texts: Is there an open source tool for producing bibtex entries from paper PDFs?

texts:
In the desktop application for Mendeley, it's possible to import a PDF and have the bibliographic data automatically extracted (or perhaps looked up, I'm not sure).  This feature is more or less reliable.  However, Mendeley's code is closed source (they once promised to release the source, but then they were bought by Elsevier).  I'm looking for an open source tool that takes one or more PDFs as input and returns a bibtex entry for each.

I've found the following, but couldn't get either of them to work:

cb2Bib
pdfmeat

At present, the fastest alternative I know is to copy/paste the title into Google Scholar, and click the link to bibtex.  That's very nice, but I'm wondering if there is something more automated.


texts: What's the point in hiring assistant professors instead of more experienced professors?

texts:
I wonder what the upsides are of hiring assistant professors instead of more experienced professors.

I am mostly interested in US universities and computer science departments.


texts: "Breaking in" to reading papers in an unfamiliar field?

texts:
I graduated from my undergraduate degree about a year ago and took a job in industry.  While completing that degree, I did research with a professor related to machine learning.  However, after finishing that project, I don't think ML is where I'd want to do my research if I decide to reenter the academic world.

The advice I've received regarding applications to grad school is to be reading papers of a professor I want to work with, at least with enough understanding to suggest a new idea/direction of my own.  However, I don't really know exactly what I'd like to research, but I do have some general topics I'm interested in (categories on the level of "robotics" or "cyber-physical systems") --- figuring out what areas are still active research and what is ancient history is a bit harder than when I could just turn to my advisor and ask "what/who is at the cutting edge in this field?"

Aside from just "jump in the deep end and keep reading until it makes sense," are there methods or techniques that might help me build context or evaluate the areas I'm interested in?


texts: What is a "description of professional interests"?

texts:
I am about to finish a PhD in computer science and am on the job market. I'm mostly interested in small liberal arts schools, and have been working on application materials directed towards SLACs for the last month or so.

Almost every search committee wants a teaching statement, a research statement, and a cover letter and I've found plenty of resources for writing and honing these documents.

However, one position wants a teaching statement, a cover letter, and a description of professional interest. What is a description of professional interest? I cannot find any information as to what this document should contain, how long it should be, etc. And I haven't seen any other positions that ask for it. Is it just my research statement? Or is it an expanded version of the cover letter?


texts: 2nd master's degree in "slightly-different" field? data science and machine learning specifically

texts:
So i was accepted to a master data science program in the UK, but I am also interested in a machine learning specific program at another institution, also in the UK.

The thing is that my data science program has some overlap to the machine learning program, but not completely. The machine learning program has significantly more in-depth courses, and many other courses regarding deep learning's applications that are not available at my current program.

So is it fine if I apply for the machine learning program after the data science one? In the UK, are there rules that forbids this? Or would the admission committee just throw my app out since they deemed for some reason the two programs are too similar?

Thank you.


texts: How can I use my mathematical background when applying to physics PhD program?

texts:
I am a senior undergraduate and I am in the process of applying to physics graduate programs in the US.
Through my course of study, I've been excited about the interplay between physics and mathematics and studied mathematics up to graduate-level algebra, geometry, topology, functional analysis, etc. while pursuing a double major in mathematics.
I recently finished my first draft of SOP (Statement of Purpose). I stated that my experience in mathematics helped me grasp modern physics' mathematical formalism.
When I asked my colleagues to review my SOP, most of them said my mathematical background is "irrelevant and unimpressive," and they advised me to elaborate on my physics research experience.
I do have some research experience in physics, but it is rather weak. All I can say is that I attended the undergraduate research programs in both the physics and mathematics departments, and I wrote my theses there.
Admittedly, I didn't specialize in a specific research area in physics while pouring a lot of effort into completing a double major and exploring various subjects. Will this critically reduce my opportunities for being accepted to physics graduate school? What can I do to look appealing to admissions committees without exaggerating my experience?


texts: Does PNAS allow authors to request referees who have not co-authored with them but work at the same university?

texts: I'm looking to request an academic who works in an entirely different department and is an expert in the field, but he is in the same university and we have yet to co-author a paper together. Do you know if PNAS allows that? Is it too ethically ambiguous?


texts: Balancing an internet startup and a tenure track professorship

texts:
What should do or consider to simultaneously succeed at my new professorship and my internet startup?

I am starting a tenure track professorship in the fall. I am also on the team of  an internet startup which has received an initial round of funding. I have expressly limited my availability to the startup to the amount my university allows faculty to consult. That said, this is not consulting,  and no explicit rules regarding my situation are on the books beyond broad conflict of interest rules.

I am not alone in this decision to pursue academic and startup success together, and as I talk to others starting this path I see common questions as to what challenges we will face.

What factors should a dual academic/startup founder consider, especially pre-tenure?  I'm especially interested in advice from professors with a startup.


texts:
I am a second year mathematics PhD student (Austria) in computational geometry, although I have obtained my Master's in algebra. However, I have the impression that I must have done my stuff severely wrong since I started my PhD.

I haven't published anything so far, or developed to an extend that deservers being published. I have certainly learned less than in any semester of my studies. I waste a lot of time because I either have no idea what to work, or, if I occasionally find something I could try, I have no ideas how to work on that problem. This is particularly surprising to me because I had been used to working very efficiently during my studies, not to wasting tome, to knowing what I do, which material I want to understand, whom to talk to if I struggle etc.

My supervisor (halftime of is tenure track, no gradudated PhD student until now) doesn't care very much. His style of "guidance" has been very hands-off from the very first day; according to him, doing a PhD is about becoming an independent researcher, so I should not expect anyone telling me what to work on, which attempts to try, or anyone explaining me particular mathematical topics. Probably, this is due to his background being in geometry. He has accepted me as his student because I am supposed to work on algebraic problems arising from his fields of interest. I wasn't aware that this means that I am supposed to cover knowledge he does not have.

Questions.

How do I succeed in a PhD without relying on anyone else to ask for explanations/problems/advice…?
How do I find promising problems, acquire the relevent knowledge and eventually solve them on my own?
How can I spot and learn relevant things in self-study as fast as I did when taking lectures during my studies?
How do I get rid of my imaginary need for exchange with experienced researchers fellow students?


texts: How common is it for a science research paper to include direct quotes?

texts: Is there a consensus that direct quotes should never be used in such papers?


texts: How should I deal with being harassed by my supervisor in a non-work situation?

texts:
I'm a female student in some huge and popular university in my country.

I have a supervisor who is much older then me. He is a very respected person in our community.

We worked together a lot, it was fine. We communicated about personal issues as well, but nothing sex-related and/or inappropriate. No physical contact, hugs or even handshakes.

There was nothing special until the day we were celebrating something along with a lot of other teachers and students. I had drunk more then I should and stopped realizing what was happening. Then I found myself face to face with my supervisor and he started to harass me. I waited for a lucky moment and ran away.

Now we are ok with this and go on working together. This episode is ignored but not forgotten. I feel responsible for this but not guilty. I know that I'm not the first student he had close relationships with. And I know that he thought I would not mind it, so, now he is sorry. I know about two very alike situations with my friends in two other universities in my city.

Should I blame myself for this episode? I think that only for my careless and non-professional behaviour, not for the sexual issue.

Do you think I had to leave the university or communicate to the authorities or something?

How can you prevent yourself of having such a person as your supervisor? In my opinion, if he wasn't interested in me that way, I could drink even more and nothing would happen.


texts: What must an international graduate student do before arriving in the US?

texts: I am an international student, and I am going to be doing an MS in Structure and Materials in Aeronautics at MIT. Before I arrive, what do I have to do?


texts: Is there benefit in listing fewer degree options in MS application?

texts:
When applying to university one can choose multiple degree programmes he/she wish to apply. Usually you also list them according to your priority. For example application can be targeted to:

MS in Physics
MS in Mathematics
MS in Computer Science

But does this makes an impression for admission board that person is not really knows what he wants to study? Is this somehow beneficial if for example I would state just one option for MS in Physics and nothing else?
For me personally it makes more sense to state just one degree programme in my application, because I would not be really satisfied if I would be "forced" to continue my study in the field I am not so interested compared to my number 1 priority.
On the other hand if I do so then I would basically make my chance to get accepted 3 times less, and that baffles me. But again if I not get accepted then I can wait one year and try again with better education and recognition.


texts: Can a PhD student apply for another PhD program in some other university?

texts: Would it make a negative impact on my PhD application if they get to know that I am already enrolled in PhD and now applying for another program in their University?


texts: Career options in scientific/academic publishing for PhDs and Postdocs

texts:
I finished my PhD a few months ago and am now settling into a postdoc position. The last 6-8 months of my PhD had been quite stressful (well, nothing unusual there, of course) and when it came to thinking about the next career step, all I knew was that I was a bit more inclined towards staying in academia than moving to the industry. So as soon as the offer for this postdoc came, I accepted. Just to prevent any confusion before I go any further: I am certainly not regretting that decision. As in, I am happy with my research work, one reason being its multidisciplinary nature (both physics & electronics are heavily involved). It is likely therefore that I continue on this career path.

