texts: How to distribute credit in this situation?

texts:
A mathematician Alice discovered a general idea that certain important mathematical object should exist. However she could not construct it rigorously on the technical level in full generality. Nevertheless she published two papers: in the first paper she rigorously constructed the object in a special case of independent importance; in the second paper she generalized it further to rather auxiliary situation which later became technically useful for the next case of maximal generality.

However to construct the necessary object in maximal (and natural) generality she was missing some background in another field. A mathematician Bob, an expert in that another field, has provided a missing argument upon her request. Together they wrote the third paper thus constructing the object in maximal generality.

  The question is how one should call the new object: Alice-Bob object or just Alice object?

Alice feels that the name Alice-Bob object distributes the credit equally, which is unfair in this case: the general idea belongs to Alice, and she could make it rigorous in some cases and published alone two papers on that. On the other hand, Bob feels that the name Alice object is also unfair as his contribution is not reflected.

The new object started to be used in the field and people started to name the object in various ways without knowing the details I explained above.


texts: How are paper authors uniquely identified?

texts:
Some authors have an ORCID ID in order to be identified and distinguished in case of authors with similar name, change of name, different name format, etc. However, some sources don’t provide the ORCID ID of the author (if any exists), which causes a lot of problems when someone tries to harvest papers from websites with scholarly resources.

I thought that a combination of some author features such as name, email, and affiliation could be enough to distinguish the authors, but I don’t think this is a robust solution.

Is there any way to uniquely identify every author?


texts: Should I refuse the invitation to review a paper which I recommended for rejection? What should I do if I suspected who wrote this paper?

texts:
1) I have been invited to review the revision of a paper that I recommended for rejection. I cannot see the updated paper before accepting or declining this second reviewing invitation.
Would it be ethical to review it a second time if I advised it to be rejected and the editor overrode my recommendation?

2) Time has elapsed, and now I am almost sure of knowing at least one of the potential authors of this paper (Double-blinded review). It turns out that I might have a conflict of interest with this person. So my first ethical instinct is to decline the revision of this paper because of this alone.

Any comments much appreciated, thank you.


texts: What is the timeline for UK postdoc applications in math?

texts:
I (a graduate student in math at a US university) have heard a lot of advice about applying for postdocs in math at US universities. I've been told when applications for jobs and NSF are due, when you can expect hear back, and how long you have to make a decision.

What is the timeline for applications to UK universities for math postdocs?


texts: Is it possible to get an estimate of the average CGPA or conventional system of marks for an engineering course in any Indian university?

texts: How can a student of engineering compare themselves to other students of the same studies in their own university and elsewhere in the country?


texts: Performing minor corrections in a paper after camera-ready deadline

texts:
I have an accepted paper at a computer science conference. Before the camera-ready deadline was over, I submitted an updated version addressing some issues. Now, I got some other minor suggestions from an advisor, which could be worked into the paper. However, the camera-ready deadline is already over. What should I do?

Please note, that in the email, which the authors received from the conference's organizers, the following was stated regarding what happens after the camera-ready deadline:

  Our publisher has recently introduced an extra control loop: once data processing is finished, they will contact all corresponding authors and ask them to check their papers. We expect this to happen shortly before the printing of the proceedings.

So I see two options:

Contact the conference organizers now and ask if I can still update the camera-ready version despite the deadline already being expired
Just wait and use the above described extra control loop to adapt the paper. However, I think this extra control loop is not really there to modify the paper's content, but rather it should be used to double-check the layouting.

Do you see any other options? What would you suggest to do?


texts:
I am a junior academic who is seeking an academic mentor to shape my career and have a stronger impact on the student and research community. What would be the best way to go about seeking a mentor?

Thanks!


texts: Fifth year of my PhD and I hate my project. What should I do?

texts: I am a PhD student in mechE. After paying the first year tuition out of pocket, I accepted a PhD project due to desperation for funding. However, after an year I realized that I hate the project. Here I made a mistake of not leaving/changing the project, I just waited out hoping I would like the project. I also asked my advisor a couple for a different project and he did not want to change my project due to sponsor obligations. For some reason I couldn’t assert myself and stayed on. However my hate for the project only grew with time and now I am in my fifth year. I have reached a stage where I absolutely hate the project and don’t know what to do. I can hardly do any work. I feel like quitting everyday and still feel it is wrong to quit this late. I have a very substandard thesis. I am lost and feel stuck, please advise on what to do. Thanks


texts: How to organize a session at a conference?

texts:
I was recently asked by the cluster chair
to organize a session at a conference on topic X.
How does one go about organizing a conference session?


texts: Carrying incomplete research work from postdoc to assistant professor position

texts: I am a postdoctoral research fellow and recently I got offer for aP position. I am leaving the postdoc position before the completion of contract. My postdoc supervisor is saying that after joining the aP position whenever I publish the research work, which I started in his lab, should include funds acknowledgment of his lab and that he should be the corresponding author.  I worked in his lab for just 5 months and I already submitted to SCI journal articles in Q1 level. A week ago I shared my preliminary work which will take another 5-6 months to be ready for submission. In this case I will be spending 90% of time on this topic after leaving postdoc position, why should I add him as corresponding author and why should I add his dictated funding acknowledgment? Is it ethical to make such demands?


texts: Can I Publish Research if I work for the company?

texts:
I will be doing some research for a company I am about to start working for. The company is small and provides animal assisted interventions in schools. They want and need ways to measure the children's progress. I have suggested a validated measure and agreed to help with research and analysis.
Am I able to write this up and submit for publication?
I have a masters in Psych and been through the publication process before (although unsuccessful).
Basically I am worried about conflict of interest (I suppose it is in my favour to show positive results) and ethics as I am no longer affiliated with a university.
But I know there's a shortage of research in this area and I want to add to it.
Any suggestions are very welcome!
Thank you in advance


texts: Academic Positions: Following a campus visit, when are referees contacted?

texts:
I`ve had my phone interview followed by a campus visit for a tenure faculty position. I was wondering if anyone has an experience as for when references are usually contacted?. This is in reference to universities in the U.S.
Thanks,


texts: Which areas have the most competition for tenure-track positions?

texts: Being a professor in a general interest department, students from diverse backgrounds and aspirations come to me for career advice. A good number of them aspire to professors but unless they're in my own discipline I'm very hesitant to say anything. But I think it would be good to have an approximation for various fields as an advisor. For example, I know that securing a tenure-track position in CS is not as competitive as a tenure-track position in math. I assume the competition is brutal for history/literature/philosophy etc. Is there an approximate rule of thumb that I could use to advise the students?


texts: Should an Editor in Chief publish in their own journal?

texts: An Editor in Chief of a journal ought to be proud of their journal and consider it a good place to publish their own work, so not publishing in the journal that they edit suggests a lack of confidence in the journal.  On the other hand, is publishing regularly in your own journal ethical?  Can we reasonably expect the editor in chief's papers to be handled with the same rigour as for anybody ese?  Wouldn't there be implicit pressure on the action editor to accept a paper that might be rejected had it come from an external author?  It seems to me that it would be better to be seen to be fair by publishing elsewhere (or al least only publishing occasionally in ones own journal), but I was wondering what the balance of opinion was on this.


texts: Is there any evidence that students are more likely to watch a video over reading homework?

texts:
As background, many of my students fall into the "un-prepared" for university category. This has introduced many challenges. Some challenges are easily handled when a student is sincerely interested in learning (they want to know what to read and I guide them appropriately).

More challenging is that these students are not native-speakers of English yet they are studying in English. Again, those who work hard do well. Those who do not work hard, do poorly.

I am looking for a way to encourage ALL students to spend more time outside of class studying. To this end, I am considering composing some videos (a significant time commitment on my part) which will teach material that I do not cover in class.

This question discusses how to identify the reason students are not doing home work and this questions discusses how to make best use of videos as homework. However, I am asking something different.

I have done some surveying of students and many of them say that they prefer watching videos over reading. What I really want to know is whether anyone has seen or has researched the increased likelihood that a student will actually follow the homework because it is a video as opposed to in a textual format.

I do not want to get into the issues of punishment here. The students generally know that less homework = lower scores but they think they can still pass and that is all they care about. Sadly, I care more about their education than they do.


texts: Is it common to allow professional compulsory activities over personal activities?

texts:
Professional compulsory activities I am referring here falls into the following two classes:

The activities that need to be done very quickly.

Activities given by supervisor to participate in a voluntary activity.

I frequently encounter the professional compulsory activities. Former are more frequent than later.
Examples for first one includes: Evaluating copies of students within a day, preparing teaching material for students of a course took by my supervisor within a day, preparing grade sheets within half day etc.,
Examples for second one includes: Attending to an outstation workshop for a few days, attending webinars at non-lab timings etc.,
The issue involved in allowing them is break in my personal time table and sacrifice in my personal activities etc., I am not at all comfortable with them as I want to spend time according to my own preferences in non-lab hours.
Those professional compulsory activities always break my productive cycle of work and forces me to spend time.
Is this a common phenomenon in academia or am I entertaining those activities instead of saying a strong NO?
Note: The announcement for first class of activities are not in my hands. Superior authorities announces deadlines by personal calling, mailing etc.,


texts: Structure of a dissertation with two (fairly) disjoint topics

texts:
I am writing a PhD dissertation that contains two main themes/topics. These topics are fairly different from each other, but they do have (some!) common threads.

