Acknowledge startup funding in manucript Has anyone acknowledged their own university for startup funding that was used to conduct the research to be published in an article? If so could you please share the wordings that you used? Thanks!

Unless you were given other specific instructions from your university, all you need to do by way of acknowledgement is to put “[name of author], [name of university]” on the title page of your paper. This is enough to ensure that people understand that the university is paying your salary, giving you an office, and providing you with any other resources that you need to do your job, including startup funding if applicable.


How to improve the skill at storytelling and paper writing? I have come to see a comment on twitter: "If you define “good ML paper” as “ML paper accepted at NeurIPS/ICML/etc” then writing a good ML paper is probably much more about how skilled you are at storytelling and paper writing than about ML." This comment is about Machine Learning (ML) and the comment is someone's opinion. My question is more general, how to improve the writing skill for scientific papers?

It would be great if someone can answer in Machine learning and NeurIPS/ICML perspective.

As with most skills, both physical and intellectual, the key is practice and feedback. To be a better swimmer, swim a lot. To excel at it, get a coach who can give you feedback.

The same is true of writing and many other things. To be a better writer, simply, write. But the feedback is also important so find a way to get that. You will get it from referees when you submit papers, but you can also get it less formally if you share drafts among colleagues. If you are a student, you probably get feedback from professors, but ask them to comment on your writing specifically, not just your ideas.

There are, of course, books and such to help you be a better writer. Their advice may be helpful: Keep the reader in mind; Be correct but not pedantic; the opening should entice the reader to continue...

But the books won't make you a writer (or a swimmer). Just write.

And get feedback.


Does country of author influence the rejection of research paper One of my faculty, during a lecture, told the following lines

  some good journals and conferences even consider the country of
  authors and sometimes they think that the research papers from a
  particular country may be not good. So, we need to be more careful
  while writing the paper and regarding its novelty.

Is his claim true? Does the reviewers and editors of the journal consider the country as one of the factors in the decision?

I am not sure that I ever seen any substantiation statistical research on it, but it is definitely believed that researchers from some countries  are under pressure to generate large quantities of research papers, but not necessarily under the same pressure regarding the quality of their research. The lists are subjective and vary from one researcher to another, but often include China, India, Russia and post-Soviet countries, etc.  So, yes, peer-reviewers may have a subconscious bias against research papers from these countries. This bias may be further amplified by the language barrier — if the paper is written in sub-par English, it may reflect on the perception of research explained in the paper.

However, reviewers should not allow their bias to affect their decision and there are systems in place to ensure they don't. Good journals have good policies which encourage reviewers to work with their bias and also involve a diverse panel of reviewers to consider the merits of the paper more objectively.

Regarding your last statement, yes, it is always good to carefully check your paper before submission and stress the novelty and usefulness of the proposed research idea.


Should I list on my CV research assistantship positions under grants&awards? Background of person is: first year Phd student, no publications, no research grants, but I have received a fellowship for my first semester that paid my stipend and tuition, so should I list the total amount with stipend and tuition?

Also during my MS I was hired as an RA and received stipend+tuition? Can I list that as a total amount per year, or total amount for the two years, or should I separate the different amounts (tuition/stipend). Isn't this a fellowship/scholarship/grant of some sort since rarely do master students get this kind of RAship?

edit: while RA's are common in the US and the fact that they pay stipend/tuition is well known, in other countries people might think that if I list it only as a job they might not realize it also paid my tuition, which for foreign students in the US can be quite high. I want to convey the importance of this achievement and monetary importance to a crowd outside the USA.

Although merit is certainly a factor in the hiring of research assistants,   most people don't consider assistantships as "grants or awards". They are jobs. List them under "Positions Held" or "Academic Appointments" or the equivalent heading on your CV. Do not list your salary or the amount of your stipend - that's not anybody's business except you and your department.

Some fellowships might be considered awards. They would usually be explicitly competitive in nature, and given by outside agencies. "Named" fellowships from endowed funds might also count, even if awarded by your department. But a research assistantship is not a fellowship.


Is it possible for an F-1 graduate student in US to do internship in Europe? I am a graduate student in US with F-1 visa. I have an internship offer from a company in France. Is it possible/feasible for me to accept this offer, or are there any rules preventing me from doing so?

Added:

I am an Indian National with F-1 visa. The internship will be for 6 months (2 terms). I am allowed to do 3 or 6 months internship in US with CPT, but I cannot find any such information regarding internship out of US.

U.S. Immigration Law: While doing a summer internship would be seen as compatible with still being a full-time student because of the extended American summer, if you did the 6-month internship you may have difficulty arguing that you are still a full-time, enrolled student. You need to ask your university foreign student's office for advice as to how you can retain your F-1 status.1

French Immigration Law: You need to clarify with the French company that you will have a valid visa status while in the EU.

University Policy: As with US immigration law, you need to make sure that your status in the program is not interrupted by the internship.

1. Note that CPT (Curricular Practical Training) does not apply as you are not applying to work within the USA. The main  concern is that your absence for 6-months is not seen as a disruption of your studies from the perspective of maintaining your F1 visa. Your international students office should be able to advise how to maintain your student status. The bonus is that you should be able to use your OPT year in its full since you did not take a CPT.


What if I am not the right fit in a certain lab as a postdoc? Almost everything is in the title of my question. More precisely, what if my advisor wants me to do research by using methods in a field that is not my field of expertise/interest?

Thanks!

I presume that your postdoc advisor is the one that was directly responsible for your hiring. In such cases, she is presumably well aware of your skill set and former training, Presuming that she has not intentionally set you up to fail (a reasonable assumption, given her investment of time and money in you, and the potential damage to her reputation and your career), you should look on this as an opportunity to demonstrate that your PhD is well-earned. After all, the goal of a PhD is to certify that you are capable of learning a new discipline and making a demonstrable contribution to the state of knowledge in the field. Being put into a project outside your "comfort zone" is a perfect way to accomplish this.


Choosing between two letters of recommendation I am in the process of applying to some masters programs in machine learning, and need to make a choice between two letters of recommendation. One is from an undergraduate professor who told me they were happy to help, but my only interaction with him was one class I took senior year, and I graduated seven years ago. The second is from my current manager at work, who was a former academic whom I have a good relationship with. He knows that I am applying to full time masters programs, and that if I get in I will be leaving my job, and is still willing to help. He also knows the amount of effort I put in outside of work hours to work on machine learning projects. I understand that academic letters of recommendation are preferred, but given the fact that I graduated seven years ago, and that the letter from my manager will most likely be stronger, I am looking for some advice.

I don't think it matters too much if the academic letter is about a old relationship, or whether the work letter is actually from your job and not from academia. What matters is that the academic you interacted with has an excellent opinion of you - and that seems to be the case, given the many years in between! - and hopefully that the academic stuff you have been working together is related to your master. Similarly, your employer will have lots to say about your work aethics and dedication, and hopefully his academic background and/or your current job should be somehow pertinent to your masters.


My Professor thinks class ends 30 minutes earlier than it does The title pretty much says it all - it's a 2.5 hr class and he thinks it's 2 hrs. The first 3 classes have been rushed and I want to tell him - but when I mention it to my classmates they tell me it's not our problem and adamately say not to mention it - I don't think anybody wants the class to be any longer than it is. What should i do?

Who said it was 2.5 hrs?  The schedule?  It is not uncommon for professors to reserve a longer time than is always necessary, just to give themselves a bit of lee-way, in case they sometimes need a bit longer.  A 2.5 h time-slot it not necessarily a commitment to hold class for that long (but check your institutional rules if you feel cheated).  The first class of a term is also often shorter.

The above is true at least for the Australian National University.

In any case, if you will ask him, it pays always to be polite and not to come across as though you are accusing him of intentional wrong-doing; but rather as if you are ignorant of their traditions.


Relationship between PhD applicant and recommender I am applying for PhD programs and most of them ask for my relationship to my recommenders. Two of my recommenders are my undergrad thesis research advisors, so I just put "thesis research advisor" for those, but I am having trouble describing the last one.
The third recommender is the PI on a research project I worked on. I only met him a couple times though, and I didn't work directly for him; I worked with one of the grad students. Since the grad student knows me much better, she is helping the PI write my recommendation letter (we thought it would be best to have the PI submit the letter since grad programs usually prefer or require that letters come from professors).
How would I describe this relationship to the PI? Is "research advisor" still acceptable even though I didn't work with him?

'Research project PI' as in your Question, or maybe 'Research project supervisor'. You seem to want something more distant (less personal) than 'thesis supervisor' The word 'project' implies that distance.
Given that the PI is essentially signing something written by another person, that
distance will likely come through clearly in the letter of recommendation.


How necessary is a List of Figures and a List of Tables in a dissertation? I am writing my dissertation (word-limit 10,000 words) and am wondering if I should include a separate List of Figures and List of Tables Section after my Table of Contents? The university guidelines do not specify whether they're required or not.

