texts: Find articles that share datasets and code

texts: I am working on some project, in which I would like to find articles where they use some computer code to treat data, and the used datasets and code is totally available (github, personal website, etc). So I go to Scopus, Google Scholar, ISI Web of Science, etc, but I do not find a good strategy for this purpose. I try to add keywords to the search like "code available" or "github", but it does not always yield accurate results. I also know that some journals force papers to give datasets and code, but do not know how to find these exact journals in my domain. So, what is the best strategy for finding articles that share code and datasets?


texts: Why shouldn't I quote famous scientists in my SOP?

texts:
In one of Ben Bitdiddle's comment, he confirms that quoting famous scientists in the SOP is generally bad. But I don't know why. Isn't SOP the place to tell our stories, our inspirations, our motivations, our goals, etc? We scientists, who incur ourselves to solve the hardest problems of the world, are inspired by giant scientists, don't we? So I don't know why...

Thank you for answering my question. I get that a SOP "is forward-looking, not about your childhood". But the quote is not necessary to be something like:  "The purpose of anthropology is to make the world safe for human differences.". I hereby have two questions:

Does that mean we should definitely get rid all things from our past? Not even a paragraph? I have read some samples, many of them start with "I remember the day as if it were yesterday...".
Also, what if the quote I'm about to use is not relevant to any specific field, for example when I want to write down this quote because I want to change field? "Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change". (I can say that I'm not intelligent, but I really want to change the field - this is just an example). This kind of quote is the results of real scientific activities, it applies for every aspect of life, not an inspiration from pop science books.

I know what makes me confuse now. I was mistaken the SOP to the applicant essay. When I search for the sample SOP in my native language, someone has put the 50 best Harvard applicant essays with the title 50 best SOP. After searching it again by English, I acknowledge where I'm wrong. Thank you so much for helping me.


texts: How to mention a professor that his CV link in the university website do not work?

texts:
I want to e-mail to a professor in a US university to get a PhD position. The links of CV download and personal homepage for all the professors in the specific faculty do not work.
How can I mention this fact in my email?
Actually, I want to mention this to make the professor aware of the fact that I have checked his page and not chosen him by chance!


texts: How to refer to myself as a subject of study in a research paper?

texts:
Okay so I have collected personal spending data of myself and significant other over a period of 6 months. I'm quite happy with the data and would like to present it and write it up as a research paper. I'm not going to be publishing it but would like to do it for fun (and a bit of practice can't hurt).

The dilemma I am facing at the moment is that I cannot figure out how to refer to myself or my significant other as participants in the study. I have been trying to figure this out for a few days now and google is really giving me a hard time. I cannot find a single thing relevant to what I am trying to do.

My first issue I have come to is that I am captioning a figure that reads similar to this. Figure 1: Average daily spending vs time for myself (solid line) and significant other (dotted line).

Is this the correct way to refer to myself and significant other? It feels much too informal for my liking. I have considered making a small statement that states that myself will be referred to as "participant A" and my significant other will be referred to as "participant B", but this might add unnecessary confusion.

Is there a standard on this? This has been driving me absolutely crazy over the past few days and would really appreciate any insight or suggestions.


texts: Should I mention (double-blind) submitted conference paper in CV?

texts: I am from computer science field specifically from Computer Vision field. I need suggestion if I should list my paper which I submitted but not yet got any acceptance/rejection. I am more confused due to the fact that the conference's review process is double blind. I would not include that in my CV, but true to say my CV is not so rich yet with publications.


texts: In a CV, where to display conference articles that became journal articles

texts:
Some conferences select articles for publication in a journal. In my CV, I have a section "Peer-reviewed journal" and another section "Conference". Where should I put such articles?

Only in "Peer-reviewed journal": why not, but then the conference contribution will be missing
In both sections: it is factually true, but in way, artificially, increases the list.

A similar question has been asked [1] but I understand there is a difference here: only the best conference submissions are selected for publication in a journal. It is not an automatic.

[1]  Should a conference paper in a journal be considered a journal article?

Edit Requested clarifications:

Field is mechanical engineering, where journals are more important than conference (generally).
The conferences have their own proceedings, plus a few papers are selected for an independent publication in a journal (that has somehow partnered with the conference).


texts: The school's guidance on SOP doesn't match to what I know about it. What should I do?

texts:
In the application form of the school I'm applying, there is a short definition of SOP:

  Your statement of purpose should explain why you want to study your proposed course and how it will help your life and career.

The message is direct: why I want to study here and how it will help my life. It doesn't ask for my past research, it doesn't ask for my community service, it doesn't ask what I'm working on. My research proposal is asked in another field.

This contradicts to what I know on SOP. My prepared one is strictly followed to this question: Choosing research ideas to include in a statement of purpose.

My questions are:

Does this mean that the school actually doesn't care about my past research, and talking about it just waste my space?
Unfortunately I just noticed the difference after I submitted my application. If the answer for the question above is yes, then how bad my SOP is?


texts: How can I cite my dissertation in a paper that will be double-blind reviewed?

texts:
A chapter in my dissertation has not been published in an archival conference. I am writing a paper based on the chapter for a conference that does double-blind paper review.

The paper will include pretty much the entire chapter, which presents a method, and will perform additional analysis of the method. The analysis on its own, without the method, is not enough to merit a paper. In the interest of the full disclosure, I should cite my dissertation. How do I do that without revealing my identity?

Is citing my dissertation without name and institution, just the title, appropriate or not?

I know there were similar questions recently, but none asking about the dissertation. The dissertation is different because it is a publication, a literature search will return a hit, but does not count as one, and is considered OK to publish chapter from in conferences and journals. The field is Computer Science.


texts: How to politely respond to generic emails requesting a PhD/job in my lab? Without wasting too much time

texts:
As I transition to faculty, I have increasingly gotten requests from people who want to do PhD's with me or want postdocs in my lab.

Often these emails are extremely generic and don't suggest they know anything about my research. The descriptions of themselves suggests they've mostly studied completely unrelated topics to my research field (even as broadly defined as the topic at even the department level).

I probably get at least one of these emails per day now (during graduate student application season), so it would be too cumbersome to send out a personalised response email to each one. And I imagine the volume will only increase if/when I become more established.

Most faculty surely just ignore/delete these types of emails, but I feel bad that these students appear to have gotten terrible (or no) advice about how to contact a prospective advisor, and I want to be helpful. How should I reply?


texts: Is it legal for me to write my thesis in my native English and have it translated to German at the end?

texts: I am currently doing my master’s in German and need to start writing my thesis. Although I am already comfortable speaking the language, writing (especially academic papers) is not something I feel great about. Also, my thesis is a big deal. Legally speaking, could I write it in English and have it translated? It would still be my work.


texts: Master's necessary post-PhD for switching field (neuroscience -> bio/statistics)?

texts:
I have a PhD in Neuroscience and am currently a postdoc. Until now, I have been pursuing a career as an independent investigator (PI) in neurobiology. I've had a change of heart because I don't want to manage people and when I think about the parts of my current position that I like the most, virtually all of these parts will disappear when I become the person in charge of a lab.
I think I would really like a career in biostatistics. Math was my undergraduate major and I have really missed rigorous, quantitative thinking since that time (my neuro work has not been computational; as an aside, I have considered this route but still run into the terminal problem of not wanting to run a lab). Most "how to get a career in biostats" advice that I've read have (understandably) been written for folks who do not yet have a graduate degree and typically advise seeking an MS in stats/biostats.
Is such an MS in stats/biostats necessary/worth my time (and $$$) if I have a PhD in neuroscience (and undergraduate math with a couple stats classes) and have used R for data analysis for years now? Alternatively, I've seen a fair number of graduate certificates in biostats that might get me up to speed and increase my employability without the time and financial investment that an MS requires.


texts: Writing REU Recommendation: Should I mention the student is an underserved demographic?

texts:
I've not written an REU recommendation letter before, and I'm wondering what is or isn't appropriate to mention regarding demographics, and what might or might not be in the student's favor to mention.

1a) I know that NSF's broader impact criterion looks favorably on increasing the participation of under-represented groups at the graduate student and faculty level. Do REU sites get any kind of credit from the NSF for accepting underserved demographics? Is this credit meaningful?

1b) If it is meaningful, is it appropriate to point out that a student falls into an under-represented category? I know that there is a great amount of sensitivity to certain demographics questions, as well as a strong preference for self reporting. Also, if this is something that REUs tend to ask in their application process I don't want to reiterate something obvious.

2a) My current institution does some undergraduate research but does not have masters or PhD students. Thus, an REU experience is especially beneficial to our students who have not been exposed to the larger academic research enterprise (particularly if they're considering grad school). As previously, do REU sites get any credit for accepting this kind of student (possibly under the theory of promoting research infrastructure)?

2b) If this is meaningful, is it appropriate to mention? I'm concerned that doing so might raise a great big red flag pointing out that this applicant is a total novice.

3) Lastly, should I mention that this student has said they're seriously considering graduate school? I would think this would be a clear positive statement for the recommendation, since (if the student turns out good) the REU institution will have a good shot at recruiting them. But, I've never been on the admissions end of this process.