Within each theme, I have two rather related sub-themes. Each sub-theme is substantial enough to form a chapter.

How should I structure the dissertation. I was thinking about having two parts, as follows:

Ch.1 - Introduction (discussing general structure & motivation)

Part I - Theme 1

    - Ch.2  - theme 1 - topic 1
    - Ch.3  - theme 1 - topic 2

Part II - Theme 2

    - Ch.4  - theme 2 - topic 1
    - Ch.5  - theme 2 - topic 2

Ch.6 - Conclusion

Appendices and References

The above structure seems a little odd to me, though. Are the purpose of parts to partition the paper completely? That is, should each chapter belong to a part? In the above structure, Ch.1 and Ch. 6 are not in any part.

In addition, would including an introduction and conclusion for each part be appropriate?


texts:
I am a master's graduate from Iran. I received an admission offer (PhD in business) from one of the reputable universities in England but I don't have scholarship yet.
My question is: In addition to internal scholarships(I mean the university's) What are external scholarships I can apply for? i.e.  If the university doesn't give me a scholarship, are there other British institutions to fund my phd studies or not? I am exploring all my chances in the remaining time to accept the offer.


texts: How long does it take the German KMK to evaluate a degree and what are the criteria?

texts: I am awaiting my evaluation of my degree by the KMK (Kultusministerkonferenz). I paid the 200 Euro fee a month ago and am still waiting for a response. It is mentioned on their website that it takes three months for processing. Does anyone have any experience with this? Will it really take that long? And what is the probability of failing the evaluation? What are the criteria that they look into? Any help would be much appreciated.


texts: Advice on adding user stories to Masters thesis

texts:
For my masters project I utilized user stories as a means of requirements gathering. I have roughly 100 of these along with the acceptance tests to go with them.

I'm currently writing my thesis and detailing the methods I used to gather these requirements. My question is: Do I include these user stories as figures in text or add them to my appendices, or not at all?


texts: Official Transcripts: Applying to Previous University

texts:
I am applying for Graduate Admissions to the Previous University where I graduated nearly 10 years ago.
Application says to send official copies of Transcripts from Previous University.
But I am applying to Previous University, shouldn't they have it?
Sure, I can upload photocopies of their transcripts (application process is online only), but what else do I need to do?
How do I address this in application?
How do I tell them "I am uploading copies of Transcript, but you already have official Transcript"
Thanks!
Ok
I'll request official transcripts and return it back to them


texts: Using a list to explain symbols used in an equation?

texts:
In papers, the symbols explained in an equation are usually explained like this:

δ(t) = tan⁻¹〖ke(t) / vf(t)〗,
where δ(t) is the steering angle, e(t) is the closest point between the path and the vehicle, v(t) is the vehicle’s velocity and k is the gain parameter.

By contrast, textbooks often explain mathematical notation in a list-like format, e.g., like this:

δ(t) = tan⁻¹〖ke(t) / vf(t)〗,
where

δ(t) =  steering angle
e(t) =  closest point between the path and the vehicle
v(t) =  vehicle’s velocity
k     =   gain parameter

I consider this more legible, and I was thinking if I could use this in my scientific papers.
Is there any reason not to do this?


texts: Textbook has two different versions, which to use?

texts:
I've recently enrolled in an Introduction to Computer Science II course in which the professor allowed me to skip the prerequisites.The problem is, I don't have the textbook from the previous course, Java How to Program 10th Edition Late Objects - Deitel & Deitel. The course and the one before it both encompass the same book, so I would like to catch up before the course starts.

While browsing on online stores, this led me to two different books, the 'Global Edition', and the US edition. Seeing that the Global Edition was half the price of the US version and I was on a budget, I thought it was a steal. There are many choices online with international editions at around $60 and the US at $150.

Why would the global textbook be lower than half the price than the US edition? What's the difference? I've read around that there is not much of a difference except for the cover, but why would that call for such a lowered price? The US book comes with access codes and other features, will the Global also come with those exact features?


texts: Scientific presentations - black or white?

texts: At most scientific conferences and talks I have attended, the speakers generally present black text on white backgrounds, which I personally find rather dull. Is there any reason / explicit convention which should stop one from presenting light coloured text on a dark background?


texts: Do online recommendation systems ask specific questions about the PhD candidate?

texts: I am applying to fall 2014 PhD programs in computer science. I have heard that the online recommendation system in place at most universities asks the recommender to answer a series of questions about the student in addition to a place where the letter can be typed. What kind of questions are asked?


texts: Is it true that articles cited in Wikipedia get more citations?

texts: It is famously known that “visibility” of an article influences its citation count. Is it true that articles cited in Wikipedia page get more academic citations?


texts: Taking a break between master’s and PhD in Physics

texts:
To any PhD holders or candidates out there, how common is it to take a break after your master’s before applying for a PhD course? I currently have my master’s and due to bond fulfillment have a research attachment for a few years.

Would my PhD candidacy be any more difficult/less viable because I’m both older and have been away from academia longer than those who have gone directly from an MSc to a PhD course?


texts: How to display your own name in publications list when you are a middle-author on a publication with a large number of authors?

texts:
My Name is among tens of authors of a paper on global health.

For the purpose of my CV update, I need to show my name without showing the names of all authors of the paper.

My preferred style is JAMA, which shows the names of the first 3 authors followed by 'et al'.

Would the following format be appropriate, at least for my CV, when My Name is published in the middle of a long authors' list ?

First Author, Co-Author, My Name, et al

If so, will this (customized) format ever cause any confusion for any group of audience?


texts: Professor told me up front that she normally doesn't write letters for students who haven't done as much work with her

texts:
I asked a professor for a letter of recommendation for graduate programs and she mentioned that she normally doesn't write letters for people who haven't done research with her. I took advanced classes of hers and did well though, and she agreed to write the letter, although hesitatingly. She mentioned that she normally only writes letters for people she's known for a while, so even though I did well in her coursework, am just now embarking on research with her, and have a history of tutoring for her class, it doesn't seem to be enough in her eyes. She also mentioned that she would have me write most of it and that she would basically just sign off on it.

Is this a warning sign? Should I turn to someone else to write the essay? A lot of the professors I've had left the university or were not full time professors, which is why I don't think they would be good people to ask for letters, so it's really hard for me to find recommenders right now that would be appropriate. Any advice would be appreciated.

Edit: Wanted to clarify that she seems like she had good intentions--she was willing to expand more on my teaching and ability to convey higher level concepts to new students, but that this type of letter is not the kind of letter she normally writes. Having seen the opinions of everyone, what is a good way to gauge whether or not she actually wants to write the letter?


texts: Bioinformatics pipeline flow chart guidelines?

texts:
I am going to start work on the Materials and Methods for a paper I contributed to a lot in the bioinformatics processing part. I have seen some papers nowadays tend to first present the processing steps that they followed as a flow chart, to show the reader what happened generally before going into details in the written M&M section.

Are there any specific guidelines for creating this flowchart? Do you have any tips or advice from personal experience?


texts: Is it ethical to contribute to a workshop one is organizing?

texts:
In computer science, workshops are often co-located with conferences. The workshop committee consists of roughly 3-5 chairs, who are organizing and chairing the workshop. Then there is a certain number (10+) of programm committee members. These are people who are responsible for reviewing submissions and spreading the word.

My question is: Is it okay if one of the chairs also submits a contribution to his/her own workshop or does this look weird?

I know, that for conferences this should be even stricter, but I am not sure if there is an established etiquette for this.


texts:
In a paper an author developed a weight function. I am doing M.S Thesis and trying to incorporate the weight function in another function. In my thesis proposal if I mention

  We will incorporate the weight function developed for selected ranked set sampling design into Equation (6)

, is it proper way to write the sentence? Will I mention We will try... instead of We will...?


texts: Can we mention our own idea of a project in the letter to a professor during grad applications?

texts:
I am applying to 6 universities for MS and I have short-listed 2 professors from each university whose field of interest is nearly the same to that of mine.

Along with mentioning my interest in their work, can I also mention about a topic/project that I have been working on or 'am planning to work in future?

Please suggest!

PS: The topic/project will be similar to the research interests of the professor.


texts: How to explain not listing my PhD supervisor as a reference?

texts:
I need advice on how to explain during a job interview why I am not listing my PhD supervisor as a reference. I have a third interview for a job as a scientist at a startup company.

Previously, my supervisor caused me to lose a job offer by saying I had bad presentation and communication skills. That was when I was applying for a job as an FAS so that would be a much larger component. My supervisor and I had disagreements on writing my thesis with regards to how the 'story' was told.

The second interview required a 30 min talk about my work and yet I still made it to the next round.

I have my MSc. supervisor, a committee member/co-author and my department head as references instead. I realize this isn't as good, but I can't predict what he will say so I don't want to list him.

