texts: Importance between the American Mathematical Monthly and Research Journals

texts:
I am an undergraduate and have been working with one of my math professors over the past year on proving some new results.  These results are interesting and are approachable enough to be understood by most graduate students.

My professor and I have agreed that this work can certainly be published in a "professional level" research journal (I would be first author), however because the problem is approachable and would be interesting to a wide audience (and is not highly specific) we think it could be a good fit for the American Mathematical Monthly.

I want to go to graduate school, and I am wondering if publication in the American Mathematical Monthly would carry more or less weight in graduate school admissions than publication in a journal specific to the research area of the work (dynamical systems).

I understand the AMM is geared more towards publishing expository work, however publication in the journal would tend to yield more reads than in a more specific journal (I am looking at the Journal of Dynamical Systems and Geometric Theories for example).  Which would be best to publish in, or look best to a graduate school admissions committee?


texts: Informing a university about an offer from another university

texts:
I've received an offer from university A and I'm waiting for a decision from university B (both prestigious).
Would it be sensible to inform university B about my offer from university A and tell them that I would still be interested in their program, or would university B think that I would probably not accept their offer and hence not make me one.
To clarify, I haven't yet decided which university I would choose.


texts: Fair use and copyrighted materials explicitly stating not to use

texts:
I am currently sourcing some ideas from a few books (through Google Books) and I sometimes stumble upon introductory messages from the authors/editors of these books saying something like:

"All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by an electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers" (https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1317622006)

and similar messages... so, does that mean that I cannot paraphrase or quote from it under fair use? (Sometimes I do read other messages explicitly allowing fair use)


texts: Can a promising graduate turn into a crank? How should their advisor react?

texts:
I have noticed from time to time that some PhD students at good, sometimes top, universities (who must have shown promise at some point) start to act as if they're gone a bit crankish.  Say, they speak cryptically about how they are working on [insert famous research problem here, like quantum gravity or the Riemann Hypothesis].

As an advisor, how would you deal with such a student? Clearly there is a risk for the advisor's reputation if this gets out of hand (e.g. the student suddenly posts a patently wrong preprint purporting to solve that famous problem). But how long to wait, and how much efforts to do, before thinking seriously about terminating their contract?


texts: New paper which is very similar, but subtly different, from previous paper

texts:
I wrote a paper that contains a fairly long and intricate proof. Now I have a new paper I am working on that extends this proof to a slightly different setting. Even though the overall setting is only slightly different, in my opinion this small difference is still quite noteworthy. For example, there are a number of other papers which use the result from the previous paper, and one can almost automatically get improved parameters for these applications.

The overall outline of the new proof is almost identical to the previous one --- it consists of about 5-6 pages with ~10 definitions/propositions, which occur in the exact same order in the two papers.

However, the proofs are subtly different --- I would say that the difference are far too subtle to merely hand-wave away with something like "We can show using a similar proof that ...." These differences are not confined to a single proposition either, they are spread out across the entire proof.

So, I am faced with a few options which seem less than appealing:

Copy the old paper nearly verbatim, with new proofs in the appropriate places. This has the advantage that the new paper will be mostly self-contained and readable. But the downside is that the is massive (self) plagiarism --- I am forced to copy pages of text without block quotes or specific attribution. (I of course state in my new paper that I am heavily copying from my old one, so there is some attribution)
Try to rewrite the old proof in a basically different way. This avoids the plagiarism problem. However, this will definitely not help the reader trying to compare the new result with the old one. It also seems perverse that a proof which was carefully laid out and understandable has to be restructured for no good reason.
Just mention the differences between the new paper and the old paper. But this will be almost unreadable unless the reader has a copy of the old paper and compares the two papers line by line. I would be forced to say something like "as was shown in Proposition 6.13 of [old paper], we have the following.... We then apply Proposition 6.14 of [old paper] and ...."

I am inclined to go with option (1). (If I was not the author of the old paper, it would make me much more queasy). Are there any good guidelines or suggestions for this situation?


texts: Which scientific discipline studies topics?

texts:
In my understanding, the common understanding of the word "topic" is as defined in the Wiktionary:

  Subject; theme; a category or general area of interest.

Now which discipline deals with this and related effects, for example how to determine topicality of a message in a given context?

First, I thought it could be linguistics, but this discipline has got their own notion of topic, either they work on a single-sentence level:

  In linguistics, the topic, or theme, of a sentence is what is being
  talked about.


texts: Have there been any recent studies on the effect of age on PhD success rates in the US?

texts:
I think the title is fairly self-explanatory. I am wondering if any recent studies (past 20 years or so) have been published that look at possible correlations between age and the 'success rate' of PhD candidates? I understand that 'success rate' may be somewhat subjective - I'm thinking of possible metrics such as dropout rate, years to completion, no. of papers published, impact factor 5 years after graduation.

The background to this is that I am 37 and planning to apply to Engineering PhD programs in my area this Fall. However, I had a casual conversation with someone recently who is connected to one of those schools, who commented that there might be some thinking on the part of an admissions committee that I may be 'past my peak' for their PhD program (they weren't representing it as their own personal view). However, this seems at odds with what I have read online and advice I have received from a couple of Professors that I know (not related to these schools), which indicates that more mature PhD candidates tend to do well and are quite highly regarded.

Now, I'm not trying to point fingers or accuse anyone of ageism here. For all I know, my contact's suspicion might be mistaken, or I may have misinterpreted. But, it occurs to me that it would be great if I could point to some hard data that makes a persuasive case that mature PhD candidates on average perform at least as well as fresh graduates, which might help to pre-emptively 'head off' any doubts regarding my age.


texts: Does uploading a paper to arxiv with the same title but different author list affect citations?

texts: I have a paper on the arxiv (v1) that I'd like to update to the most recent version (v2).  The author list has expanded since v1.  If I upload v2 with the new authors, will this affect the citations on google scholar or will the citations of v1 just carry over to v2?


texts: Which PhD field offers better job prospects: Math or Computer Science?

texts:
I have completed my Master's in Mathematics.

I loved two subjects: Algebra (modules and non-commutative rings) and Cryptography (visual and algebraic).  I wanted to work on them in my PhD.  I scored good grades in both subjects.

Now when I am going to apply for a PhD program at different institutes.  I am getting two options PhD in mathematics and PhD in Computer Science where Algebra comes under Mathematics and Cryptography under CS.

Question:  Which PhD field offers better job opportunities in future: Math or Computer Science?


texts: Scanned detailed comments for a paper review

texts:
Sometimes I find my self reviewing papers with authors who are not very capable English writers. I am a non-native speaker myself, and I know how difficult it can be to proof-read a paper in English, in particular if you don't have access to any native English speaker. If the scientific content of the paper is otherwise good, I therefore try to do what I can to correct grammar, poorly constructed sentences, spelling mistakes etc.
It often results in very long referee reports, which take ages for me to type. I was wondering if it would be proper form to simply scan a version annotated by hand, and attach it to the referee report? If you received such a thing, would you be grateful for the time spent, or would you consider it lazy that I did not type in all the suggestions in a proper report?


texts: Should I include visiting students in my CV

texts:
I am currently a Post-Doc in the field of physics. During the last years, a number of students from different universities (from across the world) were visiting me for short (1 week) or long (3 months) periods.

Since they came to specifically work with me, I was supervising them during that time and now I am wondering if I should include them somehow in my CV (e.g. in the section Teaching, listed as visiting students or something similar) ?


texts: How can I cope with withdrawal symptoms from addiction while pursuing my PhD?

texts: I am currently in the early stages of recovering from an addiction. I am finding it very hard to concentrate on my work due to withdrawal symptoms. How can I cope with this situation with a minimal effect on my work?


texts: Unpublished paper with published followup gathers citations: should it be published?

texts:
A few years ago I wrote a paper with three collaborators, where we introduced a model to describe a specific phenomenon. In the end we were not fully happy with the result, so we wrote it up, put it on the arXiv without submitting to a journal, and agreed to revisit the subject after a small break.

Approximately a year later we gathered again, re-started almost from scratch, and came up with a better model, which resulted in a paper that we quickly submitted, and had accepted in a good journal.

A bit more than a year later, I now see that even though the second paper gets cited, the first still rakes up some amount of citations. We ourselves think that the second one is better, but obviously there are people who disagree.

What to do with the first paper? Should it be submitted to a journal to undergo peer review? And would it not be strange to try and submit the first paper to a journal, pretending that the second paper never happened?


texts: How do I cite same reference multiple times in a paper?

texts:
I am writing a report on CPUs and I need to constantly need to cite technical information from a single reference multiple times throughout the report, specifically the datasheet for an Intel processor. Should I be citing my reference every time I cite some information from the datasheet like this?

  This sentence has some information. [1]
  ....4 pages later...
  This sentence has more information. [1]

Or should I only need to reference the data sheet once? I've searched around and it seems like it's a bad thing to cite the same reference multiple times, but I'm not sure how to handle this.


texts: Would receiving an award from a recognised conference in the field boost my future academic career?

texts:
I have been nominated for a community contribution award alongside another professor in our field, this nomination for serving our research community (scientific activities). The conference is established by the leaders of the field and well-respected professor who nominated me.

