How can I withdraw a publication from a predatory (fake) journal and resubmit to a legitimate journal? I have published a paper in a fake journal. I want to withdraw the paper from that journal.

After successful withdrawal from the fake journal, can I can submit the same paper to a legitimate journal?

I see two main barriers for this to happen, and I would not attempt to cross either unless the circumstances were truly exceptional.

If your paper is already published, you will most likely have transferred either the paper's copyright or a very wide license to the original journal. You can probably force the journal to retract the paper, but if you want the copyright you will have to ask for it back, and it is legally up to them whether they want to give it back or not.
Most journals have a policy of only accepting works which have not already been published. This would make it very hard for your paper to get into the second journal, and the editors would most likely have to make an exception to their rules. This is up to them, and I would advise you to contact them beforehand to see whether they would be willing to do something along these lines.

The worst case scenario is one where the paper is very visibly retracted, you do not get the copyright back, and you cannot republish it anywhere. I can't really imagine any degree of shadiness of the original journal that would make this outcome preferable, because a retraction will leave a very visible, very black mark on your publication record for a long time. As mentioned in the comments, retractions are vivid indications of academic misconduct, plagiarism, or just plainly incorrect findings, and rarely of anything else. Therefore, you should be really careful that this doesn't happen.

I would advise you to take this in stages. First, read all the documentation you have available. Read very carefully, in particular, anything you have signed, either in paper or electronically, to the original journal. Check all their publicly available policies, and particularly those on licenses and copyright. Check also what your new target journal states as their requirements that submissions be 'new, unpublished work'.

Armed with this information, contact your new target journal first, to see if they will re-house your paper after it's been withdrawn, and what conditions they would require for this. Do not move forward until you have good assurances of a good home for your paper, or you risk ending up with a homeless paper.

After that, you should contact the original journal. If you gave them the copyright, you will have to ask for it back but you should be prepared for them to say a plain no. I suppose that if you gave them a more restrictive license then you can ask that they take it down and find out how you can revoke it, but you should be aware that author contracts do not normally include anything like that. Be polite and explain why you are doing things but be prepared for things to turn adversarial; you are after all out to affect their revenue stream.

Mostly, though, why don't you consider your options in terms of fixing the damage this publication has done to your record? Publishing in a predatory journal without knowing it is something that can end up happening to anyone (which is why one should always exercise maximum care when opting for a new publication venue).

Keep in mind that the venue of publication does not affect the quality of your paper, but only (potentially) how it is perceived by others. This can be palliated by other means: for example, take the paper to conferences and explain and defend your findings to your peers. Work especially hard at making sure the material finds its way to the hands of people who will use it and cite it, and that will help validate it as good research in a possibly shady journal.

If the journal is not very visible or accessible, post it to an eprint repository if it is possible (though of course only if other republication options are exhausted and allowed by your original journal, or if you are prepared for your relation with them to turn adversarial). Consider building a bigger paper, formally a derivative work, which you can then publish in a journal you're happier with.

In short, there are many options available to mitigate the damage done by a paper in a journal you (and whatever review boards you might come across) don't like. Think them through before you attempt something which is as potentially damaging as this.


What should you do when your supervisor suffers from Dunning Kruger effect? My supervisor wants to borrow some ideas from another sub-discipline into his own sub-discipline. The problem is he is suffering from Dunning Kruger effect. He just has some very basic knowledge about that sub-discipline. He thinks he has a very deep understanding of that sub-discipline and he doesn't need to invest time as they are too low level details to spend his time. As a result, he comes up with some wild hypotheses (anyone who has good understanding of that domain will simply know it doesn't make sense) or something that's obviously true. And he keeps arguing that his hypotheses are true and noble. As he doesn't have good understanding of that domain and he thinks it's too low level detail to spend his time. So after some time, the whole argument turns into opinion based arguments, no longer fact based or reasoning based arguments. Then he becomes very rude and keeps demeaning us (me and another PhD student).

He doesn't allow us to work on or discuss our own hypotheses, he simply discards them without giving any constructive feedback or any reason why we shouldn't work on or discuss them.

At the end of meeting, after long arguments and rectifying my supervisor's hypotheses, he claims he is the one who came up with these amazing hypotheses and we didn't contribute anything in the research, we just did the experiments.

Now meeting with my supervisor has become emotionally exhausting and unproductive for me. We are wasting time because he thinks he has deep understanding of this new domain.

Just to make it clear, I am not saying he is not smart. He is a smart person. But he doesn't understand this new domain and thinks he has deep understanding.

This seems on the border of a "Here's my story, now what do I do?" type question.  But the title question seems reasonable.
If you feel like your advisor does not have enough knowledge about something to usefully direct you: first, try to get some independent confirmation that that's true.  The Dunning-Kruger effect may not be cutting in the direction that you think.  But assuming it is: you either need to direct your research towards your advisor's expertise -- this is, by the way, a quite normal process in most student/advisor relationships, as academic knowledge is vast but in order to make progress most academics are highly specialized -- or you need to find a different advisor.  In your case

At the end of meeting, after long arguments and rectifying my supervisor's hypothesis's, he claims he is the one who came up with these amazing hypothesis's and we didn't contribute anything in the research, we just did the experiments.
Now meeting with my supervisor has become emotionally exhausting and unproductive for me.

it sounds like you have lost faith in your advisor.  Consider looking for someone else.


Is it advisable to add an appendix section in a review paper? Background: There is an untapped aspect of a domain which I am currently writing a review paper in. The review paper is encompassing the domain in general.
I want to add a short one page proposal of that "untapped aspect" so as to carry forward future research. I plan to add this in the review.
Options

Should I just leave it out of the review and draft that as a separate paper with personal experimentation?
Should I add it as a appendix in our paper? (no experimentation).

Should I go for option 1 or 2?
Note: There is no page limit and appendixes are allowed in the journal.

If the paper has been refereed and the referee has not suggested adding an appendix, you should not do Option 2 (or at least you need to get a permission from the handling editor/referee). If the paper has not been refereed yet, you can do whatever you and your co-authors want. Option 1 (publishing a 1-page separate paper) is bad.


Searching for open source literature management software I recently started my PhD and now try to find a convenient software for managing my literature research. What I want it to be able to do is:

Let me highlight PDFs
Add notes to PDFs
Add tags to my literature
(as a bonus:) load methadata and create bibtex files

I personally really like Mendeley as it does pretty much exactly that. At my institute we have a strict open source policy though, which excludes Mendeley. Is there an open source alternative to Mendeley, which runs under Linux Gnome?

Thanks for your input.

I have been in your shoes before and am currently looking for some form of pdf organization.

Here are a few alternatives : http://alternativeto.net/software/mendeley/

What I use, is dropbox.  I even dropped Mendeley because it didn't sync well with android for annotations.  I can favorite papers I need to have on my phone/tablet at all times and always have access to them.  My fellow cohort feels the same way about the lack of pdf organization as we generally just print out what we need.  I've been searching for years and the only thing I can come up with is paper.

Sorry this is isn't more useful, but from my experience, paper is really the way to go.


What a PhD student should do when their supervisor orders them to have a name on their paper just because of grant purposes? We are preparing a new paper and my supervisor tells me that we have to put the name of a person on our paper because he was involved in getting us the grant. He says it is because of future grants and that we want to show that he was involved in the research -- and obviously he was not. I think we are supposed to work with him on the last year of my PhD, but not now. My supervisor already knows that I am against it and tells me that this is an “order” and it is because of some sort of “politics”. I can reject but I am not sure what are the consequences. What a PhD student should do in such a situation?

Have you written a grant proposal? My SO at the time was a prof and geochem research scientist. She has generated millions in grants for her collaborators, students and herself to push their research forward. The latest grant I saw her work took many months gathering data and papers, hashing out schedules and compensation for collaborators, students and contractors. She had to prospectively estimate everything from travel costs for the people gathering samples, to costs for reactor and instrument time.

Would her time have been spent better doing science or assisting her students? Absolutely, but grant writing can be difficult as it requires intimate knowledge of the discipline and particular work being done on the project. This is a difficult role to fill that is usually done by researchers themselves, if they want to stay in the "biz".

If she wasn't already one of the lead authors on this research, I would say she undoubtedly deserved to be named on the project. Just because you are writing a paper does not mean the paper is your final product. The paper is a description of your final product, the process of creating the product, and credits those who assisted.

The person that procured your grant absolutely assisted in your research, consider how your project would have gone without it.


Student doesn't want to take credit for his own extraordinary paper I am the advisor of an absolutely brilliant but unusually young student.

He has written an outstanding paper relating to this field, one which I am extremely certain will be worked upon and appreciated by many, because of the paper's influential value.

However, he has asked me to publish the paper under my own name because he wants to "expose himself to the insights of others regarding his own insight." He doesn't want to publish under his own name, because he feels that when people find out that the author of the paper is so young, they'll give him the treatment that a clown gets in a circus; praise and praise. Such praise he believes is extremely detrimental to this stage in his career.

