texts: How can I deal with a significant flaw I found in my previous supervisor’s paper?

texts:
Suppose that I found a technical flaw in one of the papers coauthored by my previous advisor. This mistake will substantially change their major result, but their contribution will be still worthwhile after the correction. I am 90% sure about my findings. It is not a difference of ideologies or subjective beliefs, but a mistake in purely technical analysis.

My previous advisor is among the top-three worldwide in his narrow field, and that paper was published on the top journal. He was neither the corresponding nor the first author. The first and corresponding author was also his previous student. So here is my possible options (any other suggestions are also welcomed):

Write a short paper and submit to the same journal. The journal welcomes this specific type of submissions. Best case is, if my previous advisor is happy to see his previous students are still contributing to this field, then I will get a top publication. Worst case is, since many of the referees are also his previous students, they could possibly defend our teacher and deny my submission, and I lost all the precious time redoing the analysis and writing the paper.
Talk to my previous advisor. Since he keeps constant contact with the journal’s editor, he can definitely update that mistake, much faster than me; that way I will lose a worthy publication. He can also decide to ignore my findings or even try to prevent my findings to be published because they significantly challenge his result.

How can I choose between these, or is there a third way?

Update: I am preparing to send a friendly inquiry, politely say things like:

  Dear XX, It was a pleasure to read your exciting work titled XXX. Could you do me a favor by explaining your analysis in ABC? I was hoping to do analysis XYZ such that your results can be refined and here are my preliminary findings. Do you feel this approach promising? Would you like to help? Thanks for sharing thoughts, again.

How do you feel about the tone? Shall I be more explicit?


texts: How is the faculty recruitment process in the UK?

texts:
I have been invited for the interview for a Lecturer position in the UK. I want to prepare all the necessary documents in advance. How is the HR process? What documents should I give to the HR department for signing the contract?

For example, is the original copy of my PhD is enough or I must get a certified copy (as some countries need). Any official letter from my previous employer is required?


texts: Is doing a Habilitation a financially viable decision?

texts:
I know that a PhD is necessary to enter academia which means you can find a better job and get salary.

But, how about doing a Habilitation in Germany? Does it have any positive impact on the career or financial situation as an international student?

For instance, say someone is barely employed. So, he is supposed to get an "actual" job after the completion of his PhD. But, can he postpone getting the job until he completes his Habilitation? What would be the financial implication?


texts: Dvorak keyboard accepted for testing purpose?

texts:
Have you ever heard of Dvorak keyboard being accepted by a testing department due to health reasons (carpal tunnel)?

I type on Dvorak keyboard and have realized that computer based admission tests for Masters programs may pose an issue.

Dvorak is the closest thing we have to an alternative standard to Qwerty which is preinstalled on all modern operating systems.


texts:
I am a Masters student applying for PhD in computer science to various universities in the US/Europe/Canada. I wanted to know about the workload in general which we will have while pursuing it in these countries.

I did a bit of research here, and found that the teaching workload is highest in the US, followed by Canada and then Europe. In the US for the first two years we will be doing coursework majorly and working in different labs to find out what we want to work on, this time is lesser in Canada and Singapore, while in Europe we straightaway start working on the problem.

Any information would be very useful, specifically in teaching and in general. Thank you

In Singapore, NUS and NTU, in Canada the University of Toronto, the University of Alberta and McGill. In the US, CMU, University of Chicago and UNiversity of Minnesota

In Europe I'm specifically looking at colleges in the UK ( like the Imperial College of London, Oxford and UCL) and Switzerland (EPFL and ETH Zurich). Answers on any other university are welcome as well.


texts: Are there formal or informal hiring bans in some academic settings based on gender and/or nationality?

texts:
In early March 2015, an eMail by a female German professor apparently rejecting a male Indian applicant due to the 'rape problem' in India made news. (The issue is a bit more complex. There is some discussion whether the eMails were selectively quoted and the professor has since apologized.)

What bugs me however is the following paragraph (which may or may not be what the professor has written, and which seems to be ignored by the news media):

  "Many female professors in Germany decided to no longer accept male
  Indian students for these reasons, and currently other European female
  association are joining."

Is this a thing in Academia? Has anyone heard about hiring bans, either formal or informal ones, based on sex/gender and/or nationality?


texts: Ugly master's thesis but one great proof

texts:
I wrote an ugly master's thesis in mathematics. There were errors and I think it is not worth publishing. However, I managed to prove one theorem in a simple way that I have never seen before. I have seen another proof of the theorem and, in my opinion, it is more complicated than my proof.

What would be a suitable way to get other mathematicians to know the proof?
Is it fine if I post a question to Mathematics Stack Exchange and answer my own question?


texts: Dealing with softcover textbook curling?

texts:
So, I’m a postgraduate student, and I checked a softcover textbook out of my university library for my personal studies. When I pulled it out of my bag today, I noticed that the bottom corner (on the side away from the bindings) had begun to curl forward, possibly from the weight of the book resting on its bottom edge in my bag.

Are there any methods of mitigating or repairing the damage being done to the book? Would it be possible to prevent this sort of damage from occurring in the future? I did a Google search, and all I saw was dubious “life hacks” talking about books damaged by humidity (and while it is rather warm and humid here, I’m not sure if that’s playing much of a role here).


texts: Should you hide that you are already enrolled elsewhere when applying for another PhD?

texts:
I plan to re-apply for a PhD in the US next year, but meanwhile, I decided to enroll in a PhD in my home country
I read the similar post: Is it a good idea to stay an extra year at my masters institution while re-applying to PhD programs elsewhere?

However, I am wondering whether you should admit/declare (in your application), that you are currently enrolled in a PhD program or it is better to hide this information from the US universities?
Thanks!


texts: Which topics to include in a teaching presentation?

texts:
I have been shortlisted for a lectureship position. The committee has asked me to present a 10 minutes (!) lecture on teaching game development topics to undergrads. My teaching experience amounts to TA roles during my post-doc and PhD. I am familiar with the topic however at this career stage I have not yet had the opportunity to manage a university course on my onw.

Given the time constraints, what would you (search committee) want to see in one such presentation? The overall course structure? Assessment/project ideas?


texts: Typical turn around time to write recommendation?

texts:
Sometimes job-seekers are asked to provide a list of references vs. providing recommendation letters. The employer might then email the references asking for what is essentially a recommendation letter for the candidate.

In these cases, what is the typical (expected?) response time? In other words, as a previous student's/employee's reference, how soon after receiving a recommendation request from an employer  should I make sure to provide the requested recommendation?

Example Scenario

I got such a request last Wednesday for a former field technician.  I responded 5 days (3 business days) later on the following Monday. I got a response from the person hiring saying essentially "thanks, but we offered them the job on Friday." The potential employer didn't mention any sense of urgency in the email. Was 3 business days really too long? Am I expected to respond to these requests essentially immediately (within 48 hours)??

I'm providing this scenario for context, but please answer the question more generally. Thanks!


texts:
As I was going to submit a paper in one of the Elsevier's journal (Web Semantics), it asked me to select the type of paper. The types include "research paper", "system paper!", "ontology paper", "position paper", "survey paper", "briefing paper".

I don't know what are they, and didn't find a document about them except this which doesn't tell much. I doubt if my paper is just a regular or research paper or a system paper.

In my paper I proposed a computer application which is a software system. however, it provides a solution for a problem. Does this make it a system paper!!!


texts: How to reference confidential data in reference list

texts:
I'm writing my BA thesis in computer science at a larger company and need to reference a confidential statistics report that has been made available to me in my reference list.

So my question is, how does one normally cite a confidential source? I assume you would somehow include the contact details of someone at the company with access to the material?

I'm using the Vancouver reference style by the way. Cheers!

Edit: I should clarify that the confidential "report" that was made available to me really isn't a report, but rather just raw data. It doesn't have an author or even a title, only site visitor statistics, thereby my confusion on how to reference it.


texts: Missing funding deadline for serious reasons: what to do?

texts:
A friend of mine missed a deadline for applying for funding for a PhD positions.

Funding applications are handled through a different channel wrt to program applications (I believe by some Research Council committee, I do not know if internal or external to the University) and a separate (but almost identical) application was required.

My friend completed the programme application (CV, statements, referees etc.), but did not complete the funding application. The main reason is that a close family member was diagnosed with cancer in the week previous to the deadline, everything got a bit messed up and he/she missed the deadline.

Is it acceptable to do one of the following and which is the best course of action:

1) Submit the application past the deadline, period. Hope is that if the PhD position is awarded the missed deadline for funding might be overlooked.

2) Submit past the deadline with a motivation letter explaining the issues (possibly, attaching a medical certificate or offer to provide one if required).

3) Suck it up and eventually discuss funding options once position is awarded.

Specifically, is there any downside of running with 1) or 2) (e.g. it might bar 3) or look bad or look just like an excuse)?

Context is UK middle to top ranking econ departments.


texts: How to write a cover letter as proposing to apply for funding source with a professor

texts: I am going to finish soon my PhD. I want to apply for a postdoc fellowship. How can I contact a professor ? What is the common form of a cover letter in this situation ? Any advice, suggestion will be very appreciate.


texts: Include as an author someone who contributed to financial support only?

texts:
I am co-authoring a physics manuscript with some students and colleagues. The results in this has been obtained by means of a grant to which multiple people have participated.Because the main research project reported in the grant proved to be too hard, we switched to a backup project, which is the subject of the paper.