I will have about 3 figures and 4 tables when I'm finished.

To be honest, with a short dissertation with only a few figures and tables, it probably doesn't really matter one way or the other.

If your institution's dissertation guidelines say anything about it, follow them.  If not, I'd say just include the lists, unless you feel you have some good reason not to.  In which case, don't.  Your advisor should let you know if they believe such lists should be added or removed, anyway.

Or you could just ask your advisor about it to begin with.


My student told me his mother has cancer, what do I do? Today I saw that one of my students in the class was looking very sad. He sat down at the end of class and he looked like he was in a bad mood. After all the students left the classroom I called  him over. He told me that his mother has cancer.

I told him be strong and try to not think about it too much. But honestly, this was a big lie. How can I try to get him to not think too much of it?

What should I have said to him?

As an instructor, the best you can do is to offer your condolences and tell him to just ask you if he needs anything. For example, you could offer an extension on assignments. If he needs some time off from lectures, maybe a classmate who takes good lecture notes will agree to make a photocopy, or you could get the lectures to be recorded for him.

Your university might also have a policy that allows students to withdraw from the course and receive a refund of fees without penalty to grades: it would be worth finding this out and advising your student if this is possible. Depending on the severity of the illness and how much it is affecting your student, he might wish to take fewer (or zero) courses for a while.

If the course is nearly finished, perhaps an aegrotat (compassionate consideration) will be applicable to the final exam. But neither an illness in the family, nor a bereavement or any personal physical or mental health issue can excuse a student from having to learn the material and complete assessments in order to pass a course. He will still have to demonstrate mastery of most of the material.

Just be compassionate, and as flexible as you feasibly can. Nobody could ask for more.


Consequences of not attending a conference So I did research over the summer and applied to and got funded to go to a conference in Hawaii. I would have to leave to the conference early Wednesday morning and wouldn't return until about 1am Monday morning. The main problem I have is that since I'll be expected to be at the conference for most of the day and be pressured into having fun by my peers during the night, I don't think that going to this conference would help my goal of getting an A on the test's I have to take on Monday/Tuesday. I told my professor that this conference would be a burden on me and my studies so I wouldn't be able to go. She replied and said "I was making a huge mistake and that I would have to face financial and other consequences for my decision." Is she trying to scare me or can the university punish me financially for wasting funding money that I earned In order to attend to my studies. It's not like I'm blowing this conference off because "I'm not feeling it" Going to this conference would really set me back in all of my classes. Any advice, this is really stressing me out.

I suggest that you go and make the best use of the time, both at the conference and otherwise. You have a long plane ride in both directions. You have evenings if you forgo socializing. You have time between sessions to review course material if you have some notes on index cards or otherwise that are easy to carry.

You might even be successful in begging to put off the exam(s) for a day or so.

And, as others have said, if you have had a paper accepted then you have an obligation to present it. Making your advisor happy is worth something also.

And remember that in the last analysis, for moving on to grad school, more than your grades will be considered. Most especially letters from your advisor.


Etiquette or useful guidelines while making video lectures I'm in the midst of creating a series of videos to teach statistics online. Do any of you have a list of common do's and don'ts that can make a big difference?

Also, how does one assess how much to explain a topic, since you do not get instant feedback by looking at facial reactions to a given concept?

In real classroom scenario, it's quite easy to course correct if someone didn't understand the original thought, but in video, you have just one shot. The student either gets it or he doesn't.

Any way to minimize this?

Do's:

Do your best to pretend there are students in the classroom. Obviously, don't ask questions to the void, but scan the room, move about as you might in a real classroom (but don't go off camera), and take "normal" pauses if you're writing on a board.  This is an example from a short video I made for some of my pre-algebra students, and there weren't any students in the classroom at the time:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=est2X6-BVkw
Write big enough and clearly enough so the video picks it up. In the video I linked to, I realized that the pen I was using was pretty crappy, so I switched to a better pen (although I probably should have redone the entire clip). Even better is the way Khan Academy does it, with a digital board that he writes on during the lecture.
Make sure you have a good microphone, preferably one that is wireless that you put on your shirt/lapel. There is nothing worse than trying to watch/listen to a video that has poor sound.

Don'ts:

Don't block the board!
Don't be afraid to make a few mistakes that remain on tape. You can spend too much time re-doing videos for simple mistakes. If you make a mistake and recognize it immediately, fix it as you would in a real classroom. If you find a mistake in post-processing, feel free to overlay the video with a text box that fixes the error -- no one will care. Obviously, you can re-record if you wish, but keep in mind what your time is worth.

  How does one assess how much to explain a topic?

This is one of those times you have to do the best you can and try to elicit feedback from the students after they watch the video. The reason I posted the video I linked above is because I realized that a number of students didn't get it when I first taught the topic.

  In real classroom scenario, it's quite easy to course correct if someone didn't understand the original thought, but in video, you have just one shot. The student either gets it or he doesn't.

Well, that's one difference between face-to-face instruction and online video instruction. This is what email correspondence with the professor is for. You can also consider posting response videos to frequent questions you've been asked via email.


Do contemporary publications cite more sources? Why? When I read very old, classic papers in biology, I am struck by how few sources they cite. Watson and Crick, 1953 cites 6 sources. Luria and Delbrück, 1943 cites 9. Sanger, 1977 cites 14.

This is in contrast to contemporary papers, which often have a whole page, in very small type, listing the sources.

What is going on? Am I correct in concluding that over the past century, the number of sources referenced by each paper has increased? What does this mean? Is biology (and perhaps other sciences) simply maturing and becoming more collaborative? Has the availability of computers and the internet made it easier to find more sources? Are standards higher nowadays about grounding your work in literature? Is it just that stuffing your bibliography with copy/pasted sources has become fashionable?

jakebeal has pointed at the more technical reasons for the increase of references. We should, however, not forget some of the more subtle, but perhaps also, more fundamental changes that has happened.

First, there is a gradual change in how science is communicated. Scientific papers have developed from letters that were read aloud in front of scientific societies and also published as personal letters. The scientific debate was more closely akin to debates between persons making observations. Obviously this was possible for the reason that there were very few involved in any one research question. So, in part the development seen is due to a development of publishing driven by changes in the form and volume of debate.

Second, research questions have become more complicated involving larger and larger groups of scientists with varying expertise. This increase in complexity also means references are no longer required to cover just a specific question but also information from adjacent or supporting fields.

Third, science is disseminated in smaller parts today that what was the case back in time. This is partly out of necessity related to the second point above. Additionally, and this is perhaps not the greatest aspect of developments, there is the pressure to publish due, mostly, to the fact that academic careers are measured in terms of number of publications and number of citations. The number of publications has thus increased for several reasons and hence also the number of somewhat relevant papers to cite. I will not get into bad behaviour such as self-citations here but it is clear that any system will have flaws and some people will make use of such flaws to benefit themselves.

So at least some of the change in number of publications is due to developments in the way we perform and communicate science and also changing pressure from the academic world on researchers to publish and be cited.


What to do when one my co-authors is openly insulting me but the others remain silent? I previously asked this question Senior co-author is jeopardizing two years of work.

I have been trying to address my senior co-author's concerns. However, he is still not happy, and has now started to openly insult me in the group email discussions among all co-authors.

What should I do? My supervisors and other co-authors appear to choose to remain silent. I will be soon applying elsewhere, so I would like to have good recommendation letters. It is becoming difficult to care what happens to the paper, since it would be in preparation anyway while I am applying elsewhere.

Academia is a small world, so I would like to remain on as good terms as possible with everyone, including the difficult co-author.

(PS. I would accept the highest voted answer in the other question but I lost my login)

Things have gotten personal, it is best if you remove yourself from the fight. Anything you say, no matter how sensible or innocent, is likely to be poorly received.

Instead, talk with your most trusted collaborator and ask them to defuse the situation (and follow up, to make sure they do!), preferably someone who has received the insulting emails first hand. Once your difficult collaborator has calmed down, you can all meet and discuss the paper. (NB: it is possible that some have already started to talk to him about this in private, or they are just waiting to see what on Earth is happening with you two, so silence doesn't necessarily mean inaction).

I'd say it is rather unusual for someone to snap at you, so there may be something else going on here, and perhaps you should look into it. On the other hand, some people are plain rude. In any case, personal insults are not acceptable, and this behaviour should not be tolerated.


Delayed meetings for research project I just enrolled in my master's program and was fortunate enough to get into a lab.

After discussing research interest, I was offered to work on a project in collaboration with another lab. The first meeting was last week where I sat down with 2 professors to discuss the project.

I expected another meeting sometime this week (OP on Wednesday), but it's been pushed back to next Thursday. I understand this may be due to time conflicts or due to other matters.

Currently, I lack some of the domain knowledge required for the project and am trying to catch up in order to carry out the research. At what point should I start worrying about not being able to make progress on the project?

I personally would like to work on this project with decent results so that I can eventually transition over to PhD program.

