I found a nontrivial mistake in my currently-under-review paper. Should I send a correction to the editor? I submitted the paper to a respectable journal about five months ago. My field is mathematics, and I'm at the postdoc stage of my career.

The proof of one of my theorems is more or less completely wrong. It's not just full of small errors; the approach I use doesn't and can't work. The theorem is actually true, and I have a correct proof now. (I've checked the new proof with senior colleagues--yes, I should have done this before submitting the previous version of the paper, but that's neither here nor there.) For context, this is one of three main results of the paper, but its proof only takes up about two manuscript pages (out of 18 total).

Should I send a corrected version of the paper to the editor, or should I wait for the referee report? For those with experience serving as editors: would an incorrect but correctable proof of a main theorem cause you to reject outright a paper you would otherwise accept, or is this more likely to lead to a recommendation of major revisions? I say correctable because neither the theorem nor the (correct) proof is particularly surprising in the context of the problem, and there's a good chance a referee with experience in the subfield would, upon discovering the mistake, have a rough idea of the correct approach to take. (Which, of course, makes the mistake all the more embarrassing.)

If the mistake is important, you should send a correction now, rather than waiting for the referee report.  (If it's not important in the context of the overall paper, then the right course of action is more debatable, but in your case it sounds like an important enough mistake to require notifying the referee.)

If you wait, you are wasting the referee's time figuring out something you already know.
I think it looks better to catch your own mistake than to have it pointed out by the referee.
If the referee doesn't notice the mistake and suggests accepting the paper, I imagine the editor will rescind the acceptance after you point out the mistake, or at least suggest further refereeing (since not noticing a completely wrong proof calls into question the reliability of the referee report).  On the other hand, if you point it out, the referee may still recommend accepting the revised manuscript.

  For context, this is one of three main results of the paper, but its proof only takes up about two manuscript pages (out of 18 total).

This sounds like an ideal case for pointing out the mistake: it has real importance, but I'd bet the chances of acceptance remain reasonable.


When a STEM research topic can be studied experimentally, computationally, and theoretically, do PhD programs typically focus on only one approach? In American universities, when a STEM research topic can be studied experimentally, computationally, and theoretically, do PhD programs in this research topic only focus on one of the three approaches or a combination of the three approaches?

For instance, consider physics.  If I find a PhD program called "Experimental Physics PhD" at University X, and if I get accepted and go there for my PhD, will I miss out on computational physics and theoretical physics training...and be trained only as an experimentalist?

From my experience, such focuses are often called something like "Concentrations" or "Tracks". The intent of these programs is to allow the student with a very specific interest to tailor the program to their own interests. Again from my experience, these tracks mostly affect the courseload that a student will have.

Students are always encouraged to network within the department, talk to other people, and if interested take seminars or possibly even full courses (if their advisor is the type to allow that sort of thing) outside of their interest, simply to learn more about their field.

Your training will consist mostly of two parts, your research and your coursework. If you choose experimental physics, your courses will be mostly related to that, and (I assume) your research will be in that field as well. The extent to which you move laterally within your field is really up to you. I think you'll find that your main enemy here is simply time; there's too much to learn and not enough time to learn it. Best of luck with that battle! :)


Is it possible to do a PhD in pure mathematics after studying aerospace engineering? I am currently a high school student, and I am considering taking a BSc in Aerospace Engineering (in Delft), hopefully leading into a masters.

I am also very interested in pure mathematics (I am aiming for the Top Scholar award in Mathematics within New Zealand), and want to do a PhD in maths.

Is there any way to continue my studies in Mathematics beyond high school as well as taking aerospace engineering, and while keeping options open for a PhD in maths?

The kind of math you'd get exposed to with your proposed BSc would be very much of the applied variety (calc, differential equations, that sort of thing) but it's not going to drive you to any of the backing theory (abstract algebra, real/complex analysis, topology, etc.). It's unlikely a Master's in Aerospace Engineering is going to do you any favors in this regard either. Hence, by the time you want to do your PhD in Math, you will be woefully underprepared for it.

Hence, if you really want a PhD in Math, it's a very, very good idea to do a BA/BS in Math, so I would highly, highly recommend that you dual-major. The good news is that there will be some overlap in classes when you do this, so it's by no means an insurmountable goal. Plus, this will give you a strong sense as to whether to pursue the PhD in Math.

Another option is that, if you just do a BSc in Aerospace Engineering, when you go for your Master's you might consider switching to Math at that time. From a practical standpoint, I'm not sure a Master's in Aerospace Engineering would open many more doors than the BSc would, but a Master's in Math would definitely broaden your knowledge and give you more general appeal. It's possible to proceed with a PhD from there.


Can someone explain what is being said here in color publishing in the American Mathematical Monthly? Under "Information for Authors" at the American Mathematical Monthly, there is this statement for color charges in publishing:

  Color art will be reproduced in color in the online publication at no additional cost to the author. Color illustrations will also be considered for print publication; however, the author will be required to bear the full cost involved in color art reproduction. Please note that color reprints can only be ordered if print reproduction costs are paid. Print Rates: $900 for the first page of color; $450 per page for the next three pages of color. A custom quote will be provided for articles with more than four pages of color. Art not supplied at a minimum of 300 dpi will not be considered for print. Please ensure that color figures and images submitted for publication will render clearly in a black and white conversion for print.

What does this mean? Am I understanding correctly that if they decide to publish your article, then they will charge you, the author for color figures in the article?

I also don't understand the distinction between online and print - does the author have a choice which to submit to? I don't see this information on their website.

By default, color figures will appear in color online and black and white in print. If you want them to be in color in print, you need to pay the rates they indicate. All their papers appear both in print and online, it is not that you choose one or the other. They also advice on the required quality (resolution) of the figures (regardless of color) and ask that if you use the default option the colir figures are understandable and meaningful when rendered in black and white.

Other journals have an option for slightly different figures for color and black and white, which may make things easier sometimes (for instance, in black and white you use different kinds of shading as different "colors"). It doesn't hurt to ask if this is also an option here.


Is there difference between value of Scopus- or ISI-indexed paper in gaining acceptance for PhD? Is there difference between value of Scopus- or ISI-indexed paper in gaining acceptance for PhD?

At least in the US, PhD admissions committees do not care whether the journal an applicant has published in happens to be on one list or another (there are plenty of really low-quality journals in both of those lists, and high-quality journals not in them). Rather, they care whether the journal is reputable and highly regarded, and whether the paper itself is any good.

tl;dr Aim to publish solid, high-quality work in a journal that is known for publishing solid, high-quality work.


Should we add reference of achievement awarded to a project in the final project report? My project received the third prize as part of the open project fair hosted by the entrepreneurship cell of my institution.
Is it good to add any kind of acknowledgement or reference to this achievement in the final project report which will be published via some recognised publisher?
Any suggestions are appreciated.

This is really just an opinion based on the comments here. I'd suggest that you leave it out of the publication, but inform the publisher's editor of the award. Ask them for advice about including it or whether the publication can add a note instead.
For a less formal "local" publication or a report to a professor, I'd suggest putting it in.
On the other hand, if I saw it in the publication, I doubt that I would object. But it doesn't really add anything to what you say in the report.


I submitted a paper to a journal one week ago. What does "Awaiting ME Processing" mean? The status from the very 1st day is "Awaiting ME Processing". Can someone tell me what does it mean?

The acronym ME most likely stands for "Managing Editor" or "Manuscript Editor", and so the message says that the paper is awaiting processing by this person.  As shown in this question on the process for journals, that initial "processing" step usually involves an initial assessment by that initial editor, and if it passes that hurdle it will then be sent out for peer review by referees.


How would I cite the US Constitution in Harvard style? How would I go about citing the US constitution (specifically the 1st Amendment) using the Harvard style?

I'd like to add it using Mendeley, but just plain text would be fine.

If someone could let me know, that would be fantastic.
Many thanks.

It would probably depend on where you read the constitution document. If for example you used the constitution documents at the archives.gov website from the comment above your citation would look something like below. I've shown it with the bill of rights as that is where the 1st amendment is located.

  Bibliography:
  Bill of rights transcript text (no date) Available at: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html (Accessed: 11 February 2016).

  In-line Citation:
  (Bill of rights transcript text, no date)

If, for example you have a book that contains the Constitution you would cite the book. The reasoning for this is that someone can then go look at the same source that you did if they wish.

While I haven't seen anything for Harvard style (so it may be best to seek guidance from someone in your department), in both APA and MLA it appears you can just cite the Constitution directly. APA uses the stylation of the legal blue book which would look something like this;

  In text: A person can say what they want in the United States (U.S. Const. amend. I).

  Reference list: U.S. Const. amend. I.

In MLA;

  The 7th edition of the MLA handbook has this to say about citing the
  U.S. Constitution:

  "In general, do not italicize or enclose in quotation marks the title
  of laws, acts, and similar documents in either the text or the list of
  works cited (Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United
  States, Taft-Hartley Act). Such titles are usually abbreviated, and
  the works are cited by sections. The years are added if relevant"
  (205).

