texts: Publish working paper before submitting to journal

texts:
I'm a PhD-student in economics and so far I have no experience with publishing. Before I submit my first article to a journal, I would like to publish it as a working paper. However, I would like to ask if this is useful.
Is it rather the rule or the exception to publish a working paper in advance?
And can the working paper have a negative impact on the subsequent publication in a journal?
Is there anything else I should be aware of?


texts: Are translations valuable to Phd admission committees?

texts:
I am really interested in translating academic material to my mother tongue. However the other day, I was talking with a professor and he advised me cease translating and start writing research papers if I want to continue my studies and start a PhD, he pointed out translation is of no value to English academicians!

I know it is very important to show your research capabilities by actually doing so but I feel shocked and a bit disappointed if this is true about the attitude towards translating academic material.

Would you tell me what you think on this and whether you think by translating I am spending my time in a wrong area?

I need to add that I am going to start my PhD outside my home country and probably in an English-speaking country.


texts: Best aspect ratio for conference presentations?

texts:
As it is relatively easy to setup an arbitrary aspect ratio for my Beamer presentation, I am wondering what would be the best aspect ratio for my presentation slides?

I think the 4:3 aspect ratio would be suitable for lecture notes as it leaves no blank margins when I print out 4 on 1 handouts. But for screening purpose, would it be necessary to go for 16:9? As suggested by this online article, in most cases 16:9 is more suitable, however in the end it is a matter of preference.

Any suggestions besides that?


texts: What to do for a paper with a very long review process?

texts:
I have a paper submitted in an Elsevier journal. The review process has been quite long. I submitted the paper on the 20th of December 2017. After 7 months, I have received first-round reviews. It was a major revision. Then, I submitted the revised version of the manuscript. The reviewers took 2 months to say that everything is more or less ok and they asked for some minor revisions. The editor changed the status of the paper: Accept, after minor revision.

I submitted very quickly the manuscript and it has been 5 months that I did not receive any news. I contacted the editor at the beginning of the third month, he said he reminded reviewers to send their reviews but any news. I am a bit concerned. Did they really forget the paper?


texts:
I am a very objective person and I don't mind constructive criticism.
I have submitted a research paper to an IEEE journal with high reputation.
The co-authors of this paper have broad experience in this field with hundreds of peer-reviewed publications. Hence, the paper is of good quality.
I provided the implementation along with full theoretical and experimental analysis of the proposed novel algorithm, so they can replicate the results and make sure that we are genuine.
The reviews were as follows:

Reviewer 1: Very positive feedback, highly appreciated the work, its novelty and quality.
Reviewer 2: Wasn't very clear for them about the contribution of this work with respect to this journal. With some very few minor feedback.
Reviewer 3: Same as Reviewer 2.

The Associate Editor decision was: Two of the reviewers think the contributions of the proposed method are not clear ---> Reject!
This is not the first time I submit a paper and reflect upon the feedback. I already have accepted paper in high reputation IEEE journals.
The decision was as a shock to me!
I've seen worse reviews/feedback, yet the Associate Editor usually goes with a Minor or Major Revision.
I truly believe that we deserve another chance to make the contribution "clearer" as much as they want.
Is this normal? Should I appeal to the decision? Should I go to another journal since I didn't get a real feedback to improve the paper, and most likely the other two reviewers were too lazy or lack of required knowledge to evaluate the paper?
Your advice is very much appreciated.


texts: Retract an already submitted recommendation letter (written for an undergrad student)

texts:
In the middle of the current semester, a student in my large lecture class (of an undergraduate course) asked me for a letter of recommendation, to supplement his application to transfer to another, much stronger, school. (In case this matters: this is in the U.S.)

He is one of the quiet students: while he doesn't actively participate, he doesn't cause any trouble either. So during that first half of the semester I didn't have any personal communication with him, and therefore I didn't really know him; I mean I didn't have anything to say about him as a person. But he attended class, and his first two midterm test grades were A (90+ numerically). So I told him that I agree to write the letter, but it would be short because I can only write what I know about him, which isn't much: I could only say that I've known him for half of the semester and that so far he has been performing really well. The student said it's fine. So I wrote and submitted a letter of recommendation.

This was a month ago. Fast forward to today, and by now he's like a totally different student: he's still quiet and doesn't cause any trouble, but he often skips classes, and his third midterm exam was an F (50 out of 100).

I know that it's not about me, and I don't take this personally. It may sound like he changed his ways as soon as he's gotten what he wanted from me, but that would be silly of me to assume. Probably it's just that he believes that he's already in the other school and doesn't care about this school anymore.

But my dilemma is that now I know that he is not the kind of student that I described in my letter and recommended to be accepted to the other school. By putting my name on the letter I effectively vouched for him and his ability to perform at a certain level. To me, it's as if I made a promise to the other university, but now I see that I misled them (albeit unintentionally).

Do you think it's a good idea to contact the other university and request that my letter of recommendation be retracted from his application package? Any thoughts or advice?


texts: Are student papers treated differently from main papers in a top conference?

texts:
This is referring to a top tier conference like AAAI, CVPR, NIPS.

Other than the apparent difference that the lead author is a student, how differently are student papers treated? Will the reviewers be less harsh on the paper, and if accepted, will it be given the same amount of recognition as the main conference papers? Is there any segregation done when the final papers are presented at the conferences?


texts: Is there a negative stigma associated with choosing a university for non-academic reasons?

texts:
I am considering a master's degree in Japan.

From a purely career oriented POV, I should be aiming for universities in the USA, Germany or Italy as these are the leading countries in my field. However, I have a great passion for Japanese culture and language. I have considered applying for the JET program, but I wish to avoid a 1-2 gap in my resume.

Would going for a Japanese university (instead of a stronger one) for personal reasons be seen as a bad thing? If so, would it leave a lasting mark and impede on my future career?


texts: Suggesting an alternative to referee/reviewer recommendation

texts:
The editor asks for substantial revisions, and sent me two reviews. One of the referees says that I should address issue X by means of approaches A and B.

In my revision, I plan to take on board this comment, but I think that approach C is a better way to address issue X. Therefore, I’ll do C instead of A and B.

In my reply to the referee, I will explain why I did C and why I think that approach C is better than A and B, and at the same time I want to add a sentence like this one:

“I am open to the possibility that the referee might still prefer approaches A and B. If that is the case, I will switch to these approaches in the eventuality of a further revision, should the referee request it.”

Is this correct? What is normally done in these situations?


texts: Is it a red flag if the justification for my research (why it is likely to matter) is popularly sourced?

texts:
I want to write a paper on a certain specific topic (it's not terribly important what it is, this is intended to be a generic question). I can find sufficient peer-reviewed sources to provide a foundation for much of what I want to synthesize, but I'm coming up short when it comes to establishing a justification for my paper - that is, why it matters now, why someone would care to read it or use what I hope to find. What I can, find, however, are popular writings - newspaper articles, blog posts, random mentions in chat rooms, etc. saying something like "oh, I wish we could accomplish Specific Goal X under Conditions Y! Here's how it would help me/us/Bill/those guys down the street/etc.". I'm not seeing that in the literature - papers about X don't seem to cover using it under Y, and papers about Y don't seem to consider how it would affect X.

Is it reasonable to set up the justification for a paper by citing primarily popular (non-peer-reviewed) works (as long as I have a proper peer-reviewed foundation for how X and Y work), or is this more likely a red flag, indicating that I lack a sufficient foundation to study this right now (i.e. either I would have been able to find sources specifically about the theoretical utility of future research into X under Y, or the very fact that there are no sources indicates that there is actually little or no likelihood that X under Y would mean much)?


texts: What can a student do to respond to faculty/administration decisions based on current political events?

texts:
We are from Kuwait. Our university often has many foreign professors visiting for extended periods.

In my particular department, the head has now begun rejecting professors from the US, and starting to send those back who are here already, the reason being that this is in response to the immigration ban imposed on Muslims from certain countries (however not Kuwait) by the US.

How should one deal with this as a student in this department? My first reaction was that this is obviously wrong and unfair, but I know from my advisor that the department head also feels that it is unfair to the rest of the world's professors that Americans can ban others from entering their country, but in turn can themselves go almost anywhere they want. So it is according to him a fair policy.


texts: Are faculty hiring committees overly polite on "denial" answers

texts:
I applied to several tenure track positions this season. For some of them, I received an e-mail letting me know that I was no longer considered. That's cool and expected, since most of them were in US/Canada and I don't have any official experience working in neither...

My real question is: In some of those, they said that there were impressed by my resume/background/publications or something similar, always followed by a ", but". Are they being polite saying that? How much should I trust this kind of information?

(I could really use this kind of feedback to direct my search. It is not trivial to not over/underestimate yourself...)


texts: Would summarizing peer-reviewed articles on a blog count as academic participation?

texts:
I was a former college instructor (as an adjunct), but ultimately left academia due to low pay. I have no intention of going back to academia any time soon (for a variety of personal and non-personal reasons). However, I am still interested in academia, and would sometimes write about interesting peer-reviewed papers on my own personal blog.

