How to know whether a visiting professor will charge the university to present a lecture to academic staff? In the faculty that I am currently working on we have contacted a Professor who would be giving a workshop in my city. Because of that we have invited him for a meeting for discussing collaboration issues for making research in his area of expertise. Also he would be willing to give a lecture to the lecturers of our faculty about the current trends in his research area.

The question that I have is how to know if this lecturer will charge us for the lecture? It is in the field of Computer Science. If this is the case we need to make the necessary administrative paperwork to cover this expenses (my place of work is very bureaucratic by the way). This lecturer has not mentioned anything about charges so how we ask him nicely if he would charge anything for this meeting and lecture? also what would be the necessary arrangements that we should do in this case?

The usual way is to state explicitly in your invitation which costs you are going to cover. For example:

  Dear Professor X

  I would hereby like to formally invite you to give a seminar talk at our university on a topic of your choice. We will of course provide you with a hotel for your stay as well as cover your airfare and all other reasonable travel expenses.

  Sincerely,  Y

This way, it is clear to everyone what exactly you intend to pay for. If Professor X wants anything else, he will have to ask for it explicitly, and you can then choose whether you think that you want to pay for that as well or not, but at least you put out there what you expect to pay for.


The reviewers are not answering to any of my emails. Why are they ghosting me? I sent both of the reviewers, pdf of my thesis more than a month ago. Only one of them acknowledges the receipt, the other one is french.
I sent them physical copies last Friday. They should have received them by now. I sent them an email just in case to warn them I sent it to their University address. Why don't they just acknowledge they received it? I need to contact them again because I misprinted one graph.

Faculty members are busy. One of the many reasons for that is a constant flood of emails. For example, I receive an email message (on my university email account; I'm not counting personal stuff here) on average every 19 minutes and 5 seconds. I imagine that there are people with much busier inboxes than mine.
In such situations, time constraints require faculty members to keep sent emails to a minimum. After all, I cannot spend all my time on emails; I have educational tasks to fulfil, and I would like to occasionally do some research too. So when I receive a PDF of someone's thesis in the mail, I will file it in the right folder, maybe print the thesis, and move on to the next topic. I will definitely not write an extra email acknowledging receipt, because that half minute can be spent on checking off another task or two.
I appreciate that this might strike students as impolite. The one thing I can offer you is that it is exceedingly unlikely that this is a personal thing. It's not that the reviewers don't like you, or that they don't want to acknowledge your existence; it's merely a lack of time on their side.


Can one write a research paper on a engineering project idea that one cannot execute due to financial constraints? We have a project idea of making a few processes in farming automatic. As it includes much of robotics the budget required is high, which we cannot afford.
So, can I write a detailed research paper on the idea?

Yes, is the short answer, and in fact it happens all the time.
Go check out the journal Acta Astronautica for just one example - it is a journal about technologies and techniques for space exploration.  Many of the articles outline advanced space mission concepts and are done entirely in simulation, both because it is expensive (thus there is no budget to launch, say, 100 missions to Mars) and because an important part of engineering is the simulation and prediction of system performance.
However, there are other fields in which this is difficult, but not necessarily impossible.  It depends on the fidelity of your simulation.  A paper with a poorly made simulator that makes too many assumptions is likely to get rejected.
And this does bring me to a central part of this answer: you need SOME kind of results.  I spoke a lot about simulation, but there are other types of papers in which things like architectures or organizational plans are written about and (sometimes) accepted.  But ultimately, like the comments say, you can't just give an idea of what it would be like if you could do it.  That's the introduction to the paper, and it does not constitute a whole paper by any means.


When should a source be marked as available online? Short background: I'm a first year undergrad student and one of our study untis aims to educate us on academic reading and writing, including citation styles. Our Faculty requested we use the IEEE standard.

We have to gather the bibliographic data for some articles and books given to us. Two of these are articles (one is a journal article and one is a magazine article), each having a DOI and each having a PDF version available for purchase.

Would these two have to be marked as available online (with the doi/url) given or are there other conditions for these to be marked as availble online?

Better yet, to generalise the question, what are the conditions to have a source marked as available online (thereby also providing the DOI/URL of the source)?

By "marked online" I mean that the bibliography citation would have [Online] in the case of the IEEE standard

There are two general cases for supplying a URL or DOI for information:

Information where a URL is required in order to locate and uniquely identify a source, e.g., referencing a website or a software distribution. In this case, you must always include the link, typically along with the date retrieved, as the contents at the end of the link may vary over time.
Information where a DOI (or similar persistent link) is a "nice to have" that gives a fast link directly to the original source, e.g., referencing a standard journal article. In this case, it is "best practice" to always include the link, but not strictly necessary.

Personally, I am lazy, and include DOIs in the second case only when the bibliographic source I'm pulling from includes them in the reference already---unless specifically asked for them I will no go through the trouble of looking up what is (strictly speak) redundant information.  For this same reason, whenever I am hard up against a page limit, the DOIs are the first thing to be deleted, because it is better to delete redundant bibliographic information than to remove content from the text.


Procedure to follow when added to conference abstract without permission We were recently sent a copy of an abstract by another group with whom we sometimes collaborate. This abstract was due and submitted over a month ago. This document was never shown to us and our approval was never asked, but the names of all the principals here are on it as authors. (It further contains a negative finding for our methodology versus another.) We were simply sent it with an apology and not much of an excuse. We have dealt with some borderline shady behavior with this group in the past.

I am new to this kind of behavior and have the following questions:

If we wish to not be on this abstract, who is generally the person to approach at the conference about it? Is it the communications person who sends out the routine emails, or someone else?
Is it appropriate that we request only that our names be removed, or is it SOP for this abstract to be retracted (which I guess would be bad for the grad student who leads it)?
Should we expect there to be consequences at this conference in future for the group that sent this in, or will it simply be withdrawn and that is the end of it?
Is there anything else I should be thinking about doing in this situation?

This kind of thing happens sometimes. It is reasonable to request that you be removed. In many cases, this will be possible while still keeping the abstract. It comes down to how far in advance the conference material is printed/published online.
The organizer mentioned on the conference website can handle this request or forward it to the poor grad student who manages the book of abstracts.

There are a few variables here. If you request the removal of your name directly from the shady collaborators vs. from the conference organizers themselves, it might be helpful in preserving a good-ish relationship with the collaborators. It might also not work if they don't comply.

If you request the removal from the organizers before abstracts have been selected, this might affect the success of that abstract. However, only if the organizers are also the program committee, aka small team.

Ime, this shouldn't affect the group's reputation in the future. Fields probably vary.


I got a very bad review from one reviewer, but the paper was not rejected Some time ago, I submitted my paper to a reputable journal (but far from being one of the best in my field) and have recently received two reviews. One review was positive overall and the reviewer recommened to accept my paper. On the other hand, the second reviewer was very critical of my work. The reviewer explained, in great details, why everything was wrong with my paper (even including the notation I use) and why such research is absolutely pointless and irrelevant. Moreover, the reviewer also criticized my other publications, implied that my research is way below the international level, and recommened to reject the paper. Despite such a bad review, the editor did not reject my paper and asked me to provide a revision without any additional comments.
To be entirely honest, I would've preferred my paper to be rejected after such a review, because I think that no revision can change the second reviewer's opinion about it. In addition, I do not really know how to revise my paper. I can change the notation and rewrite some parts of it in response to some of the comments, but I cannot change the topic of my research to make it relevant in the eyes of the second reviewer.
What would you do in my situation? I'm thinking about writing an e-mail to the editor in order to ask their opinion about the situation and what they would consider as a proper revision of my paper.

Since

the editor did not reject my paper and asked me to provide a revision

you can revise the paper and resubmit with a fair chance that it will be accepted. Respond to all the comments in the favorable review, either by changing something or explaining in your cover letter why you didn't.
Try to put the  tone of the unfavorable review aside so that you can decide whether addressing  any of the comments there will in fact improve your paper.
You could write the editor in advance to ask if this is a reasonable strategy. You don't have to withdraw just because one reviewer was unprofessionally nasty.


How do I cite programming manuals and software user guides in IEEE I have seen posts on citing documents, but none of them have specified IEEE format in particular. So here is my question. How do I cite technical reference manuals and software user guides in the IEEE format for references?

The IEEE Style guide gives the following format for citing reports:

  The general form for citing technical reports is to place the name and location of the company or institution after the
  author and title and to give the report number and date at the end of the reference.
  Basic Format:

  [1] J. K. Author, “Title of report,” Abbrev. Name of Co., City of Co., Abbrev. State, Country, Rep. xxx, year

For handbooks:

  [1] Name of Manual/Handbook, x ed., Abbrev. Name of Co., City of Co., Abbrev. State, year, pp. xx-xx.

