texts: A quote that one has to be rich to engage in science?

texts:
I remember reading an article (in popular magazine I think) that attributed to de Tocqueville a quote along the lines of:

  To engage in science, one has to own a farm.

meaning that a person has to be financially secure in order to undertake (independent) successful scientific endeavours in a free time – and science itself doesn’t really pay very well. Unfortunately, I can’t find original article nor google the quote with conjunction to de Tocqueville.

Can anyone help in identifying the original phrasing and source of the quote? It’s also completely possible that my memory does not serve me well and it might have been coined by some other person (or maybe you know similar quotes?).

Also please note that I am looking only for a quote and do not want to discuss the financial aspects of academia.


texts:
(Motivated by https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/55082/hey-i-was-wondering-of-your-students-write-like-this)

The writing style probably [stems] from the electronic age of text
messaging. In any case, an email between an a student and professor is
a professional communication (not a social text message).
[Example:] "hey. i was wondering if your students write like this when they send you emails or ask for your help in an email and weather or not your willing to respond when such little effort is put forth when writing."

What can professors do to encourage properly written email messages from students?
(Other than being a positive role model.)


texts: Admission into masters degree without partial or full transcript

texts: I'm in a last year of my bachelor degree of science in wildlife management that will be completed in July this year, 2016 at Sokoine university of Agriculture (SUA) in Tanzania. I would like to continue with masters degree especially outside the country but I would like to know if it is possible to apply abroad and scholarships without having either full or partial transcripts because for the time being they will not be already released and if it will it is only partial transcript that can be available on around May this year.


texts: From Chemical Engineering undergrad to chemistry graduate school

texts:
Right now I'm studying Chemical Engineering My CGPA is 3.4 and I'm a junior.
I'm thinking about joining a chemistry graduate program after a graduate.

So my question is if I applied will they look at my chemical engineering core GPA or only science subjects GPA?

and as an international student if my CGPA was around 3.5 where can i apply in USA, CANADA , UK ?

THANKS


texts: Editorial Board Listings without subject descriptions

texts:
I have come across several journals that list only names and affiliations of those on the editorial board.  As the system then insists that I select one of those names as the editor to handle my paper, I send much time searching for these names on the internet.
Why do some journals not list the interests of the editorial board members?
This is a major annoyance when trying to publish ones first paper in a new field.  Perhaps the only reason is laziness.  But perhaps someone has experience setting up a journal and knows a reason why a deliberate choice might be made.


texts: Should I mention the awards I won to a potential masters supervisor?

texts:
In the last year of my bachelor degree I was required to write a research paper. That research paper won the first award from about 1000 research papers submitted by students in my university.
Also, that paper got published in a top research journal in my field.
Also, in terms of my bachelor degree grades, my grades were the highest in my college when I graduated.

Should I mention these three facts when contacting a potential master’s (by research) supervisor?


texts: How to email Graduate Director that I will not attend (F1 student)

texts:
I have made some wrong decisions during my PhD studies in a US university (let's call it University X). One year ago, I got another admit(let consider this University Y)  when I got admit to University X. I didn't have fund to join university Y, thats why I got accepted the offer from university X.

Now university Y offered me admission plus funds  and I accepted it, even the admission procedure has been completed. I have not transferred my sevis  no yet.

After a lot of thinking I have decided that I will not transfer to another university, rather I will complete my PhD here.

How can I email to the graduate director of University Y that I want to cancel my admission there and I do not want to join their program?


texts: Does bachelor's degree have to be related to a PhD subject?

texts:
I did a bachelor's degree in a creative industries subject (Audio Technology) because at the time, I didn't know what to do with my future so I decided to do a "hobby" (regretful, to an extent but many skills gained are transferable).

However, I am now starting my Master's degree in Computing (a conversion course that covers programming, web development, data/systems engineering, business technology and the like).

I am also gaining experience in this area also with my own projects and I already have a sub-field that I'd like to pursue for a PhD which relates more to business technology and technological consumerism - but, am open to other sub-fields also.

I have my mind strongly set to pursue a PhD after my Master's in the same field (or after a few years of industry experience), but I get a little concerned that my rather "weaker" bachelors degree subject (especially since it was split from a foundation degree to a full degree, yet I did receive a high 2:1), will hinder my PhD applications.

Any advice on how I can work around this or what I need to consider to better my applications? Or maybe I have a better chance of doing my PhD at the same university as my Master's?


texts: Responsibilities of PI to PhD student post PhD submission, but pre-viva

texts:
I have recently submitted my PhD. However, my project requires about 5 months more work to be publishable. The standard time between submission and the viva defence in my lab is about 5-6 months. I had hoped to do this work, defend and finish the paper over the next 5 months. I am not being paid as officially my PhD is over, but I want to see the project out to the end, both because I have worked on it for 4 years and I need a paper for career progression.

However, my PI and I have never worked well together, and now a post-doc who was originally asked to help out with my project seems to be preparing to take over. I have a meeting soon to clarify everything, and I'm determined to fight for this project and paper but am unsure if I may be asking/expecting too much. I'd really appreciate some help.

Does my PI have any obligations to help me in the period post-PhD submission but pre-viva? My contract is officially over, so can they refuse to let me enter the lab to do wrapping-up experiments, even one that would really help me pass my viva?
Can my PI take the project off me and give it to someone else if I don't finish it within the dates of my PhD? This would effectively end my academic career. (Everyone else graduating from our lab was given short-term postdoc extensions to finish up, so no-one in my lab has ever finished a paper in the time of their PhDs)


texts: How common is it in papers to contain copied paragraphs from previous papers?

texts:
How common is for good and high quality research papers to contain 1 or 2 paragraphs of copy paste from previous papers of the same researcher?

Is this common or it's a red flag of low quality research?

Edit: 2 papers from the same researcher tackle different problems. To solve each of these problems some sub methods are used. On paper A sub methods 1, 2 and 3 are used. On paper B sub methods 3, 4 and 5 are used.

Sub method 3 is copy pasted (exact same explanation) on both papers A and B. The newer paper (B) makes no reference to paper A. The papers have nothing in common, aside from using this sub method.


texts: Decision in process has passed a one month. Should I send a mail asking status of manuscript to editorial staff?

texts: I have submitted a manuscript in (nature) Scientific report journal. it was under review for a month. After that it is showing decision started since last 30 days? what can be the reasons for such a long time in making decision? Should I ask for a status of manuscript?


texts: Can I write a paper on a method that is novel but yields similar results compared to existing methods?

texts:
I have developed a method that gives similar results (in few cases: better) compared to existing methods and I want to publish it. Can I do this and if yes, how do I motivate it? More specifically:

I am a undergraduate researcher, investigating methods to detect X in images. We have a solution using two images and another method proposed in the literature before also used two images.

Recently we discovered that we can solve the same problem in a very different manner if we use three images (taken differently) and still get similar results. This technique will be based on a particular observation and it is not discussed in the literature. Does it make a good paper given that the problem can be solved using two images with similar results?

How should I write and explain it in my paper about why I am using three images instead of two, because the results obtained are similar? The way in which the three images are taken is different from taking two images and our observation in the three-image-case seems to be novel.

Edit (from comment): In some cases our previously proposed method which uses 2 images gives inaccurate results compared to 3 image solution.


texts: Is it reasonable to ask update on recommendations letter twice?

texts:
It is important to know that I have requested about 7/8 letters per professors ( 3 total ). I have told them that I was conscious that it was a lot of letters to write so I was content with a general letter for most of the schools I wanted to get in and maybe one letter that was a bit more personalized for the school they felt I would have the highest chances of admission.

The nearest deadline is 10 days away. I have asked about this in late January and I haven't gotten anything yet.

I asked for an update in early March and the profs were either working on it or were being bottlenecked by the administration. But since then I got nothing.

The deadlines are approaching quickly and I hope you understand how stressed I feel about this. Would it be too petty to ask for a second update?

I need at least 3 letters, and I have only asked to 4 professors, one of which didn't answer so I think he doesn't want to write me one (for a reason I ignore). I may have made a mistake and should've asked more professors, that's on me. The point is I don't want to upset because if at least one of them decides that I am too annoying I can already cross half of the schools I wanted off the list.


texts: Is it a must to write a paper in passive third person, for all types of papers in all journals?

texts:
As I read in some papers, most verbs in a paper are written in the passive third person. For example: "This method was experimented; satisfying results were achieved..."

My question is, is this a must and all types of papers in all journals should be this way? For example, if I write "I experimented with the method", is this wrong and editors could reject the paper? If the answer is yes, what is the reason that the author has to write the paper that way?


texts: Credit transfer from Masters to PhD in a different University

texts:
I am in the process of applying to several computer science PhD programs in North America, and I was wondering if any of the courses that I have already finished in my Master's (in a US university) could be applicable for credit transfer?

