texts: How to deal with poor scientific articles that seemingly reached the right conclusion?

texts:
I am writing a paper and some of our findings validate the conclusions from an already published peer-reviewed article in a respected journal. We also find things that differ.

However the authors of the paper uses techniques that are not ideal for making their conclusions, and furthermore, some of their data look particularly weak to me, i.e. I do not find that they substantiate their claims. For example, there are immunofluorescent images that simply look black.

How do I discuss and reference a paper, that seemingly come to the right conclusions, but do so in a manner, I am not sure about?


texts: Is there a need to mention page numbers from a book in APA 6?

texts:
I am citing some books in me work. Normally there referenced from google scholar are without page numbers, see below. My question is with the APA-6  method should I add the page number to this kind of quote?

Makhlouf, A. S. H., & Aliofkhazraei, M. (2015). Handbook of Materials Failure Analysis with Case Studies from the Oil and Gas Industry: Butterworth-Heinemann.


texts: Is there any evidence that double blind peer review systems are beneficial?

texts:
Every so often, I stumble upon a question concerning "double blind peer review", i.e., the authors don't know the reviewers (as usual) but also the reviewers don't know the identity of the authors.

It's always struck me as a rather odd system, with no discernible benefits (because I am under the impression that it's often rather easy to determine who the authors of a paper are anyway), and the creation of dozens of problems with people always being worried of somehow "breaking" the double blindness. (It is not helped by the fact that this would be impossible to implement in my field, math, where everyone posts their preprints on arXiv and people don't hesitate to give talks about unpublished papers).

Is there any actual, scientific, serious research into evaluating the benefits of this system? Or is it all just inertia/tradition/good intentions? I'm not talking about armchair justifications for it with no data to support it.


texts: I am not sure whether this is a serious typos in a published article

texts: Just now i found few short form typos in my published articles few years ago.The mistakes is almost like this: If I declare my first sentences Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) is one of the most important topics in high energy physics, but i state in same paragraph in second sentences and i type the short form QDC (wrongly) is a is the theory of the strong interaction between quarks and gluons......, i wonder is it consider serious typo? Thank you.


texts: What are acceptable criteria to select publications for a (systematic) review?

texts:
I'm in the very beginning of my scientific career, so I don't yet know the standards for (systematic) reviews very well. I feel I don't have so much experience that I could publish my own research in good journals (I have now just two conference papers), so I'm considering to pay close attention for 6-12 months in other peoples' works.

I have a clear research question, but given the massive amount of related papers it's difficult to choose which ones to pick. Of course, I will select papers related to my research question as the first criteria. However, could I narrow the range of included papers more by

publication date (e.g. only take papers published during the past five years),
impact factor or citation count,
type of publication (conference, journal),
sample size (e.g. number of subjects)?

Or, if not these, what criteria are commonly used? I guess the answer is different for reviews and systematic reviews, so please cover both if possible. thank you!

EDIT: I'm considering this so that it would be possible to try publish my results.


texts: Professor reviews proposal as a favor, should I send a reminder

texts:
I am applying for PhD, and in the application I am required to write a research proposal.

I asked my thesis supervisor to write a recommendation for me, and he agreed,but he told me that I need to work more on my writing and carefully write my research proposal. He told me to have people read for me before submitting it and suggested that I send it to him so he can review it for me as a favor.

I got his email with feedback on the proposal. In the email he wrote "Here is my first feedback." We discussed the review he made and I made changes and he asked me to send him the new proposal. After I sent the email, he told me that he will read it and give me another feedback that same night. That was about five days ago and now he is on a vacation.

Would it be appropriate to remind him ? I need his feedback because I am trying to submit the application. Should I just submit the application and just assume that he is too busy for me ? I don't want to be naggy and annoying. After all, he is doing me a favor.


texts:
I submitted a paper to a journal in pure mathematics and got a rejection mail 5 month afterwards, which essentially said that having two referee reports available they couldn't publish it. So I read the reports and one said strongly recommend, whereas the other started with a very very harsh paragraph (everyone I asked said they wouldn't ever believe that a report that starts like that could end in any other result than rejection) but eventually also suggested not to reject the paper but doing a major revision (which essentially consisted of reducing the material presented and thereby changing its structure -- so very likely that the author is able to do a successful revision).
So my question is: Could you imagine that the editor might not have read the full report but stopped after the first paragraph? I have to admit that I couldn't blame him/her for that.
I asked the journal for clarification and after some back and forth they told me that I was rejected due to a long backlog but that I could do a revision and resubmit (if there is a reason why this would help with a full backlog that I don't see, please enlighten me also in this point). However, I could also imagine that they just gave me this explanation to stick with their decision, which would also be understandable to me.


texts: Does APA Style prescribe BC and AD or BCE and CE? (I couldn't seem to find information about this in their style guides/manuals.)


texts:
This is borderline trivial, but in my attempt to publish my work in a public repository, I've found badges at the top of my README.md to be useful. For example, using Zenodo, I can create a badge that points to a proper DOI that looks like this:

Encyclopedia of Finite Graphs

If I have a critical piece of code, I can publish Travis.CL badges or Coveralls for code coverage.

Is the an equivalent badge or icon I can use to visually indicate that the work has been published on the arXiv?


texts: Meeting professor for the first time to discuss ideas

texts: So I have been talking to a professor in quantum game theory from a unversity in my city whom I have never met. We have been going back and forth on mails discussing ideas. I did alot of research and presented my ideas to him through mails. He has asked me to come meet him to further share the ideas face to face and introduce me to one of his colleagues. The main purpose of me contacting him was that I wanted to work on some research with him and probably find employment along side him as an RA or along those lines. I am really nervous to meet him. I feel that I may fumble while discussing with him. Could you please help as to what sort of discussions usually take place in meetings such as mine and what i should expect. Would the discussion be extremely technical that would test my knowledge to the core or will it be a casual and light exchange of theoretical ideas.


texts: What do these mysterious numbers in the subject line of arXiv mailing list emails mean?

texts:
Every day I receive the latest arXiv abstracts via email, with subject lines such as

physics daily Subj-class mailing a4 1
physics daily Subj-class mailing 124 1
physics daily Subj-class mailing 490 1

With new email clients that create "conversations" from an email chain based on the subject line, the disorderly nature of the subject lines makes it a pain to sift through the last week's abstracts if I haven't kept myself up to date.

What do a4, 124, and 490 mean? These identifiers are not unique to each day's listings, but I cannot spot a correlation between them and the date of the email. Is there some hidden way to either include the date in the subject header, or remove these seemingly random strings?


texts: Can I put details of evaluations results in the Appendix?

texts:
I'm about to send a paper about performance optimization in the field of Cloud computing. My target conference has a limit of 10-pages for the main section with unlimited pages for appendixes/references. My question is whether it's a good idea to move small details of my evaluation results to the Appendixes (to save some pages for other stuff) or it's better to somehow fit them in the main section?
My current plan is to keep key important evaluation results in the main section (maybe only 1 or 2 graphs) and move every other messy stuff to the appendix, including comparison graphs, evaluation parameters, extracted latency/throughput data, and the most importantly, details of scenarios that I considered for the evaluation.
Is this a good idea?
P.S: M̶y̶ ̶s̶u̶p̶e̶r̶v̶i̶s̶o̶r̶ A senior researcher who hasn't read my paper is against this idea. He says: "you should only put things into Appendixes that if a reader misses them, he/she can still exactly understand what you did in your paper (e.g., proofs of theorems). Evaluation results are not in this category, and they need to be put in the main section." ... Of course, I agree with what he says, but my question is specifically about whether small details of evaluation experiments is fitting in this category or not.


texts:
I was recently asked to join a manuscript which had been rejected by a journal. My revisions ended up removing 100% of another author's contributions (i.e. a different approach to the statistical analyses). In my field, this author's contributions were sufficient to warrant authorship - now that their contribution has been removed, should they still be included as an author? (To the extent that it matters, we're all perfectly happy to include them because of the work they put into the paper. I'm curious about the publishing ethics)
Thanks!

Edit:
I thought I'd add some more info based on comments/questions.

The reason the paper was originally rejected was due to the statistical analyses. I made two main changes to the statistical methods - one necessary (the reason it was originally rejected), and one optional:

1) (necessary) The experimental design required that a mixed-effects/multi-level model be used. In the original version of the paper, this was not done.

2) (optional) While this question could reasonably be addressed using frequentist methods, I thought a Bayesian method did a better job answering the question.


texts: I received an offer letter from a university abroad, should I continue to interview locally until my visa application goes through?

texts:
I have received an offer letter from a university abroad, which I am likely to accept. The country however has a very stringent immigration policy and a very complicated and lengthy visa application process. There is therefore a real chance that my visa application could be refused.

I have other interviews lined up and I know the usual procedure would be to notify the universities that I have received an offer. However, I feel like I ought to keep pursuing those jobs as a "safety net" because if my visa application fails, I'd effectively end up jobless.

