texts: Is there a place in academia for researchers who write only white papers?

texts:
While being a Ph.D. candidate (software engineering), I've observed a strange tendency in academia: many mediocre researchers are writing lots of white papers with no evaluation at all. I was also initially encouraged by my supervisor and other professors to do the same, but working with other research groups, getting feedback from conference reviewers and from friends, I've learned that without evaluation of my work, without having an experimental section in my papers, I am only building sand castles. It was hard lesson and I needed to refuse my supervisor to submit papers too early, but it was worth it. I've learned that evaluation offers two benefits:

I can confront my ideas with reality and compare with other solutions
It provides feedback on my actual skills as a researcher, programmer, statistician, etc.

I can understand doing experimental evaluation is harder than just sketching ideas in white papers, but I don't understand one thing. How is it possible that so many white papers are accepted for conferences and publications and their authors can still work in academia? Or maybe I am missing something and my judgement is unfair, because there should be a place in academia for researchers who only write white papers?


texts: Checked my citation score and it turns out three citations (from 3 different articles) disappeared over the weekend. How can this be explained? I just hope it's some weird bug in the crawler. Anything i could do about it?


texts: Reviewer questioned credibility of paper and results after first revision, which led to us finding a major error. Should we revise or withdraw?

texts:
I and my team members worked on a machine learning paper to predict pass and fail on a standard academic test. The paper was submitted to a reputable journal. The first review came-back with a lot of encouragement but with few suggestions which made us change the methodology of our work especially with respect to the data - preprocessing. The changes were made the revised manuscript was submitted again. However, one thing which should have been debated before submitting was the accuracy of the results which was 100% for multiple evaluation metrics on each of the stratified folds. While the concern was raised within our team we did eventually submit it without rigorously making sure if everything was right or not.
Now the reviewer comments have come back and he has challenged the credibility of our work specifically pointing out that 100% accuracy looks too good to be true. We re-ran the models to evaluate how it behaves and found the results are quite different and not close to 100% percent. We have reviewed all the code and the steps we took to achieve the results but can-not find any flaw or mistake that may have resulted in 100% accuracy.
The current results which hover between 65 to 80% between folds look far more credible. However, I am not sure how to respond to the reviewer especially when we are not able to find our mistake that resulted in the 100% accuracy. We want to be absolutely honest and want to acknowledge that we committed a mistake in submitting the 100% accuracy and we should have been more critical of our work.
While as a group we want to be absolutely transparent with all the data files and results that we have obtained and share it with the reviewer. But I am a little concerned about how would the reviewer perceive such a big difference in results which change the conclusion or at least the interpretation.
Should we submit our responses and revise the manuscript or withdraw the paper?
Any help would be appreciated.


texts: Do employees in public universities pay less taxes than those in industry?

texts: Since public universities are nonprofit organizations, do their employees including faculty pay less taxes than those who work in industry?


texts: Should I (student) share my data with a researcher I don't know directly?

texts:
I am currently a graduate student, and for a course I gathered hundreds of thousands of records (not confidential, but difficult to access if you don't already know about them and know who to talk to) and spent several months cleaning, combining, and organizing them into a usable dataset, upon which I then performed statistical analysis.  The project is complete and produced interesting results, but likely I won't turn it into a paper anytime soon.

I found out yesterday that the professor supervising the course spoke to one of his friends and mentioned my project, and the friend asked for my dataset (the cleaned one I produced, not the raw records) to perform his own analysis.  Should I share it with this friend?  If so, is there a way to ask to be acknowledged in any publications that result?

The data were originally public records, but I did a lot of work that required years of specialized subject-matter knowledge to compile them appropriately.  Are there other risks I haven't considered?  I feel a little uncomfortable being asked to share a large amount of work with an academic I don't know at all, and while I would like to help advance the field in general, I don't know what's reasonable to expect here.

Update
As suggested here, I emailed the advisor saying I was not comfortable giving the data to someone I did not know (he wanted me to upload it to a file system I was shortly to lose access to), but that I'd be happy to discuss with his friend directly if he wanted to put us in contact.  He responded saying that he would look for a different dataset.


texts: How are UK undergraduate Master's degrees (MMath/MPhys/MEng) perceived in the US for graduate school admissions?

texts:
In the UK, it is possible to do either a 3 years long BSc degree or a 4 years long MMath/MPhys/MEng degree. Both types of degrees are considered to be undergraduate degrees and it is likely that the thesis requirement for MMath/MPhys/MEng is closer to the requirements for a BS thesis (than MS thesis) in the US.
The standard credit requirement for the completion of the BSc is 360 CATS (this should be roughly equivalent to 90 US credit hours according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_Accumulation_and_Transfer_Scheme). The MMath/MPhys/MEng degrees have a 480 CATS requirement that should be approximately equivalent to 120 US credit hours. It seems like in the US the requirement for the completion of a Bachelor's degree is 120+ credit hours.
I know that there are differences in terms of how the graduate programs in the US are structured depending on whether one enters with a Bachelor's degree or a Master's degree (for example, the comprehensive examinations need to be passed earlier by those entering with a Master's degree and the credit requirement is different). My primary question is whether the UK undergraduate MMath/MPhys/MEng degrees would be considered equivalent to the US BS degree or MS degree during graduate school admission.


texts: Past collaborator submitted paper with my name (and others) without notifying named co-authors

texts:
I worked briefly with Person A from a different university on a project in a competition. We were both PhD students. In this competition, our concept was based on combining mainly a system he developed before the competition and a device that I developed, also before the competition. Except for raising this combined concept, we didn’t do any actual testing or evaluation for this combined concept.
Since last year, I have also invited him to help analyze some data collected from a study of mine. I also invited two other researchers (Person B and Person C) from complementary backgrounds and who are more senior to help with the analysis. We have all agreed that all four of us will be co-authors for the final paper. We are coming to the final stage of our paper writing at this moment. Person A only knows Person B and Person C through my introduction in this case.
I have just received a notification email from a submission system that a paper was accepted to a conference. I entered the system to find the submitted version of the paper. It is a write-up of the concept of that competition. I would say 90% is based on Person A’s existing system. He has put me as a co-author. More strangely, he has also put Person B and Person C as co-authors. However, I doubt if Person B and Person C have ever heard of this project.
I found it very uncomfortable, as I am not comfortable to be associated with a concept and claim that haven’t been sufficiently evaluated. I know Person A cares greatly about the number of his publications. In fact, this is not the first time he did this. Last year, I came across a similar situation, and I successfully asked him to withdraw that paper (as that paper contains a large part of my work), which made him extremely upset. I hesitate this time, as the current paper of my study is very important for me and it has already been through several delays including serious illness of one co-author and COVID-19. I do not wish to upset him and negatively impact his work on the last stage of the current paper, which I have poured so much time and effort in. However, I felt it is unethical to include other people’s names without consent.
Note: This paper in question is mainly based on his system, which is a different discipline and it is beyond my capability to verify the system. However, where it combines the concept brought by my device, there is no evaluation at all, so it is an empty claim.
On the other hand, it could be that he includes me as a co-author as a courtesy though I feel I have only contributed conceptually.
I literaly don't know what to do.
Edit: I also realise that, if I accept that my name remain co-author, then as co-author, should I be responsible to inform Person B and Person C, or require Person A to remove their names?


texts: Is there an international taxonomy of academic titles/ranks?

texts:
Looking at the list of academic ranks on Wikipedia shows that the same academic rank/title can mean quite different things in different countries. For instant, a "research assistant" in the US can stand for an undergrad student doing an internship, while in the UK it can stand for a postdoc. Similarly, the term "lecturer" might stand for a permanent position (e.g. in the UK) or for a teaching assistant position, open to graduate students.

However, when thinking about it, there are not so many kind of possible positions (permanent or not, with teaching or not, with research or not, with PhD supervision or not, with team responsibility or not, etc), and having a clear title could help a lot (for instance, in my case, I've been working in four different countries, with a different job title each time!).

Is there some kind of official taxonomy that one could refer to?
If not, who could be in charge to create it? (the EU, if only for intra-Europe mobility?)


texts: As a recent PhD entering jobhunt, should I agree to host a weekly seminar?

texts:
I recently graduated and am temporarily employed as a lecturer at the school I graduated from (9 hours a week of teaching, not counting prep time).  There's a weekly seminar on my field of interest, and I've been asked to take over hosting it.  This would involve handling various logistics like planning the meetings, planning lunches, booking the room, etc. etc.  It would be a lot of work...  On the other hand it might be a neat opportunity to network/make connections/etc., but not that much better than the opportunity one would get just by attending the seminar.

Should I do it or should I save that time for working on my own research/jobhunting?


texts: Is it fine to make a poster on a topic in which I have an article under review?

texts:
Next week I am going on a summer school meeting where the organizers encourage us to bring a poster. I would like to make a poster on a topic that I have covered in an article that is currently under review. Is that fine?

