texts: Where to buy non-kindle-format (epub,azw) e-books which look like the printed books?

texts:
If I want to buy e-copy of academic books, most of the publishers (Oxford, Cambridge, etc.) direct to amazon store or allow epub version. However, I do not want the e-pub or other formats (e.g. azw) as the ebook in this format does not have the actual pagination and format of the printed copy.
So, is there a store or place where I can buy the e-copy of the book (preferably in pdf format) which actually looks like the printed copy (having the actual page numbers and format/style of the printed copy)?
I am aware that some of the kindle books do come with both "locations" and "actual page numbers" to avoid the above problem. However, this is feature is not available for the majority of the books (as I open the sample version and check). Also, I miss the style/formatting of the printed book.


texts: How to have several subjects when submitting an article to arXiv?

texts: I would like to submit an article to arXiv and I have chosen a primary category so that the article is listed in that category. But I also would like to have another category in the list "subjects" when the paper appears on arXiv. For example, a paper is published on arXiv with "Subjects: Analysis of PDEs (math.AP); bla bla bla". I am wondering how to add "bla bla bla". Should it be done while doing cross-list? If so, does the paper also appear in the second category mentioned? I do not wish to have the paper in several categories.


texts:
Will people look down on me if I say that I plan on doing research that I end up not doing due to various reasons, especially if I'm a PhD student?

I guess it's somewhat expected, and that experienced professors don't always believe that I'll end up doing what I say (because unexpected bugs and events happen all the time). And sometimes you also end up going on detours.

That, and professors always say that they do things on smaller timeframes than what it really takes them to do.

I guess if I always meet my commitments, then people might believe me more. But on the other hand, it always helps to get more feedback on ambitious projects that I don't necessarily believe that I will finish.


texts:
I worked on a project as a graduate student in a research group in order to complete the credit points (20 ECTS Germany) required for my Master's degree. I was not employed on a contract i.e. not paid for the work because it was for completing the credit points for my Master's degree. Now I want to include the work as a research experience on my CV (for application to a PhD program) but I am unsure whether I can name the title of the experience as "Research Assistant" or not.

I do not know what technical title I should give this job.


texts: Am I likely to be perceived as less successful if I start as an assistant professor at age 40?

texts:
Several professors, including my former advisor and a senior member of my research community, have been encouraging me to apply for a faculty job. I am torn about it mostly because I am 40 years old. Leaving a job in a research lab to start as an assistant professor would in a way seem like a starting all over again.

I believe that my pre-PhD experience leading projects would lessen the learning curve that new tenured track faculty goes through. On the other hand, I am not sure if there would a be a stigma associated with my age. I would have gone for an academic position ten years ago in a heartbeat, for the research, freedom, and teaching. But I had personal reasons for not being able to pursue PhD sooner.

Is it too late to do it now? Would the low academic rank to age ratio make my job harder, leading to possibly being prejudiced that I must not be successful to still be at the lowest branches?

There are several threads here asking about pursing PhD later in life, but I do not recall any of them addressing starting an academic carrier.


texts: Where to find details on Bachelor degrees majoring in IT?

texts:
I have been asked to design a major in IT (Information Technology).
I am not based in US, and I didn't graduate in US. So, I am not familiar with US graduation system. However, I have been asked to use US bachelors as examples.

So, it would help me to have links to pages where I can see detailed descriptions of the IT majors, such as lists of mandatory courses, and syllabi.
So far, I was only able to find general descriptions of the IT majors offered in some US Universities and Colleges.

I am particularly interested in Liberal Arts Colleges.


texts: Supervising a research student with attention problems - what can I do to help the student be more independent?

texts:
When supervising a research student with ADD or a similar problem, I can help the student be more productive by adjusting the way I give instructions:

Propose one task at a time: Instead of saying "Let's do X, Y, and Z" I will just say "Let's do X", schedule a time for follow-up when X is done, and only talk about Y then.
Repeat "general" instructions every time they are relevant: Instead of saying "When you take notes on a bunch of papers, make sure to cite which paper each idea comes from" and then expecting the student to do this moving forward, I will give the instruction again each time that the student is reading papers: "Look through and take notes on these papers. In your notes, make sure to cite which paper each idea comes from..."
Have the student repeat back a summary of the instructions, with ALL of the important details, after hearing them.
Review the student's plans regarding what to work on at what time, together with the student (to help with planning and make sure we are prioritizing important tasks).

With these and similar modifications, a student with attention problems can be about as productive as one without attention problems. (Without these modifications, the student keeps doing the wrong thing, and isn't productive at all.) But that kind of supervision is not really consistent with the goal of having my students become capable of independent research. For example, it's very hard for them to see the "big picture", identify next steps on their own, think about where the research is going and what intermediate steps are needed to achieve the end goals...

Obviously my primary role is as a research supervisor, not an ADD coach. So I'm not looking for generic ideas for helping an adult with ADD, or for suggestions to pass along to the student - I am looking for ideas specific to my role as a supervisor in an academic research environment.

As a research supervisor, what - if anything - can I do, to help students with attention problems be both productive AND independent?


texts: What software to cite in a manuscript, and how?

texts:
When writing a manuscript for a scientific article, I often wonder what software I should cite or acknowledge, and how.

The first problem is to make a choice which software to cite. On the one hand, there is no way to cite all software, as this would mean to cite my whole software stack (Linux, GNU tools, emacs, git, ...). On the other hand, not citing any software is not fair, either. Furthermore, some software explicitly asks to be cited, some software doesn't. Also, some software is really crucial to the results, some isn't. Another important aspect is that citing software is not only about giving credit to the authors of the software, but also to give other scientists hints on what software they might want to use. So, the choice which software to cite is a problem.

The second problem is how to cite the software. Some (scientific) software does provide a classical scientific article that can be cited. However, in this case, no URL to the software is given. Others do not have an associated article. How do I cite these? I have seen people that cite the manual of a software, others just give the URL. What is the way to go?

Another aspect is where to cite the software. Some software can be cited in the course of the articles text, but when it comes to more fundamental software, other places may be more appropriate.

Are there any good ideas out there on any of these aspects?


texts:
I am writing a paper and am planning to submit it to one of the IEEE journals. I wrote the full paper and then realized that it is possible that the particular journal requires experimental validation of any modeling results. It doesn't explicitly state this in the website, but this is what it seems like from reading multiple papers.

I also came to know that it's possible to publish the article as a letter. I will have to reformat the paper and cut down the size by 1/3rd. It seems that the rigor of the data required to publish letters is a bit lax compared to full scale articles: Letter vs article, What is the difference between an article, perspective, letter, and review?

Do you think the requirements for publication of a letter is more lax compared to a full article?
If I were to submit it as a full paper, and it gets rejected because it doesn't have sufficient amount of experimental validation, will I still be able to submit as a letter?


texts: Are there funding sources for open-access fees for an independent researcher in industry?

texts:
Since I finished graduate school (statistics), I have been pursuing research. This is on my own time, separate from my work in industry, and while my company does not interfere with my work, they give no financial support.

I now want to publish a paper in an open-access journal. (I know to look out for predatory OA journals, and the ones I'm considering definitely are not.) However, the open-access fee comes straight from my pocket and is not a trivial amount of money.

What could an independent researcher like me pursue as a funding source to cover the OA fee?

I did find this question, but I am interested in the OA fee in particular, not compensation for the work in general (wonderful as that would be).


texts: Should systematic reviews be submitted to journals as original or review articles?

texts:
In the Information for Authors of several (health) related journals, manuscript types may include original research and review articles, among others.

I thought systematic reviews (whether quantitative or qualitative) should be submitted as review submissions, as opposed to, for example, original studies with novel findings based on data collected or analyzed by authors. However, the guides in those journals say a review requires an unstructured abstract, as in narrative reviews.

In this answer, review articles can be considered original observations. So why do some journals distinguish between review articles and original research? And, under which category should systematic reviews be submitted to these journals?


texts: What is the standard way to refer to shared code in conference papers?

texts:
Say I have a github repository with the shared code and data used for that conference paper? What is the standard way to refer to it in the paper itself?

Write something like. The code is available in [5], and then give the linkas a reference?
Give the link in the paper text itself?
Give the link as footnotes?
Not mention the link in the paper itself, but send it separately as part of the submission?


texts: With which funding agencies can I register as a reviewer?

texts:
I've attended a few workshops on research management and proposal writing, and one thing they've all stressed is the importance of serving as a reviewer for other people's proposals.  Just as peer-reviewing publications can help hone your own paper-writing skills, reviewing proposals is said to give you a better insight into the funding process and thereby help you become a better author of grant applications.  Of course, reviewing proposals might also be rewarding for a host of other reasons (lending one's expertise to a wider scientific community, gaining and sharing knowledge for its own sake, learning to achieve group consensuses with reviewers of different backgrounds/opinions/motivations, establishing professional contacts with other experts and within funding agencies, making some extra income from reviewers' honoraria, etc.).

With that in mind, it seems like it would be a good idea to register one's availability with those funding agencies that issue open calls for a standing pool of reviewers (as opposed to those that seek out and select reviewers entirely in camera).  I'm interested in learning with which national and international funding agencies I can do this.

