Ethics and etiquette, and permissions of posting student work to my online "teaching portfolio" I want to create an online teaching portfolio on my website, and I want to post examples of student work on my blog and teaching portfolio.

What are the ethics and etiquette of posting student work online?  What are the steps I should take in doing so?

I know it is standard to take out any names, but do I need to ask the student for permission if I post their assignment without their name?

I want to post student work not only for my portfolio, but also as examples for my future students for the kind of work I am expecting.

If it matters, I am in mathematics, and teach at the undergraduate level.

Do I need to ask the student for permission if I post their assignment without their name?

Yes, you do.

As a matter of etiquette, certainly. How do you think your students would feel if after leaving your class, they came across your website and saw that you had posted their work without asking them?

As a matter of ethics, you should not use student's work for personal gain, unless that use also serves a legitimate educational interest. I recommend that if you do this (with the students' permission), you should wait until after the course is over and the grades have been submitted, to reduce the power imbalance and so that a student will feel comfortable saying "No" to your request.

As a legal matter, possibly. At many institutions, students retain the copyright to their coursework. If the work is sufficiently creative to be copyrightable, then you are not legally allowed to post it online without the author's permission.

As a matter of policy, possibly. Your institution may have a policy forbidding this.

But even if the work is not copyrightable and your institution has no policy forbidding this, you should still ask the students for permission as a matter of common courtesy.


Mention two-body-problem in PhD applications? If so, where? My significant other and I finish our master degrees at the same time and thus we are applying for PhD programmes at the same time. One major factor of accepting a potential offer would be if we could study at the same university, so I feel that mentioning a two-body problem would be advantageous for both, us and the admission committee. But where do I mention this? Is a line in the statement of purpose suitable here?

  If you admit me, please also consider admitting my significant other Jane Roe.

Some additional information: We both do research in computer science. While I do research in natural language processing my partner does research in computer vision.

I would not do this. For faculty applications there is an argument to be made that alerting the search committee about the two-body problem gives them time to come up with solutions. A faculty candidate is a large enough investment on the part of a department/university that spousal hires/accommodations are a reasonable thing. I have never seen a PhD student, however, who is so good that the admissions committee would give the idea of offering a place to the trailing spouse a second of consideration. They might, however, decide you are not worth the effort if they know a partner is involved.


How to neutralize an Ivy League obsession? Not disregarding that the Ivies are fine colleges in many aspects, how to deal with high-school students fixated on the idea that they need an Ivy league education, or otherwise their education would be second class. Or to deal with equally fixated people who think that academics in the Ivy league is the only golden rule (and the others are second class). Talking about this makes me sound a tad envious, but I like to make people see that many other colleges are fine too (although maybe not that famous).

It's not hard to find Ivy League alumni who will readily admit - even adamantly defend - the statement that there are other colleges in the US which are just as good academically, and that you do not have to go to an Ivy League school to get a first-class education. Of course this is purely anecdotal, not any sort of logical argument, but then again people who feel like the Ivy League is the only way to get a top-quality education in the US are also not drawing their conclusions from logic, so perhaps an emotional appeal is just what they need.

If you're talking to someone who might be open to an evidence-based approach, try asking them to name what they consider to be the top universities in the US. Or better yet, look up a few college rankings and find out which names consistently appear near the top. For example, the US News and World Report rankings for universities are headed by

  Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, University of Chicago, Duke, MIT, University of Pennsylvania, Caltech, Dartmouth

and for liberal arts colleges, by

  Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Bowdoin, Middlebury, Pomona, Carleton, Wellesley, Claremont McKenna, Davidson, Haverford

Forbes' top 10 are

  Stanford, Pomona, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, Swarthmore, West Point, Harvard, Williams, MIT

Beyond those I'm not sure of other ranking systems' reputation, but the Parchment rankings give as their top 10

  Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Duke, Yale, Caltech, Pomona, Harvey Mudd, Brown

and the Academic Ranking of World Universities gives

  Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley, MIT, Caltech, Princeton, Columbia, U Chicago, Yale, UCLA

and so on (you get the picture). Anyway, whether this person you're talking to comes up with their own idea of the top colleges or uses one or more of these lists, it's rather unlikely that their list will match the list of Ivy League universities: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale. Clearly, while a university's membership in the Ivy League is somewhat correlated with having a high ranking, it is not the only way to get one.

You could also mention that the Ivy League is actually just an athletic conference, like the Big 10. The member schools generally happen to be academically high-achieving, but membership in the Ivy League is in no way meant to be a certification of strong academics.


Final Exam: Proficiency Needed for Guaranteed Pass Is it common to guarantee students a passing course grade if they demonstrate proficiency in some subset of topics/skills on a final exam?

Note that this is in contrast to setting an upper bound on a final exam score that would guarantee a failing grade for a student, as in this question.

If this is a process you have experience with, it would be helpful to hear about the following:

Is it common for students to disregard all other assignments, choosing to gamble the whole course on just the final exam?
What and when do you let students know about this required set of skills?
How were these qualifying skills chosen, and who wrote the final exam?
What set of conditions is required to earn a "B" or an "A" in the course?
How did students do in the following course?
What other issues (good or bad) come with this model?

And, of course, do you know of research on such a grading scheme?

In particular, I am imagining an undergraduate mathematics course in the United States, where a cumulative final exam is given at the end of a semester, typically figuring heavily into the overall course grade. Exams may be written by individual instructors for their courses, or created by committee and given to all sections of the same course. Here, "passing" refers to the minimum course grade required to enroll in the subsequent course (e.g. from Algebra 1 to Algebra 2).

In my undergraduate university, we had a similar system in the mathematics department, only instead of one final exam, we had our test grades calculated based on our top X - 1 tests, where X is the number of tests.

For example, if you had four exams, only the three highest scores were counted and the lowest score was dropped. 3 100s and a 0? You get an A. 0 on the first test, and 90s on the rest? Still an A.

In my case, I had gotten three solid As in calc. On the last day of classes before finals week, the professor checked my test grades, marked a zero for my final exam, and congratulated me on my A.
He had no expectation that I would take the test because I had demonstrated proficiency three times already and he would probably not have found anything different about how well I knew calculus.

I'm sure some people will argue whether or not only actually demonstrating knowledge 75% of the course material is representative of 100% proficiency, but people have to put in at effort to reap the reward of no final. People who are driven to do well will do so regardless of any shortcuts you provide them.

The system you've described where your grade is only determined based on your performance on the final sounds like an even better deal, but I do not believe would be as effective as an X - 1 drop system, and would even harm student performance.

Students do not get accurate gauging of their own performance through their semester.
Students do not participate in class (you could end up teaching an empty room if nothing matters).
Students can potentially fail before realizing they have a problem.
If you're doing a half-semester Withdrawal setup, there's no grade reflection at the half-way point for them to consider dropping.

The only people such a system would benefit are those that have basically mastered the subject and need to retake it for some reason. Otherwise, I wholly think that it's better to have the student work their way through a course, rather than allow them to treat the final of the course as the only performance checkpoint.


Choosing Writing Samples for Ph.D application The following is the description for the required writing samples:

"You must submit at least three papers that best represent your ability to conduct research and write effectively about your area of specialization. We encourage you to submit published work."

I view "three papers" as three different articles (rather than three publications such as conference papers) and, say, could make choices from the below options:

a. A conference paper on which I am the first author (4 authors in total)

b. A conference paper on which I am the second author (3 authors in total)

c. My Master's thesis which is extended from a. (pretty much the same with a. in the abstract section)

d. Final project report in the class taken during my Master.

What I am wondering is that if I can just combine all four without modification in a single pdf file (about 60 pages total), or I am supposed to extract the main idea in the articles and make it as short as possible.

Another thing is that since c. is just the extension of a., so their abstract sections are pretty much the same. Is it redundant to include both of them?

I'd suggest not to submit a whole thesis. Imagine the frantic look the admission committee members would have when they found out they just printed hundreds of pages.

Ultimately, they care if you can publish. So, definitely keep a and b, and focus on them heavily. For c, I'd suggest do a bit of curating and pick the most interesting chapter that does not overlap with a and b in contents. If none, then I'd suggest the literature review chapter. It's a good section to show your understanding of the field and your skill of information synthesis.

As for d, they only ask for three; course work (in my opinion) is not worth breaking the quota for. I'd, however, consider submitting if i) it features an extremely innovative idea which may become one of your study objectives, or ii) it acts as the foundation of your then Master's work and publication. It would show that you have the ability to carry and idea forward to fruition, and that's always a plus.

Good luck with the application!


Should phd candidates spend time on extra-curricular? Suppose an engineering PhD candidate in the USA is trying to pursue an academic profession (e.g. Assistant Professorship in a Research Institute), is it even worth-while to commit to extra-curricular activities like student leadership during PhD candidacy?

