texts: Dealing with students who sent email with empty body but the homework attached

texts:
I am responsible for the exercises for a graduate course. The students submit their solutions via email and all of them send a normal email: greeting me and telling that the solutions file is attached then (most of them) wishing me a good weekend as the due dates are Fridays.

One group sends me an empty email: just an attachment without any word!
I believe that this behaviour is odd, should I take an action or it is not my business?


texts: Would using an application fee waiver affect my admission result in a negative way?

texts:
I am applying to an Ivy League university in the US as an international student for a Ph.D. program. They have application fee waivers for students with financial hardship.

Would using it (or even asking for it) have negative effects on the result of application?

They also have a GRE waiver for these type of students too. I believe this one does affect the result. Am I right?


texts:
I would like to know what are the (academic) requirements (in general) of a Dipl. Math.?

What Dipl. math. Is good for (in math Academia)? More general what is a Dipl. Math.?

(Some reference for cover letters for Dipl. Math.)


texts: Paper status changed from under review to Awaiting Decision

texts:
I submitted my manuscript to a journal from 1 month ago in scholar one. The status changed to admin check to under review after one week. Now, it shows Awaiting Decision.

Does this mean that the paper has passed the editorial check and the external reviewer completed?


texts: Should non-tenured/non-tenure-track faculty be permitted to vote on tenure-track hires?

texts: My department has several non-tenured/non-tenure-track faculty in teaching-only positions.  My department is also hiring at the tenure-track level this year and these non-tenured faculty are taking an active role in the search, even voting with the tenured and tenure-track faculty on who should be hired.  Is this appropriate?  Is there a precedent?


texts: What is the purpose of using your initials instead of your full name in oral presentations and when is it appropriate

texts:
I noticed during some conference talks that some presenters use their initials rather than their full names on some presentationn slides. Specifically I noticed this when they show name-labeled photos of their teams or have slides where they highlight key contributors to a broader scientific field.

I'm not sure whether this is a cultural quirk (I did't catch any pattern regarding nationality), a means to draw attention towards your research team (it seems to be more common for team leaders and professors) or just a boastful way of understatement (since everybody knows who "X.X." is).

Additionally, is  doing this appropriate and/or advisable for an (under)grad student and if so, in what context?


texts: How is on campus professional training named in US or Canada schools?

texts:
I'm applying for a scholarship abroad (more specifically, in Canada), and I have a doubt concerning how to write of the activities I took part on my CV.

In my home institution, we have activities called "Professional Training". These are some jobs students can take part inside of the university, outside of their degree coursework, under guidance of one of the professors, usually something for the university. For example, a biology student could help taking care of a botanical garden they have on campus, or a computer science student could help maintaining the university website. Students gain some hands on experience from these activities, receiving some money for it every month, while helping the university on some of its duties.

I took part in one of those activities for over a year, and I find it very relevant for the scholarship that I'm applying, so I'm detailing it on my CV. However, I'm not sure how to properly name it. I don't know if US or Canadian schools have anything like that. I don't think "internship" is the proper name, because it's not related to industry. Also "teaching assistant" obviously doesn't fit, because it could have nothing to do with teaching.

Any ideas?


texts: Why are there so many mental health problems in academia?

texts:
One thing I've been really curious about recently is why there is a very high tendency for academics to suffer from mental health problems (e.g. anxiety and depression). There are a bunch of factors behind this:

Very long hours
Relatively low pay
Constant pressure to chase up funding and publish papers
Continuous flow of work resulting in feeling little personal reward
Dealing with abrasive personalities (such as some specific professors, supervisors and so forth)
Perfectionism, resulting in feeling that nothing is truly good enough
Lack of open-mindedness towards admitting difficulties or not understanding something
A feel that "if you can't take the heat, then you shouldn't be here"
Lack of external support at some institutions.

This is a very striking read, which highlights that many mental health issues in academia are accepted as the norm or simply ignored, whereas in any other job these would be picked up on and support would be offered.

Also, as someone who as experienced similar difficulties previously in my studies (such as in school and during my undergraduate degree) and had plenty of external support offered to me, it almost seems as though everything I learnt about having a healthy life balance and looking after myself is something that goes out of the window at research level.

I'm sure maybe there are some more that I haven't mentioned, but what would you say is probably biggest influence on people feeling depressed (and some even having dark thoughts) in university departments?


texts: Is it a plus point for my PhD application to mention that I am already a PhD candidate at some other university?

texts:
I have recently completed my MS and joined as a Ph.D. candidate in the same university. But I want to move out. I am filling the application for an other position where they have asked the following:

Please give the full contact details for you at your permanent institute.
If you do not have a permanent institute, you can use the Leave empty button to
leave this page empty.

There are options to mention that I am currently a Ph.D. candidate. Is it a good idea to mention that I am currently a Ph.D. candidate? I am asking this because someone have told me that if you are currently a Ph.D. candidate, universities don't give much attention to your application.


texts: What is the career roadmap for a physicist?

texts: How does one find money for living expenses during studies?


texts: How can you change a bad course run by somebody else?

texts:
I am a (very) junior post doc in a prestigious university, and for the last three years I have taught a first-year undergraduate level course on statistics, designed to be taken by biochemists. By "teach", I mean "provide classes going over a set of problem sheets written by somebody else". My background is in particle physics, and I find that the course, written and lectured by a very senior academic, is exceptionally poor.

For example, the "standard tables" of numerically integrated distributions that he provides to the students differ to the values one gets in R, or using other modern numerical methods. Additionally, his model solutions include things such as assuming that radioactive decay is normally distributed (it isn't, it's a classic example of a Poisson process), cherry-picking data to fit a regression line to, and not making explicitly clear how the different types of expressions vary for the t-distribution when the samples are assumed to have equal or unequal variance. He treats parametric and non parametric tests as interchangeable in answering questions, and the style of the questions themselves boil down to "guess an expression and put numbers into it". There is no mention of Bayes's theorem anywhere, nor of modern statistics.

The students do not like the course at all, and I find that I spend a large portion of the time filling in gaps in their knowledge, and saying things like "The way  answers this question is as follows", even if I am relatively certain that in doing so he has made a tacit assumption that might not be correct. Whilst admittedly teaching statistics to biochemists is notoriously difficult, I feel that the course as stands does not prepare them for a research career (they can't pin-the-statistical-test-tail-on-the-donkey-of-experimental-design) and actively avoids adequately discussing several quite important subtle points.

I have made most of these points to the senior academic in charge several times. He does not respond to them. He recently discovered that the notation he uses is inconsistent with that of the rest of the literature on the subject, and wrote an email to the people who deliver his classes saying something along the lines of "I have been teaching this course for 20 years..." and then stating that would essentially ignore this fact. When he went on sabbatical for a year, another academic (less junior than I, but still junior) entirely re-wrote the course, and it received much better reviews. When the lead tutor came back, he ignored the changes, and reverted back to his stock material.

This is incredibly frustrating. I do not know how adequately change anything, without committing career suicide and going to person in charge over the lead's head. I do not wish to make a fuss, but I really feel that it isn't very professional of me to have to start every class essentially ranting about what the students have been taught, teaching them how to pass the exam, and then telling them "fun things" that I think they should know at the end if there is extra time. I want to teach a course that adequately prepares individuals for their future, not very much for the past.

What is the best way to go about getting out of this situation without either (a) getting me fired, (b) getting the senior academic fired or retired, or (c) creating a very public fuss and generally being a bother?


texts: Trouble finding advisor with same research interest

texts:
I am a second year PhD student in computer science. I am having trouble finding an advisor who shares the same research interest as me. I have been working on my own (for the most part) for these two years and obtained some publishable results (a faculty suggested I publish a single author paper).  But without an advisor, I cannot proceed further in my PhD studies.

Any comment will be helpful.


texts: Adding an affiliation to an accepted paper

texts:
I am the corresponding and the first author of a paper which has been accepted for publication in a journal published by Springer.

I have an important question that is I would like to know whether I can add another university as my second affiliation (before, I only use one affiliation for me) and what should I do to make this addition.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.


texts: Getting assistance for publishing a paper without experience

texts:
I have a master’s degree in computer science. I wanted to publish my thesis as paper because I got a good grade, and I because I want to  get accepted for a PhD degree by a top-200 university or to get work as a TA at a university.

I used existing resources and applied them on a different data set, but the results were not clear and need optimization – which will need more time (I'll do it if I have a chance to get a PhD or getting a job in this matter).

I wrote the paper according to my naive knowledge in publishing and the whole field. My goal was not acceptance, but rather getting feedback and a taste of how things work. I sent my paper to a conference; of course it was refused. I sent it to a journal, who refused. The feedback was that my paper is a draft, has language mistakes, and most of references were old. Of course I asked my supervisor for assistance,  but things didn’t went well for many reasons. One of these reasons is that we have no clear results although the method was very good and promising on the long run.

I was wondering if I can get assistance from other parties like doctors from other universities, but it didn't work for me. Maybe this is because I asked doctors from high-ranked universities so they may already have a heavy load.