  Because these directives aren’t very specific, you can use the
  following example as a guide for the Works Cited entry:

  U.S. Constitution. Art./Amend. XII, Sec. 3.

  You need only provide either the article number or the amendment
  number as appropriate.

  The complementary parenthetical citation is written as (US Const.
  amend. XII, sec. 3). You might also reference the U.S. Constitution in
  the sentence itself and only provide the amendment and section number
  in the parentheses at the end of the sentence.


How does peer-review work for "gigantic" collaboration projects? Big collaboration projects such as LHC experiments  (ATLAS, ALICE _e.g.) and LIGO result in academic papers featuring hundreds or even more than 1000 authors. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in fields like particle physics, researchers seem to belong to one of a small number of possibly competing collaboration projects. So if a paper resulting from a huge collaboration is submitted for peer review, the number of qualified referees would be very small (excluding researchers from competing collaboration projects), such that the anonymity of the referees would likely be compromised.

Is peer review still meaningful for papers resulted from huge collaboration? If yes, how should it be conducted?

While I am not certain about physics, I can speak for biology, which also has a large number of mega-author papers.  There, the overall field is large enough and well enough connected that, although a massive number of biologists may have a conflict of interest, an even more massive number of biologists are not directly involved but still working in areas close enough to be good reviewers.

I also have a suspicion (though I cannot back this up with data) that mega-author papers may in general have an easier time in review than typical small-collaboration papers.  Peer review evaluates papers along several different axes,
key among which are presentation quality, significance of problem, validity of experimental method, and interpretation of results.

In the case of a massive collaboration, typically the questions of significance and validity of experimental method are long resolved: by the time the human genome was submitted for review, nobody was questioning its sequencing methods and a large scientific community was just waiting for enough data to accumulate; likewise for high-energy particle physics experiments.  Similarly, no mega-author paper should be able to be submitted without enough eyes on it to ensure that the presentation is decent.  That leaves interpretation of the results, and my understanding is that these mega-author papers tend to more focus on presenting data (which is already known to be of interest) rather than on its interpretation, and the interpretation (e.g., "What can we learn from the human genome?") is sorted out across many later publications.

Thus, review of a mega-author paper may actually be much easier than a small paper, simply by virtue of the difference in its goals and scale.


What are some effective ways for someone without a graduate degree to increase their chances of getting hired as a lecturer? Context

I am graduating from a Bachelor's degree (Computer Science) at the end of the year from a fairly large Australian university (top50 world). I am keen for a lecturing role (only teaching) at the university I am graduating from, specifically in the introductory computing subject (equivalent of Computing 101).

I am aiming for a lecturer (employment position), not lectureship (academic position, e.g. associate professor/professor). I assume that it will most likely be on a casual basis.

I have a great deal of previous teaching experience in computing areas. I have two years of experience as a course tutor for the same subject I plan to lecture for. This involves two hours of lecturing to a class of 20 students, plus four hours of lab assistance a week.

Things I am aware of

Lecturers normally get picked from the researchers. I imagine this is to save the costs of hiring a dedicated lecturer (correct me if I am wrong).
Lecturers normally are PhDs. My faculty has had several exceptions, notably in the COMP101 subject and the Programming Competitions subject. (bachelor's lecturer and undergrad lecturer respectively).
Even if I am successful, my job security will be nonexistent. I am okay with this.
My faculty is on a fairly tight budget.

Things I am doing

Trying to get a recommendation from existing lecturers I know. This may be difficult, because they are risking their reputation on a somewhat dodgy applicant.
Asking existing non-researcher lecturers how they got hired
Actively undertaking volunteer work in educational groups

Questions I am often asked

Why don't you teach for high school instead? Because I would be teaching on a much smaller scale (i.e. class of ~10 people) and making little impact. Because Australia's technology curriculum is miserable.
Why don't you do a PhD? I wish to avoid research. I believe I can be a good lecturer, and that I can make the course more interesting, and I think I can do that without a PhD. Sorry if I offended anyone.
Aren't you unqualified for the job? Are my academic qualifications substandard? Yes. Am I unlikely to get the job? Yes. Would I be a worse lecturer? Absolutely not. For an introductory subject, enthusiasm, empathy and communication are far more important than a postgraduate qualification.

So, my concluding question is:

What can I do to improve my chances of being hired?

_

Thanks to your great answers, I am considering:

Focusing on a casual instructor-type lecturer rather than a full-time academic position
Getting more industry experience (I have had only two previous software jobs).
Master's in CS or Education (preferably overseas)
Working (possibly for free) for an education company (coursera, openlearning, etc.)
Education startup

Gain specific professional experience in the subject you want to teach.

In my (engineering) department, all of the teaching staff who do not hold PhDs (or are not current PhD students) have industry experience in the subject they are teaching.

In other words, if you are a professional penetration tester, you may be hired to teach computer security. If you work for a major telecom, you may be hired to teach computer networks. Kickstart a successful electronics startup, and you may be hired to teach circuits. You get the idea.

The point is to have some domain-specific expertise you can bring to the table (because university professors are supposed to be subject matter experts, or at least be able to pretend to be). If it's not from research, professional experience can also work.


Is it permitted to cite works by members of my own family, in classwork? I'm starting a unit (undergraduate class) at my university which deals very much with topics researched by my grandfather - He has written a number of books and papers on the issue.

I don't yet know if I'll need to cite them but I thought it would be wise to ask now, rather than with a looming deadline. Is there anything I should take into consideration if I end up citing his works?

Additionally, would it be considered unethical (and/or an 'unfair advantage') to clarify anything on the subject matter with him, or does that just constitute "good research"? If I did get clarification from him, would I have to add my communications with him in an appendix?

I'm not aware of any reason you couldn't cite work of a family member. Indeed, a tenet of academic work is to cite your sources and give references appropriately, so due credit is given to previous works.

Were you not to cite your grandfather (or indeed anyone else's work you reference), that in itself would be the improper behaviour.

It is normal (and often necessary) to cite your own work as well - in order to avoid self-plagiarism, you need to reference any previous works by yourself if you use them in a future work, so as not to be re-presenting the same work repeatedly and claiming it as new every time.

Regarding clarifying points, that wouldn't be a problem - it is actively encouraged to discuss and collaborate with others in research. Authors place their email addresses and affiliations on publications to facilitate private conversation and discussion with other researchers, and often this is how collaborations and future advances happen. Conferences are also organised with the principle aim of facilitating dialogue and further discussion between researchers.

You would be able to cite information from clarifications with him as personal correspondence type references, and I don't see a reason you would need an appendix to quote the actual correspondence.

In the event that there were to be any kind of potential for conflict of interest, you obviously should disclose it as such. Also, if you are significantly referencing personal correspondence with your grandfather, he may be making sufficient intellectual contribution to be considered an author of the paper. Simple clarification of points in already-published works wouldn't be an issue (otherwise I'd be an author on any paper as a result of an email I replied to!), but significant intellectual contribution or addition of new material would probably require you to regard him as an author. For assistance and clarifications which don't constitute author him, you could add an acknowledgement to the paper to express recognition of the assistance and advice given.

Disclaimer - there may be discipline specific nuances here I am not aware of, most probably around how to cite personal correspondence, since it's not something I've had to do before. The requirements to declare authorship may also vary between disciplines and publications based on their regulations.


Convert coursera courses to ECTs TL:DR version: I took some Coursera courses, I want to know how many credits they are worth by the institution backing it up (as well as how many credits a semester they offer, preferably, in the semester they offer that course).

Full version: I know title may be a little confusing so I will clarify.
I am applying for a Master's Degree program, and the pre-requisites include mathematical knowledge. I am an MD, so math is not a big part of my undergraduate program, however I work as a developer, and there I apply mathematical principles. For this course I need to prove my knowledge on the subjects of Probability and Statistics, Linear Algebra and Calculus so I contacted the institution and they told me I could study those subjects online via Coursera. I chose my courses and I am currently studying them.

However application period has already started, and as part of pre-requisites I gotta fill a form, and some fields are about ECTs in the already mentioned subjects. I asked the institution via email how would I fill these, and they told me I can specify the course duration (in hours) and also how many credits (hours) a semester is offered in that institution, in order for them to know how many credits (ECTs) are they worth.

In this situacion, how could I know could I know how many credits a course is worth in the institution that backs up that course in Coursera? and how could I know how many credits a semester it is worth?

Specific courses are (feel free to suggest better alternatives, since I don't have to complete them due the deadline, rather I have to compromise to take them):

Linear Algebra (Matrix algebra): https://www.coursera.org/learn/matrix-algebra-engineers

The three courses in this program (calculus, linear algebra): https://www.coursera.org/learn/linear-algebra-machine-learning

Probability and Statistics: https://www.coursera.org/learn/probability-statistics?