Would writing blog posts about current academic research be considered a form of participation within academia (without having to actually enter into the toxic and less-rewarding atmosphere of academia)?

I understand that I am talking to a 'non-academic' audience (and that there is a difference between popular literature and academic literature), but I would also be helping promote academic literature while also providing critical commentary on it.

For the sake of this question, let's define "academic participation" as "the ability to call myself an academic".


texts: Graduate School Admissions: Is it worth mentioning in my personal statement for PhD that I have a low (3.3) GPA but a higher (3.67) Major GPA in CS?

texts:
If I should mention it then what should I write about it or how should I link it with the rest of my statement of purpose?

(I just suck at courses like history and other core humanities and courses which require you to rote learn a lot of stuff)


texts:
I am considering pursuing a PhD in computer science one day.
I guess specializing in (is that the way to put it)?
What I want to focus my research efforts on.
I am interested in:

Manned/unmanned space exploration (writing guidance/navigation systems for the next Mars rover, etc).
Finding cures for diseases (folding @ home).
Computer models of climate change, as I am very much a person that thinks "Global Warming is real and needs to be dealt with yesterday".

But this questions isn't "what should I do research in" but more of "how can I decide what I should do research in."

I know a lot of people will counter with "if you don't know what you want to research then you shouldn't be considering getting a PhD", but I don't believe in that line of reasoning. I want to do research and to be involved with something that expands the boundaries of Computer Sciences as we know it.  Just because I am not exactly sure what avenue I should go down in doing so, doesn't in any way change how much I know that I do want to do it.

So where do I start with figuring out my specialization?
What are my theoretical options?
Where can I see if "getting my PhD to write software to guide probes to Jupiter" is even a viable option?
Must I choose a area that is currently being researched at the university I attend, or am I free to come up with my own?
Can/should I be reading recently released papers on Computer Science topics for some inspiration, and if so where do I go to find those?


texts: Is there an advantage of branching in version-controlled paper writing?

texts:
I use a version control system (formerly subversion, now git) to write papers, which for me works very well and is convenient. A few times, I even worked with branches for different logical versions of a paper, such as versions submitted to different journals. However, I found branching of little use for paper writing. When I used different branches for different journal submissions, I found myself working only on the "latest" branch anyway, since I can anyway only submit one version per time, and, if it is rejected, will not continue to work on that particular version at a later time. I didn't find any other good use of branching in paper writing, and later skipped it completely.

Is there any advantage of working with several branches when writing a paper with a version control system? How should one organize the writing process in order to profit from such an advantage?


texts: Academic salaries at European universities

texts:
Is there a good source to compare academic salaries at European universities? For example, what are the salaries of full professors in different countries?

I would particularly welcome a possible source, a link pointing to a page where this information is available.


texts: What's the impact of PhD Advisor on your faculty job?

texts: Are there people out there who can provide first hand account or refer me to literature that discusses the influence of PhD advisor on your chances of getting a faculty job?


texts: Professor won't comment on research in his recommendation

texts:
I asked a professor who is my research co-supervisor for a recommendation letter and he said "OK I can write that you are my student and you are good, but I can't comment on your research until you complete your thesis." When I first asked him he asked me to stay and do PhD with him. Now he won't comment on my research which would really hurt my chances of being admitted. I mean when I have completed my thesis I would have missed the deadlines and would have to wait for another year (supposedly as a researcher with the same professor).

My question is, should I take his recommendation or ask someone else based on what he said?


texts: What is my institution when submitting to journal

texts: In the time between submitting the first draft of a paper to a journal and submitting the third and final version (now), my institutional affiliation has changed.  Should I indicate my original affiliation on my (latest) submission, or my current affiliation?  All the work for the paper was done while I was at the previous institution.


texts: How to email Faculty Search Committee for seminar without implying to hurry on my application?

texts:
I had recently applied to several prestigious institutes in India. Just to explain the recruitment process in these institutes a Faculty Search Committee goes through your application that comprises of CV, teaching statement, research statement, list of publications, etc. Based on your academic credentials they invite you for faculty interview/seminar.

If the candidates are abroad you could inform the Faculty Search Committee you are in India for vacation and usually they invite you for an interview/seminar before finalizing the application.

Now, I will be going to vacation and I need to email the Faculty Search Committee that I would be available during a certain period. I need to compose the email such that I do not imply in speeding up the application. This is what I had in mind:

  Dear Faculty Search Committee,

  I had applied for a faculty position in the Department of XYZ on
  D1-M1-YY. Please do not consider this email to speed up my application,
  but for your information I will be in India from D2-M2-YY to D3-M3-YY.
  During this period I would be happy to give a seminar at ABC.

  Looking forward to hear from you.

  Regards,

  PQR

Please let me know if this email would affect negatively and how can I improve the same for a better email communication.


texts: Is it ethical to include additional material in lecture notes if students buy them

texts:
For most of the undergraduate courses I teach, I also prepare lecture notes and students usually buy a printed copy at a copy shop at the university. Sometimes I think it might be beneficial for the lecture notes if I include additional material which I might not cover in the course.

Is it ethical to add additional material if most of the students will buy a printed copy and the price will go up due to the additional pages? Does it make a difference if the material is available as a pdf in the course's page in a learning management system?


texts:
I sent a paper to a good journal with other coauthors. Some days ago, one of my coauthors was sent an invitation to review this paper. Is this logical? I mean, has anybody of you ever received an invitation to review your own paper?

Some months ago, the same occurred with another paper in another good journal. I declined the invitation explaining that I was an author and I suggested other reviewers.

But, as I got a similar invitation now, I ask whether this is a usual practice...


texts: How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the UK, particularly for weak or borderline students?

texts:
Related: How does the admissions process work for PhD. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?

When applying to a PhD program in UK (where GRE is not accepted), how does the admissions process work? If an applicant is weak in a particular area, is it possible to offset that by being strong in a different area?

Note that this question originated from this meta answer. Please feel free to edit the question to improve it.

Note. I am interested in engineering desciplines.


texts: Is it possible to overcome poor undergrad performance with a masters at a much lower ranked institution?

texts:
I have browsed extensively on academia.se and generally understand from similar questions (e.g. Doing bad in undergraduate but good in a masters program and How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?) that Ph.D. admissions committees care most about an applicant's most recent performance.

Is this still true even if the poor undergraduate grades were at a highly ranked university, and the good masters grades were at a much less competitive program?

I am interested in applying to top statistics PhD programs, but I have very poor undergraduate grades (2.8 GPA, 3.3 major GPA in math/stats) from a top 15 department. My grades in the masters program are good (>3.9 GPA), but at a state university that is not so highly ranked.

If the grades from the less competitive masters aren't enough to overcome the poor undergraduate grades, is the quality of my masters thesis likely to help me secure admissions to a top PhD program? What about a strong but not top 10-15? There are faculty doing high quality research here that may be able to supervise my thesis.

Edit:  This is not a duplicate of the linked question, while that question has great answers it does not specifically address my situation, namely I am working on a master's thesis and have a particular pattern of grades. Also difference between quality of undergrad and current institution.


texts: Writing letters of recommendation for more than one student to the same department

texts: Suppose multiple students have asked me for letters of recommendation to the same graduate department in the US. Am I expected to explicitly compare the students to one another? Am I supposed to do this in both letters (assuming they haven't been submitted yet)? Do I need to explicitly state a preference for one over the other, or can I just get away with listing relative strengths and weaknesses (for instance, "X is stronger academically, but Y has more research experience and is a stronger programmer")?


texts: A specific question on writing research statement

texts:
I'm applying for a postdoc position at a university that asks to write a research statement taking into account possible interactions with research groups/faculty within the different departments (e.g. math, physics) of that university. I'm trying to understand whether this means:
a) I should write how my research connects to the different departments, i.e. I should point out how my research has some connection to the research of faculty X in department Y of that university, or
b) It's enough to mention my own research or their connection to different areas, without the mention of the faculty X in department Y.
So to be specific, say my research in math corresponds to quantum physics and say a faculty named John Doe in the Physics department wrote a paper in quantum Physics. So is it better to mention in the research statement "my research has connections to this area of quantum physics" or "my research has connection to this area of quantum physics, carried out by faculty John Doe in department of Physics"?
I tend to think it's b), because in a research statement, people don't normally mention how it can be connected to some faculty's research, which can be done in a cover letter. Advice appreciated!
P.S. After contacting the job poster, I was told that there'd be no requirement to contact a faculty member separately and hence submit a joint proposal together. The applicants won't be required to submit proposals anyway. Just thought of mentioning that in case it helps!


texts: Alternative ( and programmable) referencing tools for word on mac

texts:
I am using microsoft office word, the newest version (2016) for mac. I have previously used Endnote as a referencing tool, but now I switched to Mendeley because It is conveniently good at organizing my PDF files. There is also a neat plugin for word on my mac for this program, and I can use it without a problem.

However, I was using the writing program LaTex for a while as an alternative to word, and since I switched back to word I miss the ability to just "command" the reference to appear in the text using a referencing key word. Mendeley is a very neat program, but you still have to "click" around on the screen a lot to enter one reference.

