texts: Does conference presentation of preliminary findings conflict with publication?

texts:
I am exciting to share our preliminary results. I also want to demonstrate productivity, so I'm wrestling with the idea of presenting findings in presentation and poster format at an upcoming conference. The research is in health care. However, our big journals typically don't publish papers on data that has been published or presented elsewhere. I'm looking for any advice on navigating journal requirements such as:

Resuscitation:

  The paper should deal with original material, neither
  previously published nor being considered for publication elsewhere,
  except in special circumstances agreed with the Editor-in-Chief.

Annals of Emergency Medicine:

  Annals publishes only original work in
  accordance with the ICMJE policy on overlapping publications. If your
  manuscript or data, in whole or part, has been published elsewhere, or
  has been or will be submitted for publication elsewhere, this may
  constitute unacceptable prior and/or duplicate publication. Should
  there be any doubt, please detail the specific circumstances to us in
  your cover letter. Failure to do so could be interpreted as deliberate
  duplicate publication.

What would people think if we published secondary outcomes and answered a different research question than the research manuscript we intend to ultimately publish? Thoughts?


texts:
As scientists, researchers and scholars, how do you feel when you read a scientific document that contains a lot of conjunctive adverbs, like however, in addition, etc?

Does it sound non-scientific to you?

If you did not notice it in other papers, then do you use these adverbs in your scientific documents?


texts: As an undergraduate, how do I become aware of the big names and departments in my areas of interest if that area has no researchers at my university?

texts:
I'm looking into a variety of grad schools, but really the only places I know to look are at top 15 or so schools. Now, I know often times certain research areas within a discipline have top-tier research groups at otherwise average-ranked schools in other areas. Unforunately, I have some areas of interest that I'd like to pursue, but none of the professors in my department are active in those areas, so it's tricky to get specific info about top researchers, top departments, top journals, etc. in those areas. Is there some way I can find this information?

I'm in electrical engineering, if it matters.


texts: Is it normal that my supervisor told me to submit my thesis without any correction from him(he took only one day to look to the thesis)?

texts:
I send my Ph.D. thesis to my supervisor, he replied on me after only one day(my thesis is 130 pages)told me that your thesis is OK and you can submit.He did not do any correction or comments!! does this happen?is it normal? I'm so happy, but also I am surprising
Good thing to mention here that my thesis is edited by a native speaker person before I send.But still, I can't believe what happened?even my thesis is not editted to a be ready for print out


texts: How normal is it to have published as an undergraduate?

texts:
I’m currently in the first semester of MSc of psychology in a university in Germany and we got a lecturer from a university abroad who wanted to know what we had published. To his surprise, none of us had any publications. For us at least, not having any publications when entering the graduate program is normal.

I know of a couple of peers who were able to publish their bachelor’s thesis and one person who had several publications even before he started his masters, but at our university those are the exception, rather than the rule.

How is the situation in other countries and disciplines? Do undergraduates generally have any publications?


texts: Should I ask for an exam deferral due to my fiance's first conference and first time leaving the country?

texts:
My fiance's paper was just accepted for a conference that is held out of country during one of my exams and he would really like me to come with him, as it is his first time presenting at a conference and first time leaving the country. When he asked, I told him that I couldn't go because of my exam during the conference time, but multiple people have told me to ask my professor if I can defer my exam.

Is asking worth a try or will I just annoy my professor?


texts: What are the most important factors evaluated when applying for Phd position?

texts:
I am sure this question has been posted somewhere in SE forums before. If not here is my contribution, otherwise please show me the pointers to similar well-voted questions.

Here is the actual question: In case someone is interested to apply for a Phd degree, what would be the parameters that head of the research group (i.e. professor) will consider when comparing different candidates?

Some of the factors that come to my mind are the following:

Grades,
Reference letters,
Publications,
Closeness of previous studies to the actual research taking place in that research group, Quality of final thesis (Master/Bachelor), Thesis adviser etc.

How would a professor prioritize these factors. I am sure here in the forums we have some experienced members who might have participated in acceptance committees, which can provide useful insights.

Thanks.


texts: Am I receiving "good" higher education for graphic design?

texts:
my name is Asfand and I'm currently in my Junior year at a university in Lahore, Pakistan, studying Graphic Design.
However, I'm not sure if I'm receiving a quality education or not.
All the classes senior to me seem to have a general discontent with the quality of the education, and they all openly admit that university didn't teach them much. We spend 90% of our time just doing assignments (for example, "create a national design policy for your country", "create a piece of design using humour", "create an art piece that represents 'you' [based on surveys that you will design and conduct]")
So we do most of our learning through doing, troubleshooting, and taking online tutorials while in the process of creating our assignments.
There is not as much (if any) basic education as to the etiquettes of design, what makes good design, etc etc (other than some basic knowledge we got in our freshman year). They don't really show us the ropes much or "teach" us, as much as we just learn what we do by making stuff along the way.
My question is, am I asking for too much? Yes we slack off and don't do as much research as we should before delving into our designs/artworks, but should it not be the institutions responsibility to an extent to point you in the right direction and show you the right/wrong, how to actually DO good design, before leaving it up to us to create art? I understand that they may not want to creatively stifle us by putting certain notions into our heads, but at the same time, this feels like very little/no effort is put into it, and we leave with 4 years worth of work experience from assignments, but not a lot of design education


texts:
Are there papers that sum up ideas and results from other papers? What are their characteristics/form? Do they provide insights on the field or try to predict the future?

I have read some papers for a class homework and I would like to know whether I should try to summarize and publish it somewhere.


texts: What is the etiquette for using empty desks in a communal grad student office?

texts: I will soon be visiting a friend who is a graduate student.  She works in a communal office with around 50 other desks (which are mostly occupied by other grad students).  Is it appropriate for me to study at an empty desk?


texts: How to prevent a coauthor from stealing the article?

texts:
Please go through the following incidents to understand the problem.

Mr. A is a Ph.D. student of some institute who was working with Prof. B of another institute on a very interesting mathematical problem since last three years. Recently, they came across a significant solution to it. They wrote a research article to publish in a very good mathematics journal that accepts the online submission.

Prof. B wanted to submit it to the journal by himself. Mr. A agreed.

A few days ago, Mr. A wanted to know about the submission of their article via telephone. Prof. B informed that the article is submitted. But, Mr. A received any confirmation e-mail neither from the journal nor Prof. B forwarded the submission mail to him. Prof. B did not upload it in arXiv, which is a free preprint repository.

Mathematics journals used to take a long duration to review and publish an article. Prof. B told that submitting this article to arXiv will immediately attract community attention. Many researchers will start working in the new direction. As a result, Mr. A and Prof. B may lose their opportunity to work on that problems. Also, the article may be stolen.

Mr. A did not ask Prof. B to forward the submission confirmation mail to him. Prof. might think that Mr. A is suspecting him. It may affect the relationship. Also, Prof. is a very powerful person in the administration, who may prevent an opportunity for Mr. A to gain a job. Again from some of his friends, Mr. A came to know that Prof. had distributed related research problems to his collaborators.

As a consequence, Mr. A is thinking that Prof. has submitted this work in his own name and he has lost his credit as the first author of this article.

Now the question is: How Mr. A may save his credit and his work without hampering his relationship with Prof B?


texts: Does being unemployed after a PhD reflect poorly on my advisor?

texts:
I successfully defended this spring, and made it clear about a year prior that I would not be continuing in academia, with the goal of switching fields and entering the workforce. As part of this, I explicitly said I was not looking for postdocs, and I think I also said I was not willing to do one at all, for a multitude of reasons. It's been just over 3 months since defending, but I have nothing lined up. I've heard that waiting months and months for a first industry position is common, so it doesn't bother me, but I think it's bothering my advisor.

Because a lot of post-graduation roles aren't necessary for my advisor anymore, I'll occasionally receive an email or text message asking me how I'm doing, which includes how my job search is going. These messages have also pointed to potential academic-type positions and the names of postdoc advisors. I thought I was clear, so I wonder where this is coming from. The simple answer is that he is looking out for my best interests, but I'm his first PhD student and he is up for tenure this fall.

Does my unemployment negatively affect his tenure application, or am I over-thinking this?


texts: Where to upload/publish gigabytes of experiment data

texts:
I have conducted experiment that had unexpected result which goes against  consensus in my community and I worry whether it will be accepted by other researchers. For that reason I would like to make all my work public - the resources, the programs, the results.. Is there online service where I can publish the data for free and obtain DOI number that I can reference in my paper?

It makes over 2GB when packed.

I have heard that such services exist for people in biology and medical research but I work on transportation systems which is rather different (we do not produce so much data usually). I plan to submit the paper to journal published by IEEE.


texts: Is the evaluation section of a paper a "contribution," if it only describes the performance of the proposed system with no novel ideas?

texts:
Recently I was reading a paper where the authors include their evaluation as a part of their contribution. In general the paragraph I am referring to was something like this:

  Our contributions are a,b,c,d and e

Where e describes the evaluation.

In evaluation section, is about the performance evaluation of the proposed system. So the are running some simulations and benchmarks to show in which of the cases they perform better than the state of the art tools.

The evaluation (as a process) is not containing something novel, except from some modifications they did to adapt the benchmark / evaluation framework to their needs.