But one never knows what life brings, so it is good to keep one's options open. So this is more about obtaining knowledge/collecting information for alternative career avenues.

In that regard, one area that sort of intrigues me is academic publishing. I have tried (by means of web-search, talking to the employees of scientific journals I met at a conference booth, etc.) to find out on how it is to be involved with the scientific-publishing industry, e.g., what does a typical day at the office look like, what are the challenges they face, what kind of freedom is possible in the various tasks, etc. But I somehow haven't received any concrete information based on which I could assess this as a potential career option.

So below are my main questions, asked from the perspective of a PhD/Postdoc. As such, any references (books/articles/memoirs) that may serve as a good introduction to this topic would be very much appreciated. Even more, if someone on this stackexchange community comes from a similar background, then it would be really great if he/she could share their experiences.

Q1. What kind of full-time career paths can be envisaged in the publishing industry?

(This is one advertisment that I recently saw. It sounds nice but I'd like a detailed description about the job role, for example).

Q2. How is the career progression? What kind of challenges does one typically face in this profession?

Q3. Are there any short-term jobs or internships suitable for PhDs/Postdocs in this field?

Q4. What are the typical exit options? For instance,

Is it easy to switch back to your research career (postdoc/professorship)?
What kind of secondary and tertiary industries, if any, be interested in hiring someone with an experience in the world of publishing?


texts: Can I add non-cited reference to bibliography?

texts:
I want to add non-cited references to bibliography for two reasons.

Sometimes, it is not clear whether I referred to it or not. Clearly, not only citing a statement is a citation, but also citing an idea is a citation. But if I didn't cite the ideas and if another idea comes across my mind, sometimes I can not sure my idea is inspired by the references or not. In that case, I want to add the references to bibliography.
There are some references I didn't cite but it would be useful for the readers.

May I feel free to add non-cited reference to bibliography?

Addition: Maybe I had to clarify I am in Mathematics field, and many authors add the references to bibliography as a "reference", not as a "cited writing". If I cited anything, then I will definitely notify the readers the citation specifically. However, is it not allowed to add some papers or books to bibliography that I just referred to?


texts:
I am a European student applying for a PhD in mathematics in the US. Browsing the internet, I have come across quite a lot of American PhD applicants claiming that they have several years of research experience, or even publications. I am rather astonished because in Europe first research attempts normally begin when a student is writing his or her Master's thesis. On the other hand the level of mathematics taught in European undergrad programmes is typically higher than in the US an normally involves courses which are classed as graduate courses in the US. Therefore I would like to ask the following questions:

What does "undergraduate research" really mean in most cases? Original research, contribution to a senior mathematician's original research through some calculations/programming work, independent study of a difficult topic + a paper/report but without any original findings?
Am I right being skeptical that someone who has only taken some courses in linear algebra, real analysis, etc. is ready to do research?
US PhD programmes typically involve 2 years of taught courses and a qualifying exam prior to beginning the work on one's thesis, i.e. research proper. Is undergraduate research really an important prerequisite in the eyes of the admissions committee?
How common is it to have publications as an undergraduate in the US?
As a student coming from Europe, where there is little opportunity for undergrad research and it is generally not encouraged, is my application at an disadvantage? While I have not done any "undergrad research", I have done a lot of independent work. I have written a Bachelor's thesis, given talks at many seminars, and am now working on a Master's thesis which will hopefully contain some original results. Can this experience be regarded on a par with a US applicant's research experience?


texts: Is it okay for a PhD supervisor to claim co-authorship... even if it's my work, and he didn't ask?

texts:
About a year ago I noticed that my PhD supervisor has listed on his faculty page that he co-authored a conference presentation together with me.  The problem is, he didn't-- the research itself was entirely mine, and I wrote and gave the presentation alone.  (This is in the social sciences, not the hard sciences).  He never talked to me before claiming co-authorship on his faculty profile, and in fact, has never mentioned it to me-- nor have I mentioned it to him.

I can understand that he may have felt he needed the "extra credit" to beef up his publications last year while he was trying to get tenure.  Now that he's got his tenure, though, and now that I've finished my PhD and am applying for jobs, I am worried that, should my potential employers google the items on my résumé and come across his co-authorship claim, it will contradict my résumé's claim that I was the sole author... making me look like the liar.

I'm really reluctant to "give in" and credit him as co-author for the presentation on my résumé too, because (a) it doesn't feel fair and (b) I don't have many publications/presentations to begin with... so including him as co-author could dilute what little power my résumé has.

However, I am also embarrassed to ask him to take this "publication" down from his faculty page, because I am worried that he may get defensive, which could ruin our relationship-- which would be a problem, because I still depend on him for references as I look for a job.

Any ideas/perspective on how to handle this??  Thanks!!


texts: Which professors are involved in the tenure decision (in USA)? (associate, full, tenure-track who becomes tenured before I get tenure etc...)

texts: Which professors are involved in the tenure decision? Is it all tenured professors, or also the one still on tenure-track? If only tenured, which is the date in which they get tenure that matters? For example, I am in my second year of tenure-track position, will a person who is in his/her third year of tenure-track position have a word about my case? Basically, there is person I am doing all my best to get along with, but on his/her side it is just not happening. I have great relationship with most people, but this person just doesn't like me. I tried so hard to talk with this person and makes things right. In which cases will this person have a word to say?


texts: Is there a marketplace for research/ideas grants?

texts:
Non-academic here. Bachelors in Computer Science.

My question is, how does research happen? Is there some sort of directory/marketplace/dating-app where researchers and funders can meet each other ?

I'm envisioning something like:

Dr. Bob wants to study fruit flies.
Nestle wants to know how to keep fruit flies out of their factories.
Some tool helps Dr. Bob and Nestle meet up and do some research.

Is that how the research world works?


texts:
I am applying for graduate studies in the US and in my statement of purpose I mention the name of a book and it's author, as the book is very relevant to my previous research work and the author is working in the university I am applying too.

Is this okay, or should I not mention the book's name?

If it is okay should I quote the book's title or should I do any special formatting regarding this reference?


texts:
I put an article on the Arxiv, submitted it, it got cited before being accepted, and now is accepted with minor revisions. Some of the minor revisions can be implemented elegantly be referencing the article that cited the preprint version of the article.

Is it oke to do so? Or should this circular referencing be avoided?


texts: Should one introduce past work in PhD statement of interest?

texts: I wrote my statement of interests where one paragraph is dedicated to discuss my past works. But I wonder if that is necessary because it feels like repeating abstracts from the papers. And probably it will not make much sense to those who do not specialize in those topics. Should I just refer to the paper and make no formal introduction of what I did?  Since there is a word limit, it is really hard for me to explain all those ideas in just a few words without assuming any technical prerequisites, and I feel it is not really stating my interests and my visions of my doctoral studies anyways, because I'm open to other related topics as well and don't want people to think "oh, this is a XXX-guy and our faculties do not work on XXX so he is a mismatch".


texts: I am implementing a method from a research paper that was not published in any famous journal and authors didnt state them on their online research profiles. During my assessment, i gained opinion that the method itself is very promising and results section shows good results. I am interested in some opinions on the papers like these. Why is it not published in any famous journals, and was not cited by any other paper?


texts: Can a technological bachelor apply for a master degree course in a first class US university?

texts:
If a technological bachelor technologist has the necessary funding to the tuition fees, some years of work experience, excellent GPA/TOEFL/GRE/recommendation letters, can she/he apply for a master degree course in a top american university (such as MIT, UC Berkeley, Stanford, etc) and compete in the normal process?

EDIT

For example, in Brazil they call this degree tecnólogo, but in many countries it could be equivalent to a Bachelor of Technology or B.Tech. In my specific case, it is a Bachelor of Information Technology.


texts: Will a paper published in an unrelated/other sub-discipline matter for graduate admission?

texts:
My question is similar in spirit, though different in context (I think) to the question posted here.

My professor and I recently submitted a paper on arXiv (submitting for publication soon) that falls in the domain of quantum physics. Here's the link. I really liked enjoying working on the project, and I found it to be a valuable learning experience.

I, however, don't wish to apply to graduate school in physics and specialize in quantum mechanics -- and the study of open quantum systems etc. Ideally, I'd like to join a mathematical physics research group, working of such topics as quantum gravity etc. with a mathematical focus or working on the mathematical aspects of various sub disciplines (quantum mechanics, topological insulators etc.).

I'm aware that being able to demonstrated the ability to do research prior to the graduate level is highly valued at US universities. My question is how will the graduate admissions committee(s) view this (potential) paper? It's already hard to get a spot in various mathematical physics research programs. Will they consider this publication as having no value to them, since the paper doesn't directly coincide with their sub-discipline? Or (if I spin it right), is it possible/expected that they'll view this as an indication of the student's ability to work outside of classroom, work on a project etc.