All these questions are in the context of a good student who I can write an otherwise strong recommendation for, and are certainly not the basis for a recommendation. If included, these would go in a miscellaneous paragraph that says things like "works well with others".


texts: My associate editor cannot contact the 2nd reviewer

texts:
I submitted a paper to an IEEE transactions journal in March. The paper was sent to the editor, then the editor found an associate editor (AE), then the AE found three proper reviewers (but I do not know the reviewers).

At the begining of July, I received the decision for the AE: the 1st and 3rd reviewers gave me Accepted with minor revision, the 2nd reviewer gave Major revision. So the AE decided it to be Major revision. I made some point-to-point revisions regarding the comments and resubmitted the paper.

Now, four months passed, I have not received feedback yet. A month ago I sent an email to the AE to ask for the reasons. The AE said that he cannot contact the 2nd reviewer. So what I can do now?

Can I suggest to the AE that he should make a decision based on the 1st and 3rd reviewers' recommendation? because the 2nd reviewer already gave me Minor revision in the first round peer-review, it seems that he would not have big questions.

Thanks.


texts: What happens if a math PhD student fails to find a proof that is the main objective of his/her thesis topic?

texts:
How exactly do Math theses/dissertations work?

Is it fair to assume that the work involves trying to prove something? What happens if you can't?

I did a thesis in Computer Science, and though my results weren't great, I still had something to show. I learned from it and had a plan for future work.

But if you have X years to prove something for, say, a PhD and you can't, what happens? Do you just not get a PhD?

I understand that advisors will try to pick a problem that they think is doable, but what if they misjudge?


texts: What is work-life balance like in academia in Japan?

texts:
I am a current PhD student, still a couple years off from graduation. I'm still keeping my options open, but I've started to idly consider interesting places to do a postdoc.

Fit with a mentor and relevance of research is of course the most important thing, but the postdoc period is also a chance to live in cool places for a few years at a time. Work-life balance is also pretty important to me, though, and I have heard some crazy stories about work-life balance in general in Japan.

How is it in Japanese academia as a postdoc from the west? Does it depend on who you work for/what university you are in, or where you're from?

For reference, I did a bachelors in the US and a masters and (currently) PhD in Finland, where home life is highly respected and you're basically not expected to work on weekends/evenings unless you want to.

Edit: If it's relevant, my field of study is genetics, but I mostly work on the computer and don't expect to have much to do with wet lab experiments in the future.


texts: Where should the line be drawn regarding political statements in a scientific report?

texts:
I am writing a report on Fusion energy as an assignment. It contributes to a sperate qualification in Physics which is simply a Pass/Fail. Further studies will often not accept students who do not pass this section.

In this report, I have briefly looked into the current state of electricity generation, including the emissions from coal power plants, and the mining of coal. I found some excellent sources, but also one that had been deleted from the state.gov website. It was available here. It is still available on archive.org here.

Archive.org shows it was removed sometime between 12:45 and 19:54 on the 20th of January 2017. This does not seem to be a coincidence as many news sites reported on Trump ordering the EPA to remove climate change data.

Personal politics aside, I feel attempting to remove/removing any data from the internet is disgraceful, and I want to express that in my report. Currently, at the end of my bibliography I have this text:

  Note on Citation 30: UNITED STATES CLIMATE ACTION REPORT 2014. The Available URL provided is from archive.org’s WaybackMachine, a project which aims to archive public facing sites for the future, protecting them from removal. On the 20th of January 2017, this report was removed from the state.gov website. This appears to have been under the instruction of President Trump, as news sites reported data on the EPA website was removed. The provided archive.org link is the most recent version, from 23 December 2016.

Is this appropriate in the bibliography, or should I simply leave it at the first 2 sentences?


texts: How does one cite a book series/sequence?

texts:
I have a need to cite a certain scifi book series (i.e. a collection of books functioning as elements in a single larger story, not a series like the Springer Graduate Texts in Math) as inspiring a thought experiment in a philosophy paper, but I’m having trouble finding advice on how to cite a book series rather than a particular book in the series.

At least in this case it doesn’t seem appropriate to pick any particular book in the series (the relevant conceit is present across the whole series, but it’s quite possible some books in the series don’t mention it at all and I don’t even know which of the books I read).

Also, any suggestions for representing a series in BibTeX?


texts: What is done about academics who do not do research anymore, or who teach badly?

texts:
There are two loosely related questions here:

What is done about academics who do not do any research anymore?
What is done about academics who teach badly enough that it shows up?

I insist that I am asking what is done, in your department or institution (or in your country if it is uniform). I'll ask a separate question about what should be done. I would also like to distinguish between status (e.g. if you are talking about tenured faculty, please say so), and I am mostly but not only interested in tenured faculty.

Added: implicit in the question, as was mentioned in an answer, is the way an institution measures the research and teaching activities. Answers are welcome to describe the way these are measured to decide whether to take action, but please stick to what is actually done.

To give a little context, from 2009 there are recurring discussions about the teaching duty of academics in France, and whether it should be adapted to their achievements. I would like to have a broader view of the various answers actually given around the world to this issue.


texts: Where should I get my letters of recommendation, coming from outside academia?

texts:
I'm considering applying for grad school (psychology). However, I've been in industry for two years. Also, I never connected with my professors... Here are some of my options for letters of recommendation/reference, none of them are very good, but please help me pick the two best (or think of other possibilities). In case it's important, I studied computer science, minored in philosophy, graduated 2 years ago, and now I work as a software engineer.

Manager. Only worked with him 6 months. He doesn't have a lot of visibility into the work I've done.
Coworker. Only worked with him 6 months. He has quite a bit of visibility into the work I've done.
Former Teaching Assistant from Philosophy class. Talked with him quite a bit and he marked all my essays across three different classes, so he should remember me.
Former Philosophy Professor. Just one semester, but I went to a handful of his office hours, and his was one of the last classes I took, so he might remember me.
Former Psychology Professor. I don't remember this course, and she wouldn't remember me (never went to office hours)


texts: The status of my paper which is in review since 3/02 is "A review is overdue. Two of 4 Assigned reviews are completed". I read in the journal site that review generally takes 1 month and the minimum number of reviews to make a decision by the editor is 2. The number of reviews is 2 since 1 March and the editor didn't make any decision? What should I do?


texts: Why is it that adjunct faculty positions pay so little?

texts:
There's been a series of articles recently [1,2,3,4,5] that basically decry the dismal working conditions of adjunct faculty.

I would like to ask: Why do these positions pay so little? Is it because there is a vast amount of oversupply of teachers? Is it because the Universities have such a diverse range of topics to cover that they cannot afford to hire full-time instructors to cover these courses? Is it because there is decreasing income and funding for academic institutions?

I am curious about what conditions led to this situation where adjunct professors are paid so little.


texts: How is US law on equal opportunity enforced in academic recruitment?

texts:
Almost every US university states on its job advertisements that the university is an equal opportunity employer. Based on federal law, this means that applicants not be judged by their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

What is the guarantee for this fair strategy in action? If the committee is influenced by negative personal views to underestimate the qualifications of an applicant, how can s/he prove/appeal/claim/complain?

For example, certain criteria are given for an academic position. If an applicant believes that the winner of this competition (the one who is finally appointed) is less qualified than her/him, how can s/he claim that the selection was not equal opportunity in practice?

How can one detect/prove this violation?

How does one proceed in case of a possible violation?


texts: Is it a good idea to use Octave to teach an Intro to Matlab course?

texts:
I just discovered GNU Octave, a free open-source alternative to Matlab.

I was wondering if it would be wise to teach an "Intro to Matlab" course using Octave instead of Matlab. My motivations are both idealistic (i.e. I want to support open source software) and financial (I want to save my university some money on licensing fees).

My concerns are that if Octave is too different from Matlab, it would be difficult to find textbooks and other teaching resources, and that when my students make it out into the real world they will most likely have to use Matlab and so they may be disadvantaged if they learned Octave instead.

Does anyone familiar with Octave have any insight?

EDIT: Since a few of the initial comments and answers are focusing on the name of the course, I want to clarify that there is no issue changing the name (and I probably will if I use Octave). Nevertheless, I want my students to have the skills to be able to use Matlab after passing my course, and my question is about whether they will possess those skills if I teach the course using Octave.


texts: Endnote: inserting page number at the end of the citation

texts: What is the proper way to insert an in-text citation using Endnote X8, where you first cite the author, year, following with the quote, and then with the page number in a source? (see an image attached for the example of the formatting). citation example


texts:
So, I just finished my Masters at a top University in the UK but I was awarded a Pass. I recently met up with a potential supervisor at another top institution about my proposed topic - and she really likes me, loves the research, and has been sending me funding information.

However, how do I get around the fact that I got a poor grade on my MSc for funding applications? Some of the funding offers a chance for students to do a MSc then a PhD. Is it wrong to apply to these and not even say that I did a Masters? It feels like I'd have been better off.