Would it be unethical to go on with those interviews until I have received my visa?


texts: I made a huge technical mistake in an arXiv paper... How bad is it?

texts: I made a huge technical mistake in a paper I published on arXiv... How bad is it in academia?


texts: How can I point the reader of my report to another source for background information?

texts:
In my report I introduce a topic that is good background information for my report but not crucial. To try and shorten the length of my report, rather than summarizing another paper I'd like to leave a statement that says "if you'd like to know more, read this paper", like: "For a more in-depth explanation of these strategies, read [paper] by [author] or visit [website]."

Perhaps this is bad practice? The sentence in quotes doesn't look right to me and I'd like to know if there's a better way to do it.

The report is very informal but I can see myself having this question later on with a more formal piece of writing. Bonus: does the answer change if I will be referring someone to a website/online pdf?


texts: Is it fair to withhold test and assignment memorandums at tertiary educational institutes?

texts:
I have a module at university that broadly covers data structures and algorithms. The subject coordinator of said module simply refuses to supply any feedback or opportunities to students that want to learn from their mistakes.

He states that doing so does not promote students to think for themselves, or simply that no such documents (i.e. memorandums) exists (which I know to be false).

Is this rationale generally accepted amongst lecturers?
Is it fair to deprive students the opportunity to learn from their mistakes?


texts: What should I do if I have specialized in a useless research area?

texts: I am a PhD student in computer science, and chose to specialize in a research area that was interesting to me personally, but not interesting to most tech companies.  I am approaching graduation and I am not sure where to find a job.  What do I do now?


texts: Could I work as a Professor in Europe if I only speak English?

texts:
My wife is finishing her doctorate in a few years in a very specific field: Assessment (or Language Testing) of learners' English as a Foreign Language. She will probably apply for research professorships (including advising doctoral graduate students) when she graduates and I have suggested that she try to broaden her horizons and look for positions in Europe as well as in North America. She is nervous in part because she only speaks English (and Mandarin Chinese, which I imagine wouldn't be too helpful).

Are there professors in Europe who don't speak the local native language? Are there areas or universities in particular where people working in academia can get by while only speaking English? Any personal experiences would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Does it make sense to reward the entire class with better grades if (and only if) no cheating is detected?

texts:
In online classes, I've seen academic integrity cases skyrocket, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.  It got me wondering if it is possible to create a grading scheme based around reward instead of punishment.
I acknowledge that ending cheating is probably unlikely, but I am not interested in that.  I'm interested in reducing the temptation to cheat, or at least providing an incentive to not cheat.  My idea is:
If I fail to detect cheating on tests and assignments, then the assessment's denominator is reduced by 5% or so.  For instance, if my exam is worth 50 marks, and no cheating is detected, then the exam is marked out of 47 or something but still has 50 marks possible.  This would apply to the whole class, and one detection of cheating would nullify it.
I have one major question: Is it ethical to peg the entire class's bonus on the potential bad actions of one person? (a sub question might be: do you imagine this would work?)
Note, I am obligated by department policy to hold a midterm and a final.
Update: I think "back to the drawing board" is appropriate here :p Thanks everyone!


texts: How to ask for expanding scholarship duration from grad school?

texts:
I am a second year masters student who studies mathematics and this is my third semester. I found my advisor at the middle of second semester. My college offers scholarship for grad students which includes tuition, housing and some monthly stipend. I am supposed to finish my masters in 2 years, after that they cut out the scholarship benefits. Now, I would like to ask for one more semester before my graduation. The reason is, I want to write a qualified thesis and during that time, I need a house to stay, and some stipend to make a living.

I think that these reasons are enough, however, I heard that the college science does not support students after 2 years in general. So, what can I do about it? What else can I say? Thank you.


texts: How to write something which is already written?

texts:
Suppose, I need to write something about the "Relationship between literacy and social status".

I arrange my essay as follows:

what is literacy?
what is social status?
How does social status affect literacy?
...

While searching for (1) I found that there are numerous well-written papers that defined "literacy" in detail. So, the problem for me is: I don't have anything to add to the already existing information base.

So, the only option left for me is to paraphrase or rearrange the text/information which is available in the articles.

What should I do now?

How can I write something which is already written?


texts: Is having recommendation letter writers from the searching institution valuable?

texts:
I am applying for junior faculty positions this fall. I know professors at several of the institutions where I'll be applying, but not in the same department to which I will be applying. Are letters from people at the same institution where I'm applying more valuable than an equivalent letter from someone at another institution?

Also, what if I do know someone in the department where I'll be applying. Should I rely on their input into the search process occurring naturally during faculty discussion, or would an explicit letter of recommendation from that person be looked upon favorably or disfavorably?


texts: How to switch from a physics PhD. to complexity theory?

texts:
Somewhere around the 3rd year of my physics PhD. program I came into this amazing subject of complexity theory. May be a motivating factor was that I was digging in my spare-time into this physics/complexity interface. Anyhow I took up courses in complexity theory and a few associated regions in the CS theory department in my university and I started attending one of the group meetings there and tried to contribute to a project (sadly the project turned out to be very hard and didn't move enough)

But how do I actually go about finding a career in this subject?
Either in academia or industry?

I won't be taken seriously if I make a regular CS PhD. application because my background has no overlap with an usual CS grad student and neither am I interested in CS per se. (like I found the graduate "algorithms" course extremely boring though the mathematical algorithms part was fascinating where they did stuff like LP, SDP, entropy extraction, pseudorandomness etc.)  My interest is complexity theory and its interface with physics : which I see as a fascinating branch of mathematics! (and I do have quite a strong background in mathematics)


texts: Can I publish a report from a personal project?

texts:
During the course of my post-graduation, a friend and I worked on a personal project in pattern recognition. I honestly am not hesitant to admit that although the technique has a decent result on a publicly available dataset, it is not publication worthy in any journal or conference of note (or so I feel), nor do I (my friend is unavailable now) have enough time or background knowledge in the field to keep working on it till it is.

Can it be published as some kind of academic report or something on a site like arxiv or academia.edu or something? I'm interested predominantly because I'm wondering if this online availability would lend more credence to it being mentioned in my cv - as opposed to merely mentioning it and not having any transcript available.

PS: The method was something we came up with. It was not implemented from somewhere else.


texts: How to estimate standard error of journal impact factor based on impact factor and number of citable papers?

texts:
The impact factor (and other indicators of citations per document per year) is often used (controversially) to evaluate the research impact of a journal.

Critics of the impact factor often point out that it  based on a skewed distribution with outliers. For example, many papers may have zero citations, another set may have a small number of citations, and finally a small set of papers may have a large number of citations (e.g., 50 or 100, etc.).
In general, I've read that this profile is typical of many mid-tier journals.
Thus, this is used to suggest that the impact factor may be influenced by outliers.

I agree that this distribution of citations does highlight that the impact factor overestimates the median citations per paper (as is the case with any positively skewed count distribution).

But another critique is that the impact factor is unreliable because of this distribution.

Thus, my question is:

What formula can be used to calculate standard error of the impact factor for a journal?

Presumably, this would help both critics and advocates of the impact factor to be able to quantify the uncertainty in estimating the impact factor. It would also assist in assessing whether it is appropriate to say that the differences in impact factor over time or between journals are a reliable difference.

Initial thoughts:

The standard error of the mean is commonly estimated as: s / sqrt(n), where s is the standard deviation of citations per article, and n is the number of citable articles. So presumably, the main factor that would reduce the standard error would be the number of citable articles published in the journal over the period. But unless we have the raw data, we wont have the standard deviation and the skewed distribution might lead this formula to underestimate the standard error.
Use existing literature to determine the distribution of citations over articles. Hopefully, its a distribution that can be approximate by knowing only the mean, or where the mean provides a good estimate of the standard deviation
Then apply a formula to get the standard error of the impact factor.


texts:
I am preparing a talk for an advanced graduate course in mathematics, where I am supposed to use slides (the Beamer type, not handwritten).

Since it's the first time I'm giving a presentation talk as opposed to a blackboard talk, I was wondering whether any of you have some advice on preparing a good presentation, and presenting it (in particular, if you come from a scientific background).

Thanks!


texts: Do high-profile journals edit authors’ figures?

texts:
I have a paper published in a Angewandte Chemie, “one of the most renowned chemistry journals”, and realized that the figures have been edited from the version I had submitted. They did not tell us about it, but clearly modifications have been made for typographical consistence with their style guide: some symbols have been italicized, axes labels have been changed from, e.g., “Temperature (K)” into “Temperature / K”, etc.

I was surprised, because I know that most journals don’t typically edit figures, so I wonder: is Angewandte Chemie unique in this respect? Do other higher-profile journals, such as Nature or Science, edit figures or provide feedback to authors on graphics?


texts: Dropping Out And Applying Somewhere Else

texts: I am a student in a top 10 engineering Ph.D program. After arriving at my current program a month ago, All of my professors of interest were not willing to take me in and I was given the option to work with someone else whose research area does not interest me. Right now I am the only PhD student in the program without an advisor and feeling left-out which is really depressing and demotivating. Given the bad introductory and the self-dought I had before starting the program, I am thinking about switching to a thesis-based masters program and see if Ph.D is really for me. I have talked to the department chair about my situation and he offered me to switch to the non-thesis master's program. However I feel this could be detrimental for me if I decided to apply for PhD programs in the future. Therefore, I was wondering if I quit right now and apply to a thesis masters program somewhere else will having quitted a PhD program hurt my chances into getting in a Masters program? My undergrad GPA is solid (>3.8 )and I have done undergraduate research (though a second recommendation from UG research advisor is not likely). My transcript in the current program will indicate that I have withdrawn from the program but will only show 0 credits.


texts: What tools can compare all text of submitted assignments semantically after paraphrasing and detect plagiarism?

texts: With advances in AI, it is becoming clear that students are using paraphrasing software/sites (spinbot,  quillbot, rephraser, etc.). I wonder if there are any free tools that can detect semantic similarity for all submitted assignments? I tried several of the available websites and they failed to detect the paraphrased text.


texts:
There are a lot of post about peer review of papers, but how about graduate/undergraduate thesis?
Is there somewhere on the vast internet, where one can submit his thesis for a peer review.