The rules of the conference to which the article is submitted state that I cannot submit any paper that covers the same material to any journal, conference or workshop. Does a poster count as a paper in this context?


texts: Using a quote to begin a new chapter in a thesis

texts: I am doing a Masters thesis. Can I use a quote to begin each chapter of my Master's thesis?


texts: Bad GRE subject test scores in Brit/Am Lit---any chance at PhD admissions to an English Lit program?

texts: I want to apply to PhD programs in English Literature this December. I have pretty good stats from a good liberal arts college + summa thesis, but I majored in Russian Lit. I took a couple of English classes in college but I probably won't do very well on the GRE subject test in British/American lit. Is it possible to get into a PhD program with a good all-around application but bad subject test scores? Should I address my lack of canon-knowledge in the personal statement or leave it be?


texts: Is it a good idea to write an inquiry email to professors when applying for a Masters program in Europe and Asia?

texts:
I have read a lot of suggestions on mailing professors beforehand when applying for PhD. I, however wanted to know if the same strategy applies to a Master's program too?
I have been a professional for a few years, and I am applying for Masters in some top universities in Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Sweden) and Asia (South Korea, Singapore, HK) in CS (specializing in Data Science or Machine Learning).
However, I don't have any research based credentials and I became interested in research as part of my job and I want to maximize my chances of being accepted into a program because I have a poor CGPA (also failed in some core courses but managed to graduate in time) and NO academic recommendations (I have only professional recommendations). Also, I don't have any specific research idea - I would probably just work on what the professor is working on.
I had tried last year for Masters programs in the USA but got rejected everywhere. I don't want to repeat the same again.
Does it help at all mailing particular professors asking them if they are taking Masters students in the coming year?
Edit: I am applying for Research based masters because over the years I think I have more than made up for my poor grades by taking lots of MOOCs.
EDIT 2
What it eventfully boils down to is given that I HAD a slightly poor record, NO academic recommendations, BUT a great PROFESSIONAL record and a drive for learning...how do I MAXIMIZE my chances in for a RESEARCH based MASTERS program?


texts: Is it odd to contact past graduate student?

texts:
I am interested in pursuing a particular program and I find the name of some of the past students from professor's website.
Is it odd to write an email to these past graduate students and ask about the job and their future career?
could you please tell me what should I write to be natural?
I am particularly worried about finding the job and future career.


texts: My adviser is hesistant about letting me graduate. How should I handle it?

texts: I have seen the work of previous and current students and I have done a lot more than them, and my dissertations is about 60% written already, however, my adviser seems to not be comfortable with the idea of me graduating in May (Is January now). I have asked him several times up front and he keeps evading the topic and goes around it and never confirms it. He is always on travel and is not even at my same institution anymore, so that makes things worse. I have a job lined up and he knows about it, but he seems to be holding me back. I have talked to fellow students and they feel he is being unfair to me. What should I do?


texts: On what factors is a dissertation approved

texts:
What are the factors that are considered when granting a PhD degree. For example, if a person has published excellent papers, but their dissertation is not perfect i.e. omissions and typos, would the committee consider it?
Also, what happens if they have good papers published, but the oral defense is not great.
People generally believe that if the dissertation advisors says OK, then everything works out. How true is that?
P.S. I am asking in the U.S.


texts: Applying to graduate programs unrelated to undergraduate degree

texts: Is it possible to enroll in a graduate program completely unrelated to one's undergraduate degree? Additionally, in my case, my undergraduate degree (computer science) is from outside the USA, and I'm applying to graduate programs (in English Literature) within the USA. Will this be a problem?


texts: Thoughts on Student with Bad Grades in Easy Courses and Better Grades in hard courses

texts:
I have a fairly weird transcript. I took two harder upper-year courses at the second-year of my undergraduate degree. I spent a lot of time working on these courses because I was fascinated by the course material and got A+'s in both of them. I did poorly in one lower-year undergraduate course and got a B+.

How will this reflect on the student for graduate admissions?


texts: What percentage of papers submitted to a conference or journal have been previously rejected in the same or another venue?

texts:
Is there any research/study/survey that looked at what percentage of papers submitted to a conference or journal have been previously rejected in the same or another venue?

I am mostly interested in the computer science field (machine learning) and English-speaking venues, but I am curious about other fields and languages as well.


texts: Losing hope in securing a decent postdoctoral position

texts:
This is my first post in this community, which stems from desperation and what I could only refer to as a state of hopelessness.
I completed my PhD in August and have been looking for postdoctoral positions in my field of research ever since. I have obtained my PhD from a top UK university (not quite Oxbridge, ICL or LSE, rather one tier lower than the said universities) and my supervisor is very well known in the field. Unfortunately, there are currently very few postdocs on the job market in my field and I had to resort to applying for projects that only loosely overlap with my field of research.
It may also be worth noting that in my field, it generally takes time to publish. Most people, including my PhD supervisor, as well as some renowned scholars in the said field, have published their thesis chapters sometimes as long as 2-3 years after graduation, after heavy editing and polishing.
My intent is to secure a decent postdoc at a respectable institution, but that dream seems dead. I have had 4 interviews so far and was offered a position at a random institution, which did not particularly publish well; so I declined that offer with the hope of securing a better one. One of the said interviews was with a very reputable Italian university, which I have yet to hear the outcome of, but I have little hope in securing that postdoc. The competition was fierce, with one candidate already having 4 years of postdoc experience under his belt and numerous publications in top journals, whereas I have none! Additionally, I have been invited for my 5th interview next week at a yet another reputable university, but having looked at the list of the applicants and their CVs for that position, the situation is not much different: for some of the candidates, this would be their 2nd postdocs and most have publications under their belt. Additionally, there is a Columbia University graduate in the list of applicants whose work is more related to the advertised position than mine - these are the people I will be competing against.
To say that I am feeling low is an understatement. If this is the sort of competition that I will be facing at interviews at each relatively respectable institution, I do not stand a chance in securing a decent position. I am incredibly motivated and was looking forward to get on board a project, publish, and also polish my thesis chapters in the process. But at this rate, it doesn't seem that I will be given the opportunity.
I was hoping to get the views and the experiences of more senior members. Is the situation as dire as I think, or am I blowing it out of proportion?
Thank you in advance.


texts: Is participating in open peer reviewing good or bad for early career scientists?

texts:
I see a few questions about open peer review (OPR), as more publishers move towards open access and open review.
As an early career scientist I wondering if publishing my name as a reviewer is a risky business as I am usually very thorough in my reviews but also try to be as fair and friendly as possible.
So I know that being a reviewer doesn't really count that much, it seems that publishing my name has potentially more pitfalls than advantages. I don't like to make "enemies 'among my peers as I respect their work, so I am afraid that my comments might be taken the wrong way and create potential conflicts. This for me would be the only reason not to participate in OPR. In my field people are mostly open and friendly, but of course there is competition.
The only possible advantage I see is that when I am being reviewed I might receive a more fair treatment similarly to the one I have given, but this seems less likely as the pool of potential reviewers is large.
Are there more advantages or disadvantages when participating in OPR?


texts: Is it wrong not to cite a bad quality paper when the literature on the topic is scarce?

texts:
Should I cite a paper that I deem of bad quality just because it is among the only two papers that use the same methodology I'm using in my research?

I'm writing a paper that uses a relatively new computational tool. There are ONLY two studies that use the same tool in similar research contexts. One did it superbly (Paper A). The other didn’t (Paper B). I have to make the reader aware I am not the first using this software in my field, but the scope of my paper is clearly defined and does not include delivering opinions on the other two papers (both papers are in my same field, but their research questions are so different to mine that, on behalf of directness, there is no point in discussing their results and wasting precious space in an already dense paper). In other words, a plain sentence of the sort “Software X has been use in rocket science before (Cite A; Cite B)” must do. But I feel a little uncomfortable for not differentiating between the disparate quality of the papers, perhaps sounding like I am endorsing Paper B at the same degree I am endorsing Paper A, and implying that readers should view both as having equally meaningful information. As a clarification, I do not see any wrongdoing by the authors of Paper B; it is just a flawed paper that made it into a top journal.

Is it ethical to skip citing a paper that I consider of bad quality? To what extent does citing means endorsement if no further evaluation of the cited paper is included?

Consider that the problem is more nuanced that it might seem. If the software was of customary use, no citation would be needed, but these two papers and mine are the only studies using the software, and I want to make the reader aware I am not a crank for trying this approach.


texts: how should I describe my status in job applications? I have just passed my PhD oral defence

texts:
I have passed my PhD viva voce and submitted my revised thesis. Currently, I am waiting for my degree to be conferred which will take one to two months. How should I describe/introduce my academic status in cover letters when applying for jobs?

I have learnt a phrase "degree pending", not sure if it suits my case?


texts:
A little background on my question. I recently gradated with my BS in Computer Information Systems and am looking to pursue a Master's program. I am also married with 3 children. I am looking for advice on which path to take. The two paths I am looking into are to either take on the Master of Computer Science in Computer Science program at Colorado State University or the Master of Science in Computer Science program at Boise State University.

The reasons I am looking into CSU's program is because it able to be completed 100% online. With my recent departure from the military, starting a new career, and the fact that I have taken many online classes in the past push me toward this program.

I am torn by BSU's program because the CSU program does not have a thesis requirement while BSU's does. My plans are to continue on to a PhD program at some point so the benefits of completing a thesis seem rather large. I am also local to BSU and would be able to complete the program as a traditional student. However, that "traditional student" status is sort of my deterring factor. As a father of 3 children, it would be very difficult to be gone most nights at class.