So I have two questions:

Are there any more "programable" referencing tools which are comparable with microsoft office word (for mac)? Or is this an absolute limit of what word can do, and I have to accept that if I want to use word.. then the referencing tools will always be plug-in's that I have to "click" around in the program to use - each time I want to add a reference?
Are there ( based on personal preferences ) better programs out there then Mendeley?


texts: Does publishing a book while employed by an academic institution grant them legal claim on the royalties?

texts: If I publish a book on my research topics while employed for an academic institution, can they claim part of the revenues I get from royalties ? My question is relative to Europe, but if someone knows also for other countries, I will welcome additional answers.


texts: Sending a paper which is under review for showing competency in order to find a paid sabbatical leave

texts:
I am a Ph.D. student. I submitted my paper to a highly prestigious journal and also answered with a very detailed and long answer to a reject & resubmit type of revise to this journal. I think it took a long time for the journal and its referees to read and decide.

At the same time, I have a very severe financial condition as my source of finance, cuts my salary since my Ph.D. got longer than their standard duration for a Ph.D. I want to find a paid sabbatical leave. I decided to send my papers to many people in order to find such a one year job. I want to know is it a good idea to send my last submission to this journal without telling the name of the journal to through email to obtain a paid sabbatical leave which I think is rare.

What's your advice for me? Thank you very much.


texts: Is it ethical to use a recommendation letter from a deceased professor?

texts:
She was a really nice professor and she wrote me a good recommendation letter that resulted in a lot of good results with applications. Recently, this professor died from brain cancer, which was a fast and shocking death for me.

Tomorrow is the deadline for a grant. What should I do? Is it professional to use letters from the deceased?


texts: Approaching a master's in humanities after STEM-focused undergrad

texts:
I graduated this past year from an Ivy League university with a double major in a STEM field and Asian studies (with a focus in literature). Throughout university I felt the desire to eventually pursue a graduate degree in the humanities, but for various reasons ended up focusing much more on my STEM work. In my final year, I took some courses in religious studies that reignited my long-held interest in that field. Since graduating, I've been constantly reading books and papers on religion while working in tech. I think I'd like to pursue a master's in religious studies, both as a way to see if the field is really right for me and as a way to beef up my admittedly anemic experience in the area for the sake of a potential PhD.

But to be honest, I'm not sure of my prospects of getting into a good master's program. I feel like my lack of background will hurt my chances significantly. Although there is a little bit of overlap with my Asian studies degree (the language skills would help if I wanted to pursue Buddhist studies, for example), I'm not confident there's enough there to demonstrate adequate knowledge and interest. Furthermore, I took more than a few of my humanities classes in undergrad pass/fail since I was being pushed so heavily down the path of STEM. Should I be doing something else before applying to programs? Do I even have a shot of getting into a good program? What's the expectation for applicants coming out of undergrad? Any and all advice would be deeply appreciated!


texts: Professor told me to organize a lecture course

texts:
I am a PhD candidate. My advisor told me to make and organize a lecture course, for which he is formally listed as the instructor, but he has little knowledge about what the lecture course will deal with. I have more knowledge than him.

Students attend class two times per week.

One day, they give presentation about paper reviews related with this course.
The other day, I conduct the class and give them knowledge in order to understand papers. In both days in a week, he does nothing.

I don't think it's normal.

Even though he gives me many thanks for conducting the class, my feeling isn't going well. Even worse, I don't get paid.

However, because of a (de-facto) vertical relationship between him and me, I don't know what should I do.

I am not sure an ethics committee can protect my privacy.


texts:
I'm currently pursuing my master's in statistics with probability specialisation. I am interested in stochastic calculus and want to apply for a PhD in math. My first year of master's includes a lot of stats courses. The second year is when I get to choose courses related to stochastic calculus.
The problem I have is I don't think I can do projects until the third semester. There are a couple of reasons for this:

There is no semester break and professors don't want to give a project during the semester
Most of the summer programmes are cancelled in my country.

I have excellent grades in my undergraduate and in master's so far. I have done two basic projects in my undergrad and one reading project under a professor in my master's. I have good letters of recommendations.
Do I have any chance of getting into math PhD programs in the US? What can I do to strengthen my application?
Courses I have taken in my undergrad: (grade - course contents)

Three analysis courses - got all As (real, multivariate, metric spaces)

Three Algebra courses - B in ring theory and A's in others (Linear algebra, group theory and ring theory)

Complex Analysis course - got an A

Topology (Till quotient topology in munkres) - got B

Complex Analysis - got an A

Differential Equations (existence, uniqueness, rectification etc.) - got an A

Calculus (Tensors and differential forms) - got an A

Two stochastic processes courses (Discrete and continous-time chains) - got A in both

Optimisation and game theory - A's in both

Courses taken in Master's: (marks are given instead of a grade)

Analysis - I ( scored  95/100), Probability (scored 90/100) + Bunch of statistics courses
Measure theoretic Probability, Analysis - II (taking them currently) + Bunch of statistics courses

Courses I plan to take:

Functional Analysis
Martingale theory
Ergodic theory
Brownian motion and diffusions
Markov Processes and Martingale Problems
Advanced functional analysis / PDEs
Theory of large deviations


texts: From an author's point of view, what would you consider as negative peer reviewer comments?

texts: I have been reading about how authors deal with negative peer reviewer comments. This got me wondering what kind of reviewer comments would authors consider as negative? Of course, most authors would consider harsh or rude comments as negative, but I feel that harsh comments, if directed at improving the paper, are at least better than dismissive or superficial comments that do not add any value to the paper. What kind of reviewer comments would you categorize as negative?


texts: Need ideas for postdoc application re support of sponsoring institution

texts:
I am applying for a prestigious postdoc in social sciences. I need to make a case for why the sponsoring university is particularly well suited to support me, and what unique forms of support it has to offer me. A representative of the postdoc informed the dean that the support has to go beyond what all postdocs receive. Thus I can't list "professional development" because all postdocs and grad students can access that.

The dean has offered me priority status for an internal grant of $5,000 to travel to conferences. What further types of support could the sponsoring university offer me that would advance the research, teaching, and committee work of a social science PhD?


texts: Can I publicly mention my paper once it is accepted?

texts: Since the paper first got submitted anonymized but is accepted now, can I add it to my publications or do I have to wait until the conference?


texts: How correlated are grades in math courses with potential for research?

texts:
This is something that has been troubling me for a long while now. I am an undergraduate mathematics major (a sophomore), and I wish to apply to Ph.D. programs in pure mathematics in the future. I'm very passionate about research and academia.
On basis of what I've read on this website, graduate admission committees (mathematics) select candidates on basis of how capable they are of doing research in the future, and there are several indicators for this, of which grades are just one. Everyone knows that research in math and in general is a lengthy process. It is not like working on problem sets for courses or writing exam papers in 2-3 hours. It is a lengthy process in the sense that people take months, sometimes years to solve problems and publish papers (I hope that I'm right?)
That being said, to what extent are grades and potential for research (and in turn, graduate admissions) correlated?
While getting As does signify that one has probably mastered the material, is getting a few  Bs really that bad? I'm sure this isn't something new that I've thought of, so how do graduate admissions committees deal with this problem - i.e. making sure capable and deserving candidates are not left just because of their grades (none less than B) in some courses?
P.S. We know that LoRs, and other things matter too - but I don't know how important each component is, and hence the question. This question specifically targets to ask how important grades are and how this obvious problem is addressed.


texts: For benchmarking purposes, How do I find out who shares the same qualification combination as me in my current location?

texts:
How do I acquire the stats on how many people in my state/province/country share the same academic qualifications as me? I'm completing a MTech-Marketing and CIMA combination and live in Durban, South Africa. Information on who they are and current positions would also be advantageous.

For benchmarking and job-hunting purposes, the information I'm looking for should read like this- There are 3 people currently working in the Durban area who have a Masters in Marketing + CIMA combination. They are employed by company A, B an C and occupy positions X, Y and Z.


texts: IEEE papers: reference of software used to design

texts:
In IEEE style, should I provide a citation to the 'product page' of general, commercial software used in design and simulations?

I've seen some papers do this:

"This antenna was designed with super-antenna-designer-5000 [3]" and then in the references you would see:
"[3] Super antenna designer 5000 product page. Online at superantennadesigner5000.com/about"

I've also seen papers just not give a reference to the software when they mention it. After looking around online for a while I couldn't find any clear guidelines on what I should do here. On the one hand, I always like to go with the mindset that it tends to be better to refer to something too often than to omit it, after all, the reader can ignore things they don't care about, but cannot add things they don't know. At the same time, I feel like I can spend those 3 lines of text in my maximum-3-page paper on something more important. After all, there is not much useful info to be gained with linking to an about-page, nor is this an example of using previous research work to build on top of.


texts: Coronavirus, school lockdown and future uncertainty

texts:
I am a master student expected to graduate in April. I want to work as an R/A for my thesis advisor after graduation and want to do a PhD afterwards. However, the entire school is closed and I cannot meet him in person. When I asked him about meeting after the corona is over, he said “don't worry about graduation, you will be able to graduate online”. It seems that he does not want to meet me, which makes me feel very depressed and anxious. My only option now is to write an email. I want to talk with him over several things:

Is my thesis good enough that justifies doing a PhD? If yes, is it possible that I publish it with him being coauthor?
Is it possible I become his R/a? Even if my thesis is good, that is not a guarantee.
What can I do to improve PhD chance?
Will he write me a letter of recommendation?