If I apply to the PhD program in my current university I will have less courses to finish for my PhD program, because I have already finished several of the required courses. Will I be exempted from taking some courses if I get accepted in a different university of similar or lower ranking?


texts: How to explain missing grade on transcript

texts:
I am an undergraduate mathematics student in the United States. I'm applying to many REUs in a certain topic. My only coursework in this topic is a graduate-level course I took last year. However, for some reason, none of the students in the class have received a grade. The professor who taught it has a history of turning in grades long past the deadline, and it's very difficult to get her to submit even after consistent reminders (this is the first time it's run this close to the deadlines).

Suffice it to say that the missing grade is not due to a poor performance or incomplete coursework (as far as I know), but just because the professor hasn't graded the final exam yet. Chances are the grade will not be posted before REU applications are due.

So, what is the best way to explain the blank spot on the transcript in my REU applications without sounding accusatory or sketchy? I feel like blank grades have a hint of "plagiarism/cheating investigation pending" or "incomplete coursework" that could tank my application if I do not explain it correctly and in a place that is easily noticed by application readers.


texts: Should I use double quotes throughout the paper even after defining the terms in the introductory section?

texts:
Say I have introduced/defined some not-so-common terms like "clock register", "ancilla", etc. in the first section of a research paper, and while doing so I kept them within double quotes. However, I was wondering whether even during the subsequent occurrences of those terms I should use double quotes or not.

What's the convention regarding this in the physics and computer science communities?


texts: Counting PhD years for Tvöd salary in Germany

texts: I know about the calculation for the "Entgeltgruppe" and the following "stufe". My question is: if someone had a contract for, let's say, 3 years then this person needs 2 more years (non paid) to finish the PhD, this 2 extra years can be counted as working experience for the "stufe" calculation?


texts: How to choose a proper research topic potential and/or having no strong competition

texts:
Background

Nowadays, academic research has been becoming an arms race and there are millions of paper published every year. Besides, a potential research topic/area means the research group is eager to know and answer it. Therefore, researchers are facing strong competition in most potential research topics and areas (e.g. deep learning today).

Question

How do researchers choose the proper research topics and areas to avoid strong competition, especially when their research interest is becoming popular?

Choosing an another research topic, but less interested in that.
Keeping the strong competition.
Quitting academic career.
Others.

Thank you for your suggestion.


texts: Masters in Math degrees without requiring bachelor's in math

texts:
I did a Bachelor's in Economics, having taken several modules in statistics and econometrics and 1 in math. Now I'm very keen to do a masters in math or applied math, with the possibility to further studies in research, but am not sure which universities would admit me into their program given that most of their websites state they require a Bachelor's in math.
I am currently contacting various program administrators in different universities in the US, Europe and Singapore, but would very much appreciate help that anyone can give to help me in my search.
Does anybody know of any programs that are willing to admit students without math bachelor's, with the possibility of taking some bridging courses during/prior to the Master's program?


texts: What kind of citation can be used in a paper?

texts:
There seems no recognized or fixed rule for citation sources, as far as I know,  the citation taken from publications or other open sources that can prove they are not something groundless is acceptable because at least the citation to be used as support for your argument in the paper has been used or established by other authors and the quality is guaranteed by the publishing houses or agencies like that.
Now with more and more information and materials in social media outlets and self-media available, the authenticity of the information cannot be ensured(but sometimes you have to admit there are so many anonymous genius online who are much superior to the counterparts in real life),and will it be OK to select such to be citation?


texts: What are the ways to transfer from my current PhD program to another one?

texts:
I am currently a 2nd year PhD student at a university in Canada. My PhD program is about environment chemistry. For a long time I wanted to learn computer science, especially machine learning, and I have 1 year work experience in an IT company.

I do not have a diploma in CS, though I have learned some course about programming and have experience in some programming languages.

Now I realize that I do not like my current research about chemistry, and my research has little progress recently. I also keep thinking about changing my PhD program or transfer to another program. I am particularly interested in machine learning, and relevant researches.

What ways can lead me to that track ?
Thank you.


texts: How to deal with a professor skipping his office hours?

texts:
As a preface, this is a related question but it is from a different perspective.

I am an undergraduate student in physics and have a professor that routinely ignores his own office hours. He has three scheduled office hours/homework help sessions each week (two hours on one day and a third the next).

The professor has (and has had all semester) a known staff conflict during the second hour of the first help session and as such has missed at least one hour every week. He has not and will not reschedule this hour.

He also is routinely late to the first hour on the first day as well. As such, he is only at his office hours for twenty or so minutes for the first session. The second day he holds office hours he also often comes late but is much more consistent in attending. Unfortunately for me, I have a class conflict at that time and can rarely attend.

As a student, I learn best while working on homework problems and in one-on-one (or small group) interactions with the professor. Because of his unavailability, I feel like I am not learning anywhere near as well as I could. This is extremely frustrating to me as a student and overall I would like to know what, if anything, can I do as an undergraduate student to encourage my professor to attend his office hours?


texts: What happens when I can no longer find authors of a paper that I am submitting?

texts: What is the standard practice if I can no longer find students that contributed to a paper that we would like to publish now? The students contributed data, but obviously had nothing to do with writing the paper. Still, I feel that they deserve authorship. I can no longer find a current email address for them. Should I put them only in the acknowledgements section?


texts: When editor does not respond to the request for withdrawal

texts:
I submitted a manuscript to a journal, but due to some issue with that I asked the Editor-in-Chief and Associate Editor to withdraw the manuscript from further consideration.
Despite several emails, they are not still responding me nor ended the process.

Now, what should I do? Can I submit the manuscript to another journal?


texts: Penalties for postdoc passing off students' work as his own?

texts:
What penalties might be imposed for a postdoc taking the work of multiple graduate students (even from other institutions) and passing it off as his own without even providing an acknowledgment of their effort?

I understand that in cases where this is suspected, an email is sent out to the journal editor presenting evidence (e.g., lab notebooks, prior conference presentations, etc.).

But graduate students don't have much say-power. Even if they provide ample evidence, this is still possibly not enough because of the academic ladder and the seniority of the postdoc/PI involved. I just don't see an editor stepping in for a graduate student(s). It sounds ridiculous.

At the end of the day, what are the possible penalties/sanctions for such a practice (besides for the proverbially useless and mild "slap on the wrist")?


texts: What should I include in my first email to a potential PhD advisor?

texts:
I am applying for Ph.D program, and I need to find an advisor to accept me in his group. I want to send to him a perfect email and get his attention to me.
I would like some opinion on this matter.

Do I include my CV and recondition letter in the first email?
Do I mention my GPA?
Do I straight-up ask them if they are accepting students? Or, do I first attempt to establish a relationship?

The field is renewable energy.


texts: To pursue research career in physics; How much physics courses should I pass in my undergraduate engineering degree?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student of electronics and telecommunication engineering in a govt. college in India. But I am extremely interested in physics and mathematics. I want to pursue a research career in physics and mathematics. I generally receive suggestions like taking the GRE test. But I have the following questions:

What is the minimum amount of physics I am supposed to have mastered at the end of my engineering?
How much of physics or physics related subjects should I have in my UG course?
How much is an adequate grade (What puzzles me most is that if I am intending to do physics why should my grades in engineering should be considered?)


texts: Any disadvantages of having a PhD supervisor who is working only part-time at the institution?

texts:
I have recently been offered to pursue a PhD in my field of interest.

Before starting the application, my future supervisor told me that he will soon be working only part time for my current institution (in the UK) while he will also be working in another institution in his home country (in France). He then added that if I see any problems with that and I would prefer finding another full-time supervisor, he would understand it. He also added that I would be the only PhD student he will be supervising during that time.

Actually, I can't really see any problems with the fact that my supervisor is working part-time at the institution but I obviously lack the relevant knowledge and experience on the PhD process.

So my question: Are there any disadvantages of having a PhD supervisor who is working only part-time at the research institution?


texts: Are there 'additional' grants/fellowships available for Mathematics PhD students (who already have their funded positions) in Europe? In other words, does any program analogous to the ERC Starting Grants exist for PhD students?


texts: Authorship on a manuscript that has gone through significant changes

texts:
I have an MS in a scientific field and have published several papers in the peer-reviewed literature in that field. Three and half years ago, while still working in that field, I began a side-project (unfunded, to be worked on in my spare time) and asked for assistance on that project from a faculty member at a nearby state university and a graduate student. They saw and commented on early drafts of that manuscript and indeed, the faculty member had the initial idea for the unfunded side project, though neither the faculty member nor the graduate student (now post-doc at a different university) did any data collection nor analysis.

This manuscript has sat untouched since June of 2014. Neither the faculty member nor graduate student has asked for an update in the 3.5 years since.

I am no longer employed in the scientific field in which I received my MS, however I have continued to publish (albeit sporadically) in the peer-reviewed literature as an "independent researcher," mostly with extant data from previous projects. I recently picked up the above-described manuscript and began working on it again, changing significant portions of the methods, results, and text. Because of the changes I have made to the manuscript, I am considering dropping the faculty member and graduate student from authorship of the manuscript and including them in the acknowledgements.

