identical master tracks:

Pursue a master at university "A" (my bachelor university) where I was asked to apply for the universities honours track.
Pursue a master at university "B" which is significantly more expensive

University "A" has a QS rating for my specific study in the lower end of the top 100 while university "B" is in the top 10.

After my master's I want to apply for a PhD at some of the top universities outside of my own country (top 10's for my specific field of interest, I have specific universities in mind) and I am therefore looking at the best approach to make this possible.

The question therefore comes down to:

Assuming identical master track (differences are small) and identical GPA (4.0/4.0) after graduation, should I aim for the higher ranked university or should I aim for that university at which I can do the honours track which result in more research experience and personal/professional development

Or worded differently:

For PhD admission, what is weighted more severely: a higher ranked university or an honours track

I assume that I'll get a LoR from my thesis supervisor at either university


texts: Comprehensive Guide for Ph.D. thesis in Mathematics?

texts:
Could any one recommend some comprehensive guide (online version preferred) for writing a Ph.D. thesis in Mathematics?

I did some google search but there are too many results and it is difficult to decide which one to read. Here I am not asking anyone to write such a guide for me (otherwise this question will be too broad and thus not suitable here); instead, I would appreciate if anyone could make some recommendations of those existing references.


texts: Amount of edit after submission (conference paper)

texts:
I will be submitting a conference paper that proposes a new method for analysing a particular kind of data within the next 2 weeks. However, I think that I may improve the method slightly during the following 4 weeks that the reviewers use before giving feedback. The improvements will be minor, but it would be nice to include. It is out of the question to wait with submission for another conference based on this potential improvement.

Is it okay to simply replace the old results with the new results if the results improve after submission? More generally, how much can one add to a conference paper after it has been submitted? Is it only allowed to add elements that the reviewers request?


texts: Scooped and left alone by PhD advisors. What are my options?

texts:
I am a PhD student in the best-ranked university in my country (not America or the UK) and pursuing my research in a field that I am (was?) passionate about. All was fine for a couple of years - I loved my work, did fruitful experiments and presented a paper at the best conference in my field. I also successfully defended my PhD candidacy and got good comments from my panel which boosted up my morale significantly.

Things started going downhill from this point.

I had enough data to publish in a journal just three months after I had presented my conference paper. So, I prepared the manuscript and sent it to my advisors (I have two). Without even bothering to read the manuscript, they wanted me to aim for a journal with a higher impact factor rather than the one I was targeting and so, they asked me to pursue a few more experiments. After four more unsuccessful months, I get the news that a similar work to mine (same experimental design, same goals) was just published by a group from another university.

Now, my advisors turn into PANIC mode. They accused me of being too slow and not making enough effort. In fact, they didn't even remember that I had sent them the draft manuscript four months ago.

My relationship with my advisors turned sour after this. They did not respond to my emails calling for meetings, failed to go through important presentations and never responded positively to my ideas. In the midst of all this, I lost my grandmother and they didn't even offer a word of condolence (perhaps I'm expecting too much?).

Furthermore, I was working on another side project which also gave promising results and was accepted to a prestigious conference. My advisors did not have a look at the draft manuscript for this conference paper, hardly offered any comments or suggestions and did not respond to my email asking them to have a look at my presentation. I travelled alone to the conference (to another country) and presented my paper without any feedback from my advisors. After returning back, they did not even ask how my presentation went.

As a result of this and more, I have gone into a depressive state, lost my motivation for the field I once loved, become a social recluse and lost out on my mental health. It has led me to ask myself "Why did I join this place?" every single day. I have even sought professional help from a therapist but that seems to be of no help.

Apologies for the long post but any advice will be helpful. Criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading.


texts: Should we allow reuse a image in a publication as long as it is properly cited and noted?

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Sometimes it is easier for the reader to understand a image if it is reused, even in the same publication. Just like we sometimes need to go back to a slide when doing a presentation.
What is the original reason for forbidding this? My guess is to save some pages. But now it is digital and manuscripts are already long and large.


texts: How much does the PhD degree name matter when landing in a job?

texts: I am considering doing a PhD in a great lab/with a great advisor (and already convinced the PI). But I got in another program rather than the supposed program with the name of my subject of study, e.g. EE/chemical physics vs physics. I was worried as a rookie whether this degree would put me in an inferior position in the future competition. Regarding the circumstances in academic positions or industrial ones, how much does the degree name affect job hunting?


texts: What exactly does one do in a Phd from literature reviews to dissertations?

texts:
I've already posted two questions regarding this(here and here). I've gotten excellent answers but I'm still confused and this question, I believe will answer all of my doubts.