I think that asking all of these in one email is not a good idea. So I am thinking to start it with the email:

  Dear Prof.A, I am very grateful for your advices for my thesis.
  Without you I would not have been able to graduate. I learned a lot
  from you and now that the thesis is finished, I discovered my passion
  for research and realize that this is what I want to do for the rest
  of my life. I have some questions, I would be very grateful if you can
  answer them:

  do you think my thesis is good enough justify me going to phd. If it is good can we coauthor on my thesis and publish. That sounds a bit
  too arrogant from my part, so I do not know how to word it.
  Is it possible I become your r.a. Your research is very interesting and you taught me so much during our time working together . I wish to
  learn more from you.
  Do you have any advice for me to get into good Phd school?

  thank you so much again!
  regards,
  B

Can you give me some advice? I am very depressed and anxious to the point I cannot move for many days.


texts: How do free speech protections of permanent positions in the UK/Europe/Canada comparable with those of tenure in the US?

texts:
I believe Tenure offers strong protections for speech in the United States (and I think Canada as well).  As I understand, the UK and Europe don't have "tenure" but have something very similar, where a position is made permanent, typically after a 5-year review (as with tenure).
However, it seems that these permanent positions do not have quite as much job security as tenure provides in the US, based on answers to this question: What is the difference between permanent faculty positions in the UK and tenured faculty positions in the US/Canada?.
My question is specifically about the free speech protections of tenure.  Are similar protections common in Europe/UK/Canada?
EtA: I was conflating academic freedom and free speech, as noted by other users.  However, I've also found this article that says: "In cases brought by professors in North Carolina and Washington, federal courts have given greater free speech protection to college faculty than ordinary government employees would enjoy."  Note that this only applies to public universities.


texts: How to break this perception that my research trajectory will be almost the same as my research senior’s?

texts:
I am PhD student working in computer science. I am worried about the perception that my research career is going to be almost the same as that of former students in my group. I am not satisfied with this because:

I came from very good university as compared to my colleagues.
While I don’t think I am a genius, surely I am a very hard worker with discipline. To me it appears that I can do much better than other if I work hard for long period of time in academia.
I could have gone to a slightly better university for my PhD, but here I get to work with a professor who works in the research area I am interested in.

Please note, I am not saying these former students are not in a good place – they now have post-docs in good universities. I also know that I should focus on my research and should not compare myself with others, but this is difficult in practice.

Question: How can I break this perception that my research trajectory will be almost the same as that of the former students in my group?


texts: Potential Postdoc advisor giving exams (assignment) as part of hiring process

texts:
I will be graduating with a PhD from a US institution in computational sciences. I have published 10+ papers in peer reviewed journals in the field I am applying for jobs.
I have been interviewed by some PIs, and after interview, I have been asked to submit a few hours of tasks for further evaluation. I was wondering if it is normal these days in hiring process to assign some work/test to evaluate the candidates on top of interview presentation. Anyway, I found the assignment interesting and have decided to work on it.


texts: Paper submission: Major revision impossible to pull off

texts:
The reviewer for the paper that I submitted for publication suggested major revision that I think cannot be pulled off/ done. What should I do? Should I just write the letter to editor saying I cannot pull off that revision since it's impossible. Or should I just submit my paper somewhere else.

This is my first paper submission.


texts:
I started my masters with semi finished experiment by my supervisor, and h suggested to do more experiments to include them in my thesis.
However, after year and a half, the other methods we were using failed to show any results (the cells were not growing)!
My supervisor told me not to worry and he will let me have the previous results and methodology to be in my thesis since we couldn't conduct more experiments on other specific cells.
My question: is it ok to do so? I haven't done that experiment myself!


texts: I get no advice or guidance from my supervisor

texts:
I'm approaching the end of the first year of my PhD and I really am struggling to find what my research question is. I'm slightly panicing that I don't know what I'm doing yet and I get very little support from my supervisor.
I've spent time exploring the literature and I have a few broad ideas of potential areas. The problem is, when I discuss the topics with my supervisor, he gives me no advice or guidance about how to develop these ideas into research questions or whether these ideas are even valuable/ could make a PhD.
We meet fairly regularly (maybe once a month). But in most of our meetings it's just me bringing him up to speed on the research I've done and some ideas, and I really don't get any feedback that is constructive to me narrowing down a topic and really developing it.
I've tried to be more direct, and specifically asked 'what topic do you think has the most value?' to which he'll reply 'what topic do YOU think has the most value?'. He doesn't do a lot of independent research either as he spends a lot of time teaching, so it's difficult for me to just attach myself to something he has worked on.

I'm really not sure how I can get some feedback on my work and find a topic. Any advice?

Edit:
Thanks so much to everyone who has responded to this question. Your advice has been really helpful and constructive.


texts:
I am a mathematics undergraduate student from India and am presently in my final year. Being a bit less talkative, I had not had many conversations with my professors even though I had tried to maintain a good score in my subjects and learn them well. However nowadays,  when I am trying to apply for my master's I am becoming aware of the need for connections with your professors. However I am not sure how to do this and I have no clue whom to talk to. Isn't it awkward if you just go to a professor's office say Hi and try to start up a conversation?
   So can anyone suggest how to do this? Also is one year (or maybe a semester of 4 months as I have to start applying after that) enough to make good connections with professors?
Thanks in advance.


texts: How honest should one be with their students when talking about the realities of academia?

texts:
January seems to be that time of the year that I ponder this question often. After the grades have come out, I always get a few students with very low grades (D or lower) coming to talk to me, and wondering whether this grade will have an impact on their future ambitions of going to a top graduate school and becoming a professor.

Another related event that happens in January is that it's the interview season for tenure-track positions in my field. The market is getting increasingly tougher, and plenty of very strong postdocs that I know don't have any interviews.

Watching these things always makes me wonder if it's a bad thing to be discouraging to the students.

Sure, technically it's true that even with a couple of failing grades, you can still gain entrance to a top graduate school, given glowing recommendation letters. And sure, I'm sure that some researchers weren't phenomenal in graduate school but they flourish in their later career.

However, in today's tough market I think that these things are becoming rarer, and in general, unless you stay on top of the track you don't really succeed in becoming a professor/researcher. So I often wonder if it's better to tell the students a bit more of the honest truth. That their ambitions are possible to realize, but that the competition is tougher than they could ever imagine. That they should definitely have a plan B in place. That even if they succeed in becoming a professor, their life might be very different from how they imagined it to be (struggling with a two-body problem, working for a university that you never dreamed of, and so on). I, for one, might have appreciated an honest answer, and maybe that would have changed my career trajectory. And I think enough people with doctorates work for jobs that they could have gotten before going to graduate schools.

So, as an educator, it is bad form to be discouraging. But I wonder if it's actually in their interests to really know what's in store. Do you do this? That is, do you tell your weak students with unrealistic goals that their goals are unachievable?


texts: How can I convince my instructor to allow me to self-study?

texts: Last month, I took an extra Chemistry class and since then I had to attend the extra classes after my college ends. But However, I have already self-studied advanced chemistry by myself and For me, The Chemistry Class I am taking is a waste of time because it teaches the same things that I have already leant before. However, The Instructor of that Extra Chemistry class is the same person who is my Lecturer and grader of my College class. That means, if I leave the Extra Chemistry Class then It will affect my college grades. So, Is there any way, to convince my instructor that I want to leave that extra chemistry class and self study by myself without affecting my college grades ?


texts: Consecutive holidays for faculty in the US

texts:
In India, the faculty have a provision of consecutive holidays for at-least 15 days to 3 months based on the college. After the completion of final exams of a semester/year, these holidays are given by institution to both faculty and students before the start of a new semester/year.
Almost all the colleges have such a provision. This includes universities and other academic institutions.
In top end institutes, the holidays are minimal (15 days). But, holidays are not absolute. This means that if the faculty receive intern requests then they have to guide the interns. And some private colleges have at most 3 months of consecutive holidays.
I am wondering whether US faculty have any provision of such consecutive holidays? And on average what is the range of number of holidays?
Note that the holidays in this question refer to consecutive holidays only and not to casual leaves, health leaves etc.


texts: Where does Computer Science background students fit in Theoretical Physics

texts:
I am basically an Electronics student - background in Computer Science (that's where I want to work). I applied for an internship in USA in a research institute where the group is focused in Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics, Chemical Physics, Physical Chemistry, Materials Science.

I got selected. Now, I would like to know where area could someone with CS background  would actually work on?

I am looking for a detailed answer.


texts: In what circumstances do departments permit graduate students to complete their program off campus?

texts:
I believe that the law could make better use of formal logic. I've been accepted into a good law school. After I graduate, I'd like to use part of my career to explore ways lawyers and the law could practicably use logic.