Do I owe authorship to the faculty member and graduate student that were initially coauthors but have not contributed anything to the recent development of this manuscript? The manuscript isn't groundbreaking in the least (even in my field) but does advance the available knowledge.


texts: mentioning my country situation in motivation letter to demonstrate dedication for learning

texts:
I'm located in Syria and I'm writing a motivation letter to be used in applications for master of computer science scholarships.
Would it be useful  to mention how I managed to succeed with my studies despite all the awful things that happened in my country and my city ?


texts: How to reduce the distance between academics and students?

texts:
While this may appear a quite open-ended question I think it is quite pertinent for a large number of subjects.

Considering undergraduate classes, particularly for students who are coming straight out of school, there is typically an expectation among students that they should not contribute to a class unless specifically asked to do so, that they are there merely to receive information, that academics are "the enemy" who can fail them, and that unless they are trying to curry favour with an academic, or attempting to gain marks that will specifically affect their GPA, that there is no reason to do any work.

This, of course, is entirely counter-productive in university. While it's clearly not within our power to change the Western schooling system that generates students that are like this, I am interested in what we can do to specifically reduce the "otherness" of academics to students within subjects that we teach: to make them realise that an academic is not an opponent that must be surmounted or avoided.

So when I say "how to reduce the distance between academics and students" I mean the psychological distance. Through this, I hope, that the actual reason for being in university might become more apparent to students, and that it might be conducive to their performing better.

This question is complicated by the fact that certain academics like and encourage this distance to reduce workloads for themselves. Disengaging from students, making it a challenge to be contacted, and maintaining an image of authority are aspects that I have seen deliberately pursued by (generally weaker) academics.


texts: Is a good PhD student or researcher expected to spend some part of their day/week regularly reading new research papers/pre-prints?

texts:
Or alternatively do good PhD students and researchers spend some part of their day, regularly, reading new research papers and pre-prints?
Please give some reasoning of why and why not, if possible.
Background for those who are interested:
I am a physics student. I am new to publishing research papers and research in general. Just around a week back my summer intern work was submitted to a journal and a pre-print was made public in arXiv (I am the corresponding author). This was my first experience with publishing a paper, so I didn't know what to expect (except for corrections, major/minor revision notification from the journal ;[ )
However, within 12 hours of being public in arXiv, I received a mail from a PhD student and the next day I received a mail from another PhD student. One of the mails was about how his research paper (published a month back) disproved a popular notion which we had mentioned in our discussion and the second one about his research paper and possibility of matching both our results.
Both of these PhD students were from two very very prestigious universities, so I was quite surprised. While I expected people asking for clarification or pointing out mistakes I did not expect such a practice.
Is it common for all PhD students to do this? Or do good researchers do this on their own? (Which might explain why these two are in top schools). But the topic of this research is very hot with lots of new papers being published every week. So I can't imagine how one would achieve it. Also, until now, I always thought that we will have a specific problem for our PhD, so I am not sure in what way this'll be useful. (I know one has to do literature study before starting.)
Since I would be applying for graduate schools next year I though this might be something I should practice, if it helps me as a researcher.


texts: Would scoring well on a non-required GRE Mathematics Subject Test make me more competitive?

texts: I would like to get into a top university for graduate school, specifically in computer science.  Would taking the non-required mathematics subject based GRE test make my application more competitive?  Since it's not required, would the people doing admissions even consider it as a data point?


texts: Is it reasonable to apply for (postdoc) positions early?

texts:
When preparing an application for a position, it goes without saying that everyone wants to make the strongest possible case for themselves. Hence, it seems that the best strategy would be to wait until the last possible moment - just in case in the meantime an acceptance letter comes from that journal where you submitted the paper half a year ago or your latest project reaches a stage when it can be posted on arXiv.

However, I am wondering if this is reasonable. Presumably, whoever is assessing the applications has internet access and can easily check if there are any updates (say, by visiting the personal webpage or googling the applicant's name). Since application procedures tend to be somewhat lengthy, I would also imagine that hiring committees are well aware that the applicants accomplishments can increase in the meantime.

[The position I have in mind is maths postdoc, but I welcome a broader perspective.]


texts: What does "Contribution to Knowledge" mean?

texts:
We've been having this discussion about what actually formulates 'contribution to knowledge' when doing a masters or a PhD in a particular field.

For an example from my field (Computer Science), say an MS student finds a particularly good algorithm that has not been used to solve a problem in disaster management. He then goes ahead and builds a solution that uses this algorithm to find position of a cell phone in a disaster situation.

However, while the student has solved a problem of high interest to many people, he has not contributed to the field of Computer Science, per se. Or has he? Some say that since he didn't contribute to Computer Science as a field, he should not get a Masters degree in CS.


texts: Arxiv substantial text overlap after breaking up paper

texts:
I recently broke up an overly long paper A into two smaller, self-contained papers B and C, which I intend to submit separately. On arxiv, B was uploaded as a revised version of A, whereas C was created as a new submission.

C has been flagged has having substantial text overlap with A/B. My question is: could this refer to the older version A or does it necessarily refer to the current version B? In other words, does arxiv take into account older versions of articles when scanning for similarities?


texts: Is it acceptable to ask a professor to write a reccomendation letter now to save for later?

texts:
Through the last three years of my undergrad, I have worked closely with a professor in my university and we published several papers together. Once I graduate this spring, I plan on working for two years before going back and applying for graduate school.

I am wondering if it would be “weird” if I ask my professor to write me a reccommendation letter now and save it for two years when I apply. He has previously told me he’d love to write me a very strong reccomendation letter for grad school. However, he is a bit old and he tends to forget some details in a few months so I am worried that in two years he would forget many details he would have otherwise included in the letter.


texts: What are the 'right questions' to ask professors at a visit day for prospective graduate students?

texts:
I'm in mathematics, though I don't know if the answers to this will be field-dependent. There have been previous good questions that answer what to ask graduate students here and only somewhat relatedly here (about what to ask students of potential advisors). However, I don't know what good questions are to ask professors themselves. The big question is, of course, "will I be happy at this school?", but it's not clear to me what the 'right questions' are to help me get a feel for this.

Essentially, what should I know about the program/school that are suitable questions to ask a professor during a meeting at these visit days?


texts: How to gracefully walk away from coauthored paper

texts:
I am working on a coauthored paper which I would like to step away from. How can I do so very tactfully and gracefully?

I want to step away because I don't quite agree with the direction the paper is taking in terms of analysis; the publication prospects are not terrific; and, frankly, I am not sure if I fully believe the results (our setting is not very "clean," meaning that there are several alternative explanations). I don't necessarily want to say all of these things to them.

Another detail is that the coauthors are two people at my current institution. I am going to be transitioning to another institution (in another state) in the next few months. Note this is not one of my main reasons to walk away, but being away will make it somewhat harder to collaborate. It will also be nice to get this off my plate so I can focus more on other projects.


texts: The professor for one of my classes has no direction

texts:
I'm in my final semester of a Computer Science degree at University and we have general education requirements.

I'm in a Public Speaking course with an interesting professor, lets call him professor Johnson. Johnson doesn't seem to be actually teaching any material or guiding us on any topics that are related to the book or curriculum we're assigned. He was obviously given all of the online course material, including our online quizzes and study guides. Most of the quiz grades are handed to students, whether we completed them or not. Some are not even available.

He was a one year contract with the university, and was hired a mere two weeks prior to the semester beginning. He doesn't know how to use the learning management system and seems to have no interest in learning it. I inquired about an online quiz, and he had no idea what I was talking about or how to get to it. Considering I'm the only senior, I offered to stay after and show him around the site, suggesting that he attach due dates to quizzes so the students will actually do them on time with the reading and he can decide not to accept late assignments if he so chooses. He nodded and hasn't made any changes since.

We spend our days in class talking about no particular topics, nothing about the book, and no PowerPoints in sight. He rants about our news habits, how much water we like to drink, and we spend 25 minutes each period doing breathing exercises. The only related material is a monthly speech that we must give, with basically no guidance.

My question is whether I should speak to the department chair about his behavior. We're halfway through the course and the LMS hasn't seen a single bit of attention, he doesn't respond to emails of any topic, and asks the class what we want to discuss for the day. It's obviously very freestyle and he's not following any course material. I'm finding it harder and harder to attend class, and increasingly frustrating that I have spent money on this course. He seems very financially worried about his contract being renewed, as he has literally brought this up in class.

Should I leave an honest course review and leave it at that, let his own fate decide whether his contract is renewed, or speak with the department chair about my concerns?


texts: As a freshman BME interested in graduate school and academia, where do I begin?

texts:
I'm a current freshman biomedical engineering major going into my second semester, and am interested in graduate school and possibly a career in research (however, not a set decision, and could change).
One thing that bothers me is that I don't really have a specific question or focus that I would like to work on. I have contacted a variety of professors, a couple of whom responded positively to me starting out in their labs, in various BME-related fields. I am entirely not sure that their fields are ones that I would like to specialize in later on; I decided on who to contact out of broad interest alone. In the case that I later decide to focus on a somewhat different field (say in sophomore or junior year), does it matter that my first research experiences were in a separate one?
Also, would non-research based industry summer internships help my grad school application in any way? What about informal research project/competition teams on campus (eg. iGEM)?
I'm somewhat lost right now on what exactly to do.


texts: How to define methodology for two different approaches?

texts: I am working on my Master Thesis and I am exploring two different approaches to the same problem. I am having trouble deciding on how to structure the Methodology section to divide these two approaches, since they share some components.


texts: Reviewing papers at a journal where your own work is currently submitted

texts:
As an editor, how appropriate do you think it is to send a referee request to an author who currently has a paper under review at the same journal (with you as the editor with final say on whether that paper is accepted)? Because of the power imbalance, it seems as though the author might feel compelled to agree to review the paper even if they didn't otherwise want to. Or maybe they will feel an instinct  to say the paper is terrible if they believe fewer other papers being accepted might increase their own chances.