A long story short, is completing a thesis worth the stress that it would put on my family to have to take night classes? Would I be just as competitive for a PhD program later by completing CSU's Master's program? To be clear, I am not asking for a comparison of the two different programs.


texts: Is there a difference between an "update" to a scientific paper vs. a "new" paper in a scientific journal?

texts:
I have been doing research with a professor of mine pertaining to the topic of a well-received paper he wrote several years ago. The original paper discussed a computer program that the professor wrote. The research I am doing consists of adding new features to the computer program and broadening the scope of what the program does. The work does not change the basic premise of the paper, but rather expounds upon it and adds new applied programming concepts that have broader implications for the field. The professor wishes to publish the results of our research as an "update" to his previous paper, using the same format and information as the original paper, but with new information discussing the features being added.

Is this a common practice in academia? How are "updates" to scientific papers handled when submitting to journals? Will the paper be considered the same paper but only  republished with a new title and date or will it be considered a "brand new" paper of which I will have co-authorship?


texts: How can I find out how often my publications have been cited?

texts:
Is there a special database somewhere where you can see how often other scholars have cited you or your publications in their scholarly works?

My professor is always saying, "No one has cited me on this..."

Is that just his general assessment or does he know this from a verified source?


texts: Should a degree in an unrelated field be included in CV?

texts:
So, in addition to my PhD and bachelors degrees I have another advanced degree that is ultimately irrelevant (and entirely unrelated) to my research efforts and current academic discipline. Should I include this on my CV under education or not? Will it make me look less focused or simply more educated? Is it standard practice to include everything, regardless of relevance?

My understanding of the CV is that it should be specific to relevant research experience and pursuits, not necessarily complete.

Edit:

This post received WAYYYY more attention than I anticipated. Some background. I completed bachelor's degrees in physics and mathematics. I then went and completed a Juris Doctor, but, found myself a bit unchallenged working with softer logic and went back to Physics. In Physics, I've mostly done mathematical physics which borders on pure mathematics and computer science. My main concern was seeming flaky and unfocused.


texts: List with 2018 JCR impact factors, categories and quartiles

texts: I am looking for a PDF document or list that contains the new 2018 JCR Impact Factor for all journals, but not only showing Impact Factor, but also adding info about categories and quartile. Of course you can go to JCR website and look each time for each journal but this is very time consuming


texts: 'Corresponding author' (coauthor) is irresponsible regarding submitted paper. Should I step back from the collaboration?

texts:
I, and my collaborator (coauthor) from a different university had finished a work last year. We had submitted the full research article to one of the journal published by Springer. My coauthor was the 'corresponding author' for the same. We both had contributed equally to this work over a span of 4-5 months.

The article was submitted on March, 2016. Just after few days of the submission, the paper status remained as "With Editor". Till today (now) the status has not changed at all (not even the date of the status).

I have been trying to convince my coauthor (who is also the corresponding author) to pull out the paper from such a badly managed venue and submit it somewhere else. However, he is reluctant and not interested to listen to me at all.

Moreover, I can't (shouldn't) directly write the e-mail for the withdrawal of the paper, as I am not the corr. author. Moreover, it may create conflict of interests.

I have been thinking to step back from this collaboration. Is it a good idea?


texts:
I am just about to send a paper for publication, and I would be grateful for some advice on how I should acknowledge my fellow PhD students.

The paper in question is my own, in the sense that I am the only author. However, it is clear that science does not happen in vacuum, and it was helpful to have an informal discussion with my collegues from time to time. For instance, I would explain to them the outline of the argument, and they would see if they see an obvious error, or suggest that I use a well-know theorem which might be applicable, or ask a question about a possible generalisation.

What would be an appropriate form of acknowledgement? Is it generally a good idea to add a line like

"The author wishes to thank his fellow PhD students [insert a list of ~5 names here]"

in the acknowledgements section? On one hand, I feel it's best to err on the side of being too polite, but on the other hand I'm not sure if it won't come across as name-dropping or trying to win favor.

If this is relevant, my field is (pure) mathematics.


texts: Does a low score in mathematics on transcripts affect graduate admissions? (CS PhD USA)

texts:
Background: CS Undergrad Applying to CS PhD Programs in the USA.
I have a GPA of 8.9 ~ (after converting) 3.5? (Not too sure, I am in a Tier-II College in India).
According to me, I feel a GPA of 8.9 isn't too bad, I guess I'm in the 87-93 percentile of my department. But my lowest scores are in 4 out of my 5 math papers. I only scored the best grade in my 5th semester.
2 A's, 1 B, 1 A, 1 O (Hierarchy of Grades: O A+ A B B+ C .. F)
I know CS PhD admit panels require mathematically sound students and I actually am quite good at math. The few preprints and publications I have are all in mathematically involved topics. They are primarily machine learning but quite a bit of math is involved. It is pure coincidence that I actually somehow managed to perform bad specifically in the math papers.
I have good grades in my computer science subjects, good SOPs and LORs (at least I think I do, they will be research dense), internships.
Question:

Does this really affect my chances of getting into a good program?
Is there any way I can offset this?
Does a good GRE Quant score help in this? (Don't mind my asking)

Extra Question: Should I opt for a master's, get good grades in the math subjects there and better my transcripts?
(I really want to start a PhD and skip my masters. I enjoy research a lot).
Sorry for so many questions, I really need some clarity.
I am also aware Machine learning is mostly math, what I meant to say was that the papers are not only code heavy but also contain good theory.


texts: Do I have to change the article name when it is the extended version of my published paper?

texts:
I'm submitting the extended version of my published conference paper to a journal that has a special issue specifically related to that conference.
Besides adding 30% of more material to the article (as the computer science routine), do I have to change the article name?

On one hand, everything is the same besides having more experiments and more formulations or extra explanations, and it is obvious that the article and the paper are the same works.
on the other hand, how people may decide to cite which one later on?


texts: Are GRE Practice Guides Easier Than the Actual Test?

texts:
So far, I've found the verbal section in most GRE prep. materials to be ridiculously easy, but that worries me since this test is supposed to weed out grad. school applicants. Thus, I'm worried that the prep. books/guides are significantly easier than the actual test and that I won't score as well as I hoped. (I want to score in the top 10th percentile on the verbal section.) Conversely, some of the math problems are more challenging, which probably means I'll do awful on that section. (For reference, I'm in a humanities field which does not involve any math.)

So I wanted to ask if the study guide's material is comparable (in difficulty) to the test material?


texts: I realized I made a mistake after my paper was accepted for publication

texts:
I am in the field of epidemiology and my paper has recently been accepted for publication (after 2 rounds of revisions). However, I recently noticed some numerical typos affected several figures and tables. These errors do not affect the conclusions, calculations or results. I simply typed in certain values into the tables and figures incorrectly. I have contacted the journal, although in the past they have taken a long time to reply.
Does anyone have experience with this? Is there a chance this paper will be rescinded or would this be an easy fix where I can just resubmit the affected tables / figures ?
The paper has not been published yet. It was accepted for publication about 2 weeks ago.


texts: How much time do academics in fact spend refereeing the research of others, on average?

texts:
This and similar questions ask how much time a researcher should devote to reviewing a paper, or to reviewing papers in general. But how much time do scientists spend refereeing papers as a matter of fact?

I am specifically looking for answers based on empirical statistics with a large-enough n, be it within one or across several disciplines. I'm not so interested in anecdotes or educated guesses.


texts: Should you respond to a call-for-papers rejection email?

texts:
This question is related but I don't think it is a duplicate. I recently sent the abstract of my first paper to a call-for-papers for a conference. I received an email thanking me for the submission and then about a month later I received a longer email stating my submission was not selected.

What should I do now? I presume I could just leave it at that, or I could reply to them at least acknowledging their email.

However the conference is one I would be interested in keeping up to date about. Since they don't seem to have a website yet I am wondering if it would be appropriate to email back in order to acknowledge their email and request some information on how to keep up to date (maybe they have a mailing list) with the conference?


texts: Do reviewers really not know the identity of authors in fields that frequently use arXiv?

texts: The point of peer review is anonymity but since most authors upload their papers to arxiv long before the paper is published (at least for math, stats, computer science etc), the reviewers should see who wrote the script by simple googling right? Will this have an impact on the review process? That is, a famous scholar's article will more likely be accepted to top journal given similar quality.


texts: How much experience should a teaching letter writer have with my teaching?

texts:
When applying for academic jobs in the US, one is often asked for a recommendation letter from someone who can attest to your teaching abilities.

How much experience should the letter-writer have with your teaching? Should they have observed you teach multiple times? (In my present postdoc I will teach 3 courses per academic year, should I be inviting potential teaching-letter-writers to visit each course? Or perhaps a selection of undergraduate/graduate courses/seminar talks?)

Are the answers to the above different for postdocs/tenure-track jobs? Within tenure-track jobs, are they different for research-focused versus teaching-focused jobs?