What should I do?


texts: Two PhD programs simultaneously in different countries

texts:
I am currently a PhD student in my own country. I am also applying to PhD programs in the US right now. My intent is to try and work for both degrees simultaneously because I am worried about the current political climate and want to have a back-up plan in case something goes very wrong in some way in my home country in the coming years.
I have seen cases when people go to a foreign institution, study there full-time and defend their doctoral thesis back home using the research done abroad (of course, their home institution agreed to that). May this lead to problems in the future? For example, may the US institution retract the degree it granted if it becomes aware of the student having been a student at a different institution simultaneously?


texts: Is it really necessary to have letterhead for recommendation letter from employer to apply for US universities?

texts: In my company letterheads are not allowed for this kind of purpose. So can you suggest me best format for recommendation letter(from my manager) that can be used to apply for universities in US..?


texts: Do extracurricular activities matter for a person in academia?

texts:
The only thing I can think of is scholarship application. But how much do scholarship committees look at extracurricular activities? Do they look for the positions that you held?

Frankly I'm very weak at extracurricular activities and don't know what to do.


texts: Applying for postdoc in a mathematics department where no one has similar research interests

texts:
I'm a PhD student in mathematics, working in a quite unpopular field (recursion theory). As I'm now applying for postdoctoral positions in the US, I've encountered the following problem: The number of mathematics departments in the US having notable researchers in my field is quite small. As I'm quite flexible with my research interests, I added departments with researchers in related fields (such as model theory and set theory) to my list. But even then, there are less than 20 relevant departments across the US to which I can apply.
I heard that in order to maximize the chances of getting a postdoctoral position, mathematicians often apply to 50 positions or even more. I'd like to do the same thing, but I have some questions about it:

Are there any arguments against applying for postdoc positions in math departments where your research interests are not even remotely represented?
What should I do in order to increase my chances of getting a postdoc position in such a department? More specifically, what should I write in my cover letter (where applicants usually mention relevant faculty members, and sometimes also explain why they fit the position)? Should I contact a faculty member? What should I write to him/her? Any other useful advice?
Assuming that I have a strong application, do I have a reasonable chance of getting a position in such departments?
Bottom line question: Should I invest time and effort applying for positions in such departments?


texts: How many "office hours" are common (or standard) for full-time lecturers?

texts:
In situations where one teaches purely undergraduate students (20 hours per week, 16 weeks per semester, 2 semesters per year) how many hours per week, and how many weeks per year, are people normally in their offices? Does this number change after the main teaching semesters complete?

I have just finished my fall semester and I find my normal office hours cannot handle the demand from the students. I'm a bit torn. On one hand, I want to support my students as much as they care to be supported but I must balance my own needs. I have plenty of other things to do besides teach (I have to prepare for the spring semester and that will take me significant time, I have marking to do, etc.). More office hours means less time (thus less quality) for prep (and other various tasks).

When I consider what my peers do, I see they often do less than the school requires of them (I am not interested in following their example). With > 300 students, it seems the only way to really satisfy the demand is to be there 20 hours per week...which leave me little (no) time for my other tasks.

My goal here is to try to identify what is fair to all involved.

Edit: I've posted a follow-up question to this one.


texts:
In an advert, I read:
"[University U] is inviting applications for a multi-year fully funded Post-Doctoral Associate position. Highly qualified candidates may also be considered for a Research Scientist position."

What is a Research Scientist compare to a Post-Doctoral Associate position in an USA Academic like environment ?


texts: Is a pre-doctoral licentiate degree worth anything?

texts:
There exists a degree title called the licentiate in Finland and Sweden which is a graduate title beneath a full PhD title; I've heard it called, among other things, a "half PhD", a "PhD lite" or a "PhD for those already working". However, what formal or practical benefits can/does such a title actually confer, especially since being awarded a licentiate degree entails having a postgraduate degree anyway (a Master's degree, which very much could have entailed doing research itself)?

Can the formal qualification and/or work done for it contribute towards a proper PhD at another institution, either immediately after or after some interim period?
Is it accepted as proof of any kind of practical research experience in larger institutions outside of Finland and Sweden? From what I've gathered, it seems that research-oriented jobs are very strictly categorized as either "jobs for people with PhDs" or "jobs for everyone else", which suggests that a "not-quite-PhD" degree wouldn't actually open any doors and maybe even close some (due to e.g. being perceived as overqualified, as having "quit" a PhD program or as being "not able" to secure a proper PhD candidate position).


texts:
At the beginning im so sorry about what i did. But in literature review of the introduction part of my thesis i realized that i made a mistake :(
It is about giving state-of-the-art part of my study area. When i describe a study i saw that, in paper it says that;
"this paper describes the design for bla bla (paper)... we will evaluate the design(at conclusion)" but also in paper it says that for example;
"knee design take advantage of the fact that knee generate needed power bla bla.

But when i describe the paper i wrote that; "In[5], they emphasized that the design produced correct power" here the faily part :( they didn't evaluate but i mention that the design PRODUCED correct power. and 2 similar sentences:(
For example i say: "ankle didn't produce unneeded power for bla bla".

but in paper it says; "ankle design take advantage of the fact that ankle doesn't produce large power for bla bla"

The case is here; they introduce the design or lets say, ,idea, proposes but i described as it produced that power etc but actually it wasn't made, those of them were ideas or claims of authors.
is it reason of revoking of my thesis later :( please help me.


texts: How to provide letters of reference for a Postdoc Application

texts:
I am applying for postdoc positions in the area of Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) in US and Europe. Often times I see that the reference letters are required to be submitted at the time of application and it is mentioned that only complete applications will be evaluated. Does this mean that I am expected to collect electronic versions of reference letters from professors, which I would need to submit along with my application? How can I waive my right to not review these letters?

What is the typical way of submitting reference letters for a postdoc application in the area of Mechanical Engineering (Robotics), since the application process is not so structured?


texts: Can I republish what is already published on ArXiv after a copyright transfer?

texts:
I will explain the case (because it is unique):
If I publish an article in arXiv under the arXiv license (not under CC license), consequently I retain the copyright.
Four months later, I write other article (a different one), but I use/include parts from the first article. And this second article is not published in arXiv, it is published in a journal (transferring the copyright to the publisher and exclusive publication rights, which is possible since the author is the copyright holder).
Now, if we go back to the first article (which is in arXiv before the second article was published), and we need to modify (for whatever reason) the comments in arXiv... for this it will be necessary to create a second version (v2) and publish again the fulltext file and accept the ArXiv license (certifying that you have the right to grant that license).
If the first article had never been published in arXiv (it would have simply remained on the author's PC), the author would not be able to publish the first article in arXiv, since he would be publishing the first article including content (since the second article was partially a derivative work from the first one) whose copyright was transferred (and the journal allows the publication in arXiv of the second article that is published in the journal, which has nothing to do with the first article).
But, taking into account that the first article was published in arXiv (and is already in arXiv)... can the author republish it (and accept the arXiv license again) or would he be doing something illegal due to the transfer of copyright relative to the second article that included content from the first one?


texts: Can I submit the anonymous referee report from a previous submission to another journal together with my manuscript?

texts: I sent an article to Annals of Mathematics and after 4 months of review process it was rejected. I received a report from an anonymous expert. Could I send this report, together with the manuscript, to another journal?


texts: Is it possible to pursue a PhD while working full time and living in another country?

texts:
I work full time as a Chief Operating Officer for a company and would like to pursue a PhD and study the population I am working with (women workers in fisheries).

I have been researching different programs in Gender Studies centers, mostly in English speaking countries.

I want to know if it is possible to pursue a PhD while working full time and living in another country? And if there are universities that are more flexible than others?


texts: Is it okay to work in a very old research area (in TCS)?

texts:
I am a Ph.D. student works in theoretical computer science, I work on the area which is related to rings and my work is to design algorithms for problems related to rings. I did my bachelor in computer science not in mathematics.

I have a strong interest in this area, despite the fact that I have been told and suggested by multiple people to not pursue research in this field; I did it because of my interest. Due to my strange choice, I did not get much collaboration. I have been able to publish just a couple of research papers (not in the top tier) and will graduate after two semesters. I worked very hard, but the output I got is not even a fraction of what I have invested.

I still like it, but the problems is that job opportunities, collaboration, and funds are very scarce. There are funds but only for those who publish in the top places. I am trying to publish in top places, but till now I was not successful. Many people around me have told me that my work is average. Some senior researchers advice me to be patient as it takes time to mature in this area.

Keeping the future in my mind, I see myself on a very different track as compared to others. My goal is to continue the research as well as get in some decent institute after my Ph.D.

My question is it possible to be a successful researcher in this kind of area? What does it mean to do some significant research? Is it okay to work in a very old research area?


texts: How to get better at teaching from the board?

texts:
As a student, I almost always prefer when instructors use the board, rather than slides. As a relatively inexperienced instructor, though, I keep reverting back to slides (unless I'm working out problems), because frankly, it's a useful crutch.

Specifically, I find it difficult to teach from the board because:

When preparing a lecture, I know exactly what to do if I'm preparing slides. I don't know how to prepare to teach from the board. I'm not going to read off of lecture notes (what would be the point of me being there if I did?). I'm not experienced enough to teach a class without preparing something to keep me from rambling for 3 hours + scrawling gibberish all over the board.
I am uncomfortable spending so much time facing away from my students.
It's hard be effective at writing and delivery at the same time.
I'm concerned about legibility. This is partly addressed in Techniques for good board handwriting, but I'm also concerned about diagrams and drawings (I'm not much of an artist).