Usually European universities have a course schedule that shows also the European credits adjusted. You could access the website of the university that offers the course, look for the class and see in the syllabus/course content how many credits it is. Usually this is not shown in application pages but rather in tabs such as “class search” or something similar


3.8 GPA, but 3 Fs and 1 D on transcript So here's a funny thing: I have 3 Fs and 1 D on my transcript, but my GPA is ~3.8, which is "high" because I double majored in math and computer science. The reason for those 4 bad grades is that I had 2 bad semesters where I suffered from depression; I didn't drop the classes before the deadline so I ended up failing the classes. However I retook the classes and got As in them (hence my GPA), and in fact got A/A-s in all subsequent classes (quite an improvement). I plan to apply to a master's for computer science, and eventually a phd. However I know the admission officers eyes will bleed when they see my transcript, despite my GPA, because my school keeps ALL grades on transcripts, even if the grades were replaced by retaking classes. Do I still have a chance at top-10 graduate school for computer science even with these grades (which were retaken and then aced)?

In my (rather extensive) experience with graduate admissions, admissions committees understand that people have semesters in which life interferes with school. If you've retaken the classes and received high marks in them, this very clearly signals that something was interfering with your performance during those two semesters and that the bad grades have nothing to do with your underlying ability. Those grades won't go unnoticed -- but nor will they hurt you the way they would had you not repeated and aced those courses.

It would help further if you have a trusted mentor who could mention and--to the degree that you comfortable, explain--this issue in his or her letter of recommendation.

Don't count on cruising through the application process, but also don't lower your ambitions based on these grades.


Is it a good idea to include a work draft in application to US Physics graduate school? I and my research advisor have a manuscript that still requires some final polish to be sent for peer review. In the meantime, I am applying for graduate school. Some graduate schools allow me to upload any additional material I think helpful.
First note: We are not worried about our idea been stolen even if we expose it on the internet(My advisor even put all his finished manuscripts on arXiv, including those rejected by peer review. He in fact wants his work be read by more people and more people could exchange ideas with him, unlike the majority of academia who would keep their work not openly-accessible before published).
I ask my advisor for consent that if I can include the current version of the manuscript as a draft of our work in my application to those schools? The advisor is not familiar with how grad school admission goes in the US so he said he understood that I want to present research experience but he prefers that I state them in SoP instead. He further said nevertheless if I really want to present a draft, I need to follow the ethics code in that the ultimate rule is that I cannot damage his academic reputation, at least point out in the draft that it's not the final version in his view.
Although I have this consent, I still hesitate about it. Which one makes a stronger application? Including a Draft? or just state my work in SoP? Or the difference is trivial?

You may be worried too much about getting scooped, but you could protect yourself by including an abstract instead of a draft and clearly mark it as work in progress, not to be shared.
The abstract could include something about the problem(s) you are addressing and say that your solutions will appear in a future publication, rather than revealing them. You might give an indication of estimated time frame to submission.
Having "work in progress" is always a good thing in an application.
But if you intend to continue this line of research, then the SoP is a good place to discuss it and mention there that you will upload an abstract.

Note that someone "stealing" your work through the release of a draft in an application would be clear plagiarism. And you have a dated verification of the priority of the work you have done in the application itself and could be pointed to. But that doesn't save you from getting "scooped" in your work as parallel independent research is common in many fields.


Publishing a paper - not enrolled in university I've never delved deeper into this but I'm still curious: do I need to be enrolled in a PhD to publish scientific papers?

I have a MSc but I regularly read research papers of not-so-great-a-quality and think "I might write better stuff than this". It doesn't happen with the majority of papers but the point is: I don't think those authors are all smarter than me.

How does a 'private citizen' not enrolled in any PhD course publish a research to a journal?

No, you do not need to be enrolled in a PhD to publish scientific papers. You don't need to be a professor either. It's common, but by no means mandatory. For example the game Arimaa was invented by Omar Syed. He published a paper introducing the game and has never earned a PhD.

As for how to publish - it's no different from those who have PhDs. Go to your target journal's website; it will have instructions for authors on how to submit the paper.


How do I politely decline a research grant? I am working on a research project that the university and my PI talked me into applying for a research grant through the university, and I got it. I'm happy that they considered my part of the project worth the award, but now I have concerns and want to decline it, mainly because of the presentation requirement.

The presentation will take a lot more time and effort than I thought it would.
The project involves things that I know nothing about. I know my piece, but it's my understanding that I need to present on the entire project.
It will be an all day thing and I can honestly make more money at my job that day than the grant is worth.

I'm thrilled they awarded me the grant, and I want to stay on for the project, but I want to politely decline the money.

Edit I didn't really want to apply for the grant, but my PI wanted me to and the stipend I'll get directly offsets a small bill from the university, so I applied. I found out that I get the money after I present my work at the end of next semester, long after I paid the bill. Nowhere in the paperwork did it mention the delay, otherwise I would not have applied and just worked on the project for free.

How do I politely decline a research grant?

Let's be clear here. Based on your account I'm getting the impression that, with a reasonably high level of confidence, there is no way for you to "politely" decline the grant. The very action of declining will reflect poorly on you and show you to be an unreliable and difficult to work with person, and is likely to upset your PI and the funding agency who went to the trouble to evaluate your application. So, it's not about the "how". It's the action of declining that is by its nature impolite.

You may feel this is unfair. You may feel that you were given inaccurate information at the time of submitting the grant that led you to make a decision you now regret. You may very well be right on both of those points. In an ideal world you would simply explain what happened and everyone would agree that it makes sense for you to decline the grant. However, in the world we actually live in, I'd say accept it, do the work, use it as a learning experience and move on. And congratulations for getting the grant, it obviously says good things about you and if you do a good job has potential to benefit you in the future in many ways other than the measly stipend.


How do I read a textbook or monograph with good comprehension? I’m not a native English speaker but my reading ability is good. However, when it comes to academic books, I feel that my comprehension is slow. What strategies or methods can I use to help me improve that? I am in the field of computer science.

You are not alone. Even highly educated native speakers find academic books hard. For the reasons for that see Michael Billig's book Learn to Write Badly (Cambridge University Press, 2013). It might amuse and comfort you.

Assuming you have to read a whole book, the strategy I suggest is to go through the thought process that the author should have gone through before putting pen to paper by asking yourself the following questions in the order given:

What single big question is the book trying to answer?
You would hope to find that stated very early on in the book, in an introduction or preface. Sometimes that may not be clear: that is not your fault.
What is the answer?
Sometimes considerate authors tell you the answer just after they have told you the question. Frequently authors are not considerate in that way. A good place to look is any chapter headed "Conclusions".
What in outline are the author's reasons for that answer?
Chapter headings might provide an answer to that, but sometimes you will have to dig a little deeper, skimming the beginnings and ends of the chapters themselves.

Don't be afraid of skimming the book to try to find the answers to these questions. Until you can answer them, simply ploughing through the book will be hard and unrewarding work.
 4. How does the author support each of the reasons given?
To answer that you will probably need to do a bit of ploughing, but don't expect to understand all the detail first time through. Keep constantly in your mind where the book is going, that is Questions 1-3 above.

When you have done all the above you can go into as much detail as you  need to master the author's whole approach.


How are instructors compensated for teaching a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)? This question prompted me to wonder what compensation comes with teaching a MOOC. Most of these seem to be sponsored by universities, but my university doesn't offer them and neither did my PhD institution so I have no first-hand experience on the instructor-side.

Obviously, most participants do not pay for them (some do, I guess, but I have no idea how many and they're obviously paying much less than university tuition). So, it seems unlikely that teaching such courses pays for the instructors time.

Thus, I ask: does teaching these come with compensation of any kind? Salary/bonus? Teaching load reduction? Release from service? Teaching assistants for the courses? I'm interested in compensation either from one's university or from the MOOC provider (Coursera, Udacity, edX, etc.).

As @JeffE said, every department is different. There is remarkably little information available on the compensation offered to the instructors teaching the courses. A quick search revealed this article which states that this professor at Duke University doesn't receive any compensation for teaching MOOCs, including no reduction in teaching load, or any teaching assistants. See also this scathing article which states that professors teaching MOOCs are grossly underpaid--no hard numbers anywhere though.


Food for comprehensive or qualifying exam? So it's pretty much an unwritten rule at least in biology departments in the USA that when a student is defending his or her thesis/dissertation that they provide some sort of food or refreshments. There has been at least coffee and pastries provided by the student for their committee and audience at every defense I've ever attended.

My question is, how often do students do this for qualifying or comprehensive exams? Since they are private I have never attended one to know... Would committee members expect at least some coffee?

My question is, how often do students do this for qualifying or comprehensive exams?

At my previous department (in ECE, if it matters), students do for qualifiers/prelims what they do for their defense, the only difference being that you scale down the total quantity of refreshments that you provide/purchase a bit if the exam is not open to the public.

  Would committee members expect at least some coffee?

I don't know about "expect," but it's nice to have some on hand: at all of my exams, all of my committee members went straight for the coffee upon arrival to the exam.