What can I say if the interviewer (a scientist, as the company has no HR) asks why I didn't list my former boss? And what are the chances he will be contacted anyways?


texts: Postdoc in China. Looking on advice about culture shock and pursuing a career in industry

texts:
So I was recently offered a math postdoc position in China for 2 years. A bit of additional background:

I am a US citizen and have never left the US; I've hardly left my home state (except for grad school).
I intend to go into industry. It's been a good several months since I graduated with my PhD and I am getting wary that my resume is becoming more and more stale as time passes.

I had a few questions for those who know better than me:

Given that I've never left the US, how big of a culture shock with this be? The postdoc is in Shenzhen, so I'm told that it's a pretty international city. I am just concerned with coming home for Christmas and having enough time to visit my family during vacations (as I did when I was a grad student). How different would this be from working at a US university?
Given that I'm planning to spend at least part of my time on buffing up my resume for industry (particularly data science and software engineering), what does a PhD from a top US school and a postdoc at a Chinese university look like to employers (I know this is the academia stackexchange, but I just wanted to fish for some advice on this).
Lastly, do you think my plan is doable? Do you think that I will have enough free time to work on industry skills, conduct small math research projects and fulfill my postdoc responsibilities?

Some clarifications:

I have not been successful in finding an industry job; hence, my plan to pursue the post-doc so I can pay the bills while I gain some industry-relevant skills
There are no other international post-docs at this school, hence I cannot ask them about their experiences


texts: Three years gap between Master's and PhD and no article

texts:
I found some almost similar questions but the answers didn't help me much. I appreciate if you guide me.

I am 31 years old. I have applied for a PhD position (as an international student) in one of the top Australian universities and I’ll have interview (by Skype) next week. Now, there is three years gap between my Master's and this PhD position.  During these three years, I applied for many universities and all of my applications failed. My both GPA are above 3.8/4.0, I don’t like to work on something related to my master project and I don't have any article yet. I wrote it three years ago but my supervisor who is the correspond submitted it this April. Because I need her recommendation I couldn’t do anything but polite request in order to put time for its submission.

In these three years, I participated in GRE and IELTS exam which the latter was expired two weeks ago, I wrote a review article which I think my supervisor won’t try to submit it ever. I tried to learn Python and R programming although I can’t say I am good at any of them, I participated in translation of a book related to my major. I am also a high school teacher for 11 years.

Now, Australian universities care so much about article and research background which I don’t have. There is these three years gap and I don’t know what should I say about that. I love research but I live in a small town in a deprived area of my developing country and I didn’t have any chance to participate in any research. I also had commitment to educational office to work at my home town that’s why I didn’t leave here. (During my studies I traveled around 2000 km every week to attend the university at the capital city of my country). However, now that I think about it I at least could learn some bioinformatics tools and write an article. I mean it was my fault too.

Please, tell me how to explain my situation, about the gap and no research during these years. I don't want they think that I make handy-dandy excuses. I love the project and I don’t want to lose this opportunity.


texts: How to title a research paper of a problem which can have two solutions?

texts:
I have been working on a problem which, after a research turn out to have two solutions. One of the solutions is realistic while the other is just a proposed and abstract model.

So for example:

The problem P and two solutions S1(more realistic) and S2(abstract idea).

How can I title the paper?


texts: Interviewing for an academic position after abusive department chair in previous academic position

texts:
In my faculty job, I was bullied for a long time by a chair of the department (at a US state university on the West Coast). This included:

Giving me bad schedules and classrooms
His secretary telling students to avoid my classes
Denying me operational information
Excluding me from department committees
Falsifying university documents
Stealing my course materials and giving it to his supporters
Filing bogus charges against me that I never saw in writing

I understand it's hard to judge who was in the wrong, but I really had neither motive nor means to fight with the department chair. Worse, he eventually got many of the other department members on his side.

After being bullied and harassed and my working environment sabotaged  for very long time I resigned. Now I am looking for a teaching position at a different university in the USA. I know the number one rule in an interview is “Do not say anything bad about your former employer”. But, under the circumstances, I'm not sure how to answer the question “Why did you leave the position where you achieved a high rank?” What would be a a good way to answer this question?


texts: How to find top authors with most papers in a particular journal

texts: Is there a good way to find out authors and the number of papers published for each author in a particular journal? I was just wondering who are the top authors for a journal and how many papers they have published.


texts: PhD Student/Candidate distinction - European/French universities

texts:
I read an interesting topic entitled "PhD candidate vs. PhD Student". I understood that the distinction between the use of those terms is strongly linked to the structure of PhD programs in the US/Canada. I wonder how should I phrase it for an application to a doctoral workshop that requires me to mention whether I am PhD student or candidate (I completed research master's coursework, passed agrégation examinations and defended my dissertation proposal before getting into doctoral school).
To be sure I well understand how it works in North-American universities: students often get admitted in 5-6 years PhD programs after graduating from a 4 years bachelor's degree. The PhD programs, therefore, include a 1 to 2 years first step (PhD student) in which students pursue intensive training in their field. Students have to work on a dissertation proposal which is defended at the end of that first step so that the second step (PhD candidate) deal with the completing the dissertation (reviewing relevant literature, structuring research questions, designing research protocols, testing, analyzing results ... and finally, writing the dissertation).
Considering that European students often have to complete a research master + research proposal (+ for humanities and social sciences in France, having passed a competitive examination for teaching which is called agrégation is often implicitly required, those demands seem similar to final exams of N-A PhD programs) before applying to 3-4 years PhD programs, should we consider they are "PhD candidates" from their entrance into PhD programs?


texts: Discouraged by advisor to take courses, is there a way to navigate through this situation?

texts:
Graduate schools in North America usually have a required number of courses that you need to pass. Afterwards, the school is usually pretty flexible at the student taking more courses (and it is often free of charge), but it is another story with advisor/PI/supervisor.
After I passed my courses, I have been either explicitly or implicitly reminded by my advisor that I should not take more courses. None of any other graduate students are taking courses either in some sort of tacit acknowledgement. Taking courses takes away time from research and performing badly could cause serious problems, so it is understandable.
However, I find that after a year or two of not taking any courses, I feel less mentally "sharp". And sometimes I say to myself "I wish I had taken information theory/blackhole physics/statistical methods!" because I think they could open up more research ideas and plus some subjects are just hard when studied on your own. Finally, taking courses open up more employment opportunities, either through TAship or working in industry. I get the feeling that some/many advisors in academia (such as mine) are fairly indifferent about transitioning from graduate school to industry and do not appreciate the importance of courses/technical skills to these future opportunities.
Has anyone been able to successfully navigate through this dilemma? There are pro and con to each side of the argument and I could't make a move in fear of jeopardizing my relationship with my advisor.


texts: How to write judgment of my own potential for fellowship nomination

texts:
I'm a PhD student in social science, currently looking for postdoc positions.
One professor I'm interested in working with suggested that he could nominate me for a postdoc fellowship and asked me if I can provide some information about "what makes me a great researcher". He is required to submit a recommendation letter for the nomination. The letter asks to compare how outstanding the nominee is compared to other candidates at a similar stage in their career.
It's understandable that the professor asked me to provide information about my own potential and excellence in research, but I have no idea what to say or where to start from for two reasons:

I'm not comfortable with or good at bragging about myself. I just find it really cringy.
I don't believe that I'm an outstanding researcher compared to peers. I know that I'm a pretty good researcher with rigorous scientific practice and critical thinking, but everyone I know has these qualities as well. So I don't think these don't necessarily make me stand out among other researchers.

I would like to hear how you approach it or what you wrote about when you had to evaluate your own research ability or potential. Any suggestions would be appreciated!


texts: Is it normal to spend a whole day reading and writing about a single paper for a literature review?

texts: I'm not native speaker and I'm doing a lit review at the moment. My Question is it normal to spend a whole day reading and writing about  one paper? So I read the paper deeply and then write about it. The process takes more than 6 hours.  Is that normal or should I try to double that?


texts: Citation: How To Cite a Book in ACM Style With Multiple Cities?

texts: I need to cite from the "Gang of Four" book, but the title page has fourteen cities listed. I have found information about APA and MLA styles regarding this, but how do I cite a book with multiple cities in ACM style? The ACM Reference Format does not have such an example.


texts: Course design: basics first or teach "as you go"

texts:
I am going to offer an elective course which I am free to design. The topic is a bit special, but we can assume I give a robotics course. I will teach a fair amount of probability theory which I need to solve problems in robotics. Therefore I have to teach both and there are, I think, two ways:
1. Teach probability theory first, then robotics.
This is what all my professors did as I was studying. The problem here is, that there is no concrete application to robotics at the time I teach probability theory. Examples are "made up" and so is the homework.
2. Teach robotics and introduce the necessary probability theory when needed.
The students see immediately why it is necessary to learn probability theory. They can directly apply the theory to solve their real problem in robotics. However, it interrupts the robotic topic. The first time I need (parts of) probability theory takes two weeks. Then we would do robotics again and apply the new concepts. Then, after 2/3 of the course comes probability theory again, as we need a further different topics to solve more problems. Maybe once more.
Are there any good resources on howto teach courses like this?


texts: Should I take delay " a few days" as a polite decline or literal?

texts:
What does “a few days” mean in the following context?  In response to me sending a short paper to a professor for review, he said:

  Sorry, I'll look ..but might take me a few days".