I am personally in mathematics. I am assuming the answers will not be too field-dependent (please correct me if I am mistaken), so I left it out of the main body of the question.


texts: I published a review article in a journal that is not well known. Can I include it in my CV?

texts: A few months ago I published a review in this journal . Given that the journal is in Italian (although the review is available in both Italian and English) and that it is handled by a local university, I am not sure I could include this publication in my CV. What do you think?


texts: Can someone with poor coursework record but decent research profile fit in academia?

texts:
I want to try to enter academia by doing 2 postdocs after my PhD. However, I am bothered by the fact that I have been consistently poor/average in my grades during my undergrad, master's and PhD degree.
I had 3.2/4 GPA in undergrad. I had to retake 3 courses in my second year as I had flunked them. They were related to my current field of research.
My master's and PhD GPA were 3.75/4 each.
I had a bit of TA experience during master's and PhD. I took tutorials for a laboratory course for first and third year undergraduates.
Will my performance hinder my shortlisting for interviews in academia when I do apply for tenure track positions?


texts: I am currently near the end of the first year of my 3 year PhD. Unfortunately my experience has been very very disappointing. Well when I started the program, I was full of passion and enthusiasm for learning. However, my supervisor provides zero guidance, he gives contradictory information and he has no clarity about what he wants to do (it was his project). He does not even have a research question. Whenever I talk to him he says we are going to do this, we are going to do that, just a collection of methods and techniques with no clarity of what is it exactly that we are trying to do. I expected I was going to be guided in a systematic and step by step manner at least in my first year but due to these reasons I lost all motivation, now one year down the line, one year has been wasted and I have no idea what to do. There are many other problems which I have facing in relation to this but I have highlighted the main ones. How I can possible complete this PhD in two years. Can someone please help me or advise me?


texts: Is it okay for a PhD student to devote substantial work time to projects the advisor is not involved in?

texts:
For example, if he spends 20 hours a week on his advisor's project, and 20 hours a week on a project with another professor (that the advisor is not involved in).  Do most advisors find this acceptable, or do they see this as taking up work time that belongs to them?

And what if those 20 hours a week are spent on non-research activities, such as taking classes unrelated to the topic of the PhD, or a part-time job outside the university?


texts: Not citing code libraries used for paper

texts:
I'm submitting a paper to a CS conference, where I've just got the feedback from my professor. He wants to delete the few lines citing the implementation libraries such as sk-learn as well as more specialized libraries (3 in total). He feels that the lines don't fit in (which I kinda agree with) and that they make it look more like I just "plug n' played" without doing real research. On the other hand, I feel that the authors of these libraries should get some recognition for their hard work.

What is the general feeling towards not citing the libraries used? Would you advise me to discuss this with my professor or just delete the citations?

-- Edit --

It should be noted that the contribution is substantial and I definitely deem it good enough to be published. I just haven't done that much coding of new methods, but instead found interesting insights on important datasets using known methods.


texts: Does tier 1 or tier 2 depend on hardness of problem?

texts:
I have seen that many researchers from application side of computer science publish in ICALP (tier 1 conference ), where as only very few people in theory side publish in a top tier conference. For an example to me it appears that there are many researcher's works in theory like complexity theory publish their papers in tier 2 and tier 3 and only a few ( stars ) publish in a tier 1.

Question : Is it true that publishing anything in theory in tier 2 ( let's say ) is equivalent to publishing something in tier 1 in application side?

For an reference I have used this website : http://www.conferenceranks.com/#data


texts: Where do they keep record of graduated students?

texts:
I'm wondering if it is possible to find out if someone is graduated from a University. Like, I could write on my CV that I graduated from Harvard, but then how can you prove it? Suppose I'm an excellent hacker, I could still fool people by doing clever tricks that make a counterfeit of a diploma or something. So I'm wondering if there is an official protected and verified database that records the information that a person is a graduate from a specific university?

Suppose that I'm an employer and I want to verify my candidate is a graduate of X university, how do I do that? What if the university is in Canada?


texts: Is it appropriate to use others' images in publications?

texts:
I am writing a paper which will eventually include several of (my own) computer-generated illustrations.  However, I have found a similarly-styled image in another paper (not mine) which clearly and attractively explains a preliminary point that I am trying to make.

Is it appropriate to use this image (with credit, of course) as an inset in my own paper?  I am genuinely not sure.  I have heard of people who avoid this practice so much that they will reproduce almost exactly the same image on their own, but I am not sure if this is strictly necessary.


texts: Applying to graduate program - propose research project?

texts:
I am a rising fourth year chemical engineering student applying to graduate programs in statistical mechanics (condensed matter and biological physics) this fall. I have been working on research projects in two different research groups for the past two years, and will be submitting a manuscript (for my biophysics project) in a couple of months.

Some of the programs I will be applying to have advised students to contact the principal investigators whose research interests them before applying, while other programs do not mention anything of the sort.

I am wondering if it is standard practice for prospective students to propose a specific project (aligned with the PI's current research), or if I should simply express my interest in their work and leave it at that. Of course, if it is the former, I expect the PI to modify it as they see fit.


texts: Is there a conflict of interest when the supervisor and co-supervisor are husband and wife?

texts: I have been co-supervised by my primary supervisor's wife. Suffice to say that this has been problematic where both have different research interests. Each asks me to do different jobs and they often bring their home fights to work. My primary supervisor is always submissive to her will whenever she is around. Though he supports me in every decision I do and my research behind her back. It is been a nightmare and was wondering if there are some written rules that such scenario is a conflict of interest.


texts:
I am about to finish my Bachelor Degree in Computer Engineering and Computational Biology, and planning to apply for a MD-PhD with focus on oncology. After talking to my academic advisers, I had very bad impressions about MD-PhD Program ("such a waste of time", "please just focus on one thing at the time"). However, it seems that such critiques are targeting the general approach of MD-PhD programs, and I still think that for the case of cancer research, it would benefit me a lot to gain the experiences in both.

To that extent, I have one question with two sides: Does earning an MD help improve my research as a PhD (for example, identify more significant and meaningful problems), and does earning a PhD side help me become a more skilled practicing oncologist?


texts: I would like to contact a Professor to ask if he might be interested in my research project. I can find his email contact and also the contact of his secretary from his personal website. I would like to write him directly, since I am not asking for something bureaucratic.  Do you think am I right?


texts: Statement of research interest as an early Master's student

texts:
I need to write a statement of research interest for internships in applied mathematics and computational science that I am applying for this summer.

Having just finished my first semester of graduate school, I feel that I have not fully defined my research interests. However, I have participated in several ongoing research projects and have already interned at a national laboratory.

How can I write a successful statement of research interest at this point in my education? Should I write about what I have already done, or focus on what I want to research in the future?

If I focus on the future, I feel that I will have trouble articulating where I want my research to go... because I really don't have an answer yet!


texts: How should a student deal with personal criticisms from an assistant professor?

texts:
I am a PhD student. In the past I have met with an assistant professor for some general advice about my research, both times he has made off the cuff comments on my lack of competence as a researcher and overall career suitability in academia. During my continuation, he made further comments in this area. I prepared for 3 weeks solid for my continuation (or transfer or confirmation, in my case, it's like the defense of the first paper) and it went terribly. I can take constructive criticism and I welcome it, so as to better my paper. However, his behaviour I feel is inappropriate, as the focus should be my paper, and not my personal qualities.

I am not sure what to do, if I should even do anything at all. In general, I consider my PhD progress to be very good, and my supervisor as far as I know shares the same sentiment.

I'm cautious to respond to the  assistant professor, because he tells me I am being defensive, but then I am cautious of being too silent because he tells me I am not contributing enough.

I have not spoken to my supervisor since my continuation or told him about my past encounters with this professor. Do I express my disappointment and confusion in our next meeting, or do I just leave it? I am lost on what to do, and I feel very deflated now.


texts: Is it standard to ask for an "equal contribution" footnote in a 60%-40% scenario?

texts:
I'm working on research that should be sent to publishing in the next couple of weeks.
The research is done by me and a friend of mine; we are both under the same professor. This started as an attempt to improve on another paper which I'm the third writer on, but it quickly turned into a new idea which we will try to publish as a separate paper; because of this weird sequence of events, we didn't talk about who takes the lead.  I'm taking tasks on almost every field of the research (building taxonomy, writing code, running experiments, writing the paper itself, etc.).
I'm also considering the amount of ideas and implementations that wouldn't be done if not for me.
I would say that overall my contribution is around 40%.

In my field, it's common to have an "equal contribution" footnote if two or more authors contributed equally. What is the common standard to ask for an "equal contribution" footnote?


texts: How should I credit co-authors of a paper in conference proceedings I prepared myself?

texts:
Suppose I've done some research as part of a (small) group, and this research has been published as a paper with all group members listed as co-authors. Then I go to give a presentation on this research at a conference, but I prepare the presentation and the writeup for the conference proceedings mostly on my own. Is it normal to list all the co-authors of the original paper as authors of the conference proceedings? If not, is there a particular way I should credit them in the proceedings, e.g. a footnote, or in the acknowledgments section?