To add to this, I actually have a very good record of research experience, and my transcript for the MSc is good. I just lost marks on my thesis which meant I couldn't get a Merit (or 2:1).

I'm so worried, I want nothing more than to do a PhD, particularly on the topic I proposed (community stigma, mental health). I really don't want this to set me back!


texts: Can one really 'lose' old bad grades and get a fresh start?

texts:
15 years ago I was young and dumb, now I'm not as young. No way around it, I did poor in college. My grades were abysmal and were part of a period of my life that has long since passed. I'm now at a point in my life where I'd love to go back to school and earn the degree I never did, but I've got my past mistakes looming over me.

Even if I start in a community college and get a perfect 4.0 for everything I'm enrolled in, my previous transcript will bring down my average. Completing a bachelor's is going to be far more of an uphill battle than it would be even just for an adult going to college while juggling a full time career and family. Is there any process to either ignore college work after a certain number of years have passed or a method to have them expunged?


texts: Techniques to remain focused while marking examinations

texts:
Marking exams can be long, boring, and un-engaging.

It is important one remain focused though to ensure that the evaluation is fair to each student.

What are some methods one can employ to maintain focus and not zone-out while reading answers?


texts: Is it a good idea to send a reference letter upon contacting a potential PhD supervisor for the first time?

texts:
I'm about to contact a potential PhD supervisor which has been suggested by my current masters supervisor. They should know each other very well since they've worked on multiple joint papers before. Currently, I have a recommendation letter from my masters supervisor but I don't know if I should provide it in the first Email. I don't know if recommendation letters are something the PhD supervisor would explicitly ask for later in the process or not.

So, is it a good idea to just blindly provide a reference letter on the first contact, hoping it would impress them more?


texts: Is it appropriate to mention that authors refused to provide code samples when asked?

texts:
I work in a sub field of computer science. There was a recent paper (2020) that was published in a reputable conference that claimed to achieve state of the art performance on a specific data set. This data set is a hot dataset, and my research group has many papers on that specific data set (improving state of the art). I asked the authors very politely if they can share their code samples for their fairly complicated algorithm, to which they rejected and told me that it is not available.

One of my colleagues took 2 weeks to code up the algorithm, and verified its performance, as well as the claimed performance. Meanwhile, we reached a new breakthrough on the dataset and achieved a new state of the art. We are currently writing a draft.

Now, I can't help but be left with a bad taste from this whole experience. I don't see why they wouldn't share their code especially if they claim a state of the art on a very important data set. Most papers have to be compared with the state of the art to some extent, and so essentially, they're slowing down all researchers in this specific field to recreate their own work prior to publishing their own research.

Now my question is, would be advisable to add a note that the implementation of THEIR algorithm is our implementation, and that we reached out to them for their code and they declined?


texts: Are there any acceptable reasons for omitting data in a publication (i.e. "data not shown")?

texts:
I was recently going through an article (which I was told is fundamental in the area of my new project) published in a respectable medical journal. In short, the paper is about the similarities between a particular sub-type of tumor cells versus a particular type of stem cells in the body, then they go on to investigate what that similarity might indicate.

Barely two pages in and I realize that the authors omit what I consider to be critical data when motivating the use of two particular proteins as markers in establishing their fundamental assumption, that their immunohistochemistry findings are representative of the reality and that their model is valid:

  Accordingly, we screened all known ..... markers against our ..... data to determine which, if any, decrease with differentiation (data not shown). Of all the potential ... markers, we found that X and Y are the best candidates, and they were therefore used in this study.

Now it might not be a big deal to some but I find it important to see that omitted data, since:

I am not that informed in that particular type of biology
Seeing that their "real" findings are built on the results of the aforementioned screening, the validity of their research is practically depending on the decision of using those two markers.

Which brings me to my question: Are there any cases where not showing "critical" data in such a manner is acceptable or common? I know that some journals do not accept "data not shown", but obviously it does happen in better journals as well...


texts: How can I withdraw my paper from a fake conference?

texts: I submitted one of my research paper in a fake conference by mistake. Now I want to withdraw my paper from it, But I am facing problem in withdrawal as no email id is given on that website. The problem is that now my paper has been accepted by another conference. But according to Turnitin, my abstract is already published somewhere else. Does anyone here know how and where to report such fake conferences?


texts: The importance of the title "Mathematical Physics" vs. "Physics" on one's degree for grad school/jobs

texts:
I've got a question for anyone that cares and knows how to help. I'm a third year physics student, currently enrolled in the "regular", straight-up physics stream. However, since I've realized I don't want to go into the experimental side of physics, I am trying to avoid having to take a lab course. This isn't possible while staying in the stream I'm in right now, but due to my elective and other choices in regards to the mathematics courses I took thus far, I am still eligible to switch into Mathematical Physics. I've looked at the requirements and the courses I'd now need to take when compared to the ones I'd need to take if I stayed in the regular stream are basically the ones I would use up my electives on anyway. Thus, the only qualitative change arising from switching the programs would be that I would be able to avoid that final lab course, and could take another course, say, biophysics or a maths course, instead.

My concern, however, is what impact would this have in regards to my going to grad school or looking for jobs? As far as grad school is concerned, I would assume it wouldn't have much of an impact due to the importance of actual classes I took and not the name on my degree, but what about jobs if an academic career doesn't pan out? Does "Physics" look better than "Mathematical Physics" in certain cases? If so, when would that be? In other words, is mathematical physics looked down upon as being esoteric?

Any other advice in regards to this switch would also be appreciated.


texts:
I am currently planning to finish my bachelor degree in CS soon (In the Netherlands, if it matters). Unfortunately for the last few years I have had the feeling that my current university is lacking in the level of education compared to other universities.

This is mostly caused by the fact that when I search information about courses (e.g. slides on a subject which I don't fully understand yet, or information I search purely out of personal Interest) they often contain far more information and knowledge than that what was taught to us.

Due to this, I am currently looking to compare CS Majors. On one website, I found they had rankings based on various factors, yet it made me doubt some of the items taken into the ranking there.

I personally would like to learn more about certain aspects of computer science such as the design and architecture relating more complex applications, yet at the same time feel that the masters that my current university offers are not challenging enough for me. In addition, most of the top universities seem extremely expensive (Though some Canadian ones seem do-able without the international fee).

How do I compare computer science master studies and find the good ones?


texts: How does copyright work on questionnaires with similar items?

texts:
I have seen in certain types of questionnaires that the content is very similar, and that, possibly by coincidence, certain phrases are the same.

Let me give you an example: the organizational culture measurement questionnaires.

If one compares different questionnaires, you normally will find similarities in certain items and some may be exactly the same. This is not because a copy has been made, but because human resources has a general consensus on what things should be measured. For example, because everyone agrees that the leadership of the bosses should be measured, therefore we commonly find items such as:

My boss is a good leader

or with respect to the company:

I feel happy in this company

My question arises from this: Could an author who created a questionnaire claim copyright infringement by other questionnaires with similar or identical items, even if this happened by pure chance?


texts: How to transition from lectures/exams to research/thesis?

texts:
So far, University was mostly lectures, seminars and exams.

The scope of problems to solve was usually very narrow and the necessary knowledge was taught in the lecture or seminar.

Solving a given problem in a seminar or exam was done by picking the right tool from the toolbox that one gathered over the year. There was often one specific workflow/formula/strategy/etc. to solve a particular problem. Sure, some of them allowed for some tweaks to get the job done faster, but for the most part the goal was the solution that the problem was asking for. There was never a need nor time to explain the reason to choose a certain method.

Now doing research for thesis, things appear to be different. There's one bigger problem to be solved. There's also some paper to be filled with text about the solution I came up with. I could just solve the problem and document what I've done. However, I got the feedback on previous smaller "publications" that such a document should not just be a manual to understand the solution, but to show the research that was done.

Research seems to have the inherent property to be open ended and unpredictable. Whenever I make a decision, I have the nagging doubt that I should explore more/all the choices and compare them, so that nobody asks me at the end why I haven't tried that other option, too. Previously, the reason to solve a problem in a certain way was because I was taught to solve it that way and arriving at the solution was good enough.

For research, that seems to be different. As the existence of a solution is never guaranteed, it's not so important to actually arrive at a solution, but how to get there. An attempt at solving the problem (or any sub-problem) or really doing anything at all might fail or not, which begs the question why if failed or not. How do I make an educated decision about when to dig deeper and when not to? How do I choose the right level to explore variations? (for example, when to just modify some parameters of a program, use a different mode of the program, choose a different program altogether, use a different computer[, set everything on fire, throw it out of the window and start from scratch])

It's not possible to try everything and making the right decision on what to try and what not to try seems to be a matter of (a lot of) experience, which I do not have at all. How do I make those decisions? Should I just follow my gut feeling and try things, because even if they fail: that's a result? But what if it turns out that even trying those things wasn't a reasonable thing to do in the first place? That would be bad then, wouldn't it? How to get out of this dilemma?


texts: I am currently in the 3rd year,studying BSc in Economics. This period I finished a project which ended up with statistical significant results, covering a topic which was not mentioned in the literature. I found a journal of Elsevier that matches the Field of Research. My question is whether I could try publishing my work since I am an undergraduate student. By searching their webpage, I did not find anything with reference to reasearchers not pursuing a PhD or being Professors etc.


texts: Is it a bad idea to take a leave of absence to finish a degree?

texts: In general, is it better to complete a graduate degree first before deciding to work? Or is it also advisable to take a leave of absence and work while finish your graduate degree later?


texts: Proof for seemingly obvious statements in thesis?

texts:
I'm currently writing a bachelor thesis in which there is a section that deals with the pros and cons of different data serialization formats. Since this is not the main focus of the thesis, I would like to limit the comparisons to include 2-3 of the most widely used formats - for instance; JSON and XML.