Context: I am an editor myself and I never do this on principle. But as an author it has happened to me on a number of occasions, and I'm not sure how justified I am in finding it so annoying.

For further context (in case it matters) this is in pure mathematics.

Bonus question: Is asking for a "quick opinion" (rather than a full review) in this context more or less appropriate than asking for a full referee report?


texts: Is it recommended not to have a figure on the first page of an IEEE journal article?

texts:
I have been browsing through a few IEEE journal articles and couldn't find an example where there was a figure on the first page of the article. So I tried to find the rule that explicitly forbids the authors from including a figure on the first page, but I couldn't find such a rule either. Here's one of the links where I looked: Preparation of Papers for IEEE Transactions and Journals

I am specifically seeking a clarification of such a rule (if it exists) for the IEEE journal article and not for conference publications (or even letters or tech notes).


texts: What is the meaning of "To appear" for submitted papers

texts: In some C.V. I see the statement "To appear in X Journal" in front of some papers. What is the exact meaning of that? Does it mean that the paper has been submitted to X journal?


texts: Are there universities with policies that default intellectual property decisions to faculty?

texts:
For context, at a US-based institute there is a typical business-like policy stating intellectual property developed by faculty is owned by the institute. Likewise, faculty are required to submit disclosures of their work before public release as to not interfere with the ability to patent such novel ideas.  This can clearly create some backlog and difficulty in publishing work, but is also a concern for academics that do not want to commercialize their ideas but instead allow them to be free for the 'public good'.
Are there examples where universities have created specific policies that allow faculty to make the decision on, for example, making an algorithm and code open source without disclosure?
Another way to consider the question if this is more common than I can find; what are the most open policies for faculty decision making in the ability to put ideas in the public domain without first disclosing to the university?


texts: How do visa issues factor into industry vs postdoc decision in United States?

texts:
I am planning to graduate this fall with a PhD in Mechanical Engineering (Robotics) from UT Austin and is in the process of making a decision to choose between industry and academia as a career choice. I have some questions regarding the same:

I have a job offer from Mathworks and potential post-doc positions from two professors at UT Austin and one at Rice University. It is difficult for me to decide between an industry position and a post-doc in academia. I like publishing papers and have 5 published and 3 under review journal publications, 14 conference papers and 2 pending patents.

If I decide to join Mathworks and later found that academia is a better fit for me. How easy or difficult it is to move out of an industry position back into academia (professor or post-doc position) after a few years considering that the company would file an H1B or green card for me?

What are the long term implications of joining industry as far as staying in US is concerned? I understand that applying for green card is a lengthy process and it is relatively easier through the academic route. Is the industry route too risky and the academic route much safer considering that I am an Indian citizen?

Any advice would be highly valuable for me to make an informed decision.


texts: Preprint services other than arXiv (for other fields)

texts:
While arXiv is great, it covers only topics in physics, mathematics and computer science.

Are there any good preprint storage places for other scientific disciplines?


texts: What do I do if I really only figured out what I want to research just after applying

texts:
I recently finished a round of PhD applications.

I always knew I wanted to do research, but when I applied I didn't know what sub-field of Computer Science I wanted to do my research in.  I was already out of school a year when I decided that I may never figure it out just by sitting around, so I just bit the bullet and applied to a PhD program with what I knew.

Naturally, a month or two after I applied, I realized that what I really wanted to go into was robotics, which I have very little experience in at the moment and which I didn't mention in my personal statement.

I'm pretty good at teaching myself things.  Give me another few months and I'll probably be able to learn quite a bit about the subject, and I'd bet anything I could put together some decent projects that could make me impressive enough to get into a good robotics research track, but I've already applied to a bunch of schools and it's at the point where if I'm getting in, I'm not getting in for anything robotics related.

So, here are the options I see in front of me:

Turn down the offers I get, try again next year when I can be more focused and well-researched on which programs/professors I want.  This feels like giving up, and I'm always nervous about putting things off, especially for a year.
One of the schools I got into happens to have a good program for robotics, but I doubt my application was on any of those professor's radar.  I could contact professors from that school and ask if they'd want to work with me, but I don't know what I'd say with so little robotics knowledge.  Another school I applied to but haven't heard back from has an even better program for it, so if I am emailing professors, there's still time to email professors from that school as well.
Go to a school I got into, and just hope I'll be able to switch programs.

I know I ultimately have to decide for myself what to do, but any advice is greatly appreciated.


texts: What is the value of a Coursera certificate?

texts:
I took up an introductory course to forensic science in Coursera, because it was actually the only forensics course I could find that was accessible, however I do wonder if it is worth anything in my CV, as a student it is obviously better than nothing, but is this something good enough to show?
How does it compare to courses completed directly through MIT open courses, or those from another famous university? And if these are assets to a CV, if I go ahead to complete enough for a degree, how does it fare in comparison to the proper degree from the corresponding institution?


texts:
I'm teaching a course on computer-science paper writing, and I aim to turn my notes into a book for publication.  It's designed specifically for Chinese postgraduate students who are writing their first paper.

In my course (and thus in the book), I use examples from real publications by Chinese authors.  Moreover, I use LaTeX's \includegraphics{...} so my quote is visually identical to what's in the paper.  I then critique the writing: explaining what I feel is poor, and how I would improve it.

My feeling is that doing this for a paragraph or two with attribution is unproblematic, but:

I'm using a large number of snippets, totaling maybe hundreds from different papers.
I'm aiming to include a section along the lines of "how to proofread and optimize writing", where I take a single (short) paper, and painstakingly revise a large portion of it.  I'm tempted to go through the entire paper, because it contains many examples of writing issues I see repeatedly, and because it's not possible to write one part of a paper in isolation from the other parts.

So...

Question: How can I write a book about paper writing which contains real examples without violating copyright?

I'm not sure what I need to know about this---it'd be my first book.

Update: Thanks for the responses!  Virtually all the papers come from the ACM, and each paper lists the copyright; maybe 90% have an ACM copyright.  The ACM's policies page says:

  Course Material - Permission granted without fee if the course material is produced without charge to the student. (See Commercially produced Course Packs below)

So I'm confident I haven't done anything wrong so far; there's no concerns about me handing out ACM-copyrighted papers.  And our university has institutional access, so the students have access anyway.

Also, at this point, I'm only just starting to put a book together, and I need to do this for the course whether or not a book eventualizes.  I can simply keep copyright in mind as the book develops.  Asking permission from the ACM seems to be a matter of sending an email; I don't know what they will say.  (The authors might not be happy about me criticizing their writing.)


texts: My paper has been rejected again, what should I change?

texts: I am trying to publish my paper for almost two years, after two major revisions it has been rejected by an editor of an international journal. My field of study is geophysics. They complain about the English, and that does not make any sense because my paper was read by my American friend. Last time one of the reviewers complained that he does not understand algorithms that I have used (artificial intelligence). I gave detailed explanations of these algorithms instead of citations. Every time the editor changes the reviewers so I got new minor comments. How can I solve this problem? Should I try another journal, or what?


texts: What is the meaning of the official transcript?

texts:
I am going to apply for graduate admission in the US universities. Most of the universities require official transcript  which  must be sent from my institute with official envelope and seal.

I went to my university to send the offical transcript to the US universities. The controller of the examiner asked me that which one I want. New transcript or copy of my transcript verified by the controller with envelope seal.

More precisely, they asked me to give them photocopy of my original transcript. After I give them the copy, they will sign and pul offcial seal to send to the university I wanted to send.

My question is that,,

  will the US universities consider the  copy of the main transcripts(verified by the exam controller with enveloped and seal) as official?

or

  US universities  are expecting original transcripts (with seal and
  enveloped) like I have a copy with me?


texts: Difference between a letter/short article and a full length article?

texts:
After 3 weeks from submission, I recieved the below email from the editor in chief of an applied math journal, asking whether I would consider changing my manuscript from full length article to a letter/short article, giving primary reason that the article length is short, so it would suit a short article/letter, and mentioning that the journal publishes short articles of high quality along with full length articles in all regular issues. I was asked to give my decison. I had a look at the letters/short articles of that journal from previous issues and found that they are no different, except in length. So I am not understanding the difference.

I am not able to interpret, whether I have been strongly adviced by editor, and that I better go with it. The editor already had that article with him for 3 weeks, so he might have had a look at it and might be giving strong advice. I also don't fully understand the difference between both modes of publishing.  Do these two have different academic values?