Any suggestions on how to overcome these issues and make teaching on the board easier? ("Practice" is always a good approach, but I'm looking to reduce my learning curve so that my students won't suffer as much.)

Related: In teaching, what are the advantages of using slides over doing board work?.


texts: What is the fate of an accepted paper in Springer conference but not being presented?

texts: I have sent a paper to a conference whose proceedings are published in Springer and that paper got accepted there. But I am not able to attend the conference. Then what would be its fate? Does that come into digital library? Second, do conference proceedings contain my paper? Third, will this publication count as a valid publication?


texts: Do professors tailor recommendations to universities?

texts:
Preferably from a professor's candid viewpoint. When writing graduate recommendations for an undergraduate, do professors write general recommendations describing why #insert name# is a great fit for graduate school or do they tailor each letter to the school. I know this can vary from professor to professor, but what is a common practice.

I ask because I will be applying to graduate schools (quite a few of them on my list currently) and just wondering how much extra work each school is for my professors.


texts: Over a decade ago, when I was about 11, I fancied myself as budding social scientist and wrote a few "papers" of extremely dubious quality  which I uploaded to SSRN. I kept up the interest in academics, in physics, and recently became aware of their continued existence. I deleted them from SSRN, but it seems ResearchGate had already created pages automatically for them. I can remove the papers from my newly created profile but I can't find a way to delete the pages from accessibility via Google. I have quite a distinctive name, so there's no deniability there. What should I do?


texts: PhD hopping due to professional but non-research issues

texts:
I'm a foreign PhD student and have had extreme difficulties in the last six months due to the university school administration not providing the documentation required to get a residence permit in time to start working on the date agreed to by said administration. This means I had to wait for about four months past the intended start date... meaning that I had also e.g. formally canceled my work and living arrangements by that time, making me homeless and jobless while still trying to sort out a bureaucratic nightmare all by myself.

The university continues to be extremely unhelpful to foreign students (apparently there is no support at all for them despite the university having loads of foreign students.). I'm finally here, but the situation is not getting better. My experiences in combination with the issue being effectively ignored by administration has soured my feelings on staying for the years it takes to get a PhD.

Irrespective of this, I do respect and like the actual people in the department I work in, and I still am interested in my particular area of research (despite feeling like I need to take several months off already despite having done very little actual research); I feel bad about "abandoning ship", but the problem won't get better as I'm not going to suddenly acquire another, better passport.

Is this a valid reason to give other departments when inquiring about working with them, and, if so, how can I formulate this in a way which is positive?


texts: How important is it, exactly, to use a rubric for grading undergraduate lab reports?

texts:
I'm a first year grad student, and I'm TAing for a freshman/sophomore level general science course. The professor who is in charge left it up to me whether I want to use a rubric to grade the students' lab reports, and whether I want to distribute it to them if I do. They already have a "suggested outline" that they can follow to write their reports, but it doesn't assign an actual point scale.

How important is it that I use a rubric, as opposed to simply grading based on my "feel" of how well they demonstrated understanding of the material and whether they turned in work that followed or is equivalent to the suggested outline that they were given? I feel like I can be reasonably fair in assigning grades, but I don't want to be inappropriately arbitrary. Is it very unusual for students to be graded in undergrad science labs without a rubric, whether or not they have access to it?


texts: Can one without a single paper on a topic write a review paper about it?

texts:
I am faculty in a technical field, and I started exploring a new research direction that I could work on in the coming years.
I have not worked yet on this particular topic I am exploring, but after reading a bunch of papers, I have a solid grasp of the state of the art and research opportunities.
Given that I read many papers and made lots of notes, I started writing a review paper summarizing the literature and discussing a research agenda. There hasn't been such a review paper published so far.
However, many journals are very particular about review papers. Their guidelines often state that it should be written by an expert established in the field (presumably one with many papers), and some journals even state that they welcome review papers by invitation only. I have written review papers before, but in this case I do not have a single paper written on this topic yet, so I am not sure how to proceed.
Would it be wise to continue writing the review and submit it somewhere? What strategies can I employ to increase the chances of having it published in a good journal?
As a solution, I can contact a more established person and offer co-authorship, but that does not have my preference as I am halfway writing the paper and I can finish it on my own.


texts: How to be a cultural representative as an academic?

texts:
The fellowship I'm about to apply to requires me to describe how I could be a cultural representative of my country when studying abroad, and how I might serve as a representative of the country I study in when I return back home. I have never thought about that.

At first, I thought about helping other students to reach their dreams or being a connector between two countries as the examples of a cultural representative. However, thinking again, I don't feel it is enough. Yes, doing those will help my country, but any student from any country can also do that. I think being a cultural representative must have these two conditions:

Bringing endemic things from my home (that only some limited places in the world have)
Have an impact to local people

So far, the only satisfactory thing that I can think about is... food. Being a hard working student and not a prodigal are satisfying 2, but cannot satisfy 1 because everybody can do so.


texts: To include part of a published paper in a dissertation?

texts:
Context
It's becoming common in the natural sciences for grad students to include papers they have previously published as part of their dissertation as a "sandwich thesis" or "stapled thesis". Some joke about merely "stapling three papers together with an intro and conclusion" and calling it a dissertation. This allows grad students to focus on doing research rather than writing a monolithic document in addition to any other publications.
My Concerns
This practice -- though I love the intent -- concerns me because I care about copyright issues. If I've published a paper, the publisher has the copyright, so I may not be able to use my own work in a dissertation that gets published.
My Question
Assuming that this practice is approved of by one's dissertation committee and university, how might one go about doing this correctly? What legal requirements might there be?
Although the following list of questions might be best split into multiple questions on this site, my intent is to clarify what kinds of procedures I'm asking about.

Which Creative Commons licenses would permit this?
Would one need to ask permission from the publisher(s) of the paper(s)? (I assume so....)
Does it matter whether or not the manuscript(s) are published under an open-access license?
Does it matter how the dissertation is published?
If this is allowed under any circumstances, how much modification is appropriate? Would the paper(s) need to be reproduced in their published form (i.e. with the publisher's typesetting et al.), or could the author copy-paste the text into their dissertation with new formatting?

I acknowledge that this question is similar to Can I use the work in my journal/conference publications as chapters in my dissertation?. Whereas that question broadly asked whether such a practice was permissible, I'm asking more about how to handle copyright issues — assuming one's committee and institution are okay with it.


texts: Creating a community around my research book

texts:
I have written a research book on the topic of abstract pure mathematics. Now the book is in review with a scientific publisher.

In the book there are some conjectures formulated by myself. There are also some conjectures and problems at my site, which are not in the book.

I want to create a community of mathematicians around my book to solve questions I formulated and related issues.

Any advice to help build the community? Maybe should I ask the publisher to place a prominent URL of my site on the topic of the book on the book cover. (The URL is already present in the text of my book, but it may probably be more prominent if placed on the cover.)

I also think that it may be worth to redesign my Web page on the topic of the book to make it "problem oriented" (to place unsolved problems at the top of my page instead of the bottom as it is now). Well, on the other side serious researchers should anyway read my entire page and all links on it. What do you think?

Any other advice?

And a note: I am not a math professional, I am an amateur. (This means that I earn money in some other way than from my knowledge of mathematics.)


texts: Are there any telltale signs that an academic job interview went well (or badly)?

texts:
I am currently in the agonizing period shortly after an academic job interview at a regional research school and I'm trying to analyze the day to estimate my chances of getting an offer.

Overall the interview seemed to go well. The talk was fine and the one on one interviews and meals seemed to go smoothly. But, I wonder how much of that has to do with my interviewers just being nice people.

Are there any people here with experience - on either side of the interview process - who can provide any feedback about how the interviewers might behave before they do (or don't) ultimately extend the offer?

If it's relevant, I happen to know I was the last of four finalists invited to campus and it's been at least two weeks since another candidate was interviewed.


texts: Is my contribution enough to ask for co-authorship?

texts:
I am an undergraduate research assistant in a physics lab.

At the start of my research term, my supervisor suggested a project to me. The project is to design, test and implement a piece of apparatus in our experimental setup. With the new component I have built, we will be able to take very precise measurements that were not possible with the old setup. The component I am building will effectively open up some new areas of research for the group.

Note that the apparatus I am building isn't new in our field; others have implemented it previously so I can't publish a paper on what I designed and built. I will have to leave the group soon because I attend another institution, my research term is up and I must physically move back to my home institution after that. I will not be able to collect any data or help write any paper in the future.

However, since taking this data would not be possible without my component, do I have any claim in co-authorship for (at least one) future paper? Or is an acknowledgement more appropriate for this scenario? I have no idea as to what level of contribution merits co-authorship on a paper. I think this is a good learning experience.

If I do have some claim, should I approach my supervisor about this?


texts:
I got two conditional offers for postgradute courses from two universities. The English requirements are a bit lower for one university (IELTS 6 with 5.5 in each section) than for the other (IELTS 6.5 with 6 in each section).

