Are official transcripts required for faculty appointment? I am curious if faculty appointees (at various levels) should request their schools to send their official transcripts to the employer to get a faculty position? Or is it only required for students?

When I finish my PhD, do I still need to request my school to send an official transcript of my PhD for starting an assistant professor position (and later on)?

In the United States, at least, the norm is that you send official transcripts once you are offered the job.  At my university (and I believe by SACS regulation) the transcript(s)/degree(s) must be on file with the university for all faculty members, thus it is a requirement to be able to get the job.

During the application process, though, unofficial transcripts are generally sufficient, if they even ask for it.  Sending official transcripts to 100 different places in the application process would get very expensive, very quickly. For example, if they wanted from every post-secondary school I had attended, I would need to request transcripts from no less than 8 different universities, some of which would just have a course or two I took in summer programs abroad or were unrelated to my field. Even if they only needed my terminal degree, at $10/transcript, it adds up fast in addition to being a gigantic hassle for everyone involved.


Revision to a IEEE paper I am submitting a revision to paper I submitted to a IEEE journal.

When I wrote out the letter addressing the revisions, I included some graphics in my comments as well. But when I look at the ScholarOne website, it seems like the letter to “Respond to Decision Letter” is a text only format. Does anybody know whether you can submit a word document/pdf to respond to the decision letter instead of submitting a text-only letter?
Do you typically have to submit a new Cover letter if you revised the paper/letter? Or should I just keep the cover letter the same as the cover letter that I used to submit the original paper?

In the textbox, just say 'See attachment'.  On the page where you upload your revised paper, there is usually an option to upload other files.  Use the option to upload your responses to the reviewers. Just double check that the compiled pdf include your responses as well as the revised paper.
Same cover letter, but you may want to add '..revised paper'.


Is it possible to do an MBA while pursuing a PhD in Sweden? The title says it all. To elaborate, I wanted to know specifically in Sweden, am I allowed to apply for an MBA degree in parallel with my Ph.D. studies?
Update 1: I'm aware that it's not recommended to pursue these two demanding degrees together. The question is whether in Sweden it's technically possible or not.
Update 2: It's a question related to Sweden, only!

It's surely unlikely that an institute will forbid the simultaneous pursuit of two degrees. However, an MBA and a PhD are both demanding. Pursuing them simultaneously is seemingly a route to failure, unless they are each tackled on a part-time basis.


Which professors are involved in the tenure decision (in USA)? (associate, full, tenure-track who becomes tenured before I get tenure etc...) Which professors are involved in the tenure decision? Is it all tenured professors, or also the one still on tenure-track? If only tenured, which is the date in which they get tenure that matters? For example, I am in my second year of tenure-track position, will a person who is in his/her third year of tenure-track position have a word about my case? Basically, there is person I am doing all my best to get along with, but on his/her side it is just not happening. I have great relationship with most people, but this person just doesn't like me. I tried so hard to talk with this person and makes things right. In which cases will this person have a word to say?

You should ask your department chair, as practices can vary.

Usually, all promotion decisions are voted on by faculty who have already received the promotion.  So for tenure, only tenured faculty will vote.


Matriculating as master's student just for credits, with the intention of dropping after a year This is an unusual situation where I want to take classes and receive credit for my transcript at a particular university but I am not currently a student there.

At some point in the next few years I will applying for a program that I actually do plan to complete, either PhD or master's, but not until taking more classes at this university.

What are the considerations I should be aware of if I were to apply, be accepted, matriculate, etc and drop after an academic year, i.e. two semesters? I assume that if anything this would make it more difficult, from an 'ethical' standpoint, to be admitted to a program in the future if I were to explain my reasoning for having dropped out, but I'm not sure if it would be that important.

In particular, it will be clear that I matriculated and dropped in order to preserve continuity with my previous studies (just completed). i.e., it will be obvious to a program that I apply to in the future that I do not intend to matriculate and drop again as I would do here.

To clarify, I would not be transferring to another school, but dropping out entirely and recommencing my degree from scratch at another time, likely at least a year after dropping, but with the additional courses in my transcript.

EDIT:
I should also clarify that this university does not offer a 'non-degree' program so that is not an option.

You know you are planning to drop out, but no one else needs to know.  People's plans change all the time.  For example, a person might start a master's, then realize he actually wants to work toward a PhD.  He might start at one institution or in one program and realize he actually wants to be somewhere else.  If he has done good work before the change, and if he is not someone who habitually starts things but abandons them before finishing... I don't see a red admissions flag here.

I don't see an ethical problem either, because when you start a master's program, you are part of a flock.  The program doesn't suffer if you leave after 2 semesters, and an advisor hasn't invested a lot of time and thought into how to best guide you.

Caveat: I have never sat on an admissions committee.


How to explain missing grade on transcript I am an undergraduate mathematics student in the United States. I'm applying to many REUs in a certain topic. My only coursework in this topic is a graduate-level course I took last year. However, for some reason, none of the students in the class have received a grade. The professor who taught it has a history of turning in grades long past the deadline, and it's very difficult to get her to submit even after consistent reminders (this is the first time it's run this close to the deadlines).