I know from experience that JSON and XML are two of the most widely used formats for serializing data on the web, but how can I prove a statement like that? Does it need proof to be included as a boundary/limitation of the thesis?


texts:
Are interdisciplinary STEM PhDs qualified to become professors? Or are they viewed more as “in-betweeners” and better suited for industry work. For example, someone who has a broad (but not deep) math background and only relevant (but neither deep nor broad) domain knowledge in, say, biology or physics, to write their papers?  In other words, such a PhD candidate will be trained neither as a traditional mathematician nor as a biologist or physicist, etc.

Then what typically happens after their PhD?  Do they not have deep enough knowledge to join academia as professors in any department?


texts: After emailing a professor and getting no response from him, how long should I wait before sending a second email?

texts: From time to time, I come across this problem: I send an email to a professor asking him about something (e.g., making an appointment to ask his opinion on something) and I do not hear back from the professor. In this case, how long is the reasonable amount of time for me to resend a similar email?


texts:
I have been in the computer science academic community for at least five years, and I noticed that there are several so called summer schools organized every year everywhere.
I have been knowing just few people attend them.

These summer schools are addressed mainy to MS and PhD students, last around 3-7 days, and may include a final exam. They often include important international speakers coming from overseas.
I have been thinking about them, and there are two issues that concerns them, in my opinion.

The first problem I notice is that is very very hard to make students learn something important in just 3-7 days. They should have more time to re-process all the things that they learned, do some practice, and think about. They include a hipe of subjects that is sometimes very large.

The second issue is that, since the students are studying their own courses, why should they spend their time and money to go to a summer school instead of attending a course at their own university? It's not clear to me.

So, in the end, why do some people organize summer school?
Is it just teaching passion?
Or is it a way to advertise the organizers and their university?
Or is an occasion for networking?

Or, is it something that I am missing?


texts: Failing a student for attendance or grade?

texts:
My problem is pretty weird to describe. This semester I didn't keep track of student attendance in classes because the university system didn't become functional until two weeks before the end of the semester. Now this student comes up complaining that he wants to fail due to absence in classes (which by the way he didn't attend at all) and not because he didn't do any assignments, and he argues that I cannot give any grade because he didn't do any assignment! That's because, for some warped logic, failing to attend classes isn't as bad as failing due to a bad grade: somehow the "system" cleans up attendance failures (but not grade failures) in the future school transcript. It is as if the student had never been enrolled in the course in the first place. Anyway, the "system" does not allow for failing students on both grounds either (that is, someone who hasn't attended enough classes and didn't achieve the minimum grade to pass). Moreover, this is an optional class and about half the students canceled their inscriptions in the first weeks.

So, the question is: should I bow down to this logic and fail the student because he missed classes (thus cleaning up the slate for him), or fail because he didn't do any assignments?


texts: Should I Use the New Term in the Title Which is Introduced in the Paper?

texts:
I'm thinking of a title for my conference paper. In the paper, I define a new term, say Hurble Gurble.

In the title shall I use itself or the definition of it, which is 8-9 words?

  Very Good Method to Live in Hurble Gurble Streets

or

  Very Good Method to Live in in Streets Where Cats Usually Sleep on the
  Containers Rather Than Inside

Which one is more proper?

Edit: The term is planarized, which means points in 3-D are usually grouped on the planes.


texts: Devastated about bachelor's thesis result - is there anything I can do?

texts:
This week I defended my bachelor's thesis in a STEM field. I did everything my supervisor asked and also had time to do some extra work, since I had been working intensely from the start. (I was later told that this is a rarity, so I was proud of myself.) About a month before deadline I sent a draft with data and graphs to my supervisor. His comments were short and only positive. I asked him if he thought I had done enough work, if he thought there was anything I should be looking into, etc. He seemed to think it was more than enough.

Since he only had positive comments like "looks good" and so on, I thought I must have done a good job -  so I was blindsided when he suddenly criticized me at the defense. He thought I should have included an extra graph. I explained why I hadn't created such a graph, that I was focusing on a certain aspect of the data to support a point I was making, but he subtracted an entire grade from my result. The extra graph was something he thought would have been interesting, but it wasn't directly related to the point I was making, which is why I never thought of creating it.

I keep going over it in my head, but I don't see how I could have predicted that he would have liked that extra graph. I sent him my final graphs a month in advance, asked him if there was anything more I should do, and he suggested taking a look at a certain article if I wanted to, but nothing pertaining to the extra graph. There are numerous ways I could have expanded my thesis, I didn't know that he wanted me to expand it in this particular direction. I would have been more than happy to create more graphs if there had been any sort of hint that I should have gone in that direction, but there never was. Yet I feel like I should have figured it out somehow.

The grade I have received is viewed upon as mediocre in the environment I'm in, and I'm anxious about the way it will make me look, applying for a Master's degree. I'm very sad. I know of others who did not have time to finish all the work, let alone do extra work, and received a better grade (with different supervisors). I truly tried to do everything and think of ways to improve my thesis and it seems I was successful, apart from one graph. The other committee member seemed happy with my work. At some point while I was waiting outside the door I heard the committee member saying "well if you really think she should have done more...", which suggests to me he probably would have given me a better grade if it weren't for my supervisor.

How should I handle this situation? I wish I could forget about it and move on, but it's very hard for me. I put so much work into my thesis and it seems like it's all going down the drain because I failed to include a certain graph. Is it possible that I got unlucky? I feel like a failure. I would just like to know if there's anything I can do to improve my situation somehow.

For the record, I'm in a European country.


texts: The GRE is not held where I live. How badly does it reflect on me if I ask for it to be waived?

texts:
I am graduating with my MSc early next year and would like to pursue my PhD in a closely related field (Stats/Financial math).

I am hoping to study either in Europe or HK/Singapore and most of the universities I hope to apply to state a GRE is required.

The GRE is not held where I live, and I'm very strapped for cash meaning that I don't really have money to spare to fly to the nearest test center and sit it. I'm wondering how poorly it would reflect on my application if I asked for a test waiver explaining this?

I have already emailed NUS in Singapore asking about this, and they said I was exempted but that it would be better if I did include it. This makes me feel that borrowing some money and doing it would be best, or I'd risk ruining my chances of getting into a good university.


texts: Should seemingly arbitrary things like "play piano for Church" or "intramural badminton" go on M.S. or PhD applications in sciences/engineering?

texts:
And if they should, I assume that these things should go on a resume under something like "Activities and Community Service". I mean I consider being able to sight read music to play at my Church as a significant feat (how many people can do that?) and might sway one person on an admissions committee if he or she enjoys music and understands how hard one must have worked to accomplish this.

Badminton?.... perhaps not so much


texts: Is there such a thing in the academic world as "common knowledge"?

texts:
This is a question about plagiarism and about when citations are necessary.

If one works in a particular academic field there may be statements that everybody in that field accepts, that have been around for a long time, and that it would be a matter of tedious historical research to track back to a published source that can cited: for example, "the number of prime numbers is not finite".

In that specific case I happen to know that I could cite Euclid as a source for that statement, but he did not publish in a peer-reviewed journal, and if I am not focussing on the history of proofs of that proposition, surely it is not plagiarism for me to state that fact without attribution.

That is but one example of a well-known fact.

My question is how does an academic writer decide whether something is so well known that a citation would be ridiculous or whether it would be plagiarism to state it without citing somebody?


texts: Can you apply for a PhD that requires an MSc when only 2/3 of MSc grades will be in by application time?

texts:
I am currently pursuing a Master's in CS in USA. This particular program will only be a year long since I did my undergrad at the same university and had some credits transferred over. I was researching Phd programs in Canada and they all require a Master's degree for admission. I wanted to know if I can apply right now as a Master's student for entry in Fall 2016?

My program will be over in Spring 2016. My application will contain only 2/3 of my Master's grades by the time of application. I know that you can apply for a Master's program in your last year of undergrad. Is it the same for Phd?


texts: How likely is it to get into grad school with many W's and an F on your transcript given you have medical documents that give reason for your grades?

texts:
I currently have a 3.47 GPA at Georgia Tech in Computer Science. I have already withdrew from 6 classes but 4 of those were from a semester I got hospitalized. I'm failing a class right now but I may be able to pull of a C or even an A because the final replaces the course grade.