One of the authors just asked me to include as an author one of the persons who contributed to the grant writing, even though this person made no scientific contribution to the paper, because of the subject switch above.

Is it fair and honest to include this person?

I am asking because if I feel like this is not fair, but if I refuse, this would put me in a difficult situation with the colleague who asked, potentially ruining our future collaborations with him. What should I do?


texts: Paper accepted for poster presentation in IEEE, what are the chances of it being published?

texts:
I had recently submitted a paper to an IEEE conference and got accepted, but for poster presentation. This is the very first time I have written a paper. Although it is a great achievement for me given my inexperience in the field, my goal is to get it published.

Does IEEE publish papers accepted for posters presentations?
Should I pass on the poster presentation and send my paper to a journal?


texts: I think a colleague deserves authorship but my PI doesn't agree

texts:
I'm an undergrad student working at a large research hospital over the summer. My research has been making very good progress; my PI has implied that we are likely to ultimately publish it.
My abstract was selected for a prestigious oral presentation (fewer than 10% of [not exclusively undergrad] students were selected), but something doesn't sit right with me about the authorship she suggested.

My PI added a few authors who never actually contributed, but she hoped would. At least one of them still hasn't. This didn't bother me but is starting to because a student who has put a lot of work in is being excluded.

This grad student conducted and scored the neuropsychological assessments for most of my participants, and those scores are key for my research question and results. The student works in a lab that collaborates closely with mine. I suggested that she should be given authorship, but my PI told me that she should not be. After sending my abstract to the list of collaborators, one of them even asked me why the grad student student was not asked to be an author.

Since this is a niche field that I likely want to work in, I am worried about creating resentment. I know that this is ultimately just a summer research project, but if it goes further and becomes published I would not feel right with my exclusion. It just doesn't sit right.

My question is two-fold:

(a) Is it worthwhile to ask that the student be given authorship? The PI of the other lab is notoriously abrasive, and I wonder if my PI wants to avoid giving her too many footholds in this project. I don't want to stick my head into institutional politics. Does this student even deserve authorship?

(b) How do I approach this subject with my PI? She is a very nice person and I don't usually feel intimidated by her, but I'm keenly aware of my position as an undergraduate researcher at the bottom of the academic ladder.

Thanks.


texts: Will consistent good work as a referee for a journal make it likely to become associate editor?

texts:
I am apparently considered a good and competent referee and I get many requests to review papers to the point where I have to reject several (about a third) of requests.

I also have to prioritize refereeing with many other duties (teaching, research, etc.), so my question is: Is there a likely payoff of writing (many) good reports for a given journal in the form of eventually being asked to become associate editor?


texts: How to proceed when the baseline (state-of-the-art) published results claim much better performance than I can reproduce?

texts:
I am graduate student, to finish my degree I need to build methods outperform what is already there. An issue that I came across with, is that two papers reported way (I mean more than 20%) more than what resulted from my reimplementation. This could be due to two reasons:

I missed something during the implementation. Which is what I have been telling myself. For months, I tried all possible combinations and possible paths. One of the methods is straightforward. Still, I could not reach their claimed performance.

I contacted the corresponding authors, and no one replied. So I tried to contact the other authors.

The first paper, the author replied and sent me the code. He/she told me to keep all details ”confidential”. Well, it turns out they they are not using the data they claim in their the paper, of course their results are different than my reimplementation. And my implementation was correct.

The second paper author also replied and they didn’t send me the code because they say it is easy to implement, but confirmed that what I did is correct still I couldn’t understand why such difference.

Both papers are published in <2 impact factor journals. Their web servers are not working.
They are not honest.

Now I am stuck, my method does outperform my reimplementation of their methods but not what they claim. The first paper I can’t say anything because “it is confidential” the second paper I can only confirm that I correctly implemented their method for the most part  (based on my chat with the authors)

I know that I probably could not publish on this part of my work, because who is going to believe a young scientist who just started her way?
 But not sure how the committee are going to believe me. What can I say or do? Please help me


texts: Advice on rejecting job offer from recommender

texts:
I worked for this professor last summer for free and am going to ask her to be recommender for PhD application. This year I asked to work with her again, however this time I need salary. So she offered me a job, however there is no salary. Furthermore, there is no other professor involved in this project so I cannot get another recommender as well. I am not really interested in this. What can I do so that I do not piss her off and she still writes me a letter of recommendation?
Thank you all


texts: Do papers ever get published posthumously?

texts: What is the longest discrepancy between death and publication?


texts: Is it possible to do research, in your PhD, on the same topic that you did for your Master's dissertation?

texts: I was wondering if it's possible to use the same research question, just using different methodology and a more expanded research area.I don't mean if you can just extend the topic of your Master's thesis into something that you're going to research on, in your PhD (as in your MA thesis becoming one or two chapters of your PhD thesis).


texts: What if a lecturer has to use the bathroom while on stage?

texts:
If a student has to use the bathroom, s/he may simply politely and quietly excuse him/herself for a few minutes.

But is there any established etiquette for what an instructor is to do when nature suddenly calls?  Let's say this is a typical classroom lecture of about 90 minutes, meaning a student body of about 80-90 and no scheduled breaks.

Oh, also, let's assume that there's no real illness or other crippling circumstance that forces the instructor to leave; just a good old-fashioned porcelain inspection, resulting from consuming just a bit much V8 an hour earlier (seriously, that strawberry-banana V-Fusion is addictive).


texts: Importance of GPA and GRE scores for grad school admissions

texts:
I was reading the following article by Mathew Might. HOWTO: Get into grad school for science, engineering, math and computer science
I saw the following the paragraph

What doesn't matter
GPA? I don't care if it's 2.0 or 4.0. I won't even look at it. The school you went to? I'll judge you the same whether you went to Nowhere State U or a top-ten school. Transcripts? Never seen one. GREs? Irrelevant. Where you work/worked? Unless it's a research lab, it's not important. I don't think these items have much predictive capacity as to whether or not someone can complete a Ph.D.

Is Mathew Might telling the truth?
For me it's very hard believe that GPA, GRE scores and undergraduate school don't matter. I used to think that they play an extremely important role in grad school admission.


texts: Manuscript Revision: How to include the response to reviewer comments as an attached file?

texts:
I have recently received a major revision from a journal. In the manuscript upload portal, I find only one place in the form of a text box where I could include the response to reviewer comments. But there is no place link to upload a document. I am thinking of choosing to include the response file as an attachment as it includes mathematical equations.

So whether a separate file can be attached to include the response to reviewer comments?


texts: Using Wikipedia definitions in research paper

texts: I'm writing a research paper in finance. I'm taking help of Wikipedia  definitions for the introduction part. Do I have to mention it in the Appendix part?


texts: How to convert a PhD Thesis written on published articles into a book?

texts:
Is it a good idea to convert Thesis (computer science field) written on the basis of my own published research articles into a book?
Taking care of text recycling and copyright plus wider knowledge achieved in the subject, is it worth to go for publishing book?
If yes, how it could be done?


texts: Should I complain to higher authorities about the incompetence of this teacher?

texts:
I am a Computer Science freshman. The instructor of one of my programming classes, where they're teaching Python, is absolutely incompetent. I have been programming since high school and I can tell.
After giving a very bad introduction to Python in the online classes, all they do now is give a list of questions to solve and sit back. The first day this happened, I solved every question and was told to explain everything to the whole class. I did and that was the end of the class. No contribution from their side, whatsoever. Basically, they are finding ways to somehow get by, and seem to have years of experience at it too.
I feel something needs to be done. My first thought was to complain to the authorities, but if nothing is done and they stay, I may have a hard time when I go to college (I was talking about the online classes, remember?).
So, what should I do?

I chose the word "incompetent" because it is an apt description of the said instructor. That is what you call a programming instructor who doesn't know what a return statement does or how to iterate over elements of a sequence (programmers will understand how basic this is).
I wonder how they even lasted this long.

At last, I figured I should just mind my own business. I talked to my classmates. Turns out everyone was having the same problem. We complained to the department head. The course is being restarted, but the instructor is the same. I don't know if it was even worth the effort.


texts: Is it unusual for a math department not to have a mail/web server?

texts:
I'm a PhD student in a math department at a research university in the US. When I started the program I was given an account on the department server with a website and a nice department email address. Now I've found out that the department (or the university?) is doing away with the server and instructing everyone to instead use the G Suite email and Google services that the general student body of the university uses. So I suppose I'll have to pay to host my website somewhere, or convert it manually into a Google Site as the department is suggesting (which unfortunately, to my knowledge, doesn't support math markup). I'm worried that having a Google Site as opposed to a .edu website will appear unprofessional, and I'm a bit irked that I'll have to take the time to migrate my site elsewhere. Also I think it's peculiar that not even the math faculty will have a .edu domain to host a website.

Should I be upset by this? Is this unusual? Or is this just the trend of the future? Is this more typical than I think it is?