The only one I'm presently aware of, and with which I am already registered, is the European Commission, which has a standing open call for experts to review for Horizon 2020 and many other programs.  Is there a good way of finding other such calls (i.e., other than by identifying all funding agencies and individually checking their websites)?


texts: Is it normal for universities to limit the number of PhD students a professor can supervise?

texts:
It came to my attention that one university limits the number of PhD students each professor can supervise simultaneously.  The policy makes a vague reference to "legislative and regulatory requirements".
Is this an accepted and widespread practice in academia, or is it a weird quirk?


texts: Suppose you have a well-written paper that, in your supervisor's opinion,deserves a bit more of a Tier 2 journal, but it is difficult to get published in a Tier 1 journal. Would you suggest, in general, trying the higher rank journal first, getting a rejection (likely), but also possible improvements and eventually try a second-tier, or would you aim to the second straightforward to save time?


texts: What to do when a journal publishes a paper plagiarizing one's work but doesn't care about it?

texts:
Recently I caught a paper which had plagiarized my paper. Several sentences had been copied from my article without citing my article. Some of the copied sentences had been shuffled, so the words were the same but the order of the words had been changed. Some other sentences were exactly copied from my article. Besides, all the copied sentences in the new article appeared in approximately same places to the original sentences used by me in my article. I am not inexperienced in academia and without any severe bias, it was quite obvious that they have picked my sentences. Even the citations at the end of my sentences had been used in the same order in the new article... Moreover, the style of my sentences were unique to my article and not inspired from another article. So it was not possible that those authors were copying from another source other than my paper.

I said all the above points to the editor of the journal. I also highlighted all the copied sentences and put very detailed comments beside each highlighted sentence in the new article and attached the new article and my article to the journal editor so he could see for himself. He didn't respond. So I searched for and found the email addresses of all the editorial members of the journal and emailed them the same letter, frequently. All the emails were correct and running. Only one of the addresses bounced my letter. So I am pretty sure they have received my emails.

However they again didn't do anything about it, nor they did respond to me... So I wonder what else can I do?

I intend to report them to as many authorities as possible. I know a couple of them, but don't think they will do much about it. I need to know what can I do about it? What those authorities are legally able to do? And that should I sue them in court or not? The plagiarizing journal is in Turkey (not my country) and I don't know can I sue them in a court of my country? Are there other routes for filing copyright theft complaints?

Any suggestion is appreciated for when the journal tries to hide the plagiarism or doesn't care about it.


texts: Can acing the upper level course compensate background of no basic course in graduate application

texts:
I am an international master student in Germany who wants to apply graduate schools in US or Canada. I have an unconventional background, I want to study mathematics but I don't have courses of basic analysis and abstract algebra. Due to language problem, I can't take the course in my university. Now if I get good grades in upper lever (graduate) mathematics courses, can it compensate that I don't have basic courses?
Would it be a big disadvantage in Phd application?


texts: In a master's thesis, should relevant theory be part of the literature survey?

texts: Does literature survey/review include relevant theory (from textbooks/old references) or should it only include recent publications? Should I place the theory as a separate chapter?


texts: What to expect from a PHD in Computer Science? (UK)

texts:
A little background, I'm currently studying a masters in computer science, and I've been wondering about how I should progress my career. I've found myself mostly interested in the research side of Computer Science, and I've been trying to figure out which would be the best steps moving forward.
I've looked into a couple of studentships with some interesting topics out there, but I don't generally see much information on the day-to-day life of a PHD student for this field. I understand each position may be a unique experience but I was wondering if anyone could share any experiences which may help?
Thank you very much in advance, Stay safe.


texts: Academic progression in Germany, what happens after a postdoc? What is the next step?

texts:
As a follow-up to this question, I am wondering whether or not there are intermediate positions between a postdoc and a tenure in the German academic system.

I was told that there isn't really a step up from postdoc (like an assistant professor) until you get a professorship (for which you have to do habilitation among other things). If I understand things correctly you can be a postdoc for 12 years (?!) in Germany, and if you're successful (and lucky) you can get a professorship.

Is this accurate? Or are there more intermediate positions? Specifically I noticed there is a "junior professor" position, which would seem to fit the bill. What are the differing qualifications of a junior prof (W1) and a senior postdoc (either E13 or E14)?


texts:
My adviser asked me to go over some PhD theses over the weekend, and by some he meant three 200~ pages theses.

Is there an effective way to skim through theses that you have figured out, as more experienced academics. I could not go over all of them without taking most of my weekend doing so.


texts:
I've been thinking a lot before asking this question, but now I feel it's time to seek some advice. I started my PhD a couple of months ago and now it is almost 4 months since I put my hands on this project. I joined a very small research group (I'm the only PhD) to embark on an industrial PhD in the UK. I moved away from my home country, I rented a flat and my girlfriend joined me a few months ago. Should be an ideal condition but for me, it's a nightmare.
I don't feel well. Every day a sense of depression and anxiety is constantly present thus forcing me to spend most of the time alone. I don't like my project and I don't like the environment despite having two supervisors who are very kind to me. I don't want to stay in this condition anymore but at the same time, I don't know what to do. I don't have the courage to speak with my supervisors and explain my condition.
Does someone have any advice on what should I do?
P.S. I would like to add some details just to give a clearer picture of my condition. I graduated with honours during both my master and my bachelor's degree. I was the best student of my years in my course. I felt that a PhD should be the most suitable choice for me.
I decided to start this industrial PhD in collaboration with a huge company thinking that after it I would be immediately hired. But now I don't know exactly if this is my way. I'm constantly obsessed with the idea of going back to the lab every day... it's really hard and demotivating. I started thinking of getting a job where you do your hours and then you go back home without any thoughts, problems, or pressure.
P.P.S. Thanks for all your answers, it's quite an encouraging fact that some other people went through the same thoughts.  I feel that I will start speaking with my supervisors to inform them about my condition. However, I have some concerns connected with the founding of the project.  In the case I'll quit, do I have to return all the salaries received? Some of you have experience with that?


texts: what should i do if professors don't reply my mail for graduate admission?

texts:
I want to apply to study computer science phd at us universities, and I am wondering if a professor that I have emailed for admission don't reply my mail. should i still apply for university?
Thanks


texts: How to make sure that a conference is not a scam when you are invited as a speaker?

texts: I received an invitation from Neuroscience & Brain Disorders (NBD 2021) conference to present my work as an honorable speaker. My research interests are related to the topics of this conference and I have some interesting contributions, however, I am still a PhD student and I still don't have that strong background in research. I tend to think that this is a scam. What do you think?


texts:
I am going to apply for a PhD in an Australian University and I will have an academic interview.

I am going from a BSc to a PhD in applied mathematics.

At the interview, they usually give me time to ask my own questions.
So, I want to ask whether I can take one or two theoretical coursework that is taught in the university, if I feel like it is required. Is this a good question to ask at the end, or does it sound like I am not confident about my undergraduate theoretical knowledge, and would reflect negatively.

Also, in a question such as Why choose particularly that university is it okay to mention that I found that the university offers several scholarship and that having a scholarship benefits me immensely to carry out my studies. This I am going to mention after saying about the university and the department's recognition, and of a particular professor's work and that his work seems to suit my interests. Here, is it acceptable to mention the professor by name?


texts: How much research assistant in academia is paid in France

texts:
Research assistant (with master degree, currently PhD student) in France is hired to make some research related activity (e.g., running psychological experiments with volunteers). How much per hour a research assistant might be paid? I need to know whether it includes social benefits.

Many thanks!


texts: Is wrong salutation by editor in email reply considerable?

texts:
I sent a research paper to one of the reputed journals through email to the editor.

I used the salutation Dear editor  and didn't specify anything about my academic position either in email or in my research paper.

In response to my email, the editor replied to me as Dear professor.  I am thinking whether to reply to the email again saying that I am not a professor or not to reply. Is it considerable? Since I am a beginner to this publication stuff, I can't figure out the etiquette of email.


texts: How familiar should you be with a topic before assigning it as a thesis to an undergraduate?

texts:
I am a postdoctoral researcher in a university where undergraduates have to undertake a diploma thesis in order to finish their studies. My professor says we should put in our lab page some short descriptions of 2-3 topics and let interested undergraduates come to us, as it usually happens.

Now, I am expanding my horizons to promising technologies, following the buzz in my domain, and I am confident I will have some personal progress in the following weeks but at the time being I am still relatively a newcomer to these latest technologies.

The question is: should I put out there a diploma thesis description in these new fields, or should I be conservative and go for the things I know pretty deeply? How do you usually come up with diploma thesis topics?


texts: Who decides whether to accept a paper: reviewers or the editor?

texts: Is accepting or rejecting a paper the reviewers’ responsibility?  Or is it left to the editor to decide based on all the reviewers’ comments?


texts: In statement of purpose, good to mention about learning from some professor's lecture notes and books?

texts:
In statement of purpose for applying to a PhD program, is it good to mention about learning from some professor's lecture notes and books (not papers, because don't get to read them yet), and finding them helpful?
Will it make the statement more personal and therefore good?