This award is the for the first time in the history of the conference, I asked the professor who is also nominated alongside me, he said that he willnot go due to his teaching schedule and I asked him whether this nomination means receiving an ward or not, he said he dosnot have any idea, which make me hesitated whether I should go for the conference in that case (if I go I will present our ongoing work and meeting peers and the leaders of the field).

In the other side, here our project director doesnot want me to go to the conference since I dont have a. publication eventhough the conference registered me as  staff( waived fees), my supervisor tried to persuade her, but she didnot want to support my travel from our project budget( very cheap expenditure though).

My question is: Should I persist on going to the conference and I dont know whether nomination means having an award or not in any way maybe would boost my academic career?

In the other side, do you think that my project coordinator refusing to supporting my travel although we explained I am going to (present poster/short paper+ oral presentation at well respected community+ award nomination) is a toxic behavior, actually, it is not the only action, she had many situation bothered me and I am only 7 months in the program, my supervisor is always afraid from her and thats worrying me so much, they didnot seem to support me that much and thats worrying, maybe this a red flag sign to consider other. opportunities or finding other place would support me,  what do you think (BTW I spoke with my supervisor, but he said he will try persuade her again, but it seems dissapointing that I am not appreciated and that is my gut feelings).

=====EDIT======
I contacted the organizer and he said the nomination is confidential, I dont know whether this answered my question to. him whether I am going to receive award or not


texts: What if your advisor does not know anything about your research field?

texts:
I  am a PhD student in Mathematics. I have found one advisor in my local University who does not know my research field at all, but  has allowed me to choose my own problems and solve them independently.
Initially, I was quite happy as I didn't need to switch places (which I don't want at all). The problem started when my advisor could not assist me in solving the problems I chose. It even happened that I chose a problem to work on and when I told him about it, he said that's an excellent problem and I should solve it.Later on after meeting another professor  in this field he told me that it has been solved long before and hence I had no point working on that again.
He does listen to me when I say something about the problems but fails to give me any critical feedback in my topic. I searched the web but there are so many directions of the topic I am working on, I am feeling puzzled which way to go. Moreover there is no research group existing in this field in my local University with whom I can discuss or get some inputs abut my problems.
I am unable to answer the following questions of mine which is affecting my research considerably:

1.Has my decision to stay in my hometown and not go to reputed institutes and talking to experienced professors backfired on me? How can I come out of this situation?
2.Is  PhD done in this way only without any help from anyone ?At least my advisor says so.

Any comments/advice will be helpful.


texts: Is it acceptable to heavily reference blogs, forums, and other informal media?

texts:
I am pursuing a specific research question. I have thoroughly surveyed existing research on the topic, and found dozens of researchers working on the problem, but was disappointed by their work. Their research:

Does not consider the full magnitude of the problem.
Constantly tests old, insufficient methods.
Overlooks significant details, so the test results are meaningless.
Lacks innovation.

I found lots of interesting ideas posted around the Internet. In blogs, forums, and USENET, I found people with some clever new ideas to approach the problem. These people had a genuine stake in the problem, so I found their ideas actually brought the problem somewhere meaningful. These informally-posted ideas need testing and considerable refinement. They are far from perfect, but many times better than what the academics are dealing with.

I would like to prepare some trials and publish some papers, centered around a number of these ideas. It is only fair that I give credit to the authors of those ideas. Essentially, I need to give credit to lots of anonymous people who posted their ideas informally.  I have never read an academic paper containing highly informal references. Can I include references like this in my paper?

MutantTurtle17. “My Amazing DIY Tin-can Refugee Shelter.” MyBlog. 2014.
    Retrieved from http://...

SimCityFan2012. “RE: RE: Look at this!” Shelter Designs Forum. 2013.
    Retrieved from http://...


texts: How to handle non-published thesis work from previous co-workers in a publication?

texts:
Im doing a MSc thesis and I need to write an article, and eventually submit it by the summer.

My work is actually based on two theses that were written past years by other students.  However, they did not publish, neither them nor my supervisor.

Then comes the question: if I want to include the work that is referenced in one of these theses, how should I deal with it ? Should I gladly propose the previous students to be second authors, should I just cite their theses in the bibliographic part...?

Thanks !


texts: Statistics on readership and posting habits for academic blogs

texts:
Although this stackexchange seems to be a little hostile towards metrics (especially when they are about research productivity), it is still sometimes fun to indulge in a little bit of arbitrary measurement and quantification. Sometimes it can help you set targets, or let you know what is possible. In this case I am curious about blogs.

Having a web-presence is important, but how do you know if your academic blog is doing a good job?

From my own experience, I have noticed that my blog gets a lot more readership and mention than any of my papers. I usually find this encouraging, and at times it helps me increase productivity by incorporating blogging into my research work-flow and feeling like I am able to communicate with people before having complete results. Sometimes even receive feedback (although my blog is not at the level of regular commentators, and nowhere close to the comment activity I see on popular blogs that I follow).

However, getting more mention than my papers is not a fair standard. In fact, I have no standard by which to decide if I am doing an alright job blogging, and what I should aim for to improve the ability of my blog to engage other researchers or interested readers. Having some hard data is also useful for converting people new to blogging to the online community.

Are there any statistics on typical readership, posting rates, and commenting frequency for small (non-superstar) academic blogs? I would be especially interested in statistics that are broken down by area, since I expect a nutrition or cancer blog to inherently get more readership than one dedicated to Stone-duality. Of particular interest to me would be information about blogs in theoretical computer science and/or mathematical modeling.


texts: Changing fields after PhD, master or post-doc?

texts:
I am not far away from finishing a PhD in molecular toxicology, however with time i have gotten more and more interested in topics such as renewable energy, environmental/climate science and engineering. My education so far is not completely alien to environmental science, but my background heavily oriented towards molecular biology so i lack basic knowledge about things relating to renewables, climate systems and field work. Another big factor is also that non-academic jobs in my current field do not interest me at all.
So what would be the best route for me if i wanted to move towards these fields, get a new master or try to land post-docs incrementally closer to where i want to be?


texts: How should I go about reading mathematics papers and textbooks as a PhD student

texts:
It shames me to admit it, but I feel like I still haven’t figured out the right way to efficiently read papers and textbooks. I am a second year PhD student in pure mathematics, and I struggle a lot to balance the need to learn a lot new mathematics with the fact that I have a finite amount of time in which to do it.

I should have asked this question years ago: what is best (i.e. most efficient) way to read papers and textbooks in order to have a working knowledge of the subject?

Maybe I should be more precise.
I am working in both algebraic geometry and homotopy theory (think simplicial presheaves and K-Theory), and I have recently found myself overwhelmed by the amount that I need to learn. In an ideal world I would read background material by doing every exercise in every textbook, and by working carefully through every proof in every paper, but I worry that I just don’t have enough time. On the flip side, I often find myself “reading” mathematics without actually absorbing any working knowledge, so I basically don’t make any direct research progress.

I understand that reading in great volume is still constructive, and I have certainly learnt a lot about how mathematics fits together, but when I actually need to do new mathematics I consistently find myself lost.

To rephrase my question: can anyone offer an advice on their workflow when it comes to learning new mathematics?

Perhaps the way I feel is more or less how everyone feels, and it is confidence and organisation which is the problem. If that is the case, then I ask: can anyone offer advice on how to organise oneself day to day in a PhD to be productive? Moreover, can anyone offer advice on how to break out of a lack of self confidence when it comes to doing research mathematics?

I apologise in advance if this question has been asked many times before, but I haven’t been able to find the right thread. I apologise also if my questions are too multi-pronged, I just feel that they are all to interconnected to be split up.


texts:
I found a table that exactly fits my needs but the technical nature of its contents makes paraphrasing very difficult, and in most cases impossible.

How does one create a one-to-one copy of a table, column titles and all, without committing plagiarism? Is a citation in the title enough?
Placing quotation marks around the contents of every cell doesn't seem to be the proper course of action.

The closest question/answer I can find is here.
Does that answer still apply here if:

we're talking about protocols, standardization bodies, port numbers etc.
Not two related studies using same pool of participants by the same author. Distinct authors, distinct applications, other author did great work in creating the summary table.


texts: Should I send professor an email clearly asking if he is going to take me in his group?

texts: I have communicated with a professor about joining his group as a Ph.D. student. He had shown his interest and told me to apply to that school after a Skype interview, although the deadline for starting the application process for that semester had already crossed then. I had applied to that school and completed my application. However, after that, he has become reluctant about me and is not telling anything clearly even after 1.5 months since I completed my application. I went to a conference last week and send him an email asking if he was also attending the same conference and invited him to come during my talk. He replied to me two days later and said that he had another schedule at the same time, but he can meet me another time to go through my slides. We met and he told me he would contact me 1 week or two weeks later. It has been 1 week passed and I have also finished my MSc. defense and now it is very urgent for me to take a decision about what am I going to do next. In this situation, I am wondering what I should do. Should I send him an email clearly asking if he is going to take me in his group?


texts: Tools for planning learning as a time-dependent activity?

texts:
I'm looking into planning tools for labs and lessons.  I'm wondering if there is an established tool, similar to a storyboard, that lets me plan from the perspective of skills the student will gain as they progress through an activity.  What would be really ideal is if the tool also includes gates, where students who have not gained a particular skill can't move past a certain point until they've attained mastery.