So, is this considered a 'contribution'? Is it 'good' to list the evaluation in the list of contributions?


texts: How is the quality of a paper evaluated for application purposes?

texts:
Suppose a situation when two students trying to apply for a PhD position in pure mathematics and they both have same GPA, same Rec.Letters, etc except for their published papers. Let both applicants have one paper published each, but applicant A has a "much better" research done compared to applicant B.

What makes applicant A's paper "much better"?

If it is the number of people cited his/her paper in their references it is absurd because time is the main factor of growth of its credit.

If it is the reputation of journal the paper is published it is also not a good judgement because the very same journal can contain both proof to FLT and a PhD paper.

I don't think the length of paper matters... I don't think the time that a researcher has spent matters since no one asks that...

This is a question of comparing two research paper which neither contains a solution to a famous unsolved problem; it's about papers that normally publish by students (or even professors).


texts: Pros and Cons of University vs Research only Institute

texts:
I love doing research, only research with no teaching duties.

What are the pros and cons of having a job in a university and in a research only institute?

If you were me, which one would you choose?

Are there more money in universities? Do universities do more cutting edge research if compared to research only institutes?

My countries of interest are the north European ones (within the EU).

Thanks


texts: How to answer “Why is graduate study important at this time in your life?”, when the reasons are very personal?

texts:
I am applying to our organization‘s scholarship program to pay for graduate school (if I get accepted).
One of essay questions is:

Why is graduate study important at this time in your life?

Well, there are lot of personal reasons for that. For instance, I wish to get my mind off a terrible tragedy in my life that happened about a year or two ago, and they say being productive and busy is one of the best ways to get over things.
Question: How much personal things to include in a scholarship essay? Would this add depth to the essay, or simply detract. I mean, the word life is in the question and it includes all sorts of things beyond academics and career.
Update
Thank you all for your feedback.
It also answered other questions that I did not post, so a big thank you to all.


texts: Graduate studies (phD & Masters) after a double degree

texts: I am planning on doing Bachelor of Computer Science - Bachelor of Mathematics at University of Wollongong, Australia. Do you think I will be able to do a phD in Mathematics by studying Mathematics as a double degree?


texts: PhD application with mediocre grades, 2 SCI co-authored pubs., LORs from very well knows profs. in the area?

texts:
I am going to start my master thesis now. During my master I performed not well, my GPA is about 2.9/4 which is really bad for me. I am not excusing but my mother had cancer and she died in september, even though I studied very hard I performed poorly in my exams. I would like to apply a PhD program when I graduate, however I scare like a little rat due to my low GPA. On the other hand, I have two co-authored publications in not excellent but very good journals. Moreover, I have been working two of my professors about 1 year and going to start my master thesis with them which would be really good I think. Furthermore, my university and department is well respected in the Europe.

Actually my main fear is that, in my transcript my low graded courses are in very tangent to my thesis and past projects that I made with those two profs. I believe that in the future, when the evaluator look at my application folder he would be very suprised about my transcript and qualifications, the discrepancy. When I said my grades during this semester to my advisors, they are shocked as I expected. I fear that, that discrepancy would form second thoughts in people's mind.

So my question is, as far as I cannot change my GPA anymore. What should I do more to contribute my application, and show to people actually I know the subject in contrast to my low grades?

This is not a duplicate question, I am asking what should I do. I am not asking the admission process, furthermore I am not in border imo.


texts: How can I tell if I have simplified my talk too much?

texts:
My experience listening to talks (of all kinds - seminars, conference talks, even Masters/PhD defenses) is that they tend to be very difficult to understand. This happens even if they're within my own field or even subfield. Occasionally there are conceptually simple talks (projects that use machine learning are an example) that can be easily grasped, but most of the time the talks are too technical, or are the "blink and you will never understand the rest" kind. I estimate I rarely get more than 30% of what was said, even when I'm in the same field.

I certainly don't feel like I'm the only one who don't understand the talks, since I notice other listeners often get distracted by their laptops & mobile phones.

I personally think this is ridiculous, so when I give talks I try to simplify them to the point where someone with an undergraduate degree can understand it. For example one talk went:

We're dealing with [technical term], which is analogous to [much-less technical term]
This is what we want to measure, why we want to measure it, and what we expect to see
After some very complicated mathematics (I literally used this phrase and skipped the details), this is what we get

I especially liked this talk since my family were able to grasp the gist of the work. However, the danger is that the talk might become too simplified. An actual expert would likely gain more by reading the paper during the talk instead of listening to it. Also, it seems some people think complicated language is the "industry standard".

How can I tell if a talk has been simplified too much?


texts: How to effectively locate older studies and papers?

texts:
Finding studies referenced in books can be nearly impossible.

I was struggling very much to find the original paper by Liebmann (1927) on the, well, Liebmann effect.

Is there a better method to look things up? My usual way is to Google, for example, "Liebmann effect, 1927" or something of the sort.


texts: Is it ethical to extract my contributions from a multidisciplinary collaboration ( & exclude my co-authors work )?)

texts: I worked on a big report with a bunch of people (published online as an agency report). Can I extract my data and analysis from the report, expand on it, exclude what everyone else did, and publish separately in a journal? One of the Co-authors was also the Co-PI and did a lot of editing, plus brought in funds but I feel that co-pI did not contribute substantially to what I will extract for my journal article.


texts: How to deal with blinding when the new paper is a continuation of one's own prior research?

texts:
I wrote a paper (P1) which went through peer review and got published. The paper introduced a new graphical user interface (GUI) primitive.
I then wrote P2, which extends P1, turning it into a new class of UI, which had no analogs at the time of writing (and maybe still doesn't, but the window of opportunity is shrinking).
P2 is not just a thin layer on top of P1, it comes with substantial enhancements that are the result of our "lessons learned from P1" analysis + new ideas.
P2 stands on its own, and it refers to P1 as if it were written by other people, per conference requirements. P2 also provides a short intro about P1, such that someone unfamiliar with P1 can still get the picture. It also provides comparisons to analogs of P1, explaining how our approach differs and arguing that our approach is better.
The set of P1 analogs consists of ~5 papers. One is a preprint, 3 are just providing their designs but not including any usability evaluation details at all, or deferring that to future work. This leaves us with one good alternative, which we were not aware of at the time work on P2 started. However, we did refer to this alternative in our related work section and compared it to our own product (there are some ideological differences in our approaches).
P2 explains that we chose to base our work on P1, because at the time of writing P1 was the only artifact of its kind that has gone through formal usability tests and provides detailed results of their evaluation process. Of course, the fundamental underlying reason is that P2 is the continuation of our previous work on P1.
P2 has been submitted for peer review, and a reviewer rejected it, one of the reasons being "it only considers one paper [referring to P1] containing a very similar design".
What is the right way to explain why P2 is built on top of P1 without compromising anonymity?
p.s. note that the reviewer in question seems to have forgotten about the section where we compare P1 to alternatives. It could be that that section is not convincing enough, not well-written - but in that case the reviewer would have said "it is not convincing enough" rather than "only considers one paper". The review is otherwise thorough, I cannot say that I have the impression the reviewer hasn't read the paper fully.


texts:
I have recently noticed that the tense of paper titles can be somewhat odd. This previous question, In what tense (present/past) should papers be written?, has some great information but it doesn't directly answer for titles.

Some random titles:

Improving source code search with natural language phrasal representations of method signatures
A comparison of stemmers on source code identifiers for software search
Using Formal Models to Objectively Judge Quality of Multi-Threaded Programs in Empirical Studies
Modeling Programmer Navigation: A head-to-head empirical evaluation of predictive models

Most titles (in Computer Science) look to be present progressive. Is there a rule/reason behind this?


texts: Should I reply to Travel Grant Award Notification?

texts:
Do I reply to travel grant chair for notifying me approval of my travel grant award application for a conference? (Thanking him/her.. etc)

What is my appropriate action? Or is it not really expected and I should just follow instructions of submitting listed receipts to the specified person in email?


texts: Short-listed, but no interview invitation after three weeks - should I follow up?

texts: Applied for a faculty position and was notified three weeks ago that the Faculty Search Committee has placed my name on the short-list of applicants to be reviewed by all faculty in the department. I was also notified that if I am still interested in this position, I may be contacted within the next few weeks to be invited for an interview. However, three weeks have passed, I have not got any updated message. References were submitted by my referees at the time I submitted the application. Should I be more patient or just contact them by sending a follow-up email? Not sure what has happened. They lost interest to me or just act too slowly?


texts: Is it OK to only invite one of three co-authors of a previous joint paper to do another joint paper?

texts:
I have co-authored one paper with Professor A, PhD student B and PhD student C. B left the best impression on me as the most friendly, productive and hard-working. Now, I want to do a joint paper again. Same as last time, the subject is not in A's area of expertise (nor B's or C's), though it's highly related, but I am hesitant to work with A as he tends to rush and push to publication before getting the paper to perfect (or very near perfect), and he is usually busy so I doubt that he will spend much time on it anyways. C is OK, but probably can't contribute much to the paper. Besides, I think two authors may suffice and be optimal.