He says, further, that he doesn't want to feel like some child prodigy, which in turn feels like being some painting on an exhibition that people admire and later walk by, and that it's likely for his peers to feel "intimidated" or be struck by some other negative thought which will come naturally.

I insisted that none of these things will happen and that he should take the credit for what he has rightfully done, but he says, "They need to know and if you publish this paper, they will know. And if I publish this paper, they will know and later forget."

I don't know what to do in this scenario.

If he's a PhD student, he has to publish papers regardless of his age. I doubt many journal publishers would ask for the authors age (even the top tier ones). Make him understand the importance of publication and his destiny as a researcher.


Can a poor work history reduce your chances of acceptance into graduate school and/or later securing a tenure-track position? In my last post (re: financial feasibility of grad. school), I mentioned having a poor work history (I'm 38 and haven't worked except for a few years of self-employment years ago), and some said that I would have difficulty competing with applicants with stronger employment histories. I don't believe employment history is relative to academic performance, however.
The reason for my lack of prior work history is because I was bored at most jobs and found that my personality isn't suited for traditional employment. Would a graduate school admissions committee (this would be for a master's program) hold this against me despite good academic performance? Additionally, assuming one completes a master's degree and PhD, would tenure-track jobs (or even post-docs etc.) be suspicious of an applicant's lack of prior employment history?

As most things, it would depend. However, given the cumulative information from your posting history, I believe that your spotty work history would be flagged as a concern. Graduate committees will most likely focus first on your letters of reference, transcripts, and Statement of Purpose - not necessarily in that order.
What is unique about your situation is that you are 38, and as you say, you have not worked except for but a few years. If you were much younger, a sporadic work history might not be flagged as seriously. If you apply, you will need to be prepared to answer, why in your 38 years, you haven't been able to 1) find a career or 2) hold any type of regular position.
As far as tenure-track jobs, they will most likely focus on 1) your research output and 2) your letters of reference during your PhD.
If you feel that your sporadic work history is going to work against you, be ready to address this in your Statement of Purpose and work hard to get three good recommendation letters.


What position should a young researcher moving to a UK university apply for? Having obtained by PhD in Computer Science five years ago, I have been working in R&D projects for the last years. I want to pursue an academic career and I am currently considering moving to UK. As far as it concerns my academic qualifications, very roughly, I have 8 journal publications, an h-index of 8 by google scholar, and a little teaching experience in university education.

The variety of titles in UK job openings is somewhat confusing: (Postdoctoral) Research Associate, (Senior) Lecturer, Research Fellow, etc. And then, there are open-ended and fixed-term contracts.

The question is: what kind of positions would it be best to aim for? In other words, what kind of position would correspond to my skill-set, given that I am interested in evolving academically (research and teaching)? And how could I improve my CV towards this?

I don't think it is feasible to make a sure-fire estimation of what "level" you would be considered to be on without knowing many details (and then the question would likely become too localized for SE anyway).

Further, job titles and positions are not standardized between universities or, in some cases, even between different labs within the same university. What's called a Research Fellow in one place could be a Research Associate in another, and simply a Postdoc in the third. However, there are (typically) some "groups" of jobs:

PhD students (which you clearly don't fall into, given that you already have a PhD)
Non-professoral, non-student researchers (postdocs, various soft-money research positions)
Junior Professors and Professors (I'll lump into this everything from lecturers, senior lecturers, and actual professors)

You will likely fall into the second group, maybe you could also hunt for a lecturer position (i.e., the entry-level position of the third group). If you want to stay in research, you should aim to sooner or later get into the third group. However, typically, these jobs are significantly more competitive to get than postdoc jobs.

  And how could I improve my CV towards this?

Papers, papers, papers. I think your background in an R&D lab can be sold as a boon ("I have industrial experience, while still not being out of touch with research!"), but at the end of the day, papers are what people really look at.


How does ORCID work? Will the ORCID appear in the article people write? I could not find an article in which ORCID was included. Can somebody point out some examples if there are any?

ORCID identifiers do not mean much when you write them on the first page of a paper. Humans usually prefer to see affiliations or email addresses, because they carry more meaning.

However, ORCID iDs are very useful when they are included in the metadata associated with the article. This helps search engines and research information systems identify the authors the paper. As this metadata is rarely shown directly to users, it is not so easy to observe ORCID iDs in the wild. Here are a few examples:

Some papers registered on CrossRef or DataCite have ORCID iDs associated with their authors. For instance, you can search for the papers associated with 0000-0001-5556-6616.
Some repositories also store ORCID iDs, such as Zenodo: for instance, this paper has an id in its metadata.
Some research information systems such as Dissemin display ORCID identified authors with the ORCID logo, as in this example.


Efficiency techniques for recording screencast lectures I use notetaking software on my tablet to write lecture notes, and then I record myself reading and explaining my lecture notes. I use those recordings as teaching.

However, I find it very time consuming to produce good videos that way. I do not enter the same 'engaging' mode as when standing between an audience and a huge black board. I frequently get muddled, forget what I want to say, and falter.

I usually edit those videos but I believe it must be possible to deliver videos with a presentable performance right from the get go.

Recorded lectures only seem harder because you are listening to yourself afterwards.  I think if you never listened to them or thought about listening to them you would not notice the difference.  Listening to yourself or watching yourself perform is always painful because it's never as good as the imagination.

I recommend limiting your lectures to three minutes.  That might seem extreme, but it's what I was taught by several experts and in my experience it works.  Several reasons:

Shorter recordings are less likely to have serious mistakes, so less gets discarded
A normal student's attention span is 3-5 minutes.  If you lecture longer than that, they can't pay attention.  Target your lectures to less than the attention span, because they tend to turn out longer than planned.
Faculty attention spans are not much longer than students'.

Separate your lectures with activities.

Also, during a crisis isn't the time to do a perfect job.


Is there an RSS feed for academic jobs published on Euraxess? Euraxess is an European platform collecting academic job offers.

There was previously an RSS feed at http://ec.europa.eu/euraxess/rssJV.cfm. However, this URL is dead.

Is there a new RSS feed for academic jobs published on Euraxess?

The new RSS feed URL is https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/job-feed (given by Support team over email)


Can a conference paper with all weak reject get accepted at the end? Those who have experience in setting in conference program committees: can a paper with all "weak reject" reviews get accepted for publication at the end?

If nobody wants to accept the paper, it shouldn't get accepted.  This holds even for workshops and symposia with very loose standards, as the reviewers should be making their judgements based on those standards (e.g., "this paper is pretty half-baked and poorly written, but we're just looking for interesting ideas to discuss, so it's a weak accept").

Thus, the answer ought to be no, it cannot be accepted (except in certain unusual cases, such as the organizers deciding there is a hidden nugget with value enough for shepherding to improve the paper).

A struggling, eccentric, or fraudulent organization, however might just not care, and accept it anyway. If you have this happen to a paper of yours, you may wish to reconsider whether you really want to publish it in that venue.


Can a grad student take undergrad classes? Maybe a dumb question, but for example: say I'm doing a PhD in Theoretical Physics (I'm not) but I need to have taken certain undergrad math courses to understand the material, which I never took in undergrad. Do grad students ever end up in undergrad classes for this reason, or do they just learn the material themselves out of books?

Depends on institution policies, but usually yes.
That said, the grade you get usually won't matter, and besides you might already know some of the things in the course. You might be better off just focusing on the interesting part then, by self-educating.


What to do when some students pay someone to solve their exams projects and thesis? There are some students on my masters program in mathematics who don't even know the basics of mathematics like an example of a continuous function or similar. They pay someone else to solve the problem sheets and projects for them and somehow managed to pass exams by learning by heart only past exams. Of course I don't have a proof for any of this but I know since they have told me. The head of school thinks he is doing a good thing and that all of the students who passed exams are good students, while myself and students like me were put in a very unfair position. Would there be any sense of addressing this thing and how? For the thing to be worse, those students are female students from the rich Gulf countries and they and their husbands do not need to work(I have absolutely nothing against that, but situation might be politically and religiously complicated in case of addressing this problem. Of course, these kind of things happen in case of any other countries/religions as well, but this is the situation in my case). Just for the sake of argument, in my case, I had to work full time while studying full time. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT:
I am unable to comment so will answer here. The projects and problem sheets took a part in a scoring of the final grade. As they have told me they have been studying only one semester material (out of 2 semester material) and have been learning solutions from the old exam papers from the previous years and many of the questions have been repeated.
Also we just had to send the paper via email or give it in a paper form, without any reporting or discussion.

EDIT: in reply to comments, @scaaahu asked: "My point is the student does not even know the basics. How useful would the old exam papers be?" Well, it can be if you are learning without any understanding and by heart from the old exams.

EDIT: It would be impossible for the head of school not to know what is going on, he is well aware of them and the situation but still does not want to do anything about it.

EDIT: I did not mention that their English language proficiency almost does not exist and they presented papers with a great English and professional maths.