Logically, I could just draw this out, but if there is an established tool for it I'm sure someone else would make a better, more coherent thing than I could.

Edit: as an example, I'm working on a lab right now where students will learn to build circuits.  The lab might be planned like this:

Activity 1: teach students to use the voltage source
Activity 2: teach students to incorporate  the voltage source into a small circuit, teach students to build a circuit
Activity 3: students must build their own circuit without guidance.  They therefore must be able to use the voltage source and build a circuit.

In the above example, students can't progress to activity 3 without activities 1 and 2, and activities 1 and 2 would teach them the required skills.


texts: how to show links in Bibliography for IOP Journals

texts:
I am trying to show the link on my citation as shown in the attached photo. I am getting every thing the same but without the blue highlighted.
My packages
\documentclass[12pt]{iopart}

\usepackage{times}
\usepackage{cancel}
\usepackage{ulem}
\usepackage{cite}
\usepackage[colorlinks, citecolor = blue, urlcolor = blue, linkcolor = black]{hyperref}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{subfig}
\expandafter\let\csname equation*\endcsname=\relax % to fix some errors regarding asmath because it is not friendly with iopart publisher
\expandafter\let\csname endequation*\endcsname=\relax
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage[RPvoltages]{circuitikz}
\usetikzlibrary{patterns}
\usepackage{array,booktabs}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usepackage{float}
\hbadness=6000
\overfullrule=1pt
\hfuzz=2pt
\pdfoutput=1

\section*{References}
\bibliographystyle{iopart-num}
\bibliography{iopart-num}

My citation
    @article{johansson2017impacts,
  title={Impacts on air pollution and health by changing commuting from car to bicycle},
  author={Johansson, Christer and L{\"o}venheim, Boel and Schantz, Peter and Wahlgren, Lina and Almstr{\"o}m, Peter and Markstedt, Anders and Str{\"o}mgren, Magnus and Forsberg, Bertil and Sommar, Johan Nilsson},
  journal={Science of the total environment},
  volume={584},
  pages={55--63},
  year={2017},
  publisher={Elsevier}
}


texts: Is the rise of pre-prints lowering the quality and credibility of researcher and increasing the pressure to publish?

texts:
From what I understand pre-prints have been common in some fields for many years because of some practical obvious reasons, for example very long lag time from submission to publication.
However, it is clear that publishing in pre-prints is becoming more and more popular across many fields with the main reason of calling yourself first to a particular research/method/idea/etc. The only problem is that these pre-prints are not peer-reviewed, and even though they require a certain standard, which is quite low, nobody is really checking the credibility and soundness of any of it. People might rush through the scientific process to publish a pre-print because the scrutiny level is almost non-existent. Some of this has been already observed with pre-prints about COVID https://science.slashdot.org/story/21/02/13/1558235/misleading-viral-claims-show-dangers-of-preprint-servers-researchers-warn, I think there's even no verification on affiliations.
The more pre-print papers are being published, the more these papers are being cited in peer-reviewed papers. They might be correct but nobody might check in detail as a reviewer or could even content since it's not "published". In addition, usually citations such as "in preparation" or "submitted" are not accepted by many journals. It just seems that this could trigger a vicious cycle in which more non-peer reviewed papers are being cited in permanent publications which then remains in print for years to come.
Does the rise of pre-prints make science and publishing less credible?
Does it increase the pressure to publish because it adds an additional tier to the publishing process?


texts:
When I was applying for PhD programs, only one offered a recruitment fellowship, a small (but more than $1,000) fellowship to be disbursed in the August before the initial semester began. This turned out to be the program I joined, and as I now am beginning to look for positions, I realized this could perhaps be listed as a fellowship on my CV.

How common are recruitment fellowships for students accepted to PhD programs? Would it be appropriate to list on one's CV as "[University] Fellowship" or something to that effect?


texts: Should I mention my reference's university role (administrative) when listing?

texts:
I have a list of references in my CV. One of them happens to be the Dean of the graduate school and the other a Vice Chancellor. Both of these roles are administrative and their primary position is that of a Professor. Would listing these referees as

John H. Doeberg
Professor and Dean of the Graduate School
University of Foo

Jane Q. Publicowski
Professor and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs
University of Bar

be better (give more credence/weight) than simply listing them as a Professor. I know that ultimately what they write in those letters is what matters, but for the purposes of this question, it can be safely assumed that both letters are going to be stellar recommendations.


texts: Is it ethical for PhD supervisor to forbid publication in a given topic

texts:
Six months after my PhD graduation, I submitted a paper to an SCI journal as a sole author. Apparently, my PhD supervisor is the technical editor for this journal. He wasn't pleased that I submitted a sole-author paper without informing him.
I formulated the idea and wrote everything from scratch. However, he claimed that's a generalization of what he's currently working on. After I proved to him that they aren't related he went ahead to forbid me from publishing in that area as it's likely to interfere with his. That's after he made me divulge all my on-going investigations. He said it's better we are collaborators than competitors. I didn't set out to compete with anyone. Most ideas I gave him during my PhD were suppressed only to be given to other students two years later. He made me the last author in those anyway.

Question:
1) Does he have the power to do this?
2) Being that he sits on the board of top SCI journals in my field, how do I overcome this?


texts: Should an undergraduate claim ownership of their article uploaded on arXiv?

texts:
As an undergraduate, I wrote a paper with a professor in the physics department. He has uploaded the paper to arXiv, and he forwarded me the email that he (automatically) received upon submitting the article. Part of it states:

  A paper password will be emailed to you when the article is announced.
  You should share this with co-authors to allow them to claim ownership.

Does this mean that, even as an undergraduate, I should create an account on arXiv (not sure if possible) and claim co-ownership of the article?


texts: In case of multiple job offers, should school name or offer letter be revealed?

texts:
In case of multiple job offers, should candidates reveal schools names or show offer letters?

Some say do not name the competing institutions in either of these initial emails
Others say "there are too many crazies in departments--you never know what someone might do to interfere with the other institution's perspective. I've seen it happen, and it ain't pretty. On the other hand, it made the choice easier."
Some say do: "Just to let you know, I do have another offer that came in from Midwest State U. They have initially set my salary at ... "


texts: Purposeful fail - effect on Master's admission

texts: I am intending to purposefully try to fail a course to stay an extra semester, so I can finalize some research projects which can't be finalized otherwise. My current GPA is 3.82. How badly would that be reflected on my master's admission?


texts: Why is the deadline given for refereeing manuscripts so much shorter than the typical time between submission and acceptance?

texts:
On a few occasions, I was asked to review manuscripts (for well-known, mainstream journals) with a 2-3 month deadline.

I found this to be a short period given that the papers published in these journals showed about a one year difference between the dates when the papers were submitted and the dates when the papers were accepted. So I was wondering - why is there this discrepancy?

Do reviewers usually request for an extension of the deadline? Or is it common for reviewers to not take the deadline seriously (i.e. to ignore the deadline and submit the referee report after several months when it is done, and perhaps the editor needs to take the initiative to remind the reviewer to submit the report)?

I assume this one year difference is mainly due to the referee's delay rather than the authors having to make revisions (at least with my own papers, it often took several months before I received any referee reports).

While I have met the deadlines in the past, I wonder if I am perhaps allowing myself to be pushed around a bit in the sense that maybe I shouldn't drop my other work just to finish the review on time. I have reviewed only a few manuscripts so far, so I am new to this. I'm not sure how bad I would come across (relative to the norm, that is) if I don't take the deadlines seriously.


texts: What is a reasonable percentage salary increase for tenure and promotion from assistant to associate professor in the US?


texts: Where else are teachers not paid for prep time?

texts:
Last spring I did some teaching at a university. It was my first time. It was a temporary position. I was there 1 semester only. I was paid by the hour.

A couple of things caught my eye about the arrangement:

They only paid for the time I spent teaching in a scheduled group setting.
They did not pay for prep time.

By prep time, I mean the time I spent getting ready for a particular class. I saw this term being used elsewhere on SE Academia, not sure how common it is...

In what countries / universities / contexts is it common to not pay teachers for the time they spend preparing a lecture?

FWIW I was teaching an undergraduate media studies course at a private creative industries-type university in South America.


texts: How to highlight the text changes to the supervisor?

texts: How to highlight the changes I made to a text (report, thesis etc) to the supervisor? Red colour/adding bubble comments, you name it. I use Word.


texts: What is the role of research in liberal arts college faculty evaluation?

texts:
Lately, I've been wondering why institutions with a primary emphasis on undergraduate education (e.g. liberal arts colleges) value research output amongst their faculty. This is not intended to dismiss the research of LAC faculty, but rather to delineate what value the institution/department gains by hiring candidates with superior research output, perhaps at the expense of someone with a stronger teaching record. Here are several reasons I have heard, arranged in reverse order (approximately) of direct student benefit:

Current faculty wish to promote research in the discipline for its own sake, without regard educational benefits for the students
Tradition, or emulation of more prestigious institutions.
Faculty need a strong enough research output to get tenure (a somewhat circular reason)
Reputation within the research community enhances departmental and institutional prestige, with incumbent benefits for students.
The faculty can extend their academic network to their students. Examples of this might include increased regard for letters of recommendation and awareness of (non-)academic opportunities.
Research output is a proxy for breadth of knowledge within the discipline, hence for value of content in instruction, both formal (course syllabi) and informal (answering that random question during office hours).
Research output corresponds to the baseline knowledge needed to supervise undergraduate research and teach best practices.
Research activity is the best way to keep faculty aware of changing trends in the field, which in turn gets incorporated into educational practices. After all, academic careers last a long time.