And online sources:

  [1] J. K. Author. (year, month day). Title (edition) [Type of medium]. Available: http://www.(URL)

For example:

  [1] J. Jones. (1991, May 10). Networks (2nd ed.) [Online]. Available: http://www.atm.com

Examples for manuals/software:

  [1] L. Breimann. (2003). Manual on Setting Up, Using, and Understanding Random Forests v4.0. [Online].
  Available: http://oz.berkeley.edu/users/breiman/Using_random_forests_v4.0.pdf, Accessed on: Apr. 16,
  2014.

  [2] M. Kuhn. The Caret Package. (2012) [Online]. Available: http://cranr-project.org/web/packages/caret/caret.pdf

Side note: this answer comments that in BibLatex you can use @software to generate the correctly formed citation. I'm not sure however if this is supported by the IEEE style templates.


Master in humanities as a software engineer I am living in the Netherlands (at the moment, I am an expat), I have two M.Sc and a bachelor in software engineer / computer science and and I am looking at the possibility of having a part-time masters course in Humanities, particularly history or philosophy.

I checked the universities in my area but all the programs are not accepting students without a background in related fields and the don't offer any preparation courses. I wouldn't mind starting from a bachelor but there are not available as part time programs and I am working full time.

If anyone has a deeper knowledge of the Dutch educational system I would like to know if there is a way to carry out my plan.

The usual term for this is either pre-master or 'schakeljaar' (Dutch for transition year)
Most universities in the Netherlands offer pre-masters. I think you always need to contact the institute you want to attend if you can follow the pre-master and they can tailor the programme to your background. Since these are often tailored, it would be possible they could work with you to follow this part-time as well.

Some example links from universities in the Netherlands (some in Dutch):

https://www.ru.nl/opleidingen/master/filosofie/pre-master-en-hbo-minor/pre-master-wo-studenten/
https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/premaster/2018-2019/geschiedenis#study-description
https://www.rug.nl/feb/education/study-programmes/pre-msc/
https://www.uva.nl/onderwijs/master/soorten-masters-en-schakelprogrammas/schakelprogrammas/schakelprogrammas.html


Can I reuse the title of a previous poster presentation for my PhD thesis? I'm currently writing my Ph.D. dissertation, and I would like to use for my thesis exactly the same title as for one of my previous poster presentations.Is this OK?

I did exactly the same thing and am regretting it slightly. No one seemed to care, but for some reason the poster is listed on Google Scholar separately from my thesis but under an identical title. I could have avoided the "disambiguation needed" situation altogether by renaming one of them (preferably by saving the really nifty thesis title for the thesis, and using a work-in-progress version for the poster).


What is actually the difference in student experience between a world famous university and others? What would be the practical difference in terms of quality, experience, and future prospect if a student studies at a 4-year undergraduate degree in a world famous university like Harvard compared to a top university in a developing country, like, for example, in an Indian IIT?

Suppose the syllabus contents are the same and and the major is highly technical like Electrical Engineering. My question is not limited to Electrical Engineering, any technical subject will do.

Future prospect means: researcher (academic/industry), entrepreneur, professional, anything that gives him money or/and fame.

The aim of this question is not to understand the career prospect of a student who graduates from a world famous university. The goal is to understand the academic atmosphere or academic culture and academic productivity of the university. My question talks about Undergraduate for a reason. Graduate and PhD degrees are mostly related to research. So, it is natural that a world famous university will offer more scholarships, source more funding for research and deal with more advanced technologies than that of a university in the developing world.

To my understanding the teaching methods, psychology of people, and goal of higher education play big roles there. For example, in the developing world a degree doesn't always mean that you learned something useful nor does a degree doesn't secure one's career because of various socioeconomic realities.

Given that the syllabus is the same, instructors may need restrict themselves into theoretical discussions only or conduct lesser labs because of the lack of sufficient instruments because of budgetary constraints. Moreover, in developed world teaching methods and syllabuses are also subject to continuous research and improvement which is not always true in the developing world.

Salary of professors and their living condition is also a factor in the developing world. Above all, the feeling of not being a part of developed world plays a big role in their motivation.

Even if you could learn exactly the same thing in both places (you can't), another difference is your peers. If you are surrounded by people who are smarter and more driven you'll be more likely to raise your own standards. The best project in the class at Leading University will be different from the best project at Third Tier U.

Also, if you attend school with people who are likely to get great jobs, you'll have contacts with people who have great jobs, increasing your own opportunities.


Getting Letters of recommedation with no professor suport How does one obtain letters of rec after he/she graduated from university?

I am currently enrolled in a  post-bac biotechnology program where I could identity one potential candidate for a letter. I have one letter from my former boss where I dealt with computers. But what are my options getting another letter? BTW I haven't known my professor in the biotechnology program forever (just 2 months). How long do you have to know a professor before asking?

I haven't known my professor in the biotechnology program forever (just 2 months). How long do you have to know a professor before asking?

There is no stipulated time duration. It is just that the person writing that recommendation letter has to well acquainted with your work, to feel confident while endorsing you. In your case, the relevant points would be how well you fared in any self-learning modules of his course, or otherwise, in his course in general. (I'm assuming there's no "project" type thing involved. If there is, even better!, because that gives him a better opportunity to judge your potential.)

So, if you feel he has had ample exposure to your work to be in a position to write a favorable recommendation letter for you, you should absolutely go ahead!

  How does one obtain letters of rec after he/she graduated from university?

Provided the above stipulation is satisfied, you can go and meet him personally, or even write an email if the former is not possible. You haven't mentioned for how long have you haven't been in touch with him in the question. If it is 1-2 years, it is likely that he wouldn't have completely forgotten you, or at least, you can ring up old memories in any case. Also, you must absolutely enclose your CV in the email.

Please bear in mind that if he doesn't feel confident enough, or has his doubts, he is most likely not going to respond to your email, and obviously, no recommendation also. If your entire correspondence is via email only, you could send him one, or at most, two gentle reminders, but DO NOT press it beyond that! Also, space the reminders by about a week or so. If he doesn't reply, accept it calmly that this avenue is gone. If it is gone, you will have to look for another guy, but all this is definitely worth a shot. I mean, you have nothing to lose.

Hope that helps :)


Two questions on Marie Curie Actions and current open calls a) There seems to be a fellowship for 'experienced' researchers (link below), which seems different than IIF, IEF or IOF, it's called 'IF' (Individual Fellowship). The recent call link is:

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/h2020/calls/h2020-msca-if-2014.html

Is the above a postdoctoral fellowship by any chance? Is it different than IIF, IEF or IOF? (it seems to me it is different!)

b) What confuses me is that the Marie Curie action page calls this 'Research and Innovation stuff exchange' (if you go back one page from the above, you get the link: http://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/apply-now/open-calls/index_en.htm), which should be named IRSE, not IF, which the following informative website suggests and informs that it is not something of interest for postdoc applicants, and I believe it (Link to the site: http://www.caroline-angelard.com/marie-curie-fellowship.php#Marie3), but when I click on the link on Marie Curie Webpage, it becomes 'Individual Fellowship'. Am I missing something in here?

FP7
Under FP7, which was the EU funding programme running from 2007 to 2013, the People Programme was offering the Marie Curie Actions. This programme considered two types of researchers:

Early-stage researchers are defined as those in the first four years (full-time equivalent) of their research careers, starting at the date of obtaining the degree which would formally entitle them to embark on a doctorate, either in the country in which the degree was obtained or in the country in which the research training is provided, irrespective of whether or not a doctorate is envisaged.

Experienced researchers must, at the time of recruitment (i) be in possession of a doctoral degree, independently of the time taken to acquire it, or (ii) have at least four years of full-time equivalent research experience, including the period of research training, after obtaining the degree which formally allowed them to embark on a doctorate in the country in which the degree/diploma was obtained or in the host country (irrespective of whether or not a doctorate was envisaged).

So you are correct to say that fellowships for experienced researchers can correspond to postdoctoral fellowships (although strictly speaking, someone without a doctoral degree might still be able to apply).
In FP7, experienced researchers could apply to four types of fellowships (together with an organisation):

Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowships (IEF)
Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowships (IIF)
Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowships (IOF)
Marie Curie Career Integration Grants (CIG)

The calls for these fellowships are now over, and as far as I know, these terms should no longer be used (apart to designate existing fellow).
H2020
We are now under Horizon 2020, and the Excellent Science pillar offers the Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions.
An experienced researcher can now apply to an Individual Fellowship (IF), which can be either European (replacing IEF) or Global (replacing both IIF and IOF). The next deadline for this call is on the 11/09/2014, September 11 of this year.
The programme is also providing a Research and Innovation Staff Exchange call , which corresponds to the previous IRSES, but it closed on the 24/04/14 (another one should open next year). So the link you mention with Staff Exchange is a typo, and it should read Individual Fellowship (and as a matter of fact, if you click on the link, you'll reach the IF page).
If you are interested in applying for an MSCA, I'll recommend the official Guide for Applicants.


Are professional association membership fees usually paid by one's institution? An academic usually is a member of a professional association. E.g., a professor in meteorology can be a member of American Association of Meteorology. Sometimes, the fee can be something like $300 per year. Is it always the case, that such membership fees are covered by the University (department) or a research institute? Are there exceptions?