Edited to add — The oral portion of the qualifying exam at my previous department consisted of a presentation which was meant to showcase any research highlights the student had achieved up to that point and future directions. If your qualifying/comprehensive exam is like that described by @CameronWilliams below in the comments, then bringing refreshments may not make any sense, i.e. your mileage may vary.


Reviewing: potential conflict from knowledge of other researcher's activities I do methodological research in Field A and am aware of the the related methodologies of Field B but have not used them. I was asked to review an article from Field B, which I initially declined due to lack of expertise. The editor asked me to reconsider because the article makes some claims about Field A and he wanted comments specifically from that perspective. I agreed to review.

I am reviewing the article and the editor was right to be concerned. The paper is otherwise excellent, however the authors are claiming that what they are doing in Field B is actually Field A (and using terminology from Field A but have ignored substantial literature). I am fine to write the review. However, I would really like to make a comment recommending that any mention of Field A should be removed from the paper (it would be fine without it) and noting that the overlap is an interesting question in its own right that should not be dealt with from the perspective of just one of the fields within an empirical paper about a specific topic.

I actually think that a specific methodological paper about the overlap and differences would be very worthwhile, coauthored from both fields and preferably written as the outcome of some sort of discussion at a workshop where each field trained the other. While the review is blind, I strongly suspect that the authors are from the institution that would be the most appropriate to develop such a workshop and paper. However, I am already aware of a researcher in my field who is drafting a paper (from the perspective of Field A, with no involvement of authors from Field B).

If I make the comment about interesting question in its own right, am I suggesting the separate paper? If so, is that a problem given that I know someone is working on something similar? Can I suggest to the person working on it that perhaps he should involve authors from the other field? Can I suggest a workshop to both the person working on it and the authors of the paper I am reviewing?

Your job is to do the reviewer, which means 1) evaluating the quality and 2) helping the authors improving the paper. Half of the things below are unrelated to this. You even got a specific task from the editor. Limit yourself to that.

  If I make the comment about interesting question in its own right, am
  I suggesting the separate paper?

This is exactly the only thing you should do IMO: "make a comment recommending that any mention of Field A should be removed from the paper and noting that the overlap is an interesting question in its own right that should not be dealt with from the perspective of just one of the fields within an empirical paper about a specific topic."

  If so, is that a problem given that I know someone is working on
  something similar? Can I suggest to the person working on it that
  perhaps he should involve authors from the other field? Can I suggest
  a workshop to both the person working on it and the authors of the
  paper I am reviewing?

This to me seems not OK because potential conflict of interest and because you are using confidential information for purposes that are beyond the review. I get the impression that you also risk of revealing yourself which you should never do, if it's a blind review. Wait for the paper to be accepted and available online and then you can contact all the relevant people pretending you had this idea reading the paper and without saying you are the reviewer. If the paper is rejected then drop the idea of the workshop or contact the editor and agree with him/her on a proper way to contact the authors.


Getting back to academics / independent research As a full time professional without prior publications, I am seriously considering a move to academics as a PhD student. My field of interest is mostly Data Analytics and I am keen to explore the possibilities where I can associate Data Analytics with AI and Deep Learning.

Unfortunately, I have no degrees or certificates to show my credentials here but I have prepared myself in the tools I may need to tackle a research question in such a discipline.(Yes, I agree that it isn't enough)

I want to know if there is any possibility of collaborating with academic professionals and publish independent papers?

My academic qualifications:

Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering
MBA in International Management

There are two ways in which you can be involved in research, coming out of industry.

It is possible to enroll in a PhD program.  There are normally no age requirements, and it is not unheard of for people to start a PhD later in their career.  Depending on where you are, this may require a Master degree first.  I suspect many PIs are happy to enroll someone with substantial industry experience.

It is also possible to find employment at a company that cooperates with university research.  It's quite common for small and medium enterprises to cooperate with universities in projects (for some funding agencies such as the European Commission, this is in fact a requirement), so with the right skills, expertise, and contacts, that should be possible.  For example, within the EU, Horizon 2020 projects always must involve such enterprises.

Gaining full employment (not counting RA/TA/PhD studies) at a university without already having a PhD degree and recent publications is not feasible.


What do I do if there is an error in a figure in my not-yet-defended thesis? I submitted my thesis some days ago and I am currently preparing for viva. I have found an error in a figure which is a summary of four other figures. In fact, by means of Excel I did calculations and made a mistake regarding some numbers. I have prepared a new file with  corrections but I confess that I am scared.
Anyone has experienced such a situation or may give any tip about what to do.

Thank you very much indeed

Speak to your mentor. However, I see no reason to panic or to be scared, if the mistake doesn't influence some fundamental contribution of the thesis. I've found numerous cases where mistakes in the thesis were found years after the defense, even with considerable impact (one extreme case de facto made ~60% of the thesis obsolete aka wrong).

If the thesis is completely printed/prepared/submitted, I guess that the mentor won't insist on repeating the process.

Again, this is not a great issue, if the error is not of fundamental nature (e.g you base your thesis that the actual value of pi is 4, but somehow you miraculously discover now that you were of by 0.8584).


Tools for managing and scheduling meetings with students? My advisor has been very busy and a lot of us hardly get quality time with him. he also acknowledges this and says it is usually very difficult to manage appointments and other commitments. He has lately been suffering from health problems, adding to crunch in time for all of us.
Me and my advisor were discussing several ways to schedule and manage meetings with his students, preferably a web based tool so as to keep us informed in case schedule changes and also to let him remember which student met him and which didn't. (He has a lot of students with him including undergrads).

Google Calendar could be one such tool, but I am wondering how do people in academia schedule and manage meetings with students ?

Several of my colleagues use YouCanBookMe (https://gb.youcanbook.me/), which integrates with GoogleCalendar. You can specifiy "office hours" or the like, and then students can book a meeting with you.

I myself, however, discuss individual appointments per mail and then immediately add them to my digital calendar, which to me works better, as I do not have fixed office hours.

When I want to have a whole day of meetings (e.g., everyone from a class is supposed to have an individual meeting with me on one specific day to get feedback), I create an etherpad at http://www.titanpad.com , give timeslots and ask all students to put their names on it.

For group meetings with colleagues, I use http://doodle.com (or http://datumprikker.nl , which offers a similar service in Dutch) to schedule group meetings. I guess pretty much everyone at our department does so.


Undergraduate research in math, but no research paper, will this hurt me in graduate admissions? I will be applying for admission into graduate school in Fall 2016.

I did research with a professor last summer in mathematical biology. I have presented that research at a two conferences and have presented a poster at three. However, my professor did not require me to write a research paper.

With respect to a graduate program in mathematics, would this hurt my chances of being admitted?

Thank you.

EDIT: I was following a timeline my professor created for me and writing a paper was not on it.

Speaking as someone in field not too far from yours:  sure, it would help if you had done all of the stuff you've listed and written a paper about it.  But having a bunch of conference presentations under your belt (oral and posters) is still pretty impressive;  and there are many applicants to Ph.D. programs without any research experience at all.  The fact that you've done research, and that your advisor thought it was worth presenting at multiple conferences, is a pretty big item in your favor.

Oh, and it should go without saying that this professor should be one of your recommenders (absent any major falling-out or other complicating circumstances.)


Is using the same topic title as a book title plagiarizing? There is a well known book "Scientific topic X. Philosophical reflections." It contains a collection of articles on the topic. I am writing a paper myself. To what extent is it allowed to use the same title?

I am not stealing or borrowing the title because it is particularly original, it just concisely summarizes the goal and content of my paper (without redundancy). I also came up with about 10 alternatives, but I like this one still more.

I suppose it is ok, after all - there can be only so many permutations of words for a particular topic/approach, e.g. "Introduction to philosophy of science, Basic course in Calculus, etc."

What are the academic standards on this issue?

There are no official policies on things not being allowed to have the same name.

It doesn't seem to be a legal problem: How many books are called Algebra? and how many songs are called I love you? How many companies have been called Smith and sons?)

It is not a technical problem since title is not the most relevant citation information

Is it an ethical problem? I don't think so.

Still, if the other book is well known, it can lead to confusion and people can think that you are a bit bizzare to reuse the title. I wouldn't do it.


Easy way to see historical trend in keywords in publications? Is there an easy way or existing tool to generate a historical chart with the occurrence of one or more user-specified keyword(s) (combinations) in academic publications, based on the words in the title and/or abstract of a paper?

There is a almost-what-I-was-looking-for tool called Google Scholar Trend Miner, but it seems to be not working anymore, as it reports after hitting Go: "It seems that Google found out that we are a bot and started offering its CAPTCHA. Please, wait some hours and try again"

If you have access to it, you can very easily do that with Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science portal. Run any query you want, probably starting with the simplest one: Topic=XXXX. Then, select “Analyze results” at the top-right bottom-left of the results list, and sort them by year of publication:


Is it possible to switch between Ph.D. departments at the same university? I recently asked about the ethicality of staying in a Ph.D. program (first-year) while attempting to transfer to a different university that I had declined previously. Unfortunately, the funding was cut short for said program and I did not get off the wait list for funding.