The reason I am asking this is because I am finishing my master's in engineering and so far my advisor has not seen my thesis even once. The only "review" I got was a friend who found out only grammatical and punctuation errors and I did the same for her. But the fact that we know nothing about each other's research stops us from performing a quality peer review.


texts: What should you do if coauthor refuses to work on paper and refuses to consent to submit it?

texts:
My old PhD adviser and I had a falling out. We wrote a paper together, it is done at this point in my eyes. He "disagrees". Near the end of revisions the edits became more and more banal and even flip flopping. "Do it this way, no change it back, no change it back, no change it back etc" endlessly. I have shown the paper to other faculty and they think it looks fine.

We got into an argument about this, the paper has been done for well over a year at this point. I have a new adviser. At this point the old adviser flat out refuses to submit the paper, he refuses to make any edits to the paper, he refuses to even talk to me.

The grad head has been notified, other professors have been notified. My current adviser is really pissed off about the whole situation and is planning on talking to the old one.

Can he just not submit the paper? Do I have any recourse? I wrote the paper, I did the majority of the work (other than his idea etc). Can I just submit it myself? I feel like he would email the journal and complain about it. But I don't see any other choice.


texts: Questions about transcript and PhD admission

texts:
I recently received an email from a school that I applied to . They told me to resend the transcript since they could not see the grades. The problem is that my transcripts are long and it is easy to get lost. For example, grade in year 1 is in page 1, grade in year 2 is in page 5, grade in year 3 is in page 7. I have explained this to them but for other schools should I anticipate this and send them an email for explanation in advance? Or should I wait until they ask me to do so?
I have another question. On my transcript, there are some pages that are irrelevant and do not give a lot of information. However, I still decided to keep the transcript as it is when submitting the application because the document that contains the transcript says "any alteration to this certificate renders it invalid". Furthermore I do not want to omit any information because it is dishonest according to me. Do you think it is a good choice? As a result of this, the adcom might have trouble understanding the transcript because it is too long and they do not have a lot of time in general.


texts: How can an assistant professor have a much higher salary than an associate professor in the same department?

texts:
Is it possible for a young assistant professor to receive a higher salary than an associate professor in the same department with many more papers, citations, etc?

Why would this happen?

What determines the salary of a faculty member, if not papers and citations?

UPDATE

Although there is overlap, my question is not duplicate. The (realistic but maybe erroneous) example is edited away, so it changes the context of my question. In the situation I want to ask, the associate professor not only stays longer, but also has much more reputation than the assistant professor.


texts: To what extent will your choice of PhD topic restrict your career?

texts:
Obviously, if you choose to either do a PhD in English literature, or in mathematics, this choice will heavily determine the possible career paths you can later take.

But to what extent does the choice between two different topics within the same discipline influence your career possibilities?

Physics: Quantum computing vs high energy particle physics
Math: differential topology vs abstract algebra
Economics: business cycle theory vs industrial organization.
Psychology: Evolutionary psychology vs Neuro-psychology

Would such a choice significantly affect your future career, or is there generally such an overlap in the skills you learn doing different topics that you will be able to easily switch between these topics within the same discipline?


texts: How detailed should proofs be in a mathematical PhD thesis?

texts:
I heard this suggestion from a mathematics professor:

In writing a mathematical Ph.D. thesis, it is far more tolerable to be tediously-lengthy than having a gap in the proofs.

I think what he means is that whenever in doubt, adding more details to make the argument clearer is always better, even if sometimes doing this may make the proof too wordy.

Now if I really follow his advice literally, it seems there are too many details for me to write. For example, I don't even feel safe to write "the case n=1 is trivial" when proving by induction, or "by a direct calculation we have the following result". Another example is, whenever writing a commutative diagram (some of my diagrams are 3-D), I doubt if I need to prove that every small triangle or rectangle is commutative. (Actually I have asked this question but have received no answer so far.)

Thus my question is: How detailed should be the proofs be in a mathematical Ph.D. thesis?


texts: Cannot reproduce what I have learned or memorised

texts: I am an Accountancy senior level student. My issue is due to lots of information in the books I tend to forget about every specific topic and heading even if I compile notes and memory aids. Reason being that in these professional studies anything can be asked in exams from anywhere. So how do I remember small details at this stage?


texts: How should I handle an abusive research mentor as an undergrad?

texts:
The professor I do research with often puts me down for making mistakes and frequently calls me an idiot. I don't know the appropriate way to respond. I cannot just leave, since I still want to go to grad school. But this is severely affecting my mental health, and I have been suicidal recently as a result. I put a lot of effort into trying to be positive and friendly around him, but I'm not sure this has been particularly effective.

The research I do with him is good in a technical sense; we have some solid results and have published at very good conferences together. He has agreed to write me a good letter of recommendation (but actually hasn't written it yet) and I believe him if only because he seems to care strongly about his reputation among his peers and writing me a poor letter would reflect badly on him. I do not know what to do.


texts: example of mail to send to supervisor after a long period without news

texts:
I would like to contact my supervisor after a long time and I do not know what to say to him, knowing that I have not finished the part that I am supposed to have finished.
indeed, because of personal problems (my father had an accident, I had health problems) I could not advance at the programmed rate.
I think I should contact my supervisor and tell him that I'm sorry for the delay and that I'm going to send him the work in 2 weeks but I do not know how to say that in a formal and professional way.
Help please


texts: will I get money back if I drop out of college?

texts:
Alright, hear me out.
it’s the second day of college, and I want to drop out. I never should have accepted enrollment at this college, I knew deep down for months that I didn’t want to go, but I felt pressured by my family. Is there any way that I can get my money back since I’ve only had one day of classes so far? (not to mention the first day of classes uses zero material, just purely introductions). My college is a state college (CSU). I know what path I want to take in life, and I’m already very sure that this is not the way to go. I can see how much time I’m wasting already. Please don’t answer just to tell me to stay in college, I simply want an answer.


texts: Can I provide different email address within the paperwork in the end of it ? Other than what I've used to register myself on arxiv.org ? Is it okay to have different emails for contact purposes specifically?


texts: With some programming but no formal CS background, to develop fundamental CS knowledge should I get an MS or BS?

texts:
I have 3 years of experience as a programmer now. I have worked on some drivers in the automotive domain and some medical applications.

Since I do not have a computer science background, I was thinking of going for a full time masters in computer science. I need to develop my algorithm and data structures, compiler theory knowledge.

I have studied algorithms and data structures through the book written by Cormen, and other stuff through books.

I do not have any published papers from my undergraduate degree.

Would it would be better for me to go for a masters or bachelors degree?


texts: What should I do if I'm trying to go into academic from a mostly non-academic background?

texts:
I have finished an undergraduate programme in Biology, and went on to do a Masters in Global Health.

The problem is that I don't really have any articles of thesis to show. My undergraduate programme didn't have the option to do a thesis (I assumed all undergrad programmes did, so I didn't look into it before joining). I did a thesis for the Masters, but it wasn't that great. My supervisor at the time took on too many students and couldn't give us proper directions. I guess he assumed we knew what we were doing, but I hadn't had previous experience so I had no clue (he was also banned from being a supervisor for my course afterwards as a lot of students under him were failing due to lack of guidance). I actually finished it, passed and managed to graduate, but it is not good and I wouldn't submit it to a new study.

Needless it is to say, I also don't have any letters of recommendations. I'm quite introverted and, although there were a few tutors and lecturers who knew me, none did any major works with me and I didn't ask for letters of recommendation.

I'm currently working at a non-academic field, to do with Health Policies, but I want to go back to an academic field. I'm at a loss of what to do though.

I was wondering if it would be possible at all to do a PhD or research position (mostly because there are more paid positions or grants for these), or if it would be best for me to do another masters (only reason why I hesitate is that they are very costly). Or maybe I should approach some old teachers and ask for recommendation letters? I could ask some from my current manager at work, but then he would take it as me wanting to quit my job, not a good move until I do have something lined up.

Anybody has advice? I'm based in Europe, btw.