Now, A is B's adviser (maybe C's too) and was my undergraduate mentor. I don't want to induce any hard feelings to A and C if they find out they, but not B, are left out of this joint venture. In the end, I did present my draft to A and gave glimpse of it in a presentation where A, B and C were present. Another reason why I choose to work with B who is a PhD student is (this may sound silly) because I think this will actually help her career, as opposed to working with a professor or working alone, as I don't intend to pursue an academic career and am just doing this for fun. Plus, the second author can act as a serious peer reviewer, so this will benefit my paper as well.

How should I do about this?


texts: How to decide if the efforts put in corresponds to co-authorship or co-first authorship?

texts:
During my PhD, I had 4 first author papers, two co-author papers and one co-first authorship paper. My work is computational, so I have collaborated with experimental groups. My lab colleagues who collaborated with other experimental groups always went for co-first authorship in their papers.
Now, my logic of going for co-authorship or co-first authorship is the following:
If I am doing very straight forward modeling work that won't require developing new models and is based on my previous work, I go for co-authorship. I carry out simulations and write a small methodology and discussion about the results.
However, if my part of the work involves development of new models AND carrying out simulations AND writing up the methodology, discussion of the simulations, I go for co-first authorship.
However, during my postdoc, I have been collaborating with a PhD student. I was involved in development of the important model in the paper. The novelty of the paper lies on the model. The PhD student later incorporated her own PhD work into the model. The development of model took quite some efforts on my part. But I didn't do the final simulations or the interpretation of the results. I just wrote the methodology section related to my model development.
In that case, should I go for co-authorship or co-first authorship? How to decide if my efforts corresponds to the first or latter in this case?


texts: Would you submit your paper that got rejected in a top-tier venue to a lower rank conference?

texts:
My question is simple: If you have a paper that got rejected two or three times (border-line* rejects every time) from top-tier conferences, would you polish it and resubmit it again to similar or another high rank conference or would you try some lower rank venues ?

* Border-line reject: every time got 2 good reviews and 1 bad review.

P.S. Every time the paper got vague suggestions like: compare with this or that. And the first and second time we DID in fact address all concerns, but another concern showed up next time.

P.P.S. I am concerned with CS conferences.

Thank you.


texts: What does notification date mean (CS conference)?

texts:
I have submitted a paper to a CS conference that takes place in the end of May. According to their website, notification date is in the beginning of March.

Does this mean I won't know if my paper has been accepted or rejected till the notification date?
Will I be contacted by reviewers before that date to improve my paper, or will this only occur if my paper has been accepted, after the notification date?
If I am contacted by reviewers before notification date, does this imply my paper has been accepted, or is it possible to go through revisions only to discover my paper has been rejected in the end?


texts: Industry value of Doctoral degree when compared To a PhD in Computer Science

texts:
I'm planning to do a Doctoral program in computer science. However, there are Two degrees:

Doctor of computer science (DCS Doctoral degree)
Doctor of philosophy in (PhD) computer science

I am a working professional and I'm planning to do one of these degrees mainly for career advancement. I'll be continuing in industries and not interested in the teaching profession. It is common to see industries specifying PhD as a mandatory requirement for some jobs; however, I have not seen the same thing for DCS degree.

Therefore, I would like to know which one of them is widely accepted by industries?

Thanks,
Raj


texts: Submitting the same PhD proposal to multiple universities?

texts:
I am currently doing my masters and applying to do my PhD. I have been accepted at my current university, but I am waiting on a decision regarding funding. However, if I am unsuccessful with funding, I will not be able to take up the offer.

I am, therefore, looking at applying to other universities with the aim of increasing my funding chances.

My question is, can I submit the exact same research proposal to multiple universities? Or are there any issues with this? Also, my potential supervisor at my current university helped me a lot with editing my proposal.. obviously I would let her know that I was applying for other universities but does this come across disrespectful? I would also be looking to ask her for a reference. I am unsure how to even ask this, as I am worried it seems like I am taking her helpful advice on my proposal, just using it to apply elsewhere, then asking her for a reference.

My current university would definitely be my first choice, however as I said this is entirely dependent on funding.

Any advice would be massively appreciated!


texts: Minor(?) error introduced during typesetting

texts:
I recently had a paper accepted by a journal which doesn't provide author proofs. Unfortunately, a typographical error was introduced during typesetting, but I had no way to know this until the paper went in print. I'm trying to determine what is the line between a minor typo and an error which requires issuing a correction.

To get into some more specifics, a constant was left out of an equation. Although that sounds really bad on its face, the equation is very standard and everyone in the field already knows the correct form of the equation. I can't realistically conceive of anyone being misled by the error. In fact, I doubt most readers will even notice. But it's technically incorrect as it stands.

This is one of those instances where I feel damned if I do and damned if I don't. Issuing a correction looks bad, but leaving the mistake looks bad as well. I double checked the revised manuscript we submitted and confirmed the error was definitely introduced by the journal staff. What do I do here?


texts: Is it okay to list a PhD student as corresponding author?

texts:
A colleague and I are both PhD students. We have conducted a project together that is unrelated to our respective theses. The project involved a bioinformatics analysis of public datasets, so we are not presenting any new experimental data (i.e., there was no overhead associated with the experiments). However, we have generated some very interesting results that we believe are suitable for publication.

A question that has arisen while preparing the manuscript is who to list as corresponding author. Our supervisors were not involved in the project. I designed the majority of the experiments, but my colleague and I are both concerned that listing myself as corresponding author despite the fact that I am a PhD student would be (a) improper or unethical, (b) likely to draw the ire of the university for listing it as our affiliation, as we do not have faculty appointments, and/or (c) likely to cause reviewers to dismiss the work. What is the appropriate course of action?


texts: What is the advantage of becoming a full professor if you already have tenure as an associate professor?

texts:
What is the advantage of becoming a full professor if you are already an associate professor with tenure? Why not just stay an associate professor for life? What is the key difference between an associate professor and a full professor?

Why continue to write papers if you already have tenure? Can't a tenured associate professor stop writing papers and still have a job?


texts: After getting a PhD at a low-ranked university, would it be harder to get a job at a high-ranked university?

texts:
In more detail, let's say I get a PhD degree at a university which is ranked 51-100, according to QS ranking system. Is it possible for me to get a job at higher ranked university, like 1-50 ?
Let's say without extraordinary publication record, which I believe the answer would be possible..


texts: Copyright for lectures, slides and textbook: university or professor?

texts:
I'll be starting as an adjunct professor soon at a smaller university, and I'm starting to prepare lectures and slides for teaching there.

In the future, I'm also thinking of publishing a textbook based on the lectures and slides I prepare.

I'm trying to find out who owns the copyright to the lectures, slides (and possibly textbook) that I prepare. It doesn't seem clear to me who owns the copyright - is it the university or the professor?

One of my professor friends told me that she prepared the slides for her own course over many years to replace the publisher slides, and she has a copyright on the slides, though of course not on the standard textbook she's using.


texts: Do I have to cite sources for my opinion when it was formed by reading other people's opinions? (undergraduate)

texts:
So I'm new to university and have written like 5 papers in my life, please help!
So basically the scenario is, I have a paper about a certain topic which I know nothing about. So I do some research on it. After reading a lot about the topic I form an opinion on it. The problem is that my opinion was formed based on reading a lot of other people's opinions. For example, I will read a lot of academics argue one thing, and I will think "oh that makes sense, I agree!" so when I write my paper I will be of the same opinion.
So the question is, do I have to cite the sources that led me to my opinion when I state my opinion?? Or phrased differently: Do I have to cite the people that agree with my opinion?
For example, if I write:
X because of Y. And this specific author also agrees with this. <- in this case, do I have to use in-text citation for the first sentence?? Should I write something like:
X because of Y (author, year). <- because I feel like in this case it does not sound like I also agree? It just sounds like I am describing what "author" thinks. How do I add my own opinion to this?
Please keep in mind that these are undergraduate level papers. Up until now, I have been writing entirely descriptive papers (with "someone argues this and someone argues that" and my grades have not been great :( ) without offering my opinion because I was so scared that it would be plagiarism to agree with someone's opinion without citing (since it may be considered to not be an original opinion). Again, I will cite the other authors that agree with me after stating what I think, but my question is if I have to in-text cite them when I state my opinion.
I am a confused and lost freshman and with the pandemic I can't even go to campus and talk to a librarian about this, so if anyone could help me I will owe you my life, thank you.


texts: How to find a high quality PhD advisor in another country?

texts:
I an currently finishing my first year in a Masters program in Computer Science / Mathematics and thinking about getting a Ph.D. I'm not really sure, however, that I want to make my Ph.D. with the same thesis with which I'm getting my Masters degree.

I heard the opinion about Ph.D. as "doing interesting (for you) stuff, development your skills and even getting paid for it". But it seems too unrealistic for me, especially in my city/country (Russia). Probably I can think about getting a Ph.D. in another country, but how can I manage to do it without a proper Ph.D. advisor? Probably, I can determine an area of my interests, but how can I determine if it is suitable for a Ph.D. or not? And how can I find the person who can guide/help me with it?

I'm feeling a little bit nervous when thinking about writing to a complete stranger in another country "I want to do PhD under your supervision" or something like this.


texts: Are there any differences in how new vs. well-established professors select students?

texts:
For any professors out there, do you feel that there are any differences in how you selected and recruited students from the time when you were newly hired, to a well-established stage (i.e. after getting tenure)? I'm asking this out of curiosity. There are oftentimes questions about whether students should choose a new/old advisor, but I haven't seen any that asked about this from the prof's perspective.