I will take a wild guess and speculate that the university referred to in the question is in a country that has high levels of systemic corruption, as measured for example by Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index. Countries near the bottom of this ranking have the feature that most if not all of their main institutions experience high levels of dishonesty and unethical behavior. That sounds consistent with the OP's description, and conversely, in countries that rank low for corruption it is hard for me to imagine an academic environment where such rampant large-scale dishonesty could be practiced with impunity by so many people and tolerated and ignored by so many others.

Assuming this premise, I find it helpful to reframe the question as a broader and more general one, that would contain the OP's question as a special case:

  What should I do if I am an honest, hardworking person who wants to learn a trade, get an honest job, be judged for my abilities and become successful thorugh talent and hard work; but I live in a country with such high levels of corruption and dishonesty, and such dysfunctional institutions, that I see people all around me getting ahead through cheating and other dishonest means, leaving me no practical way to realize my dreams in the honest way I wish to?

  Should I try to fight this behavior? Should I try to find a rare honest person around me in a position of power to complain to about the dishonesty I observe? Will this change anything?

My answer is probably not a very helpful one, but I think it is the only realistic one: leave. The forces you are trying to fight are so much bigger and more powerful than you, that unless you are willing to dedicate your entire life to fighting them, knowing that you will achieve either nothing or very little, your only other choice would be to keep your head down, either ignore or join in the cheating, and resign yourself to a life of dissatisfaction and unfulfilled dreams.

Sorry it's pessimistic and depressing, but there it is. I would probably vote this answer down myself if I could. :-(


Citation - Collection of images for machine learning I posted this question yesterday which leads to my current question.

When I use a collection of images, which are not my own creation, to generate classifiers that an object-detection algorithm uses, how do I need to cite them?

The images are never used directly in the final algorithm, but the features in the cascade classifier that have been extracted from them. There are likely hundred(s) of images necessary to achieve a well working object-detection.

The algorithm is part of larger software project and I will need to write a report and hold a presentation about my research.

Let's look at what some popular image databases say:

The website for the CIFAR image databases, which are widely used in machine learning, ask that you cite them.

  This tech report (Chapter 3) describes the dataset and the methodology followed when collecting it in much greater detail. Please cite it if you intend to use this dataset.

  Learning Multiple Layers of Features from Tiny Images, Alex Krizhevsky, 2009.

Another often used database, the MNIST handwritten digit database, does not contain citation information, but a search on Google Scholar shows over 450 papers citing them.

It sounds like these features are an important point of your work and are extracted from training on the images. You should definitely cite the database for in your work. You should also cite them in the future if you are just using these databases to evaluate a technique (like object or hand writing recognition).

There's little harm to be liberal with citations.


Getting a Masters at a school without courses I want? I was accepted into a Masters program (MS in Computer Science) at a nice university that has research groups working on the things I want to research (natural language processing).

However, looking through their course catalog, it seems they don't actually have any courses directly focusing on NLP. I like almost everything else about their program except for the lack of courses, though they do have courses in machine learning and related concepts.

Is it a bad idea to go to a school that doesn't have courses related to my exact focus?

I don't think it's necessarily a problem.  At the graduate level, you're expected to learn things in many other ways besides formal courses: self-study, informal seminars, independent or supervised research, individual discussions with faculty or other students, thesis work, etc.  Likewise, you'll have evidence of your learning in other forms besides course grades: published papers, your thesis (if it's a thesis-based program), recommendation letters from supervisors, etc.

So this isn't necessarily a red flag.  However, it is worth bringing it up with prospective advisors or others in the program: "I want to work in NLP.  What opportunities exist for building skills and doing research in this area?"

One note is that besides being accepted to the program, if you want to work in a particular research group, the faculty leader(s) of that group will have to agree.  And there could be obstacles unrelated to your abilities - too many students in the group already, not enough funding, etc.  So if you are really tied to working in this particular area, then before deciding to attend the program, you should talk to the group(s) that work in your area of interest, and find out if it is feasible for you to work with them.


What are the industry career prospects for a CS Ph.D. student who doesn't publish in CS? I am a computer science Ph.D. student, and my advisor is in a different department.  My work is very computational, and kind of CS related, but my advisor mostly wants to publish in journals outside of computer science.  How will that affect my career prospects?  I don't want to be a professor, but it would be nice to secure a good job in industry.

More specifically, I heard that Google/Facebook/other tech companies mostly give the interesting projects to people with Ph.D.s, and give more boring projects to people with bachelor's degrees.  If I have a Ph.D. in CS, but don't really publish in CS conferences, do I still qualify for an interesting project?

It's hard to guess whether your work will help you get a job with any particular company, particularly given that you don't say what area you are working in.  In general, however, let me provide an observation about how many companies think about Ph.D.s that may be useful to you.

First, industry typically doesn't care about publications per se.  This is true even for industrial research, just as it would probably be more true for university academia if there were less metric-obsession.  Instead, industry typically is interested in your ability to help meet business goals, and a Ph.D. is typically expected to bring deeper insight and more rarified skills to bear in doing so.

As such, publishing cross-disciplinary research is likely to be an advantage rather than a disadvantage in applying for industrial jobs.  Scientific publication is evidence of your depth, and publishing outside of your "home" discipline is evidence that you are able to reach beyond your intellectual "bubble" and deal with problems of another field as well.


How do I know how well I am progressing in my PhD? A striking difference between being a student following courses and a PhD student doing research is the independence and lack of rigid structures such as homework and exams. I started a PhD in biophysics in the Netherlands a bit over a year ago and so far it has been a good experience. However, I found it hard to gauge how well I am doing and whether worries about my progress are justified.

My supervisor is supportive and provides frequent feedback. Despite the clear benefit of getting feedback in person over getting it through a graded exam, personal discussions can have a subjective feel to it, which makes it less clear cut than getting a mark. As students we were used to getting seemingly objective, quantifiable measures of our progress. The academic equivalent would be papers, but my supervisor has stated clearly that he goes for quality above quantity and as a result there will likely few if any papers until perhaps the final year of my PhD (also because we are a very new group). I also support his vision of not focusing on churning out papers but on doing good quality research.

How do PhD students and young researchers know how well on track they are? Let's say that the objective is to finish the PhD on time and continue doing research (in either academia or industry, not necessarily on a faculty position).

In my observation over some decades (in mathematics), I think it is nearly impossible for a PhD student to gauge their own progress. Sure, it is possible to know whether one feels discouraged or encouraged, etc., but these are mostly artifacts of one's own temperament and of the general environment, not indicators of one's progress.

If you have an engaged, perceptive, competent advisor, they will by-far be the best judge of whether you're on-track or off.

Even then, the real goal is not to measure up to some scalar-valued "good/bad", but to _become_what_you_can_.


How do new tax rules apply to a Ph.D. student receiving a fellowship? I read that some revamping had happened in the recent times with respect to the tax policies in the US. Say,I get an admission for Ph.D. for Engineering at New York University with a fellowship which offers $2600 stipend per month. How much will be the tax I have to pay OR what is the 'real' stipend I will get?

Edit: I am an international student planning for Ph.D.

Unfortunately (as you know) tax laws in the US are pretty complex, and you're in a relatively unique situation as an international student with a fellowship.  Many universities have a page on their website that discussed tax issues, and I noticed that NYU has one as well.

You'll notice near the bottom of the page that your taxes also depend on the tax treaty that the US has with your home country, and there also might be technicalities related to whether the school classifies your pay as a fellowship or assistantship for tax purposes.  For example, according to my university, my funding is through a "research fellowship," but because I'm expected to work a certain number of hours per week in my advisor's lab, the tax forms classify it as an assistantship.

It is a good idea to reach out to someone at your university to ask this question.  They may not be able to help you, but the worst that will happen is they'll ignore your email or say "Sorry, I can't help."  I would start with people in the payroll department or (if there is one) the office for international student admissions or support.  Sometimes students (or potential students) are shy about asking for help, but they shouldn't be.  People like to help other people, and the people you'd be reaching out to are literally employed to help people in your situation (among other things).

When I ask people in the business office, finance office, etc. for help, I usually explain what my question is and then end the email with something like "I wasn't entirely sure who to ask for help, but thought you would be a good person to start with--can you help me figure this out, or recommend someone else for me to reach out to? Thanks so much for your help!"  That way, even if I'm "bothering" them with something that's outside their responsibilities, they usually point me in the right direction for who to ask next.


When asking research-based questions, what are some good practices to maximize the rates at which people reply to emails? Matthew Might has an excellent article on his website.

But what are some other good suggestions? One important thing is identification (some professors are simply happier to reply to emails than others). Surprisingly enough, I find that famous scientists in my field (for whatever reason) tend to be more responsive to emails than non-famous scientists. I don't know why this is the case, but maybe it could be that they simply know more, so it doesn't take them as much effort to give information/advice?

Sometimes, I even go as far as to look at Rate my Professors site ratings, since the ones with exceptional ratings often tend to be happy replying to emails.

Another thing: maybe taking a class with the professor (in which case they may feel a bit more obligated to reply to them?) Or maybe simply distributing one's emails in such a way that one wouldn't have to email each professor more than an interval of once every few weeks?