Or is it better not to say so, and rather to keep the essay short?


texts: Should a full manuscript be available for a book proposal?

texts:
I've been given some conflicting advice about preparing book proposals and manuscripts for academic presses. I'm aware that writing books is a lengthy process etc; however, I've also been told by a friend in the research office who handles applications that to be competitive at all for DECRA and other fellowships, I need at least 9 publications and one book behind me to be considered a strong applicant.

So I've been thinking about this book idea (cross-disciplinary social sciences/cultural studies) for awhile, some of which would come from my PhD, other bits as new material. It is something I would like to write, not for money, mostly for myself, somewhat for career. I submitted a brief enquiry to a potential publisher who said they'd be interested in seeing a book proposal on the topic I offered which I have the template for.

My question concerns whether the book should already be written, or if a proposal and sample material can suffice in early stage? Some colleagues have told me that the latter is preferred, I don't need to have a complete manuscript prepared. Advice online is conflicting, some telling me I should have a whole manuscript prepared as an ECR to be ready to submit, others telling me only a partial is fine.

Any guidance would be appreciated!

Below responses were not helpful:

Is it bad practice to submit the entire manuscript for an initial book proposal to a publisher?
What are the most important points to emphasize while pitching for a dissertation to be published as a book?
Publishing thesis as a book
When to publish a book?
Publication Strategy for book manuscript
How do I convert my PhD dissertation so that it can be published as a book?


texts:
This question is similar to this one but is different enough I felt I should ask it separately.

I am wondering how long it will take a given institution to receive my General GRE scores from ETS.  Note: I am not asking how long it will take after I take a test for the scores to be sent.  These are scores from a test I took almost two years ago; I am asking how long it will take for scores already available to be sent and available.

If it matters, I am putting my score submission request into ETS on Jan. 2.  I don't know if some times of the year are busier for them than others and thus processing and sending times may vary.


texts: My professor wants someone else to be the first author

texts:
I started working in an NGO mostly to write and publish their finished projects, with the condition of me being in charge of authorship (Who is first, who is corresponding, etc). After a while, I received a previous yet-unpublished article on one of the main projects of the organization that they concluded 5 years before my time. The article was objectively very poor, so I decided to write it again from scratch. It took me one full year, considering it was a sensitive subject and also required non-routine statistical analyses that I had to learn on my own, while no one helped me in writing the manuscript or anything else.
Afterward, as I was ready to submit the article, the head of the NGO, that used to be my professor, excluded this article from our initial agreement and insisted that the person with the original idea 5 years ago should be the first author, and she herself should be the corresponding author. Additionally, the person who wrote the original poor article should have a place in the authorship too.
Now I am not happy with this. As while I understand they had the idea and managed the project, I think they should be co-corresponding authors and I should be the first author. Also, I don't think the previous author has any rights to be in the authorship of the present article. However, the terms are non-negotiable to them and they won't accept anything else. Am I wrong? What should I do?


texts: Into which category of the CRediT contributor role taxonomy does an (extensive) literature review go?

texts:
A large part of this one paper of ours is a literature review, that was carried out mostly by one person. In the statement on contributions (which is supposed to follow the CRediT taxonomy, Brand et al., 2015), we would like to honour this effort appropriately.
We however have a hard time figuring out which of the categories is appropriate (see Table 1 in Brand et al. 2015 and/or Allen et al. 2019). It seems to me that none fully encompass literature review. The following ones come closest IMHO:

Formal analysis: Application of statistical, mathematical, computational, or other formal techniques to analyse or synthesize study data
Investigation: Conducting a research and investigation process, specifically performing the experiments, or data/evidence collection

To a lesser extent, also these might be appropriate:

Resources: Provision of study materials, reagents, materials, patients, laboratory samples, animals, instrumentation, computing resources, or other analysis tools
Data curation: Management activities to annotate (produce metadata), scrub data and maintain research data (including software code, where it is necessary for interpreting the data itself) for initial use and later re‐use

What are your opinions? Into which category of the CRediT taxonomy does literature review fit best?
-- edit: @Gaviota provided a link to a better accessible reference to the CRediT taxonomy: https://casrai.org/credit/


texts: I stayed at home after I got married, but at 25 years old I decided to study History. Now I've finished my BA, MA, PhD and postdoc. I've got several publications and I can say I have a very accomplished career, but I'm wondering if my age (now 40 years old) will affect me eventually. I'm Mexican and my husband is American-Belgian, and he asked me to decide where we should live, right now I'm looking for a job/postdoc and I do not know what is the best option. What do you think?


texts: Attending a conference that my abusive ex-supervisor is also attending, how I should react?

texts:
I am going to attend a conference as I have been selected to a voluntary position and it is mandatory to meet up with the organizers. At this conference, my abusive ex-supervisor is chairing sessions and probably he is going to attend, he does not know I will be there.

I hate him so much as I was forced to leave because he was racist and narcissistic, travelling to another country with harsh conditions, it is a long story. Now I am working on the same topic with another nice supervisor.

No one knows what happened, but I am afraid of this encounter, I am so emotional and I hate him although he apologized via email after I left couple months, but I still have a grudge since he delayed my academic progress and I cannot tolerate with that, how I should react, ignore him completely, he is very awful person.


texts: I'm thinking about conducting a research at a specific division of the university from which I received my PhD. I had a negative experience while I was there. And I keep hearing that many other students there are going through horrific experiences of abuse. I'd like to conduct a study case and perhaps better understand what's going on there. I know many other institutions have similar problems, but, as I said, I'd like to do a case study and then perhaps go from there to researching other institutions.The problem is that I don't work there, I'm just part of their alumni. I work at a different university. So, basically, this would be an independent study. My question is, given that this is not a dissertation proposal, can I simply complete the IRB form as an independent researcher? Or do I have to write a whole proposal? I know each university is different, but can someone give me an idea of how this works? I'm new to this idea. Thank you.


texts: Criteria to evaluate consulting opportunity

texts:
You're an academic researcher who has done some work in a particular topic.  You receive an email from a stranger, working at a small company, interested in your work and wanting to discuss possible consulting.  Sounds interesting, but you have research to perform, grant proposals to write, classes to teach...

What criteria should you use to evaluate whether or not this is worthwhile?  What are things you look for in possible consulting work? And what are turn-offs and things you want to avoid?


texts: How should I respond to a terrible copyediting job?

texts:
I just received the galley proofs for an article which has been accepted to a well-regarded math journal.

The copyediting is, quite frankly, terrible. The copyeditor has introduced dozens of mathematical, typographical, and bibliographic mistakes. The proofs were accompanied by a list of changes and questions, and some of the newly introduced mistakes were described in this list, but not all.

A few representative examples:

The editor has, in many places, replaced the mathematical notation << with "is much less than". It is universal within my subfield of mathematics that << means something very different from "is much less than".
The editor has typeset fractions in different ways, so that what was formerly in the denominator is now in the numerator.
The editor has monkeyed unacceptably with the bibliography. I used a software package, for which I looked up on their FAQ how to cite it. The editor replaced my correct bibliography entry with something different.
The tables now appear in wrong places. A cursory reading of the edited text reveals that it now makes no sense, and this would be obvious even to someone without specialized knowledge of my field.

I could go on and on, but I don't want to just rant. Instead I have two closely related questions:

First of all, is this typical? I find it difficult to imagine that a publisher who did this kind of shoddy work on a regular basis could stay in business. I wonder if I just had the bad luck to get the new employee this time around.
More importantly, is a strong response warranted? I am inclined to write to the journal staff, tell them that their work is unacceptably sloppy, explain in detail why, and ask them to start over from scratch, and to furnish a list of all changes made, no matter how minor.

This is not just because I want to pick an argument. I have gone through my paper line-by-line several times in the past, making very sure that everything I said was correct. With this level of copyediting work, I am back to square one and I suspect I might accidentally miss several errors introduced by the copyeditors.

Would such an e-mail be likely to produce the kind of results I'm looking for?

Thank you very much.

Update: Thanks to everyone who replied. I wrote a strong, but I hope polite, e-mail to my contact at the journal, listing several of the mistakes, and asking them to start over and to send me a complete list of changes. His first reply was a little bit ambiguous, appearing to perhaps misunderstand what I was asking for -- but he has since apologized and agreed to my requests.

One point of departure from Anonymous Mathematician's advice: I haven't said anything to the editorial board and the publisher, or discussed this issue (other than here, anonymously) with anyone but my coauthor and my contact at the journal -- happily, it looks like there won't be any reason to.

Update 2: As I requested, my contact at the journal started again from scratch, did a much more conservative job of copyediting, and provided me a copy of my file which was marked up in red and blue with every change they made. Needless to say this made my job quite easy and I thanked them for their good work.


texts: Trying to get into undergraduate research, is it discouraged to contact both the PhD students and the professor?

texts:
I attend a university with a fairly large undergraduate computer science program - our introduction to programming course was ~1400 students during the last fall semester and many of the upper division courses have 400-500 students.

I am interested in doing research to gain experience and to get to know a few professors, but it is difficult to get in contact with said professors because of the course sizes.

Given this situation, I am thinking about skipping the step of trying to get in contact with the professor I am interested in researching with and directly contact the PhD students with interesting projects.

On the other hand, it seems that contacting a professor may expose me to more interesting projects that I didn't know he/she is involved in.