I would assume there are since the challenges and priorities for the two groups are normally somewhat different, but I'm not sure exactly how it would differ. For instance, it might be more difficult for the new PI to recruit students (especially good ones) when they have to "compete" with older, better funded peers. This would lead one to think that new PIs might be more likely to take on students they might not necessarily love, but just need bodies in the lab. However, on the other hand, new PIs are more likely to have limited funding, and if they are on the tenure-track, would need their few students to succeed in order to establish a name for themselves in the industry. In this case, it would be detrimental if they chose the wrong student(s) in the beginning, especially if they are limited to the number of students they can afford due to funding issues. I realize that this is field and situation specific, but I'm looking to hear stories/insights from people who have gone through/know about the process.

Thanks!


texts: How to tell my advisor I don't want to stay in academia

texts:
I don't want to stay in academia after finishing my PhD. My current research field is not exciting to me anymore, but also I am too old to change fields. Although my research and my interest were so far quite theoretically focussed, I would like to find a more applied job in R&D in a big prestigeous company, helping improving future technologies.

Now: How do I tell my supervisor? I want to avoid leaving the impression I think our research field is boring.
My supervisor tries already finding Postdoc positions for me, and probably thinks I'm quite qualified for staying in academia. So I fear to be disappointing.


texts: How to search for one phrase in the title and a different phrase in the body of the paper in a single Google Scholar search?

texts:
Google Scholar is a very good source of knowledge especially with its advanced search, but the options in the advanced search is either search in the title or in the whole paper. How can I search for a word in a title and a word in the paper itself?

e.g. I want to search for papers that title contains the word "meta analysis" and the body contains "Alexandria". Is there a regular expression to do this?


texts: Quitting a collaboration project without hurting collaborators

texts:
I am a PhD student collaborating with another PhD student A, under supervision of Prof. B & Prof. C. I am student of Prof. B. Student A is co-advised by Prof. B and Prof. C.

Prof. B chairs the project. I was asked to join this side-project because of my certain experience.

Our work requires knowledge from both A and me. A is doing well in his part. However, the novelty in my part, is problematic (in my view) and hard to produce. To this, not everyone is convinced: Student A thinks I need more tunings; Prof. B is dubious yet believes the novelty; Prof. C agrees with me but with a little suspicion.

I have now enough lab evidence to support my claims (i.e. the failure novelty). And I believe I will convince others at next meeting.

I would like to quit this project, and do not want to waste more time. Student A can still publish his part, just not a "big" paper though. And I will not ask for any credits of course.

The question

How can I, with enough respects, yet properly quit the project without hurting feelings of other colleagues? Especially student A and Prof. B?


texts: How to bring one's PhD research to another university?

texts:
I was talking about a probable research topic that I got in mind for following a Phd in Computer Science to one of my past Lecturers. This professor told me that I should make a research proposal and see what happens with the evaluating committee. The research proposal was made and it got finally accepted. Now the issue is that this university, in which they accepted my proposal is not so well known worldwide. So I would like to apply to another more renewed university with the same topic, I think that could help me better in my academic career. What should I do? It is unethically to move to another university with my research idea? maybe my past professor could feel like betrayed?

Thanks


texts:
I have a mathematical online course that has programming sections. It has transitions between Python, Matlab, R, and Powerpoint. Powerpoint has equations and questions. I want to draw some arrows and take some notes on Powerpoint. I need to do them on a computer that can carry all this processing.

What I want is a digital pen tool that will allow me to write on Powerpoint presentations on laptop.

What is the attachment that I should buy to attach the laptop to work on all these at the same time?


texts: Is it possible for project grants to cover family visa fees?

texts:
This article from Times Higher Education tells about the struggles of Non-EU scholars with the UK’s visa policy. The article was published in January 2014. Since then, the visa fees to remain in the UK have increased in general.

My family and I have lived in the UK for 2 years now. We are non-EU nationals. Currently, I am working as a postdoc. With our visas expiring in one year, I have been contemplating about what to do next.

I quite like my project, and there is a possibility for the university to extend my contract as a postdoc, by submitting a grant application for a separate project as a continuation of my current one.

However, to renew my family and my visas would require £651 per head. This would give us the eligibility to stay in the UK for another 3 years maximum, after which we would need to pay £1,500 per head for an indefinite leave to remain in the UK. Assuming the fees do not change, this means that 4 years from now, I will need to have at least £12,000 in my account, £10,000 of which will go into paying the fees, in order for me and my family to be able to stay permanently in the UK. With a postdoc salary, this just seems daunting at the moment.

My main question is: Is it possible for a project grant, including research fellowships, to pay for my family and my visa fees? I suspect that the project grant could probably pay for my fees, but not my family.

One possibility is for me to try to go up in the academic salary ladder by getting a lecturer position. But even if I am able to get a lecturer position, I am not quite sure if the increase would be enough to pay the fees. It looks like a more realistic option would be to leave the country, although moving to another country as a family is not so simple and also needs money. From this aspect, it might be better to stay.


texts: How do recruiters consider parental leave in one's career path?

texts:
It used to be that mostly women would take maternity leave, and in the field where I work it would be accounted for by a hiring committee. Most likely, someone would say “yeah, there is a dip in X’s scientific production during years XX-XX, but that's around the time she got 2 kids, so it's not worrying”. It might not always be put very delicately (I heard of a committee member once saying “so, let's decide in advance: how many papers is one kid worth?”), but there existed some sort of positive bias.

Nowadays, more and more fathers take parental leave (around me, it seems to be usually 6 to 12 months when the kid is young). Thus, the situation is getting more complex. How do hiring committees in academia handle these cases? Should one consider a parental leave as “lost time”, professionally speaking? Or are recruiters in academia more understanding than that?

Edit: more specifically, I'm talking about the US system. I know that standards of parental leave are more generous in Europe than in a typical “welfare is communism” country :)  So, I am worried about how academic employers might react to a woman having a 2 years parental leave in her curriculum, or a father having taken a 6-month leave in the recent past.

Of course, the situation in others countries is also interesting… So please don't hesitate to leave comments!


texts: Canada vs. Australia for the academic career

texts:
Two days ago I was in discussion with a colleague of mine about the possible PhD studies destinations. We both agreed that the chances of getting post-Doc job or any full position are higher in the country we finish PhD (Maybe you have different opinion). However, we ended up discussion two potential (native English-speakers) countries, namely, Canada and Australia. We both had a vague idea about post PhD stage (academia or industry), so we had not much to share. My question is which country is generally better in terms of the following (computer science field):

Research sector prospects (is there any studies indicate which country has stronger research profile in computer science - my gut feeling is Canada at least from  the world universities ranking in computer science)
Academic career path (What are the possible career paths for PhD graduates? (tenure track, postdoc, lab researchers ... etc.).
Finance benefits (taking into account the living cost in both countries, which of the countries, the academic career stand stronger comparing to the industrial jobs in terms of financial benefits)

Any advice to improve the question is most welcomed.


texts: When writing a "response article" what's the appropriate way to refer to plots from the original paper?

texts:
There's a paper I want to respond to by writing an article examining its findings. There are 4-6 of key plots in that paper.
I have the code and data from the original authors, so technically I can reproduce their plots myself and include their plots in my paper for easy comparison to other (original) plots I want to show. But is that appropriate, or is that too close to "stealing" their work and would it be better for me just to put in some text citation as reference to their plot and let my readers go look up the original paper to compare my plots versus the original authors'?


texts: How can I get research experience in between degrees?

texts:
I'm a recent graduate of a major university in Ohio, but recently moved to the DC area for my job (full-time software engineer).

I plan to go to grad school for computer science in the next few years, but I'd like to get involved in some research to find out what I do and don't like about research (and, more importantly, the research topics) before I apply.

I'd love to volunteer my skills to a professor in the area as an RA. There are obviously major universities in the area with research undertakings that interest me, but without rapport how can I let them know I'm interested in working with them?


texts:
In the cover letter of an application to an academic job, should we write

  Dear Search Committee Members,

or

  Dear Professor A, Chair of the Search Committee Members,

or

  Dear Professor A, Chair of the department

or what else?

In case we don't know who the chair of the Search Committee is, should we write the department to ask?


texts: Will my job have a negative impact on my profile as a graduate student applicant?

texts: I am a senior undergraduate in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, and I ultimately want to pursue a Master's degree in the field of Embedded Systems. However, my current financial situation prohibits me from paying for this, so I have decided to take a couple years off in order to save money and to apply for loans and scholarships. To that end, I have recently accepted a job in the IT department of a respected bank (I was unable to find a job in the field of Embedded Systems). Since I am not able to work in my target domain, will this time off negatively affect my prospects at top graduate programs?


texts: What does "ADM" stand for on an article submission information page?

texts:
On the information page of my article submission, there's a column titled "ADM", listing the name of two persons that I can email.

What does this stand for?


texts:
I expect to be graduating with a maths BSc (with an honours year, in Australia) in the not-too-distant future. I’d like to pursue a PhD in pure maths, with the view of becoming a research mathematician. I’ve found it quite difficult to find information on what exactly the application process entails, and when I need to start worrying about it. I have some specific questions, but what I’m really interested in is if there’s a compiled source of advice and information for math PhD applicants internationally.