Since I will know my IELTS results next month at the earliest, I do not know which offer I should accept because I have to decide by the end of this month.

Is it acceptable to accept both offers? I am fine with paying the deposit or other fees even if they are unrefundable.


texts: How does one effectively assign mathematics homework when all answers to all questions are available online?

texts:
In my department, we typically adopt textbooks that are very refined, sometimes in their 7th or 8th edition. Because these books have been around for so long, all of the homework problems have been worked out in full detail, and are easily found online. So it seems pointless to assign and grade homework since student can so easily copy the answers instead of working them out themselves. But if we do that, it seems like we're then eliminating a very important learning activity.

Many of my colleagues address this by not giving very many (if any) points for homework in the final grade. They sometimes give quizzes (which takes a lot of class time) to check whether the homework was absorbed. One feature of homework is that it is done outside of class, so that the class period can be used to discuss new material. I'm concerned that taking class time to force the issue of actually "doing" the homework will detract from the other aspects of the course.

I still think that mathematics is not a spectator sport, and most of the learning occurs when the students struggle with a good set of exercises and eventually find the answers on their own. This is especially true in courses that require proofs.
I've explained to my students that if they short-cut this self-discovery process, then they're limiting their learning opportunities. Still, many students copy answers.

So, in this age where all information is so easily accessible, how should we respond with how we assign homework so that students will produce their own ideas rather than copying the work of others? How do we re-enforce the idea that learning mathematics is learning how to find answers rather than just getting a copy of the answers?


texts: Citing abstracts to cancelled conferences

texts:
Recently, many conferences have been cancelled, but in some cases (e.g. 50th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference) the abstracts accepted for the conference are avilable online, despite none of them having been presented. The abstracts contain useful information and I would like to cite some of them.

Are there any conventions for how to cite in this case? Do I need to make it clear that the citation only references the abstract? Beyond that, do I need to make it clear that I know that the abstract was never presented?


texts: I think I have discovered an interesting result as an independent researcher in mathematics, can I use this to gain admission to a PhD program?

texts:
I am an independent math researcher and I think I have discovered an interesting result in a particular field (in math). I would like to present my result in front of a committee of PhD admission.

My question:  Is there a possibility that i can prove my research skills and the result in such a way that some committee will decide to integrate me into its doctoral (or graduate ) program ?

N.B. Do I need to publish the result (Do you think that all maths journals and referees can be absolutely trusted?) in order that it will appear credible, or at least to capture the attention of the members or any one who can recommend me to a PhD or graduate school?


texts: Not waiving the right to see letter of recommendation

texts:
I would like to know is it bad and unethical if I do not waive my right to see the letter of recommendation written by the professors?

Should I talk to the professor before to see whether they are OK with that?


texts: Why are there so few visiting (research) associate professor position postings?

texts:
The field is mathematics (including applied and computational mathematics).
While there are plenty of visiting assistant professor position on sites like MathJobs.org, I rarely see visiting associate professor positions, especially in USA. Is it because departments do not advertise these positions? Or that they just don't have such positions? In either case, how would one look for such a position?


texts: Journals that require IRB approval as a matter of policy

texts:
In a number of questions raised here, it has been implied / asserted that research involving human subjects which has not received IRB approval cannot be published. In my own area of research (which is not experimental), I know of no evidence for such a restriction by journal policy. I am therefore curious about the mechanics and nature of such restrictions. Are there journals with explicit policies of this type? I would especially be interested to know of examples in areas outside of the social sciences and medicine. I do, however, want to restrict the question to reputable journals (leaving it up to the experts to make the distinction).

There are a number of underlying questions that motivate this question, so I'm looking for the tools to answer them myself. For instance, in two highly-regarded experimental journals in my field, there is no public statement about requiring IRB approval, so I wonder where the enforcement comes in, and whether authors (especially independent researchers) are given fair notice prior to submission. Right now, I just want to know where there are (non-biomedical) journals that positively do have such a policy.


texts: In which countries must college professors be cleared to work with minors?

texts:
I knew some college students in the U.S. who were <18 years old.

In which countries must college professors be cleared (background-checked, certified, fingerprinted, etc., like U.S. K-12 teachers) to work with minors?


texts: Can [edit: or should] a scientist's h-index decrease in the case highly cited publications are retracted?

texts:
I am at the moment preparing a workshop unit dealing with 'digital publication'. While writing down my script I noticed that I usually tell the participants that a scientist's h-index cannot decrease. Now I am wondering what happens in the hypothetical case that highly cited papers are retracted due to scientific misconduct or something similar. So my question is: Does or can a scientist's h-index decrease in the case highly cited publications are retracted?

Just to clarify my motivation to pose this question a little bit. The class/workshop I am conductiong deals with information literacy in the sciences. My participants haven't usually dealt with research(er) evaluation and the like. They may have heard about the existence of the JIF or the h-index but that is where things normally end. So in my presentation I explain how these indices are calculated and that they are often used to evaluate scientific effort. I also address the issues and shortcomings of this latter use.

I just checked some of retraction watch's most highly cited retracted papers and noticed that they are still listed in Web of Science and also being cited to this day. I see that this fact defeats my question as retractions are still being counted, at least in this data source. So maybe I should have posed it more philosophically like "As the h-index is used in researcher evaluation, shouldn't it decrease if highly cited papers are retracted?" ...

Thanks to everyone answering and commenting!


texts: What should I do if I want to work in computer science but my advisor actively despises the field?

texts:
I am a PhD student in computer science.  My advisor is a Professor in another department and complains that computer science has a poor culture, where people publish lots of rubbish papers instead of a few good ones.  My advisor prefers to publish in journal papers rather than conferences, and when my papers have been accepted to (good) conferences  didn't want to come to the conferences with me.  My advisor has published in computer science conferences in the past but now he seems to have little interest in CS or the CS community.

I am worried that I will not be able to have a career in computer science under these circumstances.  What should I do?


texts: Is it worth it to continue thinking about academia?

texts:
I will try to make this short.

My Ph.D. was in life sciences. I was a part of an "International Ph.D program in life sciences" in Germany. The Ph.D was a nightmare of its own. I had to start the project from zero, there was a strict time limit of 3.5 years to finish. The worst part, after some time I realized that the PI either did not write recommendation letters or wrote bad recommendations for his own people (both Ph.D students and postdocs). At the end, I got my Ph.D, but without publications and, obviously, without recommendations.

I managed to find a "postdoc" position in "no-name" university in Canada, however, it was not a normal "postdoc" as one might expect. At that time, the lab was a mess: high turnover, overworked and demotivated people. Few people had to put extra effort and time to keep that place together. The remuneration was extremely poor. Moreover, foreigners were paid less than Canadians for the same position and, essentially, same job. I barely lasted for 3 years and had to quit and walk away from all results, because my mental and physical health started to collapse. I authored one "book-chapter" as the first author. My name is on some 7 or 8 papers but in the middle, as 5th or 6th author. So these are obviously useless. I cannot expect any recommendation from that place either.

I tried to get another job in a university environment or in bio/tech. I managed to land a half-decent job as a project manager in another small university in Canada. Conditions are much better than before, but my salary is paid by "grant funding" and it is one-year contracts that have to be renewed.

I am in my mid-30. Sometimes I feel that I cannot do this anymore. I cannot make any long-term plans and always feel insecure. I simply tired of this life. I need at least a semblance of stability in my life.
Lately, I looked at some ads for university jobs in Middle East and in Asia. I would take a lower pay, only to have some job stability.
My problem is that everywhere one needs (a) papers and (b) 3 or 4 recommendation letters. I do not see a way to circumvent these requirements.
My problem is that my Ph.D + "postdoc" took good 7 years of my life and it is very difficult for me to accept that all this experience (and suffering) is completely useless.
I understand that I should stop looking at anything academic, but it is very difficult to let go. Any career advice will be appreciated!
P.S. To be clear, I am not trying to complain, I have been desperately seeking any legitimate career advice/mentorship for a very long time. The problem there is none for "life scientists", neither here nor on Reddit! Even in my current position, which technically calls for solid experience in molecular biology, I utilize ~1% of my knowledge/experience in molecular biology. The moment I move out of "life science" arena, I am basically on par with a fresh "college graduate" with regard to skills/experience.
On the other hand, I have been hanging on 1-year contracts last 8 years of my life. I cannot do this forever. Basically, I need to re-invent myself somehow, but I do not know how to do this job-wise, finance-wise etc.


texts: One of the multiple submitted paper is published and others are withdrawn

texts:
I have written one paper on mathematics and submitted it to 5 journals concurrently. Four of them accepted the paper and one asked to send the paper in their required format.

The paper contains one theorem and two applications. There was two argument gaps in the proof of the theorem. Only one journal caught that.

I have communicated with that journal and updated the paper throughout as below:

Changed the proof of the theorem entirely ,i.e. an alternative proof is provided, there is no similarity between the two proofs of the theorem.
Remove one of the applications and add a new application of that theorem.
Changed the way of applying of the theorem for the other application i.e firstly there was case distinction for the application, but later I removed the case distinction.

this paper is published in that journal and I have transferred the copyright agreement form to them and withdrawn the paper from other journals stating personal reasons. I am an amateur mathematician and I'm not pursuing any Phd degree.