All of the points in the linked article are very true in academia as well. Some points which may be specific to academia which he didn't mention:

If you're referencing a specific article or talk, reference it very specifically ("In your presentation at SfN 2012 entitled 'The Amygdala and You', ..."). If you can quote a specific slide/paragraph, all the better.
Mention (concisely, one sentence or less) why you're interested in knowing. Your problem may very well be something which the researcher is interested in, and s/he may be more interested in responding and following up later on.
If you're working for someone in the field, mention it at the beginning ("I'm a postdoc working for <Mr. Bigshot Fancypants whom the professor likely knows>, and...")
Note that researchers are more often than not interested in talking about their work, so the very first point from the article ("Don't email") is likely bad advice here. Definitely try to get in touch and talk about your mutual interests (if you have a valid question, of course).


What is the importance of postdoctoral teaching experience for US tenure-track jobs? I'm a math Ph.D student in the US who has just accepted a four year postdoc--NSF postdoc at a US school interrupted by a year in Europe. For better or for worse, I am only slated to teach for two semesters in those four years--likely during the second semester of my 3rd year and 1st semester of my 4th.

I am planning to apply for tenure track positions in the US afterwards and am wondering whether the relative lack of teaching as a postdoc will adversely affect my application.

Should I be looking for volunteer teaching opportunities?

If it matters as a graduate student I had fairly extensive teaching experience, serving as sole instructor for courses in various levels of calculus, multi-variable calculus, and linear algebra for four years in addition to mentoring REU students and grading/TA-ing graduate and advanced undergraduate courses.

Two semesters of teaching in four years sounds almost ideal for a postdoc, so I would not be worried about that -- if you are aspiring to be a mathemagician rather than teaching-focused mathematician.


What is the difference between a PhD degree and a DSc degree? Some universities that offer a DSc as the doctoral degree, while most of them also offer a PHD degree in science. What are the differences these degrees in terms of academic standing? What are the pros and cons?

It depends on the university and the country.

In England, a PhD is typically awarded for a thesis and oral examination of the thesis, usually followed by implementation of corrections to the thesis, the requirements for which are specified during or just after the oral exam. It's often done soon after a Masters, which is done soon after a Bachelors, so a fairly large proportion of PhDs are awarded at the start of one's academic career. Whereas a DSc is awarded for a portfolio of work, (in some cases submitted together with an over-arching critique of that portfolio), and thus is more likely to be awarded later in an academic's career.

Nominally, a PhD is a doctorate in philosophy, but is typically awarded for pretty much any subject. There are some who argue that philosophy of knowledge always form part of these studies, regardless of the subject. I occasionally use this line to try to inspire students, myself. A DSc is a doctorate in science, and is not awarded for literature, law, divinity, or music, each of which has its own dedicated higher doctorate.

The DSc is a higher doctorate than a PhD, in England. In some other countries, they're equivalent.

Both get the honorific title doctor.


If you had a bad mentor for an REU program, should put that on my resume to get into grad school? I did an REU research program in my undergraduate college career. However, I had a bad experience because my mentor was not helpful and was very condescending person. I was told too that you worked closely with a mentor or grad student before I even started the program, which obviously did not happen. The program was disorganized that even the grad students did not know that they were suppose to help or guide the undergraduate students in their research, and they were also not helpful. So it was like me doing all the research by myself with no help or guidance. If you did not have a good experience in the REU program, would you still put on your resume in order to get into grad school?

Yes, I would include the experience on your resume. You gained research experience. Even a bad REU almost certainly taught you more than an unrelated experience or job. If the topic comes up about your REU experience during an interview, I would talk about what you learned in a positive way. For example, you appear to have learned about the importance of organization during research.
However, I would not list your mentor as a reference. Perhaps you could list on the graduate students you worked with during the REU. Also, do not worry about a lack of publication or presentations from your REU. In my experience as a REU participant and now an REU mentor, few projects result in publications even from well run programs and presentations are largely a function of your program and home university.


Hosting a graduate student on a campus visit A prospective graduate student is coming to visit a program and does not have a place to stay. As is sometimes the case, the program is not funding a hotel for the student and it seems likely that it would be an economic hardship for the student to host themselves. Let's say that the student is accepted to the program so this is more in the context of trying to impress the student and get her to join the program (although I'd be interested to hear if a similar situation with a non-accepted student would be different).

Is it appropriate for a faculty member to try to arrange for a host stay with a current student in the department?

Would it be appropriate for a faculty member interested in working with the student to offer to host the student in a guest room in their home?

Are there other or better options?

Always follow your school policy on the matter, if there is one.

  Is it appropriate for a faculty member to try to arrange for a host stay with a current student in the department?

It's appropriate for a faculty member to ask current students if they can help, then tell the visitor, "Here is the email address of a current student in the department who can help you arrange a host stay, if you're interested."

Then let the visitor make contact with the student. Don't be pushy.

  Would it be appropriate for a faculty member interested in working with the student to offer to host the student in a guest room in their home?

I vote "no" unless there's really no alternative - especially if the faculty member makes the offer directly to the visitor.

I have seen something similar (students living in the guest room of a researcher in industry who they are working with for the summer). Those students apparently were OK with it.

However, I have been offered this (visiting a professor in another country for the summer, he offers me a guest room in his home). I did not want to live in this professor's home, and it was mildly uncomfortable and awkward to turn down the offer. There is a power imbalance here that can be a problem.

If you decide to offer a guest room in a faculty member's home, definitely do it through a third party (e.g., have a student contact the visitor and say "Here are some possible hosts, including a guest room in this professor's home"). This way the visitor can turn it down without having to worry about offending the faculty member.

  Are there other or better options?

If your school has a dorm with spare rooms (or if a nearby school has a dorm), this is a good option.


Too many people writing a letter of recommendation I am an undergraduate student applying for a study abroad program that requires I submit two letters of recommendation. I just received the notice that the deadline for submission is in two weeks and in my frenzy to get the letters, I contacted a lot of TA's and professors. Since then, I've already had two TA's agree to write letters on my behalf, but an additional professor and TA also agreed to write letters for me. Is it rude for me to let them know that I've already found someone else? But I'm also worried that it's simply such a waste of time to let them continue with writing the letter. Any tips on how I can politely let them now it's not necessary anymore without jeopardizing my chances of potentially getting them to write letters for me in the future?

It's ruder to waste their time. Just send a simple email saying "Thank you for agreeing to write a letter for me, however I realised I accidentally asked too many people to write letters for me for this position, so you don't need to continue writing one for me. I would still like to ask you to write a letter for me in the future, if I decide to apply to other opportunities. Is that ok with you?".

Either they will agree, in which case great, or they'll say no, and eventually you will have to find someone else. My advice would be to ask your letter writers a long way in advance of the deadline, to avoid you having to rush around asking multiple people at the last minute. You will likely get a stronger letter that way too.


collaboration in phd project from an undergrad student Actually I am making my PhD studies that is in the field of Computer Science and its algorithms related. There is one part in which for proving my ideas I have to program a web related extensive set of tests, but currently I really do not have time to program it. I have met a friend that is following an undergraduate degree in CS and he has been working in web development and programming for almost two years.

The question is if it would be ethical to tell him to program some parts that I need for make the testing. I was thinking to include him as a co-author in some papers that I am planning to do based on my current research, because I consider is the right thing to do. Would that be fair?

Thanks

That's probably a question best asked of your PhD adviser -- if you want your friend to become a co-author, your adviser will have to know about that friend's contributions anyway.

In any case, if your friend contributes significantly to the work, it's not a question of "being nice" when you think about making him a co-author: he contributed intellectually to the work, so he needs to be a co-author.

Whether that is "fair" is a different question and depends on what your friend hopes to get out of it. If he's interested in getting publications, then he may consider it fair. If he is only interested in graduating and then getting a job in industry, he may not be interested in publications and might consider money to be a better way to compensate him for the work.


Is it better to apply to doctoral program in the fall semester or spring semester? I plan to apply for USA universities. Is there any difference between the number of PhD opportunities in spring and fall semesters? I mean in which semester do I have a better chance to be approved?

In my country application for spring semester is not so usual. What about USA?

Most universities offer Doctoral admissions exclusively in fall semester (once a year). Deadlines for applications are typically in December. For more detailed information, you should check the particular department's webpage.


Rejection of papers after a long time I have already submitted a manuscript to an outstanding math journal. It is under review for about 9 months. I would like to know about the probability of rejection of a paper after 9 months?

Editor would have rejected it immediately, if it was clearly unsuitable. Though sometimes editors do make mistakes.

Now it is up to the reviewers and the editor. Nine months is not an alarmingly long time. I would not make any deductions based on how long the paper has been under review.


I am interested in graduate studies, but I was dismissed from my undergraduate program for poor grades. Where do I go from here? I've had a tumultuous undergraduate experience, to say the least. After being suspended freshman year, being re-admitted in the Spring of 2014, and a rough 2014-2015 academic year, I've been dismissed from my university.