Is this a polite decline or is there a real good chance he will look at it?


texts:
I am an undergrad right now and I want to go into research. My question is not about whether I will be able to become rich (I am okay with a small life), but more from a civilization perspective.

For the progress of a civilization, shouldn't it focus more on increasing its scientific knowledge? So shouldn't the civilization focus on getting more people into scientific research?  Why is this not the case? Why is the simple application or mixing together of scientific principles more valued that the actual creation of scientific principles? In the long run won't this lead to a reduced pace of scientific progress?

Most people want to be the next Zuckerberg or Kalanick, Gates or Jobs, but isn't their contribution to Society's progress minuscule compared to say that of Shannon or Hamming? Shouldn't society encourage more Shannons and Hammings rather than Kalanicks or Zuckerbergs? I fully realize the importance of Kalanick or Jobs in the progress of civilization, but it seems to me that society values them much more than it does Shannon, heck most of Society does not even know who Shannon is! Yes the iPhone is wonderful, but it is pretty meaningless compared to Information Theory. Isn't this huge bias adversely affecting society and its ability to move forward?

Also, if people like Shannon or Hamming had access to more resources, won't they use it to fund more research rather than say waste it on some big house / yacht etc? We have huge poverty in this world, many children die, who knows how many Einsteins civilization might be losing? If scientists had more resources, won't they focus on reducing this? In the poverty present in the world greed plays a role, but isn't a larger cause of it simply lack of access to enough resources? Won't faster scientific progress solve this problem ?

What is the benefit of society following this policy? From my perspective this will only harm society in the long run due to reduced progress. I am assuming that my thinking is flawed, but could you help me understand why I am wrong?

PS: If this is not a suitable question please remove it. I might be able to get an answer to this someplace else, but I wanted an answer from a scientist.


texts: Will leaving a PhD after one year or having a full PhD be better or worse for job in industry?

texts:
I am a UK student, 23 years old, and started a PhD in theoretical physics last October 2018 at a top 15-20 university (my undergrad Maths degree was at a top 5 uni where I got a First Class Honours 1:1), I have since come to realise that I do not want to pursue a career in academia but want to go into industry.

Considering that a PhD in these disciplines cannot replace work experience and to mitigate that at best, you could train programming skills and general knowledge in the area which you are going to apply to (although you would have nothing to show for it, and which would be learnt on the job anyway). Then would a full PhD in theoretical physics/pure maths (~4 years) be considered a downside in the eyes of an employer compared to a graduate with 1 year of PhD, when applying for a data science/analyst/consultant/actuary job?

Any advise, especially from STEM PhDs and PhD dropouts who later went into industry, would be greatly appreciated. Thank you very much!


texts: Six-month post-doc on J-1 Research scholar visa, can one apply for another J-1 if physically departing before end of contract?

texts:
Someone I know (nationality French) has accepted a six-month post-doctoral fellowship in the United States. The hosting institute will sponsor a J-1 visa; my understanding is that J-1 visas are much quicker to process than H-1B visas, and since she should start as soon as possible, they opt for J-1. A J-1 Research Scholar visa has the following limitations:

Professor and Research Scholars must:
(...)
Not have participated in a J-Visa program for all or part of the 12-month period immediately preceding the start date of a professor or research scholar program unless they meet one of the following exceptions:
(...)
The participant's prior physical presence in the U.S. on a J-visa program was less than six months in duration

If she physically leaves the United States one week before the end of her contract (having been in the US for 5 months, 3 weeks), for example to attend a conference in Europe or for working from home, can she still apply for a new post-doctoral fellowship (NB: I'm not talking about an extension of the existing post-doc) at a new J-1 research scholar visa, or will a H-1B visa be the only route still accessible for a new post-doc?


texts: What motivates scientists to fabricate results in prestigious journal articles?

texts:
As is well known, Dr. Obokata was accused and fired for fabricating her paper on STAP cells.

Report on STAP Cell Research Paper Investigation
http://www3.riken.jp/stap/e/c13document52.pdf

I wonder what her motivation was if that is the case.
If STAP cells do not exist, sooner or later her paper will be recognized as invalid by the science community.
However, someone said your scientific paper's being accepted by a prestigious journal would be prestigious enough if it would not be found as a fabrication.


texts: Is there an etiquette followed for asking about a possible (even if small) honorarium for invited talks? These are not talks at conferences but a stand-alone event on campus, open to the public, and rather stressful. As an early career academic I know this is quite important to have on a CV, and would accept the talk regardless, but would like to ask whether they would be able to pay me for this labor. Is there a way to do this kindly and courteously?


texts: Is blogging experience (on medium) relevant on the CV for PhD CS Admissions? (US)

texts:
Background: Undergrad applying to PhD CS Programs in the US
I had done a blogging internship in my sophomore year and I had written 10 blogs during the tenure. All the articles are relevant to my domain and are balanced between technicality and general information on the domain.
Why I want to put it in my CV:

The blogs were supervised by someone who has been a "linkedin" top speaker and I have his recommendation as well on my page.
The blogs were generally well received (but nothing extra-ordinary).
I exactly have space for one more "small" component in the "experience" section of my resume.
The other option I have is working part of a start up for a month but I have nothing to show for that as I am not allowed to.

Short CV Background:

2 pages
First page: only undergrad uni details and "experience (research internships)
Second page: Projects, External collaborations, Awards, Skills.
It's complete and organized with only that small portion of space remaining.

Actual Questions:

Will it help showcase any part of my expertise? (Communication, writing, English in general)
Is it relevant to the Admission panel? (or would I be wasting their time by adding this?)

I don't plan on mentioning it anywhere else like SOP, LOR, SOH (Personal History statement).


texts: On excluding ex-supervisor from project team in a funding proposal

texts:
I am preparing a project proposal on a topic in line with what I was working on at my previous university (University A). My ex-supervisor has recently submitted a proposal to another funding body. There are some overlaps between her project and the one I am preparing. I am considering not to include her or anyone in University A as collaborators because I don't see any added value with us both being in the same project team other than making the team looks bigger. We are otherwise on good terms. I am also thinking of including another academic who used to work at University A but has recently moved to another university. I believe he and my ex-supervisor are also on good terms. Would this be OK or would it be perceived negatively by the reviewers, who might know our work histories, or by my ex-supervisor? Or is it better for me not to apply altogether because of the overlaps? Or, would it be better to go ahead and include everybody in the team? I should add that my ex-supervisor knows of my intention to apply for this funding.

I would be grateful if someone could help me think through the advantages or disadvantages of each of these options, in relation to the possible outcomes of our applications.


texts:
I completed my PhD last year and now work in industry. Nevertheless I've continued to work privately on my MSc and PhD thesis' work and lately I've been getting stellar results on the work I did for my MSc thesis. (My thesis work is unrelated to my current employment.) The results have undeniable commercial potential which I hope to explore; yet perhaps because I've spent so much time in academia, I have the urge to publish. I'm keenly aware that publishing has the risk of ceding my competitive advantage to potential competitors, yet I know of a couple of academics who both publish state of the art research in the area of their growing businesses. Therefore I suspect that under some circumstances it is possible to be involved in enterprise and publish, although I'm not sure what those circumstances are.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this issue. When is it okay to publish when doing enterprise?

Edit: my question is not about whether it is okay to publish if outside academia. Rather, it's about when its okay to publish research that is being seriously considered for a (future) commercial product.


texts: How often are results faked in computer science papers?

texts: Especially in the the more experimental subfields of computer science like systems, how often are results faked? If there is no verification process for any code used, do researchers sometimes fake results to save time?


texts: Can I include new experiment results in a Camera Ready submission?

texts:
I have a paper accepted at a X conference. I have been working on changes for the camera ready version. I have some results from experiments that I ran after the paper's initial submission.
Questions:

Can I include the results of this new experiment in the Camera Ready version?
Will I need to inform the program chairs of this change?


texts: Publish more research papers or advise dissertations?

texts: A faculty should advise students working on dissertations and to publish also. However, publications can come from students working on dissertations, from working alone or from collaborating with others like postdocs. So should faculty advise more students working on their dissertations or work with other researchers? It is clear that faculty should do both of them, but should anyone be given a higher priority?


texts: Neglected many aspects of knowledge during my PhD research. What's the best strategy to learn and be comfortable in it?

texts:
My question is very vague. I just realized that there are many aspects of my research field that I have very limited knowledge in but would like to explore as a future research direction. Is it too late or I can use any strategy to gain the knowledge and be in a position to contribute in the field?

I have spent 5 years PhD in an applied field. Publishing in my field of work is not mathematically intensive. It's more of utilizing the tools available for carrying out simulations and analyze the physics of the problem and results.

However, now I am beginning to realize that development of the tools being used in my field (materials science) is much more rewarding in terms of research output, securing a position in a national lab or a tenure track position than just using an open-source software or making minor tweaks to it.

I want to learn the mathematics behind the tools available for my field to such a degree that I can comfortably develop my own code. I have good programming skills. Is this a too far a goal for this stage of my studies? I am about to defend my PhD thesis.

I should have realized this years ago...but here I am. Is this an achievable goal?