The goal is to understand the prevailing norm (e.g., 40% (or 60? or 80?) of universities usually cover single association membership up to $500/year).

As you've already seen from the comments, there is no single solution to this problem. The rules vary greatly from country to country, institution to institution, and even department to department. You will have to check with the specific rules for your funding agencies, department, and other "revenue sources" to determine precisely which sources of funding can be used to pay for these.

(For instance, in Germany, a professor's "discretionary budget" could definitely be used to pay for such things; in the US, this may or may not be the case.)


Restroom and lunch breaks in medical school My apologies if this is not the right place to be asking this question.

My pregnant wife is an osteopathic medical student in New Mexico, and she tells me that the school does not always give them a lunch break or bathroom breaks during the day. Today she tells me that they are expected to stay from 8 am to 5 pm without a proper lunch break, and that they are required to take bathroom breaks during lectures because they only get enough time to walk from one class to the next.

So my question is, does anyone know if this is legal? Should the students be allowed at least a proper bathroom break a few times in the day?

I know the academic environment is a little different from the workplace, and that medical school is extremely challenging, but this seems to violate a moral code. I have tried the typical google searches, but nothing of substance presents. Beyond that I don't know where to check without paying for a lawyer or directly asking the school, which could potentially damage her reputation.

If anyone is able to help me out, please provide a source that I can refer to as well (I know this is standard practice). Thank you!

Edit:
Thank you for the feedback. I forgot to mention that the school is private (but not religious), though next year students can start using federal loans. They haven't treated her any differently than other non-pregnant students from what she tells me, I suppose I mentioned her being pregnant to underline my concern with this problem though.

Really the concern comes down to how someone (or a group of people) can be expected to work/study for 8 hours or more without even 1 proper bathroom break or an opportunity to get a proper meal. They are allowed to snack in class and they have a coffee shop in the building that sells muffins and such, but again they have to use these facilities during lecture times and it's hardly a way to get something substantial.

I don't think this is the day to day routine, but it is still common enough that it concerns me. I have trouble understanding why someone would subject themselves to these conditions or worse for 7 years at least (including minimum residency time), but I do have great respect for the sacrifice and perseverance.

Under Title IX, it's illegal for universities receiving federal funding to disadvantage students due to pregnancy. The Department of Education specifically calls out more frequent bathroom breaks as an adjustment that educators must provide to pregnant students.

  your school MUST:

  Allow you to continue participating in classes and extracurricular activities even though you are pregnant. This means that you can still participate in advanced placement and honors classes, school clubs, sports, honor societies, student leadership opportunities, and other activities, like after-school programs operated at the school.
  Allow you to choose whether you want to participate in special instructional programs or classes for pregnant students. You can participate if you want to, but your school cannot pressure you to do so. The alternative program must provide the same types of academic, extracurricular and enrichment opportunities as your school’s regular program.
  Allow you to participate in classes and extracurricular activities even though you are pregnant and not require you to submit a doctor’s note unless your school requires a doctor’s note from all students who have a physical or emotional condition requiring treatment by a doctor. Your school also must not require a doctor’s note from you after you have been hospitalized for childbirth unless it requires a doctor’s note from all students who have been hospitalized for other conditions.
  Provide you with reasonable adjustments, like a larger desk, elevator access, or allowing you to make frequent trips to the restroom, when necessary because of your pregnancy.

Your wife should first request more frequent breaks from her instructors. If this adjustment is not made, the Department of Education gives this list of steps to follow:

  Helpful Tips for Pregnant and Parenting Students:

  Ask your school for help—meet with your school’s Title IX Coordinator or counselor regarding what your school can do to support you in continuing your education.
  Keep notes about your pregnancy-related absences, any instances of harassment and your interactions with school officials about your pregnancy, and immediately report problems to your school’s Title IX Coordinator, counselor, or other staff.
  If you feel your school is discriminating against you because you are pregnant or parenting you may file a complaint:

  Using your school’s internal Title IX grievance procedures.
  With the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), even if you have not filed a complaint with your school. If you file with OCR, make sure you do so within 180 days of when the discrimination took place.
  In court, even if you have not filed a complaint with your school or with OCR.

  Contact OCR if you have any questions. We are here to help make sure all students, including pregnant and parenting students, have equal educational opportunities!

Bryan Krause suggested that she ought to escalate within the departmental (eg, officials within the medical school) before escalating the Title IX coordinator.


Can the editor of a book add citations of individual chapters to his own citation count? Supposed someone is the editor of a book, in which individual chapters of the book are contributed by different authors. Other researchers cite individual chapters of the book.

Can the editor of the book add these citations (for the individual chapters) to his own citation count?

No. Generally, an individual's citation count includes only work which they have authored or co-authored.

An editor counting citations of individual chapters of an edited book would be substantially similar to e.g. the editor of a journal adding to her citation count every time an article in the journal is cited. Definitely not an accepted practice.


Fraternity/Sorority and Graduate Application I'm going to start applying to graduate schools (Masters and PhD) for Economics in a few months primarily in the US, but also to a few schools in Canada, Australia and the UK. During my time as an undergraduate I joined a fraternity, and was relatively active in sorority on campus. I was wondering what effect my involvement will have on my chance of being accepted into the more competitive programs. I was also wondering in what ways should I display that information on my application/CV/resume?

While in a fraternity, I served as treasurer for the Inter-Fraternity Council (the governing body for fraternities on-campus) for two years. I was treasurer of my own chapter for a year, as well as president of my chapter for a semester--I stepped down after the first semester to run for CFO of the Associated Students (election still on-going).
My chapter has always been very friendly with the campus and has never gotten into any trouble; however, I fear the extra scrutiny brought on sorority may hurt me. My fraternity also has chapters at many of the schools I am planning on applying to, so I fear that that may also hurt my chances--either because the admission committee associates me with a rowdy chapter or because they might see it as a potential conflict of interest if I were to grade or TA for the department.

Non-academic activities do not count in any way towards graduate school applications unless they were successful or notable to a heroic degree.  E.g. if you sold cupcakes as an undergraduate and made some money doing it -- or were popular at your church / club / frat's socials by doing it -- no one cares.  If you sold your cupcake company for a million dollars, we'll care a bit: that's an exceptional level of competence and gumption, enough to reasonably expect that some of it will transfer over to whatever you put your mind to.  Essentially, unless you're getting national media attention for your extracurricular activity, don't bother.

(Note: @jakebeal says "non-research-related".  I think "non-academic" is more accurate: teaching / tutoring / TAing in your field is highly relevant.  Being an active member in an economics club which, say, brings econ faculty to speak on campus is relevant, though not a game-changer.  Also: please remember not to use "science" as a synecdoche for academia!)

Participation in "Greek organizations" is totally orthogonal -- I mean, has zero correlation; I MEAN: is completely irrelevant, either positively or negatively -- to graduate admissions.  To be honest, I find the suggestion that it could be viewed negatively quite far-fetched: there is no "conflict of interest" here, any more than a Jewish or African-American or Republican student has a conflict of interest in their dealings with other Jewish or African-American or Republican students.  An otherwise capable graduate student should be assumed to be capable of reasonable, professional behavior until evidence to the contrary comes up.

There is no reason to list this on any academic CV.  As I said in a comment, the only real negative I see is that by putting something on a CV which is completely irrelevant, you show an ignorance of what academics think is important which makes you look less clueful about what graduate school is really about.  It does so in such a mild way that I think almost any faculty member doing admissions would take it as a point of honor not to be influenced by this, but still: anyone who has read this question is now more clueful and knows to leave such things off an academic CV.

P.S.: Hold on:

  I fear that that may also hurt my chances--either because the admission committee associates me with a rowdy chapter

So you think that the graduate faculty in the economics department will see your affiliation with, say, Alpha Omicron Pi and say "Well, some fraternities are fine, but not that one -- they're trouble!"  Are you writing this question from the inside of an eighties movie?  In the real world in 2016, the majority of faculty live far away from campus and have precisely zero dealings with Greek life including whatever incidents may occur on campus, and in many departments, at least a substantial minority of faculty were educated outside of the US and are thus completely unable to tell one Greek organization from another.  As one data point: I live walking distance from campus and was educated in an American university with some amount of Greek life.  Thus I happen to know that "AOPi" is a sorority rather than a fraternity.  I would expect less than half of my colleagues to know that with any confidence.  The local chapter of AoPi is two blocks from where I've lived for many years.  What can I tell you about them as a group? Nothing.  Don't care.  Not my business.