Email:

Dear Mr. XXXX,

I am writing to ask if you would consider to change your submission, XXXX, to a Letter from a Full Length Article. The reason for my request is based on the short length of you manuscript. XXXX Journal publishes short papers of high quality. Please let me know of your decision. The official review process will not proceed until we hear from you. Thank you.

Kind regards,

XXXX

Editor-in-Chief


texts: What to do if my professor won't give me a grade for a test?

texts:
So I took this online class and the professor didn't grade our exams till the end of the semester and I was surprised to learn that I got a 0 on the first one. Now I remember taking this test and while I may not have gotten a perfect score, I don't think I did bad enough to deserve that grade. So I talked to him about it and he said he has a couple of blank scantrons and can't figure out which is which so he gave a couple of us a 0 instead. The thing is, the testing center at my college won't let you turn in a test unless everything has been filled out and I'm 100% sure that I didn't knowingly take the test without putting my name on it.

What do you think I should do? He also mentioned in the middle of the semester about losing his laptop or something like that, do you think he's lying about the blank scantrons to cover up the fact that he may have lost them and won't take responsibility for it? I was talking to him through email yesterday and now he won't respond. It really hurt my grade and he won't do anything about it. I NEED HELP!


texts: Should I be asked to serve as a peer reviewer for other universities' Pre-Proposal Support efforts?

texts:
I received a request from the sponsored projects office person at a well known university, asking me to peer review a grant proposal that was in preparation at their university.  The idea was for me to help their researchers to write a more successful grant proposal.  I felt that it was something of an abuse for them to even ask me, and they were damaging their university's reputation by making such requests of people.  They wrote back to correct what they termed my inaccurate and/or disagreeable assumptions and conclusions.  They said in effect that I am a bad academic citizen for not being willing to help them with this.

My questions:  Is this a reasonable thing for universities to ask?  Or is it unreasonable or even damaging to their reputation to be soliciting this kind of help?

[Edited for length.  If you want to see the original email exchange, look at the edit history.]


texts:
Where can I find reliable statistics/info on the outlook of tenure math teaching jobs at the community college level? Teaching is my biggest reward, I love math, and I refuse to enter industry (but I also don't think I will do a postdoc).

I'm seriously considering entering this profession after the PhD (I'm currently a 3rd year math Phd student), but I am not sure what to expect. I.e., I am not sure how much pressure there will be for me to be forced to accept adjunct roles with no hope of tenure or security of employment. I was told that my old community college, which has 10,000 students, hasn't hired a tenure track math professor since 2009, and I am not sure how common this trend is. I am willing to move.


texts: Is it usually allowed to use grant money for voluntary contributions?

texts: Recently I watched a series of video talks that greatly helped me understand a topic I am researching. I wanted to help the author create more such videos by making a Patreon donation. This made me wonder whether such donation can be done using money from a research grant? I looked at guidelines of some local grants. They usually allow to pay for professional courses related to the research, but do not say anything about donating to free such courses. Do other funding bodies have an explicit policy about this?


texts: How to show a student the work done in the lab is the lab's (or is it?)

texts:
Difficult to title this, but in essence, I am working on the premise that ethically, the work done in the lab belongs to the PI and the lab as a group.  So if there is another question that deals with this I have not found it.

In the case where a lab takes undergraduate interns or UROP positions, such that the undergraduate is not a student of the PI, how to inform them (as it is their first research experience) that the work they contribute to is not their own research to go and publish.

In a situation such that the student is put on a project and is guided to developing some code or doing some analysis (without their own substantial intellectual contribution, just development and applying standard methods), the student then leaves the internship or position.  How to make it clear to the student without some threatening way, maybe by showing some international/online standards that explain, they can not take the work they did and publish it on their own?

Likewise, how should the PI reasonably decide authorship, and explain that students authorship or lack of, due to insignificant contributions of the final work.

For example, on a given project, I may have 4 or 5 undergraduates over time interning and doing some develop, exploration, etc.  I want to be encouraging, and so I try to over emphasize the 'great job' they are doing.  At the same time, I do not want them to misinterpret this as them being given authorship.  In some case, I had an undergraduate that after awhile of working together, decided to drop everything and quit.  The student now seems to have an attitude that the work they had been doing is theirs to go and publish on their own (in some low quality journal, as it is just part of a larger project that they do not have all material for).


texts: I just started my Masters in computer science, and I started working on a research project with one of my professors last term as a part of a class project for his class. In relation to that project, he has asked me to help him review a paper that is being reviewed to determine whether it will be accepted or rejected for a conference. I have agreed to review the paper. However, I have never written this type of paper review before. What are the steps you go through in reviewing a paper to determine if it should be accepted or rejected?


texts: Degree equivalence between Argentina and Europe

texts:
I graduated as an Electronic Engineer at University of Buenos Aires (UBA), Argentina. I want to apply to scholarships to undertake a Master's course in Europe, and I'm often asked the level of my degree. Here is where things get confusing.
At UBA we have somewhat unorthodox course durations and syllabuses. While in most Argentinian universities an undergraduate course  has a duration of 3 to 5 years, at UBA courses last 6 years (when passing every single subject at once and not lagging behind). Additionally, at Engineering School we have some subjects that would correspond to MSc level abroad (in the last 2 years we can choose specific subjects about advanced topics we want to specialize in, while general engineering topics are covered during the first 4 years). We also have to carry out either a research project or a professional one before graduating, and then write a thesis about it.
What would be the European equivalence for this degree? I've seen a few, but I'm really not sure which one I should choose when applying for a scholarship abroad. The ones that I think would be good choices are:

BSc
BEng
MSc
MEng
MEngSc

As far as I understand after doing some research about this, I think the one that looks the most similar to my degree would be BEng. I also think that putting MSc could be detrimental to my application (even if the degree has a Master's degree level), because I want to pursue a Master's abroad and not a PhD.
Which one would you suggest is the right one to choose?


texts: Any tips when applying from Master's to PhD programs at different institutions?

texts:
I'm most likely going to be defending my master's thesis by December of this year, so I can graduate. Depending on the results, my work could be submitted for publication or not. My program is relatively new and small. I'm going to be applying soon to PhD programs at different schools or contacting different professors with labs before December. If I get accepted, I'll be starting in Fall 2017. My undergrad and grad GPA are good and I might need to retake the GRE in order to increase my math score. Can I get some tips or advice on how to become a better PhD applicant? Or, is there anything else I might be missing before applying?
Thanks.


texts: Is it ethical for a student to edit the Wikipedia page of his advisor?

texts: I have seen quite a few students editing the Wikipedia page of their advisors. I wonder what the view of the academic community are on this. There might be some conflict of interest since promoting one's advisor can be seen as indirectly promoting oneself, but at the same time it can be argued that a student (especially graduate student) may have a decent amount of knowledge about his advisor.


texts: Why and how commonly are scientists concerned about open peer review?

texts:
Some years ago I published an article in a Copernicus Open Access Journal. They have a peer review process called Interactive Public Peer Review, i.e. the pre-print and the reviews are open access. Additionally, everyone can submit a comment on the pre-print.

I liked this openness, although I didn't get any extra comments other than those of the reviewers.

Some days ago another scientist told me that several scientists have concerns about this openess. They don't like the idea that their work can be commented by everyone.

I would like to know why there are concerns and how many scientists have concerns about this sort of peer review process.

Are there any studies or surveys answering this question? Are there any reports about the effects of this sort of peer review process?


texts: I was wondering if there is a tool that allows to search for journals where a given researcher is one of the editors.


texts: Organizing time in a flipped classroom course

texts:
Suppose, to fix ideas, that I have a course that runs for 11-12 weeks with two 2-hour classes per week. There is no further time allocated in the timetable for recitations or TAs; both lectures and exercise sessions are expected to take part in these hours with the same instructor.

Suppose I wish to run this course in a flipped classroom style next year: the students watch lecture videos, then there is extensive in-class discussion of these videos in which the students are expected to interact very actively.

How many hours of videos should I prepare to cover the same amount of content?
How much in-class discussion time should I allocate?
How is it best to use my 4-hour-per-week allocation? Should I include time for the students to watch videos inside these hours, or should I tell them to watch the videos beforehand in their free time? What if they complain that they do not have time to watch the videos?
Should I ask the university to allocate more (or less) time for my course in the timetable, if it is run in flipped-classroom style?


texts: Going to Industry and Keeping Publishing

texts:
I'm currently a postdoc in theoretical computer science. My position will last for about 9 months. I have a good track of publications and enjoy a lot working at academia, in particular I enjoy to solve problems and write papers in my field. But I think that it would take something like 2 to 3 years to get competitive for a lector/tenure track job.

The thing is that I'm married with children, and my wife has a permanent job. So she will not be able to travel with me if I need to do another postdoc elsewhere. Therefore, I'm considering applying for industry jobs. I do believe that some types of jobs in within the industry would also be very enjoyable. But my goal would be to keep publishing and then eventually get back to academia when my CV is competitive enough.