Update regarding my specific scenario to address some questions in the comments: The email through GMail still gets the .edu extension as name@university.edu or some variation. I'm not sure what will happen to my name@math.university.edu email, but it sounds like that will still work? Word is that they're still figuring out specifics. But they're planning on getting rid of the web server though. They haven't been giving new faculty or grad students the @math email address or a math.university.edu/~name website like I received, and they're working with people with larger sites [on the math server] to fit their needs. But it sounds like after the switchover the math.university.edu domain won't be available to redirect to any new website either, which sucks because there's at least one faculty here with a massive website, and the switchover will break tons of links online, and references PDF notes and papers.


texts: How to make a bachelor thesis out of optimizing /updating an application?

texts:
I work for a company and want to write my bachelor thesis there. This company has a Quality Assurance Application written in Python, that is very unstructured and follows no design pattern.
My job would be to restructure the Application into a layered architecture, and possibly get rid of the GUI and completely automate it.
My question now is how do I make a bachelor thesis out of this?

Write about software design/architecture and use this as proof of concept?
Write about improved speed and improved future maintenance (kind of hard to measure)?


texts: Forgot to finish final paper submission in a conference

texts: I just realised that I forgot to submit the final version of a paper for a conference, and the deadline just passed last week. What should I do in this case? I contacted the publishing office but they said they are not accepting paper submissions.


texts: Using a public GIT-Hub repository (that was a homework of my group) in my Bachelor thesis

texts:
I have a question concerning my special case.

In my bachelor thesis, I must implement a CI (e.g. Jenkins) server and show its functionality based on a sample project. This work is handed to other students in order to let them try out the technology.

There are many projects available which I could use as a sample project on Git Hub but I wanted to have a simple one and thus I have chosen a Git Repo containing a former homwework (a small game) that I have written with colleagues. I know that public Git Repos are basically Open Source but still I have questions.

Questions:

Do I have to mention my colleagues, who implemented that homework
with me, explicitly in my Bachelor Thesis?
Do I need my colleagues agreement that I can use this project for my
Bachelor Thesis?
Does it make any legal difference if I provide a link directly to
this sample project or if the project is just visible in
screenshots without showing an explicit URL?


texts: Asking reference letter earlier or later if I need to go mandatory service for my country

texts:
I'm currently working in a research institution as a RA, and I'm thinking of asking my professor for recommendation letter for PhD application. But because of mandatory national service in my home country, I have to go back and serve my country for 2 years before going into PhD. In that duration of 2 years, I'll have minimum contact with my professor, if anything.

Should I ask for a recommendation now, given that his memory of me is much more fresh, or should I ask him after I'm done with my mandatory national service, at which I will be applying?

I've heard both cases of arguments:

Pros of asking earlier

Professor will forget the minute details about my projects and my skill (two years isn't that long, but I don't think it's short either, given that he has interaction with many other RAs and students)
It will give him plenty (perhaps too much?) of time to write the recommendation letter when he is free.
It is more likely that he will write a letter for someone that is working for him now, then someone that has worked for him in the past, since he does not have to see me when he rejects my request, but it will be awkward if he rejects my request now when I still work for him.

Pros of asking later

Professor may fear that I may decide not to pursue PhD after that duration has past, and his effort in that letter might be in vain. While I'm confident that I'll apply after that 2 years has past, I cannot give a proof to him.
If I've accomplished anything during the time I was away, then he would like to put it in the letter. In my case, I'm doubtful if I can do any academic work when I'm serving my country, but who knows.

I'd like to hear if there are any other reasons to favor one option over the other, and ultimately to know which option to take.

I've seen related question: Letter of Rec. for future University application but this is quite irrelevant since most answers deal with the question of asking the police chief for letter.

This is also related, but my circumstance is different from the OP in this post.


texts: What can you do to supplement low grades for admission into masters programs that don't use GRE or GMAT?

texts:
To study in the USA, low grades can be supplemented by GRE or GMAT.

What can you do to supplement low grades to study in Europe (UK, Germany, France, Scandinavia), Oceania and South Africa?


texts: Is it wise (and common) to publish in a peer-reviewed journal without an impact factor to prevent impairement of one's own mean impact factor?

texts:
I recently found out that a team of colleagues published in a journal without impact factor, though peer-reviewed. According to my supervisor this happens sometimes when the study cannot be published in a top journal, and then it could be better to do so than publish in a low profile journal whose impact factor would drag down the mean impact factor of the papers published by that team.

Is this common? If so, which elements can specifically drive a research team to choose this option?


texts: How do I maintain motivation in a completely awful grad program?

texts:
I am a 2nd year PhD student.

I regret my choice of grad school severely. The program here has a good reputation and I have no idea how or why it has a good reputation. The program here is absolutely terrible. The location is terrible and depressing, classes are completely useless, the qual system is really terrible (I passed them, I still think the way they're done is awful), most of my cohort are petty and childish (although I've found a few very good people here who I'm super grateful for), I have no support basically. I have met many people in the department that feel the same way: ranging from other grad students to professors.

This program is awful and coming here was one of the worst decisions of my life. I had other good programs I could have gone to.

I've found it much harder to read/do problems/etc. I barely do enough work just to pass classes. I try to focus on the stuff I want to do, but it seems like just by being here the subject is tainted.

Last night I found a problem online I tried working out but couldn't. I spent all day today - I barely ate, I didn't do anything else, I just worked all day long on this stupid problem that had nothing to do with anything. It was a blast! It reminded me of why I love my subject. I failed to find a solution...but it was still very productive and I learned a lot. I let myself get obsessed and I didn't worry about all the issues here.

How do I keep this feeling? How do I stay motivated? The department here feels like it saps all of my will to do any work out. In undergrad I was so determined. I took some time off between undergrad and grad and it only made me more determined. I want to feel like I did today.

I looked into transferring into other programs but it seemed like it would be a huge pain and I've been able to make it through the worst part of the program pretty quickly.


texts: Translate articles and submit them in other journals

texts: May I do the following? I have published some academic papers in my mother tongue language in not well known academic journals of my country. Can I translate these papers into English and submit them to other international academic journals?


texts: Why do academics write/publish book reviews for journals?

texts:
At least in the humanities, it seems to be fairly common for journals to publish book reviews. To be honest, I don't think I fully understand why many academics write them and why many journals publish them. I don't read them very often because I usually don't find them very enlightening. If I want to find out whether a book is worth looking at, it is usually easier to take a look at the table of contents or else to get it from a library and take a look rather than reading the review.

However, I could imagine the following incentives:

The reviewer thinks the book is particularly interesting and should be known to a greater audience, so they want to promote it.
Writing book reviews is considered a service to the community, and authors would also like to get their own books reviewed in a journal later on.
Reviewers influence the community with their evaluation of a book.
Reviewers accrue prestige by publishing book reviews.

Which of these reasons, if any, make academics write book reviews? If it does add to their prestige, how much? Is it, very roughly, possible to say that one research article equals x published book reviews in terms of added prestige (and increased prospects for promotion)?


texts: High IF Journal From Another Field vs. Low IF Journal In My Field

texts:
I will be submitting a manuscript I have, but I am having a hard time deciding between two journals that are both suitable for my paper's topic.

Journal A has an impact factor of 5.6 but is a field-specific journal in a field I am not a part of. Researchers from my field publish in Journal A rarely. Journal B, on the other hand, has an impact factor of 1.6, is a general journal in my discipline and has a section that publishes papers from my field exclusively. Researchers from my field publish in Journal B more frequently. However, Journal B is still not a standard/well-known journal in my field. Which one would be more impactful in my CV (for graduate school applications) given that I am an undergraduate student.

I know this is hard to answer without knowing my field, but this question essentially boils down to whether a higher IF journal from another field is better than a lower IF journal that is more relevant.


texts: Which authors should be listed in a conference presentation?

texts:
I asked a poorly-worded question previously, so I'll try again.
Suppose someone is submitting an abstract for a talk that is based on joint work with other researchers. Further suppose that the other co-authors will not be presenting (or even attending the conference). As a matter of attribution, should all authors be listed on the talk?


texts: Do I need to mention having survived a life-threatening illness when applying for a new academic position?

texts:
Do I have to (or is it wise or unwise) to mention having survived a life-threatening illness (such as cancer, a (early) heart attack, etc when applying for a new (non-leading) academic position?

Assume that my health condition is now good enough (and the past health troubles are not obvious from my outward appearance) such that from a medical point of view nothing speaks against my further persuing my academic career and interests.

Nevertheless, due the specific medicaments I have to take for the rest of my life and some remnants of the past health issues, there might be times my productivity might slightly be lessened. Also, even though the probability is not very high, it can in principle not be 100% excluded that the illness will come back at some point.

Of course I would not mention this in a written application, but should I talk about my health condition in the context of an interview or before things are getting serious and it comes to signing the contract?

BTW I currently live in Germany


texts: How to increase the chance for PhD admission while I am working?

texts:
I graduated as MSc. of Software Engineering in 2017, and then I started my career in the industry as "software tester".

I am going to apply for the Graduate School of Decision Sciences in 2 years. The graduates of computer science are qualified to apply for this program, but there are 2 main issues which I am concerned about:

I am not sure if my grades are good enough for admission (My average is almost C)
There will be a 4 years gap between my master and the PhD.

I am wondering, how can I increase my chance to get the PhD admission?