I want to do a Master's in environmental science or environmental modeling. I want to be a data scientist for the NOAA or any organization working on the acidification of the ocean.

I may even do a PhD if I can. I have research experience.


texts:
I submitted an article in a Reputed journal in mathematics.  It is in review process.  After 4 months, i realized that there are some trivial mistakes...   Article is still under review with journal.   What should I do?

If I have a corrected version, should I send that one?
Or should I share this situation with Editor?

I am feeling very bad because of me editor and reviewer are (will be) wasting their time with wrong article...


texts: Is it possible for a student to TA their entire way through graduate school?

texts:
Or is it usually not possible?

Does this also depend from department to department? I'm in a geoscience department, and I was recently advised that due to a limited number of positions, students can only expect to be TAs for 1/4 of their time here. Geoscience does tend to have significantly fewer courses than most other fields though, so I wonder if it varies from field to field?

Does it also vary depending on whether the school is public or private?


texts: TVöD contract E13 (limited contract 2 year) notice period

texts: I am on the 1st year of a TVöD E13 contract (offered for 2 years), and I would like to ask: what is the notice period for resigning from my current job?


texts: How to mark student reports more efficiently

texts:
I have been assigned to mark student reports for an engineering coursework, which mainly involves the use of a software. The main content of each report is around 15 pages. There are 45 reports in total. I am also required to write feedback to each student. I have not been involved in designing the assignment nor teaching the course.

The professor who assigned me this task told me that the marker last year took about 4 full days to complete the markings, and yet I have spent more than two weeks doing this (and not really doing anything else), and I am not yet done. I did need to spend some time familiarising myself with the subject matter and the software in the beginning, because I have never used the software before, but it is not that difficult to use.

Since this is my first marking experience, I am wondering whether it is normal to have spent so much time marking. Is there any strategy I can adopt to complete the task more efficiently, especially in my case where I am not involved in designing the assignment?


texts: Asking for a letter of recommendation from professor that offered me a position

texts:
I am currently an undergraduate in Computer Science, and I am seriously thinking about getting a PhD (I have to apply next year, and I like to do my homeworks way beforehand).

Last year I worked as an assistant researcher in a group at my university. Everybody was really pleased with my work and they said they would be very happy to have me as their student, including the head of the group (he was also one of the professors of some undergraduate courses).

The problem is, while my School is quite good, and I wouldn't mind at all to pursue my degree in this group, I would like to try other opportunities. This would imply requesting a letter of recommendation from him.

Is there any way to suggest that I want to try to apply somewhere else (quite objectively a better grad school, in a different country) and, if that fails, I would like to stay in his group, without being rude? How would this be perceived?


texts: How to determine compensation for developing new course for community college?

texts:
I am a startup entrepreneur in Chattanooga TN.  A few days ago, I was approached by a representative of Chattanooga State community college to teach a community course and/or course series on 3D printing and product branding.  This will be a new course, unlike any other that they have taught before, so I am sure that there will be plenty of developmental work involved.

When I asked about the compensation, the representative told me that the pay varied from instructor to instructor, and that I needed to come up with the amount.  I have never taught a course like this before, so I was wondering how I should gauge this amount.

Should I base it on hours taught in class, total hours material covered, students involved, or is there another standard?


texts: How to defend badly graded master thesis?

texts:
My master thesis was the greatest sh*tshow that ever happened in my life. Fortunately I did manage to put it all together and submit it. After that I booked a defense date which is tomorrow.
In the meantime, two days ago I got the reviews for my master thesis from both professors and I barely passed the written thesis with score of 3.7 (1-Excellent and 5-Fail) with a lot of questions about my approach and structure. I don't mind ending with a bad grade as it was not up to the quality.

But, I am now in panic and anxiety for the last few days. I don't know how I will defend my thesis. Would anybody guide me how to defend a bad graded thesis? I am based in Germany. What are my chances that I failed the defense despite passing the written thesis?
My mind is blank at the moment due to anxiety as I did not get enough time to digest my results.


texts: What are the most valuable skills to learn to be considered for a quantum optics PhD position?

texts: I have a master degree in thin-films interferometry, and I want to receive a Ph.D position in the area of Quantum optics. How can I assure receiving this position? What are the required skills or certificates to be accepted?


texts:
I'm working on a political science problem that has attracted (by my count) fourteen proposed solutions, ranging from somewhat useful to positively harmful. Some are already law in many countries; others are recent inventions, advanced in papers and amicus briefs by eminent scientists. Several survey papers enumerate these strategies.

My paper recombines three of the methods in a formal relationship. To use this model, the eleven alternatives and all the laws that follow from them must be jettisoned. Some parties (not just authors, but political interests) are sure to defend them.

How much should I write about the competing policies?


texts: Is there benefit to publishing the abstract of an English article in multiple languages?

texts:
I noted from a previous paper I worked on, that when it was published an abstract was included in Spanish as well as English (https://bjssjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bjs.11422 and https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31976560). The article itself was in English.

I have had another article accepted with a different journal and publisher. I asked the editorial team if they would like abstract translations and they stated that they don't really publish abstract translations alongside the English abstract. I had the impression they had perhaps not thought of it before.

Is there benefit, such as for the article to be found in foreign language search results and potentially reach more readers, to providing translations of the abstract (even if the paper itself is in English)? I have lots of co-workers who are fluent in several languages and could provide abstracts in different languages fairly easily and for free.
If a publishing journal does not do this, is there benefit to putting up translated abstracts on ResearchGate or some other website with a link to the online version of the published article at the journal website?

EDIT 04/05/2020: I recently submitted a different article to different medical journal (a BMJ subsidiary journal) and they had a specific section in the submission process which was for uploading of foreign language abstracts. So I think it is something forward-thinking journals are starting to do but not all journals are doing it yet.


texts:
I am always stuck by the randomness of some syntax rules in academic articles, hence I cannot infer a proper answer to this question:

  Is there a correct way to choose among "X theorem" and "X's theorem"?

I chose the word "theorem" for my concern comes from reading mathematics, but of course this questions stands for any reference to someone's work.


texts: Faculty advisor is leaving, any way to turn this into a good thing?

texts:
Asking for a friend who is a grad student in a social science.

They have just finished their coursework and passed their quals. Upon entering the program, their faculty advisor suddenly left the department. After 18 months with a new advisor, this professor is also leaving. Neither advisor was great in that they were unresponsive. So my friend is not overly devestated to lose their second advisor.

Yet, since being abandoned by two advisors doesn't feel like a great thing, it still feels like a setback. Is there anything my friend can do to turn this situation to their advantage? I mean aside from being able to now work with a professor who is more supportive (should such a professor exist).

To be more precise, are you aware (or can you conceive) of situations in which a person who suffered a similar fate is compensated in one way or another (I don't mean monetarily)?

Edit:
PhD program is in the US. Second, my friend's age and stage in the program doesn't really allow them to start over in another program.


texts: How to address graduate school recommendation letter?

texts:
Since I'm applying for grad school, I'm currently in the process of acquiring recommendation letters from my professors. They usually ask me a few questions about how to guide the letter, such as what do I want to emphasize and how to address the letter?

How does one address a grad school applicant's recommendation letter? I mostly settle for "Dear Madam or Sir". Is "Dear Graduate Admissions Committee" or some other alternative considered better?


texts: Is it OK to ask my host for an externally organized stay which hotel is being booked?

texts:
I will be spending 2 weeks in China later this year, to visit a university and talk to the various research groups. The host university will be paying all my expenses.

My contact person at the host university has asked me if I would like for him to make hotel reservations for me or if I would like to do it myself.

Ideally I would like for him to make reservations, as he knows his own city. But am I "allowed" to ask to see the hotel first, before he makes reservations for me? Or is that considered impolite and rude as they are paying for me?


texts: Is it okay to mention the potential advisor's name in my personal statement?

texts: I have already established contact with my potential advisor. Would it be appropriate to mention his name in my personal statement? Would doing so be looked upon negatively by the admissions committee?


texts: Can both a grad. student & faculty member cosign a recommendation letter?

texts:
Can two people, a professor and a graduate student, sign a recommendation letter? The concern here is that the professor knows little about the student and the graduate student knows all about the student.

My concern here is that if the professor is contacted, he will not be able to provide further information, where as if I was listed as the primary contact: I could.


texts: When presenting an idea to a professor: Be optimistic or realistic

texts:
I'm trying to convince a professor about my research idea, but when I would start writing that email, I get stuck: should I be optimistic, for example, If we apply my idea, then X, Y and Z could happen (Z could refer to "change the world") but I am not sure enough about X, Y and Z. Or to be realistic, for example, I would say: "Okay, that idea, presumably will lead to x. Thank you".

What I was thinking is if my idea really can lead to X, Y and Z then I will impress that professor, but if my idea cannot (at least in that professor's opinion) lead to anything of what I'm supposing, then he will delete my email immediately. I read a book on how to sell any of your idea or product to people by being optimistic not realistic, but I want to ask if you share the same view.