Edit -- How I intend to spin it. I'd like to use this paper to convince the graduate admissions committee follows: I come from a non-physics background ( major), and I have been studying physics/mathematics (in class, out of class etc.) for the last 2-3 years, and I wish to apply in 1-2 years. I started working on this paper after 1 year of studying physics in class. My first year was quantum mechanics (QM) heavy (three courses). The professor suggested the problem, which mostly used ideas from QM and some basic ideas from quantum information. I worked on the project with him and given my experience of having made the transition, making the first year of transition QM intensive and then working on a QM related problem and producing something with/with the help of a professor (regardless of its impact), I'm thinking of selling it as an indication that I can work outside of class, even when I (had to) make the transition; more importantly, given a problem related to the material I had covered after making the transition, I could produce something.

I know I'm more of "selling it" rather than "linking it with my future research interests." How does this sound in terms of having an impact on the committee and how they'll evaluate me (and my unusual situation).


texts: How bad does the major GPA need to be for providing explanation in grad school app

texts:
I’m a sophomore in US college majoring in mathematics. I plan to apply for math PhD. I’m wondering how bad does the major GPA need to be for giving explanation? For example, do we need to provide explanations for a single A- out of straight-A’s?

Also, factors to take into account also include core courses (real analysis, abstract algebra, topology, etc.) vs. electives (combinatorics, number theory, probability, etc.), other courses taking along together e.g. 2 major classes in a semester vs. 4 major classes in a semester.


texts: In Elsevier Editorial System, how do I resend a paper with "Submission needing revisions" status?

texts:
I've received a letter from the editor about minor revision to my paper and, if I want, that I can resend revised manuscript. The paper is currently under "Submissions needing revision" in Elsevier Editorial System (EES).

Do I need to notify the editor by mail or somehow through EES that I will resend the revised version or just send it again right after making changes/replying to reviewers' comments?


texts: Does a thesis have to have a "Discussion" chapter?

texts:
I have written a thesis seeking to analyze the ideological thinking of a newspaper through its editorials in a political situation during a certain period of time (1985-1991). I couldn’t count on my advisor and I have written my thesis by myself. My advisor approved my thesis and I must defend it in three weeks.

I have been reading other similar theses. I have realized that most of them use a chapter for “Discussion”. My thesis does not have such a chapter. I wrote a chapter for “Methodology”, another for “Results” and after that one for “Conclusions”. I am afraid that in my defense someone will ask me why I did not write a chapter for “Discussion” and I don’t think I have a very convincing answer. How would you answer to that kind of question?


texts: Must I list my committee members as co-authors on a manuscript after being dismissed from grad school?

texts:
I was a graduate student at a university in the US about two years ago and I was working on a thesis. I was an international student and my advisory committee thought that my writing skills were extremely poor and I was asked to quit the program (though I didn't agree with their decision). I had done some literature review during the program and I recently decided to submit that as a review paper in a fairly decent journal. I just got the decision from the editor saying that the paper could be accepted with minor revision.

Now, I would like your opinion on whether I should contact my advisory committee to see if they would be willing to be the co-authors on the paper. Since I worked on this manuscript while I was a graduate student at that university and did get some help with the corrections on my writing (especially grammar -- I did not use any data from any of my supervisors), do you think I must include them as co-authors on the paper? Do I need to include my previous university as my affiliation? Should I contact them and offer them co-authorship? What do I do if they decline or do not respond?

Since I spent a good amount of time and worked really hard on this manuscript, I would like to get it published. I would really appreciate your opinion on what I should be doing at this point to avoid any infraction of others' intellectual property.


texts: How to tactfully refuse to be listed as a co-author

texts:
I was involved with a research project with a group of people. Eventually, a paper was written and was accepted by a journal. I did not agree with the content of the paper and I didn't want to be listed as a co-author, but I did not want to create bad feelings between myself and the rest of the group.
The journal has a policy where every co-author has to turn in a signed agreement that they substantially contributed to the work. I refused to sign that document I thought that by refusing to sign that document, I would be left off the co-authors list.
However, the journal went ahead and included me without me signing the form. It is not going to ruin my reputation to have my name on this paper, but I didn't want my name on the paper and I am just wondering what I should have done differently to resolve this problem.


texts: How to include unfruitful attempts to use software that were not explored much?

texts:
I wasted spent like a month or so trying to get two software libraries to work.
They partly worked, but at some point produced only unplausible results.
That might have very well been my fault.

The third one worked right out of the box and it's the one I should have chosen to begin with. The lack of problems with this library suggests that there was either something wrong with the other two, the setup, the system or whatever.

Either way, the conclusion is that I would not suggest to try the first two libraries and go with the third one, no matter how tempting it is to try the two.

I would like to include this in my thesis, because it appears to be valuable information. On the other hand, I'm not a software expert and I might simply have done things totally wrong, which is why those libraries didn't work for me. But despite some effort, I could not find documentation on what could be the problem.

Basically, what I have to say is this:

  Tried X and Y. Didn't work. Don't know why. Not recommended. Use Z instead. Works perfectly.

Is it a good idea to include such information? It's not backed up by any reference and I cannot include all the related information about the details to reproduce the problem. Partly because I don't know them and partly because that's not what my work is about. I'm also afraid that including this information will make me look incompetent.

How should I include this information? I think the best thing to do is to state that under the overall time constraints getting either of the two libraries to work was not explored any further, which is what actually happened. But then this might look like I didn't spent my time efficiently.

Maybe I'm just too much concerned that there will be only glass-half-empty people reading this, trying to see the problem in it.


texts: How to interpret division of Korean names when citing articles?

texts:
I'm preparing bibliography using Microsoft Word's bibliography creator, which look like this:

I would like to insert Korean author Won-Hwa Park. Where to put his names in the "Add name" section? What is his first, last and middle name? What are rules that govern citing Korean authors?


texts: How much detail to include in first email to potential PhD supervisor?

texts:
First, I must mention that I found  these questions helpful:

Prospective PhD contacts potential supervisor but receives no answer after 2-3 emails, what to do?
What to do when emails to a potential advisor are not replied?
Should résumés be attached in a mail to a professor?

Yet, I am looking for more precise answers to the questions below.

I plan to apply for a PhD in Computer Science this year in several countries, mainly Europe, Australia and Canada. I am looking for a PhD  with funding. As far as I know, I should contact potential supervisor as a first step. However, I am not sure about how much detail should be included in this first email. Specifically, with regards to the first email, I would like to hear advice on on the following:

Generally, how much detail should I provide?
Should I ask about the chance of getting funding?
Should I send documents or only if s/he asks for?
Statement of purpose/motivation, what is the right length? Is s/he ready to read two pages about every applicant sends him/her email?

Taking into account that this is the first email to the potential supervisor and he might spend only 10 seconds scanning it, What is right answers for the questions above that make the supervisor starts a discussion rather than sending negative response or even ignore the email?


texts: How should I respond to a reviewer's complaint about self-citation?

texts:
Recently, I submitted an article and got a response from a reviewer that I cited 6 of my own articles out of 44. The reviewer said that it’s a cheap act of self promotion.

If I do not cite my own work, how can I expect others to?
Is it bad practice to cite your own work?

The reviewer didn’t say I cited senselessly, rather he complained about the citation of my own work. How to respond in this given situation?


texts: If you have broad interests, should you describe a narrow research topic in statement of purpose anyways?

texts:
All the advice for writing a Statement of Purpose (otherwise referred to as 'Personal Statement') for graduate (Masters) on the internet usually pins it down to narrowing down your interest to specific research topics. But what if one just wishes to dig deeper into a range of subjects without committing at the outset to research?

For example, I have broad interests in computer systems (which includes the OS, compilers, processor architecture and so forth). Specifically, I like writing low-level embedded software and am very interested in learning new ways of designing CPUs. I've written toy OSes and compilers and I like reading about CPU architectures. But none of that seems relevant to current research in the field.

Maybe, if I force myself to, I can come up with a narrow research topic or two but would it be too wrong to say that I want to go to graduate school just to learn more? (Of course, I could read papers on the internet forever but I feel directed learning would serve me better)

By my own admission, I am nowhere near to knowing the state-of-the-art in systems research. If I do try to make up a topic, I am afraid it might appear superfluous in my Statement. Should I try harder to find a research topic or am I better off writing what I actually feel?


texts: How to conduct an effective regular group meeting?

texts:
My research group has regular group meeting but I usually think it is not effective. In particular the research area of the group is very diverse, every time I just listen on something I cannot understand and have totally no interest on it, and I believe other members think the same way as I do when I am presenting. While it is a good way to expose to something new, and know other group members what they are doing, this is not effective for my own research. I know group meeting has its point (What is the purpose of the weekly research meetings that advisers often have with their research group?), but how can it be conducted in a more effective way?

As a supervisor:

How frequent should a regular group meeting be? It depends on the field, and I hear something like daily to three months.
When should a regular group meeting be? I know some groups insist on Monday morning, some groups choose Friday evening which is terrible.
How long should a group meeting be?
What level of detail should a supervisor comment to one's work? From every experimental concepts, to a vague conceptual suggestion?

As a student:

What should a student prepare before a group meeting to have an effective meeting? To present every problem he/she faces, or just some significant results (if there is)?
Should a student question other's member work? Sometimes it may be constructive, but it can also be an interruption.