It seems that many universities have a specific (December in the USA) deadline, does this mean PhDs have to start at a particular time of year?
I see that occasionally people advertise a particular PhD position they’d like to fill, on some particular research topic. Is this kind of PhD different from the “generic” kind and have a different application process?


texts: Steady meeting room for Zoom office hours, ready at any time

texts:
I would like to have my office hours via Zoom with

A link that doesn't change, so it's easy to find the meeting, and
I can join my meeting at any time, if the need shows up, not just a scheduled times.

I already know how to address the first problem, namely with repeated scheduled meetings. But I don't know how to address (2) as well. What is the best practice?


texts: How to deal with the frustration of doing PhD at a low-ranked university

texts:
Though I did my bachelor's at a top-notch college, because of low GPA I had to settle down for PhD at a low ranked university. Now I see that there is lack of intellectual atmosphere and very few people to discuss academic stuff in and around my area of research. I discuss with faculty, but it would have been nice if there was a good graduate student atmosphere which is lacking. Now I get frustrated often with the fact that it was my low GPA which led to all this. Also in general the graduate student atmosphere is very discouraging.

What should I do to make my life better? Some people tell me to mind my own business and not worry about the environment. But to me no peer level discussion leads to feelings of loneliness.


texts: Can anyone speak to the rigor or quality of UCF's mathematics PhD program?

texts: UCF currently ranks 136 (tie) for its mathematics PhD program per U.S. News and World Report. Has anyone graduated here with a PhD in math from there, or can speak to the quality of the program? I am considering this program and currently hold a bachelors degree in business, and am close to completing a bachelor's in computational mathematics with an actuarial concentration (many of my business classes satisfy this requirement).  I have not seen any admissions statistics other than the matriculated students and PhD's awarded. Can anyone provide this data, or know where I can locate that?


texts: Another instructor is pushing me out of the classroom right after my class ends

texts:
I am a graduate student in math in my final year, and for several years have been teaching at my department as a lecturer. This semester, in the same lecture hall there is another lecture that starts 20 minutes after my class ends. It's taught by another instructor from my department. I usually have many students coming to office hours and there are also students asking questions immediately after lecture. Due to other activities, I cannot have office hours right after the lecture this semester and can only stay for about 15 minutes to answer questions.

Many times in the past I had a similar situation and never had any issues with it. This semester the instructor who is teaching right after often arrives 20-15 minutes before her class starts and tells me immediately that I have to go with my students somewhere else.

I make sure to leave the blackboard clean and take all my stuff away from the instructor's desk before she arrives, but I do believe that I have a right to stay in the classroom after my lecture for at least 5-10 minutes. There is no vacant classroom around, and I don't have time to go with students to my office, which is in a different building.

Last time the instructor told me in front of my students that I don't understand "simple things" and that I am "playing games". When I was talking to one of my students, she stood very close to us and clearly demonstrated that she wanted us out. I tried to explain her that I couldn't go anywhere else due to my time constraints, but she didn't want to listen to me. I really don't understand what "simple" things she meant and what "games" I am playing.

We leave the board clean. She doesn't need to set up a projector. She can still talk to her students before her class starts, if she wants to (even though it seems like her students don't ask her any questions before their class). So, I don't see how I cause any disruption.

I had met this woman many times before this semester, but we never talked. I didn't see her talking to other instructors/students much, and she seems to be quite reserved and a bit neurotic. She doesn't want to have any conversation with me regarding the issue.

I felt really offended after last class when she said those things to me in front of my students. What would you do in my case?

Added later: There are no official rules regarding classroom occupancy between classes. Instructors are supposed to use common sense and be reasonable. For me using 50% of the break time seems reasonable to answer questions after lecture seems reasonable. I agree that for some people it may not.

I don't block the entrance to the classroom. A few students from the next class who come earlier always go ahead and take their seats as soon as my students start leaving the room. I also had one of the students from the next class listening to my explanation to one of those after-class questions and asking me further questions before their class (which is the same class as I am teaching, just a different section). Maybe the instructor got jealous, I don't know.

The entrance to the classroom is from its front (not back), so I do stay in the front. But it is a big lecture hall, and there is a plenty of space in front of the room (the board itself consists of 8 huge panels).

Also, during my career as a grad.student who is also teaching for the department, I have had several observations from experienced professors who are considered to be great teachers at the department and are in charge of undergraduate teaching policy. In my evaluations the fact that there are always several students approaching me with questions after class considered as very positive, meaning that students find me approachable.

Thank you everyone for answers.


texts: What to say about somewhat forgotten studies?

texts:
The matter of fact is, I graduated from university (physics and mathematics) more than 4 years ago. I remember myself enjoying most of the subjects, communicating with professors and study mates, researching other non-curriculum topics.

Ever since graduation I have been working in IT industry. IMHO, those are not directly correlated and most of the topics, subjects, research are forgotten now.

Q: What to could be written upon forgotten subjects/staff/research?


texts: Is it possible to publish a paper when the research was done many years earlier?

texts:
Is it possible to publish a paper when the research was done a number of years ago?

For example, can I write a paper from my Masters thesis which was done in 2011 and try to publish it in 2017?


texts: Can frequent messages to an editor about the status of a paper under review be a cause for rejection?

texts: I have submitted a paper on mathematics to a journal and it was there for more than one year. I asked the editor many times about the reason of the review delay. At the end the paper was rejected with trivial comments. Some experts told me the reason of the rejection is that: I had asked the editor many times about the paper, which make him insist that the reviewers make their decision fast, and thus they gave trivial comments which led to the rejection. Can this really be a reason for rejection?


texts: Should I put the raw data in the appendix of an investigation if it is available in the GitHub repository?

texts:
I am currently doing an investigation (IB Extended Essay if it is helpful) of how different architectural approaches affect website performance. To do so, I have written a program that repeatedly runs a series of tests on each of the three researched websites. I now have 3 tables (as CSV files) with 7 columns and over 100 rows (the tests were run 100 times) stored in a GitHub repo.
In the investigation itself, I am taking the average of these columns and go from there. What I am asking is, should I put the raw data in the appendix? On the one hand, it seems like a good practice to show the data, as it demonstrates where did the averages come from. On the other hand, those tables are massive, AND they can still be accessed in the repository. Should I put it or not?


texts: How much time do I have to spend for NSF panel?

texts: The field is mathematics/computer science.  If one were to be selected to serve on an NSF panel, how much time/effort, realistically, will one be expected to spend?  Especially for someone with no prior experience in this role.


texts: The steps for applying to PostDoc positions

texts:
I have a PhD in computer science and recently I would like to get a postdoc with a respectful professor in my field to update my research works, or after that working in more applied domains in companies.
I don't know the steps of applying for postdoc positions specially in USA and Canada.
I'm a non-native English speaker. Furthermore, I have several important concerns as,

How long does it take the process of applying?

the range of scholarship for PostDoc job

The general requirement for postdoc applicant (number of publications, teaching experience and etc)

The possibility of research working before the acceptance
I'd like to see the comments based on these concerns and also to know the real experiences of PostDoc applying.


texts: How do employers verify that job applicants have the degree(s) they claim?

texts: Let's say someone is named John Smith applied for a job claiming that he was graduated from University X. How would an employer confirm that the applicant is John Smith, who also has the degree from University X? Wouldn't it be incredibly common for someone else to have the same name from the same department?


texts: How to Present an (Essentially) The Same Proof, in a Different, Earlier Working Paper, in a Present Paper?

texts:
I was requested to provide a simple proof for a side assertion made in one of my submissions. Regarding feasibility, it can be done; but the simplest proof that I came up with is already present in another
earlier submission under review, and hence, to avoid "self-repetition", I did not give the simplest possible proof in the present one. The situation could be easier if I have the older one time-labeled.

What is a wise way out given the situation? Thanks.


texts: Do I have to submit transcripts from school I transferred out of for grad application?

texts:
Every grad school requires to submit transcripts from all undergrad and grad instatutions applicant attended including studying abroad.

Personally I am confused with one case. I entered first University just after the high school, but a year after I dropped it and entered another University (a branch of a well-known University that had been opened that very year). The main reason was that the latter University had a program with more advanced and fundamental courses in math and CS and with a researh component as a part of curriculum, and it generally better fit my interests and desires (another reasons were e.g. better professors, better ranking).

I feel that this episode of my life is worth mentioning in my SoP (I preferred to waste a year because I wanted to dedicate my life to science and therefore get better training for this goal). However I'm not sure if I had to get transcripts from that first University even if I just studied there for a year and wasn't satisfied with it's level of education.

Can anyone answer if I am obligated to get and submit this document?


texts: How do I locate the rockstars at my university, so as to establish a relationship and get references from them?

texts:
I'm an undergrad with hopes of entering academia. My transcript isn't stellar, and the general sense I get is that I can make up for this with good references. How do I find which professors have the best reputation, so I can try to establish a relationship and hopefully get references from them?

If the subject is relevant, my area is mathematics.


texts: What should I start doing to improve my prospects since deciding on an academic career?

texts:
So, I have had a year out to work and am now going to do my Master's degree in Computing. I have decided to fully embark on a career in academia.