I'm sure there are many valid reasons missing from this list, including some of the most important. I would like to know from a institutional/hiring perspective:

a) What reasons for valuing research activity are missing from this list?

b) What benefits are weighted most heavily? Which are given little or no thought?

c) To what extent are these benefits distinct from the ways that research profiles are evaluated by hiring committees?


texts: How to decode a difficult citation in Wikipedia with "Historical Library"?

texts:
Historical Library, V,39,1.

-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligures#cite_note-89

I came across this (bad?) citation while reading Wikipedia and I don't know how to follow it. Can someone please point me in the right direction?


texts: One of my profs did his PhD at the University I want to apply for my math PhD. Should I get a recommendation from him?

texts:
The prof is quite famous (lots of publications and even a Wiki page). His doctoral advisor is also quite famous (still is part of the faculty of the university that I want to apply to). Would a recommendation letter  have a significant impact on my application?
Alternatively I can get a letter from another prof which will be probably a little  stronger. Which option would be the best for me? Basically would the other prof's letter carry more weight since he got his PhD from the university I am applying to.
I am applying to a top 3 institution, (if that makes any difference).
Thank you all in advance.


texts: How to put research, teaching and service into a single job talk

texts:
I am going to give an on-campus job talk for a TT AP position. According to the searching chair, my talk will include teaching, research, and service philosophy, and other attributes that show me as a good match for the position. The time slot allocated for the presentation will be about 45 minutes.

Since the anticipated appointments for this position are about 60% research + 40% teaching, I wonder if my talk should cover the two topics in a similar proportion, with just briefly touching on services. Regarding research, how should I balance my previous and future research?

Logically I will first talk about my research philosophy, then some selected past research projects and finally future research plans for this position, but there may be other more effective way. Similarly, I will talk about my teaching philosophy, experiences and future teaching interests.


texts: How to effectively address conflicting suggestions from reviewers

texts:
A bit of background, I am doing research in atmospheric physics and detection systems

Recently, I received a paper submission back with revisions suggested by a couple of reviewers.  For the most part, the revisions were definitely constructive, justified and most importantly, helpful.

That is, except on one particular crucial aspect of the paper where both reviewers made suggestions, that they labelled as critical for the paper's success.  However, the suggestions were directly opposite.  i.e. Both suggestions are mutually exclusive, but equally feasible.

What is an effective means to address this conflict?

I have spoken to my academic supervisor and he is not sure how to proceed either and we have double checked and both suggested paths are feasible.


texts: Choose dissertation topic for masters in computer science

texts:
I am pursuing my masters in CS and I have to come up with the dissertation topic on my own. It's very confusing to me and I am not able to come to any conclusion as to how to narrow down to specific topic in cloud computing(want to do my dissertation in this) . I know basics of cloud computing.

What can I do that will help me in narrowing down to a specific topic. My university requires me to come up with the topic and I am thinking about doing phd so I want to get my hands on research to see if I will be a good fit in phd.

My university does not have good professors who have done some good research work, so I am on my own.
Can someone please help me in this situation.


texts: Why isn't pre-registration required for all experiments?

texts:
Why aren't all experimental results of any validity required to register the experimental plan used for the research paper in question, ahead of time, giving the understanding that the results will be made known.  Why,

because

The description of the experimental procedure should be untouchable once the experiment commences, and most importantly
it removes the option of simply failing to publish.  This option may introduce bias as there may be myriad reasons why a valid experimental result could be withheld.  Such reasons include those given by the biases of the experimenters themselves or the judged impact of an out-of-the-box result.

By all appearances, if one is to embark on an experimental program, shouldn't one be bound to disclose the results?  Registration seems to be the only way to enforce this.  It wouldn't be taxing... simply emailing a pdf to a database system of some kind would be enough.

I'm guessing many papers undergo this process on an informal level, but I doubt every research paper has some sort of registration like this.

[My background is in mathematics, not the sciences proper.]


texts:
I'm in a bit of a predicament. I was awarded a small grant to pursue a research topic over this summer under the authority of a professor. I had worked with this professor previously (on a research topic that led to my summer research topic) and had great results.

This professor had very specific ideas as to what he wanted me to do and what goals I should accomplish. I was fine with this as previously this method had worked well with us. This is important; I'll explain in a second.

This summer, my professor (for lack of a better phrase) suddenly dropped off the face of the Earth. He stopped responding to my emails, and the few times he did respond (maybe twice in the span of three months) it was merely saying "I'm very busy; we'll speak eventually; I'm working on other things that are much more important".

This put me in a very bad place. I had done what he asked me and had at that point committed a fair amount of time to the direction he had asked me to pursue. I didn't have enough direction to keep going unsupervised, and didn't have enough time to go in a new direction that I could manage by myself.

I need to write up a summary that discusses what I did and my findings. What I have is a methodology that should solve a particular problem faster (in theory) than current methods (To be more specific, it's a faster implementation of an algorithm--unfortunately I couldn't improve the algorithm itself). I did not have enough guidance (or access to my funds for equipment) to actually test my theory.

Part of receiving the funds was a requirement that I present my findings in my school's undergraduate research journal. Is what I have really enough to present? I know it's an undergraduate journal so no one will actually read it, but I feel silly presenting something so small and trying to trump it up as an actual scientific accomplishment.

Do I try to present the small amount I found? Will I look like a giant idiot if I present a methodology that is completely untested as findings?


texts: Why journals ask for potential reviewers' details during submission of a manuscript?

texts: I am wondering the reason why most of the jounals ask for 4-5 potential reviewers' details during submission of a manuscript? Whether does the editor really send the manuscript to the suggested reviewers? I always select potential reviewers from my reference list whose work/methods is largely similar to my work. But still the reviewers ask some unexpected questions in their comments.


texts: How can I make my engineering MSc dissertation look professional?

texts:
Obligatory apology if this is off topic...

I'm struggling to make my MSc dissertation look professional.

I've been told that academic documents such as PhD theses are often written in/using TeX, but I am not familiar with this and I can't say it's the right time for me to learn how to use it.

Does anyone have some advise on what fonts, formatting styles etc. are acceptable/preferred in academia?

P.S. I'm using MS Word.


texts: Should the presented points by different referees within the LoRs be convergent or divergent?

texts:
Assume a graduate applicant, has who informed two faculty members as referees, for presentation of the acquired Letters of Recommendation.

Every referee mentions some points about the applicant, based on the acquired acquaintance with him/her.

There are two possibilities:

Both referees talk about the same points regarding the applicant, approximately.
For example, both assert that he is egregious. (The ideas are overlapped and the points are converging.) In this case:

In this case, one could conclude that as two people has asserted the same points, so the applicant would be supposed to possess that property.

Referees' points are completely different in a compared manner. As an instance, the first one talk about the applicant's innovation in research and the other one indicates his/her temper to help the others. (The ideas are far from together and the points are diverging.)

Therefore, one could realize more diverse ideas about the applicant's personality.

Now, in view of the admission committee, which of the above mentioned scenario would be more effective and profitable for the applicant?!...


texts: In UK, is the advertised salary range before or after tax?

texts:
I've been offered a faculty position at a British university (Russel group). I'm slightly confused about the pay/salary. specifically, my questions are:

I understand the single pay national spine (which is a point system), but each institution decides what point range would correspond to the grade of the post? for example, while at institution A, a point 44 position would be in grade 7, at institution B it would be grade 8? Is this a correct understanding?
I found from UCU the spine for 2017-2018, for the point that I'm assigned, i see that my stated salary is a lot LESS than what is stated on this chart (and I've checked with my university, they do use this single spine chart). Therefore, I was wondering if the salary they told me is in fact AFTER  income tax and national insurance (NI)? (i.e. the £ they quote me is in fact what I take home?). Or is this my wishful thinking? Or am I reading the wrong chart?

I've seen other posts on here noting that salary in the UK is not that negotiable (compared to north America). I was wondering if this is still true? for the record, I've already inquired with the University and they told me they've already assigned me the highest points possible given my experience.

Mostly I'm just trying to understand this pay grade and point system so I can make realistic calculation for my living arrangements.

thanks!


texts: Career Professional now working as a Professor and being pressured to publish - Where does one start?

texts:
I'm a career professional in the data science field and spent my career focused on information systems and data visualization.

I recently wound up with an adjunct professor role at a local institution. At first things were fine, but now there is a strong pressure for me to publish 'academic works' in scholarly publications and I'm not even really sure what that involves.

I don't necessarily do a lot of dedicated "new" research of anything novel, I just have a deep understanding of the industry and how to apply the practice to fields that others often over look. But, I don't think a really good tutorial on how to do something is a scholarly article.

So for someone who has never written or even read a scholarly publication in their life, and has no idea how to get involved in this, where do I start?

What types of articles merit publication?