If you are a faculty, how do you conduct your group meeting? As a research student, what can you suggest for an effective group meeting? An effective group meeting can greatly help on one's research work, otherwise it is just a drain of energy, time and motivation.


texts: Reproduction and comparison with baseline in paper

texts:
I plan to submit an article to a top tier conference in the field of computer science. However, I have certain doubts about the right procedure to compare with state-of-the-art methods in my field.

I want to claim that the approach we propose is better than the state-of-the-art method. To prove this, I have re-implemented the state-of-art and tested it on a benchmarked dataset of my own creation. The method of our proposal seems to outperform the state-of-the-art.

However, the authors of the state-of-the-art paper had neither open-sourced their code nor tested it on a publicly available, benchmarked dataset. So, it is proving to be pretty much impossible to confidently claim that our re-implementation of the state-of-the-art is an accurate replica of what was proposed/implemented in the original paper.

How do I go about highlighting this dilemma in the article I am about to submit, without sounding too vague? I am ready to share a detailed pseudo-code of the re-implementation as supplementary material to the submission. I am also about to make the benchmarked dataset (that we created) public.

However, I would like to ask: what is the standard procedure for handling such doubts? (I am sure I am not the first author to face such a confusion).


texts: How to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak while organizing a conference?

texts:
I am an organizer for a graduate student conference in Mathematics occurring in April. My co-organizers and I are debating on a plan for what to do if the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States worsens. Right now, most of the participants are from states with no confirmed cases of the coronavirus, but this may change rapidly as the situation develops between now and the conference.

This is an issue other conferences throughout history have surely had to deal with, so I wanted to ask StackExchange if there were any best practices around for dealing with an issue like this. Some questions:

How far out should the go/no go decision be made? If the conference is late April, should we be planning to let participants and speakers know by early April so they can cancel flights and so on?
What criteria should best inform whether we cancel or not? Number of cases in the participants' states for instance?
In the event we are to cancel the conference, how can we still give the speakers a chance to advertise their results? Have there been successful "video conferences" before where the organizers collect video for each talk and then upload them and participants can make comments?


texts: Do professors from different universities (but in the same field) contact each other about the students who applied to their programs?

texts: It is common for professors to have cordial relationships with their colleagues who work in different institutions (obviously), and I was wondering if it is also common for them to exchange info about their PhD applicants during the application review season. For example, if a promising candidate has applied to the chemistry programs at University X and University Y, would the people in the admissions committees of these two chemistry programs potentially contact each other to discuss the prospects of this student?


texts: Made an arXiv submission too early; How to minimize the damage?

texts:
A confession first: This was our first attempt at a journal paper.

The story so far:
We had submitted our work for possible publication with a reputed journal in our area. Some time later, while the review was still on, I checked out whether this journal allowed self-archiving of author's version of the paper. Feeling glad that it did (and being quite confident that our paper will get accepted), we decided to upload our pre-print on arXiv.

And now...
The decision arrived from the journal. It was a reject. Amongst the other things written by the reviewers, one of the points happens to be:

  ...I am a bit concerned with what appears to be the same paper
  published and made available from: arxiv.org/xxx/yyy. I would
  recommend that the authors clarify this potential duplication.

I do not think that this was the only reason for rejection, but might have contributed to it.

My questions:
I know I did a mistake due my lack of awareness of the proper rules. How to rectify my mistake?
Should I consider that this work of mine cannot be published to any conference/journal since its pre-print happens to arXived already?
As far as I understand, arXiv does not allow us to remove papers. I can request a withdrawal, but even then the previous version(s) will remain available online (for any future reviewers to bug us).

What is the best course of action for me?

update based on answer by @F'x:
Adding this from the Journal's website, Guide for authors page:

  Copyright is retained by the Publisher. Submission of an article implies that the paper has not been published previously; that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out; and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without the written consent of the Publisher.


texts: Revealing one's original ideas in job applications?

texts: Job applications typically require the applicant to describe their research interests (research statements). Would it be a worry that an applicant's work-in-progress/current interests would inspire similar works from the reviewer's side? If so, is it wise to describe these ideas, or better avoid doing so?


texts:
I teach math with about two years of experience now. In general I have found that all the cliches about graduate school teaching you "how to research but not how to teach" are true. But I have also found many great resources (at my institution, online, in print, etc.) that are helping me, over time, work through my teaching deficits.

...in all things but grading.

I struggle with many grading decisions: from small things, like grading individual homework problems, all the way up to life-changing things like evaluating master's degree defenses.  What I lack is a coherent philosophy of grading that might motivate my various grading policies/strategies/choices.

Interestingly, I have not found good resources for this.  Yes, my institution provides a tiny bit of guidance, but it is very broad.  This forum contains a hundred or so questions tagged with "grading", which is a good start, but I wonder if there are resources that provide a more cohesive treatment of the subject.

I want to hear about theories of grading.  I want principles which flow naturally from the theories.  I want applications and strategies which build on the principles.  I want to hear different viewpoints on the issues so I can evaluate their relative strengths and weaknesses as I come to understand my own thoughts better.  In short, I want it all.

Do any such resources exist?  Can anyone point me in the right direction?  If these don't exist, why not?


texts: how to find conferences that allow sit-in's

texts: For faculty lack of funding, how to find conferences that allow people to sit in without paying? For those that don't allow officially, will they check attendees' badge?


texts: I am a student of high potential but not great on paper, how should I go about transferring to a university more at my level?

texts:
I am currently in my first year of a general mathematics PhD program at a state university that isn't rated particularly high. As far my classes go, I put in little to no effort towards them and instead dedicate my time to the research I've started, and still am at/near the top of my class. The students in my classes just seem to be at a much lower level of understanding than I am, and I am afraid I am stagnating myself by not being in a more competitive setting. I've begun working on a research project with a few other students who are soon to graduate, and thus far, everything we have done this semester has come from me, even though I haven't even finished the sequence of courses relevant to the material we are researching. Granted, there are a few professors who are well-respected in their field that I currently work under, and that is a great privilege,  but I do not feel that most the other students there are my academic peers.

I would like to look into transferring to a better university, but I have one main concern; my undergraduate transcript is not very good. Upon close inspection, one would find that I received very good grades in the advanced classes I took, but poor grades in the easier classes I took earlier in my academic career. I got a 4.0 the first semester of my grad program, and am confident that I will 4.0 this semester as well, but will this be enough to get into a highly ranked PhD program?(Edit: This is a rhetorical question, not the question I am trying to ask. It is obvious that this is not enough, so I am trying to find out what outside of this I can do?)

So my question is should I look into transferring?(and maybe risk offending the professors I have a good relationship right now?) and if so how can I prove that what they see on paper(my undergraduate transcript) is not reflective of my abilities as a mathematician?

EDIT: I should mention that my biggest concern right now is that my classes are being held back by the people who don't understand the material. I would love to be in a class where things were faster-paced so we could get into more detail and more subjects. I've been studying into more detail by myself, but I feel I would benefit from seeing this from my instructor as well(which is what I would imagine happens at a university with a better student body), which I don't get because too many people in my classes are struggling with the basics.


texts: Is there a consensus in philosophy and other humanities that PhD dissertations have to be at least 200 pages long?

texts:
I've read a blog post written by Robert Wolff saying that for a philosophy dissertation to be considered good, at least in American universities, it should be between 200 to 250 pages long.

We could respond, of course, that it is not necessarily the number of pages or word count that makes a thesis up to par. If this is so, can you please cite a dissertation wherein a student was able to defend his central claim in less than a hundred pages?


texts: Do I have to Cite an Image I have edited?

texts: I have received an Image from a source I am not sure about, I have edited it to suit my own project, now do I have to cite the main source?


texts:
Disclaimer: I apologize for the vagueness of this post as i do not wish to speak negatively about anyone particular on a public forum.

I've been doing research on a specific topic looking at two articles, one a book published in the 1991 and the other an article published in 1964 in an academic journal.

I noticed that the procedures followed in both papers are very similar and the method seems almost identical, However the 1991 book makes no reference to the 1964 paper and claims its model is new.

I find this incredibly dishonest, its possible that I'm an idealist with reference to a highschool understanding of academic honesty but I think at the very least it should be reported to the publishers.

How do I report possible academic plagiarism to publishers? Is such an activity worthwhile?


texts: At what age do professors stop taking new students?

texts:
Assuming STEM, At what age do tenured professors stop taking new students?

I am a first year PhD student and have my eye on one professor who seems to be really interesting and I feel he finds me as a good candidate too but for some reason that he refuses to discuss he does not wish to take me in. Most of his current students are 1-2 years from graduating.

I have a strong reason to believe that it's his age (60-65). That's when I thought about the more general question I am asking.


texts:
Recently I contacted an important researcher in my field, and he offered me a collaboration with his group. He told me to email him a proposal. Moreover, he recognized that he was usually very busy and received a lot of email, so I should be persistent. He even gave me his personal phone number.

I sent him the proposal, and alerted him by an SMS. He replied that he would look at it. It's been a couple of weeks, so I SMS him again, and he replied that he hadn't had the time yet to look at the proposal, but that he would soon.

This is a very important and unique opportunity for me. In view of his advice to be persistent, and the fact that he is very busy, I want to do what I can to remind him of this, until he acts on it.