I know the obvious answer is probably going to be that I should ask my co-authors how to credit them, and I will do that, but what I would really like to know is the most common practice, if there is one. (My field is particle physics)


texts: My advisor asked me to co-author a paper, but I have no interest in an academic career

texts:
I recently finished an undergraduate program and obtained an engineer’s degree. I am working as a software engineer at an automotive company and I can only imagine myself having a career in “production”, meaning working for a private company for a while and eventually starting a company of my own or working as a freelancer. This is to say I have no interest in pursuing a career in academia.
In my country it is very common that people start a master’s degree immediately after finishing their bachelor’s degree. I did not enlist for a master’s program and I am still debating whether I find it worth doing several years from now or not.
However, recently the professor that acted as my advisor for my diploma project asked me whether I want to co-author a paper that would be presented at a conference and later submitted for publishing in a journal. The paper’s topic encompasses the topic of my diploma project and the professor said he would like to use parts of my project for this paper.
I like the idea of being a co-author on a published paper, but I suspect this will mean a lot of work and I wouldn’t want to do it if the only thing I got out of it was the achievement alone. Would there be anything to gain from doing this if I don’t intend to pursue a career in academia? If there is no good reason to do it, would it be appropriate to give the professor permission to use my project for his paper without asking to be listed as co-author?
EDIT: Thank you very much for all your answers and encouragement! I emailed the professor back telling him I was interested, but that the time I could invest was limited and he told me it would not be a problem since he will write the paper, my previous work being enough of a contribution already.


texts: How should a student defend his 1st authorship in front of his advisor politely and effectively?

texts:
Inspired this good question, I think posting this question will surely benefit the next generations of students, albeit this does not happen to myself.

The research students will publish several papers along the research road under someone's supervision. When it comes to the issue of the author order, the student and the advisor may not always reach an agreement. i.e. Sometimes the student thinks he or she deserves the 1st author, but the advisor doesn't.

In such cases, the students are usually very worried and upset. Having been working on that topic for such a long time, the student feels very disappointed to be listed as the non-first author. Being the weak party, the student may not even dare to argue with his advisor. After all, the advisor is kind of "in control of" his remaining PhD life.

Simply put:

How should a student defend his or her 1st authorship in front of the advisor politely and effectively?


texts: Suffering boredom in proofreading own paper

texts:
For two years I've been working on drafts of a paper. I'm happy to keep incorporating new sources and improving the paper, because the topic is fascinating, and I'm confident that my work is worth publishing. However, when I print the current draft out to look over after making edits, I can barely read a paragraph before my eyes glaze over and I lose interest. Earlier in the project, when my paper was worse but the subject was fresher in my mind, I was able to calmly read my own writing. Now I find it very difficult.

I wouldn't expect anyone else to read something that I can't, which makes me reluctant to seek feedback -- I don't want to waste people's time. Still, I'm pretty sure the writing itself isn't a total catastrophe, and that I am just "sick" of working on this paper. That's hardly a useful diagnosis. What should I do?


texts: When is it acceptable to report classmates who cheat on an exam?

texts:
So for one of my computer science classes, we have a WhatsApp chat among all students in the class to network and help each other out with questions regarding homework, or if we have any confusion on assignments. It's a given that we can get help on these types of assignments.

But exams are proctored online, and getting help on them is strictly forbidden. However, some students in the chat have posted to the WhatsApp chat during their proctored exams, posting photos of the exams, the questions, and receiving help from others during their exams.

Why would I care about this? So normally, when a student cheats on an exam, it would have no effect on another student because the two overall students' grades are unrelated. However, the exams are curved. So these students that cheated on the exams **not only have an unfair advantage, ** but they also put other students at a disadvantage. Them doing exceptionally better than they would have has the potentiality to reduce other students grades by up to 10-15% of what it would be. So if Student A would normally get a 65 because they don't know the content, they now get a 89, thus, throwing off the entire curve. However, student B who actually DID try his hardest and studied got an 74. Their grade would have been higher with the curve, but student A cheating disrupted the curve. As a result, student B gets an 79, where they would've had an 84 without the several cheaters with almost perfect exam scores at the top.

Personally, I hate to be 'that girl' that reports someone else like a snitch... But I worked so hard in this class. I studied for 6 hours every day before this exam, and got an 83... and these people admit in chat that they would probably fail if they didn't use WhatsApp (have it screenshotted-saying that exactly). So I worked so hard and got an 83. They cheated and got a solid 90, doing no studying, no hard work on their own part. They work full time, so they complain they don't have time. But how is that my fault, or the fault of the other students that the cheater makes different life choices, or chooses to put less time into school, and we as a result should suffer? That's my rationale for wanting to report them. I play fair, so why should we suffer because they don't?


texts: HiWi payment in Germany for student with international bachelor's

texts:
I am working at a German research institute as a HiWi.

HiWi jobs pay hourly wages based on the education level of the employee.
For instance there is a "without bachelors" and "with bachelors" wage.

Prior to taking the job, I was told that I would be paid the hourly rate "with a bachelors" because I have a B.A in Economics from North America.

Im am currently studying a B.Sc in Molecular biology.

Now the institute says that there is a law which says that they will not recognize my North American education because Im currently studying a B.Sc in Germany. Thus, they are only paying me at the "without bachelor's level".

Does anyone know of the laws surrounding these issues.

Thanks,
D


texts: Can you study and contribute to physics if you are a mathematician?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate student majoring in mathematics; I totally love it and I want to get Ph.D in pure mathematics.

I'm also interested in physics, especially the theoretical field; my favorite areas are relativity and quantum theory. Of course, I'm more into mathematics than physics, that is why I majored in math; plus I don't get as high grades in physics as I do in math.

Now here is my question, if I became a mathematician, can I switch to physics easily if I wanted to? I heard a lot about mathematicians contributing to string theory and other areas. I guess what I'm looking for is not a total switch to another field; rather it's more like the ability to learn more about physics easily and being able to contribute to the theories.

What I meant was that I want my Ph.D to be in pure math; in essence my focus would be on math. But also I want to study the stuff that interests me in physics, e.g. GR, String theory, etc. I'm asking if it's possible for a professional mathematician to

study these subjects in depth without much difficulties; and I'm referring to difficulties in getting enrolled in classes and being able to handle them, and
be able to contribute to these fields

I'm sorry English isn't my first language, I hope I made my question clear.


texts: What format should sources be cited in a thesis Literature Review?

texts:
I have a LaTeX document with a separate .bib file that lists all of my references.
When citing them in my Literature review, it appears as the number corresponding to that reference, not providing many indications to what paper I am talking about unless you click the internal hyperlink to see.
Would I say:
\cite{source} contains an X model, Y model, and a Z model. An X model is represented by..."

[1] contains an X model, Y model, and a Z model. An X model is represented by...

or

source contains an X model, Y model, and a Z model. An X model is represented by...

p.s. I would ask my supervisor if he hadn't been on holiday this past week with another week left to go (:


texts: Submitting an official transcript vs unofficial transcript for postgraduate studies; why the difference?

texts:
What is the reason that some post graduate schools only require an unofficial transcript upfront vs. an official transcript(referring to online application submission). And if they require an unofficial transcript, but you have an official in pdf form, is that fine as well.

Have schools come to the conclusion that an unofficial transcript is most likely valid, have there been less incidents involved in tampering with original documents? Is this related to how less schools are requiring standardized testing?


texts: What are potential PhD funding sources for international students in UK?

texts:
There are several answers available on Academia but all of them are 4 to 5 years old. That is why I am re-asking this question.

I was looking for a PhD in UK and contacted a professor of my interest. He's agree to take me but he said he doesn't have funding.

I searched over internet for potential funding sources but I could not find the one which is completely covering all of the expenses. There is one studentship available but it will only cover fee at home/EU rates, which are much less than international rates. Moreover, I can't apply for commonwealth scholarship.

What are other potential PhD funding sources?

Edit:

The field of study is physical sciences, physics to be exact.


texts: Can I submit a conference abstract that duplicates a submitted paper?

texts: I have a paper already submitted to a journal. Now, I want to try and submit an abstract to International Congress of Mathematicians 2014. The abstract basically contains the same thought and spirit of the submitted paper though I plan to rephrase it differently from the abstract and introduction of the submitted paper. Does this violate publication ethics?


texts: Is there any advantage to request a in-person interview over a Skype one?

texts:
I have recently applied to a PhD position and have been invited for a Skype interview. I am thinking about proposing to have the interview in person instead.

The website states that "interviews will be conducted either in person or via Skype", so in person interviews are possible. I will also not ask for any compensation, since flights are very affordable and I can be hosted by a friend.

My reasons to ask an in person interview is to get a change of seeing the campus/offices and to maybe appear more motivated and invested in the position.

How do you think such a request would be perceived? Would it be slightly appreciated or make me look like I am trying to hard? Or would it be completely indifferent?

Furthermore, are there substantial differences with regard to the interview itself? Would it be "easier" in person because it is easier to connect, or is it "harder" because you are subconsciously by everything you do before and after the interview?


texts: Advisor asking me to do review work after my PhD is finished

texts:
In the question Is it common to review papers assigned to your supervisor?, it is answered that it is not uncommon for the advisor to ask a student to review a paper.

I was ok with it during my PhD program. But now my PhD is finished, and even though I keep working with my advisor on some research papers related to my thesis, he sent me a new request to review a paper on his behalf.

I really would not like to review this paper, as it was not assigned directly to me and I'm not a PhD student anymore. On the other hand, I don't want to sound rude and, in the future, I plan to work as a teacher on the same university, so I wouldn't like to burn any bridges.