It's extremely upsetting and has left me a little bitter, especially since my trouble in school has been due to ADHD, depression and anxiety that went undiagnosed for an extremely long time as well as an unpleasant living situation to say the least. I have no record of misconduct and was active in student organizations excluding social fraternities. I tried to appeal the decision, but got was rejected. I'm planning on going to a local community college in the fall to at least get an associates degree and transfer to another university, but I'm not sure how well it will go.

I have always loved academia, and ideally want to go to graduate school. Ever since I was a kid, my whole goal was to go to graduate from college. Now it is seeming less and less likely. I feel like my academic record could hang over me for the rest of my life, keeping me not only from continuing the education I want, but also keeping me from a career or leaving home. I'm at an unfortunate crossroads and I don't know what the next step I should take is.

That said, do I still have a chance at completing an undergraduate program and - hopefully - completing a graduate program? While I ideally want to continue my liberal arts education and eventually go into a post-graduate program, should I make a more achievable goal? My cumulative GPA is around 1.5, and I feel as though that it will affect the admissions process almost everywhere I go. Essentially, can I still get my degree, or will most universities not accept me at all on grounds of my academic record?

Related question posted here

You could probably start at an open-admissions community college in September, if that's what you wanted to do.  You would probably need to spend some time there and SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE YOUR COURSES to build successful reapplication package to a better school.

Any reapplication process would very much involve you proving to an admissions department why and how you became a student who is likely to successfully complete their program and become a graduate that they will be proud of. You need to convince them that your past record is not indicative of what your future record will be. The bad news is that this will not be easy.

The good news is that should you manage to turn things around, graduate admissions committees would be likely to look at you as an interesting candidate who has taken an adverse academic situation and made it better.

Think long and hard about your situation.  Even if you treat the anxiety, ADHD, and depression (and I wouldn't recommend trying to start again without dealing with these fundamental problems) there will always be that next problem to overcome.  If that next problem will shut you down the same way, you're setting yourself up for the same outcome.  Treatment should be a part of your plan to avoid this.

Think about your academic experience, and how that's likely to change.  Will future-you be a "B" student, and have an enriching academic experience, or will future-you be constantly on academic probation, constantly on the edge of separation?  The former is great, but the latter can be an anxiety-producing monster that will leave you miserable for 4 years, but can still be an important career developing step.  Unless you plan on a degree from an open-admissions school (like Brooklyn College, which can give you a fine education that can lead to graduate programs!!), you need to be able to convince a school that you won't fall in to this class, or you just won't get accepted.  More importantly, if you think you'll fall into that class anyway, are you up for it?  Can you tolerate the long, unpleasant experience an make it through to the other side, and is this worth it to you?

If you plan to continue in school at this point, and you don't plan to enroll in a community college in September, you should be planning on how to keep moving forward and not stagnating.  If you need to spend some time getting the ADHD and depression treated, do it.  Keep doing things that will develop your maturity and keep moving you to the next step, as opposed to marching in place.  If you look like you're not progressing, chances of admissions get even slimmer.

Keeping in mind that an academic experience is a means, and not an end, take a good introspective look at your life plan and career plan and how your education fits in.  I highly recommend spending the $4 for http://www.amazon.com/Control-Your-Time-Life-Signet/dp/0451167724/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8.  It looks like a time-management book, but its much more -- or rather its a time management book on many different time scales -- this moment, weeks, years, decades -- and how to use your time to achieve your goals.


How does LibGen/SciHub affect researchers' research and publishing process? For those of you who don't know, LibGen is a database filled with scientific papers (and other documents) and many of them were downloaded from websites that require a paid-subscription. SciHub gives you access to these paid-subscription sites by using donated credentials.

How does this affect individual researchers' research & publishing process professionally?

Let us call J. DOI  (for  "John DOI" or "Jane DOI", gender aware, see Jane Doe and John Doe) the anonymous researcher whose opinions follow. S(he) could be just  everyone, either from a rich or poor country, either with paywall capabilities or not. Being able to do this from home, researchers in universities with paywall access use it as well as others.
At the beginning, J. DOI used the LibGen/SciHub source scarcely. J. was not sure whether it was dangerous or not, or legal or not. J. DOI probably had a little more casual "hacking skills" than her/his colleagues. Earlier, J. DOI knew how to fetch documents that did not appear directly on the  first pages of  classical search engines. He/she knew about gopher, wais, ftp, and wget, to name a few.
When you find a novel gold mine, sometimes you don't say it loud, especially if you don't know how safe the atmosphere is, but you may share some gold you have dug. So J. DOI did not tell friends of the tricks, but he/she was very  keen on "helping colleagues" find a buried paper, because they  knew that J. DOI could. At first, J. DOI gained local fame as a web-search wizard.
This boosted J. DOI's confidence. And gluttony began. This affected J. DOI's health. Positively, because J. DOI could travel with less favorite scientific paper books, less printed papers. And this probably saved J. DOI's back, spine and joints. J. DOI could now use a much smaller and lighter bag, with travel essentials  only. But J. DOI would spend night hours grabbing electronic scientific works, often unrelated to his studies, only because "they were accessible", not knowing how long this will last. J. DOI remembers when  library.nu closed in 2012. J. DOI became physically healthier, but more tired.
Past the sheer amazement of the treasure, J. DOI became aware and overwhelmed. Aware of the legal and ethical  issues first and foremost. Some Johns and  Janes probably decided to refrain their greed, and to stick to official ways. The  other J. soon began to actually build a reference management policy with assorted software, because directories full of pdf, epub, djvu unnamed files are of no use. J. DOI created collections, used ontologies and keywords. J. DOI became organized.
But gathering papers and books is not science. J. DOI began to trace so-called "new  ideas" back in time, quoting the appropriate papers. J. was not stopped too early by paywalls, and was allowed generalizations. J. felt doing a more accurate and honest scientific job, standing on shoulders of more ancient or obscure but deserving giants. Science news does not invent everyday, especially in a time of publish or perish, paper avalanche and retraction.
J. DOI was now a little less interested in the most novel papers, and browsed journal table of contents less often. J. DOI was a FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) for the recent papers, and  became a FOMO of older stuff. Luckily, the number of published papers decreases when going back in time. J. DOI was more focused, and more curious as well.
Finally, J. DOI became more self-assured, meeting fellow researchers of the same kin. J. DOI could draw more connections between seemingly afar fields and ideas.
Now, J. DOI still dreams about (electric sheeps and) cumulative science and a global open access, for the rich and the  poor. J. DOI  knows that the present situation is not morally, ethically or even financially satisfactory, but (s)he hopes that it will slowly modify practices, toward better open science.

This topic is being reactivated in the context of paywalls, open access, archives. See for instance Why are most scientific articles locked behind a paywall?


Will it affect my Reputation to leave my MSc without finishing the Thesis? I am currently doing my MSc thesis (in an area of science).  I have completed the exams but I am having real difficulties with the research project.  Both my supervisors are based remotely and when I ask them for help with the coding I am doing one of them says she is too busy going to conferences to Skype me and tells me to go back to previous 'training' we did: this training consisted of  two Skype calls which were made 6 months ago and I did not really follow due to having problems understanding her English at times (made worse by poor sound quality and microphones).  The second supervisor just keeps describing the task which I need to do, but is not explaining how to do it or how it works, even though I have said that I need some more guidance as I have limited programming experience.  If I ask for guidance, he just describes what I need to do again: 'you need to do this and get some results' without explaining how to do it.  I have tried for months but they are just not helping me, and the stuff is too specialized to get much help from anyone else.

I know, suck it up and stop whining, that is what I am trying to do, but theoretically, would it come back to bite me if I terminate and leave with a PGDip (or whatever you get for completing the exam component), as I feel like I could use the summer to get back in touch with my previous supervisor to continue with the project we were working on together.  The offer I have for a PhD is unconditional and based on undergraduate results so I could theoretically leave the MSc now and then start the PhD regardless.  The PhD is in a completely different area, not related to the MSc, and it is the only PhD offer I have received so I feel like this is all a pointless exercise and feel like my motivation to do this thesis is draining away from me every day, as it is mostly 'training' for a particular area which I know I am not going into now as I have not received offers in this area.

I would advise you to go on with your MSc degree, maybe right now the thesis doesn't seem relevant but the topic it covers may turn out to be essential in future (getting a job for example). Moreover by completing it you will learn how to code (to some degree at least) which is exceptionally valuable these days in every field.

having said that, what i would advise you to do is either asking somebody for help (or paying them to help you) by help i mean sitting with you by the same desk (or using TeamViewer) and writing code with you. learning on your own by referring to books materials etc is the most effort and time consuming way if you are a beginner (later on it is the best way to learn coding). Another thing i would advise you to do is online courses, programming on beginner level is probably the best covered skill you can learn in the internet. The courses are cheap and truly amazing for beginners.

you can try Coursera, but remember that courses where you don't have to submit your code to autofrader are not very good in teaching real coding skills.