Could someone who has done a PhD or is doing it, share his/her experience? Give an overview of your full experience from the first day till the last day.  What did you do in your first year, how did you choose your topic, how your advisor helped you when you got stuck, how doing the Phd developed your problem-solving skills, etc.  Please include technical terms when they help you get a point across. For example, if your PhD was related to building a quantum computer, include terms like qubits, etc.

Basically, just walk me through your PhD, so that I get a good idea what exactly one does in a PhD, what sorts of problems does one encounter, and how your advisor helped you.


texts: Former MD/PhD student looking to apply again to MD or MD/PhD

texts:
I am a nontraditional applicant for MD or MD/PhD programs and wanted to ask questions about my application here.

I spent six years at another MD/PhD program. I have various publications at the top journals (Cell, Science, Nature). I had a mental health crisis that resulted in some abnormal behavior. It led to me withdrawing from that MD/PhD program, but I have spent two years recovering.

I maintain a strong interest in academic medicine and I am ready to take another go at it.

How might my application be processed differently? How successful could an applicant like myself be? Do you have advice on how I can present myself in the best manner?

Thanks very much for your time.


texts: When to update an Arxiv posting vs. creating a new post?

texts:
I have a paper on the Arxiv which has recently been referenced in someone else's published work. I have since used the new work (of someone else) to significantly extend my current Arxiv work. Since my previous Arxiv posting has not yet appeared anywhere, I am sending the old work along with the extensions to a journal in a single paper. So my question is this: should I update the Arxiv listing for the previous paper with the new extended version as a revision or should I add it as a new paper?

I guess my worry is this: let A be my paper, B be the other paper that references A and A' be my extended paper which builds on some ideas from B to significantly extend A. If I post A' as a revision to A, then there is a weird referencing problem where B refers to my Arxiv post without knowing that A' builds on B. However, if I post A' as a new paper, then it includes essentially all of A in it (though presented in a more clear manner) and so there seems to be some duplication.


texts: Can I simultaneously pursue separate masters and PhD degrees?

texts: Can I enroll in a masters degree program via correspondence at another university while simultaneously enrolled as PhD as a regular student from University of Delhi?


texts: Projects funded by German Research Foundation---teaching duties

texts: I am interested if teaching is a part of duties for people employed on the positions funded by the German Research Foundation (SFBs in particular). To the best of my knowledge, these are pure research positions. However, what is the legal status?


texts: What to do after accidentally submitting to a "fake" conference?

texts:
I have always done my best to not publish in scam journals or fake conferences (even though I was working as a lecturer and was penalised for not having enough publications, the institution didn't care where the work is published as long as it was).

At one point I have submitted a paper to the internal conference of the institute, at that time I was told that there was going to be a new section at this conference which my work was suitable for. The abstract was accepted, the paper for the post conference publication submitted; but on the day of the conference I was told that my presence was not needed, and that the protocol of the conference was already being written, and my presentation was "discussed" and that I have answered all the questions.

I must admit, I did not raise the fuss. I was swamped with other work, so I thought that I would just build on that work and at least the publication would appear, I'd link to it, but no longer publish something in this institute internally.

I no longer work there. But, lo and behold, on their site, where the publication must have appeared, in that conference there's not even a section to which I have submitted. My questions about the situation are unanswered.

I do not want to abandon the attempt to publish (in the true sense of the word, i.e. making it public).

Now the questions.

Do I consider that particular paper published as a part of this conference? Can I reference it as published, since I was clearly told that it would be?
If I consider it to be unpublished, can I resubmit it somewhere else? Do I explain the whole situation during the submission?