Suffice it to say that the missing grade is not due to a poor performance or incomplete coursework (as far as I know), but just because the professor hasn't graded the final exam yet. Chances are the grade will not be posted before REU applications are due.

So, what is the best way to explain the blank spot on the transcript in my REU applications without sounding accusatory or sketchy? I feel like blank grades have a hint of "plagiarism/cheating investigation pending" or "incomplete coursework" that could tank my application if I do not explain it correctly and in a place that is easily noticed by application readers.

If the suggestion of Andreas Blass doesn't work for you, then include a note somewhere saying that the professor is late in assigning grades to the class as a whole and that questions about that should be directed to the chair or the dean. Give an email address for that person as well as the name.

You don't need to accuse the professor of anything and there are several valid reasons for grades being late, whether they apply here or not. But the administration can verify your claims and should be willing to do so.

Just state the facts and point to an authority who can verify them.


Do German universities consider high school grades? Do German universities consider the high school grades for post-graduate admissions since they ask for it?

In theory there is no way to prevent them from doing so, but in general they will focus on more relevant things like bachelors degree.
The reason they ask (apart from the German love for bureaucracy) I believe is a weird quirk in German law. In order to study at a German university you need a "Hochschulreife", i.e. the qualification for university studies. This is normally gained by finishing high school.¹ It is however not gained by having a university degree, even though it is technically needed to get one in the first place. So in order to gain admission into a masters program, you both need to prove that you have the prerequisite bachelors degree, as well as the general qualification to study (i.e. have finished high school).
¹The specifics are a bit complicated, as not every type of German high-school counts. For foreign systems, I believe there are endless lists of what is equivalent and what is not, but in general this is not a high hurdle.


Applying for a PhD in Europe as a South American. Do i convert all my grades to GPA or ECTS scale I'm applying for a PhD position in Europe. I'm from South America and our grading system is quite different. As a requirement i need to send a transcript. Do i need to convert all my grades to GPA or ECTS? (Also, do you have any useful information on how to do it?)

Thank you.

Actually, the institution you apply to normally does this themselves from official transcripts that you have sent from your earlier education: undergraduate, masters, ...

Depending on the program you apply to some courses will be more important than others, and the receiving institution knows what they are looking for. When necessary, they will discuss the grading system with the other institutions as needed.

Schools around the world are quite good at this, actually.


What grading policy applies to undergraduates taking graduate courses? I have heard that the range of grades in graduate school shrinks and grades mostly range from A to B-. What if an undergraduate student takes a graduate course, what is the grading policy for him/her?

The reason why I am asking is because he/she is in a graduate course so his/her grading can't be different from others, but getting B- for an undergraduate student does not mean he/she is failing, so his/her situation is different from graduate students.

In my experience, it's not that the grade range shrinks because the graduate students are graded differently, but instead because of the following three factors:

Graduate classes typically focus more on illumination than on certification in their grading policies (see this answer for more on the distinction)
Graduate admissions mostly filters down to a population of people who would have been getting pretty much only As and Bs in their undergraduate classes too.
Graduate students often have less classes or more closely related classes, enabling them to focus their energy more effectively.

Thus, the undergraduates are likely to be graded against exactly the same standards as the graduate students.  If they're well-prepared, interested in the material and willing to put the work in, they'll probably earn the same A and B grades as well, and also will deserve them.

Why then, is a "failing" grade for a graduate student a "good" grade for an undergraduate?  It's just that the expectations of graduate student performance are much higher, as also indicated by the previous point on filtering at admissions.


What is the proper response when a professor teaches a side topic related to the course but the information is wrong? I've been a software developer for about 10 years or so and am familiar with various security related concepts (SQL injection, server-client validations, man-in-the-middle attacks, etc.)

I'm upgrading from a college diploma and found myself sitting in an "Enterprise Application Development" class learning about SQL.

The core content is very basic and normally doesn't cover security, but the teacher decides to talk about it. He advised students to use mixed cased table names as "security" so that it is harder to guess. This is known as "Security Through Obscurity" and is one of the least effective form of security (it is treated as insecure). Security is talked about throughout the class and they're all forms of the same thing and extremely dangerous since it is completely ineffective.

As a professional that knows better, if he was an employee I would've had to sit him down and have a thorough talk, and probably advise some security training.

What can do I do as a student? Since the other students are probably clueless
and security is not even one of the program's topic, there is no foreseeable chance for correct learning and they will probably end up doing this in the future, possibly jeopardizing their own career, the company, and all the data they work with.

If the teacher is not a reasonable person, and some are not, you should keep your head down and hope that your fellow students will get some real security training, at least on the job, before making decisions in this area.

If the teacher is reasonable, select a very small number of references on the topic, preferably including peer-reviewed papers. Look for an opportunity to talk with the teacher privately, definitely not in class and preferably without any of your fellow students nearby.

Explain that you have had to learn about some security issues because of your jobs over the last 10 years, and that you have more up-to-date information than is being presented in class. (Yes, I know something of the history of security-through-obscurity, but we are being tactful here). Offer your references. How you play it from there on will have to depend on how receptive the teacher is, and how helpful you are willing to be.