My only problem is: Once I go to the industry, how to keep publishing? I mean I am pretty independent and good at writing papers alone or in collaborating via internet. And I'm also used to write papers in my spare time, during the night and on weekends. So I'm not worried about the time to keep doing research. But I'm afraid that without an academic affiliation, the probability that my papers would be considered for publication in conferences and journals would decrease.

Suppose I work in some enterprise in the automotive industry, or telecommunications industry, or even as a consultant.

Question 1) What affiliation should I put in my papers when submitting to conferences and journals? Should I put the name of the enterprise, even if the research is not being done there?

Question 2) Would an affiliation outside academia decrease the chances that my papers are accepted in theoretical computer science journals and conferences? Of course I know that some affiliations such as google, microsoft, etc do not harm, but I'm considering some jobs in much less well known companies.

Question 3) Is it possible to go back to academia after some years in industry if I keep my publication record high?


texts: Should I resubmit my paper to get the attention of a slow reviewer?

texts:
I have submitted a paper to Proc. Am. Math. Soc.  My advisor said to submit to this journal.  It's been over 3.5 months with no response.  I have made several  edits to my paper, but none that essentially change the structure of a proof.  The original email contained the following message:

  Submission of unrequested revisions is discouraged. If SUBSTANTIAL
  modifications are absolutely necessary after initial submission, the
  above link can be used to resubmit your article. Please limit the use
  of this link to one resubmission.

Based on these words I would not resubmit, but I am wondering, since it is taking so long, should I just send in the current version to perhaps get the attention of the reviewer?


texts: Note taking software: referencing text to searchable keywords

texts: I'm looking for software for macs geared towards organizing and referencing the text in notes. I'm currently studying pathology and would like to be able to "tag" a topic/heading within my notes (not the entire note itself) with a keyword that is searchable. For example, if I have Rheumatoid Arthritis, I'd like to be able to highlight it, and tag it with  multiple keywords or hashtags such as "hypersensitivity reaction type IV" or "#hypersensitivityrxntypeIV" and be able to search those keywords and have any of those topics I've tagged show up in the results. Anyone have any suggestions?


texts: Do reviews happen more in Holiday season?

texts: When I recently inquired about the status of my paper which is currently in the "under review" status, the editorial assistant informed me that they are still awaiting referee reports, and the Editor is expecting that the review process will be completed at the end of the January. Its been a year I have submitted, and I am a bit startled that the editor has given a specific time of completion, rather than just say that it's still pending. Could there be any specific reason? Do reviews happen more in the holiday season generally? Assuming the reviewers have ample leisure time to study the paper? Does this indicate anything about the incoming decision?


texts: Managing relationships with uninvolved supervisors

texts:
I'm currently a visiting research student at a university in another country for a year as I finish my PhD project. My host supervisor/contact here has been very attentive in terms of writing administrative letters so that I can be affiliated with the university and have permission to access the library, use a shared office space, etc., and has even included me in her monthly catch-up meetings with her official advisees. However, besides briefly meeting with her individually every 2 or 3 months or so to provide a recap of what I'm doing, she's largely uninvolved in my research which is at best tangentially related to her field. My research funding also comes from an outside source.

The problem starts here: I recently told her that I published an article alone. This solo article was based on work that I had discussed once in a meeting and which is a major part of my dissertation. She's now become distant and has stated that she will provisionally renew my university affiliation only after I write a report which shows that I can provide more products/deliverables this semester.

(In addition to doing my independent field work for my diss, which requires a lot of traveling, during the time that I've been here I have presented two papers at two separate conferences, with the latter paper undergoing preparation for a peer-reviewed journal. I have listed her as a second author on all of these - she read them and provided some brief comments.)

I have operated on the understanding that it is often expected of the student to publish at least one paper without her advisor. (And this person is not really my advisor.) This is supposed to help differentiate between the advisor's work and what the PhD student has done on her own. Furthermore, this is the general philosophy of my home university.

I ultimately believe there might be a misunderstanding taking place - PhD students here tend to publish with their advisors, and she might be holding me to the same standards, even when I fall into a different category. But I'm admittedly a bit annoyed for her insinuating that I'm unproductive, when I'm not. We also continue to do these side projects where I do 99% of the work, which seem to make our relationship worthwhile and at little cost from her end.


texts: How does the college course 101 numbering system work?

texts:
I'm not an American, but I know that the number 101, often used postpositively, is used to mean fundamentals/rudiments of a particular scholarly subject. I know (partially as a hunch but I also looked it up) this is because introductory courses in American, or maybe North American college are given the number 101.

But now I want to know a bit more about this numbering system, because I was watching a video called: Chemistry 107. Inorganic Chemistry, and I wondered exactly how far along or advanced this is? Is it guaranteed that there are 5 other courses between 101 and 107 that are intermediate between these?

The only information I got from Wikipedia was that:

  This common numbering system was designed to make transfer between
  colleges easier.

So if anyone has gone through an education of this numbering system, could you explain roughly how this is arranged? Is Chemistry 107 really far ahead, and does it mean that there are 5 previous courses before it?

And here is the video in case it helps in answering my question.


texts: Should I make my research students' pay contingent on completion of tasks (such as reading/summarizing papers)?

texts:
I received a fund that I can use explicitly for paying graduate (master's and doctoral) students for research. These students already receive a stipend from the university, but most advisors who can afford it pay them a supplement. My colleagues just pay a fixed amount per month. However, I am inexperienced in advising students, and I fear I might end up wasting the money on students who do not do their job.
So I thought of making the payment contingent on some research-related task. I do not want to make it contingent on actual research results, since the "flow" of results (particularly in my field - theoretical computer science) is not constant, and the students need a reliable source of income. Instead, I thought of paying the students for reading and summarizing papers and books related to their research topic (up to the maximum amount I can pay per month). There are several reasons:

Reading is an important part of research.
Most fresh graduate students do not read enough - they prefer to program. They need an incentive to start reading.
Reading is a relatively "stable" activity: by putting a sufficient amount of effort, the student can guarantee a fixed income for themselves.
Summarizing research papers will help the students once they start writing their own papers.
The summaries can also be useful for me during teaching, as supplementary material for the students.

Is it reasonable to pay research students based on reading & summarizing papers, or for other activities?
Clarifications:

The basic income (before the supplement) may or may not be enough to live on. For students who come straight for undergrad, many are young and still live with their parents. During undergraduate studies they had to pay tuition, so the very fact that they now study for free (even before receiving any money) is a substantial upgrade for them. Other students are older and have children; for them, the basic income paid by the university may be insufficient.


texts: Resubmission - Dealing with rude reviewer

texts:
I submitted an article in September 2016; after that, I got an invitation to submit at a conference. In January 2017, I got my first round of reviews. The first reviewer had "no comments" as his sole input and the second reviewer was very positive, so my submission is rated as "Minor corrections needed." Meanwhile, I graduated (March 2017).

In July 2017, I got my second round of reviews. The first reviewer “woke up” and shot down my article by vetoing it. Of the 12 points he mentioned:

•   5 were previously addressed in the first round of reviews.

•   4 asked for origin of data clearly labeled (i.e. references were already provided and clearly labeled)

•   2 were ad-hominem attacks.

•   1 highlights a lack of understanding of elementary principles.

(The second reviewer was positive and said that the modifications following the first round were acceptable.) It feels really, really unfair to be dismissed like this, on no scientific grounds, and I was not even given the chance to defend myself!

How is this even possible? How:

•   Can an article go from "Minor corrections needed" to "resubmission required" without any checks?

•   Can the first reviewer say nothing on the first round of reviews, only to come out with guns blazing?

•   Can the editor let the borderline remarks pass?

•   Can the editor not have a critical thought on this second round of review?

I’ve reached out several times to the editor and to the senior editor, and any of them won’t even answer my mails. I’m not in a position to resubmit the article myself in the immediate future as:

•   I’ve started a (non-academic) full-time job.

•   I don’t have access anymore to the computer framework to run additional simulations or refine existing ones.

My former advisor says that another student will rework it, but I will not be primary author anymore. As it will mostly remain the same (my work), I also see that as unfair. I have an amicable relationship with my former laboratory, but I will oppose the decision of removing me from primary authorship if the modifications are only cosmetic.


texts: How long should a brief CV for a call for papers be?

texts:
I have seen in some call for papers for conferences request a brief CV together with an abstract.

Most call for papers I've seen in the Humanities (my field is history) usually look for a 250-300 word abstract.

Slightly a side note, but when a PhD student or Early Career researcher submitting that may not have much to put in a CV, is there a different format for a "brief CV" or not?

I am wondering what is expected in the "brief CV" requested and how long it is expected to be?


texts: Academic prizes and awards vs academic achievements

texts:
What do PhD scholarship application forms mean by "Details of academic prizes and awards" and "Details of academic achievements"?