P.S. Yes, I do feel quite stupid about the situation. I will be more careful in the future.


texts: Problems with gift authorships on papers and how to solve it

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Briefly, I was a PhD student in a lab in a developing country. I had two PIs one was my mentor and the second one was the Head of the Department, who was just added for administrative purposes (retired now and replaced by his wife). There wasn’t any funding for the entirety of my PhD in addition to not having the appropriate equipment to do my project. I managed to get scholarships and go abroad to get data and finish the degree. Most of the work was done abroad with the help of the PI there. Now, my previous PI wants to publish every single experiment done while I was a PhD student. This is all fine, however, they have added authors that have not contributed in any shape of form to the papers (the head of the Department who is retired and his wife btw they are added to every single paper coming out of the Department). To add, they are refusing to do any additional work to make those papers better, with the excuse that they don’t have money or time. At the time I was a PhD student that was true, but now couple of years later they have a big grant and still don’t want to make progress on the work. For one, the papers are not of the best of scientific quality and they don’t have a problem adding the new funding that wasn’t originally used to produce the results. I suspect that they are pushing to publish to justify the money they got from the project and their salaries, which is why now they are trying to publish old results and not spend any more time on experiments. There is no office at the University that deals with conflicts like this and that is how they manage to get away with it.
Here are my questions:
What can I do as an author to prevent gift authorship? Can I prevent it beforehand if I don’t agree with the manuscript before the submission or do I have to go with the journal in which the manuscript will be submitted?
Also, do I have an obligation to inform the other authors in the paper of this misconduct before the submission since we have public obligation for what we are publishing? And what if the other authors don’t want to bother to that extend?
Lastly, I am wondering if there is a potential conflict of interest or misattribution of funds if you put funding that hasn’t been used for the experiments in the paper, but solely because of financial gain to keep their big salaries.
EDIT: Thank you for your responses. Just to clarify few things that I omitted the first time, since I am trying not to give too many details. I do not depend on them now and it is not like they are famous lab or highly regarded in the scientific world. They made my life difficult during the PhD, but that motivated me to find a better lab where I do not have any issues. Since my career won't be affected at all regardless of what I do now, I am trying to understand if as an author have the right in a sense to ask for improvement of the results, get rid of authors that haven't contributed or otherwise say I don't agree with publishing the paper and if this is enough to stop the paper from being published until my requirements are met. Also, I am not sure if I should inform the other authors of the situation since gifting authorship is highly unethical behavior.


texts:
Let's say I want to embark on a PhD in Europe, but I still have to find good positions to apply for. What steps do you recommend me to follow to narrow down the possibilities? What steps do you recommend to select some good options?

Should I think first a viable project, or should I stay flexible? Should I just look online for some position in the research fields I like most, or should I maybe focus my attention on professors, institutes, or should I even select the country first? Should I rely on the contacts of my bachelor and master universities professors, or should I try by my own means?

Note for moderators: this should not be considered a shopping question, as I'm not asking for a tip about an individual program or university, this community post shows quite clearly that that policy doesn't apply to this question.


texts: How to estimate cost of a course when price is quoted per semester but program has three semesters?

texts:
I'm looking to get an MBA at University of Texas at Austin. I'm planning on working full-time while going to school, so I'm interested in their Evening MBA program.

I'm trying to understand costs. According to their website, the program takes 2.5 years to complete, that's equivalent to 5 semesters. The program costs $15,320 per semester, which should mean that the total program costs $76,600.

However, on this page they have 3 semesters per year, which doesn't make any sense to me. Add up all those numbers together, and you end up with a total cost of $107,240.

So which one is it? Is a semester not really a 6-month period in academic lingo?


texts: How to assess the long-term stability of a college as part of a job search

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A few weeks from now, I'll be traveling for a flyout interview to a SLAC (small liberal arts college) in the eastern United States. The college is very small, less than 1,500 students. If hired, I would be teaching philosophy and other topics in a traditional liberal arts and humanities curriculum.

In many ways this is a perfect job for me. The teaching load is 4/4 (that is, 4 courses per semester, no summer teaching required), but I have long wanted to be at a teaching-focused institution. The college is in a small, quiet town in a beautiful area of the country with affordable living. The colleagues I've spoken to so far have been friendly and helpful, and the students seem good. I foresee being able to get tenure fairly easily. For me, all of these features form a very attractive combination. I know it's impossible to predict the future, but at the very least I could see myself spending many years working at this college, assuming there were no major surprises.

My big concern--and I don't know any way other to frame this--is the long-term viability and stability of the college. It has a very small endowment, and as far as I can tell, does not regularly receive donations of any meaningful size. The college weathered the most recent economic challenges here in the US, and has more students enrolled now than at any other point in its history. But my worry is simply that, one day, in response to economic or other issues, it's just going to fold. Then I ask myself whether I could get a job applying out of there, what I would do if I had to leave academia, and so on.