Is it discouraged to contact both the PhD students and the professor?


texts: Is it OK to contact someone who is on my suggested reviewers list to discuss something unrelated?

texts:
I submitted a manuscript to a journal. As it was required, I included a list of suggested reviewers. Of course, I don't know who of them have been selected by the editor. I haven't received any reviews yet. Several weeks have passed since the submission.

The problem is that I forgot whom I suggested as a reviewer. These were some people from my field and I have alerts on Google Scholar that notify me about their new papers. Recently, I got such an alert about someone's new paper. I found it interesting (but not really related to the topic of my submitted manuscript) so I wrote an email to the author. (I only met him once at a conference.) I thought that he found something similar to what I saw in a paper of yet another author. We exchanged a few emails. The discussion was totally unrelated to my manuscript.

Only after that discussion I realized he might have been a reviewer of my submitted manuscript. So I wonder whether it is OK to contact someone who may  be my reviewer? The review process is blind so I never know for sure.


texts: I am applying to a master program. The application requires a pre-proposal for a project that is relevant to scholarships. Although I have a specific topic to write my pre-proposal about, I am not totally aware of the latest research in this very special sub-field. Is it acceptable for both the university I am applying to, and a professor working on this field, to ask for help and clarity on my chosen topic? First, should the pre-proposal be originally my own idea? Second, do professors think it is okay to give me hints on writing my pre-proposal? Of course, in the end, I will write the pre-proposal by my own.


texts: How can I add an article to my Scopus id, that is already associated with another author's profile id

texts: One of my articles shows on other author's Scopus id. How can I claim that article for my Scopus id?


texts: Citing a passage which includes added words by the translator?

texts:
I have the translation of a work in front of me and want to quote it. The translation reads:

  "This is the right decision, and yet it is the wrong [one]"

The translator added the 'one' in brackets to make sure to indicate that he added this for comprehension etc. but that the original did not have this word. Fair enough. Now to my question.

How do I cite this? I want to take it over completely like it reads here (that is, incl. the translators note). Will I have to somehow indicate  that this was added by the translators and not me?

Also, out of curiosity: Do these bracketed explanatory words in translations have a certain name?


texts: Should I mention while applying to another PHD program that I have resigned from another one

texts:
As you may know my story, I have been forced to leave after first year of PhD, now I am applying to positions and I have been rejected before which I think because I told them what happened to me.

I would like to know what I can do and how I can add to my CV as it seems a problem.


texts: Should I do my Ph.D. with a supervisor who rarely responds to my emails?

texts:
I have recently been offered a place on a Ph.D. program at a certain university abroad. However, before, during, and after my application, my potential supervisor has generally been unresponsive to my emails. For example, when he expressed his interest in supervising me, it took him about four months to give me the go-signal to submit my application to the program. His excuse for his late reply was that he had been on leave for personal reasons. After I submitted my application, I sent him several emails about the Ph.D. program and my research proposal, but he has yet to respond to any. When I received an offer of admission from the University, two months after I submitted my application, I informed him about this offer through email. I also sent him another email asking him if he wanted to meet with me online regarding my research proposal. Again, he has not responded to my new emails. I do not know what to do next, because we have not had any formal meetings yet.
My question is: Is it advisable to pursue my Ph.D. study at this university with him as my supervisor?


texts: Is there any way to find changes between two revisions of a book?

texts:
I want to find how much it differs between Pocket Medicine 6th edition and the previous 5th one in scale of percent of words or something similar.

I've revised the translation of the book for a publisher and now they want me to specify the number of pages that was beyond a mere revision; i.e. those I actually translated from scratch.


texts: How do I convince a colleague that plagiarism in a grant proposal is bad?

texts:
I frequently find myself editing the grant proposals of a colleague of mine for English grammar. Each time, I find that he has copied sections of other peoples' writing wholesale, usually in introductory sections. This plagiarism is very easy to spot, as the writing style and diction often change dramatically for a few sentences.
I have tried multiple times to convince him that this is plagiarism, and that it's wrong. Despite this, I keep finding new instances of copied material. He claims that it's fine because it's not copying ideas, just introductory information, but I disagree.
How can I convince him that this is wrong and that he should stop?
If it matters, both of us are Chinese, but I grew up in the US and he grew up in China. He claims that this is just a "cultural difference," but I think that this is still misconduct, however minor it may be.


texts: How to talk with my advisor about PhD project?

texts:
I'm currently in the stage of my PhD (in math) where I need to start discussing with my advisor about my PhD project and I'm wondering what kind of things am I allowed to say and which ones should I avoid. I want to know how should I manage my communications with them.

More concretely, to which extent can I decline or object about certain projects they may suggest? Is it appropriate for me to say that a project doesn't appeal me, or that I'd rather do something more [concrete, abstract, with more applications, etc.]? Is it reasonable to bring up the projects of my peers?

I've heard about people having their advisers proposing multiple projects from which they may decide, however, up until this point that doesn't seem to be my case. Otherwise I wouldn't be looking for advise. In any case, I understand they're experts in their area and their suggestions are very well thought (relative to me and the research area) and on-point.


texts: Can my supervisor adjust and publish my bachelor's thesis without mentioning me as a co-author?

texts: I have wrote a bachelor's thesis, and the research department is very enthusiastic about it. Now they want to make a publication of it. My PI asked my supervisor to make this review. Now they are going to make a whole new review, based on my review. They are using the method I used, and probably the data I have found. It actually comes down to that they are redoing my bachelor's thesis so that it will be publishable. Can they do this without mentioning me as a co-author? I put in a lot of work on this bachelor's thesis and I already told my supervisor that I wanted to collaborate if we went to publish the thesis.


texts: Why is my mood dictated so much by how well my research is going?

texts:
I'm a senior PhD student at an American university. I have found over the course of my degree that my mood has largely been influenced by how well my research is going. If I make a small break-through then I feel great - conversely, if I am struggling or have gotten stuck on something then it completely takes over me and my mood declines. I know that this isn't healthy and it isn't really fair to the people who care about me.

Does anyone else experience this? How can I make moves to lessen the impact of my research results on the quality of my life?


texts: What is the etiquette about the length of a visit when giving departmental seminars?

texts: If you are invited to give a departmental seminar and the department offers to put you up for up to two nights, how long should your visit be? I find it a little rude when our speakers arrive an hour before and leave an hour after the seminar. Do you have to spend a full day at the host department?


texts:
During my childhood, I have had ADHD. My last visit with a psychologist was over a year ago and he said ADHD is gone and now is filled with anxiety. I agree that I might be anxious sometimes.
My problem is one thing: There are things, courses I do not like, and do my best to procrastinate them and even if I commit myself to do them, I get distracted surfing the web and social media. I also close them but open them later.
In contrast, in those courses in which I'm interested, I have good focus (maybe hyperfocus) and have good efficiency. The problem is that most part of the university doesn't amaze me and hence it is boring and my efficiency is low.
I'm currently an honors bachelor's student and I'm doing good. But how could I increase my efficiency in doing tasks that I HATE? As you know, a bachelor's degree is filled with miscellaneous courses
Thanks.


texts: How was the Doctorate/PhD title awarded in Italy in the 1980s?

texts:
One of the top Italian research centre for applied physics, the Area Science Park located in Trieste, just elected its new president.
The president's CV can be found here: https://ginko.unipg.it/ws/sitopersonale/cv.php?humanid=caterina.petrillo&tipo=EV
By reading it, I discovered she got her Physics degree in 1984, starting in 1985 a post-doc bursary at an Italian institution.
How was it possible in Italy to became a postdoc without having completed a PhD?


texts: study permit for canadian university has taken more than 11 weeks

texts:
I admitted to a master degree program in Canada. I have applied for the visa. I have been waiting for 2.5 months now.
I lost the winter semester. what should I write to visa section? how can I ask them to speed up the process? spring semester is my last chance to get there if I get the visa late, I will lose my acceptance completely. :(
My question is about writing a letter and letter samples.

should I apply to other universities now? to prevent wasting time?


texts: Funding opportunities for Computer Scientist Faculty in Canada

texts:
I have been offered a faculty position at a computer science department of a small Canadian University.

Is there a funding agency in Canada that is commonly targeted by Computer Scientists similar to the NSF in the US?
Are there any funding opportunities tailored to early career researchers?


texts: Beginners' guide to publications in mathematics

texts:
I solved an interesting problem in probability, and I think it's worth publishing as an interesting application. However, I am not a mathematician and don't know anything about existing journals or conferences where my problem may fit.

Is there a comprehensive guide with all the important journals and conferences in math, with an explanation of what kind of papers they may publish?


texts: How to tell professor the reason for dropping his/her subject without it sounding rude?

texts:
In our university, we are allowed to drop or cancel our classes before a certain deadline within the semester. The reason for dropping is, officially, not required but most professors I know usually asks the student why before agreeing since the professor's consent is required.