One solution could be to contact a professor on the university and work on a paper, but I am not sure if it works well, or even they answer my email.

My question is:

How to increase the chance for a PhD admission while I am working?


texts: Teaching at university (pathway 3 and teaching-oriented positions)

texts:
In England, in principle, there are three pathways to professorship, or in general to teaching permanent positions at universities. The third one is for academic staff whose responsibilities are primarily to cover essential teaching, educational needs and, for more senior grades, pedagogic research.

But, in practice, scientific faculties do not allow almost anyone to get a professorship that way. In Bristol, in particular, I only know of people in the Graduate School of Education having become professors through pathway 3.

Is there in Europe a real possibility, in disciplines like physics, mathematics, engineering, to work in academia as a university lecturer primarily?

One way of rephrasing this would be:

Are there in any European countries any teaching-oriented positions in scientific disciplines at universities?


texts: How does one learn research methodology?

texts:
I am a multidisciplinary person. I have a bachelor's degree in computer science and now I'm working on my master's thesis on strategic intelligence studies. The experience I have in writing both of my master's and bachelor's theses, and the experience of using both of quantitative and qualitative methods show me that there are so many things to learn within the scope of research methodology, be it the methods, the paradigms, etc.

So, instead of being lured into one of the related disciplines that I've been exposed to, I'm far more interested in learning the research methodologies which are applicable to them. I want to  learn them all and I want to be able to devise such methods.

Thence my question, where should I begin my journey in learning and mastering research methodology? Is there any university offering such programme?


texts: When I watched a YouTube video endorsed by a researcher from  Microsoft Research, Cambridge, he often said the word "guinea pigs." The video title is something like "How to write a great research paper."  I wonder what it does it mean. In other words,  I'm asking about the definition of the guinea pig. I guess that it's a kind of advice from a person who read the manuscript. Thank you in advance for your advice.


texts: Graduate school holding a diversity committee meeting. What do I need to do to be effective?

texts:
I created an affinity group for first generation students at my graduate school. Shortly after, the school's diversity committee emailed the student government informing us that there would be a diversity committee panel on the issue of being first gen. It seems like sort of an informal lunch between students and faculty.

I am thinking there are two possible reasons the school is holding this meeting. 1) they are trying to look good by taking initiative before students start making noise or 2) the school cares deeply about the issue. I'm inclined to believe its reason 1 because the school took zero steps to contact me or any of my first gen acquaintances to see what help or resources we needed, and is only having a "first" discussion about this issue right after I created the group even though this is by no means a new issue.

At any rate, not sure the motives for the meeting matter except insofar as me knowing how much I can get the school to change its approach to this issue. In other words how much do they actually care about what I have to say and how do I hold them accountable to act on any requests I make? I have a bunch of (very actionable and easy) ideas - e.g. distributing surveys that ask students questions such as "are you first gen" and then having the school appropriately match an advisor/mentor - but is this the forum to express those ideas? If so, at what level of detail? What I really care about is just getting the school to do the things I want it to do. How much work is done in that meeting, and how do I follow up "behind the scenes"? How much leverage do I have as a student? Any advice appreciated!


texts: Advisor and co-advisor of PhD with different areas of research

texts:
I did my graduate studies in Mathematics at two completely different universities, A and B, from my country. During my studies from university A, I had a very good professor X in theoretical statistics. In my studies from university B, I had a very good professor Y in stochastic calculus. Professors X and Y do not know each other and have not worked together before. Moreover, although both belong to a statistics department, their areas of research are not exactly the same. University A is good and is near my home. University B is top ranked and far from my home.

In my country, opportunities of job at university for young researchers are little, so doing a PhD at two different universities would certainly enlarge my possiblities for a job in the future. My question is whether it would be acceptable to pursue a PhD at university A with advisor Y and co-advisor X. I mean, is it acceptable to do most of the part of the thesis with professor Y and some research with professor X, although both areas of research are not exactly the same, but both are from a statistics department?


texts: Resumé – how to include grant awarded to my undergraduate project but is part of a bigger grant?

texts:
I am aware of similar questions, but they don’t really apply to my situation. I’m applying to graduate schools and I would like to list a grant I received as an undergraduate on my resumé.

The problem is, my grant (in the form of a stipend) is only part of a big NSF grant awarded to my PI and his project, and I’m working on this project. I have the NSF award number and the project name, but since (apparently) I don’t get all the grant (which is a great amount of money) but only a small part of it, how should I list it on my resume?

What I did was list it as “NSF Grant” with the award number, but how do I make it clear so that people won’t misunderstand?


texts: Useful software resources for reviewing papers

texts:
I have a paper for review and I would like to include comments (on clarifications/suggestions/errors) over specific paragraphs or statements.

What are some ideal software resources that could help reviewers? I would prefer them to be Linux-based.


texts: Why do American colleges and universities have sports teams?

texts:
In the USA, college sports are popular, and colleges may offer scholarship based on athletic skills.  Yet, universities spend significant money on sports, and nobody earns as well as the head of the sports team.

Considering that the universities are losing money on it, and it's not their core task, then why do they spend big money on sports?  Who benefits, and how?  Do all major universities have commercialised sports teams, or are there major exceptions of universities choosing not to take part?


texts: How to tell a professor at a foreign university politely and impressively that I can’t cover the costs of living for my PhD?

texts:
When asking for an opportunity to do a PhD with a professor at a foreign university, he replied:

  As a prerequisite you would need to take care of your own funding to cover the costs of your entire PhD project (4 years, cost of living, housing etc.). If you have such funds I would be happy to discuss with you the possibilities.

However, I don’t have any money to cover the cost of living. How can I answer him politely to impress him?


texts: What is the value of participating in proposal-writing efforts, for a postdoc researcher?

texts:
I am a young researcher already having published several papers, and in the same time I have participated several times in bids for national and European (fp7, h2020) projects. So I could say I have some experience in proposal-writing.

I am now preparing my cv to apply for a lecturer position in UK. The question is: should I highlight this experience in my cv (i.e. provide more details about the bids in which I participated, my role, the outcome etc), or hiring committees are mostly focused on publications? How important is fund attraction at a lecturer level? I am asking because I see that this kind of experience is often mentioned in the desired (not the essential) qualifications of the applicant.

An other point of view over the same issue is this: If I have the chance to avoid being involved in proposal-writing efforts, should I? That is, of course, in order to continue with my research (i.e. focus on papers).

Moreover, how can one's claims be verified? How do you prove that you are telling the truth and not over-selling yourself, regarding your participation and experience? Isn't this part of your cv a part that is less verifiable?


texts: What, if anything, obligates a student to work with an advisor who lobbied for him/her to get funding?

texts:
In my department, PhD admissions and funding are two separate processes, which means many PhD students are admitted even if there is no funding for them. To be admitted, an applicant typically needs to impress a faculty member enough to want him/her to take the applicant on as a student (which means this faculty member becomes the applicant's advisor, if s/he decides to accept the offer of admission). To get funding, an applicant need to impress at least one of the several faculty members who controls a training grant enough to want him/her to offer the applicant a slot on the grant. It is very uncommon (if not impossible) for any PhD student to receive funding outside of a training grant via an RA, TA, or other source, at least in the 1st year.

As such, it is fairly common for a professor who wants a particular student to join the department as his/her advisee to lobby for the student with one of the training grant directors. This is particularly true in cases where the student of interest has communicated that s/he has a funded offer from a rival department and will likely not consider our department without a similar funding offer being extended.

Because of this practice, a difficult situation sometimes arises when funded students want to switch into a research area that is still within the scope of their training grant but not within the scope of their advisors' interests. Because both areas fall within the goals of their grant, these students are not risking their funding by switching (although they may be risking an additional year of PhD studies, depending on how late they switch). However, because their initial advisors usually had a large role in helping them secure funding, they are hesitant to make the switch out of a feeling of obligation to their advisor (e.g., "Dr. Z did a lot of work recruiting me and helping me get a funded offer, so I feel bad leaving him").

In situations where funding is not directly tied to one's advisor (but may be indirectly tied to him/her), what obligations does the student have to his/her advisor? Should the student feel free to switch advisors if s/he discovers that another research area appeals more to him/her? Are there any special considerations or etiquette protocols?


texts: Is software packaging considered as a service duty?

texts:
I create from scratch and/or maintain software packages on behalf of the Debian GNU/(Linux|kFreeBSD) distribution; Debian serving as base for other apt-distributions as Ubuntu. Most of `my' packages are clearly (and purposely) only of interest for researchers, mainly in applied and pure mathematics and related fields; I am a mathematical/theoretical physicist. I also try to address to a large audience by focussing on software that enhance and/or are dependency of large/huge suites.

In particular, by this way, I am trying to promote (Open-Source) Computer Algebra System (CAS) suites, that is to say, suites as GAP, Singular, Sage, etc. CAS are cruelly lacking in Debian, the main reason is that they involve a lot of software from very different origins that are written in various styles and languages. Bringing decent CAS in Open-Source distributions (as the ones based on Debian) represents a clear advantage for the academic world, the current alternative being to buy rather expensive commercial CAS whose part of the the code is hidden or to hire a dedicated installer. I guess that we can say that a CAS is for symbolic computation what TeX is for text composition.