Now my question is that what are the impacts may fall on the published paper in that journal as I have withdrawn all other manuscripts and they don't have the copy right agreement also, so is there any chances to claim the published article by them or they can force the editor of the journal which published the paper to retract the paper ?


texts: What are the chances of getting into a great CS PhD program with research in a different field?

texts:
I am a CS and Mathematics double major going into my senior year at a very small liberal arts college.  I aspire to get into a high ranking AI PhD program.  The issue is that, due to the size of my school, I had no research opportunities in CS at my current institution.  I was accepted into an REU at a very good college for the summer of 2020, but due to the pandemic it was cancelled.
I have been able to work on several mathematics research projects with a professor at my school, and one is published in an undergraduate journal.  I have also been working on chemistry research with another professor, which may get published but it may not be before program decisions are out.  I know that students from math background often do PhDs in AI, but I worry that since I specifically am a CS student, it will be expected that I have CS research.
I am in all other ways a good student, I just worry that my research will not be enough.


texts: in which language should I write my first draft a paper?

texts:
This might sound like a silly question, but I am not a native speaker of English, so I find it sometimes difficult to write my first draft in that language. What I usually do is write my first draft in Italian, my mother tongue, and then translate it into English. Once I went to a short course on writing in English, where the lecturer advised us that it is better to write the first draft in English, even though it can be very difficult for some people.

What would be your advice in this case? Should I still stick with writing my first draft in my mother tongue and then translate it into English? I feel more productive in that way, but any advice would be helpful.


texts: Asking Professor for Letter of Recommendation before finishing class

texts: I'm currently in a class with a professor that I'm confident has a good and positive impression of me. He also often singles me out as the student who "always does well". I'm applying to masters programs for the fall and want to get my applications in early. Is it okay to ask for a letter of recommendation mid-semester?


texts: Can a roundtable chair not liking my research influence my chances of having a submission accepted?

texts:
I believe that a roundtable chair at an upcoming conference does not like my research. I would like to submit an abstract in response to the call for papers.

Does the roundtable chair play a part in the selection process, or is it solely the task of the conference committee?


texts: Finding Mistake After a Conference Proceedings

texts:
Do conferences such as IEEE allow authors to change/update a published conference paper due to some minor issues and mistakes such as equation caption errors or footnote mistakes that do not alter or affect the actual paper's data and information?

If yes, what would be the procedure?

Regards.


texts: Why do we call a research paper, a "paper"?

texts:
I am curious to know why we call a research paper, a "paper" in the singular form...?

People put a huge effort in writing this "paper" ... when you talk to an outsider (non-academic) about a "paper" they think its just a single paper. It is very funny.


texts: Is it usual to use endowed chairs to support deans' administrative duties, rather than faculty's academic work?

texts:
Our law school has (soon to be had) an endowed professorship that was awarded (on a 5-year rotating basis) to a faculty member with an outstanding record of research and scholarship, consistent with the traditional role of endowed professorships and chairs. The money in the endowed fund has grown sufficiently to transform it from a "professorship" into the law school's very first endowed "chair." At the very same meeting that the faculty was informed of this positive development, we were also informed by the University's chief development officer that this new and first chair would be awarded to the dean, not to increase his salary but to augment his administrative line of funds for travel, fundraising, etc.--a move consistent with our university's persistent shift of more and more resources away from faculty and to administration. The endowed professorship--awarded to a faculty member--will expire as soon as the current holder's remaining term ends in two years.

The CDO maintained that it was usual to award the first chair to deans and not to faculty members, a statement that members of the faculty found to be ludicrous.

Is it usual anywhere else for chairs to be used more often for administrative support of the dean rather than to recognize, encourage, and support faculty academic research and scholarship?


texts: If someone turns down a university fellowship does it open up a spot for the waitlisted candidates in the same department?

texts:
Recently I learned someone who received a university fellowship (with no TA duties) turned down the fellowship and position at a department I applied to for a doctorate. I was placed on a waitlist for admission to the program.
I'm wondering whether this creates a vacant spot (in the same department) or the funding goes somewhere entirely different, given it's funding provided by the university and not the department.


texts: Why do many recent open access “mega-journals” only cover biological sciences?

texts:
In recent years, there has been a number of quality peer-reviewed open access journals launched. Some of them are what I would call “mega-journals”, such as PLOS|One and the newly-launched PeerJ. However, most of those mega-journals which boast broad scope focus in fact only on medicine, biology and health sciences (e.g., PeerJ’s Aims and Scope). Why is that so?

Are there other such open access journals with high-quality, focussing on other topics (Physical Sciences, the Mathematical Sciences, the Social Sciences, or the Humanities)? If not, what is the specificity of biology and related sciences?


texts: Are there any tools to automatically search and download literature in a given .bib file?

texts: I'd like to download automatically tons of papers listed on .bib file so I'm trying to find a way to facilitate the process by, e.g. I import or input to a tool a certain .bib file which contains a list of literature, the output is the literature's .pdf file. Any idea to do so?


texts: Do university accept a Mechatronics Engineer undergraduate to do Masters in computer science?

texts: I finished my undergraduate studies in Mechatronics Engineering and have a low CGPA. The main reason is that I'd been developing web application and doing small projects (creating robots). I have interested in doing Masters in computer science, because it would help me to get better understanding and I have a huge interest in artificial intelligence systems. Do Universities in USA accept undergraduates, who don't have CS and have less CGPA? Please share your ideas. It will, really, help me a lot.


texts: Should a graduate student set up a research program flexible to a change in adviser? If so, how?

texts:
In the next few weeks I will embark on a multi-year research program to partially fulfill the requirements of a master's degree and possibly a PhD. I have an adviser whom I'm excited about working with, a low-risk source of industry funding, a specific and impactful topic, and lots of industry experts willing to assist me.

Based on my initial meetings with my adviser, it looks like the approach to my topic will be intricately connected to his areas of expertise (at least at the outset), which is reasonable and seems normal. Again, I'm excited to be working with him on this topic and more than happy to pursue his approach; I currently don't see any reason why we wouldn't work well together long term.

However, I come from industry, where bosses, colleagues, leads, and mentors move around continually. Often, there is only one chance—right about now—in the life cycle of a project to set it up for success in such an environment without a lot of rework.

But perhaps that industry experience won't be as relevant in this case. Tenured faculty tend to move around much less than corporate employees and enjoy more latitude in what they can choose to work on within their current position (I think—maybe there is data on this?). Nevertheless, it nags in the back of my mind that my adviser could at any point unilaterally chose to go somewhere or do something else. So, to the question, should I be concerned about setting up my research program for a possible adviser change even if I have no reason to believe that there will be one? If so, what are some ways I can do that?

Note: "Come from industry" isn't exactly accurate: I'll be maintaining my day job while working on academics consistently but part time. It is highly unlikely that I would uproot my career to move to another institution along with an adviser.


texts: With a background in mathematical finance and desire to apply for a mathematics PhD in another field, do I need a second master's?

texts:
Pardon the dumb question if ever. I notice similar questions all sound like "can I get a second master's?" but mine is "do I need?"

I am nearly finished with my master in mathematical finance. I have finished my thesis and have one course left to take.

Edit: I am about to graduate from a third world university and am planning to apply for a PhD in a first world university.

I am interested in taking up a PhD in a different branch of mathematics called stochastic analysis (stochastic calculus. or whatever it's called.) but am wondering if my background is insufficient. If so, I may take up a second master's.

Given my limited background in stochastic analysis and other information (below), can I already apply for a PhD with stochastic analysis for my dissertation topic, or might I need a second master's first?

Some information:

I am not particularly interested in mathematical finance anymore unless it is in a rigorous context rather than with computers, modeling, statistics, non-mathematical finance, simulations, etc. As of right now, I no longer have any plans to go into industry.
My background in Stochastic Analysis is 2 courses on Stochastic Calculus, 1 prerequisite course for Stochastic Calculus (probability) and 2 halves of classes which apply the stochastic calculus.
I don't know about the basics of one kind of stochastic calculus as we were taught mainly the other kind.
My thesis is about credit risk, having mainly to do with statistics, the part of mathematical finance I don't want to go in to, if I were still interested in mathematical finance. Hence, I feel have no background in mathematical research given that the research conducted was mainly to do with statistics and finance.
I have read a sample PhD proposal and have no clue what to put for methodology. I am not quite sure what kind of research methods pure mathematicians have.
Furthermore, while I technically passed the thesis, I scored the lowest passing mark. Meanwhile, I did score well in all the classes relevant to stochastic analysis.


texts: Is it OK to name discrete research areas as your research interests in the statement of purpose?

texts: I am planning to apply to a Chemistry graduate program and I am interested in both drug delivery and computational chemistry fields, which are not quite related to each other. I have backgrounds in both of those fields. If I state both of them in my statement of purpose would it have a positive or negative effect? Would the admission committee see me as a versatile researcher, or would it see me as someone who doesn't know what he wants to do?


texts: Suggesting Reviewers: How to find institutional affiliations

texts:
Many journals recommend that authors suggest potential reviewers. They also often require the institutional affiliation to be listed. However, many researchers who have published in relevant, high-level journals do not necessarily have this information public and some are not affiliated with an institution at all.