What is the most polite way to insist? What time window should I wait before reminding him again?


texts: Is there any research on applying Agile/Extreme/Lean methods in academic research?

texts:
I've been enjoying quite a lot of literature, all published within the last ten years, on how to handle projects, ideas, development, thinking, and so in with processes like Extreme, Agile, or Lean.  I have searched for similar literature on academic research and projects, but I couldn't find anything modern and relevant that links various parts of the research process, such as project management, hardware/software/experiment development, or refactoring of collaborative writing.

Are there any recent publications about applying these methods to academic research?


texts: Advisor getting married, should grad students chip in for gift?

texts:
Our advisor is getting married over winter break.  None of us are super close to him and the wedding is going to be a very private event that none of us are invited to.

Should all of us (his graduate students) chip in for a wedding gift for him?

What is the etiquette for this?


texts: How can I tell if I am short-listed for postdoc position?

texts:
I applied for a postdoc position whose application deadline was 24th June. When I contacted my potential mentor asking when to expect the results,

  he thanked me for showing interest in applying for the position and told me that shortlisted candidates will be informed and the process will get completed by the end of July.

Until now I have received no further information from the institution nor was any list published at the institute website. I contacted recently the institution through mail asking whether I am selected or not but got no reply.

So, considering what my potential mentor said, does his words mean that I am not selected for the position? Or should I wait? I am confused about what to do next, in order to know if I am selected or not.

Update: I have mailed my potential advisor as well as the institution about knowing the results of selection but there was no reply. Now i came to know by unofficial means that the applications are still being processed and the results are not yet decided.


texts: I found many questions that ask about mentioning professors names in the SOP. However, this doesn't address my question. Is it a good idea to mention the name of a program's graduate in the SOP? I am an international student, and I contact one of the graduates who is from my country. The program has a few graduates from my country (he is the only one I am aware of and I found about him online, and he clearly was doing pretty good "high gpa"- studied both masters and phd there). I just said he thinks the program is great in both education and job opportunities. The program is a top program, and it is obvious that it has a great education and good job opportunities. However, i mentioned this to clarify that I am really interested and I tried to get more info and contact people to make sure it is a fit before applying. (Not mass applying)


texts: Is it ethical to for a commercial organisation to get student interns to download journal articles using student's university access?

texts: I'm currently interning for a small R&D company. The boss is notoriously tight fisted and prone to cutting corners to save any amount of money he can. In the past, he has attempted to use my student status to get free or discounted software for company use to avoid paying licensing fees. (To clarify, software purchased using my status as a student but not to be used by me but by other individuals in the company) He recently found out I get institutionally provided access to various journals and has started requesting I provide him with pdf or printed copies of papers so he can avoid paying for them. Is this ethical? Legal?


texts: Are PhD "minimum admission requirements" flexible?

texts:
I want to apply to do my PhD at Melbourne University, where they require an honours degree with a "substantial research component equivalent to at least 25% of your final year."

I'm about to finish with a first class honours (all A+), but my only research project is equivalent to 1/8th of my final year. I also will do a summer research project this December though.

Will I still have a chance at admission even though I fail to meet their minimum requirement? As far as grades and courses go I believe I'm a good candidate for the actual research area.


texts: Is it offensive to ask my PhD advisor for permission to record our research/technical discussions?

texts:
I will be joining a graduate program in the US this fall. To keep track of important technical/research discussions with my advisor, I think it would be a good idea to record conversations with my advisor on a voice recorder/camera. It would be very helpful as I (and my advisor) will not forget/miss anything important. Also, I could listen to my advisor's comments again if I do not understand something in the first go. So I would like to know (from an advisor's perspective) if it is bad etiquette to request my advisor to have our research discussions recorded on my voice recorder/camera. I do not wish to breach anyone's privacy but only wish to keep track of my own research. And I only want to record if my advisor is happy with it.

Update: As mentioned in one of the answers below, sometimes it is hard to keep up with the advisor as my field is highly technical and mathematical (theoretical physics). It has happened to me before that some things my earlier project advisor discussed went completely over my head. I found it hard to even jot down such things since I did not understand what he was trying to say (like lots of mathematics jargon). An example:  If I am just starting as a PhD student in US and I see my prospective advisor (and his collaborators) discussing about something I feel to be very interesting, I do not think I will be able to pick up all the "deep and subtle ideas" that come up during such discussions (being only a beginner). And if I do not pickup what is deep and what is not, I might miss those important ideas and consequently not jot down. It is very important for me to understand those ideas. I do not think my advisor will be able to clear doubts in such situations as I would not be familiar with such advanced stuff at the time of those discussions. This is why I think it is very helpful in such situations to have a record so that I could go back to it later on when I understand all that jargon. It would save a lot of our time as well if my advisor does not have to repeat things multiple times.


texts: Is it possible transfer from a MS program into a PhD program within the same school?

texts:
I recently enrolled in a 2-year MS in HCI program.  My BS was in Computer Science.  Now, looking at my career goals and opportunities, I am wondering if it would be possible at all to email my director and ask if I could get into the PhD program (at the same school).

Would this be feasible at all?  Would I have to completely re-apply? Or can I do 1-year of the MS and transfer into the PhD program? Or is that something that is frowned upon?

Just to point out, I am asking about transferring from a MS to a PhD program WITHIN the same school, not switching schools. I figured that if I were to switch schools, that would be an application process from scratch.


texts: Where do graduates in Chemistry from small PhD programs in the U.S go?

texts:
I am gathering information about the universities I intend to apply later this year and I've noticed that even in small graduate programs, most faculty members come from top universities such as Harvard, UC Berkeley etc. I was wondering, if those "small" programs are awarding degrees to many candidates every year, where do they go after the PhD is complete? In which field can these professionals find employability?

I'm sorry if this question is too obvious but as a foreign applicant, I don't know exactly how it works in the U.S.


texts: Is a Harvard PhD in applied mathematics (from engr. dept.) as reputable as a PhD in pure mathematics (from math dept)?

texts: Most rankings systems rank math at Harvard quite favorably. Is phd in applied mathematics (control theory) at Harvard as reputable as a phd in pure math at Harvard? (The first is offered in an engineering department while the second is offered in a math department)


texts: How to prepare a good response to referee reports when I have a weak reject and two accepts?

texts:
I received a weak reject, an accept and a strong accept from a top-tier conference in CS. So, I need to prepare a careful rebuttal response!
The problem is that the weak-reject reviewer did not ask any serious questions, and only stated that the novelty and contributions are limited and paper needs further polishing. But he stated a full confidence in his decision!

I already pointed out 3 main novel contributions in the paper. Should I just repeat (and rephrase) them in the response?

Personally, my feeling is that he did not try to go into the details of the work and responded based on some intuitions/feelings. I guess that based on his provided summary of the paper which is not exactly what i did.

It is also possible to send an additional confidential feedback to the conference program chair about the reviews' qualities or etc. but I'm not sure if that can be useful in this case?


texts: APIs or databases that allows one to retrieve the works that a book cites

texts:
Are there APIs or databases that allow to retrieve the works that a book cites. Eg. I give it an ISBN, and it returns all the works that it cites (not those it is cited by).

APIs or databases like Microsoft Academic Search usually only contain citations of journal articles and papers, but not books.


texts: How do international PhD students typically obtain health insurance in the United States?

texts:
Could anyone kindly provide me with information about how PhD international students can be covered by health insurance in the US? :

Is it often granted by the University?

How much does it cost, on average (for the student and possibly spouse/children) and what does it cover?

Does "Obamacare" reform affect it anyhow?

I would appreciate any information. Thanks in advance.


texts: Should I already have a publication related to the NSF RUI proposal I will submit?

texts: I am working on an NSF RUI proposal (research at an undergraduate institution). I have a manuscript on the subject that is languishing on the coauthors desk. How important is it that this manuscript be published before submitting my proposal? The manuscript is mentioned as prior work in the proposal but I fear that the proposal will be less effective without a publication directly related to it.


texts: How were the figures in old pre-TeX research papers and books created?

texts:
If you see old pre-TeX-era classic research papers, technical articles and books the figures still look pretty good. They seem to be hand drawn but with some components of computerization.

For example see this CRAY-1 document: http://bitsavers.org/pdf/cray/CRAY-1/CRAY-1_Brochure_1975.pdf

How were these figures created? What tools did folks use to create and then place them into the paper or book?


texts: How widespread are electronic-only dissertations?

texts:
My university currently archives all our graduate dissertations as bound volumes in the library.  We are considering dropping this practice and archiving them electronically only.

How common is this practice among respected research universities?  Is there any data?

(Some of my colleagues feel that having paper dissertations on the shelves is an important mark of a serious research university, and that dropping them will harm our institutional reputation.  So it would be helpful to have data to indicate whether such a policy would be "mainstream" or "fringe".)


texts: Apply for PhD positions with only one (or no) reference (letter of recommendation)

texts:
After applying for a number of PhD positions I ended up with a surprisingly high rejection rate, and as little as 3 acceptances. Waiting for a positive answer from other labs (which I liked a lot better), I ended up inadvertently losing these 3 offers as well.