The main reason I wanted to transfer was due to the fact that I wanted to focus on a more applied math program as opposed to the current program I am in that focuses on bioinformatics/biology. Since the transfer/funding did not work out, I was curious if I could possibly transfer from the Ph.D. I am currently in to the math Ph.D. program. They are both under the same college of sciences.  I did my undergrad in both math and cell/molecular biology and I believed I could incorporate enough math but if possible I’d like to just get the applied math Ph.D. and apply it to biology instead of the other way around.

My two options are either to stay in my program and recruit many math committee members or to outright move to the math department. I don’t particularly want to ask my own department yet because I don’t want to be looked down upon or lose any funding because I do want to stay here and will happily finish (eventually) by incorporating more math based individuals.

I was wondering if this has been done before or if anyone has any advice on how to go about this? Obviously I’d like my funding to carry over and I believe since they’re in the same college of sciences it may be doable. I’m worried that I’ll be criticized or judged for wanting to do this or lose my funding. Since my first option of going to the other program at a different university didn’t workout and I didn’t hear about it till a week ago, I was unable to really follow this second option.

Whether it can be done or not depends entirely on the regulations of your particular institution. What is much more likely to say is that you will probably not be able to carry your funding over from your old department to your new one. Funding very rarely can be transferred, since it is usually attached to some project or department, rather than any individual.


Applying to PhD programmes in multiple universities I want to apply for a PhD. I applied to 2 universities before and got rejected. Is it OK to send my PhD proposal to multiple universities at the same time in the hope that I get approval from one of them?

Yes.

In the United States, it is expected that applicants are applying to many schools at the same time.

I applied to around 10 simultaneously, for example.


Ph.D. candidate publishing preprint to link papers I have two papers that I'm looking to try and publish soon. I would like to cite my own paper as the work is fairly closely linked. Is it worth publishing one as a preprint on something like Arxiv so I can cite? I've read that it is more beneficial to publish preprints if you are already an established researcher whereas these would be my first two publications (if accpeted).

In general, you can post the preprints version of the paper before submitting if the journals do not have a policy which require you not to publish the preprint on repositories like arxiv, vixra, etc. See for example International Journal of Modern Physics D, where they have a policy of embargo which is explained. From this link you can see the author rights "After an embargo of 12 months, you may post the accepted author manuscript on your personal website, your institutional or subject repositories of your own choice or as stipulated by the Funding Agency.
"

To be clear, when you publish on arxiv, you give the an irrevocable license to distribute the article to arxiv, which means that you cannot withdraw the paper from arxiv unless there is a crucial mistake on it (see here ).

Here you can see the policies for many journals, for example
"Author's Pre-print:    green tick  author can archive pre-print (ie pre-refereeing)
Author's Post-print:    green tick  author can archive post-print (ie final draft post-refereeing)
Publisher's Version/PDF:    green tick  author can archive publisher's version/PDF
General Conditions:
On author's personal website, employer's website or institutional repository
Publisher's version/PDF may be used
Publisher's version/PDF may be used on author's personal website or employer's website only
Link to publisher version required
Publisher copyright and source must be acknowledged with citation"

Finally, you need to check with the policy of the journal where you have submitted the 2 papers, and if you cannot publish on arxiv, you can cite with something like "_authors, paper name, submitted".

In the present, the world will go to open access, and we as authors have to encourage these movements and to publish the preprints online on free repositories.


Crediting sources one has found citations from Suppose that I am doing a literature review on a topic, and I read paper A, which makes an interesting claim and references paper B as its source. Naturally, as paper B is then the primary source, I will look up B and possibly cite it in my own paper if it seems relevant. And suppose that it turns out that paper A says nothing else that's relevant for my topic, so I say nothing about paper A.

And this seems fine if I only discovered one citation from paper A. But if I find several useful citations in the same paper, it starts to feel like plagiarism if I just ruthlessly harvest it for citations without never citing itself.

Sometimes it's easy to work in a citation in such a case. For example, if it's a review paper I'm reading, I might be able to just write in my own paper something like:

  Qwerty (2009) reviews a number of a results in this field, such as the finding that over 99% of the people who contract cancer wear shoes (Keyes 1999), that pink aliens from the sixteenth dimension dislike chocolate (Pinker 2001), ...

But often there isn't really any reasonable way to work in a citation, especially not if you wish the citation to make it clear that this is where you found useful sources from. I could include a footnote or a thanks in the acknowledgements, but I've never seen anyone do that for such a reason. Are there any rules of thumb regarding the correct etiquette in such situations?

The quoted you wrote is actually a pretty good way to include that citation.

It all comes down to the fundamental reason you are citing the paper. Citations are used to refer the reader to papers that contain useful information pertaining to your discussion. As such, “because it includes a good citation” is not a good reason for citing paper A in itself: there are plenty of other ways you could have found paper B (other citations, web or database search, bumping into its author at a meeting, etc.). Unless paper A adds relevant information to paper B, it should simply not be cited. One way it can add information is by performing a review of the literature, or by commenting on the results in paper B… In the first case, your quote is a good way to acknowledge that fact; in the second case, you could simply write that:

  Qwerty discussed in [21] the original results of Doe [22], showing how the data wasn't corrected to account for the phase of the moon at the time of measurement.

In conclusion, I'd say: determine whether paper A brings additional information, then either cite it or do not cite it. It is not common practice (and I don't think it should be) to acknowledge a paper without citing it.


Does this count as a quantitative research?: word association Does this count as a quantitative research?: quantifying the strength of a word association based on the average time each subject in an experiment gives a word associated to a stimulus word --the quicker the larger the strength would be.

I know that this involves quantifying but I thought more rigid methodology is going to be took when it comes to a quantitative research, which involves physical rulers and scales for example? --Is there a term to make a distinction between rigid one like using scales and less rigid one like my example? People probably can't come up with a better way than using scales to study weight of different substances, while people could come up with better methodology to quantify the strength of a word association.

Also if my example counts as a quantitative research, it seems to me that anything can be quantified. But I heard that some people say things like emotions and preferences can't be quantified. This is part of the reason why I'm not sure if my example falls into quantitative research.

You answered your own question. You plan to "quantify the strength of word association." In this instance, yes, your work would be considered quantitative research.

[Wikipedia] defines quantitative research as "the systematic empirical investigation of observable phenomena via statistical, mathematical or computational techniques" 1. The example you cite does exactly that.

Yes, everything is quantifiable some way. The greater question is whether or not that quantification has meaning. Yes, you can quantify emotions (countries are compared on happiness scales all the time). How that concept was measured and what is done about it is much more important.

As evidenced by the comment left "the example you give is peculiar," there is a level of debate that scholars could have about the validity and credibility of your methodology. Whether or not your methods were quantitative is not at question (they were).

I then add one more question to your question: Does it matter? I would much rather argue the value of your research with you than whether it would be considered qualitative or quantitative in nature.


How do they add you to their blacklist? I have heard if you send papers to a journal/conferences there are some conditions that might be dangerous for you academic progress! I researched about it but I wasn't able to find a good definition to be aware. My main question is how they add an author to black list and how is the procedure? moreover, what is the reaction to original researches which might be weak or bad written? I know they will reject but is this the end or they will mention your prior effort in future?

My research field: Computer Science

Thanks in advance.

The use of black lists to prevent low quality submissions in academia is pretty rare. I have never heard of a journal or conference having a formal black list procedure. The first I ever heard of a formal black list system was the one implemented by EPSRC in 2010. There was a discussion of the system published in Nature soon after it was implemented. Basically, the system works as follows, if a PI had 3 proposals that were either not scored or scored in the bottom 50% in the last 2 years, they are only allowed to submit one application as a PI for a 12 month period. Grants submitted where you are a CI do not count against you and even when black listed you can be listed on an unlimited number of applications as a CI.

The fact that formal black lists are not frequently used, does not mean that submitting low quality work does not hurt your reputation. It is quite likely that if reviewers frequently see low quality work from a researcher that they will have a negative bias towards future work from that person/group. The opposite holds for individuals who consistently produce high quality work and sometimes get the benefit of the doubt. In fact, I think these biases are one of the reasons for a double blind review system.


Are spelling issues part of the reviewer's job? During peer-review, is it part of the job of the reviewer to check the spelling, typos, grammar, and suggest improvement? It will help the paper and seems part of the job, but seeing some manuscripts it could take ages to write down every tiny correction in the review.

So, is it the job of the reviewer to judge quality of the writing?

The simple answer is no. Unless the review instructions ask for such comments, it is not mandatory. When I do a review, I usually do some corrections if there are not too many of them. If the paper is littered with such errors I might make corrections for one or two manuscript pages and then state to both authors and editors that the papers needs substantial checking and correction beyond my capacity. I also sometimes just leave that comment without making example corrections.

One of the more problematic issues is the difference between native English speakers and this who have English as a second or third language. Clearly authors who are not native speakers, should receive more help than others. There are also services that do language corrections and each publisher typically can suggest such services. If there are native English speakers as co-authors, some responsibility should fall on them to correct the language, after all, they are credited, or perhaps discredited, by the paper as well. So my point is that some leniency has to be considered depending on the severity of the problem but the bottom line is no-one is forced to correct spelling and grammar.