How should I proceed in these situations?


texts: Podcasts like Manager Tools/Career Tools, but for academics: Do they exist?

texts:
The Manager Tools and Career Tools series of podcasts are industry-oriented, but I find great value in them as I retool for an academic career. I was never a manager in my industry career, but the communication skills and practical understanding of organizations imparted are gold.

For example, my adviser does regular 1:1s with his students and places a big emphasis on giving and receiving feedback, both MT fundamentals. Some other concepts apply less directly--for example, delegation of tasks as project leader where no one is my actual "direct report". Academic politics differ from industry politics, but fundamental principles (relationship power!) carry over.

It makes me wonder if there's some podcast series or (only slightly less desirable) Web site to help academics improve communications and ability to navigate organizational politics. I'll see what I find with obvious Google searches but I wonder if anyone out there has some favorites to recommend.


texts: How to avoid plagiarism when working on an idea not developed from a student who quit the PhD program?

texts:
I am doing a PhD in economics. I had an idea on an issue of my interest. With making some research, I found out that there was a previous student at my university, who did not finish his PhD, but he made an unpublished paper on the idea that I had, which has been presented at a conference, and it is not a working paper which is registered to any database.

Probably I will do something different, but build my stuff purely on this idea, but do I risk to make something just slightly different from his stuff? In this case, is it plagiarism and also unethical? How should I handle this case?


texts: How much comparing to another paper is too much?

texts:
As a new researcher, I am in the following situation in mathematics research:

I read paper X, a short paper published in a low-mid tier journal, and found a way to improve and extend the result. The technique I used to extend the result is a different approach to the problem, but not that mathematically technical. However, even though the mathematical extensions are (arguably) trivial, the extensions open the door to a much broader approach to my field. They also open the door up for interesting simple examples that were previously unable to be produced.

I am currently writing up my findings of the original extension in a paper. In this paper, I correctly reference paper X when necessary. From an ethical point of view, it is crystal clear what I did and didn't do.

1) Is it bad to compare to one single paper often in a paper?
2) What is a good way to tell whether a result is incremental or not?
3) Some of the arguments in paper X need slight modifications under my extension. Is it okay to repeat some of their ideas in my proofs (with clear citation/credit of course)?

Another problem arising from 2): I have another, much more interesting result because of this extension that I have not published. However, this result moves in a different mathematical direction and therefore, I sort of want to write a separate paper on it. I am faced with the following dilemma. I could reasonably do one of the following:

I) Write a longer paper and work to bring the ideas together.
Pros: My separation from paper X is much more obvious and seen as less incremental.
Cons: I mix two different ideas and risk the paper telling too many stories.

II) Vaguely hint at the second result in the first paper. If I do this, the problem is that if my hint is too vague, it will make my first result seem uninteresting. If it is too specific, I risk showing someone else my idea and having them "beat me to the punch."
Pros: Sticks to one story, but provides additional motivation.
Cons: May make the first result seem too weak.

I apologize if this post is nonspecific, but I imagine others have faced this problem in their relative fields. How did you resolve this dilemma? I realize I have to figure out the answers myself, but how did you figure out the answers to these questions when you were facing this dilemma yourself?

Thank you.


texts: Going into academia if the research is interdisciplinary

texts:
If one is doing a PhD in an area that is on the borderline of a few areas (see the specifics below), would it be harder for them to find a job in academia after graduating?

To be more specific, the fields of linguistics (formal semantics), math (natural logic), and philosophy of language are closely connected. There is even a Dutch term which stands for the joint study of the three (which I cannot remember). Assume that one's PhD dissertation would be in that area(s), and the PhD itself would be a "dual" (double major) PhD in math and linguistics.

On the one hand, such a background suggests that more academic positions may be available (in applied math departments, or in linguistics departments, or in philosophy departments). On the other hand, being between the fields may be a disadvantage because the person doesn't actually belong to one specific field.

And a related question: what should that person do to make the process of finding postdoc positions easier?


texts: Etiquette for discussing authorships, expectations, etc. with potential advisors

texts:
Assuming that one has begun a PhD program at a university which allows a student to choose an advisor after his/her first year in the program and the student has narrowed down on a couple of potential advisors, once a student has established contact with his potential advisor,

At what point do you discuss things like authorship, expectations and other such details? First meet, second meet or otherwise?


texts:
I got the outcome of my paper after 2 months from IEEE Transaction. The editor said its out of  scope and suggested to submit in a sister journal and he cc the outcome to the editor of that journal.
There were 5 reviewers, 2 said minor revision, 1 said i dont have any question. 1 reviewer asked one question. And 1 reviewer said the idea is not very novel and gave same major comments.
However, associate editor summerized that the quality of work is recognized by the reviewers but encouraged to submit in the sister journal.
Here, i want to know that what could be the reason of having 5 reviewers when there are usually 2-3 reviewers and i also reviewers of this IEEE TRANSACTION?
Secondly, do i need to talk to editor that it could be major revision but how they decided out of scope with reviews?
Lastly, does out of scope means rejection and editor encouraged me to submit to sister journal of that transaction does it means it will go through complete review process of that journal?


texts: Contribution vs. novelty in the papers, especially in computer science?

texts:
I'm a little confused about the two concepts of contributions and novelty especially when I want to clarify them in my papers (CS scope).
For example, as a common practice, people talk about their contributions at the end of the introduction chapter. So, is this the place that I have to emphasize all the novel parts of my algorithm/approach? Or should I talk about how better is the performance of my approach comparing to others?

If I do not have to mention the detail novelty of my method in the contribution section, then where should I clearly emphasize them to make sure the reviewer get them without too much effort?


texts: What questions should I ask to find out originality of students’ work?

texts:
As a TA, I should review undergraduate students’ works, containing reports and computer codes in order to find out whether plagiarism or cheating occurred or not. I tried to use online and offline plagiarism tools without success. Finally, I decided to ask them a couple of questions about their works.

I was wondering if anyone suggests a couple of questions which can help me to find out whether they did their project by themselves or borrowed from a “friend”. In addition, I would like to weight their knowledge. How can I do that?

UPDATE: The course is "computer programming".


texts: Changing major after BS and MS in CS and double major in Physics for PhD in Mathematics

texts:
Before telling about my background, I'd like to say that I did look at several similar questions, but neither involved my case (at least, not as far as I could see).

Now the background: I majored in Computer Engineering. I have expected more of Computer Science, but it was mostly business-oriented coding education (maybe I am being a little too harsh on this). So in my second year, I applied for a double major in Physics, thinking it might be more satisfying. In fact, I did enjoy Physics more than CS (or, CE in my case), and found it much more challenging and meaningful.

However, I ended up finishing my main major (CE), before Physics, so I applied for MS in CE in the same university, feeling the workload might be too little otherwise. I got accepted, and am currently enrolled in this program while taking 2-3 courses left from undergraduate Physics program. (My subject in MS is Computer Vision.)

But one thing I noticed over these years is that, for Physics I do not feel like I have the right mindset (seems that I lack a practical approach to things), and CE feels a little meaningless. Considering that I focused on Mathematical Physics, and more of the mathematical stuff in CS, I thought maybe Mathematics is the right place for me. But I cannot yet tell if I genuinely want Maths, or just whining about what I have at my hands.

So I have two questions, actually:

What are my chances if I apply for PhD in Number Theory?
Do you recommend changing the field? Can you share other people's experiences in similar cases?

For the application part, I must add that I do not have an outstanding transcript in neither of my majors (around 3.4 GPA in both fields -Physics might be around 3.5 too), although I did get a paper published which was about relativistic quantum mechanics.

Edit: This question is different from what is suggested as duplicate as this particularly involves the case of a double major background. Specifically, whether the case of double major suggests the admission committee a versatility in working different fields or not. So I do not think this should be regarded as a duplicate question.

Edit2: Experience in proofs
I have taken Discrete Mathematics and Formal Languages and Abstract Machines, in which we mostly used induction to prove things. Apart from that, in the mathematical methods courses we have gone through the proofs of Stokes' theorem, divergence theorem, etc. Although I mostly can understand a proof reading through it, and working out some things that seem off, I would not say that I am good at mathematical proofs, nor that I am much experienced with them.


texts: What's the name of Wikipedia's default referencing style?

texts: What's the name of the Default Referencing Style that Wikipedia Uses? Specifically, I'm looking for the name of the style that is used when you use the referencing styles use by default when you click one of these four options:


texts: How many manuscripts should I agree to handle as an associate editor?

texts:
I've been asked by a peer-reviewed journal whether I'd be willing to act as an associate editor for them. The question How to act as an editor? has some useful hints as to the tasks associated with that. But I am still wondering how much time these tasks would typically take.

The form where I accept to be an editor allows me to indicate how many papers per month I'd be willing to handle, and I am not sure what number to give there. My questions is how much time I should expect to take for each paper in the first or second year as editor?


texts: Two different abbreviations of your name in literature

texts:
I have been publishing in the past with a certain abbreviation of my name which I am unsatisfied due to draconian rules in my previous institution which wrote my name in the following way: X. Y. Z. lastname2.