More specifically, are soft skills like leadership evaluated in isolation from your research portfolio during faculty recruitment? I understand that such skills will help with interacting with current faculties who are recruiting you, but could this kind of credentials ever elevate a research faculty candidate?

Whether or not you get a tenure-track job is going to be driven by your research credentials, and not by extra-curricular activities. However...

Interviews and job applications often ask about your service contributions; how you would go about managing people, budgets, and competing demands; etc. Extra-curricular activities such as student leadership may give you some concrete examples to draw on in addressing such questions. This is likely to result in a more compelling answer, which may help your overall application.
Your circumstances or preferences may evolve over the next few years, and you may not be able to find the right academic position when you graduate from your PhD. Participation in extra-curricular activities may help your CV when applying for non-academic jobs.
Networking is always helpful. You never know where you'll meet someone interesting or useful, even if it's just a fellow PhD student from a different department whose research connects to your own.
Variety is important. In my experience, it's good to have a reason to step away from your research regularly and think about something completely different. Often inspiration for difficult problems strikes when you're not actively thinking about them.


Improving conditions of a tenure-track job offer I have recently been offered a tenure-track position in a very prestigious northern European university. I am currently a lecturer in a smaller UK university but I have six years of experience between my post-docs and appointment as a lecturer.

The level of appointment would be as a an Assistant Professor. Here, I am a "tenured" Senior Lecturer (which should be a bit higher), however being a non-intensive research university, there were an easier set of requirements. I feel more like a glorified post-doc with more teaching responsibilities than a full lecturer (but don't tell them that!). Indeed the level of research support is non-comparable. In the two years I have been here I have not had the possibility of supervising PhD students as there are no resources, beyond a few temporary post-docs I have been able to fund. Which is my main motivation for leaving (and Brexit).

Still, I feel the experience I have accrued should be recognised a bit more. Since the assistant professorship is also something they could be offering to a very good newly minted PhD or an early post-doc.

They say that "almost-always" a five-year tenure-track position results in a promotion to a tenured Associate Position. However my negotiating experience is really low, and coming from a Southern European background, all wages seem astronomical compared to what I was earning as a PhD back home.

My question is: how should I argue my case? Should I be asking for an earlier tenure time? It could be also counter-productive, for example if all my grant applications are rejected. If you have been in a similar situation, what did you ask for?

Your question, "how should I argue my case?" is unanswerable without a statement of what your "case" is. With any job offer, you state what you want, and the other party agrees or disagrees. A vague feeling that you should be "recognised a bit more" doesn't matter. What is it that would make you more likely to take the position, or make it more likely that, given the position, you'd be successful at it? Also: Congratulations!


Can one really 'lose' old bad grades and get a fresh start? 15 years ago I was young and dumb, now I'm not as young. No way around it, I did poor in college. My grades were abysmal and were part of a period of my life that has long since passed. I'm now at a point in my life where I'd love to go back to school and earn the degree I never did, but I've got my past mistakes looming over me.

Even if I start in a community college and get a perfect 4.0 for everything I'm enrolled in, my previous transcript will bring down my average. Completing a bachelor's is going to be far more of an uphill battle than it would be even just for an adult going to college while juggling a full time career and family. Is there any process to either ignore college work after a certain number of years have passed or a method to have them expunged?

That's not necessarily the impediment you may think.  The institution where I taught would not accept nor transfer credit over ten years old.  Pick one or two colleges you might attend, visit their admissions offices, and ask.  There's a good chance you can start fresh.

There are two things to keep in mind.  Your transcript from your old institution will still be there, and you will be asked for it when you apply for any degree program.  It may lessen your chances of admission, but probably not because fifteen years is a long time.

The other is that you should be honest about your education history on your resume.  Once again, fifteen years is a long time.  Do well now and no employer will even consider that ancient history.

Go for it!


How do I cite CVPR workshop conference "short" paper? CVPR doesn't add workshop "short papers" into the proceedings, but they have uploaded all of it onto a github.io repo.
How do I cite this when it's not in proceedings?

Clearly.
The main purpose of a bibliography entry is to properly identify the work, with enough information that (at least in principle) your readers can find the work and read it for themselves.  If the github.io repository doesn't suggest a citation format, make up something reasonable that serves that purpose.  The precise formatting doesn't matter (or if it does, the editor will fix it for you).  For example:

[10] J. Smith and R. Tyler.  BADWOLF: A temporally agnostic relational
database information system.  Presented at the 13th Gallifreyan
Workshop on Untempered Schismatics, Arcadia, December 2020.
https://torchwood.github.io/badworf.pdf


How can physicists help in theoretical biology, besides math and fresh perspectives? By googling this keyword: "theoretical biology" and physics, I get many interesting pages, such as:

Physics meets biology: Bridging the culture gap
Biology is more theoretical than physics
Why physicists like models, and why biologists should
Biology is the new physics (note that this article's title is somewhat misleading in my opinion)

All pages I found mostly (or only, if I remember correctly) focus on the advantages of the physicists are their math background and being a neophyte so sometimes able to bring fresh perspectives to a problem. But that means a mathematician is also adequate to this.

My undergraduate dissertation is about biophysics, so I actually know that there are things that a physicist can help in biology. But mostly I see them in molecular biology. What else can physicists actually help with given their background?

One important contribution of physics to many areas is that physics is the origin of much of our understanding of complex systems phenomena, including emergence, chaotic systems, network effects, and phase transitions. Many areas of biology are still trapped in a hyper-reductionist framework (e.g., is FOXP2 the gene for speech) rather than realizing that such questions are poorly framed. Many biologists are embracing systems thinking, but the tools of physics are still not very widely dispersed overall, and collaboration that brings together such expertise with biological expertise (non-biologists are often frightfully naive about many realities of biology) can be of great value.

There are many other possibilities too, but this is a very important category that I think may be a good start...


Printing a collection of articles in a 'proceedings' for a maths conference I am organising a one day meeting on a maths topic. I would like to print a proceedings consisting  of papers recommended by each of the (seven) speakers to try and keep a review of the topics discussed. No profit will be made, all copies will be provided free.

Is this possible? Is this unprofessional? What copyright laws would I encounter from journals (where a paper may have already appeared)? Can I collect papers without calling it a publication?

This article may assit you. However I believe that as long as you have permissions from the authors/journals there should not be a problem. Also I take it you have sourced these papers legally etc?


Undergraduate not doing homework (case method) I've recently started teaching undergraduate students using the case method (management subjects). However, I'm finding that most of the students simply don't do the reading at home. Even though I (so far) have used only short cases (just a few pages), they still just don't do the work.

For those unfamiliar with the case method, if the students do not do the reading before coming to class, there is little to discuss in class. In the end, I feel like the class time is wasted.

Because of the design of the course, I actually don't have the flexibility to have this affect their grade other than to simply fail them. I cannot, for example, reduce their grade by 10%.

If anyone uses the case method with undergraduate students, I'd love to know how you get students to actually do the reading / thinking work required before they get to class.

I have some experience with lab practice in physics and chemistry, where we routinely ask students to read up on the work planned and do some preliminary calculations before they can come to the lab, in order to maximize their use of actual lab equipment. It's sometimes hard to motivate students for things that should be done in advance, but there are ways you can improve their involvement:

Make sure that the amount of material is compatible with the time they have to study it, and the demands on their time by other courses. If you're going to require something of them, it should be within reasonable limits. Also, make sure you convey that point to them: I have, on a few occasions, had to reschedule things to give them more time, because the material was very heavy and taking more of their time than I had assumed, or because they just had many other things to do (e.g., a full week of exams).
Be crystal clear that reading the material before classroom is actually one of the requirements of the class, and that it is entirely necessary to actually pass the class.
If you want further motivation, introduce some sort of evaluation of their reading at the beginning of the lecture: get two or three students to come up, and argue the case (or whatever it is you do in those lectures) before the others. Then, give them a frank assessment of how they fared, including “you failed miserably because you didn't do your homework”. Even if that evaluation doesn't count for the final passing/failing grade, it will motivate them and might introduce some friendly competition.
If some of them still don't do a thing, fail them. After all, you had told them (and more than once) that reading the material is a requirement for passing.


Tool that suggests references based on a given bibliography I'd like to have a tool (software or website) that helps me in doing literature surveys. Here's how I pictured that tool in my mind.
Let's suppose that I've found myself a few relevant papers. As soon as I feed such references to the tool, it starts suggesting me other papers I might be interested to. Suggested references could be paper that are cited by several papers that are already in my bibliography, or papers which cite several entries I provided. If I find something interesting, I could "swipe right" (if you get my Tinder analogy) and that paper is added to my bibliography. The more paper I have in the bibliography, the more fitting the suggestions of the tool become. Of course such a tool should rely on an existing database (Scopus, google scholar, etc.)
Do you know anything like that?

Ok, in Science Direct, I see 'other papers that might interest you'.

Also if you're reading a really good paper look for the papers they cite and the other papers that have cited that paper.