Thank you.

Delays happen regularly. That is nothing to worry about. Professors often have a high workload.

However, it is expected from a Master's student and especially a PhD student to be able to work independently. A single meeting with a professor should give you at least enough input to start working on the topic. That is, learn the fundamentals in this area, read papers (those of your professors would be a good starting point) and think about your own ideas.

That said, you might not be able to provide a perfect solution for the problem with the input you already have, but it is expected from you that you have at least something at the next meeting. Then approach your professor with something like

  I have read your paper about how you applied method X to problem Y. Do you think it would be a good idea to apply method X to my problem, too? Do you have time for me next week to discuss this?

So, yes, you have to worry if you do not make any progress, especially if you have time constraints. But not being able to talk to your professor is nothing that should prevent you from making any progress in the meantime. At least you can get more familiar with the tools that save you time in the long run, for example LaTeX, Pandas or whatever you will need for your field of research.


Opinion on accepting a grad school offer after having already accepted another offer I applied to graduate schools this year, and at the tail end of February, my first pick school sent me an email that to me, sounded like they had filled all the available TA positions. So naturally I chose my second pick school (that did offer me a TAship).

Today (April 16th), I receive an email from my first choice school saying they would like to offer me a TAship (apparently somebody declined their offer).

The graduate adviser at my second choice school had told me before that sometime she made offers to candidates in the summer, so I am thinking if I were to contact her and ask to be released from my agreement, she might be OK with that. (I realize there are formal rules that apply)

Would it be such a bad thing to ask my second choice school to release me (if they say no it will be somewhat awkward for me and if I just walk out on them, I am not sure what they can do).

TIA,
GB

You have to know what you want to do. If you want to go to your 1st choice school, perhaps you can come to an agreement to have the 2nd professor as your copromotor? Or didn't you pin down your supervisor and your topic yet. In that case, just go for the first school definately.

Take a look at your contract or contact the administration. They will be able to help you with the more technical details of resigning.

But do what you feel you want to spend the next 4 years doing!


Credit with helping to write a PhD thesis I am an undergraduate student doing summer research and I am helping a PhD student to write a portion of her PhD thesis and with a bit of editing here and there. I am wondering how would credit be distributed since I don't think a  PhD thesis can be co-authored. Also, when I apply to graduate school afterwards, how would I show the admission committee that I have done this work?

To clarify: I had two kinds of contributions to this thesis. There are parts describing research we collaborated on, but it was mainly me in that I collected the data and performed the analysis but she gave me advice. There are also parts that describe her research, that I helped to edit.

In some fields, almost all work is done as a collaboration. In these fields, it is not at all unusual for this collaborative work to end up in a student's thesis. However, the thesis text should clearly state "This chapter describes joint work with X" (e.g. in a footnote).

However, to really get credit for this joint research, you should prepare a manuscript and try to get it published, or at least release a preprint you can put online (if there isn't time to get it published before you apply to grad school).

For the editing assistance, the most you can get is a thanks in the acknowledgements, and help with editing is not likely to impress an admissions committee.


How to get people to reply to emails and what to make of a no response? Most people in research probably have first-hand experience regarding how difficult it is to get some people to reply to emails, e.g. (but not limited to) some reputed professors. It is also difficult to establish how to interpret a lack of response, because the person can be just busy and miss your email (i.e. "save for later" then forget about it) or might be purposely ignoring the email. I find the lack of response particularly annoying when contacting a listed "corresponding author" about their paper.

I have experienced several extremes: professors who reply within hours (or even minutes!); professors who failed to produce any response at all; even once I sent a job query and didn't get a response until after 2-3 months later, when the professor apologized about forgetting to reply and said he was very interested in my application.

The latter case almost cost me a job (luckily I had already secured a position elsewhere), and as it turned out later I could have resolved the situation by sending the professor a reminder that he had not replied to my earlier email. But how could I have interpreted his lack of response as either forgetfulness or disinterest?

The situation is usually better with postdocs and graduate students, who tend to reply, and when they do their replies tend to come faster.

Hence, my questions are:

How to improve the chances of getting a reply to one's email besides the obvious "be brief and to the point"
How to interpret the lack of response
When is it appropriate to send a reminder and tips to avoid annoying the recipient with it

Edit upon request:

The typical content of the emails I'm referring to would be regarding the work done by the email's recipient or at their lab (questions about papers published by them, for instance). Non-spam job applications or surveying possible collaboration could also be included here.

If you want to know why you get faster responses from grad students than professors, just take a look at this comparison of email volume when transitioning from student to professor.  Afterward the load just continues to rise (the number of emails I get per month is now much greater than anything shown there).
Many researchers -- particularly faculty -- have an email address that is publicly listed on the internet.  That means that anyone in the entire world can contact them about anything at any time.  Some well-known researchers get a huge amount of email, and could not possibly respond to it all even if they did nothing else.  Even a fairly ordinary mid-career professor with some research funds gets a pretty high volume of email from total strangers.  I'm not referring to outright spam but to things like applications for student/postdoc/researcher positions; requests for research assistance, or inquiries about research collaborations and so forth.  Replying to such email cannot trump essential duties like research, student advising, and teaching, so the time for it is limited.
Initial message
Given a queue of tasks (emails) that perhaps cannot ever be completed in the available time, one must prioritize.  If you are emailing a complete stranger, your email is not likely to be at the top of the queue.  The best way to make sure your email stands out is to

Ensure that it does not look like a form letter.  Currently, the only messages I don't reply to at all are those that look like the sender could have sent identical messages to everyone in my department (usually, they did).
Show that you have done your homework.  If you're applying for a job, do you have some research ideas that the professor would be interested in?  What makes you especially qualified for the job?  If you're looking for a collaboration, reference specific things in the contact's papers that are of interest to you.
Along the same lines, don't email a stranger asking them to do (home)work for you (yes, it happens a lot) or requesting information that you could find for yourself on the internet.
Be polite.  Recognize that you are interrupting a complete stranger without having been invited to do so.  You are not entitled to their time; you are requesting it.
Write clearly and concisely.  If it's a first contact and you want to ask questions, try to ask just one question.

Lost messages
It does happen that messages get lost, due to spam filters or by being buried under other newer messages.  If you don't get a reply, there is no way to know whether the message was lost or just didn't make it to the top of the queue.  If it was lost, a reminder may be appreciated by the recipient.
Reminders
Typically, I would wait at least a week before sending a reminder. I feel that a reminder to a total stranger after 2 days is not polite.  In your reminder:

Be extra polite.
Do not blame the recipient.  A good strategy is to say you are sending a follow-up in case your original message went to spam, or something similar.
Remember that you have no idea what is going on in the professional or personal life of the recipient, and you are certainly in no position to  judge their actions.

If you are corresponding with a collaborator, the above rules still apply.  Last month, a friend and collaborator suddenly stopped replying to emails just when we had nearly completed a manuscript.  I waited two weeks, then sent a message just asking if she was okay.  In fact, it turned out that a major personal issue had arisen that -- among other things -- prevented her from doing any work during that time.


Efficient process for writing a STEM journal article Background:
I have done quite a lot of research work for a particular project.
I am working in the field of operations research (i.e. applied math/physics),
so this work primarily takes the form of propositions, proofs and numerical experiments.
In the process of my research,
each day I write up my daily progress in my lab notebook,
which in my case takes the form of a very very long LaTeX file.
I am now trying to write up my work as an article for submission to a journal.

Question:
What is an efficient process which I can use to write the journal article?

Related links:

The Mumford method sounds interesting.
However, as Mumford is a philosopher,
his writing process seems to me to be less relevant to writing in the sciences.

I think the process of writing papers is pretty individual to each researcher. What works for me may not work for you. That being said, the following are a few rules that I usually give me mentees and students when we start writing a paper together:

As "Not Quite An Outsider" states, do start with an outline. Look through related work for papers with a similar scope / methodology / idea and start by imitating their outline. However, do not do so blindly. Instead, focus on understanding why the authors of your related work chose to structure their paper the way they did, and check whether their (assumed) reasoning is also useful for your paper.
Keep in mind that your paper needs a "story" - you know your material and reasoning, your readers do not. Start at the beginning, and end with the conclusions. Avoid statements that are not understandable at the point in the paper where they appear (rule of thumb: when you feel writing something along the lines of "as will be explained later on", you likely have a bug in your structure).
Plan the length of your paper. Fill each section with some Lorem Ipsum filler text of roughly the same length as you plan for this section. This allows you to see how much space you actually have for each part of your paper. During writing, when I start a new section I remove the filler text and replace it with what I actually plan to say at this point. I sometimes even go as far as drafting where in the paper I will have which figures, and put placeholder figures there instead when doing the outline.
Write the paper in order (i.e., in the same order as it will appear in the final paper). This is a bit controversial - I have seen many experienced paper writers suggest various other orders ("Start with Related Work" - "Start with Conclusions" - etc.). To me, the problem with writing in a different sequence is that it is very easy to lose track of what a reader actually knows at this point in the paper (hence destroying the story of your paper). For instance, you would end up using concepts and ideas that you actually only discuss at a later point. This makes papers unnecessary difficult to understand. I feel it is also much easier to produce a convincing line of argumentation when you produce the material in the same order as it will be read.
In any way, later rearrangements will be necessary. After reading the paper, you decide that you need to switch some subsections around, or that you do not need Section 3 at all. Stay flexible and don't be too much in love with your current outline just because it is how you initially wanted to do it. One additional sidenote in this is that you write your paper in LaTeX. This makes later changes in the outline trivial.
Write the text the way you suppose it should appear in the paper. Do not draft too much - there is no point writing throwaway text unless you really do not know how to write this section / part properly at this point. Only go on to the next section when the last one is pretty much done.
As soon as a section is pretty much done, get some feedback on it. Remember that your paper should already be coherent and complete up to this section, so there is no harm in sending it to colleagues or your supervisor and asking them to tell you whether the paper makes sense up to and including Section X.