Ps: I have an understanding of the mathematics that goes on under the hood of the softwares. But I have never actually coded a simplified version of the tools myself. I self-studied few books to gain some insight on the tools and just leapt in using them to my research.


texts:
I am applying for graduate programs this year. My undergraduate major is physics while my intended specialty is astrophysics. I apply for physics program for the most of schools and astronomy program for the others. One of the main factors which led me to apply for physics program rather than astronomy was the fact that there are much less student openings in astronomy graduate schools, due to its small size of department in general.

I am thinking of 4 recommenders in my mind, and three of them is faculty in astronomy (while two out of the three are theoretical astrophysicists)

I wonder how much the affiliation of recommenders would matter in the consideration of LORs. i.e. Do you think it is `inappropriate' to apply for physics graduate school with three letters from astronomy faculty?

(This concern recently came up with since I read the requirement of one physics program that at least two of the LORs should be from professor in physics.)


texts: I just started my PhD in an interdisciplinary research lab. For the research I wish to pursue, I am missing some methodological skills, particularly in statistics and machine learning. Are there any suggestions APART from taking online courses? How can I fill this knowledge gap whilst doing all the other (European) PhD duties?


texts: Can a former employer provide a useful recommendation for graduate admission to a science program?

texts:
In its online application form for graduate admission, Stanford University requires three recommenders and allows for another three optional ones. Quoting the application form:

  You must provide three letters and evaluations from faculty or others
  qualified to evaluate your potential for graduate study. At least one
  letter and evaluation should be from a faculty member at the last
  school you attended as a fulltime student (unless you have been out of
  school for more than five years). Substitutions for faculty
  recommendations may include work associates or others who can comment
  on your academic potential for graduate work.

Reading this, I feel somewhat uncertain what type of recommendations would most help my application. I'm particularly confused by the phrase

  Substitutions for faculty recommendations may include work associates...

I worked for Apple a few years back. A favorable letter from my then-supervisor might convey the impression that I'm technologically minded and enjoy ties to Silicon Valley. Considering Stanford's own proximity and close connection to the Valley, such a recommendation might be well-received?

On the other hand, I'm applying to the theoretical Physics program. My former supervisor at Apple clearly has no basis on which to judge my potential for graduate work in this field. Can anyone provide some pertinent insight into what purpose recommendations are supposed to fulfill? Would a letter solely commenting on my work ethic and team spirit help my case?


texts: How can submit my paper to Elsevier when not affiliated?

texts: I have obtained my master a couple years ago and am looking into pursuing a PhD. I currently have a part time job completely irrelevant to academia. For applying for a PhD, I figured that I need a research paper, I haven't been totally disconnected from learning in this period and have recently written a paper with a faculty member with me doing all the major part and her evaluating/reviewing. When trying to submit the manuscript to Elsevier, the very first thing I'm required to fill in as the correspondence author is my affiliation, It won't even go to the next step :( I really want to submit my paper to this particular journal. I don't know what to do, should I call the Elsevier offices? would that make a difference? Are there recent corresponding authors in Elsevier with no affiliation. Please let me know anything that might be helpful. I would greatly appreciate it. :)


texts:
I am applying for Postgraduate degree research but for that I need to submit a Research Proposal with the application and it is very confusing for me because I never did any kind of research before.

I have been a small business owner for the last 7-8 years and I want to do research in the same field (Entrepreneurship or small- or family-business related), but I just don't know how to narrow down and select a specific topic.

Can you suggest some guidelines to select a topic?


texts: Is software developed by publicly funded research groups legally public domain?

texts: In the United States, if a university lab develops code while receiving public funding, are they legally obligated to release their source code?


texts: How to find free data sets from the internet for independent research?

texts:
I am conducting an independent research on a tourism-related topic. However, data sets on the internet require premium registration.

I was wondering: what are the best websites that offer data sets for free? Can experienced researchers give any good leads?


texts: Can I modify my name on my Scopus profile page?

texts:
I have recently legally changed my name and about to publish my paper in that new name. However I was wondering is there anyway to change my name on my scopus profile?

Thanks


texts: Supervisor wants my paper in another conference, but I have paid for travel for the current one

texts:
My supervisor wants the paper at another huge conference where all the funding are given and it's more valid than the current accepted one. But I have paid all my air fares and hotel fares for the current travel. Refunding is not possible it seems. Can I go to a conference and just present without publishing?

I can't waste my money by just avoiding the conference. I have to take something out of it.


texts: What would be a good approach to make sure my advisor goes through all the report?

texts:
As the question suggests, is it ethical for me to check if my supervisor is reading my whole report/paper? If yes, then can I add a line somewhere in the middle of the report to test whether or not he reads it? For example,

  Please highlight this line if you read it.

I know that this may irritate him, but I want to verify that he's reading my work.

I tried to add a deliberate error, a very specific and big error just to check if he would catch it or not and the response I got was: "Seems fine just fix the typos and you are not good at explaining this specific thing..." The major errors were never found, which bothers me, as it proves he hasn't read the entire thing.

What would be a good approach to make sure he goes through all the report?

[UPDATE]

Thanks for all the comments, however most of the answers and comments are actually suggestions for me to write proper English, and does not answer the question originally asked that How should a student make his supervisor go through the whole documents?

Also my scientific writing possess all the quality writing, flow, punctuation and style that a good report should have. I have published in good journals, so i do not think that my report writing skill is bad.


texts: How do some researchers consistently get published in venues with low acceptance rates?

texts:
I'm more interested in answers from researchers in the field of computer science/electrical engineering.  Having said that, readers in a different discipline observing such phenomenon are welcome to contribute.

I know of a few 'famous' individuals who have copious number of articles appearing in top journals/conferences every year without fail.  Looking at their CV, it seems that they have a 100% success rate at these top venues.

Question: as we know, the review process is random at times, with 'dumb' reviewers rejecting papers for no good reasons.  This in turn forces us to look for an alternative or perhaps lower ranking venue to publish our articles.  Given this fact, how do the said individuals have such a consistent record?  Is there a level one can get to where every idea is gold and every presentation is such that even a dumb reviewer can't recommend a reject? Or is it the case that there is a 'back door' or the individual or institution reputation is so bright that any reviewers are obligated to accept the article?

What is their strategy?


texts: Is a Master Student ready to be a Review Editor?

texts:
I just published my first paper (originated from my monograph) in a prestigious journal and that same journal invited me to be part of their Editorial Board as a Review Editor. I feel that this is a good opportunity to improve my skills (e.g.: writing, specific field knowledge, etc) and help others with their papers but I also feel quite intimidate by this offer since I barely started my Master and only know PhD and postdoc students that are reviewers.

I already talked a bit with my supervisor and he feels that this journal is too "high-level" for me, maybe a "lower" journal would be ok to accept it.


texts: Software to extract citations and abstracts for meta-analysis

texts:
I am conducting a meta-analysis and searching pertinent articles in PubMed. The typical scenario is to apply a dedicated search string, and then retrieve between 50 and 5000 citations including the abstract.

Citations, abstracts and ancillary details (eg PMID) can be extracted from PubMed but only as text. Some softwares can support data extraction, such as Zotero or Reference Manager, but they are apparently inefficient or costly.

Is there any more suitable alternative, still free?


texts: What options does an international PhD student in UK have to fund his PhD?

texts: I am in the final year of my PhD and have some dues to clear. Unfortunately, I don't have enough funds to pay my fees. What options do I have, being an international student, to obtain financial assistance to finish my degree?


texts: Cheating among the international students very common in college. What should I do?

texts:
I am an international student in an European country. During midterms and finals, I realized that more than half of the students are overtly cheating. I do not mean just looking other student's paper, but rather very extreme cases like sending the questions to other people to solve, googling, going to the bathroom to check the formulas, etc. Most of the lecturers do not take any measures, all they do is warn them and let it continue. (Some of them even let student go to toilet twice.)

I have talked with students from other sections and courses and their observations were the same. Also, I take two classes in which I am the only international student in class, and the local students do not even dare to cheat. They just do their tasks, be in class on time, etc. I am not an excellent student but really try my best. So at some time in my career, cheaters will get better exchanges or intern programmes than me because they are more cunning than me. There are people who spend their days and nights in the library and that would be even more depressing for them.

I came from a third-world country where, even if you go to a low-quality university and are busted while cheating, you have no chance to continue your education: not only that, you lose the chance to work in the public sector. (Of course there can be exceptions.) It is counted as a serious crime that never leaves your future life.

So what are my options? What can I do about it? Should I write a letter or something to the dean or someone else? I just want to know about the college's academic conduct code (I couldn't find it on their website). I feel like I've been taken for a fool and nearly lost my motivation to study.


texts: How difficult is it to get PhD funding for the Humanities (UK)?

texts:
How difficult is it to get PhD funding for the Humanities in the UK? Specifically, let's say I am targeting top-tier universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, and UCL for the Humanities. I got a First and have already done some graduate work on a masters level. However, I am not exceptional, i.e. I do not have Firsts/A+ in every subject. Is there an approximate number of how many people who get admitted to Oxford then also receive funding? How many international students receive funding (in %), etc. as opposed to EEA (which I am)? Anything like this would be helpful.