How to write a strong research plan? This comes following my other question. When writing a research plan/statement when applying for an assistant professor position, how should be the document structure?

I have to explain a few (e.g., 3- 5) topics for my future research.

Should these be general topics or as specific as a research proposal?

Should I prove that I have a strong background in these fields or it is enough that the ideas are novel and attractive?

Should I include technical data/figures or the purpose is just the general description?

Should I explain expected outcome as we do in a proposal?

With your research plan, you need to convince a recruitment committee that you have a viable plan from which to launch your career.

Your plan will need to show the committee

that it is scientifically sound
that you have the skill set to carry it out (or know how you will acquire it)
that you understand what resources you need to carry it out
that you understand your funding streams
that there is something that gives you competitive advantage among the dozens of other people in the field vying for money from the same pool as you.

The weight of each of these considerations will be a function of your complete package.

So, the generic answer to all of your questions is "do what you need to do to accomplish the list above"

I suggest you work on your plan and carefully review it with some mentors.

As to the level of specificity, you shouldn't have to lay out complete experimental protocols, but you should be prepared to discuss each proposed line of experiments at that level.  In your statement, though, it would be quite useful to have specific hypotheses for each research path.

You should also be prepared to prioritize.  When asked about how you would spend the next five years, you should know the answer, and pretty specifically.


How to cite information obtained from Google Maps Area Calculator Tool? In my research, I measured an area with the aid of Google Maps Area Calculator Tool.

How should I site the information I have obtained. And what should I include? Should I include a screen-shot of it? Does the app let us export a picture of the area we want? Can I cite it with software like EndNote?

There are a number of issues.  First, you need to comply with the google terms of Use agreement.  For maps, information is available at https://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines/attr-guide.html

Next, you want your readers to be able to find the maps you're referring to.  Use the "share or embed" option on the maps page to generate a permalink.

Lastly, what should the reference look like?  APA provides some guidance at http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2015/08/how-to-cite-online-maps.html

For one example they show

  Google. (n.d.). [Google Maps directions for driving from Ingolstadt,
  Germany, to Geneva, Switzerland]. Retrieved August 4, 2015, from [url
  here]

I would change the author as specified in Google's attribution guidelines above, and I would replace "driving directions for ...." to "Area Calculator" or some such.

After doing this, I'd let the editorial process take over, having done your due diligence.


How to offer a reviewer to be co-author? I currently have a paper submitted to PNAS. We had two rounds of revisions, and following detailed suggestions from one reviewer, we have improved our proposed algorithm a lot: its complexity is now significantly lower, and the idea he suggested makes the overall method more robust in handling noisy signal.

I feel that this reviewer's contribution extend far beyond his original role, so much that I feel it would be ethically honest to have him as a co-author. To be crystal-clear: if he was not a reviewer, but a colleague with whom I had discussed this before submitting the paper, he would clearly be entitled to authorship, no question.

But… he is a reviewer, so I am wondering how (if at all) we should ask him to join as co-author. Right now, I am ready to submit the twice-revised manuscript, and I have no doubt that it will be accepted (second review was “minor revisions”). The options I can see are:

In my cover letter for the revised manuscript, explain the situation to the editor and ask him if he could (with the reviewer's agreement) lift anonymity and allow the authors' list change.
Wait for the manuscript to be formally approved, and only then write to the editor asking for the same thing.
Do nothing, for example because it is frowned upon. This would pain me greatly, because the reviewer really contributed very significantly to the algorithm, and I believe he should be able to claim authorship for this contribution (if he sees it fit).

So, what are accepted practices? How should I handle this matter?

Seconding other comments and answers: surely no one would be offended if you tried to make such an offer...

However, as already noted, if your offer is made prior to final acceptance, it might be misinterpreted, as your trying to clinch acceptance.

And that possibility surely has to be systematically excluded, so a foresightful editor and/or journal would surely not want to set such a precedent. A journal would not want authors to (be able to) solicit reviewers as co-authors, since this would create a conflict-of-interest situation, and cast doubt on the general validity and impartiality of their refereeing process!

That is, while it would be weird and awkward to publicly state such a policy, I would anticipate that the journal/editor would object as a matter of principle, to putting the reviewer on as a co-author.

Sensible reviewers would also understand this situation, for similar reasons, and in advance would expect no reward beyond "job well done". Even the anonymity of the referee should be maintained, as a matter of principle. Thus, we do often find effusive thanks to "the anonymous referee"...


How to query gender in a multiple-choice poll/survey? In a study where human subjects are given questionnaires, it may be interesting to analyze whether effects are gender-specific and/or more pronounced in one gender than in (the) other(s). How can this information be gathered in a way that respects every individual independent of gender? How many checkboxes does one need for the question, and how should these be labeled?

I have previously seen this done in the following simple way:

Female
Male
Other (fill in blank) ________
Decline to Answer

This makes the common case (Male/Female) easy to code, allows unbounded expression for people who don't fall into that category, and also allows people to opt out of providing the information.

Your IRB, of course, will need to review this just as they do with all other parts of your survey.


Can I be a good scientist if I only work in working hours? I am doing postdoc in developmental biology. Recently I started to leave work at the lab, meaning that I don't work at home anymore. Before I spent many hours at night (at home) analyzing my data; now I spent that time on my side project not related to science.
I would like to ask if that kind of schedule is sustainable? Can I be a good scientist if I only work in working hours (now and later when I have a long term position)? Other scientists seem to work both at the lab and at home.

It is possible. For the last eleven years (from the seventh month of my PhD trajectory onwards) I have worked the standard 40-hour work week: Monday through Friday, from nine to five. I don't work weekends, and I don't work evenings. Last Summer I got tenure.
Even though it is possible, it is not necessarily easy. You will need to be very efficient within those 40 hours a week, and you will need to have the support of those around you. If your university has the culture that faculty are available for work at all times, it's going to be hard to break through that culture on your own. Even if your university supports you in fighting for a reasonable work/life balance, you still may need to manage the expectations of those around you; I have made my colleagues aware that they shouldn't expect, for instance, email replies from my side on the weekends.
It is also entirely possible that in the long run, my 40-hour policy will reduce my chances for promotion: if full professorships open up, I may lose against those people that have worked 80-hour weeks. I'm not convinced that this will necessarily be the case: by regularly taking time to relax, I ensure that my mind is very sharp during the working week, and that makes me more productive in those 40 hours than others can be in 50, 60, or even more. But even if my policy will cost me an eventual promotion to full professor, I will not regret my choices: by working 40-hour working weeks, I get to spend lots of time with my family, which is simply more important to me.


How do I look for/solicit a move to another university pre-tenure? I am considering a move to another institution, two years out from tenure. I do have a strong case, but the department has changed in ways that may mean better prospects elsewhere. I am not 100% set on leaving; rather I will be looking. I do think my current department would frown on my looking or actively soliciting a position. Also, my field is small; word will likely get around. How do people do this, correctly and strategically?

It is difficult. Job application lists are supposed to be confidential, and you can mention in your cover letter that you prefer your institution not be notified of your candidacy. In some countries, your privacy is much better protected as an applicant. For example in Denmark, faculty applicants don't give talks and there's no public record of them even having an on-campus interview. Consider applying strategically depending on who is likely on the hiring panel at what types of schools, and how likely that is to come back. Last, it's very normal for faculty to apply to other positions, and even if discovered, may not affect your tenure case or your relationship with colleagues. Good luck.


Why do reviewers need to be selected again for a revised paper? I submitted a paper to a marketing journal and the reviewers recommended a major revision and a minor revision. I had to shorten the text and get professional help for proofreading. I addressed the every single comment of reviewers.

Now, it is in the “Awaiting Reviewers Selection” mode once again. Does anybody explain why the journal editor needs to select new reviewers at this step of review process?

I think that two explanations are possible:

(At least on of) the reviewers did not agree to review the paper again. This can happen, as a reviewer you are not obligated to review a revision.
The status on the webpage does not reflect the actual status the paper is in. E.g., the actual status might be 'paper lying on the editor's desk, collecting dust'.


Why don't Universities provide staff/post-graduate with stationery? When I worked in industry,
I had unchecked access to a huge stationery cupboard.
As did hundreds of other employees.

Full of useful things like:

Files, folders, binders
coloured pens, mechanical pencils, markers
BlueTack, bull dog clips, coloured masking tape
index cards, A3 sketch books
postage paid envelopes

and the list goes on. We got some more exciting stuff as it was Agile company.

A friend of mine working for the tax office had similar access to stationery, though without the extra Agile arts and crafts supplies. She did get all the pocket calculators she ever wanted, though.
I'm sure some companies even treat USB drives as disposable.

Point being in industry, the disposable tools you need to do your job were provided to you.