TLDR: have an undergrad and masters, but no (quality) thesis, and no letters of recommendation. Working a job, want to go to academia. Which routes could I take?


texts: Should I tell my professor to print a retraction if I feel it will harm my career chances?

texts: I am an undergraduate student at a university you have probably heard of who works with their professor on independent research. Recently, I noticed a rather significant technical error in one of the important papers my professor has co-authored. I pointed this out to them in one of our weekly meetings and the professor awkwardly and quickly changed the subject. I am concerned about this but haven't done anything further. I am worried that if I insist on this then it will harm my chances of getting a positive rec letter from my professor down the line when I apply to grad schools. I feel stuck between a rock and a hard place and am very unsure of what to do.


texts: Rejecting an admit to Computer Science Graduate School and re-applying

texts: The situation is that if I get accepted from this school, say A, I would like to go but there are certain circumstances such that if they unfold, then I would like to go to school next year. So should I even apply to A? If I reject an acceptance from A and then reapply the next year, does it put me in the bad books of the Graduate committee of that school for rejecting and reapplying?


texts: Could I e-mail my professor and ask what my final grade will be before I graduate in two days?

texts:
I am graduating in two days and still haven't received a grade in one of my classes. The chances that I do not pass the class are low but it isn't out of the question. I am also on the edge of latin honors and my grade in this class will determine where I land.

The official due date for the grades is early next week but I would really like to know if I am actually graduating before I walk. Could I e-mail the professor asking him what my grade in the class will be?

If it matters the last assignment was due a week ago.


texts: Slow Response from Journal: Should I withdraw a paper?

texts: I submitted a paper to an Elsevier journal in August and the status has been "with editor" ever since. I was concerned that it had not been sent for review for 4 months and I sent inquiries twice without getting any response. I am wondering if I should just withdraw my paper?


texts: Should I sign this letter or force them to fire me? What are the differences between my prospects with the two options?

texts:
I was a first year PhD student and have mentioned before I was forced to quit although hardwork and grants. Now the head of the school admit that the supervisor was wrong and he had nothing to do with the supervisor which is awkward, he also confused about another student who hadnot passed his viva after years of work and publishing in top tier conference.

In to the retrospect, they asked me whether to sign a resignation letter or to be fired and asked me to sign in the moment, but I refused and asked them I will take the letter and do it later during this week.

They asked you have to do it during this week ( obligatory), could any one recommend me whether this is good direction to sign this letter as it is first time for me and I am not aware of many LEGAL stuff.

PS. For more details why this happened:

I am a first year PhD student, I was working in a new topic, I found a problem in research and then I proposed a methodology and verified it. My PI said from few months ago that it was good what I did verbatim. Then I got two grants from top conferences although I waited a lot of time to do experiment in other lab, and this lab was not happy because I proposed different approach than they use, but I explained what I proposed and how it could solve. Honestly, I worked so much hard as you can imagine, but in the same time I noticed that my PI is underestimating from my ideas sometimes and have sharp looking at me without any reason, at the beginning he didnot want to publish anything or attend conference without any reason, sometimes he didnot listen to me and I made correction for him which was critical for research, but I did in very polite way

He began to catch small mistakes in report for instance which was very trivial and inflate it and never acknowledge the two grants I got and I did other stuff for free like videos for the group and sketching which he was astonished by it.

Until I present my work in the committee which every one told me that they do it to see every thing is okay and every one pass, this committee is my PI, another professor who have never worked in my research topic and asked questions  was very sketchy and the head of the school also not related to my domain they see presentation and report no exams no other things, so just presentation and report. Of course this PI made badmouthing behind me and that what I know later and it was mentioned that I didnot do a good bibliography and he doubt the methodology although I got the same results as the real experiment based on physics approach, but he doubts. I was shocked and I confronted this PI, why you didnot tell me from few months ago when you said it is good, he lied and I told this PI, if you have doubts could you please tell me what are these doubts like 1,2,3 and what you suggested, he didnot say anyword and go. In conclusion, he wasnot specialized in this new topic, even when I am doing any proposed formula he accuse me that I stole it or from where I had come with this equation, I did that on my own, it is quite hurting because he accused me many times of any schematics drawings, sketches formula that may be I stole it, and I tell him that I did that on my own, and BTW I have never ever stole something so that can interpret his actions. In conclusion,  this PI told me your are independent  and he didnot like that and also know that I worked hard but he dont want to continue in this research this is after making badmouthing about me as I am not eligible to continue and even the committee yesterday which the head of the school told me I know you are very good and you did a good work, but no one can speak, the head of school recommended me to find another lab in different country. Sorry for English grammar mistakes and typos.


texts:
I'm a Chemical Engineering major in undergrad, and I currently have two internship offers this summer.

The first one is a 10 week summer research internship at a top-10 program in petroleum and chemical engineering. The internship concludes with a poster presentation of the work you've done. My work here could potentially turn into a publication. It's worth noting that I've technically already accepted this position. I didn't get the offer for the next one until after I had accepted this one.

The second offer is a full summer semester research internship at the uni I currently attend. I'd be working on the research I'm doing now all summer; as a result, I'd almost certainly be published by the end of the summer, possibly twice since my PI has a couple of papers that just need one more topic covered before they get fully published. It's worth noting that this internship would get me almost twice as much money by the end of it.

My question is: which should I take? I have a very good shot at the Goldwater next year, so I need to know if it would be better to be published, or to have a letter of rec/research experience at a top university.

I'm also meeting with my PI next week to see if I could possibly postpone the one at my school to next summer, so I'd have a chance at doing both.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Is it unnecessary to write "Please refer to xx paper for detail" after talking about framework presented in this paper?

texts:
I wrote a paragraph about a framework from a paper xx. Is it still necessary to mention "Please refer to xx paper for detail" at the end of this paragraph?

It is a thesis.


texts: What can be done about an unintentionally disruptive classmate?

texts:
I have a classmate who frequently disrupts class by asking nonsensical or unrelated questions, or by making nonsensical or unrelated interjections to the professor. He is autistic, and all the professors I have shared with this classmate (he and I are the same year in the same field of study) have followed the same pattern of humoring him to an extent by attempting to answer his questions, or by thanking him for his interjections, but eventually just ignoring him. I'm sure he has good intent (thinks his questions and comments are relevant or useful) but he doesn't seem to catch on when the professors no longer reply to him (and all of his classmates are rolling their eyes and shaking their heads).
Today in lecture, he sat at the far back of the auditorium (there were tens of empty rows in front of him) and then asked the professor to speak louder. The professor responded by asking my classmate to move closer, as he could not be loud enough to be heard in the very back. My classmate replied by stating that he was comfortable, and then asked a series of questions about whether the lecture material was available online, in the textbook, etc., all of which had been covered in previous lectures anyway, and were on the class website and syllabus.
It has become apparent (after three years of being with this classmate) that the department and/or professors do not have any intent of trying to encourage acceptable class behavior with my classmate. Is it safe to assume that they are aware of his disruptive behavior, and are simply not addressing it due to his mental condition, or should I bring it up with the professors or the department? Would such a report be frowned upon as insensitive due to the classmate's mental condition?
Edit 14 January 2017
In regards to the linked question, the student is not actually being offensive, just disruptive. Being offensive (specifically in regards to racial slurs) would merit additional discipline.


texts:
Can a (graduate) student studying in the US on an F-1 visa study abroad for a semester or a year, maintaning their F-1 status in the US university? (Assuming there is no formal exhcange agreement between the universities, but the accepting university is able to provide official transcript to transfer credits to the US university.) If so, how is it implemented? Do they have to register for some "blank courses"? Do they have to pay tuition while studying abroad? Or does it vary from university to university?

This article says:

  According to the Department of Homeland Security, those who remain outside the U.S. for more than five months and aren’t part of an authorized study abroad program could lose their visa.

What is "an authorized study abroad program"? If the US university is aware that the student is studying abroad and the student have taken the necessary actions  to maintain their status (e.g. registering for the "blank course" mentioned above), is this considered "an authorized study abroad program"?


texts: How to ensure that the acceptance letter received is real and not a mistake?

texts:
Recently a very popular name-brand university has been in the news for the wrong reasons.

I quote from a national newspaper's article that it has "accidentally admitted 800 candidates ... only to retract the offer about seven hours later".

As a prospective applicant who has received offers from two non-"name brand", dream schools, I shudder at this fact. I am forced to anticipate disappointment when I should actually be relieved after the typical stressful and anxious wait.

As an international student, I seek information on whether many universities do retract their acceptance letters weeks after sending them. What are some ideal ways to ensure that the acceptance letter received is full and/or final?


texts: How to solicit feedback from students about faculty candidates?

texts:
I am the grad student on the hiring committee, and I have been tasked with gathering feedback from grad students about our faculty candidates. All of the grad students were invited to attend each candidates job talk and an open meeting between the candidate and students.

My first attempt was to simply have the department send out a mass email telling the grad students to email me with their feedback. The next thing I tried was asking a handful of students from various labs to attend the talk and meeting then email me with feedback. So far I have received zero feedback on any of the candidates.

I believe my problem is that these talks are often sparsely attended (e.g., only people in the same field as the candidate) since many students have no motivation to attend and my feedback requests have been too open ended (e.g., feedback on what??).

How can I improve this process?

My ideas:

A rubric of what aspects to give feedback on
An organized committee of students that provide feedback and try to get other students to attend


texts: What is reasonable expenditure on meals during a conference?

texts:
I am currently at a conference in the US
and I will be reimbursed by my adviser.
I was wondering what is a reasonable per diem spending for meals?

Of course I could ask my adviser directly,
but I feel bad doing so,
because I am afraid my adviser will think that
I am trying to spend the maximum amount possible.