In case it's relevant, assume that my PhD thesis topic is interesting, but not of exceptional value to society or exceptionally novel (novel enough for a PhD, but not revolutionizing the field say).


texts: What are the consequences of refusing to grant honorary authorship to a superior?

texts:
Recently, I learned about honorary authorships in papers and publications - e.g. the head of an institute or person who secured the financial grants.

If you are in an inferior position, like a PhD student or not being the head of an institute, and you do not believe in giving credit via authorship to anyone who was not significantly involved in the studies directly; (by the way, according to some scientific boards, not even securing grants or offering the lab counts as such), can you successfully deny adding an honorary authorship for your supervisor or other superior without having to bear negative consequences for your work and later supervision?

After all, honorary authorship has a bad influence on life balance of scientists if seen on a large scale.


texts: Does it matter if you have three or four possible answers when making a multiple choice test for learning?

texts:
I have built several apps in Norwegian about hunting, philosophy etc. Students use the app to learn a subject and test their knowledge before doing their exam. In current state i have one question with three alternatives, where one is correct. The student will be presented with the solution to the question after they have chosen the alternative, and not on the end of the test.

For example:

What is the the capital city of Australia?

Canberra
Sydney
Melbourne

I was wondering if anyone know if there is any research on if students learn more/less/equal by being presented with 4 alternatives instead of three.

For example:

What is the the capital city of Australia?

Canberra
Sydney
Melbourne
Edmunton

Does this have any effect for learning, since it's less probable to just check the correct by chance. Maybe students have to do more active thinking since it's more alternatives to think about, and therefore learn more?


texts: I have defended my PhD thesis yesterday. Can I ask a committee member for his feedback on my answers during question-answer session?

texts:
My PhD is in computational Materials science. I successfully defended my thesis yesterday. However, I felt that one of the committee members was starting to get angry with my answers. I was trying to answer his questions, but his questions were very vague indicating that he clearly did not go through my thesis. Thus I had to answer his questions a bit elaborately, so that he could understand the reasoning behind my answers. I could sense that he was dissatisfied with my answers.

For example: He asked me, how confident are you about your theoretical model when comparing with the real world experimental results?

My answer: Since my model has A, B, C assumptions. It can never accurately predict the experimental/real world results.

His question: What would be your confidence level? What percentage?

My answer: It would be hard to put an exact percentage. But I would go with 90%.

He followed with an "okay".

Can I ask him directly about his feedback on my answers during the session?


texts: Automatically, and freely, download PDFs for a set of references

texts: In EndNote, I know there's an option to automatically download PDF files for the references you have in your library. Is there any way to do the same thing in some kind of non-commercial software, like for example Mendeley or BibDesk?


texts:
I was wondering is it possible to study an MSc in applied mathematics with a background of a masters in chemistry? I have an absolute passion for mathematics and would love the opportunity to study a single year masters.

Would I be given the opportunity to take the entrance exams without formal training? Or would I be discounted instantly?

I have read extensively into the content of the course I have in mind including looking at all their past papers.

I understand it is going to be an individual basis depending on the university and my grades but wanted to hear has someone done or heard of anything similar?


texts: Falsely Accused of Cheating on a College Final

texts:
On Saturday I had a Computer Science final exam. When I finished it and turned it in my teacher told me that she saw online that I had accessed some file from our course (We have notes and our syllabus/grades posted online on a website) during the beginning of the final. I told her no, and that I was in class the entire time and didn’t touch my phone. What could’ve happened was that my phones browser refreshed the page after a change in connectivity or something and it appeared as if I had accessed that random file(since I had a lot of our notes open on my phone beforehand for studying). She wasn’t  hearing any of it and filed a case to my college dean.

After meeting with the dean, he said that unless I have evidence to refute the online access log they have, there is nothing I can do.

My question is, what do I do in this situation? I’ve never felt this helpless since I have no clue how to go about proving against the log, which they count as “hard evidence”. Because of this incident, I’ve failed this class and it was a pre-req for all my classes next quarter.

Does anyone have an idea on what I could possibly do?


texts: Obtaining academic positions after doing research in logic

texts:
Suppose one is starting their math PhD in the US and is considering doing research in logic. Let's roughly split "logic" into "pure logic" and "applied logic".

How hard will it be for them to get academic positions to a math PhD with specialization in logic (given that they don't come from a top logic department, like Berkeley, or even Wisconsin; but from a group I university). Would it be easier if they have a PhD in pure or applied logic? In the latter case, how possible is it to work in two areas? (E.g. if one does applied logic related to computer science/natural language, is it possible to eventually become a professor in both math and computer science/linguistics?)

(I understand that many answers will say that it depends on the research that the PhD did/adviser/connections, etc., but let's just assume that the research if fine (not exceptional), the adviser is a more or less known logician. I just wanted to estimate how hard it is to get academic jobs for a logic person compared to pure mathematicians, as well as if it's possible to work in two areas if one specializes in applied logic.)


texts:
I help organize a workshop in a conference on machine learning where the conference doesn't publish proceedings for the workshops: the workshops have to do it themselves if they want to.
What are the steps to find a publisher and strike a deal to publish the proceedings of a workshop? (where to find the list of publisher in a given field, what are the typical contract clauses and negotiation points, etc.)
I know that we can publish it ourselves (since in the end publish = hosting some PDFs online) but I'm curious to know how the old-fashioned publishers work.
If that matters for the answer, all papers are written in English and one requirement is that papers are open access or allowed to be posted on arXiv.


texts: Improving chances of entering a Theoretical Physics program in the US

texts:
I am a current undergraduate student majoring in Physics in a US institution. I am thinking of doing my PhD in Theoretical Physics also in a US institution. I think I know the basic things I should do to have a strong application:

Have a very good GRE score
Do some research in my undergrad institution (some theory research exposure would be good)
Strong letters of recommendation
Take advanced courses in Physics and Math in my school.

I am currently in my senior year, is there any extra advice you might have for improving my chances of entering a Theoretical Physics PhD program? Either during my senior year or when I apply ? ( I am planning to apply next year)


texts: Is concentration an extremely important working habit?

texts:
I study mathematics and by "working" in the title, I mean researching and serious reading on my field (reading difficult papers, books, etc.) I believe the answer for other fields would be similar.

Am I right in saying that concentration is an extremely important working habit? I definitely feel that my working habit needs improvement: I stop working and check email/facebook, read news/forums, or even play a few blitz chess games from time to time. I believe that it is very distracting and that my efficiency is low. I also listen to music but this is probably less distracting and sometimes may even be helpful.

Is it right to say that an ideal working habit is that

  Be completely immersed in working, avoid all possible distractions, refrain from visiting any irrelevant web sites, turn off mobile phone and email notification. Work for a few hours until reaching a planned milestone, or when the body forcing a stop (micturition, hunger, low energy level, etc.)?


texts: Where do I find the funding information for each math PhD program?

texts: I will be applying for math PhD, and was wondering if there is any way to find the amount of stipend I can get for each program (already checked each school's website, without avail). Are top 50 math PhD programs generally fully funded, that I shouldn't be worried about it too much?


texts: Is there any way to pick a right direction in research while solving a problem?

texts:
I am a PhD student mid stage, working on computational aspects of mathematics. I am working on a research problem with my supervisor. I am at a stage where I can't take much help from the supervisor because I am in the fourth year. I can't do something like going to supervisors office to verify my answers. I did these things in the initial years of my PhD, but now I can't poke my supervisor that often.

I am facing a difficulty that how to come with something non-trivial on myself. The problem with me is that I go into wrong directions many times, and in the past I have spent many days, weeks, or longer on these wrong directions. I want to minimise the number of these trials and failures. Does it come with age?

Question: Is there any way to pick a right direction (which yields a paper) in research while solving a problem? I can take the help of my research supervisor once in two weeks. However, many times a day or week, I also need to discard some of the possible directions of research.


texts: Are there many journals that do not accept TeX/LaTeX?

texts:
I have been told by our head of department, a veteran academic with a lot of publications behind his name, that I am not allowed to write my masters dissertation with TeX/LaTeX, as many journals do not accept TeX/LaTeX documents, and now I have to use Word. I work in thermoflow research.
I can almost not believe that journals would prefer Word over TeX/LaTeX, or is this in actual fact true?
I would appreciate answers from people actually working in academic publishing.


texts: How does one keep informed in a field that relies heavily on scholarly books?

texts: Given that the cycle for writing scholarly books is usually much longer than journal articles, how do professors and students stay informed about their peers' current research? Are there any pathways outside conferences and personal correspondence?


texts: Who benefits from the anonymity of the peer review process?

texts:
I was reading an answer to another question, which says on the topic of a reviewer potentially contacting an author under a special set of circumstances

  Some would say you should wait until it is public, so as not to break the anonymity of the reviewing process. Others think it is fine to reveal yourself and contact the author directly

My first thought was "The anonymity is there to protect the reviewer, so of course he can give up the protection and initiate contact". But then I realized that maybe there are other people whose interests might be hurt if this happens.

So, let's assume that the anonymous person (the reviewer, and in some cases also the author), always benefits from his own anonymity. Is there somebody else who is interested in the reviewer remaining anonymous?


texts: How to do a PhD to equip myself for a job as assistant professor

texts:
This is in reference to my older question: Will every PhD student from a reputed institute land a postdoc position?.