What I have found recently working as a research assistant is that nothing disposable is provided. There is no stationery cupboard to raid.  When I need paper to throw together some math, I often end up using the back of a journal article I printed to read.

I can understand not supplying undergraduates, there are so many it is impossible to keep track of them. But there are a lot fewer staff/postgrads.

Is this normal for universities?

Is there likely to actually be a stationery cupboard (or fund) that I have just never noticed, and that I should ask my supervisor about?

If this is normal practice, what is the history/reasoning behind it?

It is not so much a issue of cost, it is tax deductible (for staff at least), and the pay (for staff) is generally high enough to dwarf these expenses, but of practicality.  The same cost vs payrate, and tax deductions are true in industry, but big (and small) companies judge the productivity gain of no one spending 20 minutes going down to the store to buy a pen worth the costs (I guess).

Stationary products, with the exception of prepaid postal envelopes, are not reimbursable from most grants and needed to be provided by the university as part of its infrastructure. How the university provides the stationary products is up to them, they can of a closet full of the required supplies, be willing to order them at no cost to grant holders, or provide grant holders with a sufficient portion of the grant overheads so that stationary products can be ordered. Every university I have studied or worked at has had a closet full of supplies and the office staff were willing to order special supplies within reason, but this doesn't mean other models do not exist. You just need to ask.


Is copying the exact statement of a definition or a theorem considered plagiarism? Let's say in a paper when I am talking about a theorem someone else proved, I state the result in the exact same way, word for word, as in their paper. Is this considered plagiarism? I would still give credit and citation to the result, just that I don't paraphrase the statement.

In mathematics, often there are highly optimized/perfected statements of theorems. It would be silly to alter them (introducing damage?!) just for the sake of avoiding exact quoting. Cite, that's all.
That is, unless you have something to add to their idea, there's scant point to changing the wording... apart from the risk of mis-stating them!... just to meet a sort of fake goal. Cite and acknowledge. Be honest. With citation, what could possibly be the objection to quoting a perfected assertion of a good theorem?


Advisor asked for my entire slide presentation so she could give the presentation at an international conference First, she never helped me on either my thesis or my slide presentation.
After my presentation (which she did not attend), she asked me "how to present" it to her so she could use it in the international conference.
(I don't want to do that, but I have no choice.)

Then, she asked me to send the whole presentation.
I sent it to her as a PDF file.

Later, she asked me for the "power point presentation" with the script.

I really don't want to give it to her.

What should I do?

P.S. She never gives anybody credit. (She did this before with my senior.)

Update: After reading many comments, I realize that I might be over-reacting. In academic area, it is normal that advisor could use the entire presentation of their student in the conference. (If I am lucky, she will acknowledge me)

I feel so bad about it but I need to accept the reality....

Thank you for all comments.

As an advisor, I regularly use my students’ slides when I present my current projects. This is usually done within the context of high level presentations: I’m working on important project X; Alice and I worked on X.a which resulted in such and such, and with Bob on X.b which resulted in so and so. Claire and I are working with Alice to extend to X.c. If your advisor is supportive and showcases your work, she’s increasing its visibility and helping your career.

To conclude, presenting students’ work is not necessarily a bad thing and can help them a lot.

What is more concerning is that you seem to have serious trust issues with your advisor. She may be passing off her students’ work as her own but I honestly think that this is either a misunderstanding or something else. Advisors normally want to show that their students are doing well, not that they’re being totally shepherded by the advisor. This reflects badly on the advisor which is why I think it’s unusual.

If things have gotten to the point where you’re not harboring any goodwill to her, I suggest you rethink your options. If there’s a chance of a conversation to rebuild trust, try and have one.


Where can I find good research proposals of researches in computer science? Where can I find good research proposals of researches in computer science? I specifically need to see some example methodology sections. I am writing a research proposal where the research problem is based on database systems and reinforcement learning. Writing the methodology section has become a great difficulty so far because there isn't any proper guidance or understanding I have on the area of academic documentation. If you can suggests a good book or a website to refer it's also helpful in this matter.

Check with your local/national funding, research promotion, or research training agencies, as these may offer limited access to past proposals under some circumstances.  For example, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency maintains a reference library of successful ERC proposals that can be consulted by the public (albeit in person only, and without borrowing rights).  Similarly, the Austrian Science Fund and Tutech Innovation periodically organize grant-writing workshops where real-life successful and unsuccessful grant applications are presented and analyzed for educational purposes.  For these two institutions, though, there's no guarantee that the proposals you'll be studying will be from your own field, and you can't take the proposals with you when you leave the workshop.
Another option may be to ask your current and past colleagues and supervisors if they will share their past proposals with you.  I've obtained a number of proposals this way, with the only restriction being that I had to keep them confidential.


How should a student with no research background write a research proposal? I am applying for Master's degree and I am being asked to make a research proposal. I am having some trouble with this since I don't have any research experience at all. The University I attended was a "No Thesis" University and there are no advisors for research there.

I have thought about wanting to do my research about Multiculturalism in Japan: how it is denied, how they say they are a homogeneous society and how this affects international minorities living there.

However... that's as far as I have gotten, I don't know how to continue.

I don't know how to continue.

Well, there's a lot to do, actually. For example, you can structure your research proposal in the following sections (other points can be added):

Introduction and background information. Here you should clearly state the goal(s) of your research and give supporting information. For example, since you claim that multiculturalism is denied in Japan, in this first section you shall report this claim and provide supporting references; then, you shall explain that this phenomenon is not well studied and why it would be a good thing to investigate it.
Methodology. How do you plan to carry out your research? Anonymous questionnaires? Interviewing people? What kind of questions do you want to ask? How do you choose the population sample? How do you plan to carry out the interviews or distribute the questionnaires? Especially, whatever methodology you choose, explain clearly why the chosen methodology is suitable for reaching the goals of your research.
Data analysis. Here you have to describe in which way you plan to analyze the data you have collected.
Schedule. Subdivide your research in different tasks and describe the time allotted to each one (Gantt charts are common these days).
Scientific outcome. Original research is typically published on journals and presented at conferences. Can you name a journal and/or a conference suitable for your research topic? Can you think of other possible outcomes? For example, if the subject of your investigation constitute a social issue, can you think of writing a recommendation suggesting ways to improve the situation?
Possible issues. Describe what can go wrong in your plans and how you intend to mitigate possible problems (e.g. people not answering to questionnaires).
Resources and costs. Every kind of research needs money and resources. For example, if you plan to realize an online questionnaire you might need to hire a developer. So, try to figure out what can be the amount of money needed to make your research and write down a small budget.

Edit: I've added a couple of points. That said, good luck!


Is it ok to withdraw from a PhD when receiving another job offer? I received admission to a Ph.D. offer in the US with an assistantship that would cover my tuition and living expenses for Fall 2021. At the same time, I received a 10 days consultancy contract with the WBG to be completed by the end of June 2021. This consultancy contract may be extended based on performance and needs. Now, I have always wanted to work for the WBG, but I am very confused whether I move on and accept the PhD offer while doing the 10 days, then withdraw from the Ph.D. if am offered a longer contract. Or, I just move on with the Ph.D. because contract extension is not really guaranteed. Bear in mind that I am an international student and I need to start the visa process to move to the US by fall. What can I do? Is it ok to withdraw from a Ph.D. after accepting the offer and before starting the classes?

In the US, you can withdraw at any time, even after starting. If you  have signed a contract for some services, then you may have to deal with that, but most universities will let it go since those services can almost always be handled by other people.
People leave doctoral education for lots of reasons.
But I suggest you think long term about your career and whether a job is preferable to a doctorate.


API for Scientific Literature Search I have to dig through a large number of scientific papers (~26K), all with DOI links. I've built a small Python script for searching through the papers. Now I want to have more data about those papers. For example, where the authors are from (country or university) or, at least, retrieving the DOI link for the papers (not all of them have metadata).

One approach might be as follows:

(1) Get the DOI link (from a library, for example)
(2) Retrieve the information about the author(s).

Is there an API or a Python library that could help with that? I've looked at the Elsevier API, but it seems to be just for Elsevier papers. Web of Science isn't helpful, as they haven't much papers for my field (Information Systems).

Mendeley, Citavi or Zotero aren't really the options, as I want to do that somehow "automatically".

CrossRef has an API, and this will resolve metadata for most papers. (Not all DOIs are registered through CrossRef, but it's going to cover most of the cases you want.)

However, it may not have all the detail you need - it won't always have author affiliation, for example.


How will the 2013 US government shutdown affect NSF postdoc applications? Does anyone know if there will still be NSF postdocs offered (the current deadline is the 16th), given that the NSF website is currently down due to the government shutdown in the US?

Also, in case it is still open, if anyone has the PDFs that could previously be found at

http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5301

regarding the information, application process, and forms to be submitted, perhaps they could mirror a copy on a website, and post the link here?

Documents are posted here.  Extra text so I can actually post this.

I should note that some of the documents are specific to the Mathematical Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, but some of them are general-purpose (I came to this question from MathOverflow).


aggressive co-worker and bullying at the lab I've recently started doing postdoc in an European country.