Udemy courses are mostly video based and assignments are presented and then solved through video. there are interactive code assignments in more recent courses only.

you can try datacamp if the topics they cover are relevant to you. I find datacamp to be too easy - everything is interactive (you type code in your browser) and most of the code is provided, the user many times is asked only to fill it with some methods. datacamp removes all the stretches of programming and presents you with methods of doing stuff, but without going through the typos etc you will nkt learn too much IMHO.

there is also edx and LinkedIn learning and probably dozens more but i didn't try them out.

i would advise you to try udemy first and pay somebody to teach abd most importantly learn coding (by finishing your thesis), its the most important skill on a job market and in academia in 21st century. (sorry for formatting of text)


Why do papers sometimes appear unlinked in Google Scholar? I would like to download this paper:

  O. Faure. Numerical pathwise approximation of stochastic differential equations.
  Applied stochastic models and data analysis, 1992.

but when I use Google Scholar, the paper cannot be accessed. I cannot even access the paper from within my campus firewall.

See the following image:

Why is the title of this paper black, not a blue link, in the list of Google Scholar results?

The paper appears black because Google Scholar has not found the full-text of the paper during its crawls. Rather it has extracted the document as a citation from other documents it has seen.

Hence Google Scholar knows that the document exists (it has been cited) but does not know where to find it.


Universities accepting non-cs background students to masters programs in cs My greetings to all users.

I am a student with my UG in Electronics and Communications, planning to enroll in a masters program in computer science (preferably with thesis, but open to coursework option as well). In my UG, I had the following courses related to mathematics and computer science:

Maths:
1. Calculus
2. Discrete Mathematics
3. Optimization techniques
4. Numerical Analysis
5. Information theory and coding

Computers:
1. Computer Programming (basic C)
2. Computer Architecture

Apart from these, I had Data communication also.

Apart from US universities which offer flexibility to non-cs background students to enroll in MS in CS, do Canadian and European universities offer this flexibility also? I visited some university websites, and they have listed some courses like Data structures and Algorithms, DBMS, Operating systems, which I did not have in my UG. Does this mean elimination therein or do I still have a chance?

I would find it difficult even for a university in the US to accept a student for masters studies without, at least, data structures and algorithms. It is one of the most important courses in the curriculum and is where many people drop out of studies because of its difficulty and because it is a stepping stone into more theoretical CS (which is what graduate studies consists of!).

Basic C programming isn't really enough for a masters program. I am not an expert on the UK or European systems but from what I know I would say that your chances are very slim- though not impossible. If I were you- I would take more prereq courses that you see commonly listed on websites (especially data structures and algorithms- I'd also recommend an advanced algorithms course) and then apply as that would maximize your chances of admissions.

Good luck.


What to do when you notice that a value in your paper is wrong, once it is accepted but before it is published? 8 months ago, I have submitted my paper to the top journal in my field and finally it got accepted. Unfortunately, I have found one wrong table entry (Experiment Section), which is not a logical value at all. More precisely, I was copying from my raw data (in cm) to the paper (in mm) and I forgot to convert one value. Actually the mentioned value is not possible at all and the change does not affect the conclusion of neither the corresponding subsection in the experiment section nor the conclusion of the paper. This paper is very important for my PhD which will take place in few weeks.

I am pretty sure that reviewers did not deeply examine that table, otherwise they would find out the error because it is too obvious. Now, I am wondering how to deal with this issue.

Ps. Another problem is that in the policy of that journal, the paper which needs another major revision will be rejected. Now, I have one week to provide the final revised version.

This is not a major revision. Just change the value in the final version. (And explain to the editor in the cover letter that you are correcting a typo. A misplaced decimal point is essentially a typo.)

You are not misrepresenting yourself in any way. Because you're explaining the change in the cover letter, you are giving the editor the chance to reject the paper if they deem the changes are big enough to count as a "major revision". However, any editor that rejects the paper for that reason would have to be totally insane. Typos get fixed in the final version of papers all the time.


Would it be better to drop a class or receive a D? I have hit a wall.  I will receive a D in a math course (my major), C- but doubtful.  D is passing according to university.  It would drop my gpa from 3.6 to 3.3. Two more courses after this to take, so a lower gpa might follow.  Does gpa matter when applying for jobs in the math/science field?  Let me say, I am not going to grad school, I am an older return student, so being a single mom, I would like to wrap this Bachelor's in Math up.  Will keeping a D negatively impact job prospects in any way, or having the degree is the only thing that matters?

Take the D and move on.  It is just one course.


Low quality papers on Arxiv How is it possible that people which are not in academia nor affiliated with a research institution can publish on ArXiv?
I know that arxiv papers are not subjected to peer review
but to publish there you still need credentials or to receive the authorization from people who already publish. My question therefore is the following: how is it possible that there are so many low quality publications on Arxiv? See for example this "proof" that P ≠ NP.

Submissions do go through a moderation process to ensure that the paper has "refereeable content"; at minimum this means that the paper must present "original or substantive research" but it does not require that the research methodology is actually sound or that the findings are actually correct.  Establishing soundness (and to a certain degree, also correctness) is the point of the full peer review process, which is something arXiv lacks by design.

In summary, the reason there are so many bad papers on arXiv is that arXiv intentionally makes it easy to post unreviewed material.  If you are doing a literature review and finding high-quality papers is important for you, you would be better off browsing or searching an expertly curated list of papers, such as those contained in a journal or a volume of conference proceedings.  Of course, even some bad papers can make it into such publications, though the proportion will be astronomically lower than in an (almost) free-for-all self-archiving service like arXiv.


Tips on choosing a research topic with little relative background? I know this might seem like I'm worrying about something too early, but I am a rising sophomore (undergrad) that is anxious about independent research. I am currently in a physics lab right now that I think is decently interesting. However, my current role is helping out the grad students and postdocs with their projects, whatever they need me to do.

Part of the reason that this is my job right now is because I haven't come up with an idea for my own project. I have lots of things that I think are interesting regarding this field (optics/quantum), but the physics being done is way above the level that I can understand in my current year of schooling. Although I just started here, there will come a time where the professor will approach me and ask if I want to start something on my own, and I just don't know what to do. Should I be asking people now? Trying to learn these things on my own? Or is this common in physics labs?

To put it in perspective, I am the only undergrad in the lab, so I'm not sure anyone really knows how to deal with me either.

There is no sure path to research. And it is never too early  to think about it.

A colleague on another side of SE claims:

  Spending two days in a lab can easily save you up to one hour reading
  literature

You are lucky enough to be in the right place. Start asking people, be gently curious. Some won't answer, some will. Some may begin to give you more and more interesting tasks. And on the side, read. Some books won't tell you anything. Some will.

There is no sure path to research. But doing nothing is unlikely to help.


One year teaching in India After a short-term period working as a postdoc (same institution where I got my PhD),  and I felt the need for a change and spent the last few months teaching in Italy, where I'm from. I really enjoyed teaching. Now I'm back to applying for postdocs, and in case nothing interesting comes up, my plan is to move to India or somewhere else in Asia together with my girlfriend and work there as teachers. We both have MSc in physics, and we could teach maths and physics up to high school level.

Do you have any advice on how I should approach Asia -- who to contact, where to look, etc.? Any tips would be very helpful.

I have just come back to my home country after an intense experience in Asia, as a postdoc in China. I will give you some advice, and what I heard about India. I had originally considered India as a possible destination as well.

I do not understand much of high-school teaching, and cannot help you there.

The best scenario Asia has to offer at the moment is a combination of personal safety, delicious exotic food, and ample job opportunities. You can expect to be mesmerised daily by traditions and sudden twist in lifestyle, while enjoying an absence of violence and threats; you will get as many interesting job offers as you keep on asking.

However I recommend you to be extremely careful. I was scammed on my salary and welfare conditions by reputed Chinese institutions, as partially discussed in the link below:
Persistent issues with salary pay as a postdoc in China: What can I do?

From what I discussed with many colleagues, similar issues are common in Chinese academia, but are just not openly discussed. And a solid resistance to exposing and discussing problems is a mark of Asian culture, be it in China, Pakistan, India, Japan, which you will be quick to bump into. I heard from Indian nationals that salary scams are not common, but other issues with administration and workmates are routine. (For instance postdoc salaries in India can apparently get delayed for 2-3 months, but eventually they will come; you may expect "informal fees & favours" to get procedures done). I think most of the difficulties I've faced in China would have driven an European nuts, as the cultural impact is so deep. In short, expect to attract a lot of interests in Asia.

Furthermore I recommend you study the destination country you choose very carefully as well, in deciding the region you'll be focusing on. Like China India is such a huge and heterogeneous nation; surely your experience will heavily rely on how you adapt to local standards of where you land. I left Asia with the impression that in the long run it pays better if you focus on 2nd-tier cities instead of heading straight to the more international 1st-tier megalopolises. Expect to learn the local language from start, and complete deprivation from your comfort zone in different spheres.

Finally I warn you about the food and a different concept of hygiene. I am sure you may have heard that some regions in India have a problem with urban chaos and water safety. Almost all foreigners I have known who lived in India for more than a brief stay got seriously sick, typically from some kind of food poisoning. Many could not finally adapt to consistently spicy cuisine. I was never sick in China, and I loved the food.