This seems to have been very unwise in hindsight, but at the time I did not believe I would get so many subsequent rejections (I still find it hard to believe...).

In any case, I have to apply to more labs now, and one of my referees refuses to provide further references for me because he already did it for quite a few of my applications, and is also - in his own words - "more than irritated" that I took the liberty to turn down any offers at all. I can't say I entirely disagree with him, since I actually did feel a bit guilty in the first place for asking him to be my referee for so many applications.

So, here I am, and I would be very curious whether you have any ideas:

If there is anything I could say to maybe change his mind (currently not responding to my emails).
If there is any way to make people whose labs I apply to understand why I can only provide one reference without completely ruining my chances.

Sadly, I am applying for a field a bit different from what I nominally studied (cognitive neuroscience as opposed to molecular neuroscience), and there are no other referees I can choose from with whom I have worked on cognitive topics. Also, the referee in question was my MSc. supervisor, so I would immagine people will like to hear from him anyway.


texts: Is it possible to ask the identity of a particular reviewer to oppose for future submission?

texts:
I am in an embarrassing situation. I have submitted my article three times, to three different journals, and always I get the same reviewer who copies and pastes the same reviews which actually make no sense.

With my first submission I had two review cycles, and two of the reviewers recommended accepting the article; however, this reviewer strongly rejected it. I submitted to another journal (it had binary review system), and again the same happened, same reviewer same comments. Now I have received a third rejection (this journal is also has a binary review system), from the same reviewer with an extra comment that now other related work exist. (Of course now other related work exists, because you have been rejecting the paper for two years.)

Before submitting my article for the fourth time, to a different journal, can I tell the handling editor that we don't want this particular reviewer?

If yes, how can we ask the handling editor without knowing the identity of this reviewer? Some journals ask for a list of reviewer to oppose at the time of submission. But how we can identify this particular reviewer?

Or, can we ask the editor who handled of previous submissions to disclose the identity of particular reviewer?


texts: I sent an angry e-mail to my interviewers about a conflict at my home institution. Could this affect my application?

texts:
I applied to a foreign university. I was interviewed and now I am waiting for the result.

I had also applied to another research opportunity abroad, which is organized by my current department head. I was very hopeful that I would be selected for this opportunity because I am the first-ranking student and my English is very good. I spoke respectfully with the head professor about it on several occasions, but it seemed like he was making excuses and was not fairly considering me.

I recently found out that my classmate was selected for the opportunity abroad. He had performed much worse than me on classes we had taken together, and his English is very weak. I lost control and told the head of the department where there is a research opportunity that I would report this obvious injustice to the leading mathematicians at the university that had interviewed me recently. I did indeed e-mail my interviewers.

Now that I have calmed down, I realize that I should not have emailed my interviewers in this manner. Could it affect the outcome of my application?

Appendix: Thank you for your suggestions and advice. In fact, I have realized that I should always remain academically professional. I also sent a follow-up email to my interviewer and expressed my regret at my previous email.

Appendix 2: Now that I am more calm, I realize that my act was childish. I was not the employer to decide whom to hire. I emailed the head professor and and the one at the institution where there is a research opportunity expressing my regret. But now I feel like I need to try even much more than before to become successful. Good luck specially to me


texts: How I can add former official address in manuscript?

texts: I have written a manuscript in which I have added my present university address. If I also want to add official address of my previous university, can I do that ? If yes, should I place my former official address below my present address or former address would be more suitable as footnote ?


texts: How did someone receive an arts degree and then become a scientist?

texts:
Take de Broglie

  De Broglie had intended a career in humanities, and received his first degree in history. Afterwards, though, he turned his attention toward mathematics and physics and received a degree in physics

And Edward Witten,a very famous theoretical physicist

  Witten attended the Park School of Baltimore (class of '68), and received his Bachelor of Arts with a major in history and minor in linguistics from Brandeis University in 1971. He published articles in The New Republic and The Nation. In 1968 Witten published an article in The Nation arguing that the New Left had no strategy.[citation needed] He worked briefly for George McGovern's presidential campaign. McGovern lost the 1972 election in a landslide to Richard Nixon.
  Witten attended the University of Wisconsin–Madison for one semester as an economics graduate student before dropping out.[citation needed] He returned to academia, enrolling in applied mathematics at Princeton University[citation needed] then shifting departments and receiving a Ph.D. in physics in 1976 under David Gross, the 2004 Nobel laureate in Physics.

In china,student major in history or literature won't study mathematics at all,and almost everyone think it's impossible for someone receive BA then turn to science,so how did someone receive BA and then become a scientist?


texts: Is it a good idea to contact professors before applying to grad schools?

texts:
I've seen some universities encouraging students to contact with the faculty before making applications. For example,  this one. On the other hand I've heard some people saying that they are waste of times because professors receive several such e-mails every year and they don't even have time to look at them.

So, is it good idea to make contanct professors before making the application? Can it increase my chances of acceptance? Can it ever backfire me?


texts: Status regarding co-authorship for a computer science research paper

texts:
I am employed as a student in a theoretical computer science research group and part of my job was to assist my supervisor with a scientific paper he has been working on.
Concretely, my job was to implement the software that was used to conduct the experimental part of the research paper and also to gather and put together a dataset in order to empirically test the theoretical framework developed by my supervisor using real-world data.

Before the first submission attempt, I was mentioned in the list of the co-authors. However, the paper was not accepted on the grounds that the empirical results only weakly reflected the theoretical claims.

My supervisor thought that the rejection was due to a bug in the code I've developed and afterwards he removed me both from the list of co-authors and from the project. I am very sure that the code didn't contain any bugs.

Afterwards, my supervisor contacted a fellow student who was already working on a different topic, and asked for his permission to use the data from this different topic in order to test the theory.

The second submission attempt of the research paper was successful and the paper was accepted. My fellow student appeared in the list of co-authors but I didn't.

The version of the paper that finally got accepted differed from the first one that got rejected, in that it contained only an extra experiment, using the data from my fellow student. However, the initial empirical experiments that I put together were still there. They have not been removed, nor modified.

Regarding this situation I have a series of questions:

Is it normal to feel that I have been treated unfairly? I feel that the only reason why I have been removed from the list of co-authors is because the dataset I have compiled simply didn't confirm the expected theoretical results and me getting fired was simply a way for my supervisor to vent his frustration about being rejected.
Is it legal to publish a paper that uses data and software that some other person developed and not mention this person as a co-author (or at least as a reference)? Are there any laws or rules of conduct regarding such situations?

I'm aware that a variation of this question may have already been answered before:

What to do when principal investigator publishes your work without putting you down as a coauthor?

My research work stolen and published as his own by the co-author without my consent

My work was published and my name was nowhere to be found: how should I handle this?

Most of the answers suggested that I should try to approach and discuss this problem in private with my supervisor or with some other member of the research group. I have tried doing exactly this and both my supervisor and 2 other senior members simply refused to discuss this issue with me. The only response I've got was: "what's done is done, let us focus on the future now".

What can I do, or what would be ethical to do in this situation?


texts: My citation paper has not been recorded by Google Scholar

texts:
I have several published papers including scopus indexed which have been cited by other papers.
Unfortunately, Google Scholar (GS) still not recorded the citation in my GS profile.
Why and what should I do ?


texts: Are endorsed undergraduates eligible to submit papers (and eventually get it accepted) to arXiv?

texts:
Is it possible for an undergraduate to submit his first preprint to arXiv and get it accepted ? Assume that he/she has been endorsed.

I am asking this because so far the papers that I have observed the email id seemed to be email id of Professors of some university or colleges but of course it may not be the case in general.


texts:
I read this question where a teaching assistant asks how to deal with an aggressive student.

In her answer, the user Nicole Hamilton gives advice to call campus security. Now, in my naive foreign thinking, whenever the word "campus security" came up, I imagined this to be similar to a discotheque's security people: a single strong person (or a team) who would be in the university building during its opening hours, helping de-escalate conflicts and throwing out aggressive people.

However, the user "apparente001" advises the OP to "do not hesitate to call campus security for an escort while leaving your building at night" (in a comment). This suggests that campus security is more: A university employee apparently may call these security people at any time to any (reasonable?) place to escort them (I assume, provided that some incident happened like the one described by OP). From the Wikipedia article, I understand campus police (is this the same as campus security?) to be police officers who only serve in university.

However (at least in my country), I could not simply call the police to escort me at night when something "vague" like the incident described in the question happened. (I do not want to say the the incident is not serious - however, I doubt a police officer would escort me at night if I told them that very incident).

So I take it that campus security/campus police must be something different: an organisation any university employee can call at any time. Can you tell me more about this concept?

In particular, the question which interest me are:

Is campus police/campus security the same concept?
What exactly does campus police/campus security for university employees? When can they be called and for what purpose?
Can university students (if they are not at the university building) also call them? If yes, to what extend do they help them?

While the original question specifies no country, I have the feeling that the OP and the user "apparente001" are talking about US or Canada. (I may be wrong, through.) Therefore, I also would be (mainly) interested in information about these countries.


texts: Are there any academic institutions operating on bodies of water?

texts:
Are there any (accredited/recognized) academic institutions with a significant part of their activities - administrative and academic - held over a body of water (sea, lake or river), on some floating platform?