As a professor who reads/receives  tons of such emails, what is the most thing that impress you, a realistic talk or an ambitious/optimistic talk?

As a side note: I'm holding a bachelor degree, and I'm presenting my idea as a working subject in my master study


texts: How much programming experience is needed before contacting a college professor for research/internship?

texts: I'm currently a sophomore in high school looking to work with a college professor in the near future. I'm interested in the computer science field, and I was wondering how much programming I should have under my belt before contacting a professor for research/internship opportunities? I'm currently studying Java, but I know for a fact that it's not enough. I've gotten the fundamentals down (classes, methods, arrays, etc.) and I've just scratched the surface of GUI programming. At what level would you guys deem it appropriate to get into contact with a professor? Thanks for your help!


texts: Applying for international graduate school without any prior collaboration with researchers at the new location

texts:
I'm finishing my Master's degree in my home country in March of 2022. I've just finished my first year of Master. I have no publications or results yet, but my work is going according to plans and is very promising. Results will come. My current GPA is 3.78/4.00. My undergraduate GPA is 2.68/4.00.
I'm currently looking forward to some Ph.D. programs in some universities in Canada, the United States of America and Germany. I'm looking mostly for programs that have a recent publication impact in my field of research (Geometry Processing), which isn't a very strong field in my home country.
Unfortunately, my advisors do not have contact with any international researchers in my area for collaboration (they are new in this area too). They say it would be a better idea if I had some collaboration experience before my applications and aren't encouraging me to apply without previous experience.
But I want to apply for international Ph.D. programs. I'm already preparing myself for proficiency in English tests. I'm totally dependent on scholarships and grants to be able to finish any Ph.D. program. Submissions are probably going to start around September/October.
My question is: how should I write an admission letter without any prior experience with professors, researchers, etc. at the university I'm applying to? All I have by now is access to the publications of the professors I'd like to be my advisors. That's the origin of my interest. Should I approach these professors someway before my application? If so, how should I approach them?
Also: I'm an LGBT girl and will be a first-time immigrant. How to express my concerns about financial and psychological support during my Ph.D. while writing for the professors?
This is super new for me and I don't have much external support right now. I'd appreciate any help or advice.


texts: Parentheses to indicate the word can be singular or plural (APA style)

texts:
The pilot for the study involved two props, one for the participant to keep and another to give to someone else.

The study involved three props, one for the participant to keep and two to give to two other people.

When discussing the study in general, do you write

the props (assumption is that the plural subsumes the singular)
the prop(s)
the prop or props
any of the above, author's choice, just be consistent


texts: How can I contact potential PhD advisors without jeopardizing my position in my current PhD program?

texts:
(Sorry for the long question in advance! If it's too long, you could skip the first two paragraphs.)

I'm currently enrolled in a PhD program in a relatively prestigious school, which is very well-known in my field and in the specific area I'm interested in. Despite the department being a very good match for my interest, for some very personal reasons, I really need to move to a different place. (I assure you that my reasons are absolutely convincing, but unfortunately are too personal and complicated to explain it here, so I'd appreciate it if you could suggest answers to the question I'm asking and not discuss whether I should change my mind about leaving my current program).

Before I explain where in the application I could get into trouble, I need to say, that I can't explain my reasons for leaving my current university to my professors. Although the reasons are not at all about the department (I'm actually pretty happy with the program itself), and are only related to the location, since understanding them requires some background on what my reasons are about and some familiarity with me at a personal level, I have very little hope that they could actually sound convincing to my professors. They're the sort of reasons that I could explain to a friend and I'm quite sure they'd find them absolutely convincing (as those I explained to did), but I can't explain it to a colleague or a professor unless I establish some level of friendship with them beforehand. So, I prefer to reserve that option as the last option.

Although I'm trying to go and continue/do my PhD somewhere else as soon as possible, I'd want to do that next year if my applications weren't successful this year (especially because next year I'll have more publications, could possibly get a little closer to my advisor here so I could get their help and explain my reasons to them, and will have a higher chance in general). That's why I don't want to jeopardize my current position at all, because I might end up staying here one year longer. I'd appreciate any suggestions to solve the problems explained below.

I would consider my problem to have two main parts:

Part 1:

Since I'm going to apply for PhD positions, mostly in Europe, but possibly a few in the US, I need to contact potential advisors (in most of the programs I'm considering, the department-level admission is almost just a formality and any PhD student has to be accepted by the advisor first). I'm afraid that the prospective advisor might know a professor from my department (especially because they work in the same field and my department is very well-known in the field), and they might contact that professor and ask about me, which could get me into trouble in my current program (possibly resulting in the school cancelling my scholarship). I do try to make sure that they haven't published a paper together recently, but sometimes it's hard to figure out for sure if they're collaborating on a project at the moment or not, or if they're going to meet at a conference soon.

Part 2:

It could be difficult to justify why I want to leave this department given my interests. The department is a great match for my interest and I'm assuming that whoever reads my statement letter is not going to ask "why won't you complete your Ph.D. with prof. X or prof. Y at your own department then?!". Any suggestions on how to minimize the amount of annoying personal explanations, while trying to explain why I want to go somewhere else?

I'd greatly appreciate any solutions you'd suggest. Also, do you think these stuff are actually something to be worried about or am I just overthinking it?!


texts: How to rephrase this statement in a paper? "Due to a limited number of pages, ..."

texts:
How do you say in your paper that "due to a limited number of pages allowed, I'm not going to discuss the details how and from where this equation is derived..."

It is a conference paper, and they "might" ask us in future to publish our papers in more details in a dedicated special issue of journal X. I need to skip some calculations as I'm limited by pages, and no reference I have to refer, just some derivations.


texts: Article published in a conference has several technical flaws in it. What should be done?

texts:
This conference is organized on every 3 years. It is highly influential in the field of study. Screening and review committee are usually reputable that includes a strong set of researchers and professors.

The article in question is similar to my field of interest. I was happy to read it, but am very dissatisfied with discussion, analysis of data and moreover, there are several theoretical flaws in the paper.

What should I do in this case? How to submit a comment? Or, should I just ignore this?


texts: What tricks can I use to add value to my poster?

texts:
Going round conference poster sessions, I notice the occasional poster where the presenter has used a bit of creativity to help with their communication/networking, perhaps related to linking in some way to online information, or giving people something to take away that will help them to remember the person or information. What methods have you used or come across that add value to a poster in that sort of way?

I'm interested in things outside of the basic content of the poster - by "basic content" I mean the text and images that communicate your research (there are some good answers to this question that cover that kind of thing).


texts: Do we know what proportion of scientific reproducibility issues are fraud-related?

texts:
A few days ago there was an article on the LSE blog about scientific reproducibility which made little sense to me until I realised they were equating 'low reproducibility' with 'scientific fraud':

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/07/21/could-blockchain-provide-the-technical-fix-to-solve-sciences-reproducibility-crisis/

I've tended to assume that most reproducibility issues are poor reporting of experiments, poor recording of external factors, poor statistical analysis inflating p-values etc but I realise that I don't have much evidence to back that up apart from personal experience. Are there any studies that report the relative proportion of irreproducible experimental results resulting from fraud versus poor experimental/statistical/reporting standards?


texts: Academic publishing: advanced questions about figure/table positioning

texts:
I am writing a textbook and am in the process of making final adjustments, such as the positioning of figures and tables.
I know the basics: figures and tables need to be at the top or bottom of the page. However, I'm concerned about fine-tuning. I have three questions:

figures are always at the top, which makes sense because captions are below the figure and captions are very close to the text. However, does this mean that tables should be at the bottom? The captions are above the tables and if you put the tables at the bottom, the captions are closer to the text.

what is the best styling in the situation where you have two unrelated figures on the same page? From a contextual perspective, one should be at the top and the other at the bottom because they are unrelated. But from a caption perspective, they should both be on top, since the caption is closer to the text in this case.

what is the best styling when the page is divided by a new section and the figure belongs to the new section? From the contextual perspective, the figure should be at the bottom because it belongs to the bottom section. However, from the caption perspective, the figure should be at the top because the caption is closer to the text in this case.

Do you have any ideas for this situation?


texts: How to avoid giving honorary authorship to advisor who has not contributed?

texts:
I am just about finished with my PhD. During the past year or so, I managed to develop my own little spot of theory. I have done this almost entirely independently. However, my advisor typically adds his own name to the papers before publication as a matter of course, with not much more contribution than adding references. Often, any changes he makes I must correct later, because he has not actually worked on the theory and often has not read the manuscript well enough to even understand the arguments fully, so often adds in incorrect claims. He is generally a nice guy on a personal level, and occasional discussions are often enjoyable and sometimes do develop ideas for research, but I don't believe they meet the guidelines for authorship, and I hate giving authorship to someone who doesn't even read my work. Also, I do not receive his funding or rely on him for material/equipment etc, so it is not a matter of financial dependence.
This next paper will be most likely my final paper before I get my PhD. I managed to obtain results of which I am particularly proud, and I have done so entirely independently of my advisor. So far, all my results are basically finished and I have not required any discussion with him on the work for guidance.
How can I diplomatically, but assertively bring up the possibility of wanting to be the sole author on this publication? The work is entirely my own, and I really want single-authorship on the work I have done to show that I am a completely independent scientist.


texts: Is it common for prestigious universities to contact you after you dropped out to see whether you wish to enroll again?

texts:
Many months ago, I had to drop out from a prestigious university.