Is there a need to always check for plagiarism? If you carefully and adequately paraphrase and quote in a given school assignment or a master's essay or thesis (i.e. act ethically), should you use a software or a website to check for plagiarism? Is there a need for such an act? You know, 'just in case'?

Being certain that you quote correctly is pretty straight-forward (if it's not your words, use quotes), but learning to paraphrase well is difficult for some people.  I think this may be more often the case for those who are not native English speakers: my observation may be less about language than about differences in educational culture.

For a person who doesn't have confidence that they are paraphrasing sufficiently differently for typical scientific writing standards, I could see that running through a plagiarism checker might be useful as an educational tool.  Much more effectively, however, such a person might want to work with a trustworthy writing service (most American universities provide something of this sort free to their students) to get an independent evaluation of the quality of their paraphrasing and help in improving it if needed.

Once you have enough experience to be confident in your ability to paraphrase, however, I would not bother to do any sort of double-check unless you have an extremely nervous personality and it will help you to sleep at night.


How to cope with gap after PhD? I submitted my PhD recently and am waiting for the oral examination. Though I have started looking for postdoc positions, the possibility of being without a job, even if for a small period after the viva, is quite frightening. How can I cope with it?

One possibility to check about—which I took advantage of at the end of my own graduate career—is that of being hired short-term as a teaching assistant. The good news is that you would have extra time to find a new position. The challenge is that you would be making a commitment to teaching for an additional semester. It would have significant ramifications if you were to  skip out on this duty if you obtained a job offer to start immediately at a company, or a postdoc offer at another university.


What non-research activities are most valuable when applying for faculty positions in mathematics? I am asking this question for two reasons: first to work on activities to strengthen my CV for the future, and second to write a plan for professional development activities as part of a grant proposal.

What non-research related activities are most valuable to have on a CV when applying to permanent faculty positions at research-focused universities? For example, how valuable is it to have experience working with graduate students, organizing conferences/seminars, etc.?

I am a pure mathematician, hoping for advice that can apply to both European and American jobs. I currently am working on my second postdoc, although my first one was only six months long.  I had to take some adjunct teaching positions here and there as well, so I have a decent amount of undergraduate teaching experience. I have a limited publication record however (one thing I know I need to work on).

What is valued around here is to show independent work (not just papers with your advisor, have your own research grants). Show involvement with the relevant community (organize conferences, attend conferences, get invited to talk about your work).


Where does the US Department of Education report university graduation rates? Where can I find the report that states the fact below, quoted in a CNN article?

  Only 40% of middle-class college entrants who were high school seniors in 2004 had secured bachelor's degrees by 2012, according to the Department of Education.

I can't find a particular report that contains your exact quote, but the statistic could easily be derived from data that is present in the "Digest of Educational Statistics" published by the US Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics:

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/

In particular, see table 326.40 in the "current" edition which gives this percentage separately for students who started in 2 year and 4 year institutions and for students from families in various income ranges.  To get the 40% statistic quoted, you'd have to combine the rates for students in two income ranges and the statistics for students starting at 2 year and 4 year colleges.  These range from 17.6% (for students from families with income between $45,000 and $69,999 who started at 2 year colleges) to 66.7% (for students from families with income between $70,000 and $99,999 who started at 4 year colleges.)

The statistic shouldn't be surprising. Keep in mind that not everyone who enters "college" is seeking a bachelor's degree- many will want only an associates degree or certificate of some sort.  If you limit your attention to students who enter four year colleges (and presumably want a bachelor's degree) and who come from higher income families ($100,000 per year and up) you get a much higher rate of 77.5%.  Both family income and starting at a 4 year college are important factors.


When / how should I ask about a manuscript's status in review? I have a manuscript that has been in review for 60 days. The journal asks for reviews within four weeks. At what point is it acceptable (and not detrimental) to contact the editor for an update? How should I phrase the request?

I don’t know your field, but in mine (theoretical computer science), you have to get used to long review processes. My personal rule is to contact the journal six months after submission. Given recent events, my new, additional rule is to also state upon submission that I can suggest referees if need be.
As EpiGrad commented, the four weeks time certainly refers to the time allowed to the referee. But additional stages take longer: a first quick scan of your paper to decide whether it’s worth troubling an editor with it; then the editor has to find referees; and, assuming they all complete their reviews in time, the editor also needs a little bit of time to reach a decision based on the reviews. Moreover, your paper might not be their top priority.
As for the “how”, something like this would do:

Dear Editor,
I understand that you must be extremely busy, but I was wondering about the status of my manuscript [title, reference number] that I submitted on [date]. Have you heard back from the referees yet?
Thanks a lot for your time.
Best regards,
[name]


How to react to an angry email / argument as a third party I'm finding myself in an uncomfortable position these past couple of days. Our IT/lab manager has been working on a new website to store data that is to be shared with about 11 other institutions, all part of the same project. Our lab is heading the data management and modeling. My adviser is not happy with his progress and has sent him a very "tone-y" email, but has included me and other colleagues in the email as well. At first I thought the conversation was limited to our lab. Now I see the project director and a couple other people are included as well. I came close to replying with something along the lines "Please do not include me in these types of emails" (It's a work in progress!!). The emails have gotten to down right bickering, even childish, and have gone back and forth several times. I'm very surprised at the tone and childish nature of the emails.

What is a lowly PhD student such as myself to do in this sort of situation? Should I just ignore the messages? Or should I request to be excluded from the conversation?

P.S. These emails are of some significance to me because of the data. But I don't believe I should be in this conversation.

I would suggest that the proper etiquette here is similar as to how you should behave if you were to witness two people arguing in public. You may listen—the argument is, after all, public—but you probably shouldn't interject unless you are directly addressed. As stated in the comments, this is a very common tactic for raising the stakes in any discussion. This currently isn't your fight... don't get involved unless you want it to become your fight (pro tip: you don't).


Typical turn around time to write recommendation? Sometimes job-seekers are asked to provide a list of references vs. providing recommendation letters. The employer might then email the references asking for what is essentially a recommendation letter for the candidate.

In these cases, what is the typical (expected?) response time? In other words, as a previous student's/employee's reference, how soon after receiving a recommendation request from an employer  should I make sure to provide the requested recommendation?

Example Scenario

I got such a request last Wednesday for a former field technician.  I responded 5 days (3 business days) later on the following Monday. I got a response from the person hiring saying essentially "thanks, but we offered them the job on Friday." The potential employer didn't mention any sense of urgency in the email. Was 3 business days really too long? Am I expected to respond to these requests essentially immediately (within 48 hours)??

I'm providing this scenario for context, but please answer the question more generally. Thanks!

It is insane if they only gave you 3 business days to respond, particularly if they didn't tell you, but even if they had.  I don't check all my inboxes every day!  Normally I'm given a few weeks, and the deadline is in the email requesting the reference.  If there's no deadline, I write immediately something like:

"This is one of my former students and I can say off the cuff that you should probably hire them, they were great with me.  But I've got a lot of writing deadlines on my plate at the moment.  When exactly do you need a formal reference by?"

They can then respond saying:

that's enough, we just wanted to be sure you knew who this person was, thanks!
the actual deadline.
asking to phone you because they need advice quickly and are very sorry to disturb you etc.

I've had all those responses.

I would be suspicious in the case you describe that there may have been discriminatory hiring, e.g. of an internal candidate.  You may want to let your referee know that this is not normal.  Lawsuits are seldom worth the time, but I hate to ignore unfair hiring practices, and do at least try to scare firms when I think I might have seen one.  On the other hand, your referee may have known there was a fast turn around needed and forgotten to tell you.  But the HR office really should have told you.


How free are graduate students to choose research topics given their department? I'm sort of foggy in general about how this works. If you are, say a a computer science graduate student, what kind of freedom do you have to pick a research topic that focuses more on something like cellular biology, swarms, or string theory? Do you need to change departments? Do you need to illustrate some connection back to CS techniques? Do you just have to pursuade your advisor to issue a blessing?