I believe it will be a great, memorable experience, but I recommend all preparation and precaution you can muster beforehand.


Accepting a tenure track position if I know I won’t stay till tenure I am currently a fixed-term faculty, with the hopes of a tenure-track position somewhere. The last two years I’ve bounced between fixed-term position, both in at least reasonable long-distance driving from where my fiancé and I live. Now a tenure track position has come available for next year still not close to us but again reasonable long distance driving (I've worked anywhere from 1.5-3 hours away).

I am hoping in the time it would take to get tenure at this new position, a tenure track position in our actual city will become available (pretty big metro). Would I be screwing myself to leave the long-distance tenure track position without tenure, if I got a tenure-track position in our local city? Would it be a red-flag that I’m even applying without tenure or could I explain location as the reason for the move in my cover letter?

I would ask what the cost of applying is, the expected duration of the process, and the prediction of a similar position opening at your current institution.

If the cost is effectively zero (perhaps two hours of your time, then another hour to interview), the process taking 6 months, and a cursory conversation with your dept. head and budget, you will lose out if you never apply.

But if you do apply, and you are not offered anything, what would the harm be?

If you receive an offer, would you bet that it would be better (in terms of salary and benefits) than your current role right now?


Want to change university, but concerned about "downgrading" from institute head, and about colleagues learning about my job search I got my Ph.D. in Chemistry in an eastern European country in 2008. The same year I got a lecturer assistant position in a university in the same country.

Working there, I got promoted, first to lecturer (2010), then to assistant professor (2012).

From 2012 I started thinking about moving to another country: academic salaries are quite low and the political situation became very unstable. I even started to send my CV to several positions, and there was one offer. But due to some management changes, I became a department head at the end of 2012, so I refused the proposal and stayed in the university. A year ago I became an institute head inside the university.

Every year from 2012, I thought that it's not the best year to leave my position because my resignation would put my department/institute into a difficult position. There is no open job market for academic positions in our country (due to the ridiculous salaries) and it would be difficult  to find a replacement for a head of an institute in our city.

I can't say that the management position is very unpleasant for me, but I feel that I'm not a good fit, and I would prefer to stay in an assistant professor / professor position. Today I feel that the bureaucracy takes over and I can't get time to do research or to teach. When I raise these concerns with the management of our university, I get a response, like "When did life ever run smooth? You need to concentrate, and you would be OK. Now, take this new project."

Moreover, I can't openly submit my requests to positions in other universities I like, because it will require me to provide a set of recommendation letters. All colleagues who know me well and who can give me such a letter would be VERY surprised when they will find out, that I want to change my occupation. The sphere of chemistry academia in our country is very small, everyone knows everyone.

So, what should I do next?

Should I try to make an open statement to the university head
that I think the position is not for me and I want to leave? It
would be a very tough conversation, I would become a "lame duck" in
the university without any guarantee of finding a "job of my life".
Also, this conversation would be very unspecific, because I have no
other proposals. From the other side, then I would be able openly to ask my colleagues to provide a recommendation letter for me.
Should I try to find another academic position without informing the management? But I don't know how to provide a good set of recommendation letters then: people would start talking about my activity, and it would become public.
If I send a CV to an assistant professor/professor position, should I mention, that I am a head of an Institute? I'm afraid that it can raise a lot of questions like "why do you want to downshift from such a good position to become a teacher/researcher".
Maybe there is something that I am missing?

First of all, you need to decide what's best for you long term. If you decide to abdicate and apply elsewhere, then do it and don't look back.

During this process, you'll want to choose letter writers you trust, and ask them to keep it in strict confidence. You'd do the same for them, no?  People move on, it happens.

Despite your best efforts, word will always get out...hopefully slowly.  But, see my first point. If you've decided, you've decided, so it's just a matter of time, uncomfortable as it may be.


Can I use an Encyclopedia as a reference in an essay? I am writing a paper that is about another culture. I need to include references about the culture in my paper. Is an encyclopedia an acceptable source for general information about the  culture (communication, nutrition, holidays, religion?)

Can I use an Encyclopedia as a reference in an essay?

Yes, but, it mightn't be the best source.

For instance, Britannica* has an entry on Coronavirus, as do many other encyclopedias. They probably aren't the most authoritative though. A better reference could be sought, e.g., the World Health Organization. The same is true for other topics, such as culture.

An encyclopedia may give you what you need, but other sources might be more authoritative/better.

* The first encyclopedia produced by a Google search.


Are there standard example research papers for teaching methodology and experiments? Are there recommended or standard published papers (not books) that show great research methodology/ scientific methods?  I am trying to help out a friend who is in business and they are trying to study aspects of humans (in terms of their clients).  I gave him the book The Craft of Research, but it's long and I wonder if there is a paper that could do the same job.  Basically I want to show him a good example of coming up with a hypothesis, accounting for variables (such as stating that something was done in order to eliminate a problem), and analyzing the results.

Qulatrics has a nice concise (and free) guide to doing marketing research. Not a journal article, but I give it to my students in my research methods course because it's practical and comprehensive but not overwhelming. In fact, they have a lot of useful resources here: http://www.qualtrics.com/university/researchsuite/research-resources/other-resources/ebook-downloads/


How does one effectively assign mathematics homework when all answers to all questions are available online? In my department, we typically adopt textbooks that are very refined, sometimes in their 7th or 8th edition. Because these books have been around for so long, all of the homework problems have been worked out in full detail, and are easily found online. So it seems pointless to assign and grade homework since student can so easily copy the answers instead of working them out themselves. But if we do that, it seems like we're then eliminating a very important learning activity.

Many of my colleagues address this by not giving very many (if any) points for homework in the final grade. They sometimes give quizzes (which takes a lot of class time) to check whether the homework was absorbed. One feature of homework is that it is done outside of class, so that the class period can be used to discuss new material. I'm concerned that taking class time to force the issue of actually "doing" the homework will detract from the other aspects of the course.

I still think that mathematics is not a spectator sport, and most of the learning occurs when the students struggle with a good set of exercises and eventually find the answers on their own. This is especially true in courses that require proofs.
I've explained to my students that if they short-cut this self-discovery process, then they're limiting their learning opportunities. Still, many students copy answers.

So, in this age where all information is so easily accessible, how should we respond with how we assign homework so that students will produce their own ideas rather than copying the work of others? How do we re-enforce the idea that learning mathematics is learning how to find answers rather than just getting a copy of the answers?

One approach would be addition of the minor constraints and conditions to the problem and manipulating those constraints, trivially, each time you are going to plan the assignment set to the students. By taking such strategy into account, the core of the problems will be fix, but there is no way for students to copy the available answers within either the web or somewhere else.


How to decide which recommender to ask for LOR? I have found a few similar questions on this issue, but none that have solved my dilemma.

I am currently applying to PhD programs (US, natural sciences). I need three letters of recommendation for most programs. I have already decided to ask an advisor I spent a summer doing research with, and my current research advisor (I've only completed the research proposal so far, but I've had several classes with her as well and she knows me well.)

For my final recommendation, I'm trying to decide whether to ask my academic advisor or my supervisor from my industry job.
I've had many classes with my advisor, and discussed my plans to go to grad school with him. I think he would write me a very positive letter, but would probably say things that are similar to what my current research advisor would say.

I've worked at my current job which is related to the field I'm going into for only about 5 months now (3.5 months full time, the rest part time). In that time though, I've gone above the duties expected for interns because I am a fast learner. I also worked overtime almost every week while I was working full-time, was asked to give a presentation to the whole company at a monthly meeting (usually only supervisors give these presentations), and have helped to train new employees. I feel that I would get a very positive LOR, but I worry that admissions committees will not be interested because my recommender only has a BS degree and my job is not research-based.

Go with the supervisor from your job.  The schools will have your transcript.  Unless there's something special the adviser can write, this is a no brainer from my point of view.

An example of a case where there is something special the academic adviser could offer would be if you have any warts in your transcript that you think your academic adviser can help you explain by way of the letter


Can a university restrict publication of students' work due to plagiarism fears? My question is inspired by this question. Say a student wants to publish on GitHub some code that they've written as assignments for a programming class. The student may be motivated by a desire to show off their programming skills and advance their career this way, or by a wish to provide a useful resource on the internet that others might useful (say, people who are teaching themselves to program, or programmers who may be able to use the code to save themselves some work in connection with a project they're working on), or some combination.

The student publishes the code, but is then contacted by their department who ask him to take down the code, citing concerns that the code might be used to commit plagiarism by students taking the same class in following years.

First question: is it appropriate and ethical for the department to make such a request of the student? Are they not putting their own selfish interests ahead of the student's own interests and the interests of the community of people who might benefit from having the student's code be made available online?

Second question: Is the student obliged to comply with such a request, or can they simply say they have a right to put their work online in a publicly hosted website if they so desire and be entitled not to suffer any retaliation from the department for this refusal?

Note that even if the student is not obliged to comply with the request, it may still arguably be inappropriate of the department to make it, since the department has authority over the student and under such circumstances it is not clear that the student can make a decision to refuse that is free of duress.