Academic rank equivalence between the UK and the US systems What are the US equivalent ranks to the Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Reader (or Associate Prof), Professor ranks of the UK system?
Is it correct that in the US system they are Assistant Prof, Associate Prof, Full Prof and Chair/Endowed Prof, respectively?
I know that in the British system, there are further sub-levels in each of these ranks whereas in the US system there is no further gradation within each rank. So I am looking for only rough equivalence.

Edit: It would be great if a formal/informal reference which compares the two is also pointed out.

From the wiki pages https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_(United_States) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_ranks_in_the_United_Kingdom:

Entry level position

UK: Lecturer
USA: Assistant Professor

Mid-level

UK: Senior Lecturer
USA: Associate Professor

Upper-level

UK: Reader
USA: Professor

Highest level

UK: Professor
USA: Endowed Chair/Named Professor

Note 1. that in the USA, ranks #2 and higher are normally tenured. Tenure is handled different in the British system.

Note 2. The American rank of a named chair (aka named professorship, endowed chair) is distinct from the administrative head of a department, who is also often called the "Chair."


What does it mean when one month after submitting a paper we receive a request for clarification? We submitted a paper more than one month ago, today we are asked to clarify one question in our paper. Does that mean the paper is just on the borderline right now?

One of the reviewers is unclear about one of the claims you are making. You could (for example) be making Claim A which you seem to have the data for, or you could be making Claim A' which is related but the fit isn't as strong.

While the reviewer could give you the benefit of the doubt (and ask you to clarify in revisions), they felt it was safer to ask ahead of time. If it was indeed Claim A', then your paper could have more serious flaws and would need more substantive revision.

I would reply as quickly as possible with the clarification and not try to over think it.


I did something I am not proud of, and was rightly accused of cheating by the instructor. What is next for me? A throwaway account for this issue I need advice in. I am in an engineering course and had an online exam (thanks to COVID-19) with no form of protection for cheating, just an "open now, turn in within 2 hours" exam. I spent way too much time perfecting one particular question (I blame my diagnosed test anxiety for that part of this situation), so I, quite moronically may I add, used a resource that I was not allowed to use. I got an email from the instructor saying that I was accused of cheating.

After fainting once and vomiting twice I read the message and learned that I had 2 options. First of which is to refute and provide evidence in contrary of the accusation, for which I had none. The second option was to accept a zero-marking on the heftily-weighted question, but keep the grade and accept it as the grade on the exam. This was quite a lenient punishment as it was outlined in the syllabus that any form of cheating on any exam will result in a 0 on said exam and a failure within the course. I can only attribute this to the fact that I always went to lecture, actively took notes, asked many questions, and sat in the front row (really like ALL students should do). Therefore, I accepted that option and still ended up with a passing average in the class, because I worked extremely hard to understand the material well (I am not an academically gifted person, may I add.).

Along with both options, a report of academic misconduct will be reported to the chair of the engineering department of my discipline. From there I am unsure where the situation will go. The university does not have any set-in-stone rules for a situation like this within the academic policy or student guideline book, which is where I turn to  Academia. I have never done anything of this sort and I am unsure on where to turn or where to go next, depending on where this situation escalates to.

I also fear for my eligibility for security clearances once I graduate (United States). I only fear that this will be seen as a major, major red flag and may result in me unable to gain said clearance, even though I have nothing on my record (not even as minor as a traffic stop). I feel like that will most definitely ruin my career (rightfully so if so, may I add), as any form of my work will most likely require said clearance. But, having never gotten a clearance before, I am unsure about how it will be affected. To anyone who has experience in this realm, is this a major red flag? Should I switch majors now to something where I can get a job without one?

Regardless of any switching majors, if I lose my academic scholarship for the university (again, rightfully so), I will be forced to drop and/or go far into debt to complete my academic career. Most definitely worth it if so, but still upsetting. Again, this is not set in stone anywhere within the documentation I have access to, so would something like this be a possible/fitting punishment for my academic dishonesty?

I thoroughly understand that this shows that I have little experience in a particular realm of this class, and that in the workforce, if I make a mistake due to it, I may cost lives. If anything, that's the most sickening part of this whole situation. For that reason, I am currently re-studying all material within the class and making sure that I will keep the knowledge that I have been taught. But employers, would you even consider hiring someone like me if you found this out?

I really appreciate anyone reading this. Please leave any comments about my integrity to the comment section, and not the answer section.

What you are doing is called catastrophizing. This incident, unpleasant and mildly serious though it is, is simply not the life-destroying event you imagine it to be, and you are not the evil person you imagine yourself to be for having committed this act of dishonesty.

In fact, I think the worst aspect of the situation is the negative thoughts you are having about it, which sound like they have a much greater potential to derail your studies, mental health, and (if left unchecked) your future career, than the facts of the actual situation you described.

I can’t comment authoritatively about your specific hypothetical scenarios of losing your clearance, becoming a failure professionally etc, but they simply sound highly implausible based on my years of experience in academia in the US. My advice is, take a deep breath, and seek counseling and advice from knowledgeable people in your institution who can give you:

useful practical information about the possible effects of the cheating on your career (which frankly my guess is will be essentially zero if it’s a one-off incident, although there may be a temporary punishment that could set you back a bit);
separately from that, mental health advice to help you keep yourself from becoming overwhelmed with anxiety.