How should I answer to this?


texts: Is it moral to propose work that's already partly done?

texts:
Academia involves a lot of proposals and approvals and it can save effort to combine them. A grant including work that's already been started is easier to satisfy. The applications I receive for independent study describe work that students have already started on. My grandfather used to tell me about submitting the same paper in several courses in his student days.

To generalize between these cases, failing to clarify the amount of work already done is a common tactic among researchers. What moral principles guide such actions? Are some specific techniques kosher and others off limits?


texts:
How do you think next year's PhD applications would be affected by the COVID-19? Will we be seeing less numbers or more? Will they be more competitive?

Edit: mainly asking for applicants to the US and UK.


texts: Applying for PhD admission at more than one department in the same university

texts: I was wondering if it is legal, and also advisable to apply for a PhD position at more than one department in the same university. For e.g. I am interested in representation theory and string theory. So would it be possible to apply to the maths and physics department, or there would be inter-departmental clashes leading to my application being disqualified. I guess the rules would be different. SO what are the rules in US and Europe unis resp.


texts:
I am going to send a manuscript for publication. I made the work in my vacations (while having a fellowship) with my own resources and, although related, it was not part of my research plan.

My fellowship is over. I still teach at some university but I am not paid for doing research. However, the institution prefers being the affiliation.

I am trying to figure out what is more convenient, publishing with or without affiliation considering the following:

I am in need to find work as researcher in any country due to the almost null probabilities of make research in my own country. I tend to think that a paper published with no affiliation should be good received by the employer, due to it shows real interest in the subject (because of doing the work for free in free time). But I am not sure about how this is considered around the world.
Maybe, in real life, it could be more difficult to publish with no affiliation.


texts: Where to write famous quotes in my dissertation?

texts: sina madani asked: "Do I need to cite the source of a famous quote in my thesis?" However, my question if I choose to write famous quotes in my dissertation, where and how should I write the quotes? What should I do for both cases if I am writing them per chapter and for the whole dissertation?


texts: Can non-PhDs or non-Masters be on an accredited college's faculty?

texts: Do U.S. college accreditation agencies forbid teachers with only a bachelor's degree to be on the faculty of an accredited U.S. college?


texts: How should I systematically go about looking for bursaries/scholarships for an internship in the UK?

texts:
I am an Indian undergraduate engineering student in electronics and communication engineering. I recently had a conversation (via email) with a professor at the Royal Holloway, University of London. The professor works in my subject of interest, and so I had mailed him asking whether internship opportunities are available for the next summer. I also mentioned that I'm willing to self-fund as far as travel and living expenses are concerned. He said that it might be possible to arrange for an internship, however, he's not sure if he's allowed to not pay me. Naturally, he is a very busy person and told me that it might take him some time to gather more information about my situation. Meanwhile, he asked me to look out for scholarships/bursaries which might be available to me (during the internship period).

Now, being an Indian, I'm not very sure how these things work in the UK, nor am I particularly certain about what he meant by bursaries/scholarships. I did search the net for "funding+internship+UK", but couldn't find anything relevant to my situation. Most of the scholarship schemes I found are meant for undergraduate or graduate students who are going to study there for a period of 3 or 4 years, or for postgraduate researchers. I already mailed the Royal Holloway's international student support and the British Council and am waiting for a response from them. Is there anything else which I can possibly do from my end?

To summarize, basically my question is two-fold:

Are scholarships/bursaries (whatever that means) for research internships (in the UK), at the undergraduate level, available for non-UK students?
If yes, how should I go about looking for them? What are the places I should search first? Whom should I contact first?

P.S: I must clearly mention that I already thoroughly searched my own university's website but it seems that they don't have any funding schemes to support abroad internships. So, probably I'll need to find an external source for funding.

Update: The British Council replied that they do not have anything specific for my situation at the moment, however, I should keep an eye on the "scholarships tab" on their website, for future opportunities.


texts: does a database containing list of all journals and related meta-data exist?

texts: Is there any database where I can find a list of all the journals and filter the database based on the Impact factor, publisher and category (Open access or commercial)?


texts: Can an improvement to an existing implementation be publishable?

texts:
My master thesis is an improvement of a code. I gave this code about one year and half ago from the author of the one paper.

After working on his code, I improve the result. but my implementation is not a lot. My added part to his code is less than 300 lines.

The base paper was published on 2013 in the journal with impact factor 2 .

My question is "improvements works" have the ability to send to a journal? Or when you can send your work to journal which you should develop the whole things.

By the way the issue which I am working on is one of the new standard.


texts: Is it ok to submit a paper to arXiv after copyright transfer?

texts:
I have a paper that was accepted and is already in press (you can download a PDF online), and I have already filled out the copyright transfer.

The publisher allows uploading preprint versions (including revisions after reviewer comments) to repositories such as arXiv, but is it ok to do so at this stage?


texts: Medium-quality English conference vs. Higher-quality non-English conference

texts:
As a first-year masters student in a non-English speaking country who is considering to later continue to study Ph.D. abroad (US or Canada), which option would be more desirable? Publishing in a medium quality (locally held) international conference which is in English (and indexed by IEEE Xplore) or a higher quality (local) non-English conference or journal?

Clarification: neither conference is top by international standards. It's a question of comparing two nationally known conferences where the English one has less national reputation.


texts: How can I find an old paper when the usual methods fail?

texts:
I am trying to find the paper "The resistance of pure mercury at helium temperatures" by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. It was published in the Communications from the Laboratory of Physics at the University of Leiden in 1911.

This is the first publication of the discovery of superconductivity and it is cited in many texts dealing with the subject. However, I was unsuccessful in finding the actual content of the paper with the methods: My university's library catalogue, Google Scholar and Google. I even tried the catalogue of Leiden University, but no luck there either.

Due to the significance of the paper and the fact that Leiden University still exists, I am fairly certain that the paper is not lost completely and I am just unable to find it.

Are there any other resources I can use to get ahold of this paper?


texts: How can I add a DOI or link to my article on Google Scholar?

texts:
My article was published in a very mainstream and widely-read journal several months ago and has been available online since then, but I cannot find it on Google Scholar. I tried adding the article manually, but I cannot find anywhere to put either the article's DOI or a link to the online version. It would be convenient to allow people to link directly to the article from the Google Scholar entry. Is there any way to do so?

The Google Scholar help page says

  If you're an individual author, it works best to simply upload your paper to your website, e.g., www.example.edu/~professor/jpdr2009.pdf; and add a link to it on your publications page, such as www.example.edu/~professor/publications.html.

But I don't see anywhere to include a link on the "Add article manually" page.


texts: Is it appropriate to 'build up' your findings in a paper?

texts:
I'm working on a Mathematics paper at the moment, and my first finding was fairly specific. The next finding generalised the first finding, and my third finding generalised my second finding.
My first and second findings are therefore just special cases of my third finding, but they are still significant.
Is it appropriate for me to write all 3 findings in the paper and build upwards from the first, including the proofs for the the 1st and 2nd finding and generalising as we go, or should I just include the 3rd finding only, and point out afterwards that there are a couple of significant special cases that follow from it (namely finding 1 and finding 2)?
(Although including all 3 findings would lengthen the paper, I also feel that it would provide more of an insight into how I found result 3, rather than just mysteriously producing it from scratch.)


texts: Negotiating with an editor after a failure to review a paper honestly

texts:
Suppose the first paragraph of a paper submitted to a journal says "We prove that the Riemann hypothesis follows from Catholic doctrines concerning sacraments [etc.]" and the referee's report accompanying the rejection says "The author's purpose is to prove the P =/= NP conjecture . . . " etc. and explains that that fails.

How reasonable would it be to argue that the journal should reconsider on the grounds that the paper was not honestly reviewed? And in so doing, how would one avoid offending the editor who probably holds the referee in high esteem and has never heard of the author?


texts: Resume Question: How do you put mastering out of PhD on resume?

texts: I am currently in my 2nd year in a PhD and going to master out in May. Should I put "leaving PhD" on my resume? Or just Masters? My field is in Computer Science where mastering out is quite common.


texts: How to publish a corrected proof for a claimed mathematical result?

texts:
I work in the field of theoretical computer science, and I have published a paper with several results. A few years later, a reader reported to us an error in the paper. The paper claims a theorem X, but the proof given actually shows a somewhat weaker result X'.
Thinking about it, I have been able to come up with a proof of the originally claimed result X, using somewhat different techniques. The new proof is not interesting to merit publication as a new paper, but the fix is not trivial either so I'm not fine with leaving the mistake as-is. Besides, result X is not central in the paper, and it is indeed correct (only the proof was not), so this is not a situation where we should think about retracting the original paper altogether.
I'd be interested in the community's opinion about what's the best way to proceed to publish this fix to an erroneous proof. I can see at least two options:

Option 1: publish a revised version of the paper with the original claim of X and the new proof (and a comment that the original version of the paper had a mistake). I think this would be the most comfortable option for future readers. That said, it may create confusion as the original buggy version of the paper will still be around. Plus, I would imagine that ethically I cannot do this without approval from all authors of the original paper (at least one of which has now left academia).
Option 2: publish a separate note on arXiv containing just the new proof of X, and publish a revised version of the paper providing the proof of X' plus a pointer to the new note for the proof of X. This has the advantage of leaving the original material essentially intact, plus the note can be authored only by the people who are still involved. But it is less pleasant to the reader (who must jump to ta different document), and it is more work for us (since one would need to re-explain the whole context in the note, etc.), all for a not-so-interesting fix.