I find this is incredibly useful when doing a literature survey.

Best of luck with it!


Are there any Universities that accept PhD students based on Research Proposals? I am firm on the problem I want to work (with publications and arcticles to support, for which I have already done significant work)) and I'd like to know if there are any PhD programmes that accept students primarily based on research proposals? Especially in the fields of mathematics or machine learning theory. A google search couldn't give much results. I am interested to know any in the US and Europe.

Most of the universities in US do not seem to be interested in research proposals and they don't ask for it.

If you are asking whether some university will accept you solely based on a research proposal, then I think the answer would be no. You might be able to find an exception of some university-proposal combination that would make it work, but that isn't how it works. Universities accept students into doctoral programs based on the evaluation of a set of criteria that suggest that the student has both the appropriate background and the likelihood of success in the program and thereafter.

Having a proposal is probably a plus, but, in the US, at least, it isn't required, as you note. It isn't likely even evaluated.

However, assuming that you have an appropriate background, then you might be able to find a professor somewhere, certainly in the EU and possibly in the US, who is willing to work with you to advance your entrance into a program. In some places, the professor is even an essential link. But the proposal alone isn't going to be sufficient. You will need to convince people, at a minimum, that you can succeed with that proposal and the result is likely to be sufficiently significant.

However, I think that being too committed to a particular proposal is likely to work against you, rather than in your favor. You need to find an advisor who is either hugely interested in that topic or willing to spend time advising and evaluating something that has less importance to them. Both of those reduce your chances. The latter is, perhaps, more likely than the former. Some professors are happy to have students who need little shepherding and who are self directed enough to get the job done. But I doubt that the majority of people work like that.

So, the bottom line is that you have a chance, but you probably need to be a bit more flexible and you need to attend to the qualities in your background that suggest success.


Is copying lab results a form of plagiarism? A quick question, which I'm asking out of curiosity rather than an actual problem.

Plagarism and how to detect/combat/punish it seems to be a common topic on this SE. When I was an undergraduate, 20 years ago, I don't remember ever plagerising a book or other student, or any of my classmates doing the same (at least not that I knew of).

However, I did a practical science in which we had 1 or 2 full-day lab workshops every week. It was very common for most of the students in these labs not to get the "expected" result, due largely to inexperience and poor technique. It was equally common for all the students to then copy, and subtly modifiy, the results of the few students who did get it to work. They would then independently use this in writing up the assignments by themselves.

Would this be considered a form of plagerism in a modern academic environment? If so, what should science students with poor practical results do to write up their assignments?

EDIT: after comments, I feel compelled to make clear these were undergraduate labs with previously verified results. We were not undermiming scientific process here.

Plagiarism is typically defined in terms of taking the work of another person and passing it off as your own (see, e.g., the Wikipedia page).  It does not matter whether the material that you steal is words, data, pictures, etc.

Thus, I would classify the practice of copying lab results that you describe as plagiarism.  It could also be categorized as other types of academic dishonesty as well, such as falsification of experimental results.


My results are different from my original poster title now. How I should prepare the poster? I am a graduate student in an interdisciplinary psychological field. With the help of a paper I have read today, I have realized that a result of mine is now invalid: I missed a covariate in my analysis and when I include it, my result is non-significant. Fortunately it was not that much about the main point of my conclusion, but the non-significant term happens to be in my abstract title (and my abstract is printed on the abstract book of the conference now!).

I told this to my advisor and he said: “you cannot control every single thing, it is not that important”. But I have controlled it and it did affect my results, and I actually had that particular covariate in my analysis while I was writing the abstract and my advisor told me to exclude it.

I do not know what to do now. I cannot pretend like the result is still there; that conference is very important in my field and I do not want to regret it later. I do not think that it is ethical. I cannot pretend like I did not know that particular covariate is actually important for my analysis, because I have read the paper! I do not know what to do if someone asks me: “why you did not include this covariate?” I do not know whether it is okay to change the title and exclude some results from the poster, even when the abstract (in the abstract book) says another thing.

What should I do? I am very confused and hopeless.

Of course you shouldn't pretend that the result is still significant, when you know now that it isn't. As you have noted, that would certainly be unethical.

Prepare your poster using the results that you believe are correct now. If anyone asks about the difference between the poster and the abstract, just explain what happened. (You aren't the first to make a mistake and catch it later, nor will you be the last.)  You can also email the conference organizers to find out if they can update the poster title and abstract (online at least).

Occasional mistakes are common in science, as in everything else; don't stress about it too much, just learn from it for the future. It's great that you caught it now, before your poster presentation, so that you can correct it.


Being in "Reviewer invited" state for 3 months, What could it say? For a math journal, after 4 weeks of submission, the status went from "with editor" to "reviewer invited", and its been in that particular state for the past 3 months. If you have any editorial experience, I'd like to know when would this kind of state happens, and does it say anything about the manuscript content, especially why the editor is finding hard to get the reviewers accept invitation, or is it that the reviewers for the subject matter of the paper, are rare to find?

Edit : more informtion

I have enquired. The Editorial Manager assured me that the Editor is carefully following and taking good care of the review process. What I have seen in earlier communication with Editor, I have no reason to doubt his interest in the manuscript. He seemed very much interested.

Earlier communication with Editor in Chief

It means the editor(s) invited reviewers who have not accepted the invitation. If this status has remained the same for 3 months, it's not a good sign. Completing the review can take time, but agreeing to review should be much faster.

My guess is that the editor is either very busy or not very active. He/she invited reviewers and left the manuscript alone. Now would be a good time to nudge the editor and hint that they should be inviting new reviewers, since the currently-invited ones are not likely to agree to review.


Is it a good idea to provide course detail in teaching statement? I am applying for Assistant Professor position at a technical university which requires teaching and research statements as a part of application.
In my teaching statement, I have suggested two courses which I would like to offer in due course of time. I have significant clarity over the content of the courses. The courses would be general purpose (advanced level) but would  be in accordance with my future research plans. The idea for these courses have emerged from my research experience and based on my learning during PhD.
I am wondering if it is a good idea to give the course content in the teaching statement.
PS: I have also mentioned a few courses in my statement which are currently offered by the University and lies in my expertise. These two courses I am talking about are my proposed ones.

Probably a matter of opinion, but I would suggest focusing on more general things overall, though you could say that you have well developed ideas for a course in X and in Y. But I think that the teaching statement needs to focus on your teaching philosophy and expertise, rather than details.
I say this because what you suggest seems to make you too narrowly focused. The chances are that you will need to teach other courses, including elementary courses as part of your job.
If you mention the courses and are prepared to talk more deeply when asked, I think it would be better than to give the detail at the expense of other things.
The exception would be if the position itself is focused on the areas of those courses. But still, don't neglect the general/philosophical  part of the statement.


I received an ESR Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship from low-rank university, should I accept it if I don't want to go into academia? I just got an offer to become an MSC ESR fellow in a low-rank university (100-150 QS world), which leads to a PhD. The uni is ranked within the top 30 in my field and my potential supervisor is widely known as well (~30,000 citations).
I became discouraged after reading several complaints about PhDs at this university: no one knows the university, ranking is inflated, non-international environment, etc. My goal is to switch towards international industries after finishing the PhD (not in my home country), but I fear I won't find a job after reading all these comments.
Furthermore, my master's supervisors went to high-ranked universities (within the top 20). They tell me the uni is not that good, but the supervisor is well-known... and that's it. They also tell me I have the potential to go for a top 20 uni as well.
This is the third position I've applied to, and I really don't think I've put much effort into the PhD search yet.
What motivates me are the research poject, the fellowship, the partners within the ITN (involving other very high-rank universities), and my potential supervisor. I believe I could use all these opportunities to create a great network. Maybe, do a postdoc in a high-ranked uni afterward. However, I think this is the hard way.
Do you think I am being unreasonable? Should I reject the offer and continue searching? Have you been in a similar situation?
Thank you!

you say it very well:
"What motivates me are the research project, the fellowship, the partners within the ITN (involving other very high-rank universities), and my potential supervisor. I believe I could use all these opportunities to create a great network. Maybe, do a postdoc in a high-ranked uni afterward."
This is really what counts, more than the university ranking.
What counts is that you are passionate about your research project and you get the opportunity to meet and collaborate with great people in your field (your potential supervisor appears to be one of them).
In my view, you should take the offer.
All the best!


Why don't papers cite results within their references more specifically? For example,

An explicit formula for ___ has been derived in [1].
[1]: Alice and Bob, Journal of Academia StackExchange, Vol 1 Iss 1, 2016

Problem is, the paper cited could very well include lots and lots of formulas. The desired formula might just be one of many results presented, and it might not be the central one.
Why don't authors write the reference as Alice and Bob, ... 2016, Equation 12? Even just giving the section name helps identify the relevant part of the reference, and it'd be a great time saver. However, I don't think I've ever seen anyone try this in formal publications. Why?