Good luck!


Do researchers from some universities not attend top CS conferences anymore because of conflicting open access requirements? From this question and this answer, it seems like the open access policies of institutions like Harvard and University of California conflict with the requirements of the top conferences in computer science.

Can researchers from these institutions really not publish in top CS conferences anymore? How has the change been received, and how has this impacted their careers?

No. The conferences acquiesce to the university policy.

The way it works is that, when the publication agreement is signed, an open access addendum is attached and next to their signature the author writes “my agreement is subject to the attached addendum”. At least that was my experience when coauthoring with Harvard faculty.


Will PhD rejection return to haunt later? Suppose a student applies for PhD at a university and his application is replete with problems: average academic record, poor SOP, so-so recommendations, etc and he is rejected outright. He gets an admit at another university, does very good work and completes his doctorate successfully. Now he deems himself to be a fit for a faculty position at the university which rejected his PhD candidature.

Will his past mistakes come back to haunt him? Will the university dig up his PhD application and count this against his faculty application? Or will he be judged by his work during the course of the doctorate alone?

What was written down on an application years ago will generally not come back to haunt a faculty candidate later. However, actions that might have been taken on a faculty visit—or in later interactions with faculty members at a department—could have repercussions.

If the reputation that someone builds is being a person who "doesn't play well with others," that will be a tag that follows that individual for the rest of the career. It can make life a lot more difficult, because that person will have to work a lot harder and be a lot more successful than someone who is able to interact with current and potential future departmental colleagues in a civil and cordial manner.

But what's written in an application? Unless it's fraudulent, it shouldn't have a bearing on future ability to get hired somewhere.


Manuscript status changed to editor assigned after under review, what could be the reason? Recently I submitted minor revision to springer journal. For 3-4 days, the status of my manuscript status was showing to be Editor Assigned and after that status changed to Under Review. Now status of manuscript is changed to Editor Assigned again. What is meaning of this change ?

The first mission of the editor is to assign reviewers and take a decision depending on their return. Hence the first Editor Assigned to Under Review. The reason with it is now Editor Assigned can be due to several reasons. This depends a lot on the manuscript management system, and the editorial practices.

Either:

The editor has already received the necessary  reviews, and is taking a decision (perhaps taking another look at your paper)
The editor has not received the necessary reviews.

The second case may be caused by different situations. Even with a "minor revision", it may happen that:

not enough of the first round reviewers have responded. Some journals impose a minimum. So he is looking for another reviewer (or doing the review himself), as suggested by @Buzz
the 2nd round raised more than minor concerns. Sometimes, after the first round, a reviewer notices sometimes more important, and can ask for a major revision (or a reject). So the editor may add another reviewer, to settle the case.

The latter happened to me once as a guest editor. ED1 said major, ED2 said minor. After round 2, ED1 said OK, ED2 said reject. A very painful situation  for everybody.

I wish you are just in the editor decision frame.


Two applications to different departments at same uni. But: One professor is affiliated with both departments I would like to apply for PhD programs in two different departments, but at the same uni. I am interested in both fields, but not in the overlap between the two. Generally, this shouldn't be a problem. However, there is a professor associated with both departments. Could this turn out to be a problem? How would you deal with this?

If you've submitted two different applications and they each specify what you're interested in working on, this shouldn't be an issue.


How should I react to emails from unknown (to me) book publishers? Since my Ph.D., I have occasionally received emails from publishers (that I've never heard of before) about writing a book. They all seem like mass emails that have my name and some title of a paper I wrote or the name of a course I've taught pasted in. The majority seem fishy and I just ignore them, but the most recent one may be a legitimate invitation. I'm not interested in writing the book they're asking for at this time, but I have to question whether I should continue to ignore all of these types of emails outright.

Are there smaller/up-and-coming academic publishers out there that are actively recruiting authors in order to expand their catalog? If so, should I engage with them at least for networking purposes?

I am specifically asking about books, and in particular textbooks, not journals. In searching through questions with publisher-related tags, I only saw similar questions about journals.

Get used to this: you will receive one or more spam emails for every single piece of work that you will publish, whether thesis, journal paper or conference paper.

The senders are predatory publishers: press the del key as fast as you can!


Do graduate students go home for the summer? Is it common or something usual for students to sometimes go home for the summer?

I have seen a wide variety of decisions about the use of the summer break from classes, both in the case of students from the US and those from abroad.  It really runs the gamut.  Examples:

One friend couldn't afford the air fare to visit his home town, during his entire PhD.  This was very stressful for him.
One friend made his good-byes in May and came back in late August married, with his wife accompanying him.
Some students visit family for part of the summer.
Me: when I needed the money I worked as a secretary in a temp agency over the summer.  Otherwise I enjoyed the break from TA'ing, which allowed me to immerse myself in my exam prep or my project.

It's a very individual decision.  I don't think one should decide about summer plans based on what other people do.