This will vary based on your adviser, your level of study (i.e. what degree you're going for), your committee and your department.  In almost all cases for computer science, you will be required to demonstrate mastery of the subject.  Incorporating outside knowledge from another subject area, say, cell biology, where you re-implemented or improved a gene matching algorithm, for example, would probably be allowed.

Simply doing an experiment from cell-biology with no tie-in to CS would almost certainly not be approved--but, this is where your adviser, et. al. come in.  If you've got a smashing idea, a good adviser/committee will help you try and find a way to tie it into your degree and PhD students are typically given more leeway here than Masters students.

Though, be prepared, in some cases, an adviser will play a big role in determining what your thesis will be.  Also, if you are being funded by a particular grant under a PI (principal investigator--typically a research professor), it is traditional (at least at my University) to pursue research related to what the PI is doing.  Though it's definitely easy just to ask to be exempt from this tradition.

So, basically, the answer to your question is it depends.  Almost certainly you will be required to do something Computer Science-y for a CS degree, but there can be a lot of leeway in determining what Computer Science-y means.


How to find the acceptance rate for a certain conferrence in a certain field? I am trying to find the acceptance rate for the 10th WSEAS International Conference on computers. After doing some search on Google and on their website http://www.wseas.org/ I was not able to get a number. It says on their website that their acceptance rate is aprx 20%, but this could be for the most recent conference, and it could be for something other than computers?

I tried to find the proceedings online, but I was not 100% sure if I am looking at the right proceedings.

http://www.worldses.org/online/2011.htm

The only way to know is to ask them, i.e., find the contact of one of the editors, and politely ask him/her what was the acceptance rate for that particular year.

There are multiple lists available on the internet:

http://haofengjia.weebly.com/computer-science.html
http://www.lamsade.dauphine.fr/~sikora/ratio/confs.php
http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~almeroth/conf/stats/
http://kodu.ut.ee/~dumas/LiquidPub/ConfStats/
https://lipn.univ-paris13.fr/~andre/conferences.php
http://web.engr.illinois.edu/~taoxie/seconferences.htm

as well as the links they provide.

But they are as reliable as your trust in their authors: there is no guarantee whatsoever, in most of the cases, that their sources is trustworthy, and they are very scattered most of the time.

Related questions:

Conference ranking in computer science
Is there any world-wide ranking of conferences/journals?


How should I approach the editor if I have been omitted from the author list of a paper I contributed to? As I left my PhD in between, my name has not been put in the published paper. My PI published  the paper in a very clever way. I worked in the entire project and it was a team work. he put all the names who are involved except mine.

How should I approach the editor as I deserve an authorship? And one of the editors of that journal was our departmental head and his name was there in the paper.

Kindly let me know about your suggestion.

You need to be very careful. It sounds like you are accusing your former PI of academic misconduct. Even if he committed misconduct, things can (and will) likely get messy fast.

Normally, I would only recommend approaching the editor after other avenues have been explored. For the case where the editor is an author and your former department head, it is going to be hard to avoid the editor. I would suggest you contact all the authors on the paper (this includes the editor/department head) and tell them you were surprised you were not an author. They will hopefully be able to clear up the misunderstanding. Potentially, they forgot to list you as an author, although that seems unlikely, and are willing to contact the journal to get you added. Alternatively, they decided your contribution did not warrant authorship.

If they do not think you deserve authorship, it is best to get their side of the story first. Maybe they recollected all your data and redid all the research that you were involved in, in which case your claims for authorship are weaker. Maybe their argument is that while your data and analysis are included, they do not think it was enough for authorship. Once they tell you their side of the story, if you still think you should be an author tell them why.

If you cannot resolve the authorship issue as a group, then you need to bring in your head of department. In your case, he will be aware of the issues, since he is also an author. Once you raise a formal complaint, he will hopefully hand it off to an independent person (e.g ., the head of a different department).

If the university cannot help you reach an agreement, then you need to approach the journal. Again, in your case the journal will likely be aware of the issue because the author is the editor. Hopefully, the issue will be handed off to an independent editor from the journal.

If you cannot get an independent person from your university or the journal, or you cannot reach an agreement regarding authorship, then you may want to contact COPE.


Undergraduate thesis quality in research field I'm a graduated student who is trying to continue his education with a Master or possibly a PhD. Surfing the net, I noticed that to enroll for some PhDs an example of writing is required. I successfully completed my bachelor degree (as required) with a thesis about a proposed topic. I wrote it entirely in English, which is pretty uncommon for many colleagues from my country, but my work didn't show promising results. Long story short, my algorithms aren't really good.

Is that something common or it's a sign of demerit? Doing research for an undergraduate thesis and ending with bad results, is this something that you should avoid speaking about when asked about previous research experiences?

In undergrad research, how you did it is more important that where you got.

If you did your research properly, that is: adequate bibliographical revision, adequate problem definition, reasonable approach and a proper interpretation of the results, that is an excellent thesis, IMHO. Even if your conclusion is "these methods are terrible for this", which, if true, is a valid contribution.


Problem with relative grading system? My college (IIT) follows a relative grading system and each professor was given freedom in choosing how to grade the students.

As far as I know, Some professors give 5 students (less than 8 percent of the batch) the grade of S and others give A grade to 6-7 people in the class. I am looking for to apply for Phd, where I see colleges asking for a certain percentage in marks, like X percent in a taught module.

It is almost impossible for me to know how much I scored in a particular subject as we were just given relative grading. How should this issue can be resolved?

I think grad schools are used to dealing with different grading schemes.  This is one reason, why GREs exist also.  But they can probably infer that top 10-20% is an A.  Bottom 50% is bad, etc.  Maybe even implicitly compensating for differences in how competitive the undergrad is.

Maybe grad schools aren't perfect but they seem to even be able to (in the US) evaluate students from all over the globe to try to pick the better ones.  Although even the US is very different from school to school.


Should I publish a failed experiment? I am a high school student, and I recently did some research into image translation using cycle consistent generative networks (a branch of machine learning). Sadly, it seems I've made an error, and the network is learning to map images to themselves.
It's still a very interesting question, and my algorithm doesn't work for a very interesting reason. But I'm worried I won't be able to do anything with this, in terms of getting it published in a small journal. Should I try something different, or should I publish my results?

Experiments that produce "interesting" results or which fail for an "interesting" reason may well be worthy of publication. But the nature of the publication is quite different from that of a "successful" bit of research.

Research is about knowledge. if you and others can learn something about what has occurred then it really hasn't failed in producing knowledge.

If the "interesting reason" you mention is interesting enough, and your explanation is clear and informative, then an editor may want to consider it.

But it is up to the editor and reviewers whether it actually makes it into a publication. But you learn nothing unless you submit it.

Note that "success" in research isn't measured by whether the results match your prior expectations. That would be a wast of time. Success depends on what is learned - especially if it can be generalized and extended.

Another way to say this is that in research we don't set out to "prove" something, but to "learn" something. Oddly enough this is true even in mathematics where we do prove things. But that proving stage comes after the research stage when we try to provide a demonstration of what we have learned.


Should I retake the general GRE or focus on subject test? I took the general GRE two years ago and received V167/Q161/W5.0 or V98%/Q78%/W93%.

I am applying for PhD programs in applied mathematics this fall and plan on taking the GRE mathematics subject test.

My question is, should I focus on doing well on the subject test or also study and retake the general exam?

If my general exam scores are "good enough" then I suppose I would like to simply focus on the subject test. On the other hand, I am slightly worried about my 78th percentile score in quantitative reasoning.

Other commentators have suggested that little notice is taken of GRE in graduate admissions, but I am a bit more reticent about this.  I think some faculty will give little weight to it, but others will use it as an estimation of your abilities (in conjunction with other evidence such as your undergraduate grades)  In any case, if you are going to submit these results as evidence of your abilities, you should make sure they put you above other applicants, instead of below them.

With that in mind, you are right to worry about your quant score - it is a bad score (relative to the program you are applying for).  The distributions of GRE general scores by intended major can be found here, and as you can see, for students intending to pursue "Applied Mathematics", the average GRE Quantitative score is 164 (SD 6).  Your score puts you above 78% of general test-takers, but it puts you in the bottom half of those applying for postgraduate maths.  Students who make it into postgraduate maths generally have very high levels of quantitative ability.  Around 20% of them get a perfect quant score in this test.

Based on this, I would suggest you retake the general test and try to at least beat the average Quantitative level for postgraduate maths applicants (GRE Quant 164+).  Your verbal and written work is well above the mean, so just try to hold your scores here, but really, you need to improve your Quantitative score.