As a new faculty, I lack the knowledge of fundamentals in my field. What should be the course of action under my special circumstance? Academics are supposed to be an expert in their field and should have a firm grasp on their subject of research. For example, my research is focused on Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and using finite volume method is my bread and butter. However due to various error in decision making, I never took a course on the subject. I just had an introductory course on transport phenomena and actual numerical method knowledge was acquired while pursuing research on a very practical basis.
My applied research involves using fluent software and I am able to produce decent publications using the software.
Now, as a faculty member, I am supposed to teach CFD to undergrad and graduate students.
How do I address my lack of structured fundamental knowledge on the topic? I will have to start teaching from next semester and I have the course material from a previous instructor, but I am clueless about half of the stuff as that never came across during my research. Also, it's mathematics heavy, I did not come across that in my research papers.
Do I take up the recommended book and study the entire thing, solving selected examples over the course of one month. Or any other way to expedite the process? Please advise.

You indeed need to master the topic that you will teach. So before each lecture, you need to make sure that you master the content to be able to teach it and to answer potential questions from students.
Having said that, you still have some control over the content that you teach during each lecture and how you teach it. Thus, you can sometimes select some parts that you prefer to teach over others. If you use some good textbook, then your job will be much easier.  So looking for a good textbook or teaching content online can help. And you only need to master the parts that you will teach.
Normally, you should be able to prepare 2 hours of lecture in 1 day or less, even if you are not very familiar with the topic. But if you have a good textbook it can be easier. So if you have one month, you have a lot of time in front of you.
Having said that, the life of a new faculty member is generally hard the first one or two years because of all the new courses that we usually have to teach. But then it gets easier as you teach the same courses again.
When I started to teach, I had to teach three new courses on a 1 week notice, including one that I was not familiar about computer networks. That semester, I worked hard everyday from morning to evening and took a one month online course at the same time to master the topic that I would teach the next semester. Then, after the first year, things got easier, and I focused more on research again.


Professor ranking system It is commonly accepted that professorship is the final rank of promotion in universities. I would like to study the possibility for promoting professors further. Is there any grading or ranking system for professors in universities?

Yes, there are some universities in the U.S. that have ways of promoting professors beyond the rank of "Professor". As you know, the U.S. system has a somewhat standard progression of Assistant Professor to Associate Professor to Professor.

Some universities add a fourth rank to this, often by the name Distinguished Professor. This rank is meant to apply to particularly special professors who continue to be highly productive and exceed job norms even after being promoted to Professor.

The other rank above Professor in the U.S. is related to named positions, often called named chairs. These are individual faculty positions that are funded by donations to the university (actually, funded by the interest). It takes a lot of money to create a named chair position, so they are relatively few in number. These positions are typically given permanently to one person, and then a new recipient is chosen when that person leaves the position. They are usually considered the most prestigious faculty positions in the U.S.  You can tell someone has one of these because the position usually has a name attached to it, e.g. Susan Q might be the "Joan Smith professor of chemistry". For example, see the list of named positions in science at Penn State.


How can a young student get a mentor? I am a young student. However, I do have a lot of curiosity and am very hard-working and will try my best to work with others and try my best to learn new things.

I have been reading Security Papers on Arxiv a lot (I am also confident with my knowledge) and conducting my own tests on security systems. I have got far with it and feel I am able to understand most of the papers in a certain field in security programming very clearly. I have also tested my skills across the field by helping out in certain forums and I feel I am worthy enough to start learning research techniques from professors or even help out trivially in research.

I am very interested in the field. I would just LOVE to research in it.
How can I get a mentor?

Two ideas:

Ask around for a student assistant job that can yield a first glimpse inside the world of research.
Write your thesis about one of the topics that you alluded to in your question. This can be a first step towards a paper and it is an opportunity to discuss your topic with a professor.


Is it possible to do good research on a certain area through self-learning the state-of-the-art of the area? I’m currently doing my masters in chemical engineering in a relatively unknown university here in the Philippines. For my master’s thesis, I am planning to theoretically model transport processes of spray drying of nutraceuticals. Neither my advisor nor any other professors here are experts on the subject.

I wish to know:

Is it still possible to do publishable or even outstanding research by learning the state-of-the-art of the area, specifically about transport modelling, by myself?
How can I approach this dilemma? (I just need the extra boost in confidence since I am wading through unknown waters here.)

I do have experience on research and writing papers as I have experienced it during my bachelors. Also, I do think people in my current department will be able to understand my research since the topic that I want to pursue largely deals with basic chemical engineering principles. Although, I'm quite in doubt really in my current course of action since none of them are experts on theoretical modelling.   I didn't publish anything from my bachelor's work, and I am still relatively a neophyte at research.

At some point in a research career you will need to learn directly from papers. Even as a practical programmer, when I wanted the absolute state of the art in an area, I would read academic papers, not wait for the material to show up in textbooks. A researcher often ends up knowing more about their topic than anyone else in the world, not just in their university, and must learn by means that don't depend on access to more knowledgeable people.

That does not mean your proposed course is a wise one at this stage in your career.

As I see it, student research has three objectives:

Learn how to do research
Collect evidence you can do research, in the form of degrees and letters of recommendation.
Contribute to the collective body of knowledge.

You need to decide the weight of these objectives for yourself, but generally the earlier you are in your studies and career, the greater the importance of the first two objectives.

The risk you are potentially taking is sacrificing the first two objectives at a relatively early stage. If your professors do not understand the subject of your research, they may be less able to guide you. It may also be harder for them to judge the quality of your research, which they need to do in order to grant degrees and write recommendation letters.

If you already have really good research skills, the first objective is unnecessary for you. However, if you had that much research experience I doubt you would be asking this question.

You might consider a compromise: Pick some research direction that fits with the research at your university but moves in the direction you want. For example, do a theoretical modeling project that models something your professors do know about.


How do I find similar research problems in other fields? I have published a paper about the combinatorics of adding a mixture of chemicals to a compound and observing a number of spectral peaks for this, which allows the user to gain information about the compound involved, while keeping cross-chemical effects low.

I am pretty sure the same approach not only occurs in my field of expertise, but also elsewhere in science, as this is a pretty abstract concept. Where can i find other problems like this, so that my algorithm can be solved by simply modifying the input/output of my software? A specific journal would of course only hold articles concerning my own field/their own field.

Here are some pointers that one can start with; on the multidisciplinary aspects of Combinatorics.

See Annals of Combinatorics

  Annals of Combinatorics will publish outstanding contributions to
  combinatorial mathematics in all its aspects. Special regard will be
  given to new developments which have yet to be given proper
  recognition, but which in the opinion of the editors show promise of
  eventual mathematical breakthroughs.

  Papers published in Annals of Combinatorics will not be limited to the
  field of combinatorics in the strict sense. They will range over
  problems and theories that have arisen, or will arise, in applications
  to computer science, biology, statistics, probability, physics and
  chemistry, as well as over work of a combinatorial nature in
  representation theory, number theory, topology, algebraic geometry and
  the theory of special functions.

See also Journals in Combinatorics and Related Fields and Preprint Links in Combinatorics. The site also has a list of  Open Problems in Combinatorics.

From the list of journals, find those are closely related to your requirements and subscribe to their email alerts or RSS feeds using Google Reader or the likes; for latest articles.

Hope these wiki articles (and the external links there) are already looked into; Combinatorics, Combinatorial chemistry, Outline of combinatorics, Combinatorics and physics


Re-typesetting an old paper, what to do with the result? I am using an old paper, published in 1986.
It is in the form of a "Letter to Nature" (which is a scientific journal).
It doesn't appear to be typeset in TeX, at least not TeX as we know it today.
Furthermore, it is a scanned copy, so it is just a image, embedded as a PDF.
The lack of multiline equations, and highlight-able text is getting to me.

I'm considering re-typesetting it myself by hand in LaTeX (it is quite short)
for my own benefit and understanding.

The paper is still being cited today, and is used in university courses to teach the subject. It seems a waste to have gone to the effort to retype it neater, and then just leave it in my draws.
If I re-typeset it, what can/should I do with the new version?

Can I host it online myself (giving full credit to the authors)?
Should I send a copy to authors, for them to do with as they will?
Are there issues with the fact that it has been published in Nature? Perhaps they have some copyright on it?

The copyright will be owned by Nature, so it would be illegitimate (and, as @AnonymousMathematician says, somewhat rude) for you to distribute it yourself.

However sending a re-typeset version to the original authors isn't distribution, but simply correspondence.  If they want to re-distribute this, they're in a better place to do so than you are.  This may not have occurred to them, and your action in suggesting they do so, will be at the very least encouragingly flattering!

I doubt Nature would be opposed in principle.  Their author licence policy says that ‘[Nature Publishing Group] actively supports the self-archiving process, and continues to work with authors, readers, subscribers and site-license holders to develop its policy.’  That's a fairly vague remark, of course, but many universities and funders now mandate 'self-archiving' papers, and journals have no option but to go along with this; therefore the authors may have already have a way of distributing this in a way which is low-hassle to them, and unobjectionable to the journal(s).

Detail: Authors aren't, typically, allowed to distribute the publisher's PDF version of a paper, but are increasingly allowed to 'self-archive' and distribute the 'post-refereeing authors' version' (that is, the same text as in the published version, but typeset by the author).

So, get in touch with the authors.  It sounds like you'll be doing the community a favour.