Is there a way to add more ECTS to my degree? I have a bachelor's degree in Oenology and Beverage Technology and I would like to apply for a master's degree in Brewing Science and Technology.  However, my bachelor's ECTS in mathematics and statistics are far fewer than those required by the M.Sc. Is there a way to add more ECTS to my degree? Could I take a course to reach the minimum requirements?

Adding ECTS to your degree after you graduated is probably not possible.

However at least some European universities will let you enrol to a single course/module: you can attend one or more courses without being enrolled for a degree and earn a certificate for the ECTS you need.
You are after some generic not-too-advanced Mathematics/Statistics training which you can find in many scientific (Biology?) degrees at most institutions, so it should be quite easy to find something suitable for you.

For example you can find information about this at University of Milan or London.

Depending on the circumstances this could be expensive, demanding and takes some time (if you really need the credits before applying you need to wait at least one semester, possibly one year), so it is probably better to contact the department offering the MSc you are interested in to try to decide whether it's worth doing.


Graduate Admissions Gender Bias Both my girlfriend and I (both white) applied to the same PhD programs in mathematics. Most of these schools are AMS Group I and some Group II.

I got denied by a majority of these programs while she got accepted to a majority of them. I sincerely do believe my profile is stronger (see comparison below) so I think there is a definite unfair advantage geared towards females candidates for graduate admissions. Am I able to legally sue some of these schools for gender bias? Why are the admission committees doing this? Shouldn't admission decisions be based on "who is best fit and capable to be doing math research" instead of "who will look best for our department"?

Comparison:

We went to the same college, and have the same math classes except for 5-6 courses that are not math since we knew each other since high school. My GPA is 3.9, 0.2 higher than hers.
My Math GRE subject test score is above 80% while hers is less than 40%.
I have done 3 REUs, coauthored some (over 3) papers while she only did one REU last summer with no publications.

Furthermore, in my school, some of the incoming female PHD students know less math (insufficient preparation) than a typical junior/senior undergraduates, which supports my theory.

Am I the only person thinking this is unfair? Aren't the actions of these admissions committee members jeopardizing the output of their math department by choosing less capable people?

I have had people I know who are senior mathematicians tell me in private conversation that they believe it is right and proper to discriminate in favor of females in mathematics in things like graduate admissions and job hiring. In some cases they essentially admitted (in a circumspect, plausibly-deniable sort of way) to practicing this kind of discrimination themselves.

Based on these anecdotal experiences, I believe it is indeed quite possible that you were discriminated against. It’s also possible that you weren’t; there is simply no way to know for sure. It’s not even clear that there is an objective underlying truth to this question, since the notion of what it means to be discriminated against isn’t scientifically defined.

The people I mentioned are people I respect and believe to be quite sensible, well-intentioned people. Their views seem to be widely held among professional mathematicians in (US, and other countries) academia today, including many people whom I would characterize as very reasonable and moral. On the other hand, many other members of the academic math community disagree and believe that gender based discrimination in math and science is unethical and unfair regardless of which direction it takes place in. So no, you are not the only one, far from it.

I don’t think there is a legal remedy for this issue. Who will you sue? How will you prove that a specific program or person discriminated against you? Besides, the societal debate about affirmative action has been going on for several decades and doesn’t seem about to end. There have been numerous lawsuits with results going both ways. The battle lines move a little, then move the other way. Laws are passed, then get ignored or worked around. At the end of the day, there is simply a wide chasm in our society over the belief in the morality of such actions, and no law or court can change that.

For math specifically, the issue will likely subside in importance over time as the number of successful women mathematicians grows closer to (or reaches parity with) that of men in the profession and a younger generation takes over that doesn’t carry the baggage of the older generation and is baffled by the very notion that it was once believed women could not succeed in mathematics.

I understand that all of this big-picture stuff might offer only small consolation for you in your personal situation. It is reasonable to be upset, but keep in mind that most women also have plenty of things to be upset about, and while two wrongs don’t make a right, statistically speaking, you will probably end up getting just as much of a chance as your girlfriend to prove your worth as a budding mathematician, and you will probably be at least a little bit advantaged over her in other ways that you may not realize.

Life isn’t completely fair for anyone. Go out there and succeed anyway! Good luck!


Publishing a literature review Over the course or the past year, I've become very familiar with a specific topic through a careful and systematic review of the background and state-of-the-art.

I think this could make for a nice publication, providing readers in similar fields with a handy resource and increasing my academic profile to boot.

However, I want to make sure that the lit review I performed is scientifically sound - so it must be transparent and replicable.

Do you know of any guidelines, best practices, or great examples to guide me as I get working?

While it is not specifically for general literature reviews, but more aimed at systematic reviews and meta-analysis, the PRISMA Statement is widely used in the biomedical literature, and even comes with checklists to make sure a manuscript has a few key elements, such as:

"Present full electronic search strategy for at least one database, including any limits used, such that it could be repeated."

Which is something that's pretty necessary for repeatability - you will often find for systematic reviews that an appendix is included with the actual queries used, what dates, etc. In a more general sense, that's what I'd look toward: "Does my review follow most of the guidelines for presenting a meta-analysis, even if it doesn't bother with summary estimates?" If you do that, you're likely on pretty solid ground.