I'm planning to drop out since I'm not finding enough time to research and read outside of class hours. Don't get me wrong, it is interesting but I'm currently struggling in my thesis. I want to tell the professor that I'll drop because I don't think I'll be able to focus on his/her subject, especially since it also has a lot of required work outside of class, but how do I do this without insulting the professor or sounding rude? I'm worried he/she might not take it too kindly when the reason given is someone 'don't have enough time for their class.'


texts: Contacting Potential PhD Supervisor: Including grades

texts:
I am starting to contact potential supervisors to do a PhD and I am wondering whether (and how) I should include my grades while contacting them. I am in the UK so there is no GPA standard (there is a GPA but it differs substantially between universities and can be very confusing). So far I have thought of including one of the following:

"Expecting a first class honours degree"
"... with an average of A"
"in the top 5% of my class"

The first two are probably more common but they only place me in the top 20%, I am in the top 5% however, but I feel a bit pretentious to say the third - or is it okay to do so? Is there a more suitable way of including this information?

I am including all my advanced (3rd and 4th year) courses in my CV (and not sending transcripts etc as I feel it would be spamming their inboxes to send loads of documents upon first contact) is that also okay?

By the way, the potential supervisors I am contacting are all over the world and therefore would be impossible to arrange meetings, otherwise I would have done so instead of relying on emails, but in this case, emails are the essential way of communicating with them which is why I am sort of being an overly perfectionist.

Thanks very much,

(An active A.SE member that chose to write this one anonymously.)


texts: Is it legal to ask an intern to write a peer-review report?

texts:
I would like to ask you concerning a situation I was a few years back.
I was an unofficial intern at a research institution. The aim of the internship was to study and search for new methods from a field that was unfamiliar to me or my supervisor and to check how it could be used in my supervisor's field. During this internship, my supervisor asked to study an article that was put for submission, and to write some kind of peer review report on it. I was unfamiliar with the topic, and the supervisor was unfamiliar with one of the topics (it was an article that used a combination of two fields). I did it, but eventually realized that it didn't seem to be ethical, as you need an expert to conduct such work. I even wonder if it was legal.
The situation took place in EU.


texts: Journal Editor does not respond about status of paper ~1 year

texts: I submitted a paper with my co-author to a Springer Journal in the area of computational Mathematics.  It has been nearly a year now and we have not heard from the editor. There was no response for inquiries made every 3 months.  I  requested status from managing editor few weeks ago but still with no response. Given the length of the wait and the fact that the journal is the right avenue for our work, I was not sure what are the right steps ( wait more, withdraw and submit elsewhere?...)


texts: Is tenure also meant for becoming an assistant professor?

texts:
The announcement below from Japan sounds like one becomes an assistant professor at the end of the tenure process. I thought the tenure is always meant for becoming associate professor.

Terms of Appointment:

  Evaluated in the final year of the term, and if satisfactory, eligible
  to become a tenured assistant professor as of April 1, 2018.


texts: How long do I have to wait for my offer letter?

texts: It's been nearly two months (next week it'll be 2 months) since I got an email from the Doctoral School at a UK university telling me that I got the place and funding. After 4 weeks of waiting, I emailed them to ask when the letter would be sent out but they gave me no specific answer. Also by chance I learned that someone already received their letter nearly 4 weeks ago. I'm very worried and just wondering how long everyone had to wait to get their offer letters. And should I contact them again about it?


texts: Aren't professionals from different countries the same?

texts:
I am a college senior in America. I was born in a very poor country, not in North America nor in Europe. I recently visited my home country and encountered a teacher from an elite high school. He told me that teachers from top high schools often have access to high school-leaving national exam papers ahead of the exams.

I also remember that when I was in high school(in my native country) a lab tech told a group of us, that students from even poorer schools in the countryside, who only saw equipped labs on the day of the national exams, often had their grades "boosted".

The high school teacher I met also told me that in addition to pure merit in national exams, exam graders also considered quotas when assigning grades ie how many slots do they need in med/engineering schools.

Are there any resources you would recommend that document and explain the motivations behind such practices? Of course, if I go to admissions officers of colleges in my country, they would tell me that all admissions and grading is based on pure merit only.

Where can I get the "real skinny" about such things?

Leaders in developing countries often travel abroad for medical treatment. Privacy considerations aside, isn't a physician/engineer from (insert your favorite third-world country here) just a good as his equivalent in Germany?

CLARIFICATION
I apologise if my question has confused you. There's a book called "Comrade Einstein". It describes systematic discrimination against Jews in Russian math departments. Link is here. Other similar books have been written, but I don't have them nearby. If I was a Jewish parent living in Russia, a book such as the above would make me want to send my children elsewhere. And, if anyone asked I would at least have some documentation, that would make a plausible defense of my belief and not make me look paranoid.

Are there any similar books, reports etc that deal with "3rd-world" countries?


texts: How to improve myself to be at specific area for statistical studies?

texts: My background (bachelor + part of my master degree) was as mathematics. Then I complete my PhD in developing statistical models. My study does not apply to a specific area (for example, finance, sport, health, etc). That is I am a model developer. Because I did not focus on a specific area, I found it is hard for me to find a job at university as they require a specific field of study. Now, I am thinking to improve myself in a specific area such as finance. However, I really do not know how to start or even stay in my way (developing statistical models) is better for me? any advice or help, please?


texts:
There is such a paragraph in the conference introduction that I want to submit. What does institutional open access fees refer to here? Thank you!

ACM uses the corresponding author during the publication process for
accepted submissions. For example, institutional open access fees will
be charged to the corresponding author’s institution.


texts: No-paper-year in one's career and getting faculty position

texts:
I have heard that while recruiting in faculty member positions people look at the career of the applicants very critically and if someone has a year without a paper might face difficulties in getting permanent positions. I was wondering how important the issue really is in the context of securing permanent teaching/research positions.

Edit : I am asking this as a theoretical high energy physics postdoc.


texts: Applying to more selective programs after having been diagnosed with a long-term mental condition

texts:
I have discovered recently that I had ADHD, and possibly some other mental condition, which explain some past academic difficulties. This gave me hope that with treatment (which I will start soon) and newfound motivation, I can improve my academic results dramatically and aim for a PhD.

My opinion for now is that the plan that gives me the best chances would be to get a second master's degree containing more theory compared to my current one (computer engineering). I'm aiming for some universities I have visited, which are quite highly regarded compared to my current one.

My results have had ups and downs over the years, and would be clearly insufficient without a very good justification, which I believe my mental health problems to be. I have documentation of the mental health problems I suffered from during part of my studies. I don't plan to use these as an argument for admission, but providing that I get better results in the next semester after getting medical help, I am hoping that the admission committee won't disqualify me instantly based on my past results, and give more importance to the next semester.

One additional difficulty is that I'm nearing the end of my current degree, so I won't have another occasion to get good results. I worry that getting good grades in the last months could be insufficient to offset my less-than-stellar record.

Is a very late mental disorder diagnosis followed by a significant improvement in results likely to save my applications to selective programs? Should I lower my ambitions for the moment?


texts: Appeal the grade in oral exam in Germany

texts: I just received the grade of an oral exam and I do not satisfied with it. I want to appeal, but I am not sure if this is appropriate. Since I am in Germany, I heard that professors can give any grades they wanted to students. I worried that the act of appeal will worsen my mark(or even fail). And I also don't know who to make an appeal to. I don't even know how to review an non-recorded oral exam. Can someone give some advice about how this should be done in Germany university?


texts: How to deal with inconsistent advice from my advisor?

texts:
I've started writing my dissertation after a bit of a disaster with my field research.  I'm getting the type of degree where we collect our data and analyze only after, not during collection.

My advisor has me on a rigorous schedule which I agreed to because I knew she wouldn't accept anything else.  I had my first round of edits from her and then the second and the response to the two was night and day. First she said I did a great job and then she said my chapter was incomplete.  I explained to her (twice) that I wanted to wait to write one of the sections until later and she told me that she is concerned that my paper was late.

I showed her it was not late, and she said, no, she didn't actually mean late, she meant incomplete because of the section I had missed and because I hadn't written 2-3 paragraphs to cap off the end of my sections (which I consider does not render the chapter "incomplete" because I didn't even know I needed them and that's why students send their chapters to their advisors).

This is not the first time this has happened where she says one thing at one point and then another the next.  She's clearly a mircomanager, but I don't know how to deal with somebody who keeps changing their mind. For financial reasons, I can no longer live near my university and all of our communications are over email. I don't have an issue being assertive about my project, but she doesn't seem to respond to that like a lot of recommendations suggest.

I have about a year to go at this point. What do I do?


texts: What are the publication options for academic contributions that don't lend themselves to a journal article?

texts:
What are the publication options for academic contributions that don't lend themselves to the journal article format? In the case of datasets, there are some suggestions here, but I'm also wondering about other types of resources, such as

software packages for scientific computing, and
presentations of information that include interactive elements that are integral to the usefulness of the resource.

It seems to me that a common practice is for creators of such resources to publish an accompanying article, such that there is an avenue through which the resource can be 'cited'. But my impression is that often such articles do not add much value beyond that of the original resource. So a two part question:

Are there other options for 'publishing' such resources directly?
Are there pathways for having such resources peer-reviewed?