Being my name composed of the following nouns: firstname1 firstname2 lastname1 lastname2.

For new publications I wish to change it to another format such as X. Y. lastname1 lastname2.

I wonder about the impact it might have in my academic profile, this is, whether articles databases would fail to index correctly both of the publications to the same person.

I also wonder what other complications this change of my name abbreviations might carry.


texts: How to run two Postdoctoral fellowships at the same time?

texts:
I have recently applied for two different Postdoctoral fellowships in the same host group and I got both of them. My host is very happy and suggests me to run both of them at the same time. However, there are some administration details that are not clear to me at all. For example, will the fellowship foundation be happy to known that I will be running another fellowship at the same time?

My current plan is to ask one of the foundation (I) to fund a technician and I could still ask the foundation II to support my own salary. In this case, I think I will definitely need to negotiate with foundation I because the change of personnel. Question is that how should I inform foundation II? In fact nothing is changed here, I feel like I am looking for troubles if I simply inform them (foundation II) that I got another funding to support a technician.

Your ideas/experiences about how to handle this situation will be greatly appreciated.


texts: Confirming the Identity of a (Friendly) Reviewer After the Reviews

texts:
Somewhat a follow-up to this post.

I recently had a paper reviewed, and in receiving one of the reviews, I feel strongly that I know the identity of one of the reviewers (someone with whom I'm on generally friendly terms, but not enough to be a COI). Unfortunately, the paper didn't quite make it in, so we're looking to make the requisite changes and resubmit elsewhere.

Out of sheer curiosity, I'd like to reach out to this individual to ask if they were a reviewer for this paper. However, I believe this may be inappropriate, and have thus avoided doing so. Is it ever appropriate to ask such a question, and if so, when? I suspect doing so before the paper is accepted elsewhere is likely a faux pas for many reasons, including selfish ones (e.g., getting this reviewer again after making the suggested changes would likely be quite beneficial).

While not strictly relevant to the question, it's worth noting that this reviewer gave an extremely helpful and thorough review, though they ultimately gave a weak reject. In my reaching out to this reviewer, it would be solely to ask whether or not they reviewed the paper, and not discuss the review whatsoever (regardless of how they responded).


texts: Does social media and mainstream presence, through interviews and publishing in the "trade press", help one's chances at tenure?

texts:
One of our lab directors, on tenure track, has been active in the mainstream, e.g. doing science interviews on radio, tv, newpapers, and another researcher (post-doc, I think) has published in the "trade press" rather than in an academic journal.

Does promoting your work in the mainstream help one's career in academia?  Will a tenure / promotion committee look favorably at one's popularity in the mainstream?

I'm asking particularly about large research universities in the United States.


texts: Back in the early 90s I got a Secondary Education degree with double-majors in English and Mathematics. I went on to get an MFA in Poetry from a well-respected department. But I never got a book together as I found that I enjoyed teaching almost more than I enjoyed writing. But after a two-year instructor position wrapped up, I was unable to find a full time English position; since I feared trying to live on a part-time instructor salary, I had to look outside academia for something else and I've would up selling cars for the last seventeen years. But I was laid off very recently and now I think I want to get back into teaching. English positions are few and far between, but I notice all kinds of advertised Mathematics positions. Is it crazy to think about a PhD in Mathematics Education at age 46? I don't even know who I would have write letters of rec for me... Everyone who knew me as an undergrad or even as a grad student--well, that was 20+ years ago. So where do I start? Is this possible or pipe dream? Any thoughts would help...


texts: When citing an arXiv paper, what year should one write?

texts:
A paper on arXiv can have multiple versions. It is rather frequent (at least in math) that the first version and the latest version are even from different years. When citing such a paper, is it better to put in the year in which the paper was first published on arXiv, or the year of the latest version (and probably explicitly saying which version is cited then)?

Assume that neither the journal nor the publisher have any written guidelines about this particular scenario; for example, when one is themselves putting a paper on the arXiv.


texts: What is the cost of an endowed chair in a medical school?

texts: What would be a typical cost for a donor to start up an endowed chair for a professor (an MD) in a medical school?  Are there ongoing costs?


texts: Would graduate school be worth it for Computer Science?

texts: I am in my junior year of college and I am considering applying for my schools Jump program. This would allow me to have 12/30 hours done towards a Masters in CS, meaning I would need one year of graduate school. Would it be a wise investment to go to school for one extra year to have my Masters or should I just look for a job upon graduation? This program also guarantees a G.A. position, meaning I won't incur any extra debt. However, I do realize that this would mean that I would lose a years salary. I am not sure what to do, and how degrees affect careers in programming. I have also considered getting my PhD to teach CS at a college. If I go this route, would a masters help or should I directly apply to a PhD program? Sorry this is long winded, I am just very much in the dark when it comes to what is helpful for a career in CS. Thanks!


texts: Is it plagiarism to use other paper's section and subsection titles without modification?

texts:
For example, I saw a paper having following a section title and its subsection titles. The titles are appropriate for my study, so I want to write them without modificaition. But I am not sure whether it is plagiarism.

Empirical study

Objects of analysis
Variables and measures

Independent variables
Dependent variables

Study operation
Threats to validity
Results and analysis


texts: Data sets of questions asked in conferences

texts:
I am looking for data sets of questions asked in academic conferences. Ideally, it should contain a timestamped transcript as well as some reference to the talk (e.g. the paper it was presenting), but a simple list of questions would be already of interest to me.

I am mostly interested in the field of computer science (natural language processing and machine learning), and English-speaking venues.


texts: Is Google Scholar good for cross-disciplinary analysis?

texts:
I hear in a lecture that Google Scholar is better than other databases such as Web of Knowledge and Scopus when it comes to cross-disciplinary analysis of citations. It was argued that Google Scholar has a better coverage of all disciplines (e.g., social sciences) while the classic databases favor science & engineering journals.

However, I tried to find a solid reference justifying this claim, but was unable to find.

I understand that Google Scholar indexes more web-based resources, but is there evidence that this favors less-indexed disciplines or simply Google Scholar indexes more resources for all disciplines (with the same ratio).
If this point is correct, could you please a reference (book or published article) providing an in-depth analysis.


texts: Is it (un)ethical to use your students' research idea without giving them coauthorship (only acknowledgement)?

texts:
A tad similar to this question here but also quite different, so here's the current debacle:

In one of my classes I taught, the final project entails students getting in groups and having to run a mini experiment of their own. One of the groups had a very cool idea that I thought was great and unique but didn't give much thought to. Fast forward about half a year or so to now. I revisited their idea and realized that their idea could, in fact, be a Study 1 that's part of an overall larger series of projects I'm hoping to conduct. Of course, because their study was a class project (meaning that it has no IRB, sample size is extremely small and therefore statistically underpowered, no supervision from faculty or grad students for quality check, etc.), I can't simply slap their results on my paper and give them coauthorships like you might do with other collaborators.

That being said, I'll have to run a replication study of their idea to meet publication standards and rigor. Normally, I would see if the students would want to be research assistants to help me replicate their study and give them coauthorships on any posters, oral presentations, or papers that come out of this. However, I don't think I'll be able to get the study started for a while and all these students are currently 4th years (meaning they will graduate in approximately 6 months).

With that in mind, is it ethical to replicate the study with my own batch of research assistants in the future and give credit to the class students in only the acknowledgement sessions for giving me the idea for one of the studies in the paper?

Or would one have to give authorship to the students? I personally follow a code of publication ethics where authorship is mainly reserved for those who played a role in the actual writing of the paper or collection of primary data but of course am open to hearing out other opinions and changing my code. (Note: my field is Psychology)

Small edit: I see this case as being different from citing published papers or preprints given that the work is still novel and not published. But the students' project is actually on Youtube so it can be regarded as public. Perhaps I'm intuitively sensing that it is different given that they were my direct students.


texts: Can a thesis not answer the research question and still be good?

texts:
I have written a thesis about applying some AI techniques to a simulation that my professor introduced. To make this happen, I had to implement a very large amount of software, because the simulation works in another language, follows different principles etc.

After 6 months of hard work, I did not reach my goal. I was not able to actually implement the AI technique I wished to apply to the problem. I created a lot of reusable components that future developers (and in fact other students as I was told) will want to use. But the actual question and also the title of the thesis (which both had to be fixed ahead of time and cannot be changed once it has been started) don't match the main body of my work.

Can a thesis still be considered good even if the question was not answered because it was not "reached"? If not, why? If yes, why? I can imagine this going either way but I'd like to hear opinions and experiences.

Basically I would require another 1-2 months and maybe someone to work on the problem as a team to get new ideas. I believe I still worked in a scientific manor (I prioritized reusability and usefullness over just reaching the question but without it being easily reusable) and no one ever said science is only good if it never misses a deadline. But I can also imagine an argument that simply states an unanswered research question is a bad work.

My original intention was to apply this AI technique to the common example research problems (like Atari games or locomotion) but my professor insisted I apply it to his field of work (energy market simulation). I had to agree if I wanted him to take my thesis and I didn't know how complex the mapping of his problem to the commonly used tools would be. The argument "a good researcher is also capable of creating a reasonable problem scope" therefore is a little unfair as he sort of forced me to extend it.