Editor asked me why to change the corresponding author I have one accepted manuscript waiting to be published. During the proof, I changed the corresponding author from me to my postdoc adivsor. Editor now asked why I made such a change.

What happened was that when I submitted my manuscript, I am the corresponding author by default. I failed to find any option to change it. So I planed to change it later on.

What shall I respond in order not to be rejected during this stage?

I am major in the theoretical relativity physics.

Update:

After nearly one week, my request finally is approved. I do not even have to fill out a form.

Just say what you said here: you intended the corresponding author to be one person, but accidentally set it to the other.  That's a fairly unexceptional reason to change and I wouldn't expect it to raise any major issues.


Are Scantron Sheets under Copyright? Or are there non-proprietary alternatives? Could my institution get into legal hot water if we were to make copies of blank Scantron sheets? If so, are there good free alternatives for machine readable bubble sheets?

The scantron forms and similar forms are not subect to copyright. US Copyright Office Title 37: Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights §202.1 Material not subject to copyright. (c) Blank forms, such as time cards, graph paper, account books, diaries, bank checks, scorecards, address books, report forms, order forms and the like, which are designed for recording information and do not in themselves convey information.

So to answer your question, no. As long as the school or university doesn't photocopy the actual scantron sheets from Scantron. inc. But it's not illegal for them to create their own version of the scantron sheets that can be readable by the official Scantron machine itself.

Plus, there are numerous companies, not even associated with Scantron. inc. in any sort, That sell scantron compatible sheets for cheaper prices than the 'official' scantron sheet. Amazon and eBay are full of them. So, yeah...


Do universities maintain secret textbooks? Textbooks are highly important resources for course work as well as for research work.

Some textbooks are freely available over internet. Some textbooks can be purchased.

Is it true that there exists secret textbooks available only for the students of that particular university and for no others?

I had this doubt because one of my batch mates claimed that there is a university (say X) has its secret textbook for students as well as researchers of that university only and it is a common practice for many top end universities.

Note that I am asking about textbooks only, not regarding teaching material and others.

I have never heard of a textbook being "secret" in the sense that it was being kept intentionally hidden to give students of one organization an advantage.

I have often, however, encountered draft textbooks that a professor had not yet completed or published, for which students were partly acting as "beta testers."  These are often not released for general use (for obvious reasons), and may be in preparation for many years, which could make them act something like a "secret" textbook.

Indeed, as the stage and organization of such documents becomes earlier and less formal, the boundary between "textbook" and "lecture notes" becomes unclear, and there are certainly some professors who are effectively writing a private textbook and just never get around to putting in the effort (or relaxing their perfectionism) to make it public.


Not listed as author despite doing statistical work I work in a medical field and recently contributed statistical analysis for a paper and was not listed as a co-author despite being told I would be. I spent a few weeks fielding questions about this paper and feel as though my contribution was significant. There are many people listed who I am certain contributed nothing to this paper.
Should I say something to my PI or just let it go? I understand the authorship likely can't be added to at this point but I want to express that I am slightly hurt. However since I am not vying for academic jobs I don't want to come off as being needy or petty since it ultimately won't matter for my career.
Any advice would be appreciated.

Talk to the PI who said you would be an author, or your boss, whoever you are more comfortable talking to first. Best to assume it was an honest mistake (there's really no cost to adding another author in medical sciences). There's a bit of gray area on when statistical support is included/not included in authorship in medical science.
Let them know you expected to be an author (and remind them of your previous conversation), but that you found a preprint that didn't have you listed.
A preprint is just a preprint; hopefully you can still be included on a submission of the paper to an actual journal.


How can I develop leadership skills in graduate school? I am currently in my second year of a PhD program. I have not yet decided on academia, industry, or entrepreneurship for a career, but in all these cases my success will be strongly influenced by my ability to lead and manage a team of students/postdocs, research engineers/technicians, or co-founders/employees.

I have found that graduate school offers no opportunity for practicing the kinds of interpersonal skills most relevant to leadership (delegating tasks, maintaining motivation, creating an inclusive atmosphere, resolving conflicts, etc.). Note that I distinguish leadership from teaching and mentoring. The closest thing I can think of would be to mentor an undergrad in research. The situation will likely be similar if I do a postdoc.

How can I practice or develop these skills while still in graduate school? Or what would be some important surrogate skills I should focus on instead?

Actually, I am surprised your graduate school doesn’t offer these kind of trainings. Graduate schools prepare PhD-students for their future life, whether in academia, industry or entrepreneurship. My graduate school offers for example also trainings on: leadership, group dynamics, teamwork, effective negotiation, autonomy and self management.

You probably have some room for ‘electives’ in your curriculum. Maybe you can use that room and follow your prefererred trainings in another (nearby) graduate school or in private sector. It may bring some additional costs and your department should be prepared to pay for it.

I would certainly contact your graduate school about your needs because these are legitimate and in line with the objectives of a graduate school. In my university graduate students can also contact an HR advisor to talk about their future career development. I would be highly surprised if your graduate school or HR advisor could not / would not help you in shaping your future path. Maybe your request even helps your graduate school to improve or expand its curriculum.


How honest should I be in disclosing not-so-exciting results? I'm a sociology undegrad working on an essay for a methods class. I'm also planning on submitting it as a sample for my application to grad school. I don't want to be too specific, but I believe that this work is quite original and my hypothesis would confirm previous literature, and all in all I think it would would make a good impression on the admissions committee.

So basically I've run the tests and I'm getting conflicting results. Using one dataset (which has more observations) gives me very significant results, while using another one (which would arguably be more accurate) doesn't give me anything. So here I am at a crossroads, and I've come up with three possible options as to what to do:

Only show the significant results. After all, this is just a ten-page essay, it's not supposed to be publishable or anything, right?
Only use the better dataset and admit that there just isn't much there - maybe blaming it on the small sample size or on the not-so-good dependent variable. Hopefully the committee would appreciate the honesty and the relatively advanced methods that I used.
Show results from both datasets, suggesting that the differences might be due to the sample size or maybe to chance.

As I type this I'm leaning more towards option 3, but I'd like to hear from people with more experience in academia. What should I do?

In research, you don't set out to prove that something is true. You set out to discover whether or not it is true. This would be knowledge. The other is just propaganda.

Negative results are not a failure. They give you evidence just as do positive results. If you ignore, or obscure, results you are lying to yourself and others. If you design an "experiment" so that it is guaranteed a priori to produce positive results, it isn't research.

Hoping that something is true isn't evidence. Many researchers start out with that idea. I think this is true. I really want it to be true. But if it is false, it is just as valuable (possibly more so) to know that and to be able to investigate why.

Report all your results. Try to explain why different aspects lead you in different directions. Only then can your learning begin.


References must be cited vs. need not be cited In reviewing publishing guidelines prior to submission to a journal, it is listed that "References need not be cited in text." This is also listed in the style guide for the associated professional society.

While simultaneously, the Elsevier guide for authors states "Please ensure that every reference cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa)." Likewise, a previous question asked on this board received almost unilateral support for  the one citation, one reference style.

My question is what purposes would there be for allowing uncited references?

Or alternatively, could someone clarify what is meant by "References need not be cited in text."

Edit to clarify: My interpretation of "References need not be cited in text" is that it is allowable to include a reference in the reference section of a manuscript without citing this reference in the text of the same manuscript.

This sentence is present on page 5 in the IEEE guide at:

https://www.ieee.org/content/dam/ieee-org/ieee/web/org/conferences/style_references_manual.pdf

The guide gives an explanation to it as follows:

References in Text: References need not be cited in the text. When they are, they appear on the line, in square brackets, inside the punctuation. Grammatically, they may be treated as if they were footnote numbers, e.g., as shown by Brown [4], [5]; as mentioned earlier [2], [4]–[7 ], [9]; Smith [4] and Brown and Jones [5]; Wood et al.[7]

This clearly means that numbers rather than the author name (s) are preferred to be used in the text. When author names are used, the guide gives some examples on how to cite them.


Distinguishing between my personal acknowledgements and those of all authors I am an undergraduate student and intern publishing a conference paper with a company I have been working with for about a year now and am trying to nail down the acknowledgements. I have never written a paper before. I have a few specific questions:

I am the only student-intern author and also the head author – how do I separate the acknowledgements of the group from my own personal acknowledgements?

Is it acceptable to thank the co-authors for guidance, encouragement, etc.?

Is it acceptable to thank the co-authors for guidance, encouragement, etc.?

No, not really. Well, it may be going a bit far to say that doing so would be unacceptable, but I can say two things:

I have never seen an author thanking one of their coauthors.
Thanking your coauthors in your own joint paper with them is illogical. The purpose of the acknowledgements section is to provide a space where the contributions of people other than the paper's authors, which were of too minor a nature to merit authorship, can be acknowledged, so that those people would get some minor (mostly of a psychological, feel-good nature) credit for their help. Your coauthors are already getting a much more major credit than that, so an acknowledgement to them adds nothing.