The kind of platform could be boat or a barge; or if that doesn't exist,
then at least - buildings built directly on struts in the water without solid foundations (a-la Tolkien's Esgaroth, or Lake-town).

Notes:

Universities which have ships and/or operate ships and/or hold some classes on ships and/or send students out on trips on ships - don't count. The univesity or institute has to operate primarily on the barge/ship/floating platform.
Bonus points if it's a proper university and if what they teach is not just shipping/marine-related.
I don't want a recommendation of such institutions, nor a list of them, I just want to know if any exist.


texts: Pre-submission enquiry taking a long time

texts:
Following the journals' protocol, I have sent a pre-submission enquiry to a few journals regarding a manuscript, and have received answers rather quickly (max 1 week). I have always waited for an answer before enquiring from the next journal. Now, I have waited for over a month for a reply from a journal. I have already asked once from an editorial assistant (direct enquiries are not available) whether there is a hiccup in the process that I should be aware of, but she told me that she has not yet received an answer from the editor and will inform me as soon as she has some information.

Now, this waiting period is getting close to the number of days the journal reports as their average number of days to first decision for reviewed manuscripts. It seems a bit unusual that a pre-submission enquiry would take this long to process, as other journals have been rather swift in their decision-making. Is there something I can do? I do not wish to bother the editorial assistant again, but this is a difficult situation for me as I am expected to have this published sooner rather than later for my PhD funding.


texts: Is it a good practice to work on multiple projects simultaneously during PhD study?

texts:
The idea of working on multiple projects simultaneously during PhD study is introduced in Feibelman's "A PhD is not enough", Chapter 8. It identifies the following advantages:

When you temporarily run out of ideas, you need not be blocked but can simply turn to another project.
When a project has been completed, you do not have to spend entire days wondering what to do next.
Working on more than one project is the only way a young scientist should undertake an inherently long-term project.
It forces you to be broader than otherwise.
It will lessen the impact on your career should you be scooped. This is something to worry about if you have chosen to work in a hot area.

And I think doing so will keep me more self-motivated because sparing some time on a more ambitious but risky project would remind me that what I am doing now is connected to bigger and profounder problems. However, some suggest this would make a distracted PhD study.

PS: I am in the field of Machine Learning and Statistics.


texts: Flying with a poster tube as a hand luggage

texts:
I am flying to a conference, in which I am presenting a poster.

In principle there might be a problem, as the poster tube:

is a second piece of hand luggage,
it is longer than the limit allows.

However, it seems that it works (once I tried with no problem, my colleagues usually have no problem).

Does it happen that one is not allowed to take a poster tube in the hand luggage?

If so, how to avoid this problem? (Advice, tips and tricks are welcome.)

If the question is place-specific, I'm interested mostly in EU.


texts: What are the consequences for missing a semester grade reporting deadline?

texts: It is obviously doing a disservice to students waiting for their final grades who might need them for financial aid purposes etc. Course faculty involved in this would also at least have some explaining to do for essentially not doing their jobs. Beyond that, what do the consequences entail for those two levels and beyond e.g. program or department administration and higher?


texts: How should I begin my meeting with my former teacher whom I haven't been in contact with for three years?

texts:
I am going to meet my former teacher in my former school. We have some interests and hobbies in common, but we had not been in contact for several years.

I want to be careful about etiquette and manner. I don't want her to think me impolite by beginning the conversation with sentences like "Hello Prof. ABC. How was your recent journey in Japan? Had you brought me a souvenir of Tokyo?"

She has agreed to write a few recommendation letters for me to apply for multiple programs at several universities. Should I say "Can we talk about my recommendation letters first because you have agreed to help me..." I am a bit nervous for the meeting with her this Friday.


texts: What sort of professional boundary should I set with other students when I am a grader for a class I will be taking?

texts:
Next semester, I am going to take a course in which I have some background knowledge. Given the relevance of the course in my research, the lack of available students with sufficient knowledge in the course (it is one that is rarely taught at this school, and most of my supervisor's students either graduated last semester, or have just started with him this semester), and my general need to find some courses to TA for, the professor (my supervisor) had offered me the grader position for the course. The professor would be grading my own assignment, and I would then be marking other people's assignments based on those. It appears this situation has occured and been asked about before on this stack exchange, but not from the point of view of the TA.
I initially expressed my discomfort with this situation, but, upon being told (by my professor) that this had been done before, decided to accept, to maintain a good relationship with my supervisor.

I however have a number of issues which, as the beginning of next semester, are bothering me more and more:

I know a number of the other students in the class, and we often used to organise study groups and work on the assignments together. Would it be ethical of me to still participate in these study groups ? On one hand, I will not have access to the solutions until we submit our assignment, on the other, I will definitely be able to see if someone makes an obvious mistake in their proof that I, as a TA, would deduct points on.

I was initially thinking that the best course of action for me would be to cut off all relations related to the class (that is, remain friends with the students I know, but not bring up the class with them), but at the same time, I would thus be depriving them of help that I would have given to them as TA had I not been in such a situation. I'm finding it extremely difficult to set the line between "We are fellow students together and helping each other out" and "I am your TA and you are a student, and the help I am providing here is so you can properly learn the class".

Updates in responses to questions:

I have asked the professor for clarification; he says this is not the first time he has done this
I could certainly ask for "blind" grading
I am taking the course as a student, but have some background in the course


texts:
So I just finished my 2nd year as an undergrad majoring in mathematics. I plan to continue on to a Ph.D afterwards, but only recently did I realize how behind I was... I haven't done any research, completed any projects or summer programs. I haven't done any outside reading so I don't really know much about any particular subject. Everyone I know in my program has at least something, so I'm worried that I'm really late in preparing for grad school.

I know I should probably consult a professor or advisor, but school's ended already... and admittedly, I've been a little apprehensive when talking with professors since, well, I don't really know anything in the first place, and I know they're very busy, so I eventually just awkwardly ask some questions and leave ASAP having not understood much.

In short, I'm just very confused and don't know what to do from here on out... so any advice would be great.


texts: Pursuing a research career in a university without teaching duties, is it possible?

texts:
Is it possible to pursue a research career inside a university without teaching duties?

I don't like to teach, I love research and I love being affiliated to a university.

The universities I am interested are based in Europe, UK and USA.

Thanks


texts: Using Google Trends diagram in a scientific paper to show evidence of interest in an area

texts: I am preparing a paper for a conference. At some point, I want to show that one area is gaining more interest over another area. Do you think that using a google trend diagram as a supportive (not the main) evidence is a good idea ? My area of research is web information systems.


texts: What is the definition of guest lecturer? Is it worth putting on CV?

texts:
I'm a couple years out of undergrad, have my Master's and work at a research org. A former professor from undergrad invited me to come teach a class with him next month--I told him I'd be in town for a day, just thinking we'd get coffee, but he invited me to come teach and talk about some of the relevant research I'm currently doing.

Is this "legit" enough to mark down on my CV as being a guest lecturer? If so, is it actually worth putting on my CV, will it hold any weight whatsoever when I apply to PhD programs in a couple years?


texts: How should I cite a specific section of the LabVIEW online documentation?

texts:
How can I cite a specific page of the LabVIEW online documentation?

I need to cite these two pages: from the tutorial and types of graphs and charts.

Would I be better off citing the online help documentation?


texts: Academia or industry: which is easier to begin a CS research career without a bachelors degree?

texts:
I'm an engineer from the US at a large tech company who had to cease their undergraduate studies due to family complications. Previously, I was an assistant in a CS research lab during college, and in industry I've been able to work on engineering problems within the same CS sub-field for the past 4 years. I was a co-author on a published paper while working with the research group, though the professor I worked under has since retired.

Increasingly frequently, I have been reading papers, emailing authors, and desiring research related work again.

If I want to work towards a research career again in this sub-field, and don't want to complete a bachelors degree, what would be the easiest or most realistic path forward - entering a research role at big company without a graduate degree, or beginning a graduate degree without a bachelors? What are possible long term drawbacks of each path?


texts: Would it be ethical of a student for him/her to act as a proofreader/editor for other students' essays and homework?

texts:
I'll be simple and direct, since the situation I'm asking after is pretty general, and hardly requires an anecdotal context.

Would it be ethical of a student for him/her to act as a proofreader/editor for other students' essays and works?

For example, students unfamiliar with English seek out this student for proofreading - this student corrects all the grammar and spelling errors in their papers, and fixes cases of terrible vocabulary (e.g. using "mail" instead of "male," or replacing instances of "spinning plane" with "helicopter" when it is clearly meant to be so).

And to further push the boundaries, this student gives critiques and advice of sorts. If Paragraph A doesn't make sense, they will advise them to rewrite it. If Paragraph B fits better as a conclusion, they will advise them to move it. If the essay suddenly dives into ill-fitting rambling for a page or two or goes off-topic, they will advise them to cut it.