What can I start doing NOW that will help improve my academic reputation, credentials, CV and career prospects? For example, should I do more writing, set up a technical blog, find research opportunities, what projects should I start, organisations to join etc.?


texts: Do I need permission from my past supervisor?

texts:
I am currently a postdoc in computer science. Last year I completed my PhD. I have published one research paper during my PhD with my research supervisor. I am trying to work on that paper. I mean I have got something and I think it is going to be an incremental result of the previous research paper.

Question: Do I need to get permission from my past supervisor to publish a paper that builds on our previous co-authored paper?


texts:
I have some articles and conference papers that I am citing in my text, in my text cite I am using the page number that is related with the rest of the proceedings or the journal, even I have downloaded it or using the online version which is separate from the rest of the proceedings. I think this (Me, 2015, p.340) is confusing when the link of the document I attach will provide just the paper which probably is 4-5 pages.

So what is the appropriate page number to include in-text citing, even if the paper has the page number printed on it?

K.


texts: Have there been famous/documented cases where people die from working too hard in the lab?

texts: Have there been famous/documented cases where people die from working too hard in the lab, similar to this and this in finance/marketing?


texts:
I am building an online library, where professors will be submitting academic work (text and multimedia).

I want to find the right CC license. The work provided by the library can be shared and anybody can build upon it for commercial or non-commercial purposes, as long as they give credit to the professor. But the original work must remain un-edited. So, CC-BY-ND fits this description, but there is a part that worries me. If anybody can "remix or transform" the material, what is stopping them from changing the article and re-share it as their own, or claim that is the original?

Is there any way that CC-BY-ND protects me from this danger, or should I use another copyright licence?

Thanks


texts: How important is seeing the face of the instructor?

texts:
So, I am yet to make up my mind on which is a superior mode of teaching in flipped classroom videos:

Khan academy type model where you see slides or a digital drawing board and only listen to the instructor.
Or a video in which you see the instructor communicating with you. Maybe in one third of the video and the rest of the screen real estate is focused on graphics, video etc.

Let us assume that you have a superb communicator in both cases.

Which model is superior? Have there been any studies in this field?


texts: CS conferences not indexed by Scopus or Web of Science?

texts:
I have read that there are some good Computer Science conferences that are not indexed by Scimago or Scopus, but instead they appear in sites like ACM DL, IEEE Xplore or DBLP. I have tried to find information about those conferences, but not success at all. For that reason, I was wondering if anybody in the field knows of some good conferences in CS that do not appear in the aforementioned sites?

Thanks


texts: Finding out if company founders are graduates for a dissertation

texts:
In a nutshell, I'm thinking about doing research and analysis of founders of rapid-growing companies during the last decade or so, to see if there is an increasing trend of non-graduates successfully founding these firms, or if having a degree (especially in the same industry as the company) is highly recommended.

However, I'm afraid the sources from which I can obtain this data might not be valid in the academic environment (or in any environment). For instance, I could go and check a founder's LinkedIn profile, but:

Is LinkedIn a reliable source of data for a dissertation? I don't think so.
Many people decide not to show their entire education or job history, because it might be irrelevant or because having a degree from a university with a low reputation could be a negative thing.

Trying to contact these founders to interview them is almost impossible.

I'm not experienced in doing academic research, so my question is: is there a reliable source of data for this that I could use for my research?

This is in the UK, if it makes any difference.


texts: What happens if my code teacher doesn't know how to code?

texts:
I'm a simple student who is having some problems with their IT studies. The thing is that my (Java) code teacher doesn't know how to code, and I don't say it, he has told it to us during more than one class.
What do you recommend me to do? Because apart from that is like a class without teacher, he just gives us tasks to do and we have to search on Internet how to do it while he "plays" with his laptop and laughs or rests silent. And when we have to correct the tasks, he just shows us the code he had on his disk and, of course, he hasn't coded.
The last thing I want to share is that when he "explains" us theoretical things he doesn't really know what is he saying and in 80% of times he's wrong. He just reads presentations of other teachers, but from 5 years ago, so they aren't updated at this times (like 2019 or 2020).
It's very frustrating, he is a teacher but he doesn't teach us.


texts: Do Chinese universities offer CS/CSE Masters programs taught in English?

texts:
Do Chinese (PRC) universities offer CS/CSE Masters programs taught in English?

If yes, do these programs require mandatory HSK scores to enroll?


texts: Considering prospective grad schools; professor whose research interests me most may be visiting professor elsewhere currently, how to handle this?

texts: At a certain grad school I am considering, there is a certain professor who I would be most interested in researching under, in fact if I couldn't have him as my advisor I my interest in this school would become diminished, but I read in his bio that he is a currently a visiting professor at a different university. In this case, should I still express my interest in his research in my statement of purpose? How long do visiting professorships typically last? Could I hope that I could have him as an advisor? I'm unsure how to approach this situation.


texts: How to evaluate the research level of a paper before any publication?

texts:
There are three differents cases when the research level of a paper must be evaluated before any publication:

for author: to choose the most appropriate journal,
for referee: to recommend acceptance or rejection for a given journal,
for editor: to take the final decision.

If we compare this process to justice, a referee is like a lawyer, and an editor is like a judge.

Question: How an author, a referee and an editor can (respectively) evaluate the research level of a paper?

We here ask about the purely research level of a paper, so we assume that the paper is original, correct and well-written. We also assume that the paper is  not too specialized if it is a general-audience journal, and is on-topic if it is a specialized journal (idem for any other specificity).  Finally, if specific, I am mainly interested in mathematical papers.

An utilitarianism way could be to estimate how many papers should cite this paper in the next five years (self-citations excepted). Then the author can choose a journal having this number as Article Influence score (after renormalization), and the referee can check if it matches with the chosen journal. But then it would be necessary to know how to make such an estimate...

Of course, an author/referee/editor can evaluate the paper subjectively, but subjectivity varies with emotions, it can be manipulated and the process can become political. I wonder whether there is an objective way to proceed, or at least, if we can add a bit of rationality in this process. Consider the process of justice, it contains undeniably a part of subjectivity, but also rationality, called the law.


texts: How can I express my dismissal from public service in my academic resume?

texts:
I'm planning to apply to a number of university (public policy) programs in US and I do not know how to express my dismissal from public service following the political turmoil in Turkey. I was dismissed with a decree law, no charges, without being questioned like tens of thousands. How can I state this situation?
Also, how can I include the gap resulted after dismissal?


texts: How much can I quote a research article before I infringe on copyright?

texts:
I have 400 words of quoted and lightly paraphrased material from a scientific journal article. Would it be infringing copyright to share this on the internet? Note: most of the material is also cited by the one article I am citing.
Maybe I should go back to the original sources and quote them individually so as to avoid such a large amount coming seemingly from the same article? Would that matter? What are the rules?


texts: Is it possible to trade up during ones PhD in Mathematics?

texts:
I have been accepted into a Ph.D. program at a school that is a decent top 50 on the US News. Has anyone had any experience with 'trading up' after one gets their terminal master? At my undergrad, there have been cases of students entering the Ph.D. program and then transferring after 2 years to a better institution after getting their terminal master. Would this be a feasible plan?

For example https://mathematicsgre.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=836&p=4603&hilit=trade+up#p4603


texts: I am confused if this professor will fund me or not, I feel it is rude to ask directly

texts:
Recently I applied for a summer research internship in a lab in South Korea.
This was the reply from the prof.

  Dear Student,

  Thank you for contacting me for internship.
  You have worked with an excellent scientist, Dr. Manhattan, which draws my attention.
  With his recommendation letter, I am willing to host your internship in my lab.
  What you shall study, unless you have something else particularly in mind, will be numerical calculation similar to what is in the attached paper.

  Best regards,

  Professor X

What does he mean by "host"? Does it mean funding? How do I go on about asking him politely about it?


texts: What is the role of your advisor and other lab members in your research work?

texts:
I have a very simple question : how involved should a Ph.D. advisor be in the work of a Ph.D. student ?
Should he / she be correcting the work assigned to the student after few days / weeks of student's work, won't they check anything for simulations outputs for example ? or should they be saying few guiding words and it's up to the student to write code, simulate and write the paper ?
Thanks.


texts: How realistic it is to change to a different field of mathematics after PhD?

texts:
Once I was told that in mathematics, after one gets a PhD, it is very hard to change one's field of specialization (within maths). Is this true? What are the reasons? How common are counterexamples?

In your answers please also specify what country are you talking about, if you believe it matters.


texts: I'm an accomplished person in my field, but don't have any degree. Would I be able to be a teacher or substitute?

texts:
As far as I'm aware, the base requirement to be a teacher or substitute requires a degree. However in my case, I've been working in my career field for going on 10 years. I'm wondering if it's possible to move to Academia, either part-time or full-time without having a formal college degree.

Lately, I've been having an "itch" to impart my own experiences and knowledge on students that are just starting out. I haven't decided on what exactly I want, but it could be anything from a guest speaker to teaching a full-time class.


texts: I have an admission from Oxford University DPhil (CSE) . I also have a job in Silicon Valley with a startup that is a well funded late stage venture . Which one should I choose ? I am looking for insights in Visa differences , Rewards after the Dphil vs the current rewards I will get from the job. I am aware that I might not get the same salary in UK as in US . I am also aware that Oxford itself has great prestige. So my question also weighs prestige against money in my opinion.


texts: Asking for status of faculty position search during coronavirus pandemic

texts:
I applied for a faculty position and did a video interview. It was supposed that they let me know if I have been selected for campus or not. In the middle of the interview with other candidates, this COVID-19 happened and I am not sure what strategy they will take as the target university has canceled all in-person classes and shifted to an online model.