On a number of warrants, I believe that completing a graduate degree in logic (either a master of mathematics, or a master of philosophy) would help me accomplish that. That said, the university that operates the law school I plan to attend doesn't offer many logic courses. I have a school in mind whose math and philosophy departments teach a great deal of logic.

However, my circumstances are such that I'd need to complete my studies in logic while studying law. Preferably, I'd study logic during the summer terms and law during the other two terms. Although, many instructors don't work full-time during the summer, which could make that plan less feasible. Alternatively, I've considered completing the course work, or pre-studying, during the summer months, then rendering the course work and completing the exams during the regular terms.

In sum: I plan to study law away from the school where I'd like to study logic, so I could go to the school where I'll study logic during the summer terms, and only occasionally during the fall and winter terms. Thinking in or out of the box, what could I do to make this work?

Thank you.


texts: Which type of paper is best for computer science, journal or conference?

texts:
Paper submissions always put weight on our resume, specifically for students who are applying for a Ph.D.  Conference papers are different from journal papers, at least in few cases.  Which one puts more weight on our resume? For example, if two students have same level of qualifications except one student has a journal paper and the other one has a conference paper, which one gets higher priority?

I'm a computer science graduate, very much interested in publishing a paper. I just wanted to know the pros and cons of paper submission, and more specifically the advantages of journal paper vs. conference paper.


texts: Why are my submissions not accepted by top conferences, while similar papers from others are accepted?

texts:
I'm doing my PhD in computer science. I had a few tries for top rank conferences like IJCAI, CVPR and ICML but my paper was rejected from them and consequently I sent the papers to second tier conferences for the sake of having publications.

However when I compare my work with some accepted papers (in previous years or current year) in those conferences, I see similar technical level or novelty in them comparing to mines.

For example reviewers more often mentioned I just added something to the pre-existed approaches or combined already existing things from the literature to shape an algorithm, which I noticed is a common case notable number of papers in the top computer science conferences.

One thing I do not have in my papers is bringing unnecessary but sophisticated math jargon to show something important is happening. For example, I noticed in other's papers although the contribution was for instance adding an extra objective term in the optimization framework, they used complicated algebraic representations or visualization techniques to related their contribution to some bigger underlying phenomena! But the short answer is they did it because it obviously should make the outcome result better.

From another point I'm not sure if I try another top conference (with a new work) and my paper gets rejected, then would it damage my or my supervisor's reputation in the field?

So although I still have great enthusiasm to try for the next relevant top conference, I got a feeling that I'm missing an important ingredient from the recipe!

PS: My advisor is not so competent in this regard and I'm among the first group of his PhD students and you can guess the rest.


texts: What counts the most for admission to a MSc : Erasmus programme or summer school / research programme?

texts:
I'm doing my bachelor degree in Physics in Italy and I'm strongly considering to continue my studies abroad (in Europe) after the degree.

I don't know whether I should spend a period studying in a university abroad (precisely participating in what is called an "Erasmus programme") or apply for a summer school / summer research programme abroad during the years of my bachelor.

Which of these two is more likely to be a parameter of valuation taken in consideration for a future admission to a master of science in a university abroad?

The Erasmus programme is considered to be a very good experience but I don't know if it is evaluated in an admission process, in the end it is "simply" a period of study, but in a different country. I mean, usually it doesn't add something to the formation of the student in terms of knowledge in the subject, which is something that a summer school or a research programme could do.

Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks a lot for your help


texts:
Ok so first off a bit of background. I've been working professionally three years in a software engineer position after my BSc. in Mathematics and Physics. At some point I realized I missed doing true research so I enrolled in Masters in Financial Mathematics, which seemed to me the ideal trade off between maths, programming and well finance which is quite interesting.

So now, here I am, first year, with full time lectures. My first reaction was to be disappointed by the amount of team work, since in my BSc days all homeworks were individually graded. For some mathematics courses it's fine, since there's a single good answer. However, there are some instances where it's definitely more research-like, almost like a lab report actually.

What however is unnerving is that I'm stuck with teammates with whom I don't exactly share the same work ethic. For instance, I had to insist on writing formal proofs. Anyway, I just feel that if it wasn't for me we'd keep to the bare minimum. AFAIK this is quite different from the industry where, if a team screws up, then either someone is going to get fired or at least the team is going to be split by the management. Here, the prof just won't care and will assign a global grade and go on to the next team.

So I'm not sure what's the right path. On one side, I really want to make sure our team performs well, this is quite a big move I made here, but on the other side, I just don't want be bossy with them, yet here I am writing emails where I detail clearly what I'm awaiting from each of us. Also, well, I haven't talked openly with them about this issue, I'm not certain how I can bring it.


texts: classifying work folders and data, any recommended structure?

texts:
As my research and fields if interest change over time I came to build a vast amount of research drafts, data files, different academic and non academic reports and publications. The same thing for talks, trainings, statements and institutions related paperworks.

My question: Is there any standard way of classifying academic files? folders structure, files and draft naming ?

If there is not, what are the general rules you apply when classifying your files. and do you use any software for this propose.


texts: Do teachers want students to add their attempts on solving their own question in an email?

texts:
I think this question holds for any kind of class, but if it actually makes a difference, it's a graduate level class.

Today I was drafting an email asking about uncertainties in a paper I'm supposed to do a presentation on.
When posing the questions, I added what I think is the solution to the question.
However, I am not sure wether or not I should actually include the attempt of answering my question on my own.

Pros

It shows that I actually tried to find a solution before writing them
It could make answering the email easy because they maybe don't have to explain much if I'm correct
Just asking the questions without any extra text (e.g the solution) makes the email itself seem blatant
It could reveal even more misunderstandings on my part, increasing the value of their answer

Cons

It just bloats the email, maybe making it less appealing to read and answer
They might not care what I think because they "have to" write their own answer anyway
(If the answer is way off, it might throw a bad light on me)

Neutral

Might depend on the person I'm asking

If it depends on the person I'm asking, how would I actually recognize wether he/she wants me to add my thoughts or not?
Therefore, I am in confusion wether or not to add my attempts to the email or not.


texts: What should I write in the preface of my master's thesis

texts:
Please note that my guide abandoned me and I am studying and preparing my masters thesis myself. There is no  help from any faculty in my department as they can not bother, as they are not guide.
Being enrolled in a 3rd world institute, this is not surprising.

  I read 5 research papers (4 are on odd zeta values and 1 on Goldbach Conjecture) in number theory and I will explain the steps involved and prove statements which authors didn't prove. So, my thesis is expository and I have not proved any original results. I have written a rough draft of explanations of the papers.

But I don't know what should I write in the preface or beginning of my thesis, explaining what I have done as I have no idea of these sort of technical language. Also, I searched on internet about expository thesis but most theses were on proving some results or generalizing some conjecture. I could not find a work related to mine. So, I am asking here. I have also to be very cautious so that I am not accused of plagrism.

First 4 papers are about 4 different methods used in studying irrationality of odd zeta values and the 5th paper is a bit different.

Can someone please tell what to write in the preface.


texts: Is it possible to crowdfund a PhD, like crowdfunding business?


texts: How to pick the brain of a professor with whom you have no connection

texts:
I want to learn more about a specific part of a narrow, fledgling field. I want to have a 30 minute conversation with a the burgeoning experts in this area of study -- they are all researchers at universities.

I have completed my undergrad in a related field, but at a different institution, and without formal training in the specialized area I'm investigating. But I have read up enough to be able to ask informed questions.

How can I get these busy people to give me a half an hour (or more) of their life when I don't know anyone in their network and am an outsider? What can I offer them in exchange for their time? What is a good way to make contact and avoid a totally "cold call"?


texts: For what sorts of reasons would a university deny an application to a graduate program in the U.S. after the department recommends it for admission?

texts:
I'm in the process of applying to Ph.D. programs right now, and professors from two schools have let me know that I've been recommended for admission and that the graduate studies department still had to approve the recommendation. In both cases, I was assured that there was no way the approval would be denied.

I don't have any red flags in my application, so this is a question out of pure curiosity. How often does it happen that the graduate school at large goes against the recommendation of the departmental committee, and for what sorts of reasons would this happen?


texts: Reporting in first person singular where two authors are listed

texts:
I am proofreading a text where two authors are listed (one of which is the writer, and the other, apparently, only a "supervisor") and in reporting the author(s) use first person singular (instead of first person plural): I believe, I was surprised etc. I find this very illogical and was wondering whether there was a rule for this type of situation.

To be more specific: right below the title of the essay two authors are listed. However, in the introduction and in the conclusion, the author(s) say that "I was somewhat surprised..." and, towards the end, "it is hard for me to..." It seems illogical to me to list two authors and then report in the first person singular. When I suggested this be edited, they told me only "one person was the writer, while the other one was the supervisor".