Henceforth, I think that it is fair to say that the involved hacking work goes beyond the Debian community and that it can really have an impact inside the academic world. One can argue that it is a community volunteering, but reviewing, referring, preparing seminars and so forth are also volunteering works. Research depends more and more on open-source software and packaging is a long process which looks very similar to the reviewing process: it involves exchange with upstream maintainers, it corrects local code to share it with a global audience in a transparent way, it allows to install and employ software written by and for the academic community in a straightforward way as the publishing process allows a global community to read a Paper in a very pleasant fashion.

However in most of the adverts for academic staff positions which enumerate a long list of service duties ending with a etc, this hacking work is not present, hence my question.


texts: Should I include papers on a PhD application if I was not the primary author?

texts:
I've come across the following question while filling out an online PhD application.

How many conference or journal articles have you published?

There is a paper published for which I am the tenth author listed. Is it appropriate to include this paper in my total #?


texts: How to present a model which is based on the result not yet discussed?

texts:
I am facing the following problem while writing a paper. I have a model which contains a function whose explicit form I derived empirically from the data presented in the paper itself.

However, I would like to present the model during the introduction and thus before the result. However, to justify the shape of that function, I have no other way than to anticipate the result (saying something like: “Since in the result of the experiment we found X, we empirically assumed X in the model“). I am not completely happy with this, because I would like to present the result directly in the result session, not earlier.

A solution would be to move the explanation of the model after the results. I do not like this either because I want to fit the real data with the model itself, and I don’t think it is wise to start fitting something without explaining it first.

So, what it your advice in this matter? What would you do?

Also, any papers with example of something similar are welcome.


texts: How to deal with advisor not allocating time to me?

texts:
One of my advisor's students asked me how frequently I have meetings with him. And since at that time we had very few meetings I replied:

  "We have a very few meetings and the advisor does not allocate time to me."

The advisor heard it and has started retaliating by reducing those few meetings to zero and complaining about me to other faculty, etc. Do you have suggestions about what I should do now?


texts: I have accepted a PhD offer. When to contact potential supervisors?

texts:
I have accepted an offer for a CS PhD at a US university. Unlike most other schools to which I applied, this university does not require that incoming students immediately start working for a professor of interest (POI). We receive a university scholarship the first year, and can take our time to decide.

My question is: when should I start contacting POIs*? I have someone in mind already and we met on visit day, but maybe my mind will change over the summer. Should I wait to meet her again? Wait until I move to the new city and start taking classes? Read a dozen more of her papers first? If I wait, do I run the risk of her going with another student—assuming she has limited resources and spots available?

*In this case, a "POI" is not necessarily a final advisor, just someone I would like to work with during the first year. I suppose in the ideal case, we get along very well and just keep working together.


texts: What type of content (depth/breadth) is expected for a short presentation for Asst Professor interview in the UK?

texts:
I have been recently offered an interview call for my dream job - Asst. Professor (above lecturer grade, but below Assoc Prof/Reader grade in the UK) in a newly founded research group at a mid-tier UK university.

I have just finished my PhD last month (Mar 2019) from a top-tier (Oxbridge) university in the UK and had applied for this position without really expecting an interview call. At the start of the interview, I am asked to deliver a 10 minute presentation titled "Your 3-year plan to become an independent academic"

My current problem is that this interview is scheduled immediately (within 2 days), and this doesn't give me sufficient time to contact my former PhD supervisor(s) for their valuable advice.

I have zero post-doc experience as an independent researcher. My questions are:

How deeply technical should I go in the presentation slides for such an opportunity? (i.e. are details at the equation-level required and journal citations expected?)
Should I have identified specific research methodologies, potentially leading to the PhD title for the students I shall be supervising?
Is it appropriate to be more modest and aim to only co-supervise (rather than be primary supervisor for) my first PhD student?
Is an individual year-wise breakdown/Gantt chart expected at such faculty interviews?
Should I identify the grants that I shall be applying to (in particular, the specific EPSRC schemes that exist for early career researchers)?
Are there any other aspects that I may have completely missed here?

I am really sorry to be naive in asking a lot of questions here. This faculty position is in the exact same area as my PhD (in energy engineering/alternative fuels) and I'd like to give it my best.


texts: Graduate school admission: what is the point of having a waitlist of size 50 while intending to eventually offer a position to only a few applicants?

texts:
At that time of the year, graduate schools in the United States are notifying applicants that they have been placed on a wait list.

I read this email sent by a top-ranked University's computer science department:

  Our Committee on Admissions has asked me to tell you that we have placed your application (along with about 50 others) on a "Wait List" for any openings which may occur. […] in the past several years we were only able to offer admission to only a few students who were on the "Wait List".

As a reference point, this University's department accept around 100 student every year.

What is the point of having a waitlist of size 50 while intending to eventually offer a position to only a few applicants?


texts: APA reference same author, one dated, one not dated: which order?

texts:
If I have the same author twice in my reference list, and one work is dated and the other is not, which comes first in the list?
E.g.:
Lastname, F., (n.d.). Title [etc.]
Lastname, F., (2019). Different title [etc.]


texts: Are academic jobs easy to get in New Zealand for someone with a good PhD and Post-Doc experience?

texts:
I have a Ph.D student (in a science related field, I don't want to be too specific) who seems to think that getting a professor job in New Zealand (his home country) would be no problem since he "knows people" who "like him" and just has to "ask around". New Zealand is his native country.

I have some very serious doubts about this since I know how hard it is in the US to land a good postdoc, much less a tenure track appointment. Can anyone who knows about New Zealand's universities fill me in? Is it really an "old-boys club" like the student seems to suggest? Are there really a lot of jobs to go around to New Zealander's with a degree from a good university and good postdoc experience. (I do mean good, not top 5 etc.)


texts: How are scientists trained on the *business* side of running a lab?

texts:
I've noticed lots of folks in the sciences seem to have well-developed business skills needed to run a lab, like managing a budget, hiring employees, building a team, setting deadlines and managing work, as well as 'soft skills' in leading and managing people. How scientists get trained on those general business skills?
I expect the answer will be that it varies by field, by university, and by supervisor, and potentially by geographical area. But, I'd love to learn more from folks from different disciplines about the formal or informal training scientists in different fields receive in these skills. I'd also welcome any links or recommended resources for academics looking to build on these skills.


texts: Associate Professor vs Assistant Professor vs Lecturer

texts:
I want to know the difference between associate and assistant professor in terms of contract length, status and salary. And also how both positions are published and what's the recruitment process of each one mainly in Europe and Canada?
What about lecturer positions in the US, could European PhDs land lecturer position in the US ?
Thanks


texts: How do I correctly cite the C++ standard or its drafts?

texts:
For my bachelor thesis, I have to reference a lot to the various C++ standard documents, be it the original standard or some of the working drafts.

How do I cite such documents? Many of the working drafts don't even contain a
title page to extract information from.

Working drafts are available at https://isocpp.org/std/the-standard


texts: How can one carry out a "Russian style" seminar?

texts:
A "Russian style" seminar, as in the Israel Gelfand form, breaks from the traditional format of talk followed by Q&A and just opens the floor to questions at any time. I've seen a few professors who follow this format, so I definitely see its value.

What is the best way to start something like this, and how do you get the most out of the seminar?


texts: How to quote a definition from a paper which cites another paper for the definition

texts:
I have to write the definition for a term in my Paper. I find the best definition for the term in a particular paper, say paper1. I would like to quote the definition as it is in my paper. I believe this is not wrong and is not plagiarism, as I am quoting the definition with proper references. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Now, the author of paper1 in her paper cites a paper for the definition, say paper2. But in  paper2 I cannot find the exact wordings which I would like to quote, or else I could have quoted from paper2.

Now how do I quote this term definition. Do I need to cite both the papers or shall I put the quote with citation of paper2 as it is from paper1, and then cite paper1.

Please advise me what is the proper convention that is followed.


texts: (Author Date) inline citations vs anonymous references with ISO 690

texts:
I am trying to use the the Czech language ISO 690 style in the (Author Year) variant. However, citing anonymous references seems unsatisfactory. I am getting just "(ANON. 2016)". That gives almost zero identification information.

How do people deal with this?

I was thinking of modifying the style and using ("Title" Year) instead, when neither author nor editor nor translator nor interviewer is available.


texts: How appropriate is to make multiple submissions of research findings to same venue/conference?

texts:
Assuming the following scenario:

Person A is a recognized senior researcher, and Person B is an enthusiastic junior researcher. Both of them have been working more or less equally on a research project and are interested in  submit the results of the project to a particular venue. Based on the report written by Person B, Person A has written a paper (PA) to be submitted to the venue. Person B doesn’t like the style and some contents of PA, so he makes comments to Person A, who them modifies PA. Person B still doesn’t like PA, so writes a separate paper PB. Since PA and PB haven’t been published, there are citations between them.

At this point, Person A submits PA, which list authors as "Person A & Person B", and Person B submits PB, which list authors as "Person B & Person A."