Are there scholarships for a physics PhD in Germany that don't consider income? I'm searching for scholarships for a physics PhD in Germany. I will have a (part time) contract by the institute in which I'm doing the PhD and receive a monthly income. Now, the only scholarships I find on the internet are intended to fund the PhD position entirely and count the income by the institute against the amount of scholarship money. In the end the scholarship is reduced (maybe to zero) because of the income.

Are there scholarships that don't consider any other income and can be received additionally to the income by the institute? Since I'm going to travel quite a bit during my PhD I'd also be happy with scholarships for traveling expenses.

Disclaimer: this is just my experience with scholarships in Germany, there exist for sure other scholarships with possibly varying conditions. I'm chemist, but I think that's close enough to physics in terms of which scholarships you can apply for.

So, here are my 2ct:

I had a PhD student scholarship (Telekom Stiftung) where the conditions worked actually the other way round compared to what you describe: the scholarship was a fixed amount, but there was a condition that you work full time at the PhD project and do not have any (or only very minor) side jobs.

Before that scholarship I also had a part-time contract with university. I then got leave for the scholarship from my university position and meanwhile university paid someone else with the TA money. This way, both my institute and I profited from the scholarship: I had the scholarship (including also travel budget etc) and my institute could pay another (part time) position.

"Scholarships for traveling expenses" are usually called "travel grant", so you may want to search under this term.
Conferences may have travel grants for students, you'll have to check them one by one
If you are member of DPG, ask them for travel grants to their conferences/workshops/...
If you institute participates in a EU COST action, you may be able to apply for a short term scientific mission (STSM) visiting another institute of the same action.

I just saw that the Studienstiftung allows up to 25% part time jobs in research for their PhD scholarships.

Note that both my Telekom scholarship and the Studienstiftung scholarship limit the amount of time you put into other jobs, not the income generated (and the Telekom never asked about other sources of income).

Getting slightly off-topic:

More recently, I've seen PhD projects that looked quite like scholarships, but the money was given to university who employs the students rather than giving the money directly to the students as a scholarship.
When calculating the financial aspects of scholarship vs. university part-time job, do not forget that these are very different wrt. to social insurance (and taxation)!
Scholarships that consisted of a fixed part (for books etc.) plus a variable part depending on (parent) income I've met only for Bachelor/Master/undergrad studies. The variable part was set up along the lines of Bafög. AFAIK that is quite common for the undergrad scholarships.
Which PhD scholarship are you referring to? (Just curiosity)


Elsevier "Computers & Security" journal latex template I am trying to target the Computers & Security journal to publish my research. I opened the journal's page but I didn't find the latex template that is used in the journal such as this paper's template. I searched for a template and I found  this one but it seems an old template and it also different than what is used in the papers published in it. Please where can I find such template?

You don't need to use a specific template to submit your paper to this journal.

https://www.elsevier.com/journals/computers-and-security/0167-4048/guide-for-authors

  As part of the Your Paper Your Way service, you may choose to submit your manuscript as a single file to be used in the refereeing process. This can be a PDF file or a Word document, in any format or lay-out that can be used by referees to evaluate your manuscript.

So any generic format would be fine, e.g. the basic LaTeX article class.  If your paper is accepted, either you or they will redo the formatting for publication, and they'll give you the correct template if necessary.  But there is no point spending any time on that now.


Can faculty do research during a labor strike? At an institution where the faculty are unionized, I imagine that they could, in principle, go on strike. Presumably this would involve a halt to all teaching and service activities.

But what about research?

I see many potential problems here:

Many faculty have obligations to federal or other funding agencies that cannot be lightly set aside.
Some experiments may run for years and even a few days' interruption
could be disastrous.
Grant deadlines could be missed, again potentially causing devastating interruptions in a research program.
How far would a prohibition on research go? Is sitting and reading papers in your living room considered to be crossing the picket lines?

I'm sure others can think of other problems.

Frankly, I don't want anyone telling me when or where I can work and if a faculty union is going to do that, I'd be very reluctant to participate. I would hate to be caught in the untenable position where I must either be a scab, or I must stop thinking about the work that is so central to my life's purpose. I'd be very interested in hearing any insights that those at unionized schools might have.

Consider the following FAQ from West Chester University discussing the possibility of a strike:

  Will the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities, includingWest Chester University close if a strike is called?
  No. The universities will remain open if a faculty strike is called. By law, individual faculty members have the right to decline to participate in a strike called by the union so individual classes could still be held.

and at University of Northern British Columbia:

  I am doing research as part of my degree. Will I be able to continue during a strike?
  It depends. Some research may be allowed under the terms negotiated at the start of job action. Also, anyone may cross a picket line during a strike unless the Administration declares a lockout (in which case nobody is allowed in). You should discuss this with your supervisor.

  How will a strike impact the delivery of supplies, reagents, enzymes,
  etc.? During the 72 hours prior to the start of job action, the
  parties negotiate “essential services,” that is those things that are
  deemed essential. In general, anything not declared an essential
  service would be impacted, which would probably include most
  deliveries. You should discuss this with your supervisor.

And a report about the University of Puerto Rico (admittedly, this is a student-led strike):

  Since the University of Puerto Rico strike began, faculty and students have only had intermittent access to its labs. Even when they are allowed to enter, they are working with dwindling supplies of some chemicals and other research materials. Closed campuses mean new shipments cannot be delivered.

These suggest, in a formal capacity, some research might still be able to take place, either from crossing the picket line, or from negotiations for research that is time sensitive (for example, many biology experiments which must be monitored, changed at certain intervals, etc.) but that they may certainly suffer during long strikes.

Beyond that, one imagines that it's impossible to faculty not to do "research" in the more expansive sense of the word, as occasionally that involves idly musing on a subject, and there's no reason to suspect that faculty would stop thinking about their life's work during a strike. Rather, it's far more likely to impact classes.


How to withdraw ones name from an already published paper I am having the following trouble. Within a collaboration I was asked to prepare and pre-characterize some samples. I did so and sent the samples along with a report on the characterization results.

A year later I received a first draft of a paper: some paragraphs related to the collaborators experimental technique some copy paste of older papers of his. I thought I could safely ignore this as it was just meant to signal "we are working on this!".

Next thing I get (four months later): Mail from the submitting author

  Congratulations, paper accepted!

I asked him to send me the draft: Nothing!

Six weeks later, after having met one of his PhD students at a conference the submitting author sends me the proof from the publisher for proofreading. I come up with six pages of corrections (ranging from basic logical errors in argumentation to manipulative data representation), sent it to all coauthors (I assumed the others also might not have seen the manuscript before) and received zero feedback.

Paper was published two weeks later with most of my grammatical and semantical corrections incorporated.

I asked my boss (also co-author on the paper) how to deal with it. His answer: "Take it as one more paper and forget it!".

However, I do agree with this attitude. Now the tricky part: I never agreed on the authorship nor explicitly disagreed (hoping to bring the paper in a decent shape and considering the amount of work already put in). Should I adress the editor asking to withdraw my name arguing that I basically had not seen the paper? Or should I also point out the obvious flaws which might lead to a complete rejection?

The most effective and natural method would be to simply ask, possibly explain your situation if needed, to the editor or publisher of the paper.

If you have more issues with the publication, you are free to mention them, but this is mostly orthogonal to whether you want your name on the possible publication.

It would also be a good idea to inform your co-authors of this decision, as they may take it badly if they aren't notified.


contacting potential coadvisors? I am currently applying for PhD scholarships using the following strategy:

Contact the potential supervisor via email (75% very positive replies so far).
Apply via the official way.

So far there was always only one supervisor listed for the projects I was interested in. Now, however, I came across an advert with 4 cosupervisors listed as well. What would be the proper etiquette for my first email? Should I put the cosupervisors in CC, write separate emails for them or leave them out entirely?
The university in question is in Prague in case this is relevant.

I emailed the main advisor today, putting the coadvisors in Cc. He wrote me a very positive response on the same day, also putting the coadvisors in Cc. So, at least in that part of the world, this seems to be the correct way to introduce yourself.


Optimal reference letter writers for permanent positions: Senior experts or younger, more active researchers? I work in pure mathematics. I have wondered for a while which kind of letter writers might be best when I apply for permanent jobs in US and UK: Roughly speaking, I am weighing up two options:

Try to get letters from the "big names" in the field. They are senior professors who made influential contributions themselves that helped shape the field. Main pro: Name and opinion carries a lot of weight. Cons: Can perhaps only endorse my work in a broad sense and you worry that their recommendation will not be really emphatic; not super active researches still today.
Try to get letters for younger more hot-shot researchers. Main pros: They are more active at the moment, my work is much closer to what they do and they might well have a high opinion of my work. Cons: Their name doesn't necessarily have the cut through that a big name does

Does anyone from their work on hiring panels have good advice/insight on this?

Which one can write a recommendation that is specific about your qualifications and abilities?

A brief anecdote: I was on a search committee where someone had a recommendation from a big-name person in their field, someone widely known outside of their field. At first glance, the candidate's personal connection to this person was impressive. However, the letter body was a single paragraph and light on detail. OK. We had to read the other letters to get the detail we wanted.