Can I do critiques of industry practices? Or case studies? Or do I have to start running double-blind experiments with different businesses to keep my job?


texts: Is Cover Sheet Necessary for Writing Letter Submission?

texts:
I am applying to Music Technology at NYU, and writing samples are requested. However there is no clear guidance on the webpage about my question. I've also sent email for the query, but still no response probably due to thanksgiving. Since the deadline is approaching, I am asking here for your help.

I am wondering if it is necessary (or better) to include a cover sheet on top of every submitted writing sample. If so, could you please give some suggestion on content as well as format/layout of the cover sheet? Because most of the resources or examples on the internet are for law schools, and I don't know if they apply to EE, CS or related fields. I am asking because I'm not sure about whether there is any "formal" way of doing this, including the proper content and layout.

Thanks very much for your help!

EDIT:
Below is the description for the writing sample:

  Program A: Please submit samples of previous scholarly work on music technology or related fields. You must submit at least three papers that best represent your ability to conduct research and write effectively about your area of specialization. We encourage you to submit published work.

There is nothing about cover sheet, so it might be unnecessary. Just that I am wondering if it is better to have one.

  Program B: There is the other school asking for writing sample and it says Include your full name and department to which you are applying at the top of the document.

In this case, it seems better to include a cover having the requested information. If so, what do you suggest to write and in what format/layout?


texts: Is it useful to include my teaching experience in primary school when applying for lecturer position

texts: I've just finished my master degree recently, and now looking for job, lecturer, in some university. However, I found that my teaching experience is very limited. Is it a good idea to include my teaching in a basic school in my resume to enhance my application?


texts: Applying for another PhD after dropping out 4 years ago, should I use my previous PhD supervisor or undergraduate supervisor for a reference?

texts:
I dropped out of my previous PhD 4 years ago, because my UK institution had a four year maximum time limit for completion which I didn't meet due to my mental health issues. I'm now recovered and have been working for the last three years in a research position at another university. I would now like to apply to do my PhD part-time in the department where I work.

I think my previous supervisor would give me a reasonable reference as he was sympathetic to my issues, but I am concerned about how it would look to use an academic reference from a qualification I didn't complete. My only alternative would be a generic reference from my undergraduate study director who will not even remember me as I only met him a handful of times and I completed that degree ten years ago.

Which would look best?


texts: Can one prevent a co-author from publishing on arXiv without consent?

texts:
This is very much related to a previous question I posted here: How can one prevent a co-author from publishing without consent? It is not the same question though.

Consider a situation where a co-author submits a paper without your consent to arXiv. This seems to be more problematic than them submitting it to a journal, because on arXiv it is published (almost) immediately and there does not seem to be an easy way to stop it, and also arXiv does not ask about consent from all co-authors.

It does not seem to be illegal to do this because the co-author has copyright as well and so it seems that legally they could grant a non-exclusive license to share the work. However, it does seem to go against the principles of academic honesty to publish without the consent of all co-authors (and that would include IMHO publication on a non-refereed source like arXiv.)

It does not seem possible to remove papers from the arXiv.

The question is then if there is a way to prevent it beforehand. Assume the co-author is not malicious, but simply a bit slack, so they would be willing to cooperate after it is found out (though if there is a way to prevent even malicious actors from doing this that would be even better).

If it is not possible to prevent it, is it possible to remove one's name from an arXiv article if one does not endorse the paper submitted?

I am aware that the best means is having a good relationship and communication with the co-author in the first place, but I would like to ask what other practical means there are.

To show this is not a completely made-up scenario, here are two examples of papers withdrawn from the arXiv due to this issue: http://arxiv.org/abs/0810.4310v2 and http://arxiv.org/abs/1307.4296


texts: How to write about an area I'm going to study in undergrad research?

texts:
I'm a undergraduate student in mathematics and I'm applying for a scientific-initiation (or maybe undergraduate-research) scholarship in which I'll study a certain topic in mathematics (so I'll not really do any research, despite the name of the program).

To enroll in the program, I have to submit an eight-page project describing what I'm going to do, with a schedule for the duration of the program, methodologies, and references. Formally, the project text must contain a summary, introduction, objectives, methods (or methodology), a schedule of activities, and references.

For the methodology/methods, I'll just say what I'll do: read the theory in the main reference text, maybe rephrase some definitions or results and make some additional remarks, do the exercises, maybe construct some new examples/counterexamples. I think it's a bit too direct but I'm not very concerned with this part. The same applies to the references.

My problem is: I don't have any knowledge of the subject (beyond the very basic) I'm going to study (and don't have time to further study it until the deliver of this document), so I don't know what to say in most of this document sections. I'll just pick a book on the subject and study it. In the summary, I quite already said that, and I don't really know what to write in the introduction and objectives.

I'm a bit concerned of talking about this to my advisor, because we already talked and it seemed clear that I should write the document all by myself. Maybe it's just me not being able to write down some very simple things of what I'm going to do.


texts: Looking for Mathematics Subject Classification

texts:
I'm writing a math paper for submission to some journal or other and section 2.1.10 of https://www.ams.org/publications/authors/AMS-StyleGuide-online.pdf says I need a Subject Classification number in the top material of my paper.

The paper is about an original formula I developed for generating Pythagorean triples and then goes on to show how to find such triples "on demand" given criteria such as side length, perimeter, area/perimeter ratio, area, product, and side differences. Indeed, the title is "On Finding Pythagorean Triples".
I have looked here https://zbmath.org/classification/ and my best guess is that the number I'm looking for would begin with 11 (number theory) but that's as far as I can figure out. I don't even know the proper tag(s) for this question. Can anyone help me in my search?


texts: Dissertation: How to properly reference earlier versions of working papers in the German academic system?

texts:
I recently became the co-author of a working paper an older version of which is online (at which stage I was not a co-author yet).

We added and changed most of the content, however some applications remained virtually unchanged. How do I need to cite/reference the earlier version of this paper to avoid plagiarism concerns? We already added "An earlier version of this paper circulated as old paper name".

I do my PhD in Germany. How do I need to cite/reference the old working paper to avoid any plagiarism concerns?

Based on the comments:

The earlier version of the paper was not pubslished in a book/journal, but posted online on SSRN.
I am not worried about how journals perceive an evantual submission, but merely about the (german) academic regulation(s) regarding plagiarism.


texts: Am I allowed to write about a discovery, while pending acceptance of my manuscript on the same topic?

texts:
This year, I submitted a manuscript to a journal regarding new information uncovered on a particular topic. I am awaiting my reviews and a decision on its potential acceptance to the journal.

The journal policy states that the manuscript has to be original content and not published elsewhere. By "not published elsewhere", does this also mean that I am prohibited from discussing the discovery publicly or in media until it is published in the journal (or any journal for that matter). If I write about the discovery (for example, in a newspaper), will this count as being "published elsewhere" - even if the news article and the manuscript are not the same?


texts: Which ranking is more meaningful for post-doc students?

texts:
There were several discussions on this website about the importance of academic rankings. Opinions seem to range from "very important" to "completely meaningless". My question, however, is a bit different: Out of the different available rankings, which one is the best to consult when considering post-doc opportunities?

Of course, ranking is not an exact science. If one ranking claims university X is 23rd in the world, and the second ranking claims it's 27th in the world, there is little point in debating which one is "more reliable". However, the differences between the different rankings are sometimes huge.

Since I am a mathematician, let us consider for example the QS ranking and the Shanghai ranking in mathematics. The "glitch" of King Abdulaziz University, which ranks 5th on the Shanghai's ranking, is well known (apparently they employ some very dubious practices). But Pierre and Marie Curie University for example is ranked 5th in the world by Shanghai, and is not even in the top 50 in the QS ranking. So as far as an academic career is concerned, is a post-doc position in this university amazing or terrible?

The situation seems to be similar for american universities. The University of Minnesota ranks 11th in world according to Shanghai, Texas A&M is 14th and  the University of Washington is 18th, but none of these universities are in the top 50 according to the QS ranking. So, for a future academic employer (say in the US), is a post-doc position in Minnesota roughly comparable to such a position in MIT, or not even in the same ballpark? Is the University of Chicago much better than the University of Warwick (as indicated by QS), or is it the other way around?

I know that the different rankings use very different methodology and are based on different criteria. But I think this is exactly what makes the question meaningful - out of these criteria, which are the most relevant to post-docs?


texts:
How to politely describe a situation where you have no publication because both you and the advisor are inexperienced in a new research topic?

The lab previously only did research on topic A (e.g. protein factors) and lacked the experimental conditions for conducting research on topic B (e.g. circular RNAs), which is a very hot topic recently. BTW, which word should be used? topic, subject, field or area?
The student is the first and only one that conducted the project on the new topic.
The student started from scratch and faced many difficulties. The advisor was willing to but sometimes powerless to help when the student got stuck.
However, there is no publication after several years, since both the student and the advisor lack experience in the new research topic.

I do not know how to politely describe such situation from two distinct perspectives：

From my advisor’s perspective: I requested my advisor a letter of recommendation for PhD application. He suggested that I write a draft first.
From my perspective: I need to describe it in my personal statement.