With regard to interactive resources, I'm thinking of a broad range, from this kind of interactive exposition to, say, a formal rubric-like taxonomy with more than two dimensions, such that some interactivity is required to toggle between which pair of dimensions are displayed (assuming only a 2D representation is used). To have such resources peer-reviewed, the closest option I know of is Distill, an web-only journal for machine-learning that facilitates interactive elements in the articles it publishes. But, for now at least, that option is limited to contributions in machine learning.


texts: Would a professor be angry if I neglect to take classes within the research I'm working in as an undergraduate?

texts:
I am an undergrad currently working in the lab with a great professor and doing interesting work. I promised the professor that I would take more relevant courses related to the research I'm working on to help me with my research.

However, I found that there are some other courses that are more interesting to me and more marketable as a career skill. I want to take those instead but also continue working with him, but do you think he'd be angry if I went against his strong recommendation to take more relevant classes?


texts: Journal won't allow PhD student to be corresponding author

texts:
I've submitted a publication to an ACS Journal where I performed all the experiments myself, most of the editorial work, and all the coordination. Other authors agreed to let me be the corresponding author.

ACS spontaneously changed the corresponding author to the last author (which doesn't even have a position a our institution) and send following e-mail to him:

  Thank you for your recent submission. ACS Policy requires that the role of corresponding author be assigned to a senior editor who has the equivalent degree to Ph.D. If John Doe has the necessary requirement, and you agree, we would be happy to update the manuscript records. Thank you for the confirmation.

Beeing in Academia since many years, I am pretty aware of what a corresponding author is as I am aware of the questions Is it okay to list a PhD student as corresponding author? and Should student or supervisor be corresponding author for publications based on student research?, I'm a bit upset and asking myself on what base one can make such discrimination.

Since I couldn't find this ACS policy on their website: is this a kind of unofficial policy? What is the point of making someone corresponding author who doesn't have as much insights as I have?

I already have published in the past in ACS journals. My highest concern is that these only write to the corresponding author during the review and editorial process and the other authors are familiar with overfull e-mail boxes and "skipping e-mails"...


texts: Is "Cambridge Scholars" a fake publisher?

texts:
Considering the fact that I'm a graduate student with a couple of publications, here is the email I've recently received from this website (I found it in my spam folder):

Dear Dr. Robotocist, ------------> (I'm not a doctor!!!)
Firstly, please excuse this unsolicited email.
I’m sure that like me you receive too many as it is and so I’ll keep
it brief.
I was recently appointed as Commissioning Editor for
Cambridge Scholars Publishing with a brief to expand the subject areas
in which we publish books. As such I am in the process of developing a
collection based in the field of Robotics. As I believe you already
have some experience of academic and scientific writing, I wondered
whether you would consider us as your publisher should you decide to
put ‘pen to paper’ and write a book at some point in the future?
We
are also developing Editorial Advisory Groups to help ensure that we
only publish high quality texts. If this is something that you would
like to become involved in, please do let me know. As I promised, I
have kept this message short, but would be delighted to talk or
correspond more if you feel you would like to explore possibilities.
Kind regards,
Helen Edwards
Commissioning Assistant

To me, this is a miserable fake thing, and I just wanted to know whether or not anybody has encountered this organization before.


texts: Does a informative and clear professor webpage often increase the number of prospective PhD students who apply to work for the professor?

texts:
Here is what I would call a particularly informative and clear professor webpage.

Of course, it's not the most important thing (for me, personally, I mostly discovered professors through asking current professors whom to contact). But a lot of PhD students do discover professors to contact through Internet searches, which may be especially relevant for PhD students who might not have as many connections (especially international ones). And maybe a strong professor webpage could also increase the "fit" of the applicants who do decide to contact the professor.


texts: Re-applying to a Ph.D. program after acceptance?

texts:
What would happen if I were accepted into a Ph.D. program but declined it later in order to work in industry. Would this have any beneficial or negative impact on a future application to this same university and Ph.D. program?
My field is computer science.


texts:
I have applied for masters in a few programs and am suffering from a row of rejections.

I am waitlisted in a few programs too.

I was going through https://www.scs.cmu.edu/sites/default/files/SCS_Masters_Programs_in_Brief_2016.pdf this document:

If you scroll down a few pages you can see 2016 stats.

CS : 90 accepted 36 enrolled. How can that be?

Does 90 accepted also include waitlisted people? If I am on the waitlist does it mean that if my waitlist rank is < 54 I will be accepted?

How many people are there in a waitlist usually for these programs?

This whole admission cycle is taking its toll mentally. I am too distraught after rejections from my dream colleges.


texts: I'm not a native English speaker. My supervisor and I have read our manuscript at least twice, but after two months the reviewers say the grammar is unsatisfactory. I want to know if there is any software which can check the grammar of my article (either offline or online), or any forum I can ask about grammar questions?


texts: Under which circumstances (if ever) should a prospective post-doc apply for a position advertised for a PhD student?

texts:
Many academic positions are advertised for PhD students. Does it make sense to apply for such a position even if you already have a PhD, in the hope that they might also consider a post-doc instead? Why would the hiring institution not want a post-doc instead of a PhD student? Why would a prospective post-doc not want such a position?
In case somebody wonders why I'm asking:

Often, there are many more projects advertised for prospective PhD students than for prospective post-docs.
Many of the projects seem to be scientifically challenging enough to be interesting also for a post-doc, especially if one is switching fields or completing the project in a shorter time frame.
I cannot see why institutions would be opposed to hiring post-docs instead of PhD students, considering the much higher qualification they bring. I can imagine that there are some limitations attached to funding, though.

For context, I am in an engineering / computer science field in Europe, where PhD and post-doc positions offer comparable salaries.


texts: Dealing with someone who asks many questions during presentations

texts:
While giving a presentation there is one person in the audience (X a PhD student and a friend) asking all sorts of questions, even unrelated ones. They are also eager to answer questions of others while just in the audience. X attends almost every talk in the department (info from colleagues) and shoots out his questions. During my first few weeks I consider this as good academic practice but had to change my opinion when the same occurred during my talk, with  about 7-8 questions asked during a 30 minute talk; some of them were blatantly off topic (like asking why I used this numerical method over the other, which I haven't even heard of). We attended a thesis defense in our department in which the protocol suggests that the defense committee should ask questions first in the time allotted to questions. X couldn't wait, asks during the talk and this annoyed the committee, one of the stood up and asked X to stop!

I talked with X, and they said they are doing this to push the presenter to their limit and described the thesis committee as a bunch of idiots. X said they were very shy in their school years and worked really hard to reach this level of confidence.

My analysis

Although questions are welcome during the presentation, X seems to ask questions for asking sake. They used to ask questions to compare a certain method or phenomenon with their line of research which the presenter has never even heard of.

How to deal with him if this continues (sure it will!) during one of my presentation? I don't want to offend, as they are one of my few mates on  campus.

Side Note:
X's questions are not dumb questions in reference to some comments. They are sometimes off-topic, sometimes seeking explanation on a particular terminology(during the talk). I feel the questions are being asked simply for the sake of asking a question.


texts: How much knowledge is expected of an MPhil applicant as compared to a PhD student, a postdoc or a research assistant?

texts:
A related question asks about differences in required background knowledge between PhD students, postdocs and RAs. This question asks about differences in the required background knowledge between MPhil students and the former.

My understanding is that postdocs, research assistants, MPhil students and PhD students are mostly paid positions. Regardless, MPhil students and PhD students, like postdocs and research assistants, are expected to assist with the specific research that the professor is doing.

But, considering that both a MPhil studentship and a PhD studentship is the pursuit of a degree rather than the application of acquired knowledge from a degree, I would like to know how much background knowledge is expected of MPhil and PhD students at the time of applying.

How much is expected of background knowledge for an MPhil applicant?


texts: Difference between running example and motivating example

texts: I have observed two major terms used in academic papers/journals for citing examples : running example and motivating example. Are these interchangeable or they are to be used in a specific manner? In my thinking, I assume a motivating example’s duty stops in its section/paragraph while a running example is continuously referred to throughput the paper to explain concepts. Is this assumption correct?


texts: Is it proper to ask an editor for clarification

texts: In a recent review of a paper, the reviewer suggests several solutions to a flaw, one of which was collecting more data. The other solution was to shorten the paper substantially. The editor said that the revisions needed before acceptance were between minor and major revisions. In my mind, collecting additional data is a major revision. The editor has not indicated any specific steps he would like taken. Is it acceptable to contact the editor to discuss exactly what he wants done before the paper can be published? For example, can I ask if he wants more data collected? Or if there he wants the paper shortened?


texts: When does a paid research assistant become a co-author?

texts:
What amount of work should a well compensated research assistant put into a paper before they're included as a co-author? Is there any norm? Suppose this is a field where 1 to 3 authors on any given journal paper is the standard amount (e.g., economics/finance/econometrics).

What if they do 30% of the paper? What if the paper requires (model building, programming, writing), and each component is about 33% of the paper, and the RA does all of one of these and helps a bit with another one of these?

I would think the answer is never, unless it was an unusually large contribution or the professor was feeling nice. I think this because otherwise they would've just gotten an experienced co-author who could bring much more to the table who they also don't have to compensate with any $$.


texts: Changing from molecular neuroscience to ecology after PhD? Ecologist perspective needed!

texts:
I am one year away from finishing a PhD in neuroscience and looking at PostDoc/future career options. Though I love neuroscience, I don't enjoy working in the field very much and I have had a life-long (though non-academic) passion for ecology/conservation biology. I have a very broad background in biology (zoology, plant physiology, marine biology, development..) and have done several ecology-related courses in my undergrad.