In the introduction section of a paper, such specificity might be considered out of place, since the goal is to provide an overview of what has been done without getting too bogged down in particular details.

In the methodology or main section of a paper (depending on the field), such references might be more appropriate, and I have seen papers that specify individual equations, tables, or figures. There's no reason they couldn't do so; I don't believe that there is any stylistic justification that would preclude it.


How to politely enquire how serious someone is when they say "work for me as a postdoc" I am a PhD student that is about to graduate. Sometimes professors whom I know personally (and/or have collaborated with before) will say "Come work in my lab as a postdoc!".

However, when I approach them after a few days/weeks/months, they inform me they would like to hire me, but do not have any funding.

Personally I would rather they not have not said "Come work in my lab as a postdoc" if they weren't sure they would have the funding, but I understand their reasons for saying such things.

However, in future, how can I politely enquire how serious they are about how interested (and able) they are in hiring me?

I would follow up the verbal conversation with an email.  For example

  Thanks for the encouraging words the other day about a possible postdoc.  I wanted to check, were you talking about a funded position?  Where would I find instructions for submitting an application?

Depending on the vibes you got, you might want to start with something less formal, for example

  Thanks for the encouraging words the other day about a possible postdoc. I was wondering whether the position might be available for the upcoming semester.


Is publishing paper containing information acquired from sites such as Sci-Hub illegal? There are already some discussions on whether it's illegal to use Sci-Hub for research purposes, such as in this Academia SE thread.
But one answer and comments there open up another question: Is it illegal to publish a paper containing information or data acquired from such sites such as Sci-Hub and library genesis (if downloading papers from where is deemed illegal)? One argument for this is one should not use information acquired via illegal means. Then in strict sense we cannot even cite a paper downloaded there. I cannot come up with a counterargument to that now though.

I think you need to consult a lawyer for this, but it isn't the publishing that is illegal, per se. How you acquired certain information might have legal implications, and how you quote and cite might have ethical implications, of course. But both of those are independent of publishing.
Republishing copyright material is illegal in a lot of places, but I don't think that is exactly what you mean. Such republishing is illegal even if you obtain the original properly.
Answering such questions here is, however, a down vote magnet for some reason, so I hesitate to say more.
I will note, however, that copyright violation is almost entirely a civil matter. If you infringe someones copyright it is up to them to try to defend their rights via a lawsuit. And, then, they have to notice it, of course. There are some exceptions to this general rule, of course, and Disney would like to have anyone abusing their "Mickey Mouse" copyright thrown in jail until the copyright expires and which they also work to extend to infinity. Good luck with that.


Should non-tenured/non-tenure-track faculty be permitted to vote on tenure-track hires? My department has several non-tenured/non-tenure-track faculty in teaching-only positions.  My department is also hiring at the tenure-track level this year and these non-tenured faculty are taking an active role in the search, even voting with the tenured and tenure-track faculty on who should be hired.  Is this appropriate?  Is there a precedent?

While on the job market this last year, I talked with top departments that gave all their full time non-visiting members of the faculty a vote in tenure-track faculty hires. So there is definitely precedent.

Personally, I'm not thrilled by the shift at many universities to having a larger proportion of the active faculty be non-TT. But when this means that the responsibilities of non-TT jobs are similar, it is only reasonable that the rights should be similar too.

Benefits of doing so include all things that come from a work environment that is perceived as more democratic and where all faculty get a vote in determining the future directions of the department. The drawbacks are much less clear to me.


What is "fair game" for a Master's thesis in Economics? I am a currently in an MSc program in economics, and I'll be writing my master's thesis in about a year. I have a variety of interests, including game theory, statistics, and trading strategies. I'm also on the fence about applying to PhD programs in economics and finance. My question is as follows:

Given that economics is a broadly defined field that, in a certain sense, encompasses finance, how appropriate would it be to write a thesis on, say, the effectiveness of a particular type of trading strategy, or more broadly, on the use of certain statistical methods in finance? Would the department react negatively to my choosing something that is maybe more closely related to statistics or finance than it is to economics? Or would they welcome proposals that are somewhat multi-departmental?

Maybe I'm looking at this in the wrong light, but I don't know much about master's thesis expectations.

How your department looks on any given topic is up to them and no one here can tell you what that would be without knowing (a lot) more. In the US and many other places you need an advisor to bounce such questions off of. If you don't have one yet, find someone who is amenable to your ideas or has ideas of her/his own that you would want to explore.

Ultimately, your advisor must sign off on your work. Both at the beginning stage when you make the proposal and at the end when you submit results. Others (a committee) may also be involved, but it is the advisor's job to be your guide and your advocate.

Some places (and advisors) will welcome multi-disciplinary work. Others would not. Remember that this thesis is only your first major work. Hopefully it isn't your last. You don't need to try to make an international reputation at this point, but only get yourself in harness to pull for the long term, either in academia or industry.

Advisor: good. Winging it: bad.

A different answer may be valid in other places, of course, though I'd still recommend an advisor to work with even if it isn't required under the rules.


Reasonablity of evaluation methods in developed countries for Maths and Sci students Globally considering, in many (or maybe all) developing countries professors/lecturers in universities only take mid-term and final few-hour-exams to evaluate students' learning. In some (or maybe all) developed countries they evaluate students by some combination of three types of factors:

written assignments, i.e. student have to do their research on the subject and gather the information,
verbal assignments, i.e. like written assignment but presenting them as a seminar or the like to the class,
(small percentage of mark for) few-hour-exams.

My questions are:

Each of the evaluation methods has its own pros and cons: Not all students can show that they have learned enough just in a few hours exam especially due to anxiety; and not all students do their assignment by themselves. Why do developed countries consider written assignments as a big percentage of marks that a student can get?
Are there universities follow the method of only written and verbal assignments and don't take exams at all, and those universities are high ranked and their degree despite their poor method of evaluation have a high validity? Which universities?

Note that this question are just purely about Science and Mathematics degrees on BSc and (especially) MSc levels.

Thank you.

Why do yo suppose that the deciding factor in how programs evaluate student is the economic development of the country? Unless you have evidence to suggest otherwise, I don't think it is reasonable to make sweeping generalizations and judgement about how science programs in developed and developing nations assess their students. Instead, whether a course emphasizes exams or not depends on the nature of the subject and the level of mastery the students possess. For example, for a calculus class, it is very likely that you will be graded on your ability to do computational problems in an exam setting, and few independent projects or presentations will be required. However, in a graduate level seminar course in biology, for example, your daily discussion participation in the class will be more important, because the professors are more interested in your ability to think rather than memorization.


Professor wants to include a specific (maybe unnecessary) issue and focus less on other necessary ones in LoR. Please share your perspective I am applying to a PhD program in humanities/social sciences. I asked a professor  I know (we are outside the US) to write a strong letter of recommendation for me and he said he would be glad. However, the possible content of the letter (we have only talked about it together) gave rise to two questions for me:
Firstly, he wants to include a line to the effect that he plans to work with me in different ways in future research. At first glance, it feels like a very positive note but I am not sure if the admissions committee may see something implied here that may become problematic (e.g., the student may be too distracted or he may be too busy to focus on his PhD). What do you think?
Secondly, when I asked for some other issues he seemed a bit reluctant. For example, I asked him to write more than one page if possible but he insists on one page being enough. Or, when I asked him to illustrate his praise with specific examples so as to make it credible, he agreed but kept saying that no more than two or three examples are needed and a minimal approach will be more successful. Again, this could be true but I just don't want to rely on my own judgement in this regard. So, I appreciate your take on this issue.

I think you should defer to the advisor on both counts. I don't see any negative implication in the first point. It is actually pretty high praise.
And on the second, I'll have to guess that his judgment is based on more experience than you have.
Moreover, if he doesn't feel constrained by your "instructions", then he will probably write in a more natural way and that, alone, could make a difference when the letter is read.
I think that trying to micromanage this would hurt, not help.


Paper submission related query What does " securing reviewers" means when you submit a paper? Does that mean that the AE thinks that the paper is within the scope of the journal but he or she has not been able to find reviewers to take a look at the paper?

Every system is different and I haven't seen that status, but I certainly infer it means the AE is lining up reviewers.  That means the AE (and EIC) has not rejected it out of hand, but it doesn't guarantee that it will not eventually be rejected as out of scope.  That could happen if the reviewers note the issue, or if the AE has trouble finding reviewers and eventually gives up.


Ethicality of continuing my Ph.D. with intentions of leaving I am currently in my first year at a funded Ph.D. program. I have a graduate teaching assistantship in the form of teaching three introductory biology labs (1 credit per) plus the other responsibilities of being an instructor. I also have a six credit (tuition waiver) course load and a stipend.

Prior to coming to this program, I declined an offer from another funded program. It was due to financial reasons such as making a big move to the city and whatnot. I was a fresh undergraduate out of college and I was not ready for that move. I am in the position to make this move now and the offer is much better than my current program.