I have completed my master’s in pure mathematics and have got a funding for five years.
I have been told that there are few faculty positions available w.r.t the number of PhDs generated (I don’t know if its really true).

My questions:

How should I plan to do my research in order to get an edge over the others in getting a job?

Should I try to visit some famous universities (see if they accept me) and work with some very good advisors so that I get to solve a very good problem?
Should I try to get a breakthrough result even if  it takes seven to eight years and complete my PhD in that? Because completing your PhD in less than five years and having no major result will push you back.

In other words how should I prepare myself to be better equipped in landing a postdoc and then a job as as assistant professor?

I am asking this because, no matter how passionate you are about mathematics, you need to find a job some day or the other to run yourself and your family.


texts: PhD thesis: novelty at the time of proposal but not submission

texts:
Location: India
Field: Neuroscience
Background: A few years ago, at the time of joining my PhD, I submitted a proposal which was eventually approved by the institute and the ethics committee. At the time when I proposed this work, there were barely a couple of papers on the topic and it seemed quite novel. Now, I have submitted my thesis and have just received my reviews from two external reviewers. During this time, as expected, many other people have got into the field. Unfortunately for me, I have not been able to publish my thesis results yet, so I have missed out on cashing in on the head start.
Now, one of my reviewer is questioning the novelty of my work. There are still a few novel aspects to my thesis in the sense of how I have approached the problem, although some of the novelty has been lost simply because there are some recent papers that have shown similar, if not the same, results. The important point is that most of these recent papers are in the past 1-1.5 years.
Typically in the kind of PhD program I am enrolled in, one submits a proposal and then works on them till they submit. Modifications are usually not the norm. Part of the reason why I couldn't finish my thesis before these papers started kicking in is wanting to be much more sure about the results (given that I come from a completely different field with zero background), lack of (enough) data at the right time, learning the ropes of the game, and intermediate lack of funding situation (committed funds not arriving at the right time), etc.
Question: In programs like the one I am enrolled in, can one justify novelty based on the fact that when the study was initiated, it was quite novel and that it is only in the past 1-1.5 years that people have started publishing? Another way to look at the question would be: are there any good ways to "post-hoc" justify novelty?
A similar situation (without the PhD context) would be that a reviewer recommends rejection of a novel paper after a similar paper got published (while your paper was under review).
Additional note: my advisor agrees that there are still novel aspects to my thesis and they feel that the reviewer is "asking for too much from a PhD thesis"
Edit: The reviewer has recommended the thesis; this means that I will be writing a response to the comments I have received (including making some corrections/changes as needed) and then there will be a viva/defence


texts:
I'm currently in the first year of a six year bachelor's degree aiming for astrophysics. The course is a home/distance learning setup run by the Open University. While I am enjoying it thoroughly, I am aware of the academic politics that can dog professional science. So my question is thus: Upon soldiering on with the degree, then masters, and then PhD, will I be taken seriously within a professional setting given my inability to reference a leading university for my education? Will the format for my studying be "pitied"?

Edit: I suppose a bit more info may help. I'm 27,wife, 2 children, and I currently work as a full time chef, and self employed part time IT technician. I flunked my GCSEs, with no further education. The past 3 years have been a revelation for me, and I have discovered a before unexperienced love for academia; specifically, physics and astronomy. Last year I completed a 1 year OU maths brush up course, which at the time I really struggled with. This year I had a bout of madness and took the plunge for a BSc degree in astronomy. I am now loving the math within the physics so far (yet to hit calculus though!)

PhD, and even masters, is a long way off.  Also, since this original post I've improved my understanding of what a PhD actually entails. So I realise that if I get there, it may well not have anything to do with the OU!

It occurs to me that a lot of my initial queries could have been avoided with a better understanding of the educational and qualification system itself. I now have a greater appreciation as to what a PhD actually is, realising that its a long way off and not necessarily needed for a fulfilling career in research.

I think trying to repair my broken education and fight my way into a worthwhile (and productive!) career is enough of challenge at the moment. There will be plenty of time later for worries concerning doctorates.

It is good to hear that there is at least an open mind towards distance educated professionals.

As has been said, if you've got it, you've got it - you just have to be ready to prove it.


texts: How to grade a student software project?

texts:
Situation

Students have three weeks to write a little application (UI, some logic, event handling, persist data to a file). They are given one page with some requirements (input). They are supposed to hand in a compilable and running application (output). No software documentation required.

Question

How would you grade a software project? What criteria would you use? Can you give examples?

Idea

There are a few areas that seem important to me.

Are all the given requirements implemented?
Is error handling implemented or does the application crash when the user inputs invalid data?
Does the user interface look good, is it usable?
Is the code well structured?

Each class in a separate file
Small methods which do one single task
Public methods are documented

Can I save the data, quit the application, restart it again, and all the data is reloaded?

Those criteria are very vague, I know. For each of the above criteria, I don't know when to give an A and when to give an F. Any suggestions to improve the criteria and any suggestions on how to grade it?


texts: Does 'securing letters of recommendations' count as one of legitimate reasons of going abroad for one semester?

texts: I am going to apply for one semester of study abroad at a more prominent university than the one I am currently enrolled in. One of my true motivations to apply is to secure letters of recommendations in case I'll apply for a graduate school later on. Should I mention this motivation? My personal statement will be read by both sides involved. Will the mention make it sound that the letters from my university are worth less? Does the reason in itself count as one of legitimate motives to go?


texts: Any shame in copying from a grant proposal body to create an abstract?

texts:
I have to write an abstract for a grant proposal's cover page.
Is there any shame in strategically copying/pasting entire sentences from the body of the grant proposal and arranging them coherently to form the abstract?
On one hand, it feels funny to have (e.g.) the opening sentence be the same, and if the reviewers notice it, it might look unprofessional. On the other hand, if it's a well-written sentence, why should it matter if it were reused?


texts: Approach expert in field - afraid of losing idea if expert doesn't need me

texts:
I have an idea that I have developed after extensive literature review, I am quite sure I have formed an interesting hypothesis, although I am not completely sure this hypothesis is testable.

I would like to contact the expert in the field which I think should have most of the data I need and has probably done part of the analysis but has not looked at this data through the perspective I am interested in. I do not have any common collaborators with this person.

I am afraid that if I contact this person and explain my idea he might think that I am not needed to complete this research because I am not offering data or any particular methodology, and I would only be able to do only a small part of the data analysis. Basically I am not offering much aside from the idea and writing the article, thus my concern for being excluded by a potential article.

Due to time constraints I would not be able to do this on my own so I do not have many alternatives, how should I proceed?


texts: Asking part of the salary in advance while starting a postdoc at a US university

texts:
I'm not a US national, moving to the US from a foreign country to start a new postdoc at a US university. Considering the initial expenses (especially the deposit for the rent, which is three times the monthly rent), it'd help me if I could get part of the salary in advance.

My question is: would this be really a strange request to ask the department about it? Has anyone done it before with a positive result?


texts: What should the instructor do about a student who is not aware of their disability?

texts: A student has obvious symptoms of a disability which is relevant to the instructor's class.  The student does not appear to be aware of the disability.  The disability does make it harder for the student to succeed in their education.  What should the instructor do to help the student?


texts: Submit the same paper to several journals/conferences

texts:
(N.B.: This isn't a duplicate of Submitting the same research to multiple conferences, though the question is related.)

I've written a paper and am looking for journals or conferences where I could present it. I intend to send the same work (with only minor changes to fit length restrictions, etc.) to several journals or conferences organizers, at the same time. The goal is not to actually publish the same work in several journals or talk about it in several conferences, but to do that in a single journal or conference, as quickly as possible. I have two things in mind:

The review process is typically very long. If my paper is rejected by a group of reviewers, I'll lose several months during which I could have found other prospects. This is made worse by the fact that calls for papers tend to occur at about the same time.
For conferences, I can't know in advance whether my institution will accept to cover the costs. If I'm accepted to a conference and my institution refuses to cover the costs, I'll have to wait for a new opportunity, which might itself become void, and so on.

Is it ethical to submit the same paper to several journals or conferences at the same time, provided that, if my paper is accepted by several publishers/organizers, I follow up with only one of them, and disengage from the others?

And, if this is possible, how exactly ? (Should I explicitly inform the publisher or the organiser of the conference that I'm submitting the same work somewhere else ? Should I tell them where exactly I'm submitting the paper ? Should I tell them after the fact if I find a new opportunity in the meantime ? etc.)


texts: I feel like I forgot my simple mathematical knowledge

texts:
Please help me. I can not tell psychologists about this because they are not mathematicians (They will not understand me)

Sometimes I don't read about mathematics for a couple of months, I do not think anything about my research and then I feel like I forget everything when I go back to research.

For example, I was working on a very important problem in March, and then I stopped doing mathematics so far. I want to go back to my research now, but I feel myself as weak, exhausted, lost my math skills and charlatan. Fear of failure, fear of losing everything, makes me crazy.

what can I do?

When I start researching again I have to learn math from scratch because I feel I have forgotten everything. It's disgusting because it makes me feel bad.