However, I do not know how to politely describe such situation and meanwhile let the reviewer understand why I have no publication on this topic. Also, I am afraid my PS and the ROL draft would make him seem inexperienced in the new field or look like that I’m blaming him, which is rude and arrogant.


texts: Prof's neurological health is declining rapidly. What can I (TA) do?

texts:
I'm a law student acting as a teaching assistant/fellow for a tenured and notable law professor. Between last year when I took the course myself and now when I am a TA/TF, his mental acuity and health has declined significantly. He has essentially no short-term memory, tremors, and can't follow conversations. He rambles, mixes up classes and assignments, and even physically wanders off to look for things (not returning with anything...) in the middle of class.
The students know that something is wrong and often exchange looks when he loses the conversation or rambles.  The faculty certainly does know. His assistant attempted to see someone in the administration for help but they brushed her off, and once the professor found out, he never forgave his assistant and there is a rift between them.
My heart breaks for him. He's had an excellent career and I don't want him to face this kind of humiliation. But at the same time, his condition is so poor that I had to teach the two-hour class today. He must know that something is wrong, too, because he will often make awkward jokes to cover memory lapses.
What can I do? He won't see a doctor. I am afraid of burning bridges with him by confronting him, since that's what happened to his assistant. I don't want to go behind his back to the administration for the same reason. I need his recommendation/reference for my career aspirations. His family is absent. I also worry that any intervention at this stage, in the middle of the semester, will only hurt his students.
Who, if anyone, in a school administration could I speak to about this? Is there someone who handles this sort of thing? Should I? Is it inappropriate for me to insert myself in someone's personal affairs like that?
Update one year later: posted as an answer here.


texts: Can an emotional letter of motivation be harmful in a PhD application?

texts:
Today some of my friends were discussing a motivation letter. One friend's application was rejected. One reason his friends find out is that the letter of motivation is very emotional. So I was thinking: is there no place of emotion in academia? People used to study a lot as a strong feeling works in them, inspiring them to do more and more work. This is the emotion. Can it play harmfully in a letter of motivation?

Edit: I have collected his small letter. It is included. We thought it is very emotional.

  College XY has best undergraduate mathematics department of the university of XY.
  IITX is built upon the basement of the first engineering college of Asia. I completed my B.Sc. from XY and M.Sc. from IITX. Both the times I got first class after each evaluation. I had a dream to continue my PhD studies in a good western university. I tried. My degrees are equivalent to degrees from European universities. I came to the understanding that my knowledge is not much sufficient for their requirements. Currently I am working in a project focussing on a very particular problem. I am out of touch from many interesting topics of mathematics.
  Many advanced parts of mathematics are till unknown to me which shall be very useful in my work. So I am thing for a better opportunity to revise my
  mathematical concepts in a better way and to collect new knowledge. I wish to build myself in a way that I can continue my PhD work in a good university and I can be a successful researcher. If I get the opportunity to continue the diploma hope I reach my dreams.


texts: Sharing assignments with a potential employer

texts:
I'm currently a first year information technology student majoring in software development. I applied for an internship at a software development company. I got an interview and now they're asking to see some assignments that I've done at school to prove my experience. Is it usual that a school (in Canada) own all the rights to assignments that I've done? The assignments contain some code by the school and the rest is mine. I'm wondering if there's a route I can take so that I can share these assignments with this potential employer without violating my school's policies? Or is there something else I can tell this employer?

(Please note that I'm asking this question on behalf of a friend)


texts: Is it okay if a PhD student's work seems insignificant compared to others'?

texts:
I am a theoretical computer science student working on algorithms. I am doubting myself a bit, as I have spent the last 6-7 months working on one problem. Although I am not able to solve the desired problem, I have been able to solve some specific cases. I am currently writing a paper as my research supervisor advised, but when I look at the work of other researchers in my field, my own research works seems insignificant. To me it appears that my (one- or two-page-long) algorithm may seem trivial to an established researcher.

Question: Is it okay if the work of PhD student seems insignificant as compared to other researchers in the field?


texts: How do I deal with an advisor who's biased and doesn't give you time?

texts:
My primary advisor is on a sabbatical and is currently working in the industry; he doesn't return till before I graduate.

He passed me onto another advisor who's roughly in the same research area. My new advisor however is extremely biased and doesn't give me much time. Multiple times, I've emailed him asking for an appointment to discuss my work with him, but he's ignored those mails. When I turn up his office during his office hours, he confesses about seeing my emails but says that he forgot about replying. He also makes me wait for about an hour in his office and then reschedules the meeting. Even during those rescheduled meetings, he either isn't in his office or ends the meeting right away saying that I need to find the answers to my problems myself. He has a couple of favorite students with whom he spends all his time, ignoring the other two students (me and one other). How do I deal with this whole situation? I am very serious about my research, and plan to go for higher studies in future.


texts: Who is eligible to apply for instructor or assistant professor positions?

texts:
I am a math PhD student in my last year, and I've been on mathjobs.org looking for jobs.

I see a lot of jobs for instructor positions, or jobs titled "assistant professor", where the main work load seems to be teaching undergraduates and no research.

It seems that the main qualifications are a PhD. I am confused on what kind of applicant is qualified to apply. It seems that I am qualified enough to apply, assuming I receive my PhD by the time the job starts, but I am worried I am being naive. I do realize that someone that has already had an instructing position, or "assistant professor" position previously, or experience as a postdoc, would look better than a fresh PhD.

Are these jobs typically given to PhD's that have been through a few postdocs, or do PhDs straight out of grad school have a fair enough chance at getting the job?

To be blunt, am I wasting my time applying for these positions?


texts: Planning for physics PhD apps - Classes vs research?

texts:
Question: I'm planning for PhD apps a year from now. Do I skimp on classes and further research, or do I further my studies to learn the theory that I personally want to develop?

Some background... I'm a physics masters student in the US. Technically, this is my third year in the program as my bachelor's degree was not in the sciences; I've essentially completed an undergraduate degree worth of prereqs. I'm taking grad courses now. The school is not renowned, but it has a history of physics research. (I was unable to compete with stronger schools due to my lack of prerequisite knowledge a few years back). Anyway, I'm a rather strong student (4.0) with some research. Nothing is published yet, but I'll be hopefully named on one paper in the spring. I'm looking to apply to top 40 schools in mathematical physics or applied mathematics, and professors have said I have a good shot.

My research adviser is pressuring me to take fewer classes and focus on research next semester. I'm conflicted, as other professors have suggested that this is the class to take! The course my RA suggests I drop is E&M Jackson. I want to learn this material, and I find my studies more compelling than my current research. My RA argues that if I drop the course, then I can commit more time to research, and furthermore, I have less chances to receive a poor grade that could alter my GPA. My RA goes on to suggest that schools do not care whether I have yet to take certain courses like E&M.


texts:
I study in a field that is not related to languages. Should I put languages that I can speak into my CV? Other than English, I can speak my native language, and two other languages that I've learned through classes (at an intermediate level).

Might it be seen as irrelevant and hurt my CV?


texts: My students compliment my teaching and say they now approach the subject with newfound enthusiasm. Can I ask them to put this in writing?

texts:
I'm a beginner instructor teaching undergraduates, and I seem to have their attention and am working hard to inspire them.  Recently several of them have told me that they now approach the subject with a newfound enthusiasm because of me.

Anonymous teacher evaluations will probably be an important factor for me to remain employed; yet, I doubt that young undergrads know the significance of the evaluations, and I wonder whether they just circle any ratings on the evaluations form, just so they can get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

So, I am wondering whether I could make an announcement to the students at the end of the semester, when they have to evaluate me, that if they felt I've done a good job, this is their chance to support me and put it writing on their evaluations and to be as specific as possible.

Is this ok to ask of the students?


texts: Graduate early with average GPA, or later with better GPA?

texts:
I've seen similar questions here, and I wish there was a narrower tag than the broad soft-question and career-development.

I am currently a freshman/sophomore-to-be at a top ten math program in US. My major GPA is around 3.5-3.6, and so is my overall GPA. Due to fast progress in my courses (skipped all lower divs) I will be ready to graduate in a year or year and a half. The question is whether I should do that.

I do not see myself outside of academia, and dead-set on pursuing PhD in math. With my GPA far from being stellar, I was going to take more grad courses to improve the situation. The college is quite pricey, with me being an out-of-state, and so I am not really sure whether I should just graduate and take those courses back home (or apply for masters).

Recap: is it better to graduate early, with an average GPA and no hooks (e.g., research, high Putnam grade, no grad courses), apply for Masters program and save money, or graduate later and improve my record as an undergrad?


texts: What should I list as my academic affiliation in scientific publishing?

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Imaging that I am a student from College A and cross-registered in Institute B. I  am a college kid so I receive very little care from the professors from my own school, and I do not have an official supervisor. Most of the works are done
in the library and computer lab of B, and I discussed my ideas very often with professors in B. However, I do not have department affiliation with B. My formal status in B is something like "exch. stud." I guess it means exchange student.

What should I list as my academic affiliations in scientific publishing?


texts: Abandoning vs. further pursuing a rejected paper?

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My situation is as follows: I spent my undergraduate time at one university and recently entered grad school at another university (both of them in Germany, my field is theoretical computer science).

For my Bachelor's thesis, I worked (for about two months or so) on a topic that had not been considered at the time.