I have many different quarrels with this current program. There is a lack of structure and much of what I expected at a Ph.D. level course/program was not met.  I dislike the current field I am in and I don’t believe I would be happy doing this for the next 4 years. I did not have intentions of leaving prior to starting here, but as I mentioned things here are not as what I expected. Through discussion with the head of the department I declined, I was able to get my declined admission deferred to next fall. In February, I will hear if I receive funding again.

Now my issue is that I am currently in a lab rotation with my prospective advisor and I have not told anyone that I will be leaving. I am afraid that if I tell anyone that I plan to leave after the year, I will be looked down upon and it would affect my courses for the year. I want to withdraw from the lab rotation because the program I will be going to does not have any use for such a course. However, I am worried that if I tell my advisor why I am withdrawing, it will impact me negatively. In the off chance I do not receive funding, I will most likely be staying in this program and if they know I wanted to leave and didn’t because of funding, I fear I will be looked down upon.

How unethical is it to continue this year and finish up without mentioning any of my intentions to leave the program for another?
If I do withdraw from the lab rotation, should I mention why I am doing so or just mention that I was not expecting the course work to be so intense (which is true due to my teaching taking up so much time, I am behind).
How unethical is it to use my 6 credit tuition waiver to take courses in the spring that would hopefully transfer to my other program?

My contract runs 9 months so I can’t just leave.

How unethical is it to continue this year and finish up without
  mentioning any of my intentions to leave the program for another?

It is not at all unethical to continue until you know for certain. I see this as a situation where you are considering your options. You would LIKE to leave, but you are also considering staying if you have no funding at the second program. I certainly don't think you have any obligation to mention your decision until you hear about funding. In February, your current program will still have the opportunity to give away your funding to a new student/another student, so you are not harming anyone by waiting to speak up.

  If I do withdraw from the lab rotation, should I mention why I am
  doing so or just mention that I was not expecting the course work to
  be so intense (which is true due to my teaching taking up so much
  time, I am behind).

I don't think you should withdraw. If you stay, this would be your advisor. And if you don't get funding, you may stay. So you should make sure you have a good backup plan with this advisor at your current school.

  How unethical is it to use my 6 credit tuition waiver to take courses
  in the spring that would hopefully transfer to my other program?

You will likely need to decide on spring courses before you decide if you should stay. If possible, choose courses that would prepare you for either path. If not possible, I don't see a problem with using the waiver you have earned through your teaching in a way that would be of most use to you.


Is there a website that shows current research strides in several academic fields? I am looking for some sort of website that shows/illustrates current research strides across several academic fields. It would be pretty cool if this existed  as a interactive interface like google maps (e.g. one could click and drag into different research areas and zoom in and see which problems are getting solved). The interactive part seems unrealistic, but I would at least like to be able to see a list of topics (perhaps a word-cloud of recent research papers per academic field would be okay) per academic field.

Can anyone show me something similar to what I am looking for?

I would not normally say Reddit is a good tool, and may get downvoted for suggesting such a maddening thing, but /r/science aka The Reddit Journal of Science provides a surprisingly high-level view of science research that is considered interesting, while also fitting your requirement that it splits information by field (the entire right side is dedicated to individual fields).

For example, these are some of the top articles from the past month.

Environment: NASA now says vast methane cloud over US southwest is for real
Social Sciences: The secret to raising well behaved teens? Maximise their sleep: While paediatricians warn sleep deprivation can stack the deck against teenagers, a new study reveals youth’s irritability and laziness aren’t down to attitude problems but lack of sleep
Health: Gut microbe found in people with eating disorders (bulimia, anorexia). Experiments show it produces a human hormone mimic that affects feeling of satisfaction, energy use, and mood. The severity of eating disorder symptoms is positively correlated with immune reaction to the mimic.
Neuroscience: Scientists have found “hidden” brain activity that can indicate if a vegetative patient is aware
Physics: Researchers have developed a new method for harvesting the energy carried by particles known as ‘dark’ spin-triplet excitons with close to 100% efficiency, clearing the way for hybrid solar cells which could far surpass current efficiency limits.

Obviously, you'll still have to do work of digging through potential garbage or low-quality sources and fact-checking. If it holds water, then you can dive into the related literature.


Interdisciplinary Problem Session hosted by Mathematics Department: Advice I work in a Department of Mathematics in the Irish Institute of Technology sector.

Funding for mathematics research has been reduced by the Higher Education Authority and between this, a heavy teaching load and other reasons, staff are either not very active or completely inactive in research. There are a number of departments who are very active in their research.

I am interested in exploring the idea of setting up a problem session in the institute where the research community would be invited to present problems they are having in their research that they feel mathematics department staff might be able to shed light on.

At the moment questions I have include:

has this been done in other institutions?
if yes, has it been beneficial to both communities?
will researchers share their problems; will the sessions sustain themselves?
how regularly should such a problem session take place?
should problems be presented at the session and solved in the next session or presented prior to the session?

I feel there are a number of obvious benefits that could come from such an endeavour and I am looking for help in seeing potential problems, etc.

I hope this question, although quite open-ended, is appropriate for this site.

Edit: Regarding the comments below

Thank you all for your help. These sessions would be primarily focussed on staff in the institute and incubated industry. I wouldn't envisage them being of the duration of a workshop: rather just a single afternoons. I am looking at something a lot less formal than the workshops ye survive. I have heard of the ESGI thank you Ruadhaí.

From my experience (mostly on the interface of biology): unless you are thinking about something like theoretical physicists, you need to consider that most researchers will not have a good understanding of what mathematicians actually do, and will not be able to recognize an interesting mathematical problem.

This means you essentially bring the mathematicians to a state in which they will be able to identify good problems (with help of the other researchers). This is not easy, but I think it is a more sensible strategy than trying to bring the non-mathematicians to a state in which they can identify good mathematical problems (though you can nudge them in this direction).

Thus, you need to set reasonable expectations with realistic goals. I suggest the following approach:

At the first stage, I would focus on introducing the mathematicians to the field, so they can start understanding the terms and what tools are being used. This will probably get the mathematicians thinking about how to introduce formality and so on. This step is also very important in order to establish a common language for discussion.
Next, I would let the researchers introduce important open problems in the field. These problems don't need to be mathematically interesting - because the researchers will probably not be able to tell what is mathematically interesting anyway. This helps avoid a common issue of theorists focusing on problems that are useless for practitioners.
After these are done, the participants should have the minimal set of tools to explore problems that are interesting for both sides. This should be mainly based on open discussion.

Realistically, if you are able to achieve the first 2 steps and get the people to start thinking about point 3 (as it can take some time to process all this new information) and possible establish some pre-collaborations, I would call it a success. While I strongly believe that many fields can benefit from mathematical insights, it can be very challenging to find a problem that is interesting for both sides.

BTW it may also help to invite some people which are doing active research at the interface of the two communities.


The use of pseudocode examples in CS program--is it plagarism? I'm an undergraduate in CS and I had a class in Adv. Data Structures & Algorithms in the spring of this year. Near the beginning of it I was pressured by a fellow classmate to "google pseudocode examples" and use them to do my labs. I guess the point here was that it wasn't copy and paste (being pseudocode) and still had to be adapted to the language for the class. I did something like that once to finish an assignment in that class (most of the code was my own that I solved myself). None of this did felt right to me, but again I felt pressured. I heard a lot of chatter from fellow students concerning the using of pseudocode. Again I didn't feel this was right.

Time passed and I forgot about it. The school recently sent out an email survey regarding plagiarism. That's what got me thinking about the previous semester. I want to note that I've never plagiarized in my life and I make every effort to avoid it [I have principle's]. I also have a good definition of what plagiarism is, to a point I think I understand this better than most.

So my questions are: is using pseudocode examples an act of plagiarism? If so where do I go from here? Shall I email the instructor openly and honestly tell them what happened?

Honesty is one of my principle's. I'm posting this here in the hopes that some of you will understand that. Logically it sounds like using said pseudocode is an act of plagiarism (the idea's are the same). Its still ambiguous to me, I need to know what others think.

Plagiarism is when you claim somebody else's work as your own.  We most often hear about it with regards to words or images, but it can just as easily be applied to other types of intellectual work as well, including pseudocode.

The critical question, then, is whether what you have done can be reasonably understood to be claiming the work as your own.  This depends on the particular assignment, but the cases here fall into two general categories:

If the assignment is asking you to create a piece of code, then finding a piece of pseudocode that does the same thing and translating it would be plagiarism because you are pretending to have created the code yourself, when in fact you have not.
If, on the other hand, the assignment is asking you to create a complex system, one component of which happens to be implemented using a subroutine that you have translated from elsewhere, then it is essentially the same as finding an appropriate library call and entirely acceptable (unless there were rules clearly intended against such).  In this case, the creative work is the assemblage, and you are not representing that particular fragment code as your own --- though it is best practice to be explicit about your sources in comments, for copyright and license reasons.