A big-name recommendation may get the attention of the hiring committee reading your applications. However, because they're ultimately evaluating you, the level of detail in that letter will matter more to many evaluators than the name at the bottom. Someone still up-and-coming may not initially grab the attention, but if they write a more specific letter, that may ultimately be to your benefit. So if you have two open slots for recommenders, include both! If you're choosing between one or the other, it comes down to weighing relative risk, since not every hiring committee will respond in the same way to your set of recommenders.

To give an idea of a typical balance of letters, I defer to Karen Kelsky, who runs the advice site The Professor Is In. To someone who asks about the mix of recommenders three years post-graduation, she says:

  In the end, a balanced roster of letters at three years out will include your advisor, a well-known person who knows you as a colleague or collaborator, a senior colleague from your department who will provide a detailed teaching reference, and—assuming you have space for four letters—one of your other Ph.D. committee members who has also stayed up-to-date on your post-grad-school life.

Note the mix. "A well-known person" may well be one of your "big names," but could also be someone up-and-coming. A "senior colleague" may be a "younger, more hot-shot researcher" in your department, or a "big name" approaching retirement. As long as these people are a mix of people familiar with your work, debating the relative stature of the "well-known person" or the "senior colleague" is small change.


Should I learn to use LaTeX to write up a History Masters Thesis? So I reviewed the "What are the advantages or disadvantages of using LaTeX for writing scientific publications?" question on this forum and am sitting on the fence at the moment whether or not to use LaTeX to write up my masters Thesis.

I get the feeling that it is best suited for Scientific work but my MLitt is in History. I have searched my university website about LaTeX and most results come back from the maths department.

I am a part-time research student so my thesis with be approx. 50,000 words. At the moment I am using Libreoffice (I'm a Linux user -Ubuntu distro) to write up each chapter as a separate document which I was going to bring into a master theses document. I am using Mendeley to manage all my footnotes and bibliography.

I'm going to be meeting my supervisor over the next couple of weeks and would like to discuss the matter with him as to if I should/can use LaTeX. I'm sure how familiarity or usage of LaTeX within the History department will impact on my decision but would also like to prepare my thesis in the best possible way.

  Edit 10/04/14: After a meeting with my Supervisor it appear that the History department has no preference on software for writing the thesis. Only requirement is that final thesis before defence is printed in ring-bound cover and the (hopefully!) accepted thesis is a hardback bound copy. My last written piece to my supervisor was done in LaTeX, using Texmaker on Ubuntu then exported to pdf, and other than some tweaking we need to do to the citation styling he was quite happy with the output. His advise was to use whatever software I was comfortable with (although he had never heard of LaTeX).

I would be grateful for answers from people who have used LaTeX in the Humanities area so as to be best prepared for my own decision on whether or not I would like to use it.

  (Edit 10/03/2014) Just based on some of the answers, especially in
  relation to the learning curve with LaTeX, here is some more info that
  may be useful. Probably about 95% of my thesis will be text but I
  shall also need to insert some images (maps and photos) and will
  probably be entering some tables with stats. As stated above I use
  Mendeley for my refernece manager and have read some blogs where this
  is compatible with LaTeX so I think I would continue to us it if I go
  the LaTeX route.

I'm finishing up a PhD in philosophy that I've written in LaTeX. Here's some suggestions:

make sure your advisor is ok with leaving you comments in pdf. I suspect he or she will not understand the question and will not be able to give you any feedback unless you submit chapters in word format. This is a deal breaker. Don't make any more problems communicating with your advisor than absolutely necessary.
lots of academic journals in the humanities still don't accept submissions in pdf or latex source form. If you are planning on submitting your stuff to a journal, you might save yourself time writing in word format.
there are some tools available to convert latex to rtf, html and other tools. texht is the best.
If you do decide to go LaTeX, don't get lost in the minutiae of learning how to tweak everything. It's easy to lose lots of time learning new packages and stuff when you should be writing, writing, writing. Use the wikibooks latex guide as your quick start guide when you need to learn how to do something fast.
Especially if you're on Ubuntu, don't get the LaTeX distributed through Canonical's repositories. It's usually out of date (haven't checked in a while). Just go on and get the vanilla TexLive 2013 distribution from CTAN.
The tex.SE site is really, really good. Like ridiculously helpful.
If you are familiar with version control programs like git, mercurial, or svn you can actually keep a very precise idea of exactly how your thesis has grown over time. You can roll back changes, etc. This is kind of advanced stuff for LaTeX, so I wouldn't spend like a lot of time learning this stuff if you aren't already familiar with it, but if you are, it can be really helpful. EDIT:  Per @henry's comment below, see the following guide by Roger Dudler to get started with git.


Which publications actually count for tenure? I have been told in no uncertain terms that papers published with your PhD advisor simply Do. Not. Count. when it comes to tenure. Quote: "Publications with your advisor will be crossed off the list."

An assertion that strong makes me insecure about collaborating with any senior researcher.  Will these publications also be tossed out?  How senior is senior?  For instance, suppose I collaborate with junior faculty at another institution who was hired at roughly the same time.  Will outcomes from that collaboration be deemed "more significant" than with, say, a full professor from that same institution?  And what about the field?  Am I "safer" publishing with senior people from a different field, because there will be an easier perception that I am "carrying my weight?"  Or should I simply avoid collaboration altogether, and publish exclusively with my own grad students and postdocs?  How do the real discussions go, from those who have actually been in the trenches?

Honestly, I would much rather just collaborate with the people I do the best work with.  (Isn't that the best thing for the field anyway?) But I am terrified of having years of good work "crossed off the list" because I did not pick the right dance partner.

I can't speak for your field or institution, so take anything I say with that in mind.

That being said, in my experience (in computer science, at a well-ranked private university) what matters is not so much who you collaborate with, but that you have a research agenda that is strongly identified with you (as opposed to your senior coauthors). If all of your papers are coauthored with the same senior researcher, this can look bad, because it can be difficult to disentangle your research agenda from his or hers. But if your papers have a cohesive theme, and are coauthored with a variety of other people (even if many are senior), this is great.

So in summary, in the parts of academia I have seen, you should collaborate with whoever you want to, but make sure you have your own research problems and are not just working on your coauthor's problems.


What to do with a result too small to be publishable, but interesting nonetheless? Let's assume, for the sake of example, that I have found a new figure of merit which is of the same complexity as the one currently used, but is much more justified from a mathematical and physical standpoint. However, the whole development barely goes over one paragraph (maybe two), as the "proof" is extremely simple and straightforward.

Now, I was planning on saving this smaller result for a bigger paper on the same topic, where I'd introduce this new figure of merit along with other results, but the future of this other paper has become quite uncertain lately.

Is there any way I could still present this new (small) result?

You can think of publishing it as a short communication, many journals accept this kind of contribution (they can be designated in different ways, depending on the journal). As I recall, the shortest article ever published was of about 3 lines [1] ;-)

[1] F. Lenz, "The Ratio of Proton and Electron Masses", Phys. Rev. 82, 554, 1951.


How to give crtitical feeback without sounding obnoxious? I'm going to a conference in a few days. Among the presentations I'd like to listen to, there's one paper that is nicely written but is extremely flawed methodologically. In short, the authors violate at least three assumptions of causal inference like it's no big deal - and they don't even discuss these assumptions. Due to that, any attempt to interpret the results is laughable. (I'll edit in more details, if needed).

The point is, if it were a good paper, I'd love to keep contact with the authors. I'm familiar with their previous work, they are usually good in doing what they are doing. We work in neighboring sub-fields. It's unlikely we'd work together - we just happen to use similar methods for different things. But it is likely we'll keep bumping into each other at other conferences or will review each other's papers.

Right now I see three options:

go to their panel, raise my hand during the Q&A time, list everything that's wrong with their paper. The presenter is really not going to like it (I know I wouldn't).
talk to the presenter before or after the panel over coffee, list everything that's wrong with the paper, but save him public humiliation. Problems: we are not presented to each other, so he might go on the defensive and stop listening to my comments right after the first "Man, you can't do it this way." Obviously, if he reacts like this, any "let's stay in touch" would be impossible, too.
say nothing, hoping that reviewers would say it instead. Problems: I don't establish any contact with the authors; it might be quite some time before the paper goes through the review process; the reviewers might not be that rigorous and familiar with the methodology (the latter depends on the submission venue, I guess).

If I decide to give feedback, how to use these options to make this feedback useful without sounding like I'm trying to trash these authors' work?

Additional details that might affect the responses:

Quick googling shows that the paper now has a "working paper" status and is under submission somewhere. And the results have been already featured in The Financial Times. Oh, well...
Seniority: both the presenter and I are at the post-doc/assistant professor level. Two other coauthors of the paper are senior professors.
"Are you sure you got the flaws right"? I'm sure.