What is a better word for 'code' when taking about programming code? Im writing my project thesis in Computer Science and I want to make sure I am using correct and non colloquial terminology.

Is there better word for code when talking about your program code in programming. Is it acceptable to use code or program code? I remember my programming lecturer had a go at a few students for using the word code when to describe there program, but I just can not think of a better word.

It depends what you want to refer to. For instance, if you were to implement an array sort in Java, you could refer to:

the sorting algorithm, as Paul mentioned, which could be described in pseudocode, and is independent from the language you used (note that it could be more readable to include within your thesis only the pseudocode of your algorithms, and then attach the actual code at the end, or provide it in a different file).
the program, which is the binary executable that takes an array as input and returns the sorted array.
the implementation, which refers to the way you defined the sorting algorithm in Java.
the data structures you manipulate, such as the array.
the source code, as Anonymous Mathematician mentions, which is the textual representation of your implementation (note that if you include the file at the end, then you can also refer to it with "the Java file", or "the file sort.java"; in this case, you can even include line numbers, which can be helpful to point to a specific part of your source code).


PhD Bioinformatics academic career outlook I have a MS in CS with strong interest in statistics. I am very much interested in doing a PhD in bioinformatics as it gives me best of both worlds. After my PhD my goal is to get an academic position but I am not sure if bioinformatics is the correct path to take or should I do a PhD in CS with focus on bioinformatics. Does it makes a difference what my PhD is in when applying for a job in bioinformatics/computational biology/statistical genomics field?

Like many other answers I am sure you will hear, it really depends what you want to do. Either path will be fine, what it will matter more in terms of job searching (academia or industry) would be:

You research project
Your PI
The reputation of the program you enrolled in (unfortunately)

In general, doing a PhD requires patience, dedication, and hard work. Focus more on what types of projects you want to spend 4-5 years on rather than worrying about what field degree you will walk out with in the end.


When is it appropriate to add references to own papers on Wikipedia? The Wikipedia rules about citing yourself state:

  Using material you have written or published is allowed within reason, but only if it is relevant, conforms to the content policies, ... and is not excessive.

While the Wikipedia rules allows self citation, is it ethical to self cite?

Short example: there are two good papers on the same topic, A and B. Is it ethical for the authors of paper A to include a reference to A and not B in the "References" section at the end of the article even if it is not cited in the article. On Wikipedia, it is pretty common for things to be just listed at the end and not mentioned in the article itself.

My questions are:

At what point is it appropriate to edit references to my own papers/preprints into Wikipedia?  (Maybe even add a paragraph claiming the same breakthrough I claim in my own paper.)
What should one do when noticing that otherwise unknown and very new preprints pop up as (uncited) references in Wikipedia articles?

I think this question really has two parts, the ethical question and the practical question.

First of, the ethical question. Let me say that I am surprised that you see the issue whether it is ethical to self-plug your work on Wikipedia as an entirely different issue than whether this is allowed by Wikipedia policy. Wikipedia is a private web site run on private donations, and is entitled to define how they want to do things around their piece of the web (much like we do here at Stack Exchange, to the chagrin of plenty a new user). I think it is impossible to argue that it is ethical (for academics or anybody else) to (mis-)use their service in a way that violates their own rules for your personal gain. Hence, to answer your updated question:

  It's a question about what is considered ethical in academia

This is not, precisely due to the reason that you say you are not interested in: it is not allowed by Wikipedia. It cannot be ethical to use their service, but don't consider their rules.

Second, your question also has a bit of a practical part. You claim that it should be really easy to self-plug your work on Wikipedia, and that it will be hard to trace and prevent. (You also seem to imply that this impact on the ethical question, which I think it has not - whether something can be done is pretty much irrelevant to whether it is ethical to do it)

I have a bit of a case study for this. A large European research project I was involved with some time ago once got asked by its reviewers to add their own papers and other outcomes to relevant articles "to increase visibility". After some internal discussion, the project obliged and started with some really defendable and arguably independently useful edits (taking very stubby articles and improving them with peer-reviewed content from our own papers, and adding references). All of those changes were rolled back within minutes, with the explanation that the edits looked too much like self-advertisement. We tried again, even more conservatively, and the same thing happened again. It turned out that the self-policing in Wikipedia works much better than anybody in the project anticipated. We gave up on the issue quickly.

The morale here is just that Wikipedia is aware that people could try to do this (and I am sure many do), and are very vigilant. I am sure you are able to edit in your links given enough energy, but it may be much harder than you imply it is.


Discovering mistakes in thesis after submission and printing So here is my issue - I submitted my thesis 2 years ago and it was accepted and i was granted the M.S. degree (I am in the US, BTW).
Now, when I opened it to read some portions, I found some missing references to data tables, and otherwise some typos.
I am starting to freak out about this, because of the consequences. My question is this - can the university somehow "re-evaluate" my thesis and find it unacceptable? I am not sure about how it works in academia, any help would be appreciated.
Edit: My question is bit different than the others, as it is asking whether the university has the power to "re-evaluate" my thesis based on typos and omissions.