What should be done in such a situation? Should the "supervisor" also be treated as one of the writers and verbs be written in plural, or should this person simply be removed from the list of authors regardless of his or her contribution?


texts: Secretly switching research topics and funding oddities

texts:
When I joined my current PhD program I talked to my advisor about wanting to work on a different research topic than the one I was to work on initially and he said yes. I made clear I wasn't interested in working on the initial topic long term.
A year has past and I talked to him about switching over to the topics I am interested in - he says "OK" but wants to continue funding from the initial project which is a large multi-university research project with frequent meetings. He wants me to continue to go to meetings associated with the first project and basically told me that we can jerry rig the funding into supporting what ever we want. This sounds good except the rest of the people on the initial project continue to think I am working on the initial topic full time and are expecting results. I'm not really sure how to handle this.
The outcomes I can see are.

The advisor starts complaining to me about not working on the "funded" research topic when the rest of the team starts complaining. If this is an issue, I will find a different advisor or exit with MS and enter into industry since I have no interest in working on the initial topic long term and I made that clear upon entering.

The rest of the team starts complaining to me about not making enough progress on the topic under the idea that I am working on it, when the reality is I have no intention to work on it and the advisor knows this.

Basically, I feel I am put into a difficult situation where my advisor wants to keep funding under the guise of working on this project while not working on it and I feel I will take the brunt of the inevitable blowup that will come eventually.
This wouldn't be a problem if the topic was broad in the funding documentation but the writing for my advisors role in the grant is very specific.


texts: Should a formal academic grievance list what an action the student hopes will occur?

texts:
I have a problem with a course, but my informal communications with the instructor and chair led nowhere.

My student handbook shows a policy for filing a formal grievance, which seems more like a legal process for solving problems. I must mail a letter to my instructor and wait for a reply from them.

In the letter, I will explain my complaint regarding the course. Should a formal grievance letter also list which actions I hope they will take to resolve the problem? Such as, "My grade should be raised." or "Let me retake the course without record of the first time." or "Tuition refund."


texts: As a presenter, should I attend all days of conference?

texts:
Recently, I have a paper accepted at an IEEE conference, and I am supposed to present my paper orally at the conference.  The programs have been released, and it is a four day conference.
I am supposed to present at the last day.

The question I want to ask, is that, should I also attend the first day (openning ceremony) as well?


texts: In reviewing papers for journals or conferences, what should one do if one is not fully knowledgeable in the specific area the paper addresses?

texts:
This is a question from a newbie doing reviews for journals/conference papers.

What should one do if they are among the panel of reviewers for papers for a specific journal / conference, and you get a paper whose subject material you are not an expert in, or are not fully aware of, all the details around which the paper focuses on?

Is it the norm to state that you are not versed well enough in the particular area, thus you cannot make a qualified opinion, or should you just do as best as you can to review what you understand of the paper, and hope that the other reviewers will do a better job, compensating for your weakness? Are there any other options?


texts: Should results of a journal paper always be reproducible?

texts:
This question might seem silly at first read. But in my research, first I have done mathematical analysis and simulation and provided the results in section I. Later, in section II, based on Sec. I, I did simulation in which nodes are distributed over 2D plane and some parameter is calculated over the mobile-nodes (parameter is "transmission rate" to be precise).

Now, since every run of simulation will distribute node on a different location (as in a real-world environment where mobile-users can be located anywhere), hence I will get a different result in each simulation run.

How can I present this result in my paper now?


texts:
Why don't more professors attempt to use the knowledge gained during the course of their research work by starting a company and commercializing their findings?
I'm asking this question per this comment.


texts: What rights does an editor of a scientific book have? Can he add references/citations to a chapter written by other authors?

texts:
There was recently a call for book chapters (to be published by a reputable publisher), I submitted an article and it was accepted.

When I received the proof to review, I noticed that the book editor added references in my article. He basically cited some of his papers.

My question is, does he have the right to do that?
And, any suggestions on what I should do?


texts: Honorific for someone who earned a PhD in philosophy itself?

texts: I know that a PhD is now just used to mean doctorate, so what would a person who has a doctorate in philosophy be called?


texts: Is it advisable (or even possible) to get a second masters in a similar field from a higher-ranked instution?

texts:
In May, I will graduate with a Master's Degree in Mathematics from a school ranked #201 in the U.S (for undergraduate education). It is unranked in graduate school rankings (for my program).

I am excelling in my current program with research focus in mathematical biology.

My goal: I would like to get my Ph.D. from a top-5 institution.

Assuming I don't succeed in my goal directly, is it advisable or even possible to pursue a second Master's degree in mathematical Biology, from a second-tier institution, and then apply for a Ph.D. at a top-tier institution?


texts: Should one mention the prestige of the target university/advisor as motivation in a statement of purpose?

texts:
When one writes their statement of purpose, is it advisable to mention the prestige of the target university?
How about expressing interest in working with a certain professor due to him being world renowned in the student's field of interest?

On the one hand, it seems quite common, but on the other hand I'd think the committee would get the impression that the student is applying randomly to top universities (and/or to work with famous researchers), instead of choosing based on specific research interests.

Thanks!


texts: How to react to a reviewer’s comment when he is completely right, but you do not like the consequences?

texts:
One of the reviewers of my conference paper (computer science), which got a revise & resubmit, criticized that my conclusions are not well founded in my experiment and that they don’t show my hypothesis. (In detail, there was no control variable, which he correctly remarked.)

The point is, I wanted to use this experiment to give an idea for the direction of the work following my results and to generalize my previous findings.

My question is, how could I respond to this comment, as deleting my discussion would cut out a huge part of my work?


texts: Can I do a PhD in Mechanical Engineering without experimental work?

texts:
I am a final year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering. My PhD comprises only numerical work with a Finite Element Method software, and structural optimization with a developed MATLAB code. I have already a good number of publications, and a few innovations in my project, like structures with a new configuration. However, my supervisor tells me that I need to validate my numerical results with an experimental test. Do I really need to validate my results experimentally to have a "safe" work, I mean, work with results that I can trust? I did a mesh sensitivity analysis for every geometry I have tested.I am sure the mesh is fine enough to obtain converged results. Is it safe to assume the accuracy of the numerical results? And if numerical work alone is not enough, is there any alternative to experimental testing, that would delay my thesis defense and is expensive (allocation of funds is very difficult right now due to crisis in EU?"

I am asking this because I don't have any experience in experimental work, and this will delay my thesis defense 1 year or so. I don't plan on working with anything experimental after my PhD graduation. I would like to have arguments to convince my supervisor that I can do my PhD without experimental work, presenting results in my thesis that are accurate, and that anyone can trust.

I am asking for help of Mechanical Engineering PhD graduates, specialists in numerical work. I would also like to know if you did experimental testing to prototypes in your work, and if not, the arguments you had to defend yourselves in the thesis examination, if you confronted with questions like :"why haven't you done experimental work?"

P.S. I know someone that did his PhD without experimental work, but it was in a different field, like Biomedical Engineering, or so.


texts: How much vacation time is typical during a PhD in Singapore?

texts:
Just to check if anyone is familiar with the vacation period of PhD students in Singapore?

I am considering a PhD in Singapore, there are two main universities NUS (National University of Singapore), and NTU (Nanyang Technological University).

There are two vacation periods for undergraduates, namely the "summer" break from May to July, and the "winter" break from December to Jan. (Singapore only has one season, hence the quotation marks)

However, I am not sure if the above applies for graduate students, especially PhD students on stipend.


texts: Should I ask for permission from the journal before making available publicly the (anonymised) text of the evaluation I received from peers?

texts:
The question says it all. To add some relevant information, I must note that

I published some articles in national journals
The level and the process of peer review in some of those national journals was quite low or even nonexistent; yet they claim to be double-blind peer-reviewed and are in the top of their field according to a journal list our Academy of Sciences use when evaluating research performance
I intend to make available publicly the substandard reviews, or, in the case of non-existing external review processes, my correspondences with the handling editor on the internet

Now it seems obvious for me that no permissions will be given to me by the journals if I ask for it, so I'm not sure whether I should ask them anyway. But would that be a bad move; legally speaking?


texts: Withdrawing paper from competition track of a conference due to the fee?

texts:
A few months back, I came across a competition page which asked for a solution approach for a new and tricky dataset in the domain (I will keep all the details anonymous).
Now, it was a new area of research for me, so I felt curious; interestingly I wrote a solution and submitted it. They also asked for a paper alongside the solution (the solution will be ranked based on some performance metrics) explaining the solution.
I also submitted the paper. I got acceptance email a few days back mentioning it will be added to a book series.
After the competition period, I uploaded my solution (Github) and the accepted manuscript to research-gate too (now I feel it was a mistake).
Yesterday, I got an email asking me to register for the conference with a registration fee. Now, kindly forgive my ignorance, but I was not expecting the registration fee in the competition track where the competition itself didn't have any monetary prize.
It's not that I can't pay the registration fee, but I left my lab a few years ago and currently work at a private company, now at best I'm an independent researcher without any funding. I don't feel like spending the registration fee from my own pocket for a paper that I'm not proud of and when I can not even attend the conference (due to COVID-19 situation the presentation will be online).
I applied for a grant to the committee, I'm not sure if it'll be accepted or not.
Now, should I withdraw my paper if the grant is not accepted?
Another problem I created is by uploading my accepted pre-print to the research-gate, the paper is already indexed to my google scholar profile too.
What should I do in this situation?


texts: How is the career path of a full-time Research Associate different from that of a tenure-track / full-time professor?

texts:
Recently, I saw that a post-doc, "assistant professor", converted to become a full-time Research Associate at their school, moving all of their online content out of the department faculty page and onto their own, personal website.  I am guessing that they are no longer in the running for tenure-track jobs and are happy being full-time researchers.  It seems they are still publishing and doing what they love.