[With both options, I would publish the updated version of the paper simply on arXiv -- dealing with the publisher would only complicate things I think.]
What do you think would be the best option? Essentially the question can be summed up as: when is it better to fix errors in a paper simply by updating it, and when is it better to publish the fix as a separate note?


texts: Asked again to review a paper, when the authors don't wish to modify it

texts:
I have received a manuscript to review for a journal. The interesting thing is, I had already reviewed this article (exact same title, abstract and author list, almost exact same content) for another journal a few weeks ago where I recommended that it be published, but only after major revisions of both form and content. When I first reviewed it, I wrote a two-page review, listing some questions and several “actionable” comments, ranging from some concerns about exactness of the text (some conclusions didn't seem fully backed by the results) all the way down to trivial stuff (grammar, a few typos, graphic issues with the figures, etc.).

Now, the manuscript has come to me for review again, but it is almost unchanged from the first version. None of the serious stuff has been addressed, and even most of the trivial stuff was not fixed (there's at least one remaining typo, and the figures still aren't fully legible). However, I think this behavior from the authors is clearly a bad signal, which should be somehow conveyed to the editor: they're not willing to amend their work, and would rather do some journal-shopping.

What would you suggest me to do? Should I just re-send my earlier review? Add a note to the editor about my knowledge of the “history” of the paper? Or maybe even include it in my review, so the authors are aware that people know of their behavior, and maybe feel bad enough to change their ways?

PS: I wrote it in the present tense, but it's actually a story from my past. I'm not sure I did the right thing at the time, and I think it's better to actually formulate it as an open question…


texts: Is it right to use 'X is a new research topic of interest to our lab' to indicate that the lab has not done research on 'X'?

texts:
Is it right to use 'X is a new research topic of interest to our lab' to say that the lab has not done research on X before?

I want to convey:

1.The lab only focused on  research topic 'Y'(e.g. proteins) in the past. In the future, 'Y' will still be the focus, even though 'X' will be the secondary focus.

2.The lab lacked established biological experimental conditions for conducting research on topic 'X' (e.g. miRNA) two years ago, since topic X belongs to different field. I was the first student to conduct research on topic X.

I am a student, not the PI. I want to describe the experimental conditions when I began the project in PS for PhD application. I started from scratch and encountered many difficulties.

(I hope my edits would make the problem more clear, thank you! )

Besides, Is there a more polite way to say 'our lab'?  I mean the lab I belong to.


texts: What is meant by "space" in "respond in the space provided" in IEEE major revision letter?

texts:
Recently, I have received the following comment.

  When submitting your revised manuscript, you will be able to respond to the comments made by the reviewer(s) in the space provided. You can use this space to document any changes you make to the original manuscript.

Furthermore, I have received the original manuscript (in .pdf) as an attachment. The attached manuscript is highlighted with some red color underlined pop-ups messages.

I am having a doubt regarding the space. What is the space the editor is talking about? Is it the space specified in the original manuscript, or do I need to incorporate the same using a new response sheet.


texts: Obtaining followup clarification/feedback from referees via the editor

texts:
[This looks like something that might have been asked already, but I have not found a question like this on this site.]

I recently had a paper rejected with resubmission from a top Bayesian Statistics journal. This was not a surprise. My main reason for submitting to the journal was to obtain feedback, which I did obtain. I received two reasonably detailed reviews, one more detailed than the other (the longer a bit over 3 pages), as well as a very short and somewhat cryptic (one short para) comment from the Associate (Area?) Editor. Also, these reviews were delivered very fast, which was good. I submitted the manuscript on 27th of April, and it was rejected on the 3rd of June.

The general tone of the reviews is captured by the EIC's one line summary

  Your paper has been read by an AE and two referees. They have all found the topic interesting but with several major flaws in the methodology and implementation

Now, some points in these reviews are unclear. Would it be reasonable to write to the editor asking for feedback on those points from the referees? Perhaps something along the lines of

  Is this what you meant? If so, the answer is this. If not, can you clarify, please?

or maybe just

  I don't understand what you mean here, can you elaborate?

Assuming the message is forwarded and the referee replies, I suppose there could conceivably end up being a bit of a back and forth with the reviewers via the editors.

On previous occasions I have not tried doing this, but I have come to believe there is no sense in being too shy in such matters. If you want information, ask for it.

However, I wonder if this is considered unorthodox, improper or inappropriate procedure. It is relevant to note that I am not an expert in Bayesian methods. However, the editors and referees apparently thought my paper worth the trouble of reviewing in detail. Regardless, my lack of experience/expertise may hamper me in understanding the finer points of what is expected in the field.

I will of course do my due diligence in trying to understand the content/purport of the comments, but I don't see the point of my spending hours trying to guess what is meant when the referees could (hopefully) clarify the point in a few minutes.

So, to summarize, the upsides are:

If I get a response, my eventual fixes will be better and more targeted
I don't waste a lot of time trying to guess what someone meant. Maybe it was even based on a miunderstanding

The downsides are:

The reviewers/editors will not want to be bothered with responding to me. This will be especially true if this is not considered normal procedure
They might be annoyed by my (possible) cluelessness in the area.

If I don't ask for any clarifications, then I will just end up making my best guess as to what the referee means. I don't think that the results would be as good as if I was to get clarifications.


texts: Why aren't all research articles on PubMed?

texts:
I was recently doing some research on PubMed and I noticed that, in my field of research (plant science), some articles are referenced and others are not, even for two articles in the same journal...

Does everyone know what is (are) the condition(s) for a paper to be listed in PubMed?


texts: Whether/how to list a failed student on my CV

texts:
I'm a postdoctoral researcher.  My professor recently asked me to co-supervise one of her doctoral students, whom she also employed full-time as a research scientist.  Since I had no prior experience advising at the doctoral level, I gladly accepted.  Unfortunately, the guy turned out to be a phenomenally poor researcher.  He was habitually late for work, took absences without leave, lacked subject-matter knowledge that we expect even of undergraduate students, and had extremely poor oral and written communication skills.  I worked my best to help him, and we even managed to get a paper published (though I had to completely rewrite his draft, many parts of which were completely nonsensical or even plagiarised).  However, his bad work habits continued, and despite my tutelage he remained unwilling or unable to fill the gaps in his knowledge.  After about six months of my co-supervision, my professor decided to dismiss him from the doctoral programme and from employment.

I'm currently seeking employment, including tenure-track positions.  My question is whether and how I should list this failed student on my CV.  On the one hand, I think it would be helpful to show that I have at least some experience advising at the doctoral level.  But I don't want it to reflect poorly on me that the only such experience I had was ultimately a failure.  Should I list him or not?  And if so, what explanation, if any, should I include in the CV as to why the supervision didn't continue past six months?


texts: Is it rude to ask the associate editor about manuscript status for second time?

texts:
About six months ago I submitted a paper in one of the very reputed IEEE Transactions. I have observed from different papers published in that journal that the average time for receiving the first review is around 3 months. That is why I politely inquired about the status of the manuscript after around 4 months from the date of submission by sending a mail to the associate editor (AE). The AE promptly replied me about the status and said that two out of three reviews were still being awaited. However, it is now six months and I still do not see any change in the status of the manuscript in the online portal.

So, my question is: is it too soon to send a second mail to the AE asking about the status of the manuscript and can such second mail irritate the AE to the point that it might negatively impact the review process of my manuscript?


texts: What do PhD programs, specifically finance and Econ programs, look for in research experience?

texts:
I believe I have the pre-requisite GPA, GRE, tough classes, etc. to get in to a top PhD program in finance or economics. What I believe I am missing is the research experience.

What are these top programs looking for in the research arena, it's not exactly listed on their sites?

Is faculty supervised research experience a must have for a top 10 program? Or will independent research suffice?

If you have basically perfect attributes in the other metrics, does research experience matter too much?


texts: Why do most mathematics PhD programs in United States have rigid qualifying and breadth requirements for every PhD student?

texts:
For a long time, I have been confused about the purpose of having (roughly the same) qualifying requirements and breadth (course) requirements for every mathematics PhD student (in many, if not most, mathematics departments in the United States).

I have heard that European math gradaute programs do not have such rigid requirements. In U.S., although many math PhD students only start with an undergraduate degree and they do need a lot of training in graduate math, there are still a lot of students who come with a master's degree and that is the reason I add the qualification "everyone". I am just asking why we need (roughly) the same requirements for everybody in a program instead of having tailored requirements for individual PhD students, especially for those who have already taken graduate level classes, had their confirmed interests, and even written a Master level thesis in mathematics.

In response to the comments below, I will add some parts that I deleted earlier back.

An example: many programs, such as Stanford and Ohio State, require students to take qualifying examinations in real analysis and algebra. (Some programs require exams only in real analysis and algebra, despite having strong research groups in other fields like topology.) Why are real analysis and algebra both necessary for everybody? Does an algebraic geometer have to be so familar with abstract measure theory? Does a topologist have to be so skilled in using the "Big Three" theorems of Banach spaces? Does an applied mathematician have to know Galois theory so well? Moreover, the real research is quite different from exams. The statements of problems are usually not well formulated, there is no specific time limits, the techniques can be convoluted, etc.