To summarize, if you want to thank your coauthors, do it in person. I'm sure they would appreciate it.


How to get rid of excessive 'silly' mistakes? While taking a test a student is bound to make some mistakes but I make excessive errors. It's not that I get a question conceptually wrong. I'll make a mistake in reading it or in simple arithmetic calculations.

This issue is not a new occurrence it's been haunting me since middle school. I've seeked advice from my teachers/parents/classmates they are always along the lines of:

Try to stay calm during the exam.
Practice more questions.
Read the questions properly.

I've done all of that. I try my level best not to make any mistakes but they just happen and it frustrates me to no end.

I distinctively remember my middle school math teacher  telling me that if I don't take care of my silly mistakes I'll pay the price later.

As a cocky preteen I brushed away her warning after all silly mistakes are just silly mistakes but she was correct. I did pay the price. I messed up an exam recently  and now  I won't be getting a  tier A university.

How do I stop making silly mistakes?

First, stop thinking about "Tier A" or "Tier B" or whatever "tiers" -- it's another kind of a silly mistake. You have the whole Internet in front of you, so gaining knowledge anywhere is not an issue.

Next, after supervising many different students, I tend to believe that some people are inherently unable to be meticulous. We indeed should discipline ourselves, and simple tricks do help. The best one is to write, put aside your writing, do something else, re-read later carefully and fix.

However, in general I think the best advice is to focus on your strong parts. Yes, perhaps, you won't win a medal for attention to details. So try to train yourself to the best of your abilities, but think what kind of future job/career would not be too demanding in this regard. Exams are quite artificial situations, hopefully in "normal" life you won't have to do often something quick and correct while the clock is ticking.


Junior professorship (W1) in Germany without full German proficiency I am a Computer Science PhD student aiming for an Academic career. One of the options I am considering after I receive the degree is to apply for a W1 professor position in Germany (Junior professor).

My question is very specific to Germany. Is there a chance I can become a Junior professor without being fluent in German? Most of the job postings I come across are actually written in German. Some of them do not mention German knowledge as a requirement, but it could be that it goes without saying.

I know that many courses, particularly in master programs, are taught in English. So I am sure there is a capacity to teach in English. But I am wondering if there is a culture of preferring and only accepting German speakers. Because if that's the case, I should start putting back up options.

Obviously I could work on my German. But my question is assuming I did not reach the required level of German until the time I start applying for Junior professorship.

You can certainly apply. I don't think German language proficiency will have a major impact on your chances, as long as your research record/profile is good and you are able to at least understand some German in case a student asks in German. Computer science students usually need to be able understand at least some English...

I disagree with earlier posts that you would be "expected to give undergraduate-level lectures". On the contrary, they would usually prefer you to give smaller (=specialized) classes until you have some more experience... Sometimes, you can find this in the advertisement.

However, German academia is very competitive!

We do not have a lot of professor positions, and it appears quite common to take 6-12 months to fill a position (make that 12-24 months for full professor positions)... according to Times Higher Education, Germany has the worst student-to-professors ratio (source). You may say, the German system is very efficient. We have few professors, yet we have a very high output of very educated people!

As far as I can tell, you need to:

be the best match for their plan
have had some third-party funding
have a strong track record (papers in top venues, awards, 100+ citations)
have been at different universities
have some teaching experience
convince them in person

So don't be surprised if you don't hear anything back (not even an invitation to present) on your first applications. Maybe you will get a negative reply after a year or two, when the new professor has arrived at his position. Maybe not even that. So, do not wait for an answer when you apply. Continue sending applications and making backup plans.

There is a reason why Postdocs ("Mittelbau") complain a lot in Germany (according to a recent study, even 50% of Junior Professors consider quitting academia because of the lack of perspective - most junior professor positions are currently not tenure-track). They do a lot of the work (both in research and teaching) and usually have only up to three years of work contract.


Should I retake my A minus class in my last semester? I am a senior who is planning on applying to psychology graduate program after a gap year.
In the past three years, I have been involved in research projects and also internships that greatly enhanced my understanding of the subject matter, and I believe going to a graduate school will definitely equip me better.

I am wondering if it is a wise move to retake a class (not a core class by the way) that I got A minus in. I have 4 other advanced classes that I am taking and I thought why not shove that A minus class in and get A. My intention is to see whether I can do better (slightly better...) this time.

What are the pros and cons of doing this, particularly when I apply to prestigious and competitive grad programs?

I appreciate harsh snaps as long as they are provided with reasonable explanations.

To add more details,

Yes, my university allows students to retake classes regardless of the past grade obtained, and while it will still be showing the retaken classes.

I am an international student from a (Far) Eastern country,
I have been studying in the U.S for 8 straight years, and I believe, in regards to psychology, the U.S appears to have the most leading programs in the world. (this might be debatable so please excuse me if my conviction is terribly wrong.)

Also, I aforementioned prestigious and competitive graduate programs.
What I meant are Research 1 universities.
Obviously, schools like Harvard and Stanford are in that long list of schools, but so do Arizona State University and University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

To be clear, my goal is to expand my knowledge and deepen my comprehension of the subject in where I have access to Professors, colleagues, connections, and resources with qualities. Eventually, I wish to obtain Ph.D but if it is too competitive and I fall short, I will go for Master first.

In completion of Ph.D, I hope to bring those experience back to my country where the discipline of cognitive psychology has been stagnant in general.

So, back to my original question,
I am wondering if I should retake the non-core class that I got A minus in my last semester as an undergraduate, when I have a room for another class to fill in. If I get that stupid A, I will be able to set my GPA to 4.0.

But that is all I get and if this works against my graduate application, I will reconsider.

Thank you all for these valuable comments.
I will take each and every one of that as a useful advice.

TL;DR: Probably not worth it. Take something else and expand your horizons.

From a knowledge perspective, you're not getting anything out of this. You got an A- in the course -- on a transcript, that should tell any graduate school that you understand the material in the course.

So any potential gain here would be for your GPA. On a 4.0 scale, an A- is a 3.7. If that 0.3 is the difference between a 3.5 GPA and a 3.4 GPA, go for it. Otherwise, find yourself another class and accept that you aren't perfect (nor will any graduate school expect you to be).


CC-licensing course slides I would like to share under a Creative Commons license some course material (slides) I created. However, I used (abused?) of duly cited non-cc sources such as books etc. to prepare the course material.

Does using copyrighted material to prepare a course prevent to distribute the slides and source under a CC license? What would be the best way to deal with such a situation, which I believe is quite common in academia?

I copied 1 or 2 figures verbatim (with proper citation) from statistics books.

You cannot release these figures under a CC license.  Even if we assume that you have the right to use them in this case, for example under fair use, you don't have the right to authorize others to use them in potentially very different ways.

However, you can easily get around this by excluding the figures from the CC license that applies to the rest of the slides.  See, for example, this blog post for further discussion of this issue.

  In some parts, I followed (and cited) the content/organisation of the class textbook quite heavily (not copied though).

This is a trickier issue.  The fundamental question is whether your slides could be considered a derivative work of the class textbook.  If so, then they are themselves a copyright violation if done without permission.  If not, then I think you're OK.

I'm not a lawyer and do not know how to draw a clear line for what constitutes a derivative work.  My understanding is that summarizing or explaining another work is not necessarily a derivative work, but for comparison an "abridgment" or "condensation" is a derivative work (under U.S. law, at least).  Where your slides fall on this continuum presumably depends on exactly what you did.  As a non-expert, I'd guess that you're fine unless you followed the book rather closely, but you should consult with an expert about the details of your situation if it really matters.


Discussing with university professors before being undergraduate I have applied for a computer science course at more universities, but one of them really convinced me with a very welcoming attitude. Even if I have not confirmed my place, I have a tutor and he introduced me to some professors in the university to discuss about some topics that I am interested in. But, I find myself in a rather delicate situation. I have just some basic knowledge in their subject, so a discussion with them wouldn't be so entertaining for them, I guess.

Of course, there are a lot of things that I would like to learn, and so many questions to ask, and they seem willingly to answer (actually, ever they do not know that, I will go to their university), so, to what extent may I ask them?

Most professors will enjoy talking about their subject with a student who is motivated and interested, so you shouldn't be bashful about asking them questions. Just try to ask "good" questions, as opposed to questions which can be easily answered with a moment's search on Wikipedia.


How to handle a possibly biased editor? Suppose a journal editor rejects a manuscript with only one reviewer’s feedback, but the few comments the reviewer and editor made were almost entirely minor comments (e.g. “use these units for this figure axis”, or “this section heading is misleading”).

Suppose one author shows the feedback to several trusted faculty members at their institution who are familiar with the work, and they say it looks like the reviewer, the editor, or both are feeling threatened by the paper and may be trying to make sure it doesn’t get published quickly, if at all.