The examination regulations specify what needs to happen so that a "re-evaluation" of an accepted thesis becomes due. Generally, such re-evaluations only take place in case of severe academic misconduct, like plagiarism or faking data. In the case of minor presentation issues, there is nothing to worry about.


What does this professor mean by saying "I do not have time to respond" I am an undergraduate in CS and engineering.  Approximately a week ago, I sent an email to a professor whose research really interests me.  I sent him couple of my questions and confusions rooted from reading his recent papers, but I did not get any response.  Consequently, I sent a short followup email to him indicating that email was sent a week ago, but he sent a short reply saying that "Sorry, I do not have time to respond."

Does it mean that he wants me to go away and never bother him again?  Does he not like me (we had some previous but positive communications) or not want to be bothered by undergraduates?  Should I perhaps send a followup email a month later?

Keep in mind a very simple rule: Professors are human beings

Many of the questions on this site seem to assume from the outset that faculty are strange, mysterious and mercurial creatures, whose motives are entirely opaque and whose every word must be subjected to an intense amount of kremlinology.

"Sorry, I do not have time to respond." means that he doesn't have time to respond.

There could be many reasons for this. He might be particularly busy at the moment - lots of conferences take place in the summer, and many academics also use it to catch up on work not done during the academic year. If he is, as you say, approaching emeritus status he may be occupied with wrapping up things he's intending to walk away from. He might be dealing with other things in his life.

You should take that message at face value, and try not to impute any sort of hidden motive onto it - you simply don't know enough to know. Try following up in a month or two with a simple question as to whether or not his schedule has freed up and he might have some time. If the answer is still no, let it go.


Can the word "subsubsection" be used in a thesis? Can the word "subsubsection" be used in a thesis?

For example:

The next subsubsection discusses so and so.

It is not listed in English dictionaries.

What do you think?

Thank you

One very important point has yet to be touched on. Indeed, subsubsection is not a dictionary word -- and even if it were, it's awfully cumbersome. Saying "section 1.2.3" is neater and more informative, as it tells the reader exactly where to go.

The most important reason to use numbered references is if the order of your text changes. For example, if you move a particular subsection to another section or chapter, any references to it in the form of "the next subsection" will now be invalid. By using numbered references and attaching these to either the subsection header or a key sentence (as appropriate), the numbers will automatically update and your referencing will remain correct.

The above is applicable to references to anything.  It is very dangerous to write such things as "in the following...", "in the previous section we introduced...", etc. Such phrases do not refer to an exact place, and they can easily became invalid as you add, remove, or change parts of the text. Proof-reading will also be more difficult.


Is it acceptable for a professor to tell male students to not think that they are smarter than female students? The situation occurred  in the first lecture of an undergraduate course in a STEM field at an university.

The professor said that there are less than 20% female students in the class, while the usual ratio is 40% (across fields and different academic degrees). The topic was brought up to "discuss microaggressions", such as letting female students do the easier tasks in group work. It should be noted that there is no selection of students for the field of study at the university (apart from a high school diploma) and AFAIK there also is none for the course.

Then the male students were told to "not think they are smarter than their female neighbor", that "your female neighbour not asking questions does not mean that she is not following, maybe she is a lot smarter than you think" and that the professor is much better at the field than all of the male students (the last part was told with a smirk, not sure if it was a joke or a sign of satisfaction) and it was finished with a "GO GIRLS".

These main reasons why I find  this offensive/disrespectful:

The students were viewed and addressed primarily through the lense of
group membership, and not as individuals.
Replacing "male" with any other group makes the statements offensive or absurd.
While the instructions to not look down on/patronize female students
are correct, they are (in my view) indirect accusations of sexism.
The contents of the talk, which took 5-10 minutes, were not related to the lecture and thus
were a waste of time for students. The issue might be important, but I was there to learn different contents.

Is my view justified? Is such behavior acceptable for a professor? Should I let the professor know the way I feel?

(edited this answer to consider some points raised in the comments and try to address OP more constructively)

Yes, it is acceptable for a professor to work to counter the effects of gender discrimination.

Yes, it is acceptable for a professor to warn a male-predominant class to not discriminate against women by giving them the "easy" tasks.

The professor is not accusing you as an individual of sexism, they are pointing out researched ways in which women are discriminated against, especially in STEM areas where women are under-represented.

Although your initial reaction was that this was a waste of time, I think you can use this experience and the feedback you get here as an opportunity to reflect - it seems from your comments that you are open to this.

I'd suggest you try the implicit bias test from Harvard, I was surprised by how much implicit bias it showed that I have. Some research has shown that people who take this sort of test are more introspective about their own biases afterwards. Even if you show little bias on that test, it may be instructive to see how much bias is seen in the population as a whole because people tend to underestimate bias experienced by other groups.

I don't think having implicit bias is something that reflects poorly on any individual, it's more of a product of society. What reflects on individuals is whether they try to become aware of the biases experienced by others and how their own implicit biases might influence their behavior.