I don't want to blow my adviser's budget,
but I also don't feel that I need to save every last penny
in terms of my meal spending.
I would like to have maybe one nice meal a day ~$20
but otherwise eat cheaper meals < $10.

What types of spending guidelines would help me not to upset my adviser?


texts: What education does one need to be called "Professor" in the United States of America? A woman with a law degree in a junior college paralegal program insists on being called professor at a local community college. She is the only one in the whole school that does this. Is this normal?


texts: Assistant professor position in the USA. Can any leftover startup money for equipment be used to pay students or my summer salary?

texts: I got an offer for a tenure-track assistant professor position in USA, Department of Engineering. The university national ranking is between 35th and 65th at the US News website. if I will have any left start-up money for equipment, could it be used to pay PhD students or my summer salary? Or are they two different accounts? Does it maybe depend from University and University?


texts: Is there a way out of losing interest in science during a PhD?

texts:
My concern is that I completely lost interest in science over the past few months, however, I am still towards the end of my first year of my PhD studies. I will offer some background:
I have always been a straight-A student, studying my field of current research (let's call it X) from the very young age of 12 years old very passionately. This interest won me honorable mentions in International Olympiads on X as a high-school student. During these years, for many reasons, I faced a lot of disappointment, but thinking that X was the only field I felt comfortable in and well-equiped for, I decided to study it in college, because it was late to start over. Even if I didn't do so there was no other field I would have the energy to start over with. During these years I transformed from a straight-A student to a very good one, but I never treated my subjects with real interest. I'd just found the way to get good grades by memorizing methodologies etc. Then I got into an MSc where from a very good student I transformed into a barely-passing-courses one, but fortunately a nice thesis gave me a place in a very nice PhD program.
It took me a long time to realize I am no longer a student and that being praised is not part of the PhD experience and that costs me, because I don't have the validation to give me the energy to continue. Moreover, it's my fourth month of being quarantined and forced to work from home in light of COVID-19 in another country without my partner, my family or any friends, but what brings me down with regard to my PhD are questions like:

How much asking for scientific help is too much during a PhD? e.g. at what point during debugging is it reasonable within a PhD to resort to my advisor for help before them claiming I am not independent enough?
How can I handle my emotions towards other collaborators or my advisor sometimes acting as if they are disappointed?
Why no matter how hard I work and how good or fast I get results, I never seem to get even one single word of validation?
Why no matter how hard I work and how good or fast I get results the publication of my first paper seems to be postponed more and more?

Of course, in one way or another, all the above have to do with validation and in ideal circumstances, one does not need validation to move forward, as it is not something that normally comes when you are an independent researcher. But given all the above and the fact that I am in denial about wanting to do science, I wonder if I am in the right place. Recently my advisor suggested that I slow down because I show symptoms of burn-out, but I am wondering if I want to continue with my PhD in general as over the past months I have been feeling overwhelmed and unmotivated and this does not seem to go away. I communicate with my advisor openly enough, but no matter how much we discuss I feel trapped in an unproductive and distressing situation.
And the saddest of all is that I feel drained of energy, I carry a constant brain fog (since starting college) and have no willingness whatsoever to ask scientific questions in general.
P.S.: To the question "What would you rather do if you weren't doing a PhD?", I would say "Nothing seems interesting to me".
Any help would be much appreciated.


texts: University is not issuing me my convocation certificate

texts:
I completed my bachelors in Engineering in Aug '16. It's been more than 2 years I haven't received my convocation certificate. Every time I go to university to ask about my convocation certificate the department head says they sent it to college. College says they didn't receive it.

Not sure what I can do more about it. Everyone is rude and they don't have any answers when i question about proof or written statement about my convocation certificate.

I am out of options and thinking of filing formal police complaint. If anyone has any other suggestions regarding this please let me know. And I am sorry for my earlier offensive post.


texts: Which is more important to get into top CS PhD program: High GPA or industry R&D project experience?

texts:
As a computer science undergraduate I'll only be allowed to start a research project/ publication in the 3rd and 4th year at our university. I am in my 1st year 1st semester and got the chance to join R&D project firm. But I noticed that it is slightly hindering my GPA (assignments etc.).

When applying to a CS PhD program is it more beneficial to maintain a high GPA or do R&D industrial projects for 1st and 2nd year(mostly image processing based) until I get to start research publications?

Edit - I am talking about a GPA difference of around 3.6/3.7 to at least 3.8.
I forgot to mention that I may be able to join few research publications (probably nothing that can be regarded as high quality research though) if I continue to work at the R&D firm.


texts: Is it appropriate to ask an editor to have double blind peer review even if journal does not offer such an option?

texts:
The journal that I have chosen for submitting my paper doesn't use double-blind review
(double blind review  means that both the reviewer and author identities are concealed from the reviewers, and vice versa, throughout the review process).

Can I ask editors via email, or make a request for one? Is it difficult for them to organise the editing of the paper afterwards if it is approved or it is appropriate to do that?


texts: Asking a community college professor for a letter of recommendation

texts:
I am applying for a master’s program and required to obtain two letters of recommendation. Originally, I asked two teachers from the private college where I got my BA, even though I did not know them very well while I was in school. I was one of those students who studied on my own and got good grades but never reached out to professors after class as I didn’t feel like I had to.
I received a Letter of Recommendation from one of those professors, and unfortunately it seems very generic, as if it was from a template, and doesn’t mention how I am particularly prepared for my master’s thesis.
On the other hand, I have gotten to know one of my community college professors much better. I voluntarily took his research methods class after I graduated to prepare me for the research I would be doing in the master’s program. I have also seen him during office hours and with his help I am planning on presenting at a conference in the spring. He has also taught at a more prestigious school (UCLA). He has agreed that he would be able to write me a letter of recommendation.

Would this be preferred over a more generic letter from my private college?


texts: How to convince people of the time required to perform PhD research?

texts:
I have found that while many have some appreciation of the level of research in a PhD (usually by saying "that's way over my head" or something similar) and I have not really had a problem with getting impatient describing my research.

Edit to add: this is reflective of my own experience, mostly studying/researching part time and working full time in an unrelated field.

The query here is how to convince people of the time required for completion of the PhD, and the continued dedication needed in order to get the intrinsic tasks complete.  In some cases, it is not 'a 1000 word book report'.

For example, my PhD (now just submitted) was highly experimental, each set of observations were 3 hours each, and I had to do about 100-120 of them (usually on weekends as I work full time). After which, I would have to do 6-12 hours of coding/data analysis.  So many did not seem to understand that time was required to do the work properly - and were perplexed when I tried to explain.

Edit to explain why I felt the need to explain, this reason I would imagine is true for many - friends and family, people that you respect, may wonder why am I seem to be ignoring them, why am I 'obsessing' over this project, why did I decline the invitation to wherever.  They may worry that we are 'hiding' behind the study.  They question why we spend so much time on our research, often not due to any jealousy, but not understanding the time commitment needed for research.

I am not after opinions, but are asking what are some strategies that can help educate people of the time required to perform PhD research, particularly for part time PhD students working in an unrelated field?


texts: Statement about previous doctorate applications

texts:
One German university asked me to write an oath about my previous doctorate applications. They are going to take me as a PhD student.

What should I write in here? Should I tell them I was rejected because they found someone better. Would this university think me not good enough?

I do not want to lie. However it is better to write that I have never applied to any university.

Please give me some advice.


texts: How to respond to a two very different referee reports?

texts:
So, I just received my manuscript back from a journal and the editor said that I should "make the moderate revisions necessary as outlined in the referee reports and then send back the final manuscript".

One of the referees gave grammar, structural and content advice, while the other one said he does not believe this manuscript expands the current body of knowledge.

These are vastly different reports and the editors wording makes it seem like the paper is "nearly finished". How should I handle the referee reports? Obviously, I will make the straight forward corrections that ref 1 asks for, but:

How should I respond to a referee who believes the content of a paper contains no expansion of the current scientific knowledge in a field?


texts: Using Microsoft Publisher to draw high quality flowcharts?

texts:
Plenty of journals and magazines require high quality images when you get to submit a paper.

I`m trying to get a simple flow chart of mine into a higher quality version.

Is MS Publisher enough to do so ? I do not have any other "Corel Draw like" software .

What you think ?


texts: Would it be unethical to take a full time job and quit 8 months later if I get accepted for a PhD program?

texts:
I am applying this winter for graduate school and I will finish undergrad this winter as well. Would it be unethical to take a full-time position with the intention to quit soon until I know whether I got accepted for graduate school or not?

I am considering this because if I didn't get accepted, I wouldn't have a gap until I start working, and the company would be a good brand which would certainly not harm my PhD application (but this shouldn't be a discussion on what prepares me good for graduate school). My plan is going back to industry after a PhD, so considering my reputation in the field or possible research jobs lateron in the same company, how could I reason my leave for getting a PhD? Or would you better decline the offer and wait for the admissions result?


texts: A question about authors listed as having "contributed equally"

texts:
There are few collaborating authors on the following list:

Tom Cruise*, Will Smith*, Jackie Chan, Robert John Downey Jr., etc.

*: These authors contributed equally.