Given that your professor was encouraging the use of outside resources as part of the project, it seems to me that what you describe is both ethical and normal practice.


Is obtaining a PhD from an Asian country really a career suicide? There is a proverb going around for a long time

  Doing a PhD from an Asian country is a career suicide.

What is the significance of this proverb in case of Computer Science?
Does this also include high ranking universities in Russia and the middle East?
Does international ranking have any positive effect in this regard (e.g. there are some universities from China and Singapore among the top 20)?

Reference

What are some down sides of doing PhD in a Japanese/ Korean/ Chinese university than that of the USA?
Are there any professors with PhDs in Humanities from Asian Universities working outside of Asia?
Why is a PhD from a university outside of the white sphere called ‘career annihilation’?

Well, your question is broad, but to be on point, Asia needs PhDs, if you have the competent advisor and the relationship is not "master and servant", then you have high prospects to become a good independent scholar. Competition for the job is lower than in West.
About ranking, I really can't comment if it is beneficial in future employment, I think what is important is the ranking and the impact factor of the journals where you publish.

That being said, there are departments in obscure places in Iran, Thailand, Turkey, Taiwan that have higher H index than well know and regarded departments in West.

Also as far as I noticed, gender relationship and position of women in STEM is much better than in West.


Who typically serves on a graduate school admissions committee? Suppose a student is applying to a graduate school. Who is typically on the admissions committee? Is the chair of the department on the admissions committee?

At my (large CS) department, the graduate admissions committee officially consists of:

The director of the graduate program.  This is a ~3-year rotating position among the senior faculty.
About a dozen faculty members, distributed roughly uniformly across topic areas and faculty rank.  The department head is not a member; he's way too busy.
About a dozen graduate student volunteers.

However, our graduate admissions database is open to the entire faculty.  Each faculty member is expected to help review applications, and in particular, to identify applicants that they would be willing to advise, offer an RAship, help recruit, and/or recommend for fellowships.  We ask each applicant to name a few faculty they'd be interested in working with, so I usually start by reading the applications that mention my name.  I haven't been on the admissions committee since 2000, but I still read a few dozen applications every year.

For each round of admissions, each research area (theory, graphics, architecture, etc.) provides a ranked list of applicants for their area to the committee, along with estimates of advising/funding capacity.  This usually requires discussion among the area faculty, coordinated by the area chair, who may or may not be a committee member.  (I was the theory area chair for several years.)

Final admissions decisions are made by the official committee, but positive reviews from extra-curricular faculty carry a lot of weight.  In particular, nobody is admitted without at least three positive faculty reviews, including at least one potential advisor.  Decisions are folded back into the database so that faculty can track their favorite applicants' progress, and if necessary, drum up more faculty reviews.

So, in practice, everyone is on the committee, including the department head.


How to get a PhD (doctorat) in France? I previously asked this question in Mathematics.SE (which is now removed from that site):

  How to be a professor and a researcher in academia if I only have a baccalauréat in maths and don't have much money?

And one kind user from France said that I can't unless I have a PhD. (French baccalauréat is only graduation from high-school.)

But how to get a Doctorat in France? I search for informations about a PhD in general: like how much would it cost me?...etc

Also I heard of 'classe prépa', should I take them first?

As somebody who's actually doing a PhD in France, maybe I can provide some more information.

Firstly, as everybody says, you have to get an equivalent of a Bachelor degree (I think that's "licence" in France), and the a Master degree as well. I didn't do this part of my studies in France, but, some things that I overheard:

of course, nobody is paying while you are doing that, and you most probably have to pay a yearly tuition (probably around 400eur)
I think that there is some programs to get some scholarships that could help you, and you'll probably be eligible to help from CAF for a while
to supplement your income, I'm sure you can teach already in the last year of Master, and possibly (but I'm not sure), even as soon as you finish you Bachelors (aka "licence")
other major expenses are living costs and eating costs: you can usually get a student dormitory (200-300 eur/month is plausible, but it depends on a city) and as a student, you get cheap student lunches (3-4eur/meal)

As I said, I didn't do this Bachelor-Master part of my education in France. But, for the PhD I can offer more information:

a PhD in France is basically a normal work contract lasting for (exactly) 3 years, with a usual possibility of extending it for 3-6 months
to obtain a PhD, you have to obtain a grant. Sometimes, you apply to professors for a subject that is already funded, and sometimes you apply to the professors and then you submit your grant application together (like me)
you still have to pay a yearly tuition (~400eur), but you will be receiving a monthly salary where the amount depends on your grant. It's usually between 1300 and 1600eur
in your first year, you are still possibly eligible for CAF
there's two type of PhD contracts: research, or teaching. The teaching contracts are harder to obtain, but it is usually easier in your second year than your first. If you need/want more income per month, a teaching contract gets you an additional 300eur/month on your salary
other major expenses are again lodging and food: again, sometimes dormitory housing is available, but renting a flat can be acceptable as well (around 300eur/month if your flat-sharing up to 550-600 if you're renting alone). Usually, the lab/university provides some kind of lunch discount tickets as well.

As for some additional information about how to get in to a PhD programme:

in France, it is obligatory to do at least one internship in a research lab or a company during your Masters, but two are possible
if you are planning to stay in France, it is very customary for people to do their PhDs in the same lab where they did their internships, and some even just extend on their internship topics
your Master supervisor and all the contacts you made during your internships will probably be most helpful, as you can ask them for advice, or even if they know of a position / professor that would suit your plans
additionally, if you want to do your PhD outside of France (it always needs a Master degree), it's probably a bit harder to obtain (although your Master contacts can help you). It's a paying job with a salary in a lot of European countries (some examples includ: Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland...)


How to satisfy the publisher when making an article available on a personal web page? At least in computer science, many publishers allow authors to make their published articles (or final manuscripts of them) freely available on their personal web site. A usual condition is to provide a link to the publisher's web service, where the "official version" of the article can be found.

However, there is one peculiar point about this issue: in most cases, the copyright agreement contains a condition that the link has to be "accompanied by" some text, such as "The original article is available at XYZ". I would like to ask what does this mean, precisely. The main reasons I have for this are:

Many scientists make their articles freely available online and many of them provide links to publisher's web pages. However, I have never seen a personal web page containing text like "The original article is available at XYZ". For this reason, I do not have a slightest idea about how the accompanying text should (precisely) look like.
Suppose that you have a bilingual web page. In this case, taking the above condition literally would imply that you could make your articles available only from the English version of your site (or at least you should include an English text in the non-English version of your site).
The term "accompanied by" can be interpreted in a variety of ways. For instance, is it OK to follow the link by an HTML comment containing the requested text?

So my question is: What is the usual interpretation of this condition? And what is the most common legal way to satisfy the publisher in this respect? Thank you in advance.

The main issue in these circumstances (to my knowledge) is mainly to ensure that the exact version which you can host (i.e. your original version, the version after edits and reviewer comments, and the final version that was actually published).  SAGE has a good overview on this issue here.

On this page it clearly mentions that when you host it anywhere, to "please make the following acknowledgement: 'The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in [Journal], Vol/Issue, Month/Year published by SAGE Publishing, All rights reserved'".

From my non-legal perspective, I notice to things.  Number 1, the Dos and Donts are clear spelled out with "you may" and "you may not".  This condition starts with "please".  So, for one, I find it hard to believe that such a condition is legally binding, and that if you change the wording slightly it should be fine.  In fact, looking at this closely, I don't even think I have a legal imperative to put any link whatsoever (at least according to this specific publisher and this speicific journal).

In the end, the matter rests in the kind of copyright agreement that you've signed with the publisher, but I cannot imagine a situation where you've followed all of the guidelines, put the link and the citation, but then get sued for slightly changing the wording on exactly how you refer to it. On the other hand, if this is the wording that they want, why not just put it using the words and terms and just clearly avoid these issues altogether?

Bottom line, ignore what other people do; just take the publisher's method, wording, and whatever else in order to make sure you don't run-afoul of any ethical, or legal issues now or in the future.


How to stay motivated and optimistic about an academic or industrial career with an extended PhD? I am pursuing my PhD in Canada in Mechanical engineering and will graduate this November. This brings my PhD time to a total of 5 years 3 months. I already had a master's degree. I have not yet started looking for postdoc positions but I have heard from one of my lab's alumni that they were asked about their extended PhD duration during postdoc and industry position interviews.

I had coursework in first semester, but after that, all my time was invested in my research. So, I don't have the reasoning that my US counterparts have for their PhD extending over 5 years. I was unfocused for a better part of a semester during my 3rd year, so that might have caused this delay.
On top of that, I am submitting my research to journals now, so I don't have any proof of productivity for the past 4 years.