Is it appropriate to submit PA and PB?
What would be your impression if you were part of the venue’s committee?
As reviewer, what would be your impression about reviewing two different papers about the same work for the same venue?
Any additional consideration?


texts: How to get SCI impact factor from other than Journal site

texts: I could see the IF of journal I am looking for in their site. My problem is Thomsor Reuters report lists the journal as indexed in both SCI and SSCI, but kournal home page says its indexed in SSCI only. And it lists impact factor too. How can I confirm whether its really indexed in SCI and find its IF? I couldnt get a proper reply after contacting Journal. Can I get it anywhere in Thomson Reuters site?


texts: Listing awarded grants not affiliated with a university research position on a CV

texts:
I've had a look around but couldn't find an answer to my question. I'm in the process of updating my CV and am wondering about how to list grants awarded, specifically grants awarded to a group of people at a not-for-profit institution in which I am/was involved with. This involvement is outside of my current role as a teaching/research academic and is entirely voluntary.

E.G. 1: For one not-for-profit, I completed the research component that enabled the organisation to seek funding to support their project. Would this count towards a grant awarding or no?

E.G. 2: I'm currently involved with a not-for-profit organisation that received government funding for a particular project that I currently manage/was involved in the initial set up in. We've just been informed that the funding will be renewed (which is very exciting). As an organisation (and not a single person) we sought the funding together (it's a very small org, there's about 6 people in total involved). Would I list this as perhaps a group project?

Any tips, feedback or suggestions would be helpful!

(this answer was close but not exactly what I was looking for...Conventions regarding listing grant applications/funded grants on a scientific CV)


texts: Paper rejected. Should I appeal against biased reviews?

texts:
I received a rejection letter from a relatively high-impact journal based on the feedback from three reviewers. After I reviewed their comments, I feared that their comments were biased and am not sure if I should appeal. The comments from all three reviewers are all negative, but one is more bias than the other.

The first reviewer say that I need to carry out a lot more experiments that will involve a lot of cost, which is not practical. However, in the comment, s/he only suggests one additional experiment that need to be done. The second reviewer complains about the quality of the figures, but I think they are fixable. The third reviewer complains about the novelty of the paper but I think s/he did not carefully read and understand the paper.

Is it still possible to write an appeal if all three reviewers were negative about the paper since their reason to support rejection wasn't strong?


texts: What to put in the CV for a masters application

texts:
I am wondering what I am supposed to put in my CV/Resume that is asked for Masters applications.

I was thinking about a general structure of

Education
Work Experience
Publications
(Technical Skills?)
MOOC Certificates
Awards & Scholarships
Engagements
Ancillary Work (Awards not related to CS domain)

Then, in Germany I would not be expected to list technical skills (would be just a boring list of 10 languages and a vast number of frameworks, Libs, etc.). However, I saw that in the U.S. some people even start to list their skills by categories such as Hardware, Software, Databases, Scripting languages.. - Should I mention any technical Skill on the CV, and if yes should it be organized in a classified manner as described?

I did an integrated, corporate degree and after that worked for one year full time. Therefore, I held 7 different positions, from which three were not technical positions. It would show my diversity but on the other hand also occupy some additional space. Should I still mention them?

Besides of my last question, is there any other suggestion for the structure of a US CV? Research led to so many completely different approaches how to structure a CV for educational purpose applications that I am not sure anymore.


texts: Can I apply for a post-doc in theoretical physics without publications?

texts:
I am a theoretical physics PhD student from France. I have no papers after 5 years of my PhD. The problem I am working on has hit many road blocks and even my supervisor has no clue how to proceed. The results I have obtained are valid only for some aspects of my problem. So I could probably publish a paper, but if I do, it will not be a high impact factor journal.

My question is: can I apply for a post-doc without publishing any paper from my PhD?

I would like to apply in North America/Europe etc.


texts: Strategy as to when to apply to PhD programs

texts:
I'm a master's student in CS at a top-20 school (in the US), in my second year (although it feels like my first year since I had to play catch-up last year and mainly took undergraduate courses).

My current strategy for applying to PhD programs is to apply only to top-5 this year, and if I don't get in, apply to a fuller range of programs (top 50 or so) next year.

But because I don't have any publications in spite of having worked on 3 research projects, it doesn't sound like I have much of a chance of getting into top-5 programs this year anyway (and applying actually kind of sounds like a waste of time). So if and when I get rejected from them, I would take the next year to try to get a publication and also retake the GRE (my quantitative score is 164--in the 87th percentile when apparently the top programs expect a percentile in the high 90s).

However, although my GPA is 3.9 now, who knows what it'll be next year. Or if I'll manage to get a paper accepted. So does it make more sense for me to just try to get into whatever PhD program will take me now or to take a year to work on strengthening my application? As this post says, apparently the bar you have to clear to be considered an acceptable candidate rises every year anyway, suggesting that anything I do over the following year won't have much of an impact on my prospects.


texts: Can re-take exams be changed after submission?

texts: I recently took a final which 97% of the class failed. I want to take this issue to the higher ups as there were many issues with the exam, such as including topics not covered in class. My question is how does the process of submitting exams by professors work? If both the main exams and retakes are submitted in one go, it seems like there is little hope to adjust the retake exam to more realistic standards. I am wondering if I can do anything to help me and my classmates in this situation.


texts: Will the prestige of my masters program affect my phd application choices?

texts:
I am in the last few semesters of my bachelors, and I have been preparing myself for  applying to PhD programs in mathematics. However, as I was sitting with my research mentor today, he informally offered me a graduate assistance-ship for the masters program at my current university. He mentioned I would still need to go through application process but that I am a pure shoe-in for the GA position. I am unsure whether to chase after this offer on a more serious tone or apply for PhD programs, and as such I am seeking information. The real rub stands that I am attending a not too prestigious school for math and this worries me that I may be limiting myself. However, for personal reasons I am considering this potential offer greatly. Would the masters from a low/middle-tier prestige/ranking hinder my chances for getting accepted into top-tier PhD programs?

If you need some information about me. GPA 3.7, Major GPA 3.8, I will have some published works, I will have finished 3 Graduate courses before applications (Order Theory, Analysis, Graph Theory), GRE general in the upper crust, No Math Subject yet (Still studying for this). Two very strong recommendations from current and accomplished researchers, and two standard recommendations.

There is a note that I should include my location before posting. I am attending MTSU for an Advanced Mathematics Bachelors.


texts: How to add data availability statement in Physical Review Letters?

texts:
We have submitted our recent findings to PRL. As the second round of revision came through, we are almost confident that we will get published in PRL.

Now we wanted to provide our algorithm as a matlab GUI so that the readers can reproduce our results in a single click. The idea is to motivate readers from other fields to have a quick feel of what we do.

Most journals like nature have a Data availability where they allow to provide links to available data. Is there a way in PRL to do such thing. We would like to add a link to our webpage which has the software created by us.

For example,

  Data availability: Interested readers can reproduce our results by using our algorithm. The software can be found at [URL].

Is such a statement allowed in PRL? If so where does it go, before acknowledgments or after that or in the supplemental?


texts: Getting in touch with a professor who has no longer an e-mail address... how to?

texts:
This question could sound weird. I'm reading through a computer science book which is the only reference I personally have about an algorithm, and I'd like to get in touch with the author of the book, which is quite famous in the field. I don't understand some of the conditions stated in order to make the algorithm work. I have another book which implements the algorithm, but some of the key aspects are not actually explained, and somehow I don't find the correspondence with some of theoretic aspect.

Just to clarify the algorithm is a long division algorithm for which I've tried to work out the theoretic aspect exposed in the book by myself. Some of them are fine other instead aren't clear enough, at least to me. I've tried to ask in math exchange for some help I didn't get much information XD.

The issue is that apparently this professor has no longer an e-mail address, and he suggests that if someone wants to get in touch with him it's for the best if you use the "old fashion" mail post service... which I mean... it's not that handy...

Do you have any suggestions?


texts:
I'm planning to apply for a Master course in the area of computer graphics. My goal is to conduct research in this area in the future.

However, I'm not sure I will be able to apply for the course this year due to my personal circumstances and I may need to wait a year before I do so.

Having said that, I would like to prepare for this by building a skill set that will help me one year from now in the course. However, I'm not sure whether this skill set should be in my ultimate area of interest or general skills like learning scientific writing, for instance.

In summary, I would like to know what are some important skills that can ease my way into research if I study well in advance before I get into the MSc programme.


texts: Use Investment Bank Report as Reference?

texts: I'm writing a thesis on a financial topic and some important arguments for my research can only be found in reports from investment banks, not scholarly sources. I think it's because the topic is very new but right now I'm not sure how 'respected' a bank report reference is. I'm talking UBS, Citibank,... The topic concerns QE causing distortions in the stock market. Is it considered acceptable to use a bank report as a source in a thesis?


texts: Can I take recommendation from someone I met at a conference?

texts: I met a faculty (from a university in the UK) at a conference. She liked and praised my work and we are in touch after conference. She has an impressive profile and her research work is similar to mine. Is it okay to take a recommendation letter from her to seek postdoctoral position overseas? Will it help?


texts: After Major Revision what is the decision?

texts:
I submitted an research paper to Elsevier journal after 4 months i got major revision
i submitting my revised paper,
After one month i receive comments from reviewers. Editor letter stated that "I am pleased to inform .....favourable reviews from reefers....Some modifications to be implemented before the manuscript is published"

I submitted my paper at the end of march but still journal status shows that "under review".