What is the difference between becoming a full-time Research Associate and staying on tenure-track and waiting / hoping to become a professor?  Do you give up something substantial by taking yourself out of the tenure-track race?

(To me, it seems that all they gave up was a faculty homepage.)

For reference, it's a large U.S. research university.


texts: How to address being interested in two areas in statement of purpose

texts: I am applying to graduate school in US. I am wondering how I can write statement of purpose If I am interested in both signal processing and communication system. Should I talk about why I am interested in both and talk about researches  and projects I have done in both areas and my future research in both fields since I like both equally?. However I was thinking this is too much and is going to pass the word limit for statement of purpose. I am looking for some advice about this. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I have seen people listing "memberships" on their CV. Do you have certain rules of thumb for what to list? I have some myself, which are basically memberships that have happened automatically, when I have been invited to give talks - like, come give a talk, and please join our "board of associates". I don't do any work in those roles, and listing them feels a bit like CV padding. I am in the beginning of my career (first post doc).

What is the normal practice?


texts: Should an applicant to an university mention that her spouse is currently a student in the same University, as part of her SOP?

texts: While writing one's Statement of Purpose for applying to a grad program, should one mention that her spouse is also a grad student in the same university? What are the pro's and con's of that approach - while on one hand, it shows that the candidate is very likely to accept an offer made by the dept, it might also imply that the presence of her spouse is the main reason the applicant wants to get admitted, which might not sit well with the Admissions Committee?


texts: Is there any evidence of a benefit to students answering questions in front of the whole class?

texts:
In my programming tutorial, I often ask a question to the class along the lines of "what is my next step?" or "should I do X or Y?".  In previous years I've had lots of student participation, but this year I get nothing.  I've adjusted my tactics accordingly - I no longer ask the class for a response.  Instead, I propose a practice problem, give them a short time to answer it on their own or with peers, and then show my answer to the problem.  Usually, students will ask questions about my approach at this stage, but very rarely will they offer insight into how they thought they should be solving the problem.

I had the feeling that the students didn't like my tutorial (or me), so I asked for and received anonymous feedback from them and it turns out they think it's great, with only a few helpful suggestions for how I can be more effective.  So I wonder, is there any actual benefit to asking questions for students to answer openly in class, or is that just a recipe for awkward silence?


texts: Can most functions of universities be categorized as teaching, research and service?

texts:
I am writing a research proposal and I plan to approach it by dividing the most important functions of university into three categories--teaching, research and service.

Teaching will include all forms of education afforded to students.
Research broadly refers to all attempts at generating new knowledge.
Service refer to service to the monarchy, state, the public and in some situations, to the students as customers.

Do these categories sufficiently cover most functions of a university? Is there anything important that I could not include in these categories?


texts: How to deal with hostility from administrators when starting a new postdoc position?

texts:
I applied for a postdoc at a lab in the US as I really liked
the work of that lab.
I had the initial interview with the professor and then with the lab members.
All went well and the professor welcomed me to join the lab.
When the administrative part started, things got very strange quickly:

The prof put me in touch with his lab manager, and then, casually mentioned that the university has a covid-related hiring freeze...but that it might be OK since I have a scholarship/bring my own money (which I do). It was however only then that I learned about the hiring freeze.

The lab manager (quite unfriendly) told me that given that I have my own funding I will be only considered a "visiting postdoc" and would not receive benefits. When I asked about more details, she told me to "google".

I then got invited to a zoom meeting to clarify some other points about a document I had handed to admin. First of all the mail suggested that it was me, prof and one admin person.
Against my expectations 6 or 7 people joined and it felt like a cross-examination.
In addition, the meeting turned out to not be about said document at all (they even said that that document was fine??). First, they told me that my scholarship can't be below their minimal level. Then they told me that I would not be allowed to collaborate with another college during this time. Then they asked all kinds of further questions like: If you are really an engineer, why was the department you were at before the department of chemistry? When I said that yes I was an engineer, the admin person said "OK I will have to google to check if this chemistry department really hires engineers" - i.e. she made it clear that they don't believe me....?

I asked them about the terms and conditions for "visiting postdocs", they said there are none (???). That is, I have no clue about what rights, benefits etc. I would have when joining the lab.

The prof seemed to side with admin, though he told me to call him after this cross-examination-style meeting. There he said that it is strange for him as well that admin does not allow for collabs (and he would not mind if I would collab but we should keep it under wraps) and mentioned that he would make up for it if my salary should be below the minimum. But, although he had previously
mentioned that he would make sure that I would not be just a "visiting postdoc", he now seemed to have changed his mind.
This entire process was so hostile, I still can't believe it. I invested a lot of energy trying to get this job, but then having to fully commit without being considered a full employe..? I feel like the prof was not fully transparent.. though I really like the work of his lab and it could be great for my career.
And by the way, the place I was before was Stanford, so I am not coming from some (supposedly) random university.
Is this usual behavior, and how could I deal with this most constructively?


texts: Can a literature review be a "master's thesis"?

texts:
I have selected a single question for my master's thesis, within my field of Foreign Language Teaching. Most papers I have read contain just short literature reviews providing some background for a research study that occupied most of the writer's time. I think I could understand my question better if I focusing all of my effort on creating a 100-200 page literature review, examining and critiquing all existing literature on the subject, rather than on trying to come up with some new results.

Can a master's thesis be comprised of just a literature review? Do journals publish literature reviews on their own?


texts: Efficient way to find conferences in related disciplines?

texts:
I have been working on my research field (astrophysics) for very long and would like to explore some adjacent disciplines such as non-linear dynamics, machine learning, ...

My university is not that big, which means it is difficult to talk to local scientists, and a possible way to learn is through attending some related conferences.

In my field, there is one website where one can find all the conferences, which I find convenient. Is it the same for other disciplines, and has anybody compiled a comprehensive list?


texts: Is it ever appropriate to cold-email post-docs that have graduate from your program?

texts:
For context there is a graduate student who has graduate from my program (at my school) working in my subfield (high energy theoretical physics) but he graduated before I joined the program so I never got to introduce myself.

He's now a post-doc at a highly respected university and is probably extremely busy.

However, I would really like to reach out to him and ask him for some advice for a beginner in the field, (I'm just starting my second year of the PhD program). Do you think it is appropriate to cold-email him and ask for some advice or the opportunity to speak with him over skype or on the phone or some form of communication?

I feel a little bad because I never introduced myself and I'm really scared of being flat out rejected by him but I also feel that he might have some really good advice for me.

Mostly, I'm worried about how to write the email and how I might sound (desperate?) to them.


texts: Can I put an IEEE accepted journal version on Arxiv without paying Open Access fee?

texts:
I am targeting a IEEE publication which allows Traditional manuscript submission or Open Access (OA) manuscript submission. The OA fee is $2,045.
https://signalprocessingsociety.org/publications-resources/ieee-signal-processing-letters/information-authors-spl

1) If I decide not to pay the OA fee (ie, I go for Traditional manuscript submission), can I still put the accepted paper version on Arxiv?

2) If 1) is positive, what are the benefits of choosing the OA submission? What can't you do with the Traditional submission that you can with the OA one?

thanks!


texts: If I accepted an admission and funding offer before April 15th, is it considered unethical to rescind if before April 15th

texts:
Recently I applied to a number of graduate program in the humanities. After applying to ten schools, I received an offer in late February for a full funding package, from one of the universities, which seemed rather early to me. This offer came from an advisor, not the actual graduate school -  the official letter of acceptance from the graduate school came several weeks later. In the offer, the advisor stated that though I had been offered funding, they would appreciate an answer on whether I would accept the funding as soon as possible. Since this was late February, and I had only heard back from one school at the time, this put me in tricky situation, and I couldn't really give her a deliberate answer. I would certainly accept the funding if I chose to attend, but that was not a certainty by any means. The school from which I received the offer was not my top choice, a good school, but not a top choice. As such, I told her I needed more time, without going into any details. Quite simply though, I just hadn't heard back from most of my schools.

A couple of weeks later I heard back from this same advisor, and this time she again asked for an answer as soon as possible, but did notify me that the national deadline in which a decision can be made is April  15th, several weeks away. At this time, I was still waiting to receive a decision from a couple of other schools. I told her (the advisor that contacted me) that I needed more time.  One to two weeks went by, and trying to expedite the decision, I contacted the one last school that I hadn't heard from, and found out I had been placed on the waiting list. My waitlisted school said they needed to receive word from a couple of other students whom they had made offers to, and they could then possibly make an offer to me if these students declined. As such, after thinking myself into a rabbit hole with these complications, rashly, despite having thought of it for several weeks (which may be why I thought myself into a rabbit hole) I accepted the offer from the initial school that made the offer.