I have no evidence to indicate that anything like this might happen in the near future; in fact, the little information I do have suggests that the college is doing well. But I still worry. I've thought about the possibility of taking a prospective offer with an exit plan: going in ready to publish all of my dissertation research to fill out my CV, in order to make myself competitive should I need to apply out down the road. But that's the best I have so far.

I'd like to ask for your help. My questions are:

What questions can I tactfully and respectfully ask while on my visit to probe for information about my concern? (Keep in mind that I won't have received an actual job offer while visiting; I assume I could ask more direct questions later, were they to make an offer.)
What else should I be looking for on the visit that might help me better understand the college's long-term viability, if anything?


texts: How to address a professor in person at US universities?

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At US universities, how should one address a professor while talking to him or her? In my home country, we usually address the professors as either "sir" or "madam" while talking about our queries in person.

What's the norm at US universities?


texts: Motivation letter for tenure track position

texts:
A tenure track position I'm applying to (Netherlands) asks for a "motivation letter" in addition to the research statement.  It doesn't give any details about what it should contain.  Therefore my question is in general, what kind of information should one include in a motivation letter (for a tenure track professor position), and what kind of page length should one aim for?

One thing I can think of is to talk about my current employment and why this job would be better for me.  Perhaps the purpose is to convince them that, if I was actually offered the position, that I would indeed accept it?


texts: How can I handle publication jealousy among peers in my research lab?

texts:
I have been involved in a research lab for a while now. I have a set of peers who work on related, yet non-overlapping fields.

I find myself uncomfortable when other's works get accepted in some research venue (journal or conferences). And, so do I believe that others feel the same when my work gets accepted.

However, though it might be common in the research labs, I feel it is not a good sign and it, in some way, restricts me to open up my discussion on my ideas on any problems. Further, others also do not discuss much on their own ideas and their working problems. It is obvious that discussion among peers could lead to better research and outcomes.

Is it common for others who have experienced such behavior during their graduate studies? Or, is it a paranoia?
How to handle such uncomfortable feeling inside the lab and feel positive?

I did speak with some of my professors and still, I can not let this useless feeling go away from my brain.


texts: Is there other way to get into more advanced study of math, with a low GPA?

texts: I am a second-year undergraduate majoring in mathematics. In my first year of studies, I didn't do really well on my exams and therefore my results were not good, with a GPA at around 2. I didn't really put time into it, but when I started learning advanced probability, I found that I am interested in it and want to study more and am even thinking of doing research. Also I think I have found my way to study math as I didn't quite do before. In that semester, I got 2 A+. In my school, I heard that people who apply for a master's degree normally have a first-class honors degree. Is there another way to get into more advanced study of math, even with a low GPA?


texts: Grades from transfer university, impact on graduate admissions?

texts:
I am wondering about what the impact of a poor grade that is taken as transfer credit would be.

I am taking a core EECS (Logic Gates) class at a different university for some transfer credit because I am working full-time this school year (as a co-op). Since my university required only a C for transfer, I was not planning to put much effort into the class because I'd be busy with work.

However, I recently found that some universities like Berkeley require transcripts from all schools attended. In this case, I'm sure that it'd look bad, but I am wondering how bad it would be?


texts: Is it okay to add mention of a grant in the acknowledgements at the proof-stage when the grant started after the paper was submitted for publication?

texts: Some time ago, I have send a paper for publication at a respected journal. The peer review took some time, and eventually the paper is in the production stage. The paper was submitted when we were working at a grant proposal. Some months ago,  the grant proposal was accepted and currently we receive funding from the grant. Since the paper was submitted before the grant was active, the question would be if it is fine if we add acknowledgements at the proof stage for the current grant.  I add that for dealing with the referees remarks, we have also worked at the paper, work that correspond to a time when the grant was active.


texts: Research statement for professional versus research master's programs

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Are research statements evaluated differently for professional and research master's programs? If so, how do they differ?

Further, I have read that admissions to research programs are more competitive than for professional programs. So can I take admission into professional degree first, and then transition to a research degree in order to increase my odds of admission?

I am an international applicant applying for computer science programs in the US. I do not wish to go for a PhD directly, so I am looking to do a master's first.