What will be the decision i expect from the journal? pls clarify.


texts: How to contact another PI as a PhD student wishing to discuss their research?

texts:
I'm halfway through my PhD and will be visiting another country for a conference. While I am there I would like to talk with some of the local researchers and hopefully visit their labs and discuss their research. I intend to email some of the researchers in my field in advance and ask if they would be happy to have a chat about their research and possibly visit their lab (briefly on the visit, more like a lab tour than anything else).

What is the best way to ask these PI's (via email) if I could meet with them while I am in town to visit their labs and discuss their research?


texts: Portal for sharing a research manuscript with supervisors/advisors

texts: I was wondering if there was a website or portal for confidentially sharing research manuscript with supervisors/collaborators whilst its being drafted. I tend to just e-mail the manuscript to my supervisors after an update which practically means multiple e-mails. I'm aware that drop box is nice for sharing files, etc and I'm also aware of mendeley. Is anybody else aware of a better way of doing this? It'll be nice to have a portal where I could just update my manuscript and supervisors/advisors could just log in and see the updated version and maybe add their comments, etc.


texts: What to do with a new mathematics conjecture?

texts:
I have been working on a problem (not in mathematics) for a while and at the core there is a simply stated mathematical problem which I really cannot solve.  I have tried asking colleagues but they can't either. As far as I can tell it is not equivalent to some known problem either.

I am not myself a professional mathematician so I see no prospect of my being able to solve it.  However I would love to know if it is true or not. Is there some forum to place non-trivial simply stated mathematical conjectures?  Or should I just put the whole paper on the arXiv and forget it?


texts:
I am a 4th year Ph.D. Student. After submitting my first paper 6 months ago, I have been continuing that research. I have a lot of new methods and results, and I am almost ready to start writing again.

How do I know if I should split my research into two papers or write a single comprehensive paper? If I choose to split, how do I decide where best to split the two papers?

Without going into too much detail, I have a method that explains the causes of a fairly well studied phenomenon. I can show that there are four distinct causes of this phenomenon and explain the relative importance of each cause in different situations. If I split my research into papers 1 and 2, the conclusions of paper 1 may seem vague and inconclusive. If I combine my research into a single paper, it may be quite long and rambling. I want to choose a path that minimizes both of these problems.

My mental model for the situation is a tipi. Some of the concepts in that I need to write about have to lean on one another for support, like the tent poles of a tipi. If there are not enough concepts (or tent poles) the rest of the concepts fall short of a real conclusion; The tipi will fall over the first time there is a strong wind. There are clusters of mutually supporting concepts that I can split off into separate papers, but I have a few unique ways to divide these concepts into clusters. I suspect that any of these individual clusters will be less stable and robust that all of the concepts built into a single paper, but maybe I am just being a paranoid perfectionist.

How can I frame my dilemma to help me make this decision? What question should I ask myself to find the right balance?


texts: Is excluding a co-author from a proposal considered academic misconduct or just an ethical issue?

texts:
I worked on a proposal together with a coworker. The idea for the proposals came from industry and we all discussed this. There were 2 project and we all have inputs.  My project was accepted and his was not.  We all contributed ideas back and forth with the 2 projects.

I did put his name on the first draft proposal but left his name off the final version and put myself as sole PI.  I did ask him for further corrections but his reply was that there was none.  I simply forgot and left his name off without asking his permission.  It was an oversight.

Now he saw this proposal and wants to report me for misconduct.

Is he right that he can report me for academic misconduct?  Is this an ethical issue and not academic misconduct?


texts: Am I obliged to tell students that there are different versions of the exam?

texts:
This past term, I was teaching in a collaborative classroom where students sit together at round tables. This works well for in-class activities and peer learning, but is the not exactly the best configuration on the day of a midterm or final.

Concerned that some students might have wandering eyes – either inadvertently, or perhaps even intentionally – I came up with something that might help. Several of the exam questions required some basic arithmetic, so I made three different copies of the exam, where the numbers in the word problems varied a little bit. (Each version's problem was solved the same way, but the end result would be different.)

Later, I was talking with my daughter about what I had done. She asked me if I told the students that not everyone was getting the exact same test. (I had not.) She told me about some classes she had taken where the instructor had done this same thing, but announced it ahead of time (saying something like, "There's no sense trying to copy an answer from a neighbor, because the problems vary.") She also said that one instructor had gone so far as to print the exams on different colored sheets of paper. (My daughter assumed that all the orange tests were the same, all the blue tests were the same, etc., but that was just conjecture.)

If this makes any difference, there was already one cheating incident (or a class project) earlier in the term.

Also, I realize that it's often the "Show your work" part of an exam question that is the most important part, but that's not the case for this particular course. It's an introductory programming course, and I give small snippets of code, asking, "What does the output of this program look like?" So, for some of these questions, it would be very easy to copy an answer from another student's exam.

This made me wonder:

Am I under any obligation to share with my students the fact that there are multiple versions of the exam? Or is it okay to remain silent about the issue?
Is there any good reason for doing it one way or the other?


texts: Harvard referencing: order of sources with same authors and same years in the bibliography

texts:
I have two citations of groups of authors (same lead author) from the same year. Thus, in-text I am using (Smith et al. 2001a) and (Smith et al. 2001b).

For the bibliography should I list these references in the order that there were cited (2001a followed by 2001b) even if this bucks the alphabetic ordering of the overall bibliography? For example

  Smith, A., Zelda, C., Yates, A., Foley, C. 2001a. ...
  Smith, A., Banes, C., Yates, A., Foley, C. 2001b. ...

Or should I do the reverse?

  Smith, A., Banes, C., Yates, A., Foley, C. 2001b. ...
  Smith, A., Zelda, C., Yates, A., Foley, C. 2001a. ...

I'm thinking it should be the second option.


texts: Bonus Quizzes to entice students to read their syllabus?

texts:
Please inform me if this needs to be moved to the meta questions forum, I wasn't sure whether this would qualify or not

As I'm sure many lecturers/professors would attest, one of the frustrations of teaching can be the continuous asking of questions that had a student read their syllabus and/or navigated the online learning site, would have most likely been answered.

I spend a lot of time on my syllabus, and even more time on the learning site we use. I have an abundance of extra resources to help students out and everything is neatly organised. Regardless, I still receive countless emails and questions not about the content of the course, but when my office hours are or where my office is, or when is the assignment due, or do they have to attend class, and so on.

In speaking with a number of academics, some of the solutions have been creating assessments based solely on the syllabus, such as a 5% quiz in the first week of class. A colleague of mine who was concerned about students not knowing how to navigate the library created an assessment where students had to go to the library and answer a set of questions.

My faculty is quite strict about assessment tasks though, and I've been informed I can only have a max of 2-3 in my unit, so I'd rather not waste them on a syllabus test.

I was thinking about setting up some online bonus mark quizzes where students who wanted to earn a little extra credit could complete them. They wouldn't be worth much, maybe .5% per quiz, perhaps totaling to a bonus of 2.5% or something similar. They'd be on the syllabus, the learning website, perhaps a research bonus quiz (navigating online databases) and so on.

Other than consulting with faculty policy about the use of bonus marks:

Lecturers/Professors, have you used bonus quizzes/bonus marks? What might be some things I need to consider? Do you think this would at all be effective?
Students, would the opportunity to complete some bonus quizzes for a little extra credit entice you enough to actually read the syllabus and take some time exploring the learning site?

EDIT: My course is a social science course and considered 'subjective' in its content as its qualitative and not quantitative, so no student can earn 100% on their assessments alone. I think the highest marks we can give out are around 94-95, so an additional 2.5% would still keep students under the 100% mark.


texts: How to reply to an email from a student who wants a reply instantly?

texts:
I have a student who wants me to reply to his emails as soon as he sends them! For example:

I already provided you with .... form in our first meeting. Can you fill the necessary boxes and sign .... to confirm my project? ... It has already been a day, and you have not replied.

My reply:

Thank you for sharing this information. Please find attached the document.
However, it is important to note that even if you already provided me with the documents. You should give me at least 3 to 4 working days to reply to your email. It is important that you understand that there are other issues an academic has to deal with, and patience would be really appreciated.

Is there anything wrong with this response? If so, could you please help me understand how to reply to such emails?


texts: How should I handle questions about family/spouse on the job market?

texts:
According to the (US-centric) "The Professor Is In." Facebook live podcast it is illegal/problematic to ask a candidate in a job interview about family - specifically, it is a problem to ask about how a spouse would react to your appointment or what a spouse would do for work if you are hired. Nevertheless, I have often been asked these types of questions!

How should I respond to these questions as an early stage career academic? Are, they, in fact, illegal?

I am interested mainly in the US context, but I would also like to know if my reaction should differ if I were interviewing in other countries. Is there an answer that is safe in all contexts?

The webinar I watched indicates that candidates should know these questions are illegal but should not complain if they want to have the best shot possible of getting the job.


texts: What will replace math exams in 2020/21 given covid-19?

texts:
A lot of universities are expecting not to be able to run in-person exams for at least part of the 2020/21 academic year.  I believe, for example, that no UK universities is currently planning to hold in-person exams this coming January.  I can see how other forms of assessment might be possible for some subjects. But I can't see how this can work for math.