Tom Cruise is corresponding author

Will Smith worked for Tom Cruise.

The paper was written by Will Smith and so was data analysis; however, all study design and original data was received from Tom Cruise.

How can Will Smith proclaim this research contribution officially?

And... will the paper be helpful for Will Smith in applying to graduate school in the future?


texts:
I have written respectively co-written papers where we have added images to illustrate our contribution. The images are far from technical and show prototypes in the field of HCI. It is not uncommon to write follow-up papers, especially of latest braking publications.

A publisher has asked us if we had previously published any illustrations and if we had secured all copyrights for them. As we own the illustrations but have published them before in a copyrighted paper respectively article, would we be able to reuse them?

I have looked at some publisher's copyright statements but they mostly refer to the paper, not the images. Would the latter be considered part of the publication and, therefore, be implicitly also copyrighted by the publisher?


texts: Taking a year off from Master program due to severe injury and doing online courses as I am not fit for work.(Future Prospects)

texts: Since I have taken a year off from my Master's program due to a severe accident, all I am doing now are online courses as I am not fit to do any work. But will this in a way affect my future prospects in employment after I graduate? I feel really depressed as am not able to move due to spinal injury and heel fractures. Being an international student, I have to extend my student VISA as well. Moreover, a letter of support has been provided by my professor(he is the head of the Master's program) for the extension of VISA. Also, I had to withdraw from courses with academic penalty(but with refund of course fees) that will affect my academic standing which has indirect affect on VISA. How will it affect my future prospects of employability?


texts:
I started to my master thesis in a company in March, it's a new design project about the product they produce. First month was just spent on the getting all the information, technical drawings and they couldn't provide me laptop so I had to wait etc. In April I started to produce some ideas but my supervisor in company isn't helpful so much, doesn't give me input a lot, he was just saying yes or no to my ideas and after first 2 weeks of April, he started to complain and said that I can't find so many ideas and the ones that I found are not working. This made me more uncomfortable and stressed and now I am not sure that I can find that perfect idea and complete this thesis.
We had some problems because of the language of course; he speaks German with dialect and expects me to understand him 100%, but it's hard if you're a foreigner and German is your 3rd language and this problem also partly caused this lack of progress.
My professor is more understanding and trying to help, and offered to have a meeting with 3 of us, but today in the meeting my supervisor kind of blamed me and said normally it was working with German students and if you applied for this job you should be able to talk and understand fluently. I don't think that it is fair comment because in my CV, my German speaking level was not written as fluent and I thought they accepted me with knowing this. Also I didn't know about the dialect.
So until next week I need to find 5 new ideas to present but I am so stressed and feeling under pressure and can`t think about anything and generally because of that comments I am constantly feeling really bad and incapable. So I am considering dropping out of the thesis and finding a new topic. Would you recommend doing this?


texts: A potential PhD supervisor wants me to visit campus for an interview before I know if I'm accepted

texts: I've been in correspondence via email with a potential PhD supervisor who has agreed to take me on. After a few emails back and forth and polishing my proposal with his guidance I submitted my application per his instructions. He suggested we interview after I submitted my application. It's been a little over 2 weeks since I submitted. He suggested either a Skype interview or a visit to the campus. Visiting the campus would mean I would have to book some plane tickets. They're relatively cheap since it's within the UK but I'm also on a budget and don't know if I'm going to get accepted or if the interview is required for a decision on my application. I suggested a Skype interview and then during the interview we could arrange a visit on campus but he countered with an offer to just visit the campus during the last week of the month. I was confused so I agreed I could visit campus but asked for him to clarify or provide some guidance on the application process and never heard back from him. I still haven't bought plane tickets and am not sure how to interpret this series of events. Should I just explain my situation to him and ask for a Skype interview? When I agreed on a visit I told him when I would be able to fly out but haven't heard anything so I'm really not sure about buying plane tickets. It all seemed like things were going along smoothly but now I'm very confused. Any suggestions?


texts: Buying Internet hosting from an academic institution

texts:
Back in the nineties, before hosted servers were readily available, some Internet companies like Yahoo and Google got started in universities, using the institution's servers and Internet bandwidth, moving out when they went commercial. That would seem to need a pretty big jump, going from zero income to enough to pay e.g. five grand a month for a T1 line in one shot, which would seem to create a strong need to find venture capital.

Suppose the founders of such a startup, in a university in the nineties, wanted to bootstrap, so they made a suggestion to their host institution: we want to experiment with going commercial, finding ways to monetize our startup, with small amounts of income at first. We can't reasonably use your facilities for free once we go commercial, so can we pay you for continued hosting, some amount that should be a lot cheaper than getting a T1.

Would such an offer be accepted? Is there anything I'm missing?


texts: How to correctly reference a supervisor who in the meantime got a doctorate

texts:
I completed one of my theses under the co-supervision of a (back then) PhD student. Said person has since completed his degree and is now officially "Dr. supervisor".

Since I want to reference his supervision in my CV, I was wondering whether I use the formal title that he holds now, or whether I reference him without a PhD, which was his status during the supervision?

I am pretty sure that this is more a non-issue for my specific case, but I can see this being a more common problem elsewhere, especially when listing references online.


texts: Can I ask the journal to publish my paper in a later issue?

texts:
Say I have submitted a paper, it got accepted, but for whatever reason I would like to publish this not in the next issue, but in a future issue.

Could I ask the publisher to do this, or would this be considered rude? How would I best ask for something like this?


texts: Should I take a student loan now, if I intend to become a mathematician?

texts:
I intend to pursue my degree in Mathematics and Physics at Ecole Polytechnique in France. The institution has offered me an interest free loan of 18,000 euros, which has to be repaid three years after I complete my bachelor's degree.

Since I am passionate about basic sciences, I hope to join a five year PhD programme after my degree and this usually comes with a decent scholarship/stipend. Approximate salary for PhD scholars in Europe is about 1300 euros, though this might vary from institution. Right now, I am not sure whether this salary and the one received during Post-Doc might be enough for me to repay these loans and therefore, I wish seek advice on this matter from the Academia Stack Exchange community which, I believe, will be in a better position to answer  this question since most members are pursuing a career in Academia.


texts: For non-English-speaking countries: Can I use my PhD to prove my knowledge of English for a UK visa?

texts:
I was browsing through the needed documents for a skilled worker visa and I found that I need to prove my level of English as a requirement, but I've also found that I need a UK PhD certificate (I have to be accredited by NARIC).
In their [website][1], they have a service called PhD verification with English proficiency. This service means that I can use my PhD to prove my English level if it was "taught" in English at my home university, but I don't know what the word "taught" means exactly.
During my PhD, I wrote my dissertation in English. The articles were (obviously) in English, but the diploma is written in French. Can I still use that to prove my English proficiency? Perhaps, I should have a statement from my previous supervisors?
I come from a non-English-speaking country that uses French as a second language; So normally, I need an IELTS test. I need to know if I can follow the NARIC route instead of having to take the test...
[1]: https://www.ecctis.com/visasandnationality


texts: Contacting professor for PhD in different research area than past experience: do I need to prepare a research proposal before first contact?

texts:
I've done my masters in CS/Artificial Intelligence. My thesis work is related to Human-Robot interaction, that involves robotics and psychological theories.

I did that project because it seemed to me as more interesting, I'm still interested but during my masters studies I have realized that I am more interested in machine learning, deep learning and its applications in so many domains. Which is why I'm highly motivated to pursue my PhD in machine learning, specifically deep learning.

I do have theoretical concepts about machine learning, image processing and good knowledge about research process (working as research assistant currently). I'm quick learner and have good CGPA as well, few conference in different research area. What I don't have is any research project or publication in this area and hence I don't have any proposal prepared so far.

Now I want to contact professor showing my interest in Deep learning. My question is since I don't have a prepared proposal, how do I approach him? Do all professor expect the proposal attached at first email or Can I prepare proposal while being in touch with him with little bit of his guidance.

Should I spend like a month and prepare proposal or would it be better if I just contact professor and with his guidance I can be more focused and save my time?


texts: Can I accept two federal fellowships simultaneously and defer one?

texts: I recently received both an NSF and an NDSEG fellowship.  I see that I am not allowed to accept funding from both fellowships, but I wonder if it is possible to do something like: accept both, put the NSF on reserve for two years and forfeit the next year, then accept the last two years of funding from the NSF after the NDSEG has expired.  Can someone confirm whether this is possible or not?


texts: Is it generally acceptable if reference letters for postdoc or faculty jobs are submitted after the application deadline?

texts: I am currently applying for post-doctoral and asst. professorship positions. One of my letter writer is most likely to submit the letter a week late. Some of the positions I am applying to clearly state that "applications submitted after the deadline cannot be considered". Couple of people (my fellow grad students/post docs) whom I talked to, seemed to indicate that the reference letters can reach late. However, I would appreciate if someone (preferably one who has been part of the search committee and/or has reviewed applications for such positions before) can throw some light on this.


texts: Is it necessary that lawyers receive a solid training in subjects that are related to their chosen field of concentration?

texts: Should a criminal lawyer, for example, have a solid background in biological sciences and ballistics? Or is it enough that he or she understands criminal law?


texts: Can I submit my paper without author list (double-blind) to a conference with a single-blind review process?

texts:
I am submitting a paper to a computer science conference, can I submit it without author list? The submission guideline says: "submissions are reviewed following a single blind review process, meaning, you do not need to hide authors’ names and affiliations"

The names, affiliations and conflicts of interests will be mentioned when I am submitting the paper. But can I remove name and affiliations from the paper (pdf)? Does it mean that the reviewer will not see it?