A similar question has been asked here (How to deal with an unethical editor?), except that question was asking about an editor who was making up comments for a reviewer. Suppose the authors have no reason to believe that the editor is making up comments for a reviewer, as in that question, but do have reason to think the editor may have too quickly dismissed the paper (after only one reviewer’s comments rather than waiting for the second reviewer, and based on very minor details that should have prompted minor revision). Suppose, for the sake of the question, that the editor and perhaps the first reviewer indeed appear to be acting in bad faith, which of course would be difficult, if not impossible, to prove. In other words, what if several experienced researchers suspected real foul play, rather than a grad student feeling miffed about a rejection?

What options are available to the authors in such a situation? (This is not a “what should I do?” question.)

Background

This question is most useful to the community when it is asked generally, so I originally omitted details. Several have asked, so I am including vague details here, but my question is not about my colleague's situation — it's intended to be general.

I read the feedback. In my colleague's case, the editor rejected the paper based on the feedback from a single reviewer and their own reading of the manuscript — without waiting for the feedback from the second reviewer. Most of the comments were easily addressed (add a sentence here, change units on this figure, rephrase this confusing sentence there, etc.). A comment about some inconsistency in their approach seemed legitimate, and a section title was confusing. The first author, a grad student, sent the feedback to me and the faculty they talked with to see what we thought. There was absolutely nothing about the feedback that indicated it should have been rejected rather than sent back for revision. I'm also a grad student, so I do think much of my own opinion, plus it's not my field. Instead, I trust that the senior faculty who reviewed the feedback and called it highly unusual know what they are talking about. The editor was in a different (tangentially-related) field than that of the paper.

Probably not what you want to hear, but... There's the option of submitting it somewhere else?


Using sentences verbatim from a referee report without attribution Two part question

Part I

For a revised paper following a review by referees, to what extent is each of the following acceptable or unacceptable:

Use the exact sentence from a report without quotations or acknowledgement of the source?
Use a series of sentences (almost) verbatim from a report without quotations or acknowledgment of the source?
Repeatedly engage in 1. or 2., possibly to the point where sum total of a page in the revised draft are unattributed quotations from a report?

Part II

What the reviewer should do in case #3 above, when reviewing the revision in a subsequent round.  Should this be brought up in the report for the authors?  In private communication with the editor?  Both?  Neither?

If you are the reviewer, just let the editor know the plagiarism problem.  Hopefully this is prior to the paper getting out.

A reasonable outcome would be for the text to be paraphrased AND a more specific acknowledgment made "one reviewer for specific content in section 3".  I would gently suggest such to the editor.  "Please go ahead and take whatever action you feel best as editor, but I suggest modify the text and make a more specific acknowledgment".

An alternate outcome is to leave the text as is and become a co-author,  (If the contribution meets the threshold.  Perhaps it might on a review or theory paper.)  But I would not be seen as pushing for such an outcome and it comes with issues of its own (now you are tied to the rest of the paper).

If the paper was already published, I would still let the editor know, but I would copy the editor in charge (since the subeditor let the plagiarism of the reviewer text get by).  It's not the end of the world for the subeditor but he needs to be mildly held to account also.

All this assumes it is not some junky journal.  If it is and they don't take action, you should obviously stop reviewing for them (and shouldn't review for junky journals regardless).  If it is a conference proceedings the issue is a little trickier since they don't really have all the same systems and editorial strengths, but I would still notify both subeditor and editor of the problem.


Why do some PhD programs recruit only a handful of students and other recruit more than 100? See this. This university recruits only 5 students in the Faculty of Education.
Now, see this link. They admit 110 Ph.D. students per year. They have 79 faculty members.
Why do some Ph.D. programs recruit only a handful of students and others recruit more than 100?
Is the recruitment size only dependent on the number of research-faculty or some other factors that are also involved?

The reliability of a program depends on many things as does the number of slots available in a given year. I have no reason to doubt that the University of Lisboa is anything but reputable.
But, if they are willing to admit up to 110 students in a given year it doesn't necessarily mean that they will. They will apply some standards to every application and might fall short of the goal. The goal might change from year to year depending on graduation and drop-out rates. It might be half the next year, though unlikely.
But the reliability depends on the rate of graduation and where the graduates wind up and not on the absolute size of the program. In fact, there may be many specialties within such a faculty, so it may not seem so large to any particular student.
But a given faculty member can probably handle three or four (more?) doctoral students at a time if they are in different stages of their programs. Some can handle many more, depending on the organization.
Look to other factors.
I was in a large program, though not quite that big. Things have gotten bigger since that time, also. But the research seminar I was in had about three faculty members and half a dozen students. Graduate classes had about 30 students, and the entire graduate student population was spread over many courses. It can work and still have high quality. In fact there can be a certain synergy that comes with a large faculty.


Should I include a research in my thesis which does not have a direct connection to its title? Let's say that my Ph.D. project was about mitigating the problem X (e.g. analyzing the specific type of datasets) from different perspectives (CS field), for which one of the methods I have developed was algorithm A.

However, I also developed the algorithm B, which belongs to the same overarching category that also Algorithm A belongs to, but it does not apply to problem X.

Even though I also published Algorithm B as an individual conference paper, I'm not sure if I can bring it in my dissertation. It is a novel method, but not related to the main problem (or the dataset type) that my Ph.D. project is about. So, I'm not sure if I can include it in my Ph.D. thesis despite the time I spent developing it.

In many cases, it comes down to your defense and the work you've done, and the thesis is a document for you. You can include, or not include whatever work you want.

I'm speaking from a PhD in the natural sciences in the US, different countries and subjects have different rules and guidelines.


I want to remove an article in IEEE, accepted but not published yet Now I am facing a very serious problem that I have to remove an article which is accepted by IEEE but will be published till the end of 2019.

Due to some conflicts of interests(we finished this manuscript last year, this is my idea at the first place, and I finished the data analysis and processing part, all of the experiments, professor X wrote part of the document), he wants to hold the paper and wait for a top journal, but I'm in an urgent circumstance to graduate. So after half a year anxious waiting, I submitted this paper without noticing him.

Until this paper was accepted to be published, I struggled for a very long time, so after I realized my mistake, I took action on this matter immediately. Firstly I negotiated with the professor X, He was tough on this thing and disagree with my behavior. After mature consideration, I want to completely remove the article and contact with IEEE Journals Coordinator immediately.
This negotiation has lasted several months，and now I hold the firm attitude that I have to remove this article no matter what kind of excuse it will be given. It cannot be seen on any version no matter online or offline. Still waiting for IEEE's reply, and could you all please give me some advice under this circumstance? Many thanks!!

So, the issue here is that you submitted a paper without the consent of one of your co-authors? Write to the editor of the journal explaining that, and ask for the paper to be retracted. Even if you’ve agreed to give them your copyright, your coauthor hasn’t, so they wouldn’t be allowed to legally publish it anyway.


A question regarding renewal of postdoc fellowship, and the mentor not making the picture clear I'm a postdoc in Europe on a one year contract, where the renewal is not necessarily guaranteed. When I was interviewed, I was told that the his grant was for a year, and whether it'd renew would depend on the results of his next grant application. After my mentor hired me and things were confirmed, I noticed at least two other advertisements posted by him looking for postdocs, even with slightly increased salary. When I eventually talked to him about renewal, his response was: "I'd first like to work with you and see how you do". When I was hired by him, I was already in my third year of postdoc, and indeed in a top school in the US. Several times he had reminded me that the time is limited-one year, and pushed me to work fast.

Based on the above, I suspect that it's not the case that he doesn't have funding. Questions: Is he telling me lies? Is what he's doing a standard thing to do? I ask this, because I find this rather sketchy and selfish-the mentor wants to divide the money in more than one postdocs to maximize the publications as quickly as possible, but it really doesn't give the postdoc a stability. As you see, I cannot ask him directly about the follow-up advertisements, because obviously he'd say it's none of my business. I think I understand his view-he doesn't want to take a risk, but given that I was already a senior postdoc at a top 20 US school, was productive, switched to something very related and was the first choice for this postdoc position, I don't find a basis for his hesitation.

I'd very much appreciate your opinion and reflection on this topic. I bolded the questions so that there's no confusion of what I want the answer to.

I find "I'd first like to work with you and see how you do" perfectly reasonable and that's probably his actual position on this issue. What he said during the interview ("depend on the results of his next grant application") is probably also true, just not the whole truth. He wanted you to accept the position after all. As you know, until a contract is signed you have nothing.

Try setting up regular feedback meetings so that you know "how you do" and can try to improve your performance (and his perception of it) and can adjust your search for the next position accordingly.


Pursuing a master's in mathematics with eyes on a PhD: Will a D or C in graduate Analysis 2 ruin my chances? I'm a master's student currently, with a focus in pure mathematics. I would like to  apply to PhD programs this fall at other universities (as well as the program at my current university).

Last semester I got an A in graduate Topology and graduate Analysis, but a C in graduate Algebra. I am going to retake the Algebra class this fall (required to get a B for my concentration.)

This semester has been rough. The second half of the graduate Topology sequence is going well, but I'm struggling in Analysis. Right now I'm feeling like I'll be lucky to get a D, but I'm holding out hope that if I throw myself into it I can squeeze out a C.