Would it be appropriate to ask the committee about the status of the search?

What factors would affect the university's response in such a case?


texts: Acknowledging funds from an award tied to a specific individual

texts:
I am organizing a conference at a major University. Much of the funding for the conference has come from the an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation award received by a particular scholar. He controls the funds tied to the award and has chosen to give some funding to support the conference. Should this be acknowledged on the advertising material associated with the conference? What wording should I use, if so? It looks strange to me to include the name of the academic, viz. "This conference has been made possible by Prof. X", but if I simply say "This conference has been made possible by the generosity of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation", this gives the impression that they directly funded the conference, which is not the case.

Advice is appreciated!


texts: Citing a Book Chapter where the book is not yet published, and the bibliographic details are not known

texts:
I'm trying to reference a book chapter (I have the title for this). But the book's title is not yet confirmed and neither is the order of the chapters, or the size of the book (meaning page numbers are not gonna be fixed to the A4 manuscript).

How would I go about citing this?

I have the chapter title, chapter author, publisher, location. That's it.

Any advice?


texts: Is it possible to switch between Ph.D. departments at the same university?

texts:
I recently asked about the ethicality of staying in a Ph.D. program (first-year) while attempting to transfer to a different university that I had declined previously. Unfortunately, the funding was cut short for said program and I did not get off the wait list for funding.

The main reason I wanted to transfer was due to the fact that I wanted to focus on a more applied math program as opposed to the current program I am in that focuses on bioinformatics/biology. Since the transfer/funding did not work out, I was curious if I could possibly transfer from the Ph.D. I am currently in to the math Ph.D. program. They are both under the same college of sciences.  I did my undergrad in both math and cell/molecular biology and I believed I could incorporate enough math but if possible I’d like to just get the applied math Ph.D. and apply it to biology instead of the other way around.

My two options are either to stay in my program and recruit many math committee members or to outright move to the math department. I don’t particularly want to ask my own department yet because I don’t want to be looked down upon or lose any funding because I do want to stay here and will happily finish (eventually) by incorporating more math based individuals.

I was wondering if this has been done before or if anyone has any advice on how to go about this? Obviously I’d like my funding to carry over and I believe since they’re in the same college of sciences it may be doable. I’m worried that I’ll be criticized or judged for wanting to do this or lose my funding. Since my first option of going to the other program at a different university didn’t workout and I didn’t hear about it till a week ago, I was unable to really follow this second option.


texts: Do citations of an edited volume of which I wrote one chapter count towards my own bibliometric indicators?

texts:
I recently noticed that an edited volume of which I wrote one of the chapters is picking up quite some citations. Since the citations are of the entire edited volume, naming only the editors of the book, I wonder whether these citations also "count" for me?

I am wondering if those citations of the entire book can be added to my total citation count (and calculation of H-index etc)?


texts: Should I put an experimental experience from master' degree as a skillset in my CV after a computational PhD?

texts:
I am applying for mechanical engineering and materials engineering postdoc positions. I mostly apply for computational research positions but sometimes I apply where they are looking for experimentalists with some computational experience as well.  Can I mention the following as a skillset in the CV without being misleading?
My PhD was in computational materials science where I did not do any experiments. However in 2013, I completed master's degree where I had done quite a significant amount of experimental work. I did scanning electron microscopy, xray diffraction experiments and mechanical testing. I did not do those during my PhD. I remember how to analyze the results, but I don't remember how to operate the machines anymore.
Under such scenario, should I mention experimental methods as an experience in my CV?
Currently, I mentioned these in following way:
>     Research Skills
>     Computational: Experienced in nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA)....blah blah blah
>     • Tools: Python, Fortran, blah blah
>     • Packages: Scikit-Learn, blah blah
>
>     Experimental: Proficient in metallurgical polishing and mechanical testing; Experienced in materials-characterization methods: Scanning
> Electron Microscopy, Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD).


texts:
I'm from Venezuela, and of course I got all my education in that country. I need help with converting degree titles into their US/UK equivalents.

For example, in the US/UK you have the B.Sc. grade, and I understand it goes after high school (if I'm correct). Here, Bachelor means graduated from high school.

When you go to university, here we can become technicians (3 years post school), or get a "long scholarship title" (up to 7 years) like engineer, lawyer or surgeon.

After that you can get up to 3 different grades: Specialist (???), Magister (Master) and Doctor (PhD) (2 years each, and all require to do a thesis) or just get a Diploma (a short (1 year or less) course, without thesis).

What is the equivalent of the Specialist title in the US/UK?

I did specialization; I'm more than an engineer, but not a Master. What title should I add if I translate it into English nomenclature?

Thanks in advance for your answers :)

PS: I did the post-degree on informatic


texts: When mentioning a website, parenthesis or reference?

texts:
In terms of IEEE style(IEEEtran) and ACM style(ACMsmall), respectively.
For example, when I mention Stack Overflow, should it be Stack Overflow [1] or Stack Overflow (www.stackoverflow.com)


texts: Is the new ACM 2012 taxonomy usable/in use?

texts:
I've wasted about an hour trying to figure out how I'm supposed to categorise an ACM article using the new 2012 taxonomy here, and how I'm supposed to represent those categories in my article.

On the plus side, the 2012 taxonomy has some perfectly apt categories for my paper (unlike the previous 1998 version).

On the minus side, the instructions are abysmal with respect to how it should be used, it seems to be completely incompatible with the standard TeX macros provided with standard sig-* templates, and not only do the TeX macros provided by this interactive system not work (\begin{CCSXML} and \ccsdesc), they don't even seem to even exist (at least Google turns up little if anything).

Is anyone actually using this new 2012 taxonomy and if so, is there any good guide on how to use it with a standard LaTeX sig-* template?

(Otherwise I think I'll just go back to the 1998 version ... as weird and archaic and seemingly useless as it is, at least it's a straightforward way to fill in those pointlessly mandatory category fields. Grrr.)


texts: What to do about a citation that may be wrong

texts:
I am writing a paper and I needed to cite some fact. I had difficulties finding something that I could cite. I have found a paper that also cites this fact and they cite some other paper without further explanation. I have gone through this paper that they are citing and I cannot find how the fact that I want could follow from it. It seems somewhat relevant but going through all the theorems, none of them seems like they could imply what they claim. I do not have a deep understanding of that paper and it seems it would be rather difficult for me to carefully read the whole thing.
I suspect that this result should be somewhere in the literature but cannot find it.
I have emailed the authors but did not get a response yet. I have contacted the corresponding author who forwarded my email to another co-author so I know they have received my email.
At the same time, it is not too difficult for me to prove the claim myself. Therefore, I need the citation only to give credit to the original author and to make my paper a little shorter (not very important as there is no strict page limit where I intend to submit).
What should I do if the authors do not respond before the conference deadline? I can think of the following:

Say something along the lines of "paper A cites paper B but it is not clear how the fact follows from B. For completeness, we provide a proof here"
Ignore that paper, as I was not able to determine whether the citation is correct. Do not claim my proof to be original but rather say I was not able to find any reference but I suspect that it has been proven before.
Just cite the paper they cite

Of these, (3) is clearly not good. Is it OK to choose (2)? Should I contact the authors once more before the conference deadline and inform them about what I intend to do?


texts: How to provide an anonymous copy of work online?

texts:
It may seem odd, but I need to put an anonymous part of my work (an algorithm) online.

Well, it should be available online as I want to refer to it in a single-blind submission (but not as the contributions), and it should be anonymous as I want to introduce it (as the contribution) in another conference submission (with double-blind review). Since the submission deadlines are close to each other I want to handle it like this.

Is there a way to put it online with anonymous author names (arXiv does not allow it) so it could also be searchable via google?

I will remove it or update it with full names after the paper review process is finished.


texts: Some postdoc positions do not have deadlines, but will open until filled. What is happening?

texts: I am currently searching for postdoc positions for my first time. Many postdoc positions have definite deadlines, but others don't. Surprisingly, some prestigious institutes list postdoc positions for a long time but they are still waiting for applicants. My belief is that prestigious institutes would quickly receive a lot of applications, so that the positions ought to be taken very soon, but this appears to not be the case. What is happening?


texts: In US, is it possible to have a non-tenure position for the whole career

texts: As it is very competitive to have tenure, I wonder if there is any case that someone holds a non-tenure position (e.g. associate professor) until the end of his/her career, i.e. until the retirement. If there is, is it a normal practice?


texts: How can I progress with researching/working with profs with a bad transcript?

texts:
I've been asking a lot of questions on here lately (my apologies to the admin for that), but I've become very worried about my future as I've had a terrible semester.

I'm a second year student currently studying mathematics at a Canadian university and as of now, I have two Cs (one in a math course) and an F on my transcript (thankfully, from a non math course). I'm very worried about how this will hurt my application to grad school (in terms of getting research experience and my transcript itself), particularly as a MSc candidate. I know I have a lot of time to make up for my mistakes (academically) this semester, but the way I see it, I'm pretty much out of options until maybe next year when my GPA (currently sitting at ~3.4-3.45) goes up, considering a lot of research opportunities at my school are based on GPA.