Lately, the university contacted me and asked me if I were considering enrolling once again, and said that if yes, I should do so before a certain deadline.

Is it common for universities to contact drop outs?


texts: Can I contact graduate office regarding decision timeline (to know my application status)?

texts:
I am an applicant of Graduate program in Biological sciences of X University, USA. My application deadline was Dec 15, 2015 and I submitted application with required documents on time (PhD application). For the past 4 months my application status in portal shows "In review". In the university website,no specific decision timeline is given. My question is can I contact through e-mail to graduate program coordinator to know the decision status? It is almost April 1st week, I fear my application might be rejected, but I want to know it from officials.

Is it normal to ask Graduate program coordinator to ask about decision timeline or my application status?

Thanks.


texts: Piece of identification needed at first registration day of a US conference

texts:
I will soon take part in my first congress in the USA.

What piece of identification is needed to register on the first day?

I don't want to carry my passport with me all the day of the conference so is a driver licence sufficient?


texts: How should I email dissertation to committee?

texts:
I have to send my doctoral dissertation to the members of my committee and I wonder how I should write the email. It is not a question of inviting them to be on the committee (they have already agreed with my advisor), but on how to tactfully send them the dissertation.

Besides, is there anything else I should send besides the dissertation and my CV?


texts: Is it ethical to require student work in exchange for letter of recommendation

texts: Is it ethical for a psychology professor to expect volunteer work in the lab in exchange for a letter of recommendation? The rationale is that they are unable to judge a student's suitability for graduate school without evaluating their lab abilities. I can see the point, but it's difficult for a working student to volunteer for an entire four month long semester on the professor's schedule, which varies considerably.


texts: What should I do if my advisor is replacing me with younger, more energetic masters students?

texts: I was working on a project with my PhD advisor that was going kind of slowly.  Now he has hired two masters students to "help" me.  They are better at coding than me and seem a lot more interested in and involved with the project than I am.  What should I do?  This is my only project with my advisor and I think he doesn't think I'm very smart.


texts: Why is my paper "under review" if it contains no results?

texts: I've recently submitted a paper for review for a reputed math journal. The main paper is just 2 pages (everything else being in appendix), where I setup a new problem, and the central result I had left unproven. (I said the proof is yet to be done). I did not send this paper in a hurry, I had spent a good amount of time and best of my abilities to prove it, but couldn't. The paper cleared editorial screening (after being there for a few weeks) and went to "Under Review". What could be the reason to go to "under review", when there is no proof that has to be reviewed. I'd like to understand, what are all the things that are "reviewed" for a math paper that is "under review"?


texts: How can I publish my independent research?

texts:
To many of you this might sound extremely ambitious, but I am already doing a lot of innovative things in my area of expertise. I think the results from this research could benefit the general public. It would be nice for me to be able to write my results in a formal paper and publish it. However I am not affiliated with any university and I know how much scrutiny there is in publishing.

So assuming I have a paper written what are my next steps to publish it?


texts: When you're collaborating with another group, how do you decide which one is the first author of the paper?

texts:
Say, A and B are two PhD students working on the same project, and C is their supervisor. D and E are two students working on a similar project to A and B's, and F is D and E's supervisor. The other day C and F met and decided to collaborate. And now the project is about to end, so it's time to write a paper. A, B, D, and E all insist they should be the first author, and no one wants to be the fourth place.
In this situation, how should the supervisors decide who's first?
And imagine this scenario: B writes the paper without letting anyone know, and then they show this paper to the two groups and ask for the other three people's data. Then does this automatically make B the first author?


texts: How to be a good (Applied) Math graduate student

texts:
I am a first year graduate student in applied math at a relatively good school here in the US. I'm looking to concentrate in something at the intersection of CS and Applied Math (quantum computing perhaps), but I've always been a sucker for pure mathematics, and I'm glad I'll have a chance to learn more if it here. I want to run by my approach on how I think of getting through the first few years:
I am someone who has somewhat broad interests and likes to study mathematics based of its physical applications. Therefore, I am keen during my time here in taking in as diverse areas as algebraic topology, computational geometry etc. I also think I'm sufficiently self-motivated to open up math books on my own and study from them. The problem I feel with me is that I think I'm all over the place, and as someone who isn't naturally talented in mathematics, I find it very hard to commit to memory a lot of things I learn. One thing I don't get at all about graduate school is why still have timed exams under stressful conditions. It seems the whole purpose of teaching math at school, college and university is to weed out the those who can't perform under pressure. No wonder we end up losing a lot of students along the way who don't wish to continue studying mathematics. And here I am someone who's also not naturally talented in math, but I am still trying to go through these stupid motions. Therefore, I've seen myself not being able to perform well in the timed exams here. I've done well on take home exams, and I wish there were more of these in graduate school, because the whole point of doing mathematics is not to be able to do it under a time pressure (sorry for this rant here; I feel very strongly about this issue). So my approach going forward is to try not to worry about my performance on timed exams. Rather focus on the learning outcomes and hope I am able to check off the relevant boxes (pass a written qual etc.) in a timely manner.
Does this approach sound all right going forward? Or do I need to change my way of thinking going forward and perhaps be a bit more focused etc?


texts:
I'm a student; recently, in one of my classes, a fellow student brought their baby in a stroller. She may have asked the professor beforehand for permission to do this. The baby cried, made loud utterances, and loudly kicked the inside of its stroller. Several students, including me, found this very distracting. The professor didn't react to any of this. What should he have done? Should students be prohibited from bringing babies to class, or are there some circumstances under which it should be allowed?

I didn't complain to anyone, as I assumed that the student brought her baby to class because of exceptional circumstances and that this wouldn't become a habit. I don't know whether anyone made a complaint. This has only happened once, during the most recent lecture.


texts: How to evaluate an implementation Master's Thesis in Evaluation chapter?

texts:
I am writing a Master's Thesis where I developed an application. The application was developed after the study of another similar application. My application does things differently but the principle is the same for both of the application. Now I need to write an Evaluation chapter for my thesis.
So how do I evaluate my application in the Evaluation section? Is it by comparison or mention my own results?


texts:
It is customary to use one's academic e-mail address as contact address in publications; I have seen once or twice an @gmail.com address being used instead, but it simply looked unprofessional.

However, I already experienced personally twice that system administrators love to deactivate e-mail addresses when people leave the institution. In a time when serving 1 GB of data costs one cent, apparently it is too demanding to set up forwarding for a few old users.

This leads to "e-mail rot" in many published papers, also for addresses that are explicitly designated as contact addresses. If one happens to have a popular name, it might become difficult to identify them using a search engine after the e-mail address becomes invalid.

What is your proposed solution to this problem? Should we (well, the ones of us that have tenure and power) put pressure on system administrator to change this practice? Should we use in our publications a different, more stable e-mail address than the academic one? Should we maybe get rid of the e-mail and contact address in papers overall? Should we insist that the journal publishers set up an alternative contact system (good luck with that)?

Related question: Changing mailing and e-mail addresses as corresponding author--which to include?


texts: Is there scientific value in recreating existing papers in natural language processing for further languages?

texts:
For example, if a sarcasm detection (or sentiment analysis or any other similar NLP problem in that matter) paper has already been produced for tweets/news/media in English, will there be any scientific value if I try to do the same thing but for tweets/news/media in another language, such as Albanian.
I have an idea on where to get the data, and there isn't any previous research on these matters (or NLP in general) specifically to Albanian. Is it worth me doing a paper about it?


texts: OpenCourseWare but for Example Questions?

texts:
Part of my job is creating learning materials (such as example questions) mostly for first year undergraduate students in engineering. I find it difficult to believe that there are not free online resources for example questions based on topics. It is crazy to think that every time an institute wants example questions they have to make them from scratch, instead of having an online place for people to post.

MIT OpenCourseWare has some assignment materials, however you cant search by topic (e.g., search for "eigenvalues"). Also, there aren't many assignments per topic (and some require you to have the book which defeats the purpose).

Is there anything similar out there I could use to get examples from and even put my own examples out there for others to use?

(Keep in mind it has to be official, I know there are some places where students can upload materials from their courses, but those are usually not done with permission.)


texts: Is it ethical for a journal editor to use a generic rejection response when desk rejecting a manuscript?

texts:
Is it ethical for a journal editor to provide the same response to many authors?