My undergraduate transcripts are good, but not stellar. They got me admittance and funding here. I might look into some research next year, but probably not before my applications go in.

Will I still be able to get into a PhD program? I'm not looking to go to a top school, but I was looking at some that are bit nicer - UVA, UMD, etc.

Sorry, I think I have to be blunter than the other answers.

Unless there are extenuating personal circumstances that have led to your poor performance, a C or D in one core graduate course combined with a C in another core graduate course (even if you will retake the course, presumably with a better grade) should make you seriously question your goal of getting a PhD.  Keep in mind many lower-ranked programs admit students in part so that they can have cheap labor to teach classes, while hoping rather than expecting that the student will be able to earn a PhD and get a job using their degree afterwards.  This means you could easily be admitted to some programs without necessarily having a high expectation of success.

Most PhD programs in (pure) math will require you to take comprehensive exams in analysis and in algebra.  Generally speaking, the problems on these exams will be like the most difficult problems in the final exams for your courses, although you will not be expected to solve all of them to pass.  Unless your current professors are exceptionally tough graders, or you have something else going on that indicates your performance this year is not indicative of your mathematical abilities, or you have some sudden gain of insight that significantly improves your ability to solve math problems, you will likely have great difficulty passing these exams.

Moreover, while there are quite a few exceptions, generally speaking, your ability to learn graduate level mathematics is correlated with your ability to do research.  Therefore, difficulties with your courses suggests that you are likely (but not certain) to have difficulties writing a dissertation.  (Since you might be doing a research project next year, you might have more information about this then, so I wouldn't give up yet, but keep this in mind.)

Finally, the job market in pure mathematics is quite dismal and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.  Someone graduating with an average or mediocre dissertation will not get a postdoc.  If you are a good teacher (and you presumably have some idea by now of whether you could become one or not), you can get a teaching-oriented position, but you can (in reality, not just theory) get most community college positions and many lecturer positions with a Masters degree.  There are almost zero industry positions that you can get with a PhD in pure math that you could not have gotten with a Bachelor's degree (and an undergraduate record that can get you into graduate school).


Is it possible to become a tenure track Assistant Professor at the same university where I did Post Doc? I know that there is such thing as "intellectual incest" and that many universities are against hiring their own PhD graduates for their faculty positions.

But what about the movement from being a Post Doc to a Tenure Track Faculty at the same university? If a person did his PhD at University A, and did Post Doc at University B, would it be possible for the person to get hired as a tenure track faculty at University B straight from his Post Doc position? and if yes, why doesn't the "intellectual incest" apply in this case?

Thank you,

I think this might vary by institution, but for most, at least in the US, there wouldn't be any problem with such a move. Of course, you are unlikely to get any advantage in your application and regulations most places will require that you be treated like any other.

I know of one situation like this in which the university really wanted to keep a post-doc so wrote the specification for the tenure track job that matched him nearly perfectly. Nearly everything except the Father's middle name. They sent out the required national search and got back three candidates (among many others) that seemed to be a better fit (on paper) than he was. But he got the job in the end.

So, not impossible (most places) but likely no advantage either.


Is it acceptable to use working hours to read general interest books? Every year are published around a dozen of books directly related to my research. By directly I mean on the same topics of my research, normally by authors I am familiar with, and potential reference sources for my current or future research. Some are fairly technical, but others can be of more general interest, or, for example, more on the policy side. I think it is not controversial that one uses "normal working hours" (e.g. whilst in the office) to read these books.

However, my problem is with books that are not directly related to my research, but which pertain to topics that might be indirectly related to it, or which I think might be interesting to explore in order to foster interdisciplinary work, or which are of another sub-discipline I don't research on, or books that refer to academia and science in general, or to teaching. Naturally, there are hundreds of these books published every year, and I do not aim to read them all. But some are of particular interest to me.

Is it socially acceptable for one to use "working hours" to read these books? Or are these expected to be read only outside work, e.g. on weekends, or holidays, or so? What's your experience on this?

Context: I'm a standard "early career researcher" in academia, with both research and teaching responsibilities.

It's socially acceptable to do (almost) whatever you want during academic "free time". Ultimately what matters are the results you produce, and as long as you're able to do that most people will not care if you're reading general interest books, drinking coffee, or answering questions on StackExchange.

Of course, if you have assigned duties (e.g. teaching duties) then using that time to read books is not going to be permissible.


Can research papers postulate a theory without proof or assurance of correctness? What I mean is, can research papers be written on a problem for which there is a solution postulated but without any actual proof or working model to show that it does work?

To give context, the problem is in the context of Computer Software, and the solution provided is not backed up with a proof of concept.

Sure. All kinds of papers get written and submitted all the time. The best ones have strong empirical data or formal proofs to back them up. Others ... are based pretty much on opinions or hot air.

Of course, you are likely actually asking whether such a paper has a chance of acceptance at a reasonable venue. Here, the answer depends on the field as well as on the type of conference or track you are submitting to. In fields such as math, a paper where you are basically just speculating will (based on my limited knowledge of mathematical research) have close to zero chance of acceptance in pretty much all journals. Computer science is often more forgiving, particularly if the idea is interesting enough and the reviewers believe that it will work. Further, in Computer Science there are (even well-respected) conferences and tracks that specifically target position papers, essays, or "reflection" papers (see for instance Onward!, co-located with OOPSLA). For Onward!, no real scientific evaluation is required, however, you will need something to substantiate your ideas (e.g., some proof-of-concept implementations, initial studies, ...).

One non-obvious fact about such "opinion-based" papers is that they are actually much harder to write than ones that are based on hard science. If you conducted a thorough study on a subject, your data will go great lengths for you. Even if you don't tell the story of your research in the best way, if you have good, hard data, your results alone may carry you. If you write an opinion piece for a competitive conference such as Onward!, your writing needs to carry you all the way.


Same citation in multiple paragraphs (undergrad paper) What I currently have is:

paragraph 1

paragraph 2

paragraph 3 [1].

With that I want to show that I am citing all 3 paragraphs from the same source. But appearently this is not right. Is it enough that I do?

paragraph 1 [1]

paragraph 2 [1]

paragraph 3 [1].

How about, assuming that [1] was written by Smith:

Smith notes, that ....... [1, p. 42]

Furthermore, Smith asserts that .... [1, p. 13]

Smith is also of the opinion that .... [1, p. 92]

You want to give the EXACT reference so that your reader can find it. And you want to clearly mark what is from you and what is from Smith. It goes without saying that the text in your paragraphs MUST be in your own words and not copied from Smith. Otherwise you need quotation marks.


What is equivalent degree of Masters by research degree in the USA? There is a degree called “Masters by research” in Australia, in which a researcher basically researches for two years(full time) on the topic or research problem(differs from Phd on many aspects especially minimum requirements).

What is its equivalent degree in USA?

Is it MPhil? Are they both same or are they different? (may be based on entry requirements, task done and degree completion requirements).

As far as I know, both require dissertation but there are not many taught courses in Masters by research and you are expected to make some unique contribution to knowledge body.

Is MPhil restricted to certain faculty such as arts or it can be in any fields (For e.g., computer science)?

I am bit confused as some Australian universities also offer MPhil in addition to master by research degree and I could not find degree called "Masters by research" in US universities.

Can anyone please clarify?

In my experience, there isn't a separate degree in the US for achieving your Masters degree through research. In fact, in many places, that's the only way to do so. At the university where I received my Masters degree, you had three options, all of which granted the same degree:

Coursework - Take something like 30 course hours.
Coursework + Project - Take fewer hours (around 20 - 24) and do a larger project than a normal project course.
Coursework + Thesis - Take fewer hours (around 20 - 24) and do a smaller thesis than a PhD.

Many universities don't have of the options and just have #3.


How do you read, learn from, and assess a textbook? This seems like a vague question, but please bear with me before voting to close it:

Often times, when searching for a good textbook on a particular subject (mostly mathematics or physics), I see users who confidently suggest multiple textbooks on this same subject. (Here is a good example.) My guess is that these users have not actually read through each of these textbooks page by page.

I'm currently going through a few textbooks to learn and/or brush up on different subjects. I am reading them carefully, doing the exercises, taking notes on things I don't understand, etc. A chatper, at best, takes me a couple of weeks (and I spend the majority of my free time studying).

This being said, how does a person read these text-books in-depth enough to have a founded opinion on their contents? Is it done after already knowing the material?

(I know this is a strange, perhaps difficult to answer question, and I'd be glad to take any suggestions or criticisms to better it).

Personally, outside of the elementary level I find there are very few (single) textbooks that I can read and understand the subject.  I find it very useful (although cumbersome, and oft expensive) to acquire multiple books on the same subject, so I can read sections from each side by side.  A given author may be better most of the time, but there are enough places when self-studying that I get lost that I need to seek additional explanations or examples.

The opinion of the use of the other books I think comes from answering whether it was it useful for me when learning the subject area.