First: Cromwell's Rule applies. You're absolutely sure that you're right, and they're wrong. That sureness should be a huge warning sign for you. So, accept the possibility that you are wrong.

Second: ask, don't tell.
So not this:

  You say C causes D, but actually D causes C!

But rather, something along the lines of:

  Do I understand correctly that you've assumed A and B and that you've then shown that C is correlated with D, and conclude that C causes D? How did you exclude the possibilities that D causes C, or that C and D have a common cause E?


How flexible are number-of-pages submission guidelines for conferences? I'd like to submit a paper to a conference in computer science. The conference's submission guidelines state 14 as the maximum number of pages. Should I take it at face value? My paper is 20 pages long (19, if you disregard the bibliography). If I submit it, can I expect an automatic rejection for being too long? If I'm able to cut it down to 14 pages, but the bibliography spills to page 15, will it count as eligible?

None of the CS conferences I have ever submitted to had ever been lenient on page limits. There are often automatic checkers that will not allow you to upload a paper that exceeds the page limits. Conference guidelines are usually very clear and unambiguous, go and read them. Some conferences allow an appendix or a link to additional material that reviewers can read at their discretion.

Regarding splitting the papers - if you can do so in a clean way, and both parts make sense (tell a compelling narrative, have meaningful results) then sure. Otherwise, expect two rejections.


I have a MSc degree, want to apply for PhD degree. Should I submit my BSc transcript during admission? I have a BSc and an MSc degree on Computer Science. My BSc CGPA was too low. I somehow got accepted to an MSc degree(two years) and got 4.00 CGPA. I think I am good at my field.

Now I want to apply for a PhD degree, but all universities I checked requires transcripts received from all higher education attended so far.

I don't want to submit my BSc transcript. Is there a way for me to get accepted to a PhD programme without submitting BSc degree? Is there any chance that my MSc transcript override my previous(BSc) degree?

Go ahead and submit your undergraduate transcript.  The admissions committee will be expecting to see one and your application might be screened out before consideration simply because this transcript is missing.

The fact that you've had good grades in your master's program may help you to overcome the bad impression left by your poor undergraduate GPA.  Having good letters of recommendation and one or more publications (of high quality) will help a lot more.


Changing research interest in Math I am currently in my final semester of masters. I have some background in Algebraic Number Theory. I have one PhD offer from a US university.

When I started getting into algebraic number theory, I did not have much trouble as most of the pre-requisites were from Galois Theory and Commutative Algebra. But through my study in the last two-three semesters, I have realized that Number Theory is a subject which requires knowledge of many different areas like Complex Analysis, Algebraic Geometry, Topology(subjects which I have not learned properly or not learned at all). This has put me under a quite a lot of stress: Am I good enough to study Number Theory or should I shift to something else, something more self-sufficient?

Is it possible (and advisable) to change my research interest to something else? What should I do?

Edit- To add to my troubles, I don't know anything about Modular Forms or Automorphic Forms or Galois Representations.

Before voting to close this question down, I would like you to know this: I originally asked this question on Math SE. But people told me that it was more of an Academia SE question.

You haven't mentioned any alternatives to Number Theory.  Hmm.  Maybe it would be reassuring for you to have a small list in your hip pocket of possible areas.

If you don't have to decide right away, then I would suggest that you hold off on deciding, and meantime start remedying these gaps as soon as possible.  Without panic, but without any shilly-shallying.  Obviously, don't work on them all at once, but do start somewhere, and make a tentative map through this subject matter -- in what order, what books will you use, what topics could be skipped or skimmed over, which ones will you do in a class, which as self-study, and which in an independent study.

Even if you end up working on something other than Number Theory, this study will be helpful for you in the long run, either directly or indirectly.

If it feels daunting, think one step at a time, or Rome wasn't built in a day, or some similar phrase that helps you.

In the U.S., one is generally not expected to hit the ground already doing research, right from the first semester.  It's okay to take some time and get the solid foundation one needs.

Do you have an advisor, potential advisor, temporary advisor, or mentor of some sort?  If not, look around for one, and if necessary ask the department to assign you one temporarily.


Is there a difference between a symposium paper and a conference paper My university requires for PhD candidates to publish 1 journal paper + 2 conference papers in order to be able to proceed to the viva.

Recently, I submitted a paper to a symposium that has a proceeding with an ISBN. The proceeding, however, will not be published online (only a hard copy, but I found the citations of previous conference in google scholar). The paper is accepted and today is the deadline to pay the registration fees. Both the university direction and my supervisor did not respond to my emails, so I have to make the decision on my own.

My question is: can we call a symposium paper a conference paper? And is there any difference in terms of quality?

My domain is Project Management.

AFAIK, a symposium is essentially the same as a conference.  I think it tends to suggest a somewhat smaller size, historically, but definitely bigger and more competitive than a workshop.  For instance the ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Principles is one of the most competitive conferences in the computer systems field, and gets maybe 500-600 attendees these days.  Some "conferences" get many thousands, though some get only 50-100 too.

Now, perhaps in other fields than computer science, there is a completely different definition, but if you have to pull the trigger, you should assume it is a conference and not a workshop.

Besides, you submitted the paper and they accepted it.  It would be really poor form to pull out right now, even if somehow it didn't count toward your graduation.  Didn't your advisor know you were submitting it, and think it was a good idea?


In how many conferences should I serve as PC member? Three months ago, I served as a PC (=Program Committee) member in a top conference in my field (CS). Now, I was offered to serve as a PC member in another top conference.
Although I found this job quite fun, I still wonder, in how many conferences "should" I be a PC each year? ("should" in quotes, since there is no formal obligation).

There is no right answer here. It’s a function of the time you have available to do service duties, as well as the benefits to you of helping out. However, it is a significant time commitment, so it’s probably not necessary to do it more than a few times a year. But whether the right answer is one, two, three, or more is a question only you can answer.


Will tutoring calculus be worthwhile experience? I'm an Electrical Engineer, working in industry but planning on returning to school in a few years to get my PhD and pursue academia. I was recently offered an opportunity to be a tutor for high school calculus students, and am curious how beneficial that would be for me in applying to grad school and continuing on eventually as professor. It would only be a part-time thing, but I feel like it would be a good opportunity for me to learn how to teach math, since that's a position I haven't really been in before. I'll likely do it whether it'll look good on an application or not, but I'm just curious to see if it could be doubly beneficial.

I am not an academician and I have little idea as to what to look for when hiring a lecturer, though I had the opportunity to sit through a few of those demonstration lectures from prospective candidates and also go through their feedback forms given to other lecturers.
From this little insight, I believe that any experience is better than no experience. After all, you would be teaching the same students a few years later in college if you become a lecturer.
More importantly, leaving aside what your PhD committee or the hiring committee feels about you it would be a good experience and I feel that you will learn a great deal in teaching. Teaching is an art and you are honing it at a level when it matters the most.
As for leveraging it in your career as an academician, in your future interviews do not just mention that you had experience teaching high school students. Instead, focus on the challenging scenarios which arose while teaching and how you managed it. And then explain how that experience would be useful for you as a lecturer.
A good lecturer has his or own style which is inherited from their senior colleagues and gets mutated through experiences. You are doing good by being proactive and training yourself beforehand.
Finally, if there is a competition for the position of TA in your school, I am sure this experience will benefit you.


To include only academic titles in business cards of researchers with many positions? Assume you have many academic titles, but you have also many positions.
I am thinking to exclude all positions, and just having your academic titles because I do not want to carry a pile of different business cards and in many languages – just one general for all.
So I would leave out all positions, which can be seen on my online profile if necessary, e.g., ORCid, ....

Format

Name
Titles
...

Example:

  Leo
  MD, PhD (Med.), PhD (Tech.)

I am thinking to exlude all positions, and just having your academic titles because I do not want to carry a pile of different business cards and in many languages

That seems like a somewhat bad idea. The main goal of a business card is to serve as a reminder for the recipient of the card who you were once the conference or event where the card was given out is over. Hence, the more specific the information on it is, the better. "PhD" or "MD" usually carries really little information, as many people at the events that you frequent will have the same titles. "Works at IBM" or "Associate Prof at UCLA" is much, much better in that sense. Your job title(s) are also a much more fine-grained representation of your seniority than your academic titles. The holder of a PhD can be anything from a freshly-minted graduate to a senior professor, while saying "Associate Prof" transports a lot more meaning.

Further, many employers will actually not be thrilled about you rolling your own business cards. Employers typically have a specific corporate identity, and expect you to use that (and not mention your other gigs on their cards).

So what do you do?

Get separate business cards for all your major affiliations. These may include all your titles if customary, and only the job title and branding of this specific affiliation. You probably don't need a card for company X just because you are in the advisory board, or for university Y because you teach a course as external lecturer once a year. If you have multiple major affiliations, decide who you represent in any specific event, and use these cards (a good proxy for this might be who you are charging the event to, time-wise and financially). You can always verbally add your other major job(s) when handing out the card.