  For those universities which will not run math exams in-person for this
  coming year, what are the plans for how to replace them?


texts: When do journal invitations for computer science conferences typically come out?

texts: In some computer science conferences, a few top papers are invited to be published in a special issue in a journal. I have a paper to be presented at a conference soon and am thinking of submitting it to a journal after that. Roughly how long should I wait to make sure that I don't miss the opportunity in case my paper gets invited to a journal?


texts: Is it rude to ask your professor to NOT put you as co-author of a paper?

texts:
I am working as a research engineer for my professor. He told me to write a conference paper from the master’s thesis of one of his graduate students, since I am working in the same field. After reading the thesis and analyzing the student's results, I found that most of the work is of low quality and does not justify a publication. I told my professor that there are several inconsistencies in the results and several misleading claims, but he told me to continue writing the paper to the best I can given that “I have experience with paper writing and that I can present the work in a light that could get the paper through peer review”.

Now that I am almost done with the draft, I don’t want to be an author of this paper given the facts. How can I talk to my professor asking him to not put me as an author without sounding rude?


texts: Switching field of study from computer science to GIS in the post graduate level

texts:
I have a B.Sc. in CS, but I want to further in the GIS (geographical information system) line. I am thinking I'd have to do some sort of post-graduate diploma in GIS, before I can go for a M.Sc., which is necessary to hit my mark, seemingly...

I need your guidance about this case.

Thank you very much


texts:
I am currently working as a volunteer for a Company doing research in some theoretic computer science area on a topic with subarea A (No actual lab experimentation is involved, at most, we will be doing some simulation).

At the same time, I am also working as a volunteer for a university with a Professor doing research in the same topic but probably with a subarea B. (subarea A is probably has some connection with subarea B).

The research works will probably lead to publishable results. There is no colloboration between the university and the company. Am I in the danger zone? (What I did for the company research will not be shared to the University, and vice versa). Is there any thing that I should be awared of?


texts: Recruiting participants online without money in social sciences?

texts:
Simple question. What do you do when you need i.e. 160 participants for your online study?

I've explored this topic throughout here and on other sites (so far most practical tips had this one i.e. http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/How_to_recruit_subjects_online%3F) but I personally think that it is really underestimated topic and one that is very difficult part of conducting research in social sciences (in my case, Psychology). Often I see very vague and general tips (not practical) or tips that are ending up with crowdsourcing platforms where you have to pay money and depending on your sample size you may have tough time (such as mTurk or Prolific). None of this is helpful if you are a MSc, BC student and funding your research in order to pay participants is simply unavailable in most cases (i.e. grant policies in my country do not allow this). So you will start searching how to achieve your estimated sample.


texts: Do I have a MSc degree if I did the work but did not pay tuition?

texts:
I have a BSc degree from a private university in Egypt. The university offered me a scholarship at the beginning of the program but that scholarship applied only partially to a subsequent MSc degree.

There's an overlap in the degree requirements for the BSc and the MSc, which means that the 5th year of the BSc is also the first year of the MSc. By doing research for 6 more months, the MSc degree is complete. The scholarship applied to everything but those 6 months, yet the tuition for that was very expensive.

Since I was a top ranked student, my dean said that if I did research at an associate research institute abroad he will ask the university's top management to

officially enroll me in the program,
delay payment of the tuition,
and consider offering me a scholarship for the remaining tuition

with one caveat: He will not know their decision until the very end of the program.

I took that risk, and successfully defended and submitted my thesis at the end of the program. While the university agreed to #1 and #2, my dean's attempts at #3 were fruitless. I have proof that I was enrolled as an MSc student and the university printed my degree's certificate but they will not hand it to me unless I pay the full tuition, which I can not.

My question is: Do I have a MSc degree or not? How should I address this on my CV/Resume?


texts: Letters of Recommendation for economics grad school for non-economics majors?

texts: I understand there are many people who major in math or physics and get into elite economics graduate schools. I'm sure that I will be able to find math professor who will with letters of recommendation that say I can successfully do research in math, but it would be hard for me to come up with such letter from economics professors. What do non-econonomics majors generally do for letters of recommendation?


texts: How do I express my disapproval of a marking boycott without damaging relationship with academics?

texts:
So as people have probably seen by now, the UK is stuck in a marking boycott, which has started to directly affect myself as a final year student.

I have not personally been affected too much yet, but have had one module's continuous assessment removed with no suggestion of replacement. There are no current plans regarding the future of the boycott by either the teachers or the administration, and it is unclear what the ultimate result and outcome will be at this time, which is very concerning for me.

I want to express my disapproval regarding the implementation of the strike as it puts students in a difficult and non-productive situation. For example, students have been told "Examination of dissertations and theses at postgraduate level, as well as vivas, are included in the action." I don't want to damage the relationships I have with my lecturers as I plan on staying in academia, but seeing these actions is making me question my desire to stay in academia.

So what is the most effective way to complain about this?


texts: Do international politics, language, and local culture affect recognition of research degrees?

texts:
Take a look at this subject-wise QS Ranking (CS/IT).

We see that Shanghai Jiao Tong University is sitting on the 46th place, Lomonosov Moscow in on the 49th place when Delft University is between 51 and 100 (probably 51st).

My hunch is that someone graduated from Delft University will be enjoying much more competitiveness in the job market (academia and industry) than someone graduated from Shanghai or Moscow.

I can think of two reasons:

Political factor: China and Russia have spats with the USA. Since, the rule based order is dominated by the West, there is a space for a recruiter in the West to be tempted to devalue the graduate from China or Russia.
Language & Culture: China and Russia are obscurer countries because of languages. Most people in Western countries know English better. Most of us don't know how are the learning environments like in China and Russia. Also, there is an undeniable preconception circulating in the air that Western countries are much more closer to each other in terms of understanding and hence their culture of education is much closer.

If I am not mistaken, if all factors are equal (like reputation of the supervisor, etc),

probably a degree from Warsaw would be much more competitive  in the West than that of India or Saudi Arabia even though Warsaw sits on a much lower position in the ranking chart.

Is my perception correct?

Do international politics, language, and local culture affect recognition of research degrees like the way I described?


texts: Citations when mixing of factual evidence and interpretation in one sentence

texts:
I have a bit of a technical question about constructing narrative while writing as a historian (I guess it also applies to other humanities).

This never really occurred to me as an issue during undergrad and graduate school while writing my thesis, but I have noticed now as I revise my thesis that at times I write sentences that contain both the factual events contained in the primary source I cite in the footnote at the end of the sentence and my interpretation of the source I cite.

For example, if I describe the relation between Event A and Event B, I might first describe the general context. Then follows Sentence A that describes Event A and cites Source A describing Event A. Then follows Sentence B that says:

  In reaction (to Event A), Event B happened⁴.

Where Footnote 4 describes Event B.

My question about this example is about the two words “in reaction”. The source I cite at the end of Sentence B does only describe Event B. I derive the connection between the two events and that Event B is a reaction to Event A from the general context. Thus “in reaction” is my interpretation of the causality between the two events.

Now if one is really squeamish I guess one could say that by not separating “in reaction” from Sentence B I mix interpretation and factual evidence and some readers could be misled that the source I cite at the end of Sentence B also includes that Event B happened in reaction to Event A.

The same kind of situation seems to happen at times in my writing when I have a sentence that is built like this:

  [Interpretation], [relative clause with factual evidence] [Footnote with evidence for events/facts in relative clause].

My question is whether this style of writing is acceptable at all? It certainly does not occur often in my writing, but it does at times. No one who has read my writing really has ever said anything about this. Although it is hard to check the writing of other historians with regards to this question, as I do not have the sources to check in most cases, I have noticed that other historians do this kind of mixing at times as well (some even seem to simply cite sources at the end of paragraphs that clearly contain both factual statements and interpretation). I also wonder what having to interrupt sentences to clearly separate interpretation and facts all the time would do to the flow of the narrative.

Still this is a concern now, and I would like to know how to approach this dilemma. Is there a convention or best practice? Is mixing interpretation and evidence acceptable, is it sloppy writing or is it completely unacceptable?

Crosspost on Reddit


texts: How does chance play a role in getting tenure-track and tenured positions?

texts: I have heard from several places that to get a tenure-track assistant professor position and to get tenure, not only do you have to be a very solid researcher, but you have to be lucky. But I don't know what they mean. Could someone explain?


texts: I ran many tests for my thesis, should I report tables and graphs for all of them?

texts:
I'm writing my PhD thesis. I used a number of statistical tests to test my hypothesis. Only one test was able to answer my question while the rest (3 tests) couldn't.

If I report the results of the tests which failed to answer my research question, it becomes a large number of tables and graphs. My query is whether I should report all the tables and graphs of those statistical tests which could not answer my research question or should I report only the ones which could answer my research question.


texts: Is there an open crowd-based peer-review tool?

texts:
I would like to know, if anybody is familiar with any open crowd-based peer-review tools?

If I as a student, for example, use www.academia.edu, is it then possible to get my papers peer-reviewed? I understand that this normally happens if I write a conference paper or a phd. But would like to know, if there is any open tool, where I can add papers and get reviews in a not-formal way?