Secondly, is there any point in hiding these information, or they will find it out anyway?


texts: How do academics control their own biases?

texts:
As an academic, you are in the business of producing research. I know it might sound odd to call it a "business", but frankly, you get paid to do it, and most of you wouldn't do it if you didn't get paid, hence it is a business and you're selling a product (your research) to your clients (the rest of society) and you get paid a price for that product (grants and aid and donations and other types of support from governments and other institutions).
This means that there is a danger that your research output is driven by a self-serving bias. After all, the 'better' research you produce (as in, research that draws a lot of attention), the more of it you will sell and the more money you will make.
How do academics controls themselves for this bias, that may be occurring consciously or subconsciously?
One might say that peer-reviewing solves this exact problem, but I fear that all peer-reviewing accomplishes is moving the goalpost. Okay, so now the bias of the lone researcher is being controlled, but who controls the biases of the peers? After all, this bias is an industry-wide phenomenon. Your peers, the ones that review your research, have the exact same bias as you do, and are also interested in seeing your research be validated if it brings more attention to your field, a field which is obviously shared between you and your peers.
Hence the bias affects you all at the same time. Who is controlling that? Is there a 3rd party? If not, how do academics, as a group, control themselves?
Obviously, this question is more pertinent for less fact-based fields, so not for example mathematics, where if a wrong theorem is approved, it would be catastrophic and probably discovered soon enough, to the shame of all people involved. But for more experimental fields such as physics, medicine, etc., how do academics ensure that there isn't a cartel of researchers some where all (sub)consciously agreeing to promote research that advances their careers?


texts: Writing sample for Economics PhD: empirical or literature review

texts:
I am applying for an Economics PhD and I need to submit a writing sample of 2,000 words. I am planning to take an extract from an article I published, but I am unsure about whether I should take the literature review or the empirical results + conclusion.

The upside of the literature review is that the language has more coherence. The empirical results section consists mostly of descriptive sentences, graphs and tables. On the other hand, I can imagine it would be good to demonstrate my capacity for statistical analysis and reasoning. Any advice on this? I'd really appreciate it.


texts: Are there meaningful downsides to a "guaranteed" (graduate) admissions program?

texts:
One  school I know of, University of Pittsburgh, has an early admission program to its graduate schools (law, business, medicine, and others) for qualified juniors. That is, students can apply to the program in the second semester of their junior year, and if admitted, can use the first year of the graduate program as their "senior year," in terms of credits needed for their bachelor's degree.

More to the point, this school has "guaranteed" graduate admissions for outstanding high school students, to which one of my smartest high school classmates was admitted. She had outstanding grades (4.0) and board scores (1500), and was "guaranteed" a place in the medical school upon matriculation. The minimum requirement was that she had to take a "general science" major (biology, chemistry, physics), and earn a 3.75 GPA, but given her high school achievements, this was not in doubt. (She now has a thriving practice.)

For someone that knows what they want, are there any meaningful downsides to "enrolling" in a graduate program (medicine, law, business), right out of high school?


texts: Why as the level of a college course goes up, is the course generally more specific and more specialized?

texts:
Why as the level of a college course goes up, is the course generally more specific and more specialized but not necessarily the easier one on the lower level, also you don't have to have the knowledge of the previous class, even if it served as a prerequisite?

For example, you study general biology first, then study anatomy or endocrinology, but you probably won't need to have the knowledge of general biology to study anatomy or endocrinology.

Is there any reason that every subject appears to be in that pattern?


texts: Is it appropriate to ask a professor about continuing my degree?

texts:
I'm in a very unfortunate situation. I have B.S. from Computer Science and I change my field to Applied Mathematics for M.S. (because of recommendations of my colleagues from research).
In CS I was pretty good, I finished with Dean's award for Bachelor thesis (that's why I was offered a part-time position in research), but now I'm struggling heavily to even pass the first term in Math. CS program was concentrating on programming, so we had only single-variable calculus, basics of linear algebra and some graph theory.
Now I must take exams from Functional Analysis, Complex variables, Partial differential equations etc. and I'm afraid I'll not be able to pass them. I was able to pass lesser tests and projects, but I need a lot of time for every single problem and now, before exams, I see how many things I don't understand.
Additionally I'm suffering from high-blood pressure since I was 15, but now is my condition worsening very fast (probably because of stress). I feel tired, depressed and dizzy very often.
So, is it appropriate to ask the one professor, who is the head of department, about possibilities of suspension or simply going again into the first year of M.S. next year?
Maybe I'd like to ask him about his opinion about my talent for this, because I've never experienced such setback in school and so it's possible I'm simply too silly to comprehend Math.
EDIT:
I'm studying in the Czech Republic.


texts: How should we approach the authors of a paper and ask them for their data?

texts: Nowadays, many papers are based on data that can easily reach several Gigas. It is understandable that these data are not incorporated into the work, nor are hosted with the publisher. What is the more acceptable way of asking them to access this data? Call + email? Email to the publishers? Making a Freedom of information request to the university?


texts: Should I give up on pursuing a PhD in Europe if I performed poorly in my master?

texts: I'm currently a master student in an Erasmus Mundus program. Unfortunately for me, I have been doing badly. My overall grade on the first 3 semesters is a C. So far only my master thesis remains but I don't think even an A will make me go from a C to a B. Is it worth trying to apply for PhD positions or should I just give up and go to the industry.


texts: Someone reported cheating during a quiz, but I didn't catch it myself

texts:
There was a weekly quiz in a TA discussion section I led today. During the quiz I was writing things I planned to talk on the board and didn't pay attention to students.

Then one student suddenly said to public "Frank, we're not allow to use note in the quiz right? These(point to a region that contains 2-3 people) people are using notes."

I looked back and confirm with that students about where she points to, but the people she accused cheating(if accurate) already put away the notes so I got no direct evidence.

Should I do anything in this scenario?

Quiz only worth 0~2%(0% if it's lowest quiz grade, 2% if not) of overall grade if that matters.

  Update: The case was also reported to the Professor today and according to Professor's email it looks like the case is more serious than I expected and I'll have to explore a little more. Thanks for all responses so far.


texts: Leaving soft-money job for tenure track position that doesn't start until August: when to tell current advisor?

texts:
A verbal offer has recently been extended to me for a tenure track position that I'm 95% sure I want to accept, although I have not officially (verbally or otherwise) done so yet. This position is slated to start at the beginning of the next academic year.

Right now, I am working as a very junior-level "soft money" research faculty at a nearby university (with a considerably more renowned research reputation than the university where the TT job is, if that matters). I have a primary mentor there who I obviously have to notify about my change of position but the question is: when? This mentor is a reasonable person and we get along fairly well but I'm not sure how s/he would react to this news.

Obviously, there is "work in progress" at my current position that I am fully committed to finishing and, in a perfect world, I would maintain my current research collaborations in my new position. I would even accept some minimal responsibilities (not necessarily requesting pay) after I leave to make the transition smoother and to ensure that these collaborations remain strong and I do not leave them "high and dry".

Any advice from the managerial end or from someone who has been in a similar position would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Should I list memberships that have expired on my resume

texts: I was a member of the AMS in 2014, but my school had cut funding for 2015, should I still list I was a member in 2014 on my CV?


texts: How are travel expenses paid by conferences?

texts:
Is there a standard way they are paid?

We'll concern ourselves only with cases where it's stated that the conference will pay travel (up to a specific amount). However, does the speaker pay and then get compensated for receipts? Does the conference pay the tickets? Does it pay them in advance?...

If you need a concrete case - Black Hat https://www.blackhat.com/us-18/call-for-papers.html .


texts: How long should it take to read a paper?

texts:
I am wondering how long it usually takes to read a research article. I can see that the answer depends on:

The knowledge and intelligence of the reader
The field of research
The journal
The individual paper

So I am particularly interested in how long a PhD student or a young post-doc would take to get through a molecular or systems biology paper published in journals like Nature, Science, Cell, PLoS and PNAS. We can focus on papers of typical complexity for the journal, and ignore those that are exceptionally easy to read or exceptionally complex.

On multiple occasions I have been able to skim an 8 page, 5 figure paper in as little as 10-15 minutes. From this I could glean enough information to follow and even participate in a class or journal club discussion (though there would be a lot of asking question like "how exactly did they do this/explain this in the paper? I didn't read very carefully").

However, when a paper is very important (for example I want to use a variation of their methods for my own project) I feel the need to read it much more carefully. It seems worthwhile to closely look at even very trivial things, such as description of standard procedures like cell culture in the methods, exactly how much of each chemical was used for simple, routine reactions, close examination of control experiments from the supplement, what papers the paper has referenced to justify their work, and even what commercial systems were used and from which company, and whether the paper actually followed the protocol in the manual and so on. After putting this much effort, I also feel like I should take notes. This produces a heavily highlighted and annotated paper plus about 4 pages of notes.