My former department had such restrictions in place prohibiting the dissemination of course work, although very little of the course work involved programming. Students signed an agreement at the beginning of every year. Further, every piece of course work required a signed cover sheet that stated that the students would not share the course work. Sharing course work was treated as academic misconduct and results in either a reduction in the students grade if the offense is discovered while the student is taking the class, a fine (talk about unethical) if the offense is discovered after the student finishes the class, or possible revocation of the degree if the offense is discovered after the student graduates.

While serving on the my department's academic misconduct committee I over saw incidents of all three types. The one case of misconduct after graduation was settled by asking the student to remove the content from the web and the student agreeing. Had they not agreed, it would have gone to a university committee. The couple of cases involving distribution after the class, but prior to graduation, were resolved with fines. In some cases the students paid, in other cases they appealed to the university committee. The university committee sometimes kept the fine and sometimes repealed the fine. The "in class" cases were sometimes appealed to the university committee, but were rarely (if ever) over turned.

As to the ethical question, our policy was reviewed annual at both the departmental level annual and the university level. It was also reviewed every couple of years by the legal department. We often discussed why the policy was so broad. In the end, we always decided that it was easier to make a broad rule and allow students to request exceptions than to try and cover all the creative ways students can cheat.


Is there something like a "peer-review paper"? Journals like CVPR (IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition) have a peer-reviewing process. Depending on the journal (or the publication published after a conference - is that also called a journal?) one might simply know that all articles were peer-reviewed.

However, those reviews are not publicly available as far as I know.

This is also a problem of arXiv / bad journals. They might have (many) good articles, but one has to check them. A work-around might be to look at citation counts / who cited the article, but citations are not necessarily positive.

Are there any typical / recommended ways to write reviews and make them publicly available?

Depending on whether you want to leave short comments on papers you weren't invited to review or make public full reviews of papers that you were, you might look at http://www.pubpeer.com and http://www.publons.com respectively.


Thesis or a practicum at Masters Level - Computer Science I am about to reach a stage in my masters where I'll have to make a choice of doing either a regular thesis or a practicum. A practicum is simply an alternative to thesis in which a student has to submit a practical project employing the concepts developed throughout the graduate program and concludes with a paper and presentation of the crafted project.Since I am planning to apply for a PhD soon after graduation will it affect my application if I opt for the practicum instead of the thesis considering the fact that I already have published a technical paper ?

Thesis.  Thesis, thesis, thesis.

(But I do agree with Suresh.  The fact that you've published is more important.)


Should I ask a professor for the third time for a letter of recommendation? I contacted two professors six weeks before the deadline. One prof emailed me back immediately. The second one still hasn’t. It is due in 3 weeks. I emailed him last Friday asking him again if he would be willing to be a reference but still no response. I don’t have his phone number and he doesn’t work at the university. I really don’t want to annoy him, but should I email him again? I do have his gmail address (I’ve been emailing him from his work one). Usually he contacts me from his work one but I have received ones from his gmail account in the past. But I am afraid this would be frowned upon and looked on as being too invasive? I am really at a loss. I do have another reference, however, she is more a professional reference and I am not sure if that is allowed (the school isn’t getting back to me on this question).

This question is not a duplicate. I am wondering if I should email the professor for a third time or if that would be considered inappropriate?

I was in a similar position as you a few months ago.

Given the deadline, it matters that something rather than nothing is submitted before the deadline. Ask asking for extensions is an unreliable strategy.

Send an email to your professor stipulating that you are concerned about the lack of response (which you are) and inform the professor what your plans are (asking someone else).

No need to ask why, be short and to the point.

  Dear Professor X,

  It has been sometime since the last time we talked about you writing a
  letter of recommendation on my behalf. I am concerned that your
  silence is indicative of your unavailability to write a letter. I know
  you are busy and I understand your time constraints.

  In the meantime I’ll be asking [you can choose to be specific or
  vague].

  Thank you for your time and consideration.

  Best regards,

  [Your Name]

Make sure the second letter writer is willing and able to submit in time.


Please inform details and feasibility of pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in mathematics/applied mathematics/statistics/related discipline? I am in my late 20s from India. After my high school, I completed my bachelor degree in engineering, specifically in textile engineering and later, my masters degree in statistics-cum-operations research.

Both the above-mentioned degrees are from Indian institutes.

But I want to pursue at least one degree from abroad universities. Also, I would like to acquire a solid foundation in pure mathematics. Although I have studied Linear algebra, Multi-variable calculus, Differential equations, Integral equations, Numerical methods, higher order integration, Infinite series, Complex Analysis (analytic functions and contour integral, etc), Vector algebra and calculus, probability and statistics, etc. I don’t have sufficient knowledge in abstract algebra (like in group theory, ring theory), topology, measure theory, functional analysis, etc.

To pursue a master’s degree in maths-oriented discipline, universities typically ask for a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. That’s why I am keen on pursuing a bachelor degree in mathematics through regular full-time mode.

I am ruling out the possibility of doing in India through regular full-time mode because there are many age-related restrictions in Indian universities. The only possibility is through correspondence courses (distance-learning) which i am not very keen on.

By abroad, I mean universities in USA, Canada, Australia, New-Zealand, UK and in Europe (Like Germany, Czech Republic, etc.).

Please inform what are the chances of universities admitting international mature candidates for a bachelor degree in mathematics and that also, taking into account the high school scores, and other previously studied degree scores. Also please inform, which such universities are present that admits such candidates.

Age is not an issue in the U.S.

But I would apply directly to a master's or PhD program.


Receiving a bad grade from close professor? Hello I am doing my masters and I got relatively bad grade from a professor. I am going to do another project with him in this semester. I think I deserve a better grade but the problem is that only way to re-evaluate my report is to make a complaint to study committee or to dean. My professor is a very nice person and he is one of the best in the area may be the best,and our communication is good he even wrote "look forward to seeing you". He was very satisfied with my lab. work but I messed up writing report, because he said that I should not write lots of theory but now one of the evaluation report says I should have write more theory(He is not the only evaluator, there are 2 more sensors who I dont know). It's so sad that I got a bad result, but I also don't want to lose healthy connection with the professor. I am doing my masters one of the best universities in Europe and I want to do Phd after my masters so grade is important for me and also recommendation is important for me. I dont know what to do, do you have any suggestions?

It is true that a good grade is worthy (every student wants a nice grade). However, it is not uncommon to score somehow “poorly” while you expect the best result. So, if your results are contrary to your expectations and if you have reason to believe that what you earned is not what you deserve (in the sense of your achievements in exams, presentations, written reports, etc), you may need to take some course of action as per your university’s rules and regulations.

I think, a useful first step would be to ask your professor to show you how you have been graded and what you did right and what you did wrong. That would also be a good opportunity to learn from your mistakes (if any). You may also have the opportunity to discover if there were any mistakes on the side of your professor in evaluating (correcting) your report. After talking to your professor, if you are convinced that the grade you got is what you deserve, then you have to accept that and learn from  the things you didn’t do well. If, with your discussion with the professor, you find out things necessitating revision of your marks (re-grading), that would be accomplished as per your university’s rule. If you still cannot resolve the issue after discussing with your professor, you may follow your university’s formal appealing procedures. But when you do so, have a convincing reason for why you are questioning your  grade. How much time you have devoted on the work or the fact that you need a good grade to pursue a PhD, I think, are not reasons strong enough to justify appealing. What is it that you correctly did but for which did not earn the deserved mark? Such things should be at hand. (I feel many things vary from university to university, but this is what I think you could consider).


How to handle Co-author who is not listening the suggestions to improve the paper quality Assume I am involved with a work and the lead author is writing a paper. However, after every draft version, I see that not all my comments are well addressed in the revised version. I expect that if the comments or major suggestions are not addressed, then some explanation must be given.  During the previous conversation, the coauthor did not raise any doubts or concerns about my suggestions. Thus I pointed out these issues in the paper again and they again fell on deaf ears  this loop continues.

As I already spent a huge amount of time on this paper and made a significant contribution, I don't want to withdraw my coauthorship.
Topic is relatively new, in addition the current version is good enough to have a decent chance of getting accepted into a medium level conference.
Some minor issues (may be major) are bother me. I am not sure whether I am wrong. However, there is no discussion on on my concerns even after they are explicitly highlighted.

Should I just let the paper go? or make some statement? I don't want to burn bridges with any of my coauthors.

In every scientific paper that I have been involved in, there has been opportunity for co-authors to directly edit the manuscript themselves, if they wish to make a contribution.  If you feel that you have suggestions that are not being taken up, I would advise you to ask something like:

  Would you mind if I did a pass on the paper to edit in some of the suggestions I've made?

If your co-author hasn't been editing in your suggestions because they are unclear, overloaded, or not able to do so, this will give you a chance to adjust the paper in the ways that you want.  If, on the other hand, they actually disagree with your suggestions, then they may not want you to edit them in, and you can then actually have a discussion about whether and why the proposed edits should occur.

In short: I believe that you need to shift from being a passive critic to being an active contributor who provides actual text that accomplishes what you want to have accomplished.