Since the first day, I am having problems with working in the lab environment. The research group is too individualistic (there is no shared protocols, project and any kind of support) and some people are behaving in quite toxic ways.  One of the lab members doesn't even look or talk to us (me and another student) since we arrived here. He ignores and turns away whenever he sees us, as if we are not worth it.

The main problem is the postdoc though. He is too assertive, aggressive and sort of being a bully in lab meetings, trying to get involved in every project and confront you without significant reasons. He even interrupts when he thinks it is boring and not delivered very well or wants you to prove (show RAW data) when he doesn't think it is enough. The PI does nothing and she is so dependent on him, lets him to be a co-PI or the kind of bad boss.

So, basically, I don't know what to do. I know that I can't stay it more and be productive here, but I am in a small country, where all the academic world knows each other.

Do you have any suggestions about finding another position or doing applications at the same university? If you could give some ideas, I'd be very grateful. I totally feel paralyzed.

It is unlikely you can fight this culture, and academic settings have practically no good ways to address bullying of this nature. If you find what seems to be one, look for evidence that it has worked for past students. Recently.

Alternately, make the bully your friend. This is not advisable.  Alternately, work with people the bully cannot impact, which is a version of leaving. This may be unavailable, depending on your situation.

Calling out this bully may help, but if it does not it will make you a target.  Again, it is highly unlikely your institution has any kind of meaningful recourse available.

Your best strategy? Leave. Keep your head down, and start planning your exit now. After you have an exit, cite the bully as the reason to both your PI and HR; it may help others.


Secure backups of PhD and journal-research Common sense dictates that any and all work/research/drafts/etc that we do in our journal-research and PhD ought to be backed up and backed up again.  Most of the time, this is constrained to laptop/desktop, USB memory and perhaps a copy in your own email - one disaster could wipe all that out (almost happened to my MSc research - got caught up in a severe natural disaster).

My question is, is there a more secure and 'safe' means to save/backup our PhD and/or journal-research work? Do universities offer such services, or is it up to individual researchers to find their own solutions?

I should note that I have no illusions of any system being completely 100% safe and secure, but are looking at ways that are more secure than the 'traditional' methods listed before in the first paragraph (2nd sentence) of this question.

Backups, short-term and long-term storage of research material is actually something we have to address whenever we apply for a IRB for a research study or an IRB exemption. We have to spell everything out in great detail including when we are going to destroy or get rid of the acquired research materials (since they usually contain personal identifiers like name, address, email etc.)

This is our approach:

We have our own encrypted lab server on a RAID configuration. Access to the server is restricted to myself and my adviser.
We store generalized, public versions of our scripts on github. The previous answer has very good specifics on github so I will not go into the details here.
Periodically, we backup our lab server to another externally hosted server (not physically located in the US). This backup script is encrypted and password protected.
Physical interview questionnaires, survey instruments, interview transcripts are stored in a locked file cabinet with access to my adviser and myself in our lab. Entry to our lab is through keycard only.
Interview recordings, videos and audios are also stored and backed-up according to the procedures in 1 and [3].

This approach seems to have worked so far.


How to proceed when a required math class is preventing me from graduation? I started working on an AS degree in 2014. I took the required math class and failed it twice. I then passed all my other classes, but was told I would have to take the math AGAIN.

So the entire summer I studied, but I was told I could not take only one class for financial aid reasons. I was given a waiver to take the class alone, but after registering, I was then told I needed to re-apply as a new student. I debated this with many of the folks in financial aid and tried to explain I had a waiver to take the class. I had no choice so I reapplied.

I was then told my degree audit went from 95 percent done to 80 percent and that I had to retake classes I have already taken and passed. Fast forward, the school ignores me now. And now they have applied the Satisfactory Academia Progress (SAP) Rule to my account.

I’ve already talked to the entire financial aid department, every mathematics professor at the college, and the ones who run the entire school. I absolutely don’t know what to do anymore.

That is what I wanna know. If I could take the credits I do have and transfer them to complete my degree.

Most schools have an in residence requirement: you have to take a certain number of credits at that school to get a degree there. This prevents people from earning a degree at one school and then transferring the credits to hundreds of other schools to get hundreds of degrees.

To choose one example at random, Santa Barbara City College requires 15 credits in residence.

This means two things for you:

Transferring your credits to another school for an AS degree probably won't work; you'd have to do several classes there to meet their "in residence requirement." (Though as Patricia points out, you could possibly skip the AS altogether and transfer your credits directly to a BS program.)
This may explain why your degree audit changed after you were "readmitted" at your current school. Being re-admitted reset the clock on your in-residence requirement.

Assuming your goal is to get the AS, your situation could be one of two things.

Scenario #1 is that the rules were incorrectly applied to you. For example (and this is my guess) the advice to re-enroll as a new student was just bad advice. And now that you have done so, your situation is so complicated that the "front line" people don't know what to do (and don't care to find out). So, they're just hoping that you give up and go away.

If this is the case, the solution is to bypass the front-line people and go to someone higher up who has the knowledge and authority to fix this for you. This may be a dean. At some schools, it's hard for AS students to get a meeting with a dean. In the worst case, you could have to hire a lawyer to force them to pay attention to you.

Scenario #2 is that the rules were correctly applied. For example, some schools require you to graduate within 5 years. If your school has a time limit and you went over, then the policies were applied correctly and you don't have a leg to stand on. In this case, you would have to repeat the classes.

Of course, it's impossible for me to say which scenario you are in, not knowing your school's policies or your full situation. But it's something you should be able to find out by going through your school's policies carefully.


Is there a particular structure that a research lab should have? I want to know if a research lab at a university should normally include specific roles in order to be considered a lab ?
I explain, for a newly joining Ph.D. student, i expect the lab to include a post-doc and at least other Ph.Ds, is it reasonable expectations ?
Thanks for clarifying this.

No, there are no standards for what is considered a "lab."
I know of labs with many postdocs, lots of staff, and few students. I know of other labs that are more focused on undergrads, with a few grad students and no postdocs.
Of course, you can take the lab composition into account when deciding whether it is a good fit, but there is no criterion to point to and say "ah, this is a poorly structured lab."


How can I express my dismissal from public service in my academic resume? I'm planning to apply to a number of university (public policy) programs in US and I do not know how to express my dismissal from public service following the political turmoil in Turkey. I was dismissed with a decree law, no charges, without being questioned like tens of thousands. How can I state this situation?
Also, how can I include the gap resulted after dismissal?

I think that under the circumstances you can just tell it truthfully and completely. The recent political turmoil in Turkey was widely reported here, and I think most people would both understand and sympathize with it.

You might also point to the fact that you weren't alone and that the dismissals had nothing to do with the competence of those dismissed. There are plenty of news stories that could be noted.

We aren't perfect here, but so far, our political institutions are holding up.


Are there any benefits from publishing research on subjects different than one's degree/profession? Are there any benefits from publishing research on subjects different than one's degree/profession, like being in the healthcare field but publishing about biology or psychology?

Thank you

I have done this, and as I found, there's a few benefits:

You may be able to introduce a new concept to a field, and see that idea grow.
It shows a level of flexibility and the power to change. For example, "your field" might not be static. I've given talks in conferences that I never would have thought were my field, and I currently have a job in something that's not "my field" - and some of that is due to multidisciplinary papers.


When should private tutors communicate with course professors? Students often seek help from a variety of sources, including private tutors, who can be found either locally or remotely on websites such as Wyzant, Chegg, Tutor.com, Varsity Tutors, etc.
As a relative newcomer to the world of online tutoring I am gradually coming to realize that protection of academic integrity, while somewhat fundamental to the entire enterprise, is somewhat of a challenge; this is especially true when tutoring remotely.  Academic integrity is a potentially sensitive subject, in the sense that it is easy to impose an unintended policy (or one with unintended side effects) on others by accident, either actively or passively.
I am wondering if it is appropriate for tutors to be in communication with their students' teachers in order to ensure that their lessons are not somehow incompatible with school or class academic honesty policies or integrity frameworks.  On the one hand, teachers and Professors could benefit from knowing if a large number of their students are seeking outside help to understand lessons, and from having transcripts of one-on-one tutoring sessions as well.  On the other, there is a small possibility that, for any number of what would amount to legitimate reasons, they (individual teachers and/or Professors) might regret this knowledge, and that the set of appropriate stewards of tutoring sessions (or the "relevant data" thereof) does not include them, but rather consists of a comparably* sparse network of educators and administrators that is nonetheless robust.  Would it be generally acceptable to leave this decision in the hands of the student?  Or is there a more appropriate (more graceful or less awkward) way to maintain academic integrity for tutoring sessions?
*That is, with respect to a "radically open" network that includes everyone who might have any interest whatsoever, including the course professor.

Academic integrity is the responsibility of the student.  Everyone has a responsibility to decline to knowingly assist cheating.  Only the instructor and university have a responsibility to actively discourage cheating.
So no, you do not need to contact professors unless your employer requires it.