I think your professor was trying to point out some of these biases to make students in the class more aware of them. It seems unlikely to me that any men in the course would literally think to themselves "Let's give the women the easy/secretarial tasks in group work!" (and if they do, they are probably never going to be convinced otherwise) - instead, they might accidentally do it by simply not thinking. By simply thinking about it more, and even by asking this question here, it seems to me like your professor was successful, even if you ultimately decide that you disagree with the approach.

Carter, A. J., Croft, A., Lukas, D., & Sandstrom, G. M. (2018). Women’s visibility in academic seminars: Women ask fewer questions than men. PloS one, 13(9), e0202743.

Cheryan, S., Ziegler, S. A., Montoya, A. K., & Jiang, L. (2017). Why are some STEM fields more gender balanced than others?. Psychological Bulletin, 143(1), 1.

Kaatz, A., Gutierrez, B., & Carnes, M. (2014). Threats to objectivity in peer review: the case of gender. Trends in pharmacological sciences, 35(8), 371-373.

Lerback, J., & Hanson, B. (2017). Journals invite too few women to referee. Nature News, 541(7638), 455.

Monteith, M. J., Ashburn-Nardo, L., Voils, C. I., & Czopp, A. M. (2002). Putting the brakes on prejudice: On the development and operation of cues for control. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(5), 1029.

Swim, J. K., & Sanna, L. J. (1996). He's skilled, she's lucky: A meta-analysis of observers' attributions for women's and men's successes and failures. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22(5), 507-519.


How to tell speakers that their English is terrible? I just had a lecture from someone who has been a senior scientist (and has completed a PhD, post-doc) at a hospital for already 15 years. So I'm assuming this person is experienced in giving talks in English. However, almost one out of three words was completely unintelligible because of a very strong Spanish accent where every word gets morphed into a Spanish-English hybrid word.

I spoke to two people after the lecture and they both said they couldn't follow along because of the strong accent. The questions after the talk were also not about the lecture but about the speaker's field. My impression is that the talk was a waste of time for the two dozen people present.

Now I wonder if the speaker is aware of this problem, my guess is no and as such I feel the need to bring this to the speaker's attention. If it was me I'd very much like to know that I have a problem communicating because I feel like a lack of communication skills can be a very serious barrier to being a good scientist but I don't know if she feels the same way.

My plan is to use an anonymous email address to send this feedback, sandwiched between two compliments to avoid coming off as a negative person.

I think that your plan is based on number of possibly wrong premises. And even if they were mostly right, I doubt such a plan could have any reasonable success. Let's see my reasons.

  I just had a lecture from someone who has been a senior scientist (and has completed a PhD, post-doc) at a hospital for already 15 years.So I'm assuming this person is experienced in giving talks in English.

I've met along the years many senior researchers, even native English speakers, who where definitely not experienced in giving talks, at all. If academic researchers are frequently experienced speakers because, at least, they have teaching duties, some researchers from research institutes are really "lab rats" who rarely deliver talks. To give you an example, a few years ago I was attending a poster session in a conference and I told one of the presenters (a native English speaker) that I was surprised that his work had been accepted as poster presentation and not as an oral one. He told me that it was actually accepted as oral presentation, but he asked for a poster one because he doesn't like to deliver talks.

  My impression is that the talk was a waste of time for the two dozen people present.

Talks can be a waste of time for other reasons than terrible language: slides with unreadable results, talk targeted to the wrong audience etc. I certainly attended many talks that could be considered a waste of time for almost anyone in the rooms, and a large fraction of these talks were delivered by allegedly experienced speakers.

  Now I wonder if the speaker is aware of this problem, my guess is no

In my experience among non-native speakers of English, most of the people is well aware of their level of English and of their pronunciation: your guess is likely wrong.

  I feel the need to bring this to the speaker's attention.

Would you feel the same need if the talk were a waste of time for any other reason? And note that preparing readable slides is usually much easier than fixing pronunciation. And are you planning to do such an action for all the useless talks you will attend in your life?

  I feel the need to bring this to the speaker's attention.

As I said, the speaker is probably well aware of this issue, but can you offer any solution that the speaker is not already aware of?

Improving pronunciation is not something that can be done easily, especially if one is not keen on languages. The speaker might have had good reasons for not having been able to improve pronunciation more than that. Time and money can be two of them. I don't know how many languages you speak -- you speak more than one, right? I speak Italian, my native language, English and French. My level of English is decent, but my level of French is basic. I cannot make great conversations in French, just short sentences, and sometimes I've been misunderstood (e.g., I once asked for a book called Rue des Maléfices and the clerk searched for Roue des Maléfices). I'd love to improve my French pronunciation because I spend most of my vacations there but, guess what, I really cannot find the time to do this. Or I'd like to learn German, because I have many German colleagues and I also found some nice physics book in German that I'd like to read without Google translator. Again, I cannot find enough time to learn German even at a basic level.

To conclude, don't.


Is copying numbers from published scientific articles considered plagiarism/copyright infringement? Considering that proper reference is provided (journal, author name, date etc.), is copying exact numbers from published scientific articles could be considered plagiarism or copyright infringement?

For example, there is a research called "Dancing can reverse the signs of aging in the brain". I need to cite in my own research