I have two questions:
1) does an extended PhD duration really frowned upon in academia and industry (for a research scientist position), if so, any suggestions to counteract a question on that?
2) A vague question: How can I stay motivated and optimistic about completing my thesis and working towards an academic or a research scientist career in the future?

I'll say something only about your first concern.

You can't change the past. You are where you are. However, I wouldn't be overly concerned with anecdotal remarks about what is expected or not. You have a history and if asked about it, just recount it honestly. Don't apologize for taking a few extra months or even years.

The funny thing about (real) research is that you can't do it on a schedule. The insights and the background work take time to mature. It isn't like manufacturing a complex artifact like an automobile that can be optimized to the second. Research problems worth the effort are hard and the solutions come when they come. Sometimes spending more hours on them helps. Sometimes taking a break, especially a mental break, helps.

But anyone who says "I will do this significant piece of work and be done in three years" is deluding themselves. I expect other people with research experience to recognize and respect that. If they don't, I expect that they haven't really worked on anything difficult lately and carried it to completion.

You do what you can do with the constraints that you have. Hopefully you learn something valuable and are able to write it up and get your degree. But the path is both winding and difficult.

When I went to grad school it was still possible to get a math PhD in four years out of undergraduate. I took seven. My career wasn't what I expected, due to economic factors beyond my control, but I had a rewarding career in academia. Nowadays seven is closer to the norm, unfortunately.


Is there any way to pressure textbook publishers to reduce price? I am an instructor in a medium-sized state school in the USA. The price for the textbook to the introductory math course that I teach just increased. Again. A new, paperback copy costs 170 USD. I want to put pressure on the publishers to reduce their price, but I am not sure what the best strategy is.

Has anyone had any success in such an endeavour? Any ideas? A strongly worded letter, signed by the faculty?

If you don't have the authority to change the textbook on your own, at least for your own section, then your target should be, not the publisher, but the person or committee that does have that happy power.*

Show them this: http://aimath.org/textbooks/approved-textbooks/ and propose that you teach a section of your course using the appropriate open access textbook.  (Edited to add: Pick out the appropriate book and an alternate before you talk to the committee or coordinator and be prepared to defend your choice vs. the approved text.) In the following semester, compare how well your students did in the next course in sequence vs. those who used the standard text.

Your secret weapon: work like hell to be sure your students are well prepared for the next course.

In the comments, Ben Crowell has said: "Here is a catalog I maintain of free books, including many open-source textbooks: http://theassayer.org"  I've edited it into my answer so it doesn't get lost.  Thank you, Ben.

* Hat tip to Professor Severus Snape for "happy power."


Can a project be "too good" for a Master's? Pretty straight forward. I am starting to apply to grad school and I was discussing possible projects with some (grad student) friends of mine. When I mentioned something in particular one of them said "that might even be too good for a Master's, sounds more like a PhD..." Then he also went on to say that I could use part of a project like that for a Master's and then use the rest to finish it off with a PhD. For some time I thought about this, then I decided to ask it here.
So is there such a thing as a project that is too good for a Master's? And if so, should my future advisor generally know where this "boiling point" is?
Note: if you need more info about my major of study or the specific sub-field, leave a comment and I can make an edit.

From my reading of the conversation between the two of you, he meant 'too good' in one of two ways:

"Too Good" as in the topic will yield many high-quality results, potentially many publications, and opportunities for continued/extended research.
"Too Good" as in requiring too much time to complete in the typical Master's degree time period, and actually should be understood as "Too advanced" or "Too in-depth".

In answer to your second question 'will future advisor know the boiling point?' Yes. That is what they are there for, to help guide the scope of your project to a Master's level.


What is the exact meaning of an "Abstract Submission Deadline"? I don't know exactly the meaning of "Abstract Submission Deadline". Is this time only for an abstract, or must I send my whole paper at that time?

It is only for an abstract. Usually, there is another one for the whole paper, clearly said.


What is the point of ScienceWISE annotation on arXiv? This is an example of a semantically tagged paper: Distributed Joint Source and Channel Coding with Low-Density Parity-Check Codes. On arXiv, it looks like this:

In the PDF (with Chrome as PDF viewer), it looks like this:

What is the point of this? Why should I, as an author, add this to any publication?

Shouldn't I, if I want a link to Wikipedia, just add it by myself without the usertracking (respecting the privacy of the reader) to my article? And shouldn't I be able to find content of much higher quality and explicitly name it in my paper if it is necessary or otherwise, if it is not necessary because it is quite basic knowledge in the domain I write about just assume that the reader will know what I mean / know the textbooks where he /she can look up the definitions?

See also

https://arxiv.org/help/sciencewise

From ScienceWISE FAQ:

  Why do you need all this if there is Wikipedia?

  The main difference of our Ontology from most existing online resources is in a possibility to have several single-authored definitions of the same concept. Unlike Wikipedia, ScienceWISE provides a mechanism for scientific community ranking (by linking against the best definitions) and provides a peer-run quality assurance system.

You may have read that already, but unless you explain what is not clear your question is either impossible to further answer or a disguised criticism.


Correct in-text citation, according to Harvard's referencing style I read somewhere that you can reference, the Harvard way, by stating the author, before ending the sentence with a date - like so:

  Author said this bla bal blabd bdalab d... (2017).

But, after reading through my dissertation, my teacher told me this was invalid Harvard referencing; and, he said I should cite the author like this:

  Author said this bla bal blabd bdalab d... (Author, 2017).

Is this true, or can I indeed use the proposed method?

There can be disagreement on how to reference correctly within a style. I have referenced in both ways that you cite, with no complaints from my tutors. I have also had papers published using both methods of citation with no corrections from the copy editors.

However, I think what we are experiencing here is your tutor's preference. He clearly wants you to do things in method B rather than method A, for whatever reason. I am sure he has read through multitudinous publications, some of which use method A, though his own preference is B.

When I wrote my first essay for my master's I used footnotes for referencing. My tutor wrote on the paper that in-text citations were much better: neither was wrong, but my tutor was specifying a preference and recommending a better habit to get into. Similarly, seeing as yours is the one marking your papers, I would just go with it.


Is verbal commitment to work with a potential advisor binding in a moral sense? I have been doing my due diligence in preparation for graduate school by reaching out to potential PIs and evaluating each one for fit. I found a brand new PI, at a T-30 with whom I "think" I mesh well (cannot be certain since I would be his first graduate student). I have met with him in person on a few occasions and he has stated he would like to take me on as a graduate student (this is a direct admit program with no rotations). Naturally, I was excited and agreed to work with him. Fast forward to the admission season, I applied to other schools and I did not anticipate I would be viewed as favorably at "higher ranked" institutions and I found other PIs I meshed with as well.

I have sound reasoning other than rank for waffling,

Better support programs and network post degree for both industry & academic paths
Better financial package (I am older married with a child)
established mentors with track record ( I have to get in and get out for same reason)

So I ask can I renege on the agreement without a) messing up this PIs startup?
b) Without looking like a flake professionally by going back on my word?

Also, Are PIs expected to have grad students their very first year?

Thanks in advance.

A few points:

First, morality is a bad way to evaluate this decision. Certainly you want to be an ethical person, but realize that taking on a graduate student position is an employer/employee relationship. It is generally expected that you will make decisions that are in your best interest, even if that means switching advisors or switching programs. Your potential advisors are certainly going to make the decisions that are in their best interests. Your advisor/advisee relationship should only last as long as it's in both of your best interests to do so.

Second, there are definite consequences to reneging on an agreement, written or verbal. Academics is a small community. You are embarking on a professional career, and your reputation will follow you. You want to be seen as someone who follows through on commitments. When you do need to back off of an agreement you want to do so gracefully and avoid "burning bridges". That said, your actions in your current position are not going to follow you for the rest of your life. Your potential PI has not sacrificed for you, they will be able to find another grad student, and you leaving them at this time is not going to ruin their career. This is very different than, for example, working with an advisor for years, building expectations and relationships, and then vanishing.

However, if your decision is firm you should definitely inform them as soon as possible. The pool of good applicants grows smaller the longer you wait.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, there are community expectations and norms concerning this. The most relevant thing here is the April 15th Resolution. Many graduate schools are signatories to this document (including most or all of the highly desirable "role-model" institutions). Essentially, the resolution says:

Prospective students should not be obligated to commit to a graduate school until April 15th.
Students are only considered committed once they have formally accepted an offer of financial support. This means formal acceptance of a scholarship or stipend supported position such as a research or teaching assistantship. A verbal commitment to attend, without a specific formal offer of financial support, is not considered formal acceptance.
Students may withdraw their acceptance until April 15th by submitting a written resignation to their prospective department. Appointments not recinded by the department or resigned by the student by April 15th are expected to be honored by both parties.