P.S. Sorry for asking two questions. But they seem to be fairly related to me.


texts: First, third, or "we" for Marie Curie Individual Fellowship

texts: Maybe I am overthinking this. But which person should I use in the fellowship application? There are sections about the actual science, about the applicant, and about the exchange with the host institution. Is it ok to switch person according to the section? Or should I refer to myself as the "Researcher" as the templates use?


texts: How to valorize Volunteering work in a NPO

texts:
How to valorize Volunteering work for a Non-Profit organization, outside academic duties, such as:

Webmastering work
Technical support and consultancy
Other operation/tactical duty

I am not talking about one shot events such as Conference Planning and Organization.

I think just a one line mention in a CV/Resume, if any, is not satisfactory?

For example:

Volunteering for Institute of Electrical Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
or Project Management Institute (PMI)
or
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Etc.

What do you think?


texts: Research supervisor is easily distracted in meetings with me

texts:
I don't think my research professor takes me seriously. I have noticed that in several of my meetings with my PI, he gets distracted very easily.

Now I know of people my age who get distracted (in their 20s), but he insists it's something natural... and he's way older. For example at our last meeting, he was advising me on what I should do for the next part of my project, I was writing all that stuff down, and then he spaced off. I was looking through my notes to see if I understood everything correctly, and he stared up at the ceiling. Next, he asked me if I knew what the ceiling material consisted of. When I said I had no idea (I was trying to brush off the question because there are more important tasks at hand), he made me look it up on the spot. At the moment I thought he might have become bored, maybe there was an awkward silence, but now that I've been thinking about it more, this is not the first instance where this has occurred. He does this in front of my other classmates as well.

Is he just joking around? Trying to lighten up the mood? Am I awkward? Am I not important? How do I address this to him?


texts: W2 positions at the universities of applied sciences in Germany

texts:
The W2 professorship ads of all universities of applied sciences in Germany have a passage requring (e.g., for Bavaria)

  darüber hinaus besondere Leistungen bei der Anwendung oder Entwicklung wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse und Methoden in einer mindestens fünfjährigen beruflichen Praxis, die nach Abschluss des Hochschulstudiums erworben sein muss und von der mindestens drei Jahre außerhalb des Hochschulbereichs ausgeübt worden sein müssen; [...] der Nachweis der außerhalb des Hochschulbereichs ausgeübten beruflichen Praxis kann in besonderen Fällen dadurch erfolgen, dass über einen Zeitraum von mindestens fünf Jahren ein erheblicher Teil der beruflichen Tätigkeit in Kooperation zwischen Hochschule und außerhochschulischer beruflicher Praxis erbracht wurde.

It roughly means that you have to have worked on applying your knowledge and scientific methods 5 years after graduation, 3 of which outside of academia, or, in special cases, a minimum of 5 years most of the time in cooperation between non-academic industry and academia. Regulations in other federal states are similar.

Considering the second passage, what counts (and what does not count) as such a cooperation? E.g., does working 5 years long at a research university on BMBF-financed projects with industrial partners count?


texts: Normalizing grades across multiple graders

texts:
We teach a large graduate class with many teaching assistants (TAs), who are involved in grading 4-5 assessments (each contains a large amount of code, and a 4-page report corresponding to the solution).

Each time we grade, it takes an extremely long time-- we first carefully create a rubric, based upon which the TAs evaluate each others' solutions; next we review these grades and come to a consensus on individual line items in the rubric. We also blindly grade a single student submission at a time and re-calibrate the rubric and it's application till we have consensus.

Despite doing all of this, we end up having non-trivial variations in the mean, median, min and max grades assigned by each TA. We have hundreds of students and dozens of TAs, and it isn't feasible to have multiple grades per student submission.

Last Spring, this led to a significant number of grading iterations for each assignment, and we eventually ended up averaging across iterations, rather then converging to a common grade for each student.

We're trying to automate the monitoring and evaluation of grading tasks on our grading portal so that outliers/problem cases can be reassigned, and the lead instructor can identify if a TA is not grading well. Is there any research or anecdotal experience with such grading issues in classes that you have taught/assisted in (and any useful countermeasures)?  If not, is there a systematic way where grades can be curved based on the grader, in a way that is fair?


texts: "Unlinked References" issue on submitting manuscript in evise

texts:
recently I have submitted a manuscript in a journal via Evise.
After the competition of submission, I found out some of the references I have attached are suggested unlinked references.
So what will be the consequences in this matter?
Thanks.