Please give advice =)

Thanks


texts: How to list a paper in a CV that has been presented at a conference and submitted to a journal?

texts:
Is there an elegant way to state that a paper in a CV that has been presented at a conference and also submitted to a journal?

I.e. Name. Title. (Presented at XX Conference, Submitted to YY Journal)


texts: Can editors review a manuscript and make a decision if they cannot find any reviewers?

texts:
I had submitted a manuscript to an International Journal few months before. It is already 5 months. But the status is still showing "under review". Since it is getting late, so I contacted to the Journal stating the current status. I got a reply that they have contacted a number of reviewers, but no one shows interest to review it. At present they have sent the manuscript to the editor.

So whether an Editor can reject it most probably? or can review my manuscript to make a proper decision?


texts: Authorship dispute on a paper that came out of a final report of a course?

texts:
Background: I had a course about 1 year and half ago that is required to do a simulation for its final report. I developed my idea about simulation based on some papers I read and wrote a proposal based on that idea and submitted to instructors. Instructors send back my proposal and said it's good but the course requirement is to have a group mate on this final project for sure. I was reluctant to it but because it was course requirement, I just randomly searched for someone that did not have any group mate yet and I found someone that she did not have any idea about my proposal at all. I wanted her name to be on my proposal and final report just because of course requirement and nothing else. Because I even did my preliminary test simulations on my idea based on the codes that I wrote by myself and it turns out my idea is gonna work. It was not the greatest idea out there but it was something for a graduate course and I really liked my idea and wanted to do this. So, I just matched with this group mate and gave her all the code that I wrote and all the resources in terms of papers and other softwares and asked her just like an operator run these codes and simulations and store the results and I will post-process them by myself. That was all the story about this final report and I wrote the report and submitted it and successfully got A grade and done.

Problem: Sometimes after this course, I just decided to publish this idea even in a not so great journal with IF ~ 1 or even less. Because, I thought the idea is nice and new and even the results that I got because of this course project is good enough to warrant a junior publication as something that I did in my spare time. So, I decided to convert the final report into a paper. Initially, I was thinking it might be fair if I put my group mate on this paper because I'm not a native English speaking and she is an american and maybe she could at least help to polish the English of the paper. So, I sent a draft paper to her for her review about a year ago, but she promised to read and send her points back to me, which never did and I did not hear back from her. I think it was stupid but I wanted to just be nice and that's it. So, I decided to remove her name and publish it just in my own name. As a result, to completely even eliminate her contribution to just running my codes as an operator, I rerun all the codes again by myself and post-processed them again (it was good to make sure at least results are reproducible...) and added some other idea that I read newly in some papers and I submitted my draft to arXiv and it's online now. I also submitted this preprint to a journal that is not that great but it's not that bad for publishing a paper based on a course work and at least the journal is not predatory.

Question: Recently, my adviser found my preprint in arXiv and he's arguing with me that you should put the name of group mate in that article because her name is on the final report. Furthermore, you should withdraw the preprint because it's low quality. OK, the low quality is not something we want to talk about cause it's really relative and by the way my adviser does not have any experience on this specific topic. My question is only because the name of my group mate is on the final report of that course, does it warrant her an authorship?! I mean, why I can't write an even very very very low quality paper based on the codes and idea that I developed initially? Probably, you might know that I'm really angry and it makes me mad that I can't publish something based on my own work because I just put the name of someone on a piece of paper without contribution from her? By the way, it's not her that arguing and it's only my adviser that wants to fight with me. Any idea or suggestion is appreciated.


texts: Is there any research/study that looked at the usefulness of giving awards in academia? By useful I mean weighting the positive and negative effects. I'm interested in three kinds of awards: awards to students, awards to teachers, and awards to researchers. (let me know if I should post as 3 different questions)


texts: How should I deal with incorrect information given to me by a TA

texts:
I'm in an introductory CS class, and we have a small project we need to complete. I was struggling, so I went to the student(undergrad) TA's office hours, and asked a couple questions which made sense to me given my understanding of the material. He seemed preoccupied with work on his computer, but when I finished a question he would look up and say something like yes, that's correct, or "I see what your saying, that's a good question," and finally "Yes, if you use that data structure you get [Horrendous run time]." (I hypothesized this in my question) As a result, I rewrote my code trying to use different data structures, and I changed the fundamental algorithms I was using.

When my program still was not working today, I went to my professor's office hours, and ended up asking basically the same questions. It turned out that they were not, in fact, good questions, but were based on fundamental misunderstandings of the material, and in particular, the data structure I was talking about is exactly what is used and it gets a very good run time. (But my understanding of how to process the data was way off). Once my professor cleared this up, I rewrote my code and now it works.

In retrospect, I think the TA wasn't listening at all to my questions, and was just saying yes until I left. This had a serious negative impact on me, as I rewrote code that was on the right track and pored time into debugging, only to have to throw it all away.

So my question is: should I tell the professor about this, or just walk away? If it matters, the student will likely be TA again next semester.


texts: What order should I list author affiliations on a conference poster?

texts: First and foremost, as the title suggests, in what sort of order should I put author affiliations on the poster? Alphabetical? First author's affiliation, then alphabetical, or some other way (and do excuse me if a similar question has been asked and answered)?


texts: I am an English Grad presenting at a NASA conference; what's the best way to prepare?

texts:
While answers might be too heavily opinion based, I'm just looking for a little reassurance as to what to expect. I've done undergrad conferences for English before and that's no sweat, but I sent off an abstract under guidance from my boss (who is a geographer but mostly a mental health advocate) to the Ames NASA Research Centre Lunar Grad Conference and it got accepted.

Now, my idea was more of a thought experiment than a study, so I don't really have data or much in the way of hard facts to go along with what I'm saying, and I'm nervous as hell that I'll scoffed at by the other scientists there. The organizers did say that it's supposed to be a low pressure environment, but still, I'm wondering what to expect in general at a conference and if an Arts major presenting at a Science conference is totally unheard of or not.


texts: Is it possible to receive private tutoring for graduate-level courses from faculty members?

texts:
I am having a lot of trouble understanding the material in one of my courses. I feel like the professor often rushes through the material, leaving me without enough time to catch up in my busy schedule.

This professor is also really esteemed for his/her research contributions and speaking to my adviser about this (who also happens to be close to this professor) would make me feel very uncomfortable. I even spoke to my peers in the course about this and they seem to agree about the speed at which things are delivered.

Anyway, I often think about what I can do in this situation since exams are coming up. One idea that I ponder is the possibility of privately hiring a tutor within the faculty who could better explain the ideas in the course to me; after all they have relevant teaching experience.

I'm not certain if this is a good idea or not and because of this, I would really appreciate feedback relevant to this idea. If there aren't any appropriate solutions, what else can you suggest?

Note: I don't really want to give out any other details that would compromise his/her reputation. So I'll just leave it at that.


texts: What’s included in a press kit for a research project?

texts:
I work at a research lab. During a periodic review, the board asked us to add a press kit related to our research. I surveyed a bunch of similar projects and found a huge array of content referred to as “press kits”.

Is there best practice for what’s included in research group press kits?

Before you suggest I ask the board, I should tell you that we nodded sagely when they delivered their advice from on high and didn’t have the gall to seem unsure. Any tips appreciated! The next review is coming up!


texts: Applying for a PhD group who has asked for my research interests

texts:
So I am applying to a research group in Quantum Optics  and Quantum
Information. The professor has asked for my research interests and why I would like to join his group. My research interests are in the same field that he is researching but is not exactly to the point. For example, someone might be researching on the shape and size of the apple but I'm interested in the color and taste. We are still researching in the same field and I am also interested in doing my phd in the project he's working on.

How do I express my research interests in this situation? Also, when someone asks "why are you interested in joining my research group", what are the usual points or aspects you talk about?


texts: How to get students to use the course forum?

texts:
Forums are common features of online courses. The software is usually provided by the institution. It is in everyone's interest to make a course forum useful, maybe even lively; generally we want more posts rather than fewer, and more interaction between those posts, rather than a bunch of individual observations.

Using the forum is sometimes counted as part of students' grades. There are a great number of ways of measuring participation, though; I previously asked How to score class participation, correcting for natural outspokenness?

That said, making forum activity part of student grades is not necessarily key to making the forum useful. What is the most effective and practical way of getting students to post in the forum?


texts: Are authors of papers okay with receiving questions from people in industry?

texts:
Would authors of a paper be okay with fielding technical questions about the paper (implementation, theory, etc.) from a person in industry?

I see this as a moral grey area because an engineer in industry is in some way profiting off the work of a researcher without necessarily paying them for the time they took to respond to emails, etc. On the other hand, is the researcher responsible for clarifying details about their paper regardless of who they are being contacted by?

Of course, this will vary from person to person and the length of the engagement, but I was just wondering what the general attitude towards this situation is.


texts: Past vs. Present Tense in APA Format when discussing other's work?

texts: When I am discussing previous work, according to APA formatting, it is clear I should use past "Alicke (2000) described....". However, what tense do I use to explain their results? Aka "The model postulated..." vs. "The model postulates..." where "the model" is part of Alicke's findings. Past or present?