Lastly, the goal of the graduate admissions process is to make the best matches between students and schools. You are doing yourself and your potential advisor a disservice if you go into a program without full conviction. Your potential advisor certainly will not like the news that you've decided to go someplace else or study a different topic, but they will be far happier with a student who really wants to be with them and study their topic. You will be far happier if you are a place you really want to be and studying something that truly engages you. Certainly they will understand your actions and will (probably) not hold a grudge if you secure a better position than what they can offer.


How much do patents impact an academic career? Patents are not normally considered as publications in scholarly journals, as they are not subject to peer-review. They are actually new ideas, but patenting does not guarantee the impact and importance (whether good or bad idea). However, academics tend to patent inventions and discoveries for the sake of possible commercial benefits.

I wonder if they have any considerable impact on academic career? e.g., promotion, getting academic jobs, and in a different context, impact on proposals for getting grants and research funds.

The answer will clearly vary by institution, and in particular by field (Your average English prof wouldn't be expected to hold any patents but a materials scientist might) but yes, it certainly can.  Patents and publications are measures of productivity and it would be silly not to note them.  It should be pointed out, however, that patents correlate to jobs closer to industry, so a particularly high rate might be indicative of someone not in academia.


Can two universities have the same name? I am now developing a database having information about universities. The database has a feature to prevent a duplicate name for the university title. I actually wonder of whether it is possible for 2 universities/colleges to have the same name in one country or different countries.

EDIT:
I am actually not asking to make this database field the unique identifier for my university entries, but rather for preventing potential duplicate of a university when the the data entry guys use the system. I know I can do a quick check on duplicates but I thought to use this Unique attribute if universities have unique names worldwide.

There are a number of Belgian universities which were one institution formerly, but have been split in two independent institutions during the language conflicts between the French and Dutch speaking citizens in the 1960ies. At the moment they in principle still carry the same name, but in the different languages. Examples are the Free Universities of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Université Libre de Bruxelles) or the Catholic Universities of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and Université catholique de Louvain).


How can an IT undergrad become a Data Scientist.? I know asking undergrad questions are not well received here. But I don't know any other place have the standard of this place.

I am a Bachelor of Information technology student. I am maintaining a second upper GPA at school. My target is to become a data scientist. And this is my plan.
 I will learn data science basics on coursera. I will start with a diploma in applied statistics parallel to my final year of my degree. Then I will go for a M.Sc in CS. Where I come from doesn't have undergraduate/pg math degrees available for me (only for few merit students who enter state universities get to those). I will do a research more related to data science. (Not sure if I can do it in a M.Sc in CS)
 I know there should be opinions, and this question won't lead to a one single perfect solution. But I'm asking if you can tell me if this is a good plan.?

I have answered several related questions on the Data Science SE site some time ago. I hope that my answers are relevant to your situation and will be helpful. Wishing you best of luck!

Graduate Degree Choices for Data Science
Starting my career as Data Scientist, is Software Engineering experience required?
Data Science Project Ideas


When applying to grad school, how can I address having failed a core course before retaking it? I failed a crucial course for my major that serves as the foundation for many other core courses.

I retook the course and got an A, and have kept straight A's in my upper-level courses since then.

Question: What can I do to mitigate the fallout from this?

According to graduate admission committees that I've spoken to in the University of California system, this is a potential deal-breaker, which is why I'm a bit worried.

You can address this in your statement of purpose.

If you failed an intro-level course during your freshman year (e.g., intro to physics), no one is likely to care; straight As in all the core classes prove that you know your stuff. You can mention this in your statement of purpose, but I would do so only as an aside -- maybe even humorously.

If this course was a junior-level course (e.g., quantum), then this is a bit more serious. You should definitely devote ~3 sentences in your statement of purpose explaining what happened. It is a bit strange that you would get straight As in all the other courses and an F in a separate course, so they'll be glad to see a reasonable explanation.

My concern is that they may assume the anomalous F was due to cheating -- so I would definitely give an explanation that they can buy, rather than letting them make their own conclusions..


What are the differences between Peer Reviewed Journals and Refereed Journals? I would be interested to know the differences between peer reviewed journals and refereed journals in these aspects:

Conditions for the acceptance of papers for publications.
The time length of paper stage after submission.
Amount payable by authors.

To expand on Yuichiro Fujiwara's comment, "peer review" and "refereeing" are exact synonyms, and no differences at all are implied by the names.  For historical reasons, some fields are more likely to use one term than the other (for example, mathematicians talk more often about refereeing than peer review).  Publishing practices also differ between fields in other ways, such as the length of the reviewing process.  There might be a weak correlation with the use of terms like peer review and refereeing, since both issues are heavily influenced by which field you are looking at.  However, I'd bet that any correlations are small, and in any case this is not a productive way to investigate journal differences (since knowing the field would tell you enormously more than just knowing which term the journal uses for peer review).


How do I get a summer research position as an undergraduate? All the questions here on this topic seem to be about masters/PhD students, so I'm not sure if that applies to me. I am an international student studying in the US, which means the only place I can get a full-time paid summer job without mountains of paperwork is on campus. I would love to get involved with a professor's research over the summer, for valuable skills and experience. How do I go about developing that kind of rapport/relationship with a professor? It feels weird to just do a cold email saying "hello, I'm really interested in your research, do you have anything going on over the summer that I could get involved in?".

This is a tough situation to be in, as a lot of (STEM) undergrad research in the U.S. is funded by the NSF through REUs, and only U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible for those.

Many universities in the U.S. have school-wide summer research programs for their undergrad students, with various sources of funding (that you may be eligible for). Usually you apply directly to the program, instead of approaching individual professors who participate. Check if your school has one. You can also check if your school has an agreement with another school to "share" undergrad summer research students in such a program. (My university has such an arrangement with a few schools in the area, in which their students can participate in our school-wide undergrad summer research program.)

Ask your academic advisor (i.e. the person who helps you decide which classes to register for) if your school or department has an undergrad summer research program. Also ask your academic advisor if he or she knows of any faculty members in your department who are looking for an undergrad summer research student, outside of any official program. (That's how I got my first undergrad summer research job!)

Besides that, you can definitely approach professors in your department individually. My lab seriously considers every undergrad student in our department who reaches out in this way. It's helpful if you mention what your research interests are, what classes you have taken that are relevant to the research we do, and any other skills you have that might be helpful for our research. (You should also mention that you're an international student, since as I mentioned, we may have to work out funding in a different way than we usually do.) If you are taking courses with professors whose research is interesting to you, you can go to their office hours and ask them about it there.


Does the peer review reciprocity principle apply globally or per venue? It is commonly accepted within academia that if you submit and publish peer-reviewed papers, you should also do your share, and review your peers' papers.

Does the underlying principle apply globally or per-venue? Should you aim to do approximately as much review work as your own papers received, considering the total sum of all your contributions in your field? Or is there a social convention or moral obligation to do peer review work in the same venues that you submit or publish papers in?

First, I'd say that your obligation* of peer review is to help your community of peers, not specific venues or publishers. It's the peers that do the reviewing mostly for free, and their work you're supposed to reciprocate. Hence the principle should apply globally.

However, spreading your efforts out a bit can be beneficial, leading to more diverse reviewer pools for a given journal. (And hence a higher chance they can find the ideal person to ask.) And of course, you're free to focus your efforts on reviewing for journals you particularly like, whether for their quality, (possibly also unpaid) editors you have a good relationship with, or other reasons.

Second, aiming for a close balance in reviewing efforts given and received seems misguided. Focus on writing useful reports, not on the amount of work (that of others is hard to estimate anyhow). You can't really review more than you're invited to review, and even then it's certainly better to decline if you can't produce a quality review in the expected standard time frame than accepting each invitation in a vain attempt to cancel out review work you've received already.

*If obligation is the right word. I tend to think of 'obligation' as a requirement, whereas this reciprocity is more of an 'ought' in my opinion. But hey, different definitions exist.


Academic application - how to address lack of citations? I am applying for an academic position and have been shortlisted. My one potential major stumbling block is in terms of publications. I have a number of them, but none of them are A grade publications. More worrying though, I have virtually no citations. These publications range in age from 6 months to 4 years ago. How might I address this in the context of an interview?

It is important that this is an entry level position, since a lack of publications is not that harmful and may be seen as normal. Lack of citations is entirely out of your control - it may theoretically be improved by publishing in more visible journals, social media networking/ promotion etc, but eventually the majority of academic work is cited the proud number of 0 (zero) times.

On the number and quality of publications, it cannot change in the short-run but you can present it in a more representative or favourable way. You can discuss the quality of your work ("first-rate" work published in "second-rate" journal is a very real situation, either for getting it out more quickly or due to the maladies of refereeing), focus on having a pipeline of research and ongoing paper output (which always matters) and talk about how you plan to improve. Since, for better of for worse, the names and numbers will not impress, you could bring forward what is relevant, innovative and generally a strong point, and what this continuation of publications show about you as a post-doc and researcher. Finally, there is a fine balance between self-awareness, self-promotion and self-defeating.