Alternative B I write a preface / authors comment at the beginning, stating that the title/research question won't be matched but due to university regulations may not be changed retrospectively.

Alternative C: A fellow researcher recommended me to just change the question and content but ignore the title. I hand in my thesis under the forced title but publish it under a more suitable title. That seems a little "fake" as I don't want to lie about my original goal and me missing the final goal.

Edit: Most suggestions go along the lines of "depends on your professor or institution". While I fear this is probably the only right answer that helps me personally, it doesn't seem right that it depends on the professors attitude or personal opinion. From an abstract perspective, is it OK to rate a scientific work as a bad work if it fails to reach a previously defined target when new information came to light along the way? Probably not. But is it common practice to change the research question at the end to better match / suit the line of argumentation? It seems to me the question should reflect what the researcher asked him/herself when he/she started the inquiry. If the results are not what was expected, that doesn't mean it's bad results.


texts: Is there a lot of duplication in research?

texts:
I am a software engineer.  I've noticed there's a lot of code duplication.

To give some examples: Sometimes I notice that people will define the same "function" (reusable component) in multiple source code files.  Sometimes I notice people embedding a simple "data structure" (another reusable component) in a file.  Sometimes I notice people writing basically the same tool or product.

To state it more precisely: I suspect if we concatentated all source code that's currently being used, we could compress it a lot, with the result still being executable.

I'm wondering if research is the same?  In your life as a researcher, do you find a lot of research to be basically regurgitations of the same concepts?  I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't though.

Edit: After I posted this question I remembered a professor I had in college said: "Every few years they come out with a new genetic algorithm, but it's basically the same thing."


texts: How do admission committees in US grad schools avoid a 'Native Speaker Bias' in evaluating recommendation letters?

texts:
For the first time (I am a relatively junior professor), a student has asked me to write a letter of recommendation for him for graduate school application in the US. I was glad to do so, as he is an excellent student who has performed research with me - we have authored a paper together.

On going through my letter now, it seems a bit ... unnatural. I have used the same adjective on multiple occasions - I only know so many ways to say that a student is 'good' at something. I am also sure that some of my word-choices will be noted as peculiar to the native speaker - most of my English writing experience is in academic contexts. While comparing to random examples that I have found on the internet, my letter seems boring and dull. I am also sure that my letter will have grammar errors of some form or another.

I wanted to know how admissions committees avoid having biases towards letters written by more talented writers, or by native speakers. If you were to put two letters having similar contents in front of me - one written by me and one written by a British or American or any other native  English speaking professor, I would say that theirs is definitely superior, and I would feel more positively to their student.


texts: Do academics and graduate degree holders need to publish articles or books to be respected in their fields?

texts: I've read that academics have to publish their works to get tenure or be prominent in their fields. Indeed, almost all popular scholars were known through their published works. But is it possible for academics and graduate degree holders to be prominent by focusing on the professional and practical aspects of their fields like working for the government or teaching?


texts: Will it be a problem if I take a letter of recommendation from a lecturer in my department?

texts:
I have a pretty well connection with him academically(taught several courses and was one of the teachers of my final year major) and personally. But I am confused if the designation is going to be a problem.

I have requested and managed two from my thesis supervisor and another assistant professor.
I am planning to apply for graduate studies in the USA.


texts: Can I put a tuition fee remission on my CV under scholarships?

texts: My scholarship entails an annual stipend for 3.5 years and a fee remission (its quite significant because the fee is 39,000$ per semester) for 4 years. Should I include the fee remission on my CV as well? If so, should I couple them or state them separately? Citizens receive them as two different scholarships but internationals receive them both under one name. In addition, would you put the total amount or amount/year?


texts: General vs field specific journals in mathematics

texts:
What are the pros and cons of submitting a math paper to a general journal vs a field specific journal?

There are so many general journals today,
and sometimes there reputation is not nessecerily better than a journal devoted to a specific subfield.

Given that, is there any reason to prefer a generalist journal over a field specific one?


texts: Professor takes our money and goes incommunicado, do we complain to the department or the police?

texts:
Several years ago an academic publisher I worked for were setting up a new journal. We approached the prospective editor-in-chief, lined up some plans for the first issues, signed a contract, and paid him the first installment of his honorarium. Then he ceased being contactable. We knew he's still alive & active because he was writing papers, supervising students and attending conferences, but he didn't answer our emails and phone calls.

If we had chosen to pursue the matter then, should we have taken it up with his department/university/research institute, or with the police?

If it matters, the prospective editor-in-chief is from India.


texts: Low math GRE subect test scores, but high scores on Major Field Test: Should I mention this in my letters of intent?

texts:
I'm an senior math major in undergraduate planning on applying to around a dozen school's PhD programs in math. I think the rest of my application (grades, advanced classes, research experience, letters of recommendation, general GRE scores) is fine, but I am concerned somewhat with my subject test scores. Due to financial and time constraints, I was only able to take the test once, and I got a score in the 31st percentile.

Is this something that's worth mentioning in my letters of intent? Specifically, I was thinking of mentioning that when I took the MFT (major field test) in mathematics as part of the capstone course at my university, I scored in the 96th percentile, so it's not that I'm bad at university mathematics, I just had test anxiety concerning the subject test.

Also, for what it's worth, I thought the MFT was similar in content to the math subject test, but not as difficult.

Another option might be just to mention the high MFT scores on my CV that I send in with my applications, leaving out any mention of that in my letters of intent, and just hoping that helps my case with the admissions committees.


texts: Journal refuses to call near verbatim copies plagiarism

texts:
Recently I came across a paper on a topic I'm interested in. I started reading the paper and realized this was a later version of a paper I reviewed roughly 6 months prior. That paper was rejected then due to a large amount of plagiarism that I identified, mostly in the introductory sections.

Despite the plagiarism, I tried to be as helpful as possible to the authors, recommending a different approach than what they used. Turns out that they quite liked parts of my approach as they made many of my recommended changes to their paper. They even liked how I described it, because roughly 3 sentences were copied nearly verbatim from my review. There was no mention of the help of an anonymous reviewer either.

I contacted the journal, who so far has refused to acknowledge that plagiarism occurred. I've received two somewhat contradictory responses (paraphrasing the journal staff):

Plagiarism can only occur if the copying was from a published source. As my review was not published, the alleged copying can not be plagiarism.
The passages I highlight are not similar.

Point 1 is absurd. A student would fail an assignment if they tried that one. Point 2 is also absurd as the sentences I highlighted are near verbatim copies, and there are many ways the same points could be made. I was really surprised when they made that argument.

What are my options at this point? I'd like for the plagiarized passages to be rewritten, but the journal staff refuses to bulge on that.

It's worth noting that this was published in a reputable journal. The paper is outside of the field of the journal in my view, but the reputation of the journal in general is good.


texts: Should I apply to a job where the requested area of specialization is my area of competency?

texts:
There are some job ads in my job search where the school is seeking someone with an area of specialization (AOS) in "Bioethics/Biomedical Ethics or Environmental Ethics", and with an area of competency (AOC) in "Early Modern Philosophy, Non-Western Philosophy, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Race, Feminist Philosophy, Environmental Philosophy, and/or 20th Century Continental".

This almost matches my AOC and AOS, except they are switched.
My AOS is Political Philosophy and Ethics (normative & applied)
and my AOC is 19th & 20th Century Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Race, Environmental Ethics, Biomedical Ethics.

Is it worth my time to apply to jobs like this (I'm sure I will encounter more) where my Area of Specialization is one of their requested Areas of Competencies and/or where the requested Area of Specialization is my Area of Competency?


texts: Independent research post-PhD strategies

texts:
After reading The nightmare of being an independent researcher, Applying for research funding as an independent researcher? and On getting reviews for research work as independent learners and reflecting on many a post PhD academic who, for whatever reason, are not able to get a foot in the door in academia after they complete their work.

I have seen this go both ways - the post-PhD after a while just gives up and gets any job they can, or they go down the path of independent research (usually, as in my case, while working full time).

From experience, this independent research is following on from the PhD topic, still in collaboration with others and at least one established academic, but it is the kind of situation where experiments are performed on the weekends in the backyard, using equipment borrowed or made, and more often than not, all self-funded.  Papers still get published and conferences attended (where possible).

What my question is, what strategies are there to maintain motivation in independent research?

Additionally, how well recognised are independent researchers?


texts: Is it against the rules to see someone's exam answers after the exam?

texts:
We had an exam and got the results 2 weeks later but I got slightly less points than I expected and we could not check the corrections yet. I was a bit impatient and wanted to see where I could have got it wrong, so I asked one of my classmates, who got maximum points, to send me what answers he got so I can compare them. I want to point it out again, it was clearly 2 weeks after the exam, so I did not have any unethical advantage from it. But still, I am a bit afraid that we did something "illegal".
Is this action considered to be academic misconduct, or since it was after the exam, students are allowed to share their answers with each other?


texts: How to review similar academic papers for a literature review?

texts: In writing a literature review, assume you have the paper X and the paper Y. The two are similar in the study and the results. How can I write a review in this case?