Are not academic prizes and academic achievements same things?


texts: NSF postdoc as graduate student: Should I list highest degree as Ph.D. or Masters in application form

texts:
I am currently a graduate student (hopefully) in my final year. I am applying to the NSF postdoc program in mathematics. As part of this application, I need to fill out an application form and a biographical sketches form.
On my Biographical sketches, I listed that I am expecting to receive my Ph.D. in 2021. As of right now I only have a masters in mathematics. The problem is that I do not know how to indicate this in the application form, and right now I have it listing me as having a masters as my highest degree earned.
From the copies of proposals that people have made public, it seems like graduate students tend to put a Ph.D. as the highest degree earned. I do not know if this is appropriate/expected from people in my situation, but it seems strange to put Ph.D. when I do not have one yet. I tried looking in the PAPPG, but there was nothing in there about this. Does anyone know what I should put in these forms?


texts: Is it a good idea to join a second group as an undergraduate researcher if I don't feel challenged enough?

texts:
I'm currently a second-year undergraduate physics major, and I joined an experimental nuclear physics (astrophysics primarily) group a few months ago. I joined the group wanting to work extremely hard to learn new things, apply them (and my intuition and previous knowledge) to solve problems, and present my findings and progress on a weekly basis, reporting to the group head on a more frequent basis though. It started out like that at first - the head made me solve a problem, write a GUI/applet for it (just to show that I fully understood the problem), and then implement that into a particular framework that would be used for an actual experiment later on down the road. I noticed that the head also didn't like to be a mentor too much - that is, he only liked to tell me what I needed to know for my task and nothing else, leaving extra learning for myself.

The problem with this is I'm left mentally starved. I've been assisting this other person in my group (relatively new graduate) on preparations for that actual experiment that I mentioned earlier, and that feels good. I've learned more of what's going on behind the scenes (significance of the experiment, theoretical implications of the results obtained, detector and equipment [and setup]) through publications, other people within the university, and asking the group head, but all of this was essentially on my own. As a result, I feel that any average joe with minimal work-ethic and intuition could thrive in a group like this. I've learned a lot more about nuclear physics/astrophysics (hence, more about this universe we live in) through sources that I might have otherwise not come across had I not joined the group, so that's good.

Also, just quick side note, the experiment is coming up soon, and I'm sure I'll learn a whole bunch through that process, and sorting out and analyzing the data after the experiment will certainly put me to work.

I've been thinking about possibly trying to join another research group, just so I can quench my mental thirst. There is a nuclear theory group at my university, and even though I know nuclear theory is probably way over my head, I'm willing to put a lot of time into working hard.

Here is my question: Is attempting to join another group a bad idea? Should I instead tell the group head how I feel, and see where to go from there, or would that be far too disrespectful?

Please excuse any ignorance of mine.


texts: Is it ok to ask a potential PhD advisor for more information about their future grants?

texts:
Is there an etiquette when asking Potential Advisors about their future projects?

The reason I ask this is because a Potential Advisor informed me of a future grant that she is applying for, which would have research a topic I am fairly interested in. The advisor gave me a general outline, but she left out some important details that are important to me; my fear is that the advisor will think I am trying to steal the grant idea. Perhaps I am making too much of this?


texts: Assignment: Wrong number of decimal places

texts:
I recently handed in an assignment where I quoted all of my answers (statistical output) to two decimal places instead of three. Obviously a stupid mistake, however it wasn't clear that it was supposed to be three. What is the usual penalty for this kind of mistake? it's clear from the software's output, which is included in another section what my answers are.
Thanks


texts: What license to choose for my PhD thesis?

texts:
I will soon submit my PhD thesis. The thesis is written in Latex and version controlled with git. I want to add a license file, but don't know what to choose. For my software, I choose the permissive MIT license, but I have no clue if that is suitable for a thesis as well. Searching on the web, I found that many use the Creative Commons (CC), but I don't know why. And there are also several types of CC. What I want is: everyone can

use the knowledge in the thesis even for commercial purposes, supposing that my work is cited
use, modify and redistribute the helper tools (files for compilation, document format, etc.) supposing that the original license is kept

EDIT
Finally, based on your suggestions, I chose the CC-BY 4.0 license and set the repository containing the sources to public.


texts: If there are two published versions of a paper, which one should I cite?

texts:
While writing my thesis, I have encountered the following situation:

My thesis is based on the work of Gourieroux et al. (1993) who, as part of the text, cites another paper, Gourieroux and Monfort (1992). In the references to the 1993 paper this paper is listed as having been published in "CREST-Départment de la Recherche INSEE, DP No. 9214". I also need to cite this paper, but can only find a version which was published in 1995 in the journal "Econometric Theory".

My question is therefore, should I use the original citation from he 1993 paper: Gourieroux and Monfort (1992), or go with Gourieroux and Monfort (1995).

I am inclined to go with the latter, but worried it would be considered strange if I write something like "Gourieroux et al. (1993), using theory developed by Gourieroux and Monfort (1995), show...".
Thanks in advance for your help!


texts: Sexually harassed by postdoc supervisor and forced to quit

texts:
I was forced to resign from a postdoctoral position in a major research institute in the US because of sexual harassment. It's been 4 months since I resigned, but I'm still struggling to move on from what happened.

It started a couple of months into my postdoc. He started leering and staring at me in public and moving too close to me during one-on-one meetings. At one point, I moved away from him slightly when he started getting too close which made him really angry. I also tried to keep the door open when we have our one-on-one meetings, but the same thing happened. He got so angry that he started criticizing my work in a loud voice. He also made everyone believe there was something going on between us. I just stopped talking to him during social gatherings and generally stayed away from him, which I think made him angrier. He also started bullying me and putting down my suggesting during lab meetings. It effected my self-esteem so much that I stopped speaking up in meetings altogether. He brought up my lack of participation in meetings during a progress review. I made excellent progress at the beginning of my postdoc and had my first manuscript ready in a matter of months. But after the harassment started, I got so depressed that I couldn't focus on my work and my progress suffered.

After putting up with his abuse for over a year, I reached my breaking point when he invited me to go to a conference with him. On the surface it seemed harmless, but it was a small conference on the other side of the country with hardly anyone I know attending it. I made a polite excuse about a prior commitment, but he didn't buy it. He got angry and started to bully and harass me even more. I was so depressed at this point that I tried to commit suicide. I almost succeeded had it not been for the fantastic work of the doctors and nurses at NYP. After 3 days in the ICU and a week in the hospital, I recovered from my suicide attempt (at least physically). I went back to work a week later. I didn't tell anyone what happened, but my postdoc supervisor made it clear that he knew. He mentioned in passing that he has access to anyone's medical record, and in another instance, made a snide comment about me trying to kill myself for my work.

I handed in my resignation a couple of months after this. I wasn't in a place to apply for jobs let alone go for interviews while I was there. So I quit without having a job lined up. I also started seeing a therapist around this time and I think my mental health has somewhat improved since then. However, I'm still so traumatized by this whole experience that I can't seem to bring myself to apply for jobs. Every time I see a job I could apply to, I get paralyzed with fear that the same thing will happen. How do I move on from this and go back to work? Any advise or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


texts: Collaborator published paper on ArXiv without my name

texts:
In the last four months, I have been working on a project with a friend. After the completion of writing part of paper, I started searching for conferences and found that my friend had already submitted a previous/incomplete version of the paper on ArXiv.

Now my friend claims ownership of the idea and copyright  as it is now already  published in a pre-print. At present we both have the completed paper, codes and results. In reality, I did the most of the analysis in the project although the idea came out of discussion between us.

My friend wants to publish it on their own without giving me any credit. I even agreed  that they can be the first author, and I will be second, but they keep on insisting that they will not include me.

Even if I submit this in a conference, I am concerned that my submission will be rejected as the other author already has a proof of that work. I also hold the proof that I did the writing and computation part because most of the time I emailed them these results, but due to his cheating, I have no way to prove that I did the major work in this project. Any suggestions will be very helpful on how to tackle this problem.

Does a pre-print of the paper (containing the idea and some incomplete results) in their name, gives them an advantage if we both try to publish it?


texts: Is Scientometrics a scientific discipline?

texts:
This question is not about the politics of scientometrics, nor is it on the role of scientometrics in governmental research programs, nor is it about the use of scientometric indices: these questions have been already addressed and debated somewhere else on academia.SE., for instance

Which bibliometrics index to trust more?
Scientifically meaningful sources of bibliometrics
Which is the most accepted measure for an individual's academic productivity?

The following question is about scientific method(s).