I have read elsewhere on these boards that accepting an offer and then withdrawing it after April 15th, for a waitlisted school is highly unethical and can cause dismissal from all schools. I certainly see the reasoning behind that, but if I were to rescind my acceptance before April 15th, hopefully a week or more, would this be considered unethical since they could still easily give the funding elsewhere? Moroever, would it be a disadvantage to the school I did receive the offer from? Finally, could it possibly have an effect on my long-term career if I rescinded the offer and accepted admission to the waitlisted school?

Regardless, is it ethical to rescind an acceptance of funding and admission before April 15th (hopefully a week or more before)? Would this burn a serious bridge that would hurt my career? Would another student not receive funding since I accepted the offer and then withdrew it?  I understand that some programs will reach out to their highly-regarded candidates in order to recruit them, and I'm certainly not against the school, but it sounds like I have a solid chance of getting off of the waitlist. It was one of my top schools, for not just academic reasons but personal as well. Seeing how this is the next five years of my life, it's a weighty decision to make. Please let me know what you think, or if you have any official procedures for going about these matters. Thanks!


texts: Which are the best journals for letters in mathematics (bordering with mathematical physics)?

texts:
Although in mathematics the letters, i.e., really short articles, just a few pages long, are perhaps less common than in the other fields (see e.g. the comments by Pete L. Clark under his answer to this question), sometimes such a letter really is the best way to communicate the result. It is also quite clear that for this very reason (that the letters are quite uncommon), such letters are not likely, save for some very exceptional situations, to be a good fit for the top pure math journals like the Annals, Inventiones, JAMS, etc.

Apparently in earlier times the best place for publishing letters in mathematics was the French journal Comptes Rendus. This journal still exists but I am not quite sure whether it is the place for letters in mathematics anymore.

Another option that comes to mind could perhaps be the math section of the PNAS but again I am not quite sure how this journal is actually standing with the pure math community, especially outside the US.

There should certainly be other worthy alternatives, so I look forward to the answers pointing them out as well as discussing the journals mentioned above.

QUESTION: What are the best (in terms of standing in the math community and being widely read by mathematicians) journals, or perhaps sections of mathematical or even multidisciplinary journals, for letters in mathematics nowadays?

P.S. I am specifically interested in the journals which would tolerate the papers which are on the border of mathematics and mathematical physics (just to clarify, this refers to the subject matter rather than, say, lacking in rigor). The Letters in Mathematical Physics and Nonlinearity appear to be a bit too niche, I would prefer more broad-scope alternatives.


texts: Using the h-index to compare researchers from different fields

texts:
We are all aware that the h-index of a researcher is the metric for evaluating the cumulative impact of his/her research publications. I am asking the question regarding a doubt that arises when we compare researchers based on the h-index.
I come from a background of theoretical physics where we come across two types of researchers: (1) those who works on theory and (2) those who works on data analysis (mostly within a collaboration). For example, consider the following two researchers:

One is a senior professor who works on quantum field theory and string theory and has produced several outstanding papers over 25 years. His total citations = 7311, h-index = 40, i-10 index = 57.

The second has obtained his PhD in gravitational wave astronomy about 3 years ago and is presently a postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics. Most of his papers involve doing data analysis as part of the gravitational waves collaboration. His total citations = 31121, h-index = 46, i-10 index = 75.

So, in my opinion, it wouldn't be a wise idea to compare them based on their citations and h-index since the more experienced researcher has a much lower h-index even though he has produced several outstanding papers in his area of expertise.
My Question:
In view of the above example:

How do you compare the  quality of two researchers when they are in different fields of research? Are there any other means to evaluate the quality of research?
How do you evaluate researchers where most of their citations come from papers where they are one of a large number of co-authors and their non-collaborative works are cited much less often?


texts: Should I send email expressing my gratitude to professors who provided me with letters of recommendation?

texts: I have asked for LORs from two professors that I haven't cooperated in the past and they were happy to provide them. Now, I've been admitted in the MSc program I was interested in. Should I write an email to them, in order to express my gratitude because of their help in earning this admission?


texts: How to cope with a situation, when I withdrew from a job search, but now I regret it?

texts:
I applied for a position. Before the interview, I was encouraged by the selection committee that I was a very good candidate. But I was not sure. I thought it is far more above my capabilities, I was not sure what to do with my family (it was not a permanent position), etc. After the interview, I just withdrew even before I knew the results.

Now, after a couple of weeks, I think I made a mistake. Should I try to correct it? To ask them if the position is still available? It is in different country, so I have only email contacts.

Or should I just leave it as it is? I have the feeling, that if I will leave as it is, they will think I am arrogant because I rejected them. What would be the best solution?


texts: Use of a book for a continuing education course

texts: Can I lecture on a subject that references (as required reading) a book that all were required to read? I am not reproducing any portions of the text, and assume they all legally procured the work.


texts: Should I use "I" or "We" in Peer-Review Journal Submissions?

texts:
I am the single author for a journal article which focuses on the measurement and validation of two scale instruments. This is a purely quantitative report for submission in a top-tier educational psychology journal. Where appropriate, I have used the plural first-person "we" in the article, as "I" sounds very peculiar to me. I also feel as though it is disadvantageous to write singular first-person when submitting for blind peer-review. At the same time, I don't want readers thinking I have multiple personality disorder as more than one person. ;)

In your opinion, should I be using "I" or "We?"

FYI I'd rather not use passive voice. It's madness for this article.

Thanks for your thoughts in advance.


texts: In France, is it possible to research at a postdoctoral level as a freelancer, not being on a regular contract?

texts:
Perhaps this question is slightly out of scope for this page, but I still ask here.
Can you work for a university/academic institution as a researcher or as a teacher, with the status of a freelancer? In case this helps, I'm based in France and have applied for a freelance status (called auto-entrepreneur/micro entrepreneur in the French administrative terms), and even though I'm searching for regular temporary/permanent position in France, this hasn't seen any success yet, so I want to use that freelance status to do research at a high level (at least postdoctoral) as I strongly feel I'm genuinely passionate by fundamental research, so I've to find a way to do so, even if I may or may not be good enough to secure a formal position.
Just in case this helps: my subject(s) will be ideally the intersection between differential geometry and statistics/statistical machine learning, manifold learning, but open to other topics, e.g. applied differential geometry, or just statistical learning etc.
From my having spent long time in academia, I've never seen this happening, because normally the academic contracts are either regular CDD or CDI's. But I wonder if the above possibilities still exist in France or abroad?


texts: Can I publish photos or reconstructed drawing of the internal part of a patented instrument?

texts:
I am doing a publication using a specific optical instrument protected by different patents. To see how it works I opened it and I have redrawn the arrangement of the optical components. Am I allow to publish my drawing for explaining the physical principle behind the measurements I have performed during my research?

It's not a reverse engineered designed, there are no specific distances between the components or other relevant details for the construction. I am showing an abstraction but more or less the parts and the arrangement is the same as the real one.

The drwaings, are of course mine. I would like to publish on my PhD thesis in Italy, but in general I am interested on any pubblication.


texts: Avoid plagiarism when copying (paraphrasing) paragraphs for the background section of Masters Thesis

texts:
In my background section, I have a subsection which explains ideas from research papers that my supervisor has previously published.

Basically in my thesis, I build upon these ideas and so I have a few pages in the background section which goes into the detail about the previous work.

At the start of the subsection I wrote "The following section provides a recap of the ideas that are presented in (citation)."

A lot of it I paraphrased, but some things including definitions and equations I want to copy word for word.

Is this allowed and if it what is the right way of going about it?

It is a good idea to cite the paper at the beginning of the subsection once or would I need to cite it multiple times?


texts: Intellectual property of computer program of another authors equation?

texts:
When transfering a rather complex equation from another authors published article, to a computer programming language such as R, does the intellectual property of the script itself belong to the programmer?

Or would it be like translating, say a quote, to a different language?

Does it depend on the complexity of implementing the model in the script?

I am thinking of this on more of a philosophical level, rather than specific IP laws.


texts: Can a Peer-Reviewed Article Claim Novelty in Something Introduced in a Preceding Phd Thesis?

texts:
My PhD thesis has been available online on the university website for 3 years, and also listed in my Google Scholar profile. Although I have plans to publish multiple papers from my thesis, I have not done so yet!
The question is: can someone else publish a peer-reviewed article claiming novelty in something introduced in my PhD thesis since it is not "published" ?


texts: Should the explanatory text come before or after the animations in tech articles?

texts:
This question is in regards to curruclum development theory. The medium is blog articles / technical white-papers (accessed online). I often use animations to help drive points home, and I'm curious as to whether the supporting text should come before or after the animation.

Question:  Should supporting text come before or after animations?

Bonus question:  Should supporting text come before or after still images? (not-animated)

Examples:

Animation before text

The data moves from the Server to the left router. Then the Left router to the Middle router. Then the Middle router to the Right router. Then the right router to the Server.

Text before Animation

The data moves from the Server to the left router. Then the Left router to the Middle router. Then the Middle router to the Right router. Then the right router to the Server.