I am very interested in pursuing research in some areas of pure mathematics. However, like I mentioned earlier, I know for a fact my school operates research grants and applications based on GPA and seniority, thus because I:

Am a second year student and do not have many higher level maths courses under my belt and;
Have a mediocre GPA and;
Have received lower marks for second year courses rather than first...

it is highly likely I will get rejected by the professors at my school and not get the grant.

My question now is what else can I do to help me gain experience/skills/contacts within the department at my school? My lackluster grades were a result of poor time management and I know I can do better. When I asked a similar question, I was recommended to seek professors to do informal reading with. I am still planning on doing that, however, is there anything else that I can do? I was hoping to ask one of my profs, but I ended up doing much worse in his course than I expected, so I don't know if contacting him would be reasonable anymore?

Anyway, this is a question mostly to see what I can do to redeem myself more than anything. I still have two more maths courses this coming semester I have the chance to do well in, and so far this C would be my lowest maths-related mark yet. Hopefully that doesn't completely take my out of the running.

Thanks in advance for all your help.


texts: Should correlation tables be half or full matrices?

texts:
With a table showing correlations between several variables, one must choose whether to show values in only ~half the cells (and if so, then choose above or below the diagonal) or all the cells.  Since correlation is a symmetric measure, the same amount of information is conveyed with both options.

Filling the whole matrix might make it easier for people to find a particular value, because they can think of either one as primary and look for it in either part of the matrix.  However, filling the whole matrix might make the presentation more overwhelming to a reader ("wow, that's a lot of numbers") while the half matrix might seem more elegant.

Has there been any work done looking at which is more effective for communication?
Are there widely used style guides in certain fields that answer this question, which might provide a starting point for a field which lacks such a guide?

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/79256/36320


texts: What should the purpose of a draft of a research paper be?

texts:
When writing a research paper draft, what should be the purpose? Is the goal to write the draft with the aim of producing a finished product but expecting that it may need changes? Or is the draft more of a glorified outline that shows the path in which the author is going to take?

I'm referring to the objective/intent of the draft writing. For example, writing the draft with the goal of creating a near completed product (assuming there will be edits) versus writing the draft as a mere outline of the "plan" you want to take.


texts:
I'm working on a meta-analysis proposal/protocol, and one of the databases I would like to use is Google Scholar because of an anticipated scarcity in papers on the topic of my meta-analysis, and I'm thinking using Google Scholar would increase my yield.  Of course, it applies that I vet the papers I select, and thoroughly assess for bias.

If one is thinking of publishing their meta-analysis, would editors take using Google Scholar badly?


texts: Should I charge entry for a public lecture?

texts:
I am a research scientist, and as part of my role I am expected to perform some form of public outreach and engagement. I enjoy outreach activities and giving public lectures.

I have a suspicion that free public lectures are usually poorly attended. I suspect that the attitude is one of "Well, it's free and you get what you pay for". Certainly the quality of artistic performances that I've seen is strongly correlated with entrance fee.

While it is a reasonable expectation that my Faculty would pay for the costs of lecture room hire, advertising, possibly even tea and biscuits, I wonder if there is an advantage of charging a nominal fee to attend, to overcome the low-quality perception of a free lecture.


texts: Does some degree of stubbornness help for a researcher?

texts:
Doing research requires exploring a tree of different ideas and then, upon failures, tracking back to some extent, up to giving up on the whole project and changing topics (or even quitting your PhD). You might err on both sides: change approach too much, give up too early, or too late. (See for instance this answer or Half good and some not good results in a research paper?). Most importantly, though, often you won't know that you'll actually succeed until you did, and things might look bleak until then.

Does some degree of stubbornness help being a researcher (I couldn't extract an answer so easily from 2)? Lacking that, do you know any metaheuristics to approach this decision?

EDIT: I read this idea off the mention of "stubbornness and self-delusion" in this rant - and I've observed this trait in at least some researchers.

EDIT 2: an answer suggested that I talk about persistence instead. And probably that's the right compromise and what you actually should have. But I prefer the more provocative phrasing, also because I've anecdotical experiences of stubbornness as a "professional risk" of the profession.


texts: Is it professional for a professor to ask "surprise" questions on a test?

texts:
To clarify, I am asking if it's professional to ask questions that while relevant to the subject/course, and are related to the topic, but have not been discussed in class, assigned as homework, reading, etc. and are also not related to any prerequisite class that the students should already know. I am also not asking about "gotcha" questions where it's a quick "know it or not" fact, but rather an entire procedure, proof, or concept of some sort.

For example in class, using a formula from the textbook to solve problems, but on the exam asking for a proof of the formula that has been used.

Another example - in a foreign language class, asking about a never-before-seen word that may be related to some other, studied words or that has a similar sound/meaning in the native language.

Do such questions "make students think out of the box", or are they more likely to discourage students when they struggle with them? While in the real world there may be many problems similar to this where the problem is completely new, is this something that should be taught in an unrelated class?

Does it matter if the test in question will be graded on a curve where even if a student doesn't answer the question correctly at all, they could still get a good grade?

P.S. - this question was prompted by the comments in this answer


texts: Politely decline an offer that I sort-of accepted

texts:
I applied to several post-grad programs at Australian Universities. I got an offer from one (University A) very quickly, conditional on completion of my undergraduate degree. It had a lapse date of January 1. During the Christmas break I emailed University A letting them know that I had completed my undergraduate degree but would not be able to get a transcript to them before January 1. I said "Is there anything I can send in the meantime [while waiting for official transcript] that would be sufficient to prove I have met the conditions of the offer and can accept it?" Since then I got another offer from a different university (University B) that suits me better and I plan to accept this offer.

Today (January 6) I finally got a reply from University A saying "I can confirm you have successfully accepted your offer...". I realize I may have implied that I was going to accept the offer in my email, but the situation changed and I no longer want to accept the offer from University A, since University B is a much better option for me for various reasons.

How can I professionally and politely decline the offer to University A?


texts: How to title a report on a project that is not final

texts:
I thought about posting this in English.SE, but since it occurs in a university setting, I decided to post here - hopefully it's on-topic.

I have been working on a project that is being transitioned to another group member so she could take over the project. The project involves the design, development, and application of "Model X". I have done some useful work on it, but some work still needs to be done to complete it. I'm putting together a documentation package to describe what I've done so far, the design of "Model X", and how to use the code I've written thus far.

This report is internal to the group (whether this will be part of something that is published in the future, I do not know). I hesitate to title the report "Model X" because it's not, and might not be close to, being the final model. How should I title the transition report?

Some options I have thought of:
"Current status of Model X" - but this seems like an email subject
"Incomplete Model X: Design and Usage" - this sounds a bit degrading

What would you suggest? And are there in fact accepted titles for this kind of report?


texts:
I've been considering a career change for awhile and recently discovered the Two-Slit Experiment, which, to put it frankly, blew my mind. I then started some hefty reading and investigation into all things Quantum (Bell, entanglement, QIT), which has led me here.

I have 20 years experience in IT working as a programmer, having graduated with a Bachelor in Computer Science back in the early 90s. As mentioned, I have been considering a career change for some time (having become quite burned out in this industry), and have found something that has piqued my interest more than anything else. I am not yet sure which area of "Quantum" I will be most drawn to, possibly Quantum Information Theory/Science.

I am aware that there is a significant amount of Maths and Physics pre-requisites involved. It seems likely, given that I have not done any Maths or Physics study probably since I was doing my CS undergrad, that I will need to start over with an undergrad in Science/Physics in order to get the fundamentals.

So my questions are:

What is the ideal path of education to get to QIT/QIS or QM?
Is the path to QIT/QIS also via the Physics route? Can I leverage my CS background?
Resources (books, online courses, etc) that would help with the transition from CS-type thinking to Physics/Maths-type thinking.
I'm considering Astrophysics as a minor (due to interest), but wondering whether it would be useful and complementary to Quantum Theory.

Apologies if this encompasses elements too broad or off-topic, I'm trying to get a better understanding on what is to come following this path. Thanks in advance.


texts:
I submitted a paper in a respected journal (Elsevier) in my field (Biology/Ecology). After 2 months, the review of the paper is out. I was expecting it to "Major Revision", "Accepted with Minor Revision" or "Reject" but it was not clearly stated in the decision letter what is really the verdict on my paper but instead it says "Revise" and Reviewers have now commented on your paper. You will see that they are advising that you revise your manuscript. If you are prepared to undertake the work required, I would be pleased to reconsider the revised paper for publication.

Although the reviewer's comments were positive (+constructive), minimal, some were clarifications and suggestions on what to add. But I'm still confused about what is the decision.


texts: Can an author refer to work they did jointly using the first person?

texts:
I wrote a paper with a collaborator. The collaborator wrote a followup paper where they referred to their work in that paper in the first person, i.e. "in a previous paper, I presented the idea that...". To be clear, that particular idea really was their idea, not mine.

Is this acceptable, or should they have instead said "we presented the idea that..."? Does it differ between different fields, such as computer science, mathematics, physics, and economics?