Here is an example generic rejection comment made by a journal editor:

  All manuscripts are initially assessed by the editors to ensure they
  meet the criteria for publication in the journal. After careful
  evaluation of your manuscript, I regret to inform you that I do not
  find your manuscript suitable for publication in Journal because
  it does not meet the impact requirements of the journal. Therefore
  your article has been rejected from Journal.


texts: What does it mean if a paper is "with editor" for a while with no updates?

texts: Is it normal for a submitted paper to be at "with editor" for over two weeks, with no changes to the status date? In my experience, a paper is either rejected outright or passed on for review after the editor gives it a pass. Why might it stay with the editor for over two weeks, and is this normal?


texts:
I have to hand in the thesis to my supervisor, but I could neither find him in the faculty nor contact him, but I know his house.

Is it advisable to hand in a thesis by visiting my supervisor's house?


texts: Colleagues present same data analysis for years, each time with different "framing". Ethical?

texts:
I have seen colleagues present the same data analysis multiple times over several years.

By present, I mean two things. First, present the work to other faculty and PhD students in departmental seminars and informal brown bags. Second, I mean present the research to journals by submitting it for peer review.

Each time I see the work presented, the data analysis is rather similar to the last time I saw it presented. But what the study is "about" changes significantly, sometimes using different theories and claiming to have a new research question.

What does not change is that the paper claims to test hypotheses derived from whatever theory they are using. The hypotheses keep changing, but the analysis doesn't change.

The changes to the theory and research question are explained as having the previous paper rejected at a journal and needing to change the "framing" of the paper or responding to reviewers who "didn't like" the way the analysis was presented.

Is the behavior of my colleagues ethical?


texts: Using MHRA, do I need to cite a translator when referencing an online text?

texts:
My apologies in advance if this question is misplaced here. Using a reference like this (for online resourses)

  Heraclitus, 'Fragments Of Heraclitus - Wikisource, The Free Online Library', En.wikisource.org, 2014 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Fragments_of_Heraclitus#Fragment_1 [accessed 24 October 2014]

do I need to include somewhere that the translator is John Burnet? I assume so, but I cannot find anything in the style guide to indicate where I would put the translator (maybe just, "Heraclitus, translated by John Burnet, ..." ?).


texts: Is it appropriate for department administrators to send political emails?

texts:
In my department, it has been fairly common to receive mass emails from our department chair about political developments.  These emails followed the election last winter, recent executive orders from our current president, as well has his failure to receive a dean appointment at our university.  In this question, I am not addressing the political issues themselves, but whether it is appropriate, or not, for an educational administrator to send politically driven emails en masse.

To be frank, though in my opinion, his emails have been very emotional and childish. For example, he sent a mass email about his loss as a candidate to become the dean of a college -it was an emotionally charged correspondence that had an air of whining in it.  Likewise, he has sent emails about his distaste with developments in Washington DC.  Emails have encouraged students to sign onto a petition.  I am a big fan of free speech, but I think this behavior shuts down people with differing opinions than his own; this fosters "group think" sentiments that could be detrimental to maintaining a diversity of ideas.  I never experienced this form of behavior in industrial companies/private sector

What sort of guidelines should an administrator follow concerning mass emails that are politically based?
If this behavior is inappropriate, would it be appropriate to address this form of behavior?
If I were to address it, which party or parties would be best to approach?


texts: International postdoc struggling with PI demands. Should I quit?

texts:
I am an international PhD graduate who joined a postdoc in a private univ in the U.S. four months ago. After careful research and studying the group profiles, I joined a group (less than 2 years old) with a dynamic PI who seems genuinely interested in pursuing similar research interests as mine and moving the field of research forward with some great ideas.

In some sense it was all going well.

I was asked to come up some research topics and systems that I would like to work with. I ended up spending some time (nearly two months) doing some simulations, writing a fellowship grant and coming up with some workable systems that I can start with.

The problem is he has very high expectations and it's getting tough to live upto his expectations, which is in turn stressing me out. We have frequent meetings and discussions, which is a good sign, but I am always focused on living up to his standards rather than research itself. Almost everything, like plotting my timeline sheets to plotting data to presenting PowerPoint, he always has constant criticisms. I took it up as a challenge and tried to do the best I could.

But lately, I feel intimidated and totally worthless. I find it difficult to contribute to group discussions with the fear of uttering something stupid.

That happened today. I froze midway my explanation (got stuck while deriving something). When asked to explain something basic, I totally blew it off. I should have known how to explain it, but I somehow couldn't. This pissed the PI off and he went on a rant about how he expected me to know at least this and it was unacceptable.

While I do agree with him, this has again instilled a fear in me if he is going to throw me out of the lab. Work wise, I have just started with my initial experiments and I am trying my best. Altogether I don't feel too good and feel like I am in a soup. Almost re-considering my options of moving away from the lab.

Some of the questions that I have are as follows:

Is it ok to feel intimidated as a postdoc? Or, is it a sign that it may be a postdoc position is not suitable for me?
Should I give myself some more time and see how my research work progresses before I make the decision of moving away from the lab?
Am I just over-reacting for not being able to answer a few questions and not taking it as a positive sign to improve myself?


texts: When asking research-based questions, what are some good practices to maximize the rates at which people reply to emails?

texts:
Matthew Might has an excellent article on his website.

But what are some other good suggestions? One important thing is identification (some professors are simply happier to reply to emails than others). Surprisingly enough, I find that famous scientists in my field (for whatever reason) tend to be more responsive to emails than non-famous scientists. I don't know why this is the case, but maybe it could be that they simply know more, so it doesn't take them as much effort to give information/advice?

Sometimes, I even go as far as to look at Rate my Professors site ratings, since the ones with exceptional ratings often tend to be happy replying to emails.

Another thing: maybe taking a class with the professor (in which case they may feel a bit more obligated to reply to them?) Or maybe simply distributing one's emails in such a way that one wouldn't have to email each professor more than an interval of once every few weeks?


texts: What do I do about my lab head misattributing my grant proposal?

texts:
The head of my lab and I wrote a grant proposal together. Last year we submitted it with me and them as chief investigators. This year I wasn't allowed to submit grants per the rules of my government funding body, so I agreed to let my lab head submit the grant while listing themselves as chief investigator and removing me. However, in addition to this, my lab head added one of my colleagues as a chief investigator despite them not having written any of the grant. This was done without my permission.

My lab head added the colleague because the lab head believes it will look bad if they are a sole chief investigator. They believe adding the second chief investigator will make it appear as if they are supporting an early career scientist and that there is someone who will be managing the project day to day.

I don't feel comfortable about my lab head misattributing my grant proposal, particularly without my permission. Is what they're doing ethical? What can I do if I don't like it?


texts: what is the best way to take missing courses before applying to MS?

texts:
I am holding bachelor degree in applied math and physics, which I received in Moscow State University. I have rather normal grades (average 4.3 out of 5). My BS thesis ("Weight optimization of monospar composite wing of russian unmanned aircraft) was recommended for publishing in scientific journal.
Everything seems to be ok, unless I have a passion for programming. I have implemented several mobile applications which are available in the AppStore and which are my main income now. Once I started to get enough money, I started to think about my MS degree in computer science field. However, I do not have enough minimum background for graduate program, hence I decided to take the missing core courses. The way of applying to undergraduate program and spend 5 years again seems to me time-wasteful (i am 23 now), so I come up with decision to become special/visiting student and get the necessary transcripts and become more competitive while applying to MS program. However, some universities do not provide engineering courses, some of them are too expensive (~50k per semester, I am able to spend ~18k); in some universities to become special student I must be invited by faculty member.. In other words, it is not as easy as I expected to take undergraduate courses. I kindly ask you to give me some tips how to enter to computer science field.


texts: What is the typical time period between peer reviews being completed and editorial decision?

texts:
My question pertains to article submission waiting times.

How long, your experiences, is the period of time between a journal receiving completed peer reviews back on a paper (as indicated by the online system), and a decision being issued to the authour?

My particular case: I have submitted to a large geography journal, and can see that peer reviews have been in for a month, in which time my manuscript is shown as "awaiting ed decision". Advice as to if/when to pester the editors would be useful to me.

Thanks greatly


texts: Undergrad research in Computational biology

texts:
I am a freshman and been doing Computational data analysis(using R) and map(kallisto,bowtie,.....)  the data a grad student gets from sequencing. I feel like my other lab mates who are doing wet lab like actual experiments are getting more experience. I take lots of time to understand the data just to output or make a conclusion.
 How can i get the most out of computational aspect of the research. I enjoy what i am doing, and it is nice to come up with conclusion and professor agrees(or disagree), but i feel like i am not contributing as much as my lab mates.

I am planning to apply to grad school(computational biology, genomics). Is there any advice on how to get the most out of my undergrad experience ?


texts:
There are lists of journals in various fields of science by impact factor, cites per document, total cites, etc.

Does there exist something comparable if I want to know the average number of pages per article?


texts: Plagiarism: quotation from videos course or conference

texts:
You know that there is large of youtube videos that talking about science (you can find conference videos, researchers recording research Methodology in a videotape, etc).

Let say that I am preparing to write an article for an international journal, and I take some of the phrases from what they saying, I used plagiarism software to check these phrases and I get  Excellent, your content is 100% unique. is this can be classified as plagiarism?