My questions goes mainly to ecologists out there, is it possible to learn the techniques needed for ecological surveys/conservation biology work (thinking mostly marine, climate change focused) "on the job"? I believe I have gained a lot of transferable skills during my PhD and I learn techniques quickly. However the fields are very different. I wish I could be more precise but right now I am just looking at a general idea based on the premise that during a PhD, one learns skills beyond one's subject and thus should be able to change, even though it's not easy.

Would it be necessary to maybe do a master's program to bridge the fields? My undergrad would allow me to do a master's in ecology, I already checked that. But at this point of my career I think it's more valuable to learn on the job than to go back to a taught course (also I'm quite old, >25).

I'm thankful for any input!


texts: What are some ways to increase grading speed?

texts:
I sometimes spend too much time on grading students' homework in the class I am a TA for. I am asking if there are some ways to improve grading speed? I hope that I can learn some useful tips from experienced people here.

For example, which one do you think will be faster, grading student by student, or problem by problem?


texts: Can being free of publication charge be an indication of being a non-predatory journal?

texts:
Though some serious journals charge publication fee as well, to a certain extent, can being free of publication charge be an indication,
albeit not a sure indication,
of being a non-predatory journal?

Since a less known journal suffers from being confused with a predatory one, if I want to make some of my publications free from being belittled, would declaring the journals publishing my papers are free of charge be a wise action?


texts: Is there any job security for tenured academics in Denmark?

texts:
There recently was some bad press regarding job security for tenured academics in Denmark. A critical article in a newspaper edited by University of Copenhagen employees mentions the firing of two professors, one of them (Thomas Højrup) due to a "cost-cutting measure".

To get a balanced picture of the matter, I looked into official information as provided by universities, and found the following explanation by the Copenhagen Business School:

  A position as associate professor or full professor at a Danish university is a permanent position. The employment and working conditions of academic staff employed at Danish Universities are primarily regulated by collective agreements between the Danish Government and the trade unions. According to the collective agreement [...] Danish Universities, however, can dismiss a member of the academic staff, employed in a permanent position, but only in special circumstances, due to either disciplinary offenses or as a result of considerable budgetary restrictions or other unexpected institutions circumstances.

This sounds to me like a university could easily get rid of any tenured employee they don't like anymore (for whatever reason) by declaring a new "strategic orientation", which results in an unavailability of funding for said employee.

Consequently, I wonder is if there is any job security at all for tenured academics in Denmark. Specifically, are there usually any "safeguards" that prohibit a university from firing a person they don't like by reallocating their funding?


texts: Can anonymized teaching evaluations be made public in the United States?

texts: Can anonymized teaching evaluations be made (legally) publicly available by the teacher who received them in the United States? For example, I have seen a fair amount of teaching statement containing anonymized teaching evaluations in faculty applications, and some of these teaching statements are publicly available (e.g., placed on the applicant's website)


texts: How to allow students to work off-line, while still using an LMS to collect work?

texts:
Due to Covid-19, I am having to switch to a "hybrid" format, where I see students less often each week, in smaller groups, and more assignments are pushed on-line. The school is in an extremely rural reservation, where those students who live off-campus are unlikely to have running water, electricity, and internet access. Students are issued Windows laptops.

The current solution is to create assignments in Word, have students download them on campus, work on them at home, then upload the assignments when they are next on campus. I am trying to find a more sophisticated solution for "syncing" their work though, as this step makes it much more time-consuming to grade work. With an LMS, I can post multiple-choice quizzes and other types of interactive assignments, e.g. videos they watch and respond to. Is there some technology that allows for students to save specific LMS pages locally, work on it off-line at home, then when they return to school, they can easily submit? I know students could just leave the browser window open and put the computer to sleep, but that seems risky and students could lose their work.


texts: Do US REU programs sponsor the student visas (J1 or F1) for international candidates?

texts:
US REU programs sometimes accept "self-funded" international students. However, do they also sponsor the student visa (J1 or F1) for the selected international candidates? Or do the students have to use a tourist visa? (From what I read so far, using a tourist visa for that purpose would not be legal as REU programs fall in the "internship" or "training" category.)

Edit:

I noticed that the J1 requires that 51% of funding come from either the hosting institute or some external source. So I suppose the J1 wouldn't be applicable for international students. However, as far as I understand, the F1 is only applicable for students enrolled in a degree course in the US. So is there no visa that would be applicable for international students willing to participate in a US REU program? That seems contradictory as many REU programs clearly mention that they are open to international applicants. [Source]


texts: How can I apologize to my former research professor whom I ghosted?

texts:
At my university, I worked with a professor in knot theory for about a year. I am an undergraduate, and I wanted some experience in research. This professor was one I had a fairly good relationship with, and he actually helped me be able to skip some classes which I had already self-studied. Because I enjoyed the professor, I decided I wanted to work with him and his research group. However, I have discovered that I currently do not enjoy knot theory; it's a rather esoteric subject with few resources from which I could learn it from and gain some intuitive understanding, and one needs a solid grounding in topology to do much in it (I do not have a solid grounding in topology).
Ultimately, I didn't really do much during my research (I both thoroughly disliked it and wasn't able to do much; the latter fact probably influenced the former) and when COVID-19 hit I simply fell off on researching and communication with the professor. I fully realize that both my lack of effort while researching and the actual ghosting was quite deeply wrong. I have no plans to do anything similar to my current research mentor or any future ones regardless of how the research goes, so please do not lambast me too much for this. I now do research in physics (where I am much, much happier), but I feel quite horrible for what I did to my professor. To make matters worse, I have several books on topology that I would like to return to him (on somewhat of a tangent, Munkres's books, while good, are not exactly the most stimulating textbooks I've read, so I didn't learn too much topology). I very much want to apologize for my actions and offer to return the books, but I don't know how to do so gracefully. If any advice could be granted, I'd appreciate it immensely.


texts: Can I update my DBLP profile, or connect it to Google Scholar?

texts: I find my Google Scholar profile to be more updated and accurate than DBLP. Is there any way I can update DBLP accordingly or connect it to Google Scholar?


texts: Is it possible to refer to a specific section of the supplemental material?

texts:
I will soon submit a paper to PRL. In the main text, I refer in many places to the supplemental material, which is divided in 3 parts.
Let's say that at page 2 of the main I show a result, and I refer to the 1st section of the supplemental material, at page 3 to the 2nd, and at page 4 to the 3rd.

Should I write in this case something like: "See supplemental material part 1", "See supplemental material part 2", etc or just "See supplemental material" each time, and leaving the reader to figure out where to look?


texts: Literature Review versus Literature Survey. What is the difference?

texts: I have read several articles about literature reviews. At the same time I found some guides about literature surveys. I am confused... how is a literature survey different from a literature review? What is the standard procedure to conduct a literature survey without making it a literature review?


texts: Shirtless picture on the academic page of a Ph.D. candidate seeking postdoc

texts:
I will finish my Ph.D. soon and am seeking a postdoc position.
To this purpose, I am creating my page, hosted by my university.

Personally, I don't generally take pictures of myself and don't like to.
There is a picture of mine (from 4 years ago) which I feel is fine,
where I was hiking on a mountain, without my T-shirt.
However, people won't see my nips anyway. I am a male, if this matters.

I wonder if such picture is fine in an academic page,
especially for someone who is trying to get a job.


texts: How to deal with working papers when quoting?

texts:
I am a doctoral student and therefore have only little experience in publishing.
Now I ask myself how I should deal with working papers of other researchers in my articles.
I have read some interesting working papers and would like to quote them in my article. However, I am not sure if I should do so. Since these working papers have never been published and reviewed in a journal, I do not know if citing them is useful or even allowed.
On the other hand there are interesting results in these articles, which I would like to mention.
So I would like to ask how I can best deal with working papers when citing.
Can I easily include and quote them in my text?
Or should I better not do so, because I would like to submit my own article later in a respected journal?


texts:
When writing an academic paper should you always expand on acronyms that you use even if the acronyms are universally understood, for example;

IT (Information Technology)
WWW (World Wide Web)


texts: What should I do if I cannot afford a journal Article Processing Charge?

texts: I would like to publish an article open access, but I cannot afford the article processing charge (APC). I am based in the UK, so I do not qualify for some of the available fee reductions or waivers. I also do not have grant funding to coverage the fee. How can I obtain funding to cover the publication fee to make my research open access?


texts: Switching research areas & PI expectations

texts:
I'm an undergraduate, 3/5 years. I've worked in the same basic-genetics lab for three years now (mostly part time, 6 months of full-time).

I'm hoping to apply for MD/PhD programs doing computational biology, and I have a little bit of experience (an internship and some part-time industry work) with translational computational but not much.

My PI, and my most supportive mentor & letter-writer wants me to work another 6-month full-time co-op in his lab.

On one hand, I am very interested in the research we're doing. The 6-months would be a chance for my first not-nth-author publication and could be fun. And my PI seems genuinely disappointed/hurt when I do research elsewhere, which is actually a big influence.