Taking courses are not the only way of learning things in a PhD program. PhD students can learn a subject on their own or through student reading seminars. I am not denying the necessity of taking classes for certain students (especially those who come with undergraduate degrees)---that is why I added the qualification "everyone".


texts: Dealing with irresponsiveness from far-away scientists

texts:
When meeting some scientists in person, I've had good conversations with decisions upon interesting plans for research cooperation and personal visits. But then, subsequent contact by e-mail is difficult, where the other party either doesn't reply at all, or very slowly (several weeks +). However, when I then meet them again at a later date, they are still enthusiastic about the project (where the bulk of the work is mine) and a short in-person discussion makes more progress than the past months of (lack of) e-mail have. So it appears that a lack of interest in the project does not explain the lack of response. The project is scientifically interesting, fits with my PhD, and the visit enhances my chances of finding a post-doc after my PhD (it's a very good institute for my field).

I understand that many scientists are very busy and flooded by e-mail, but it feels sad to abandon a potentially interesting project just because communication by e-mail is not working well. I'm quite sure it would work if I were in the same building. What strategies exist to mitigate this problem? I can think of:

Try to ask a common acquaintance to poke him/her (my local colleague has a shared friend with him/her). Pro: Might get indirect feedback as to why the irresponsiveness. Con: involves 3rd party (may or may not be on-site) not necessarily involved.
Send reminder e-mails (did you see my e-mail from 20 February?). Pro: increases chances of being noticed. Con: may be considered annoying
Phone. Pro: hard to run away. Con: I don't like phoning and I don't like being phoned.
E-mail someone sitting in the neighbouring office. Pro: neighbour has small step to irresponsive scientist. Con: a bit strange to involve someone I don't even know
Give up on the project. Con: means no project and no visit.
Try to do the project without their input. Pro: no need for communication. Con: might waste a lot of time by trying known dead-ends that I'm not aware of.

What other options exist? What advantages and disadvantages have I not thought of? What is wise to do?


texts: What can I do as a graduate student to maximize my chances of obtaining a professorship?

texts: I've already completed my first grueling year of the PhD program, and graduation is still a yet to be seen light at the end of the tunnel.  I'm very sure that academia is for me, and I really want to obtain a tenure-track position in my field (computational science).  I know that universities often look very highly upon doing a post-doc and accumulating plenty of journal publications.  Of course, open faculty positions are extremely competitive and I'm sure that everyone applying for them have those qualifications already.  I'm curious if there is anything else I do as a graduate student to help maximize my chances of getting a Tenure-Track Faculty position in the future?


texts: Literature review both by keywords in title and sorting by publishing date

texts:
Is there any free online databases where I can do literature review by

(1)  giving keyword(s) that occur in title

(2) at the same time, sorting by publishing date from newest to oldest?

I found google scholar meets criteria (1) but it sorts by date only for one recent year. Pubmed meets criteria (2) but I am not finding option to search by (1) in pubmed.


texts: Misleading statement on duration of review process and withdrawal of under-review article

texts:
We submitted an article to a SCI Elsevier journal. The Elsevier website has clearly mentioned that submission to first decision takes 4.5 weeks, submission to
final decision takes 4.7 weeks and acceptance to citable online takes 7.2 weeks. After 60 days of submission I sent an inquiry email and editor replied just one line that the review process will take at least 1 year. I selected this journal based on IF, Q factor and most importantly the review process was quick. After hearing editor's response I decided to withdraw the article and submit it to other fast track journal.

Is it a valid reason to withdraw the under review article (as the wrong information was conveyed by the journal)?
Any suggestion how should I compose my email for withdrawal?
Is it possible the editor might refuse the withdrawal request?


texts: Reviews, feedback and comments from collaborators/supervisors when writing in RMarkdown

texts:
Posting here rather than on StackOverflow as the question is not code-related.
I have been wanting to make the switch to RMarkdown for academic writing (as opposed to Word) for a while now, but there is one question that has prevented me from doing so. Does writing in RMarkdown permit exchange of reviews and comments with collaborators/supervisors?
I understand that .doc output is an option and I can just send this file across for comments, but if I were to receive a draft back with many  changes and comments, how do I accept/reject those changes easily as in Word (with the click of a button)? Is manually making the changes in the .rmd file the only option? If so, can this workflow not become inefficient in the long run? How do people deal with this issue?


texts: Should undergraduate researchers expect payment?

texts:
I'm about a junior-senior in college and got the chance for an interesting lab that's conducting research information theory, where the role would be to help write ML model code. This is an area of interest for me and I think I could learn a lot from it.

I want to know if it's reasonable to expect to be paid, because this position doesn't compensate. I've heard of some positions that are and some that aren't. Money isn't that big of an issue but it's a nice to have. There are part time jobs I've been considering and admit that if I were to receive payment, I would probably spend more time doing research on this than working on my own projects. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn, disclaimer, I know I'm not entitled to anything.

I know it's related to and I don't want to open up the argument for should interns be paid. But are undergraduate researchers normally paid?


texts: What should I do if I submitted an article to a predatory journal?

texts:
Call it stupidity or bad luck but I am guilty of submitting my research article to a journal which is listed in Beall's List of Predatory Publishers.

It is my first article and I don't have much experience publishing articles. I was searching for a top impact factor journal and found this one on Google and in excitement sent my article (word and pdf files) in this journal a few days ago, only to discover later that this might be a bogus journal.

Now I am worried about that what will happen to my article. What if they plagiarize my paper, or send it to another journal not giving me credit?

My question is that what should I do now? Should I send my article to a reputable journal now? What should be the process? What if it is flagged for fraud by that journal? What are my options?

Any help would be appreciated.


texts:
There seems to be a sort of craze about having as many references as possible. Among the students at my university, it has become common practice to write a passage of text and later figure out if someone else has done something similar and attribute it to them, changing the original text if necessary.

Is this in any way, shape or form appropriate? It seems rather contradictory to me, since you are attributing your own work to other people, even if they came up with it first. The author did not have prior knowledge of this.

I suppose you could simply claim it as your own and note that someone else has come up with it, as well. Is this necessary? It is your own work, after all, even if somebody else came up with something remarkably similar.

Many problems have straight-forward solutions that you can easily come up with. I am asking this now, because I am writing my bachelor's thesis and have come up with some of those straight-forward solutions myself. I just now found, by chance, papers on exactly that subject and, reading them, realise just how similar our approaches are.

What would be the best way to handle situations like these?

Meta: I'm not happy with the title. If you can think of a better one, feel free to edit and remove this notice.


texts: What would be considered a "competitive" application for mathematics postdocs in the US?

texts:
What are the factors that make an application competitive for postdoc positions in pure mathematics at top tier universities (e.g. MIT, Harvard, Princeton, UC Berkeley, Stanford) in the US?

Clearly, one needs

Good recommendation letters
Interesting research articles
Some teaching/service experience.

In what proportion are the above needed? E.g. how many good articles, how many courses taught, etc. make an application competitive?

Is there any other important factor I haven't mentioned above?


texts: Knowing a lecturer from a previous course of study, would it have an impact?

texts:
I am a final year honours student (UK) who has come across a little bit of a predicament. About eight years ago when I was a teenager, I was undertaking a University course that I did not complete because of personal related issues. There was a lecturer that I did not get on very well with at the time because of this who I knew both from that and also from my previous school days. We had an argument once or twice; I was fairly young at the time.

When I started this new course a few years ago, (which is at a different University) I committed to achieving as much as possible, and I have managed to get a 'first' overall in terms of averages for years one and two. However in my final year it turns out that one of the examiners for my final year project is the same lecturer that I described above in the first paragraph (even though it is a different establishment).

So the question really is, should I have a reason to worry? Would under-performance as a teenager result in an unsettling experience or a bias of marks when it comes to the day when the viva is to be presented? My friends tell me that my worries are irrational as eight years is a long time and teenagers often under perform, but when I started to see if anyone else had this problem, I could not find any existing questions, and everyone on this community looked to be helpful in providing advice. If you could share any enlightening thoughts, it would be very much appreciated!


texts: How to reply to editor's comment such as 'Such a revised paper may be refereed and there would be no guarantee of acceptance'? Is it necessary?

texts:
I am preparing a detailed explanation of how I have dealt with all of the reviewers' and Editor's comments for a manuscript. The editor's comments are as follows:

  I regret I am unable to accept your paper for publication in XXX, at
  least in its present form. I should, however, be prepared to consider
  for publication a substantially revised version that takes into
  account the suggestions of the referees. Such a revised paper may be
  refereed and there would be no guarantee of acceptance. The three
  referees agree that you have obtained useful results. They raise a
  number of issues you should be able to solve relatively easily.

Is it necessary to reply to editor's comment like this? How to reply to editor's comment such as'Such a revised paper may be refereed and there would be no guarantee of acceptance'?


texts: How much money can you get at Canadian Research universities versus US Research Universities in engineering/CS/Computational biology?

texts: What is the common range of research money can you get at Canadian Research universities versus US Research Universities in engineering/CS/Computational biology? I am asking on some idea from personal grants, supervisor grants, research assistantships etc.