All of this takes a lot of time. Occasionally it could take me a few days to work my way through a very important paper (for instance, if their method is unfamiliar to me and I will be adapting it for my own research, or if I want to draw conclusions by reanalyzing their data).

My question is, is this typical? How long do you usually take to read a paper? Should I start putting effort into teaching myself to read faster, or should I just accept it and make time by scheduling other activities to accomodate paper reading?

I can imagine an "incremental" strategy for reading at arbitrary depth. For instance, you could read the paper several times, each time reading more carefully, like so:

Read only the title, parts of the abstract, and look at the pictures.
Read abstract more carefully, look at title headingfs of results section.
Quickly skim the results section to look for main point of the paper.
Scan introduction and discussion, read results carefully to understand obvious limitations of their conclusions.
Carefully read all sections, including methodology, to make a comprehensive list of all assumptions made and all potential issues with the research.
Carefully go through all supplements, look at raw data if any and consult the other papers cited as justification to contextualize the research.

Logically, I see the merit of something like this, but I haven't tried it for the "dense" readings I've talked about above. The reason is that I'm not sure how I can take notes effectively when I do something like the above. It may also be harder to motivate myself to re-read a paper I've already skimmed, because I've given away the punchline to myself and the novelty factor is gone.

I've also written an answer on Mathematics@SE, which I think might be relevant to this question.

Note that I am not asking how to read a paper. This has been addressed in several previous questions already. I am only asking how long it should take a typical junior scientist to read one, so I can benchmark myself and see if I am slower or faster than is usual.


texts: ACM-IEEE Proceedings publication notification (2015)

texts:
Is there a way for me to be notified automatically when a ACM or IEEE conference proceedings is published? I was unable to find such option in either of their websites. How else do researchers (professors, students, industry folks) who are interested in a particular conference, know that the Proceedings for a particular conference have been published?

TIA,
Jake Clawson

PS - I am aware of Google Scholar Alerts but I wanted to know when the entire proceedings have been published as compared to following an author or a specific paper.


texts: PhD funding agency, and conflict of research and development

texts:
I am doing PhD which is funded by Science and technology department. Those coming to check progress (first time) are mainly software engineers, while in PhD the work is research based. So far I have published some papers in initial years including a review, early experiments. Another Journal paper is ready for submission and one paper submitted which I co-authored. BUT these things are something only a PhD understands and they are coming mainly to check the software (still under development). What I expect from them is that they will definitely say that it should have been developed by now without realizing the research progress.

How should I justify the research part and the development part both so they get satisfied with the work? Because my advisor also told me that they don't know anything about research and they are mainly interested in the software.


texts: How can I secure funding for a PhD in the UK?

texts:
I am an international (non-EU) student got an offer from a professor from a UK university to supervise my PhD. I have applied for funding for research students within the university, but I couldn’t secure it probably because had lower grades than the requirement for the scholarship.

Now, my supervisor was promoted to the director of research of the same university. Does the director of research have the power to influence the funding committee in my favour, in spite of my low grades?

I need help, I am totally unable to understand the process of securing funds in the UK, and what role your supervisor plays in securing funds for you.


texts: Is use of multiple bibliographies, especially with annotations, in a thesis, accepted?

texts:
As I am reviewing sources for my thesis, I am citing my sources in an (APA style) annotated bibliography (as required).  However, I am also finding some excellent points from other sources that are either not entirely on-topic or less-empirical (read: poorly referenced).  I have (of course) kept track of them.

What is the accepted practice for listing cited works in a thesis?  Is it acceptable to have an annotated bibliography, as well as a list of "additonal works cited?"  Or should they all be listed (with annotations) consistently in one section?

I have posed this question to my adviser, but I would also like to hear from others as well.


texts: Who should be provided as an academic reference for job applications?

texts:
I am instructed by my university to offer 1 academic reference and 1 work reference for industry work (I am doing a year-long placement). However, all attempts to actually get suggestions on who to use from the university have been useless as they appear to be dodging my questions by not responding.

As my course is quite large, I seriously doubt any lecturer or demonstrator will even know my name, let alone me as a person and therefore cannot give a personal reference. But, as we have to give somebody, who should it therefore be?


texts: What level of computer skills should a university instructor expect students in a business class to have?

texts:
This question has been bothering me for some time as I had to fail a student as you'll see later on. I am hoping that another SE member has seen a student or may have even been a student like this.

During my course - a business course, not a writing course - I had a  student in my class. Every week I assign a paper based on the reading students should have done, but not based on questions they can answer directly from the text book. The questions pertain to current or recent events within the business world involving their studies.

Most students say it takes them anywhere from 2-5 hours working on the assignment that is due each week. I've never had an issue with a student not being able to finish the paper in time and I am more lenient in grading a paper that has less than the assigned pages than most.

Now, this student, I will refer to her as "A", seemed to be falling behind around the third week of the course. I quickly noticed that all of her citations for her research on the weekly assignment were books and textbooks but not excerpts taken and cited from online sources.

After a class I sat down with A and asked her why she prefers citing so many books and not looking online for the sources. I also asked if that's how her old school had required students to do most of their research.

My question was followed by that she doesn't really understand how the internet works and the only thing she really knows how to do is use a Word processor. I don't care what platform my students find their sources on from but I was now concerned because she, like I said, seemed to be falling behind.

When asked how long she spends on the assignment each week she said it takes her 3 days of going through books in the university library and the local public library. I advised her to seek out a librarian that works at my university and ask for a tutor there that I personally knew and would be willing to help her.

In the end this student kept falling more and more behind as the semester went on. An assignment that shouldn't take more than a couple hours was taking A days to complete, and with a final research project worth 30% of the grade she would have no chance of completing it on time using just books as resources without the help of the internet to at least guide her to the correct books.

Is this a common thing to happen with some students and could I have done more without giving the student "special treatment"?


texts: Whether to tell his prospective employer that a new male post doc opposes affirmative action for women in academia?

texts:
I personally know a male graduate student who works in a different area (in STEM) than mine and who has a potentially controversial view.  He opposes to affirmative actions for women in academia and outreach activities for female teenagers conducted by a university.  He's repeatedly and openly expressed his idea on his public Facebook post, in his (and my) native language, which is not English.

This particular student is soon graduating and has been granted a post as a post-doc at a very prestigious university in the U.S., from (I suppose) this fall on.  I don't think that whoever in charge of hiring him knows his view, since, albeit they are public, his posts are not written in English.

While I don't know if his beliefs should prevent him from being hired, I do think that this may be a potential concern to his future employers.

Obviously I'm really concerned about his views and feel that, since they are expressed openly, it might be appropriate to make sure his prospective employers know about them. Is there a professional way to do this, or is it the case that no matter how baleful and publicly expressed the views may be, I should play no part in informing his prospective employers?

Corrigendum: I should have been really, really careful as to how to put my question.  For one thing, I don't see his view anti-feminist.  The word anti-feminist appears there (with quotation marks) because I couldn't think of a good adjective.  It could have been anything else.  Since so many people are distracted by this, I remove the word completely.


texts: Should Textbook chapters Contain a "Summary" Section

texts:
I am far enough along with an introductory textbook in the computing field that it looks like I might finish.  For each chapter so far, I've written a final "Summary" section that recapitulates the most important points.  I've begun to worry that students will read the summary sections only and thereby miss the other gems of knowledge in my deathless prose.  (After all, the summary can't contain everything, and if something isn't important, why include it at all?)
It is my intention that the summaries reinforce the most important points in each chapter and so are an aid to learning for the student who has read the chapter.  My worry is that there will be students who believe, incorrectly, that a page or two of summary covers the whole chapter.
Is there research, pro or con, about the usefulness / harmfulness of summary sections in textbooks?  (I've looked and haven't found anything, but I'm a computer scientist and so am out of my field.)


texts: 'Read before The Royal Statistical Society ' What does it mean?

texts:
In the header of several journal articles, I have seen this:

Read before The Royal Statistical Society at a meeting organized by the Research Section on Wednesday, May 5th, 2004, Professor J. T. Kent in the Chair

What does it mean for a paper to be read before the Royal Society ?


texts: What are the good indicators of fake conferences?

texts:
Here is the story:

After working on a project for a couple of months, I put the results in a scientific paper format in case I would submit it to a conference or yet this is a good practice for my writing. The paper is about a specific software engineering topic for which you could not find many scientific events to submit. However, I sometimes check www.wikicfp.com to not miss any deadline if there is one. Finally I found one, read the details about the conference and submit the paper.

This week I got the results. It was positive, I think this is great because I am warming up for academia. However, when I received the review (only one), I felt that this conference could be fake or bogus. They sent me a text file that has the following review (with the name and some strange gmail address as the reviewer email):

  paper quality is good different models are explained but this is not a
  result oriented paper no comparison results for different models with
  graphical point of view

Thank God I had a paper rejected before. I had submitted it to a workshop on a different topic and the reviews were detailed, well explained without reviewer strange email addresses.

Besides the acceptance email has details more about the registration details, bank accounts, fees etc., than preparing final draft or other scientific related issues.

So right now I am a bit confused about what to do next or how to react. But my question is the following:
What are the good indicators of fake/bogus conferences?