Is this ethical?


texts: Applying to PhD programmes in multiple universities

texts: I want to apply for a PhD. I applied to 2 universities before and got rejected. Is it OK to send my PhD proposal to multiple universities at the same time in the hope that I get approval from one of them?


texts: Appendix in APA paper: Can a document in an appendix span multiple pages?

texts:
I need to put a multiple-page document in an appendix of my APA paper.

Is it ok to have an appendix span multiple pages?
If so, after the first Appendix A page, do I title subsequent pages as "Appendix A cont."?

Thank you for any help!


texts: Is reusing part of an internship report self-plagiarism?

texts:
My university has a very strict policy on plagiarism (I presume as do all universities).

As an assignment I must write a report of my internship, but since it is my second internship I have already written one last year. Would it count as plagiarism if I copy and pasted some text, when the content would be almost identical even if I were to rewrite it? Obviously I have to rewrite most sections of the report, but in other sections I genuinely have nothing new to say since last year.


texts: Can anyone help me to find out what resources are suitable for practicing the TOEFL exam reading section?

texts: I had the TOEFL exam a few days ago. I got 27 in writing, 25 in speaking, 26 in listening, and 17 in reading. Although I was able to read all the text, in the reading section, almost easily, the reading questions were very tough and the four-answer questions were similar to each other, and was pretty tough to take the right answer in 30 seconds for each question. I believe, it is because the source that I was practicing on, was not commensurate with the rate of difficulty of the real exam. Even ETS website free practicing questions cannot demonstrate the difficulty of the real exams. I live in Iran and cannot purchase authentic practicing materials easily, although I can do that with extra effort. I just want to know if anyone can help me or introduce any other resources that represent the real difficulty of the questions in the exams. The TPO simulator provided by institutions in Iran does not represent the real difficulty of the exams in the limited time span. Any other suggestion will be welcomed.


texts:
I've been offered a 3-year Lecturer III appointment at a top 10 university in my field.  It's an opportunity that fell in my lap, not something I sought, but it's obviously not something I can just pluck from a tree anytime I like.  So of course I'm going to take it.  I'm trying to decide how to announce that I'm leaving and what to say about it.

I've been a lecturer at a state university for four years, PT since my FT contract ran out last year and not currently scheduled for any new assignments.  My colleagues like me and I'm leaving on very good terms.  Both my current chairman and my previous chair (who recruited me) insist I should take this.

How would you announce your departure? Or would you leave that up to your chairman?  What do you say to students?


texts: How to find the leading researchers in a new field

texts:
I'm in computer sciences, in applied Machine Learning. I often have to switch applications and I find it cumbersome trying to discern the really good and bad works by doing a large survey.

Whenever you are new in a field, how would you direct your survey to find the people doing seminal work in the area, for example in the specific case of Latent Dirichlet Allocation in Computer Science, you can always go to a 2003 paper by Blei, Jordan and Ng. While if you are a seasoned researcher of the area, you already know this paper is relevant, how a newcomer would find such paper?

Do you ask experts in the area? Do you go by number of citations (I often find this deceptive, particularly in Bioinformatics)

I'm interested in this because I'm switching applications now, and I would like to know which group's work I should be following or which person's papers I should be reading.


texts: Can I take multiple GRE subject tests in the same day?

texts: Is it possible for a student to sit for more than one GRE subject test in one sitting? For instance, back in high school, I was able to sit for multiple SAT subject tests in one sitting. I, along with other students, had the option of sitting 1, 2 or 3 tests of our choice. Is there a similar policy for the GRE subject tests?


texts: Submitting under review paper in the admission process, Is it ok?

texts:
The university I am applying to has an option in which I can upload my under review/accepted papers. Is it okay to do it considering the fact that the paper is not published yet?
My under review paper has the same topic as one of the research topics in a lab in that university.


texts:
I am currently enrolled in a PhD program in electrical engineering in Europe (not in my home country). When I enrolled to this program, I was a little concerned about the research group, since it has very few publications about the topic for which I applied (they are not expert in my field). Nevertheless, I applied since I believe the value of a phd is up to yourself, not the popularity of the supervisor.

However, after 1 year I am thinking about quitting. My supervisor is not so much involved in my project and I am followed most of the time by an assistant professor that wants me to follow a certain path according with the interest of the institute. I am trying to convince them that I want to follow an other path, since the topic studied at the institute does not fit well with my topic, but they are stack with this topic, which is also studied by few niche researchers.

I asked them also to send me abroad to a research group more specialized in my field, but they are not so much interested in international cooperations (except the ones related to their topic).

Besides this, I don´t like the environment inside the institute. I perceive lack of communication and everybody is studying the same topic, with not so much differentation. There are no international students except me and other 2 people and everybody is speaking the local language. Also the other students are not interested in mobility and the research group itself does not produce many publications.

Thus, for all these reasons, I was thinking about quitting. I would like to have some advice. I don´t know if this can be a valid move for my career. In the same time, I don´t want to spend 4 years without believing in the quality of my research, in which I am also losing motivation.

I would like to apply to an other PhD program in an other university/country, but I am worried about the references/recommendation letters, since if I quit I don´t think I can ask for recommendation letters from my current situation. Moreover, I am worried that other research groups would not accept me, because they may think that I am low on perseverance (I am not really, I am not of the type to quit something easily).

Thanks for any help!!

I want to specify that this institute advertised a position related to my field, so in principle my research interest and the one of the institute matched. I would have like if they have been more honest with me regarding the direction of the research.


texts: Meaning of "Study curriculum with rankings"

texts:
I have decided to apply to PhD studies and in one part it says that my CV should contain: "Study curriculum with rankings".
What does that mean? because they are also asking me to submit my studies transcripts.


texts: I have a proof of a result in number theory, shorter than the existing proofs. Can such results be published and how?

texts:
Actually I'm proving that ∀n∃p∈P|n<p<en. Which is a result similar to Bertrand's Postulate, but with a shorter proof. Should I publish my result? If so, as I'm not affiliated with any Research Institute how do I do that?

Edit

Since yesterday I've improved my proof: ∀n∃p∈P|n<p<2n. This means I'm proving Bertrand's Postulate with a simpler and shorter proof. So, which is the most appropriate
Journal to publish this result?


texts: Should I tell the interviewer that I solely rely on scholarship to finance my MBA?

texts:
I am preparing for my first MBA admission interview that will take place in a couple of days. I wonder how should I respond if I ever get asked about my plan if I do not get the scholarship I have been aiming for.

A little background: I can only take an MBA if I get a full scholarship. Without a full scholarship, I simply cannot afford the whole tuition and living costs. Even if I do, I doubt the ROI will be good, given that I'm already 35 years old and MBA salary in my country (Indonesia) is not high enough to justify the total costs (retirement age in my country is 55).

I have applied for a full, government-sponsored scholarship and will know the result in mid December. That one scholarship is the only full scholarship I know that will cover MBA in my chosen university. If I don't get it, no back up plan, my whole MBA plan ends.

If I tell the interviewer that I will not be able to proceed if I don't get the scholarship, will it hurt my candidacy? How will the admission see this problem? Do you have any suggestions on what to say?


texts:
I submitted my paper to ICANN2016 conference in which we could choose among the possible options of "poster" and "oral" presentation at the submission time. I submitted for the oral category and received the acceptance notice as a "full paper" to be in the proceedings, but no info on the type of presentation (oral/poster).

Then I registered as they requested to do so before the deadline, but later on, when the conference program become revealed on the website I noticed that I am placed in one of the poster sessions and even in a so "irrelevant" session!

Honestly I become less motivated to participate in the conference as I've heard that the posters are mostly a way the organizers try to compensate the conference expenses (they have 80 posters in the conference). And the chances of getting noticed or getting any useful feedback on my work can be so subtle!
Also not to mention that in the review feedback there was no detail about the review process which could be considered as useful feedback on my work. Just a simple general comment like "the work is so solid, technical and great.."

So I came to a sort of conclusion that I already wasted my publication by submitting it to the conference!

Also I was wondering if I can withdraw from participation and ask my payment back? considering that they didn't mention the type of the presentation in the acceptance notice, and also the fact that I chose the oral presentation in the submission.


texts: What should I state for "expected salary" in a tenure-track job application?

texts:
I am applying to a tenure-track assistant professor job in an applied math department,
for which the job posting states

  Applicants should state their current and expected salary in the application.

Questions:

Why does the department ask for "expected salary"?
Is it because they are trying to exploit my naiveté?
What number should I state in my application?
If I state a number that is on the low side,
will they use that to offer me a lower salary?

At the moment, I am thinking of just stating my estimate of the mean salary
for new assistant professors at math departments,
which according to a Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty Salaries Survey
is $71,412.


texts: Received offer to work for free, how to negotiate for a salary?

texts:
I was an international student and graduated 3 years ago. Now I want to continue my research career instead of working in the industry. I worked for free for a professor for one month last year. It was a good experience and we had a good impression to each other. I approach her again and asked to get back to her lab, she said that she could consider to work together on a project for 1 year, but she has no money. On one side, I was always excited about to be back to a lab to do more researches, and expecting to extend it to a PhD study; on the other side, I couldn't be glad and work well without enough money. I am going to meet this professor soon, I was wondering:

Why did she asked me to work for free?
How to negotiate or should I just give it up?