But I don't want a lack of relevant experience to hinder my graduate school application. I could use that 6-month period to work with a computational lab or a hospital or industry.

I can't be the only one to be in a position similar to this. How do I even start to make a decision?


texts: What is the difference between a concentration and a track within the major?

texts:
We want to improve our undergraduate curriculum in my department by offering new concentration. Looking at many different programs in the US, the following questions came to mind:

If there is a difference between a concentration and a track within a certain major (I am talking about science major such as major in physics or maths or chemistry or computer science)? Or is there no difference?
If there is a difference between the word track and concentration, then is it possible to have both track and concentration offered within a certain major or it is uncommon?
If a department offers tracks/and or concentrations, is it possible for a student to graduate just with the major without any tracks or concentration?


texts: What to put in a biography for a publication?

texts: A publication I submitted to said that I need to include a biography in the paper.  I don't have many formal qualifications, aside from my degree.  I have done my research on my own, and am unaffiliated.  What can I put in the biography?


texts: How do I voice my opinion that the teaching of students is being neglected?

texts:
I'm in a Phd program right now and it seems there are some unethical practices going on in my department. Examples include: testing over irrelevant material or material that was not really covered, not grading/giving feedback on homework, instructors breaking college and department policy for convenience, dishonest course description and listed prerequisites.
When I got my masters in a different discipline at another institution, I felt everything was so well put together and my instructors really cared about the class and the students. I have considered leaving with a masters in stats since I feel slimy for participating as a TA in what I mentioned above, but I would like to reach out. Does anyone care? Would anyone listen? Who should I reach out to? How should I phrase my concerns?
I can include more details if that would help.

EDIT
I wanted to give more details:
I'm in a Phd stats program right now and I have a masters in math (I was all but dissertation)
I TA for a masters level core class. The instructor doesn't grade, lecture or make notes for the class (they are reusing the video-lectures and notes of another instructor from previous semesters). As far as I am aware, the instructor just pulls questions from a bank of questions for tests/homework. When I learned the material, I took a two semester sequence to cover everything and we still didn't cover all the material this class does. Every semester, masters students spend more than 1000 USD on the course and have to drop due to lack of background even though they work hard. Last semester about 25 out of 80 students dropped. The only prerequisite for the course is calc III.
For another course, the boss (instructor) of another TA in my cohort tried to make the TA create the assignments and tests which is against department policy.
In my case, I have had several instructors whose exams don't reflect the material covered in the homework and I feel that I could have not studied and done just as well (bad) because the exam questions end up being some difficult honors calc II question instead of using the material we cover in class. In fact, one instructor got stuck for a few minutes when giving us the solution to a problem that no one was able to solve on an exam. A subgroup of my cohort is unable to attend office hours for a required class due to having another required class and the instructor was unable to accommodate them due to "being too busy with research".
In summary, I feel that the department is trying to make money off of master students and is more focused on research than being good teachers.
Maybe this is normal and didn't know since my last institution was really good. Just let me know if it is. Thanks for your time.


texts: What do search committees really read in a CV during initial screening for a faculty position?

texts:
Faculty positions are very competitive, and each advertisement should roughly receive hundreds of applications.

I think search committees cannot spend more than 1 min reading each CV during the initial screening (correct me if I'm wrong).

CVs are usually 10-20 pages documented in different formats, and it is not easy to capture potentials of a person in 1 min.

Owing to the fact that not all committee members are fully familiar with the journals in which applicant has published, his/her research impact, his/her universities of education, or the importance of his unusual achievements.

Then, how does a search committee shortlist the candidates during the initial screening? What do they quickly look for in a CV to keep the candidate?

NOTE: My assumption for 1 min for each CV was based on a simple math. If a job ad receives 400 applications, each member should spend almost 7 hours to review only CVs (not looking at other documents). If my assumption was somehow wrong, please forgive me. Your answer can clarify the issue anyway.


texts:
I had a PhD interview and the professor invite me over for a visit. We had a very nice day tour and I was supposed to send my idea about the PhD topic to the professor in two weeks and I did so.

Meanwhile they did reimburse the costs of my travel.

However, I didn't receive anything from the professor.

I was upset because even if I was rejected, the least he could do was a rejection email.

Now after almost 2 month I checked my email and I realized that I send him the topic discussion email via my gmail account instead of the uni one.

I was in contact with him with the uni account and once with gmail account before.

I still would prefer to get a rejection letter rather than no answer.

What should I do? write him again? move on?


texts:
I finished my Master one year ago and now I am writing a paper from my master thesis. But now i am a PhD student in another university (another country). Which affiliation i should write in the paper?. Is it ok to write both university names on paper?
Thanks


texts: Am I allowed to process personal data on a cloud server?

texts:
I have gathered some fMRI and eye tracking data, from several subjects. I can process them using the server in our lab, but I would like to take advantage of my own cloud servers on Linode and DigitalOcean, even EC2.

Before these data were gathered, in the consent form we did not mention the possibilities that data might be processed/stored in the cloud.

Am I allowed to use cloud servers to process these data under current regulations? Does it makes any difference if these servers were purchased/rented under my lab's name?


texts: Query regarding the academic journal submission

texts:
Asking on behalf of my friend.
He had worked on some problems in the summer of 2018 when he was a student at some X university. After a year, he again started working on the same problem and will be going to publish it in some journal. But now he joined university Y.
He has this query: what author's address and mail he needs to mention on the paper? Or what else he needs to do?
PS: The funding for the summer internship was given by university X.
Thanks


texts: Failed entrepreneur applying for master oversea

texts:
I have BSc in computer science and entrepreneurship background with strong technical skills (software) but low GPA and no publication. I have bean away from university for few years and have not been working as employee so I can't provide any letters of recommendation.

As my previous businesses have not been successful (partly because of country I live in, it is one of the top worst) I'm thinking about starting over by applying for a master program and moving to a better place (preferably US). It can also help me find better ideas and like-minded people for future ventures.

All I can provide are few links to my previous works, some of them shiny.

Do you think I have any chance to get admission and grant from a good university? How should I prepare myself for it?


texts: Can one be average in academics but great in research at same time in PhD

texts:
This has always kind of intrigued me. I have seen many students who are good in academics (the scale I am using for this is GPA, like around 3.8–4.0) and average in PhD research. I mean, they do research, but it's just the kind you would expect from an average PhD—publish dissertation, write to one or two top journals, and then graduate.

I have also seen a few students who barely maintain their GPAs (they usually hang around 3.3–3.5) but are so good and focused in research that they do groundbreaking stuff, and some even have filed and received patents on their dissertation.

My question is: how much of a PhD is about taking courses and excelling them, and how much of a PhD is about excelling in research, and how well are they interconnected? From what I have seen, there seems to be no precise correlation between GPA and quality of research. Is it because PhD research concentrates only on a precise problem? Or is it because of individual motivational factors?


texts: Academic pipeline: How many papers should you have under review?

texts: Often I've come across rules of thumb about maintaining active publication record. The advice I've most often been given is that one should have at least two papers under review at all times? What's your strategy? I am in the social sciences.


texts: PhD Application (in Australia): no confirmation email

texts:
I have applied (on February 17th 2020, GMT +1) for a PhD position (in Australia) starting the latest in July (so, no application deadline). It has now (March 7th 2020) been nearly three weeks ago since I emailed my application. I did not receive any confirmation email of receipt from the professor. It is something I really loathe, because I do not know what the status of my application is. Contrary, I can image that reading applications and making inquiries with the funding organisation in respect to the applications can take up a lot of time. Thus, I do not want to appear impatient. I wonder, however, if further patience is prudent. In short, should I email the professor about the status of my application or should I wait a few more weeks?

Thanks!


texts: How to improve the skill at storytelling and paper writing?

texts:
I have come to see a comment on twitter: "If you define “good ML paper” as “ML paper accepted at NeurIPS/ICML/etc” then writing a good ML paper is probably much more about how skilled you are at storytelling and paper writing than about ML." This comment is about Machine Learning (ML) and the comment is someone's opinion. My question is more general, how to improve the writing skill for scientific papers?

It would be great if someone can answer in Machine learning and NeurIPS/ICML perspective.


texts: Papers published during undergraduate degree: can they form the basis to a PhD?

texts:
I'm presently finishing up my undergraduate degree in Mathematics, and have written a number of papers, three of which have been published in reputable combinatorial journals (think journals published by Elsevier and Springer). From these three, I am the sole author on two of them.
Given that I have invested so much time and energy on 'extra curricular activities' (as my head of department calls them), can they serve as the basis to a PhD thesis? Which is to say, can a considerable part of a thesis consist of previous work which has not been used to obtain any other degree?
This final remark is important, I feel. A fourth paper with my supervisor is in the works, but the material presented there will appear in my undergraduate dissertation. I am then of the opinion that this material should not be used toward another degree.
If it helps, I attend a northern European university, and intend on doing a PhD in Europe/UK/USA.
Edit: I would like to perhaps mention the motivation for asking this question. I have heard stories of people doing research in their private capacity, then doing a PhD in quite a short period of time (a year or so), since they had a lot of material already. I cannot imagine this being the case however. What are your thoughts on this?