My former supervisor, although he proposed the topic, is not (at least not for the last 30 years) actively doing research in that specific area, which resulted in me ending up quite on my own. However, I could get some new results. They were, of course, not groundbreaking, but sufficient for the undergraduate level and the amount of time spent working on the thesis.

So we submitted the results to a (medium-to-low-ranked) conference in the subfield.
The reviews were quite mixed. Two were rather superficial: One positively and recommending acceptance, one negatively and recommending rejection (actually, the latter one was quite rude).

The third one, however, although recommending for rejection, was quite encouraging. The reviewer liked the idea of the paper, while the results we obtained did not suffice for publication at conference level but (his words) were rather suited for venues for work in progress, e.g. workshops in the area.

I actually agree with the third reviewer, for it would have been quite a surprise for me if a second-year undergraduate would have been able to produce publishable work on his own just like that, so I am not that disappointed.

My problem is that I do not plan on pursuing that specific subarea of research in the future and neither does my former supervisor. However, given that I ultimately aim for an academic career, I think it might be worth some efforts to get something published. Additionally, at my new university, nobody really cares about the area of the thesis, so chances to get some expert here to work with in order to improve the results are rather bad. This means that if I want something to happen, I would have to invest a vast amount of time and thoughts into a topic I don't want to pursue in the future, instead of entering new areas of research as quickly as possible.

So: Should I improve the results and finally get them published or should I invest the time for acquiring knowledge in a different area (and start publishing later) and abandon the work that has been done (giving away a possible publication) (w.r.t. the impact of the outcome on my academic career)?


texts: What salutation to use for someone with a PhD who is a Lecturer or Reader in the UK?

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What is the correct salutation to use when writing to someone with a PhD whose academic title is Lecturer or Reader in the UK?

(A related question addresses the case of a Lecturer without a PhD.)


texts: Can I publish a research paper without notifying my supervisor (the corresponding author)?

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My professor doesn’t want to publish and he keeps delaying it. I had an intense argument with him and I feel that if he will publish, he will not include me. He is quite rude to me recently, although I worked so hard on two projects under his supervision. It has been about two years and he didn't publish my work.

Do Journals contact the corresponding authors when a research paper is submitted? What happened if (for example) I published an article without notifying a corresponding author and he found out? What could happen?


texts: Can a blind person do a post-doc in the humanities?

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I’m about to finish my PhD in Sociology. I’m from Pakistan, and I’m totally blind. My PhD research was quite interdisciplinary. I studied factors influencing environmental concern about environmental problems in Pakistan, as well as factors influencing environmental behavior at home. Now I want to do a post doctorate from anywhere in Europe, North America, Australia or New Zealand.

Can my blindness be a factor in acceptance / rejection of my application?

If not, what should be my first step for finding a post doctoral opportunity? My research interest is in the domains of environmental sociology and environmental psychology.


texts: Is it unethical if I did not inform the current lab I am in that I am looking for another position?

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I would like to know whether I should inform the current lab I am applying for other positions. I feel guilty as someone told me it is unethical what I am doing to hide it from the current employer.

I don't feel comfortable with this current lab and I cannot imagine myself in it for many years, but I cannot inform as the PI here is a bully and not compassionate person at all. Yet, I don't have something in my hand, but I am struggling whether I have to be honest or hide it.

The question is: Is it unethical in academia to hide that I am considering applying for another position while I am currently in?


texts: Lack of take home examinations in mathematics classes?

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Why are so few grades in undergraduate formal math classes in most US colleges based on take home examinations or papers, barring one or two research/self study class?

The formal math classes I am referring to are topology, analysis, number theory, and calculus etc.

The writing class in my college is based on a take home paper, but I do not see similar grading schemes in math courses in other US colleges.


texts: How can I secure a solo-authored paper as a PhD student, while working with a supervisor who has reputation of forcing coauthorship?

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My supervisor has a bad reputation of forcing their name on papers at the final stage of research. The advisor is literally contributing zero or close to zero to my project, nothing more than- or maybe less than- very basic supervision tasks, like giving some comments on a written text.

This is unlikely to change, as the project is already approaching the final stage. How can I protect my work from being "hijacked" by an unfair co-authorship?


texts: What are my obligations towards my adviser after the defense, revisions, and all forms signing is done?

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Just few days ago, I completed all requirements for the degree, all is set and done. I am organizing a workshop with my adviser to be held in few months. Right now, we are reviewing the submissions. My adviser insists that I am not qualified to review the papers because he designated me as a student organizer and my degree completion does not change that. But he expects me to write the reviews that were assigned to him! On top of that, he cannot cover my travel expenses for the workshop, because of the University policy not to pay expenses for the former students. So, I'm on my own to find the travel funding - I will need to ask my employer for funding.

What bothers me is that when convenient, I'm treated as a student (to write the reviews), but when not convenient, I am treated as a former student (funding the travel expenses). What should I do? I talked to him twice now, and I still getting emails asking when the reviews will done.

Is this a common practice? Am I out of the line to question it? And what does this say for our future relationship working independently in the same field.

I should say that I have a job and funding lined up (funding starts after the workshop). So, I don't need a letter of recommendation from my adviser, but staying on good terms would be beneficial. On the other hand, my adviser was hoping that I could fund some of his students over the next year with the funding I received.

Thank you!


texts: Can a lecturer force you to learn a specific programming syntax / language?

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My class is currently further learning our relational database / SQL as part of the course.

The lecturer we have currently is restricting us to learning specifically Oracle SQL syntax rather than allowing us an option to using PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite, etc.

When we brought up our preference in the use of alternative systems due to working with those mentioned above in work placements or academic study from the year prior, we were talked down to for even discussing the matter.

Is this permissible within the UK to restrict students from using a preferred database syntax / software environment?

Edit to add: thank you for your insights and feedback. The post was made on behalf of myself and half a dozen class members who did not know the best route to address the matter, but now have a clearer understanding thanks to this community. For what it's worth, I can confidently say myself and my fellow students are confident with Oracle, MySQL and other SQL Basics from prior education, projects or employment and don't have an issue learning something new to keep progressing.


texts: How can I efficiently check the originality of my work?

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I have worked on many ideas where I found later that they were already published, which was frustrating. I usually look around before developing  my idea, but sometimes the articles I read or the keywords I use to look up any related works make me believe that my work is actually original until I find later, after skimming through hundreds of papers in the field (to further check the originality), or by a response from a reviewer that it is not the case.

In short, what's an efficient way to make sure that your work is original before developing the idea?

Edit :

Thank you for your answers. As suggested in the comments, I should have included addditional information so that the answers would make more sense.

I am a PhD student in Computer Science (CS). My main research areas are : Information theory, coding and cryptography.


texts: How to foster ideological pluralism in teaching?

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It is common in Economics to have introductory courses based on one-sided ideological textbooks (e.g. the most famous being this one, ToC here). The problem of course is not the particular ideological orientation they have, but that most of these textbooks explicitly omit alternative ideological readings or understandings of the science. For example, the aforementioned book covers mainly neoclassical economics, and a bit of Keynesianism, amid a wide range of alternative schools of thought. The lack of acknowledgement of this wider picture nudge students to think that the science itself is defined on what the textbook presents. "This is Economics and nothing else".

Naturally, that is a deeply misleading view of a very diverse field, and particularly damaging (in my view) for those just starting to learn the subject.

Given this context, which are the best methods to foster pluralism in teaching, particularly introductory courses?


texts: If a paper gets rejected two times (in two different journals) is that a bad impression if I try to submit in a different journal?

texts: If a paper gets rejected two times (in two different journals) is that a bad impression if I try to submit in a different journal (different from the earlier two)?


texts: If I write an unsuccessful grant proposal with one PI, can I reuse those ideas on a different proposal with a different PI?

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I'm a PhD student in social science, currently preparing for grant or fellowship applications with two Principal Investigators (PIs, formally in charge of the project if the grant proposal is successful). Specifically, I'll apply for a postdoctoral fellowship with PI #1 and co-write a research grant with PI #2.
As there is no guarantee that I would be able to win the fellowship or grant, I'm working on this with two different PIs (Neither of them currently have a funding to support a postdoc. It's been only a week since I started communicating with each of them, so they don't know yet that I'll be working on two different proposals).
I'm going to suggest research ideas to PI #1, and suggests different, but pretty similar ideas to PI #2 (Let's call them Proposal #1 and Proposal #2). The thing is that I would like to pursue research ideas in BOTH proposals in the future even if I end up with only one PI.

There's an overlapping research question between Proposal #1 and #2. If I pursue this question with one of the PIs, would the other PI be upset about it? I'm concerned that the other PI might think that s/he contributed to the development of the idea (which hasn't happened yet, but likely to happen as we elaborate my initial idea for application).

Suppose the Proposal #1 is accepted, while Proposal #2 is rejected, and I end up working with PI #1. In this case, is it still okay for me to pursue or study research ideas from Proposal #2 without having PI #2 involved? Or should I bring PI #2 as a collaborator? If I must bring PI#2 to pursue research ideas from Proposal #2, I feel like I need to be cautious about which ideas to present to each PI because I don't want my research ideas to be bound to a specific PI.

Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated!


texts: Is it acceptable to only use refererences from other universities?