After these few words to avoid any debate, I would like to naively ask about the scientific rigor of scientometrics. Is there any kind of rigor/general method/scientific concept behind this field of research? Or maybe a more aggressive question: is scientometry a science?


texts: What software do you use to keep up to date on literature, and if Google Scholar, how do you avoid information overload?

texts: I see a lot of people use Google Scholar and ResearchGate alerts, but I find those alert systems too overwhelming to the point I get inundated and treat them like spam. Perhaps I'm not using them effectively, though (e.g., too many AND operators in my searches). Any tips to improve my experience? Any alternatives that you might suggest? I'm intrigued by ReadCube Papers for its capabilities to integrate searches for papers, citations, and annotations (which is something I've also struggled to do, having used three different pieces of software for those functions), but I'd prefer something that doesn't have a subscription payment structure, at the very least.


texts: Two weeks prior to PhD viva, what should I do?

texts:
update: I passed my viva this week, thank you so much for your kind support!
Thank you so much for your encouraging comments in my previous post regarding PhD thesis submission (What should I do the day before submitting my PhD thesis?). Now 1.5 months have passed by and my viva will take place in two weeks. I took a short break after submission and have recently started looking at my thesis again. I am wondering if you have any tips for PhD viva? P.S. I am a PhD student in social science in the UK and my viva will take place via zoom. Thanks so much!


texts: Grant from private company - conflict of interest

texts: If a private company provides a grant for some research to be carried out but is hoping for a particular outcome from the research in order to take certain business decisions, should this be described as a conflict of interest?


texts: I am currently doing my master thesis on Greenhouse gas emission from solid waste management. I already finished my data collection and now analysing them. But some of the results are not as I expected. So I find the different ways and proposed to my adviser. But my adviser doesn't give any comments about that. And that part is not very important part of my thesis. It is just a small one that I can even leave it if it is on my own. Is that possible to cut some part of my thesis? I have been stucking in this stage about three months. At first, I thought I could publish my thesis and I am hopeless now. And publication also takes time. Please suggest me if there is anything that can help me to move from this stage. Your kind suggestions will be very much appreciated.


texts: How does PhD admissions committee look at my old gre score after starting my Masters

texts: I am currently an international Masters student studying at a US university and I'm in the process of applying to several computer science PhD programs in North America. I didn't have the chance to retake the GRE exam to increase my score. I'm wondering how the PhD admissions committee takes into consideration my 3-year-old GRE score... will they give it less weight given that I've already started my Masters, or will they treat it exactly as if I have just took the GRE exam?


texts: Changing PhD/ collab PhD with a different department

texts:
I've started a phd in fluid dynamics. I always wanted one in general relativity or quantum field theory really, I got interviews for that (many really) but none where successful, I got into fluid dynamics straight away so after waiting around I thought I should crack on and maybe it's meant to be. I do not hate my PhD, but I do not love it either. Whereas if it was general relativity or quantum field theory I think I would really really enjoy it. I am now around 8 months in. I enquired about a phd in cosmology/gravity theories a while back, more out of curiosity, and I received this advice back from the professor at a different university. I had not thought of this idea probably cause I thought the other departments would not be interested in the slightest. I am currently in the engineering department. Does his feedback seem infeasible or is it worth a shot? (I am not sure right now if I will apply for cosmology/gravitational phd in a month or so, when application time begins to peak, if I see the right project..part of me still really wants to, part of me thinks I may as well stick to what I've invested time and work into)
FEEDBACK:
I can’t really suggest what’s best, except to discuss your current situation and your ambitions with
your supervisory team. XXX YOUR UNI XXX has some world-class activity in computational cosmology, and it may
be possible for some sort of collaborative project to be worked out. If you’re 4 months in (and what an extraordinary 4 months)
then there is still plenty of time for things to develop
(ofc i am now 8 months in not 4)
Re. my current funding:
have two assigned supervisors. the scholarship is from the engineering department, not the maths or physics, so I doubt that would be able to directly switched over. However the main supervisor had full control over this scholarship (he was awarded it when he arrived at the university ), so if he agreed on a intersection with a supervisor within the maths/physics department it may be possible. But I also dont want to pee off my current supervisors, if they would not like to grant permission for such a thing, in particular say.


texts: How to get information about new citations in Google Scholar without making profile public

texts: Once per week I check my Google Scholar profile and I can see my citations count is increased. I would like to know, to which papers/works my increase in the number of citations is related to. How can I know this without making my profile public?


texts: How do I plan for my PhD now that I have graduated with a Masters degree without thesis?

texts:
A bit of background: I am an Indian citizen with an undergraduate degree in Electronics from India and a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering with a minor in Computer Science (Funny, it is called a minor, given that 60% of my credits are from Computer Science Dept.).

I am currently working as a software developer with a company in Boston, MA. I was involved in some research work during my grad school, but however, nothing materialized and I decided to graduate with a coursework only option (with many projects as a part of coursework). Needless to say, I burnt a lot of bridges along the way which eliminated even the minutest chance for a strong letter of recommendation.

I wish to, however, apply for a PhD in Machine Learning and/or Algorithms, at least 2 to 3 years from now. The job I am at currently is not a research oriented job. I am doing a bit of research by myself with the data sets available online.

Given that all of the PhD applications in the US, most in Europe need strong letters of recommendations, if not publications, how can I now set things straight in the coming years. What should be an ideal line of action and is a PhD with a good adviser, possible, at all?

Note: I am currently working on some Machine Learning related open problems on large data sets, but I am not sure how much can I get done, while working full time in a non academic environment.  Also, I do not have any reputable papers as yet.


texts: Are en-route masters in physics viewed differently from terminal masters in physics in the Canadian job market?

texts:
A little bit of context behind this question: I was asked, during a student presentation, whether an en-route masters (usually awarded upon passage of quals in a direct PhD plan) really was worth the same as a terminal masters (with thesis), knowing the latter is the norm in Canada.

That physics undergraduate said that she'd rather earn a terminal thesis masters than an en-route one (although I feel that this particular undergraduate could be offered a direct PhD plan), because a terminal masters would signal that one is capable of completing a research project, while an en-route masters usually involves a failed, unfinished or downsized research project, since a person in position to take quals usually spent upwards of a year in a research project in the direct PhD plans I know about.

So are terminal research masters in physics regarded differently from en-route masters in physics on the job market?

P.S.: Perhaps the answer varies from a field to another, so what's applicable to physics may not be applicable to, say, chemistry or history.


texts: Can more than one person share PhD thesis?

texts:
I have a PhD research proposal and I came up with this proposal idea while discussing machine learning with my brother who is in the same field as me and has same degrees as me.

my question is can we (my brother and I) submit this proposal for the university so we both share the research?

do we have to provide 2 seperate research thesis?


texts:
This graduate policy handbook states

  "A master’s student may transfer up to 4 semester units or 6 quarter
  units of course work completed as a graduate student at another
  institution."

In this context, does "4 semester units" refer to 4 credit hours or 4 graduate courses?


texts: Publications and career trajectory in the 'About me' section of a job talk

texts:
I am preparing for an upcoming job talk for a tenure track assistant professor position. I am strongly encouraged by the hiring committee to have an 'About me' section mentioning my career trajectory (like here) and to show a glimpse of my publications.
I am wondering what is the best way to do this in a manner that won't come across as aggressive or showing-off or shamelessly being proud of myself. Showing a list of publications as a slide looks like an uncomfortable thing to do as the audience will just get an idea of the volume of work I have done, without being aware of the quality of the content in the papers. What can possibly be the best way to do this?
Also about the career trajectory, I am trying to see what can be the natural way to 'fit' this information in the talk so that it is not abrupt. Of course, there is a way to tell the audience which universities I have been a part of while I am talking about my work. However, this needs to be done separately in the 'About me' section.
Any thoughts or ideas on this will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!


texts: In the Harvard referencing style, is it wrong to put references in footnotes?

texts:
I have a discussion with my mate about how to reference with the Harvard referencing style.

I would say it is wrong to do the referencing like in the picture below.

My suggestion was that the footnotes was to explantion of synonyms or something like that and all references should be in the end of the paper work, so the reader have all the references in one or two pages, so it's easier to get an overview of all references.

Am I totally wrong?


texts: What are the financial offer or opportunities for international PhD students in US and UK?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate student in Physics and Mathematics, who plans to do a PhD in Physics or Mathematics. I know when you are doing a PhD, you can be a TA or RA if it is provided, so that you can handle financial issues or you could be accepted into the PhD program with funding or scholarship (I don't remember the correct term) but what about loans or any other financial support for international PhD students in US and UK?

By the way, if it any helps, wherever I go for PhD, I will take their citizenship, at least apply, since I have no intention going back to Turkey.

A side question: Apart from the loans, what is the general procedure for financial offer from the universities? I mean how does it work?

Note: I'm from Turkey.


texts: If a journal requires "Article Processing fee" does that make it a predatory journal?

texts: If a journal take article processing fee then does that mean the journal is predatory? or there are some other criteria to tell a journal as predatory?


texts:
I need something like MIT project called Crosslinks: http://crosslinks.mit.edu/
But since it doesn't work properly neither out of the box on my laptop nor on their own site, I need somethings like that to cross subjects in curriculum and represent them in format of graph to show relations and the path from beginning to the end through topics to the students.

Do you know anything like that in order to visualize both the prerequisites and what needs to be done during the course?
Thank you!


texts: Can I have both original experimental research and systematic review in one paper?

texts: serious question because I can't find the answer. I am currently doing an animal study, and I am preparing a manuscript about this. However, I am thinking of adding a second part to this paper by doing a systematic review also. Thus, to make it an article that has both original research and systematic review. The reason to do this is that there are some limitations of this animal study, and I think a systematic review can further back up the conclusion drew by the animal study. In another way, the systematic review has its limitation as well, and the conclusion drew from my animal study can back up the statement from the review. Kinda reciprocal relationship between these two and I feel it can make the quality of this paper better. So my question is if this is acceptable? I haven't seen a study that has part one about original experimental research and part two about a systematic review.