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I am applying to mathematics tenure track positions after a postdoc. I have three research letters from professors at Research 1 universities, and each are AMS fellows. One is my PhD supervisor.

My postdoc department is a midrange mathematics department; its on the rise, but doesn't have a big reputation. My supervisor is only familiar with half of my work, while my other letter writers are familiar with all of my work.

Would it be appropriate to use those three letters from other departments, or would it be a warning sign to search committees if no letters come from my current department?


texts: How does one with a B.S. in Mathematical Sciences become a software developer?

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I will graduate in 1 semester and I have realized towards the end of my B.S. in mathematical sciences that I would like to develop software. I know there's no degree requirement to do this.

I have taken 20 math classes, bu have only taken 4 official computer science classes (2 in Java, 1 in C++, 1 in discrete math) and will have the opportunity to take up to 2 more before I graduate such as "data structures and algorithms" (a java class). I have also taken graph theory through the math department.

I have brainstormed. I could apply to masters degree programs in computer science (or PhD programs, then leave with a masters) or I could try to self teach myself the programming languages and gaps in my knowledge. Or I could take the additional couple of years to finish a double undergraduate major in computer science at my school. I could also try for an internship for Summer 2014, regardless.

So I could:

Self study and try for an entry level position. No explicit or implicit cost if I succeed. But if I fail to get a job, there's the time wasted that I could have been in school.
Finish a double major in CS (would take an additional 2 years). This would have an opportunity cost as well as an explicit cost.
Apply to graduate school in CS. This would have an opportunity cost and most likely an explicit cost.


texts: How do I / Should I, console a former classmate and stressed out PHD/MD applicant?

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I have a former classmate of mine who wasn't successful in his/her application to top-tier PhD/MD programs this past application cycle.

Over the phone and through email, I've been sympathetic when I learned about his/her disappointment and offered words of encouragement, reminding him/her of their worth ethic (working 2-3 jobs at the same time and maintaining a stellar GPA) and personal aspirations (the kind of aspiration where you think that he/she would be a major force in research, selflessly serving the needs of others, and accomplishing a great deal in their career) during our undergraduate years.

However in recent time, I've lost touch with this person for unknown reasons, as I stopped hearing back from them. Distance, time, busy with other stuff. I don't know.

The question I wanted to pose is, should I try to reach out again?

If they decided to reapply, what little would my words of encouragement offer beyond a smile and good wishes? (I doubt they would have an impact on the actual admissions board)

If they decided to not reapply, wouldn't my words just pour salt into an otherwise fresh bitter wound in their mind?

Mind you, I am going through the testing phase at the moment myself and am narrowing down my PhD study programs to a handful for application, so I can't claim that I am in similar waters.

Put yourself in this person's shoes, how would you react in either scenario?


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If one is intending on leaving a graduate program before completing their PhD, is there value in obtaining candidacy status before leaving?

Does it depend on where they are leaving to? If so, consider the cases where the candidate is either leaving for industry or leaving for another PhD position. (And say they are contractually obligated to not leave immediately, so they would have time to reach candidacy.)


texts: Did requesting more info/contacting admissions too early hurt my chances of getting in?

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Before saying anything I would like to point out I have no knowledge on the how to apply for graduate schools and this may very well be a stupid question.

I'm getting my Bachelor's degree in Spring 2017 and I plan on applying for graduate programs for art that Fall. I have been looking at different schools and requesting more information and asking the admission offices about the programs I am thinking of applying to.

BUT, a friend of mine told me I definitely shouldn't have done that until I am almost absolutely sure I will be applying to that school and especially not a year ahead. I was just casually requesting more information, and I didn't know they took that so seriously.

So my question is did I somehow hurt my chances of getting into those schools by contacting the admissions very early? Especially when I am interested in more than one program?

I would also like to clarify that I did not contact a faculty member in the program, just the admissions office.


texts: Only one supervisor but two reference letters required

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I am in the last year of my Master in Physics, I am writing the Master Thesis and I am looking around for some PhD positions. It is something totally new for me.  I have seen that people in general require 2 reference letters.
The problem is that the only person who knows me well is my supervisor of the Master Thesis. I got good grades in general in the courses but I do not think the other professors know, or remember,  who I am.
I do not think I can ask also my professors of the Bachelor (I did it in another University), with whom I had anyway a good relationship, because I finished it three years ago.
So my idea was to contact a professor of my university, or of other universities, and maybe ask if I can do a "mini master thesis" or a project or something, so that he/she can understand that I am motivated and so on, and eventually can write for me a recommendation letter. What do you think?


texts: Is the PhD thesis needed for a faculty appointment?

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I applied for a full professor position, and after the interview, I was asked for a copy of my PhD thesis.

I was confused and want to know if it is the common and normal procedure or happened for me based on a specific reason?

Because, my strong works were done after my PhD, and I didn't know that my PhD project would be used for judging me (frankly, I'm not proud of that project).


texts: Difference between a Virtual issue and a special issue?

texts: Can someone explain me the significance of Virtual issues, the difference between Virtual and Special issues? Also, under what conditions does a journal propose for a Virtual issue, does it have any impact on the Impact factor of the journal?


texts: Reputed journal publications, yet I have small number of citations

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People say that the impact factor and number citations somehow correlated. However; since 2012, I published 7 articles in well reputed top-10% journal, 5 papers in flagship conferences. Yet my total citations are just 51. On the other hand, one of my friends published his work during same time period (2011–2018) in predatory journals and he has 150 citations. We both work in almost same research area.

Is it a myth that number citations are correlated with impact factor. What if a journal has high impact factor due to some few cited articles published in that journal?


texts: Springer’s book-chapter sharing policies

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Last year I submitted an article to a peer-reviewed book to be added as a chapter. Finally, my article got accepted and it is ready for publication. The publisher is going to be Springer.

I would like to share a copy of my article on my website and with my colleagues through the university repository. My concern is that I am not sure whether I can do it or not.

Springer has some sharing policies for journal articles. You can share a preprint version with a link to the published one (via DOI). However, it is not clear whether I can do that with a book chapter.

Can someone with similar experience clarify this?


texts: After starting a PhD in Mathematics, I realized I am more interested in Statistics - can I transfer to a Statistics PhD?

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I'm a first-year mathematics PhD student at an American university.

When I applied to graduate school I thought I would be doing math like I did for the past few years in college. However, after the whole senior year doing a priori estimation for 2-d NS equation(basically frequency analysis stuff in harmonic analysis), I got nothing but fully exhausted and want to try something else where I found the machine learning course on Coursera was really interesting and decided to explore more about that in graduate school.

I passed all qualifying exams before the first year started. I took a graduate statistics course and a computer science course in the first quarter to get a better understanding for machine learning, and found I was thrilled at high-dimensional statistics. Unfortunately there's no one in the department working in that field, so I started working with professors in the statistics department on several different projects which I really, for the first time in my life, found more interesting than I thought mathematics was in college. Now I don't feel like I will ever wish to work in any primary mathematics field, and I'm kind of alienated in the department which makes me feel sick and sometimes lonely (and often enough pure mathematicians tend to degrade statistics or applied math).

I know very clearly from the past year-long research experience with Statisticians that I am now much much more enthusiastic about high-dimensional statistics.

Should I be open to the idea of moving to a Statistics program? The only problem is that I may not be able to get a Master's degree due to departmental coursework requirement. Is it possible to transfer to another graduate program (either within University X or other university) without a master's degree from my current university? (I am pretty sure I can get quite good reference from my research professors, as well as several decent publications.)


texts: How much weight is given to letters of recommentation from developing country for Dphil at Oxford University?

texts: If one graduate at a developing country which lack highly ranked professors, how much weight should be expected to be given from Oxford University to recommendation letters for a Dphil? Do they weight it as much as letters of students with famous letters from famous professors? Are students with letters from famous professors preferred or they just access the content?


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My finals were held recently. Due to some timetabling issues, I had to organize for some students to take the finals early, but still within finals week. The dates were mutually agreed.

One of these early final takers was very upset when I stopped them writing at the 2 hours and ten minutes mark after starting (for a 2 hour exam).  After they gave me their paper, they looked very upset and stomped out of the room.

They performed poorly on the exam but eked out a D overall for the class.

The fastest student in the class finished in about 45 minutes; the majority were done by 90 minutes. I don't usually set time-critical midterms or finals.

When the student was upset, I didn't respond at the time nor did I follow-up with them afterwards via email or in person.

Should I have done anything more? If so, what?

I believe that college should be about more than just grades, and wanted to give the feedback to this student that their behavior was extremely unprofessional.


texts: Proper citation of equations in scientific papers - terminology

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Most scientific papers refer to almost any formula that contains the "=" sign by the word "equation". Consider this case:

Let value = function(input) (1) where input is a known input value and value is the result of the function computation. In this situation, there are no effective unknowns (we are guaranteed that no unknowns are hidden in the function expression either).

Most papers (if not all) often refer to expression (1) in sentences like "equation (1) is equivalent to", "referring to equation (1), we see that..".

Some pedantic referees, however, suggest the use of a more proper word (e.g. formula (1) instead of equation (1)).

Is there a grammar reference that solves this seemingly insignificant issue?

Further clarification

An  example of an expression not considered an equation by a referee:
(a+b)^2 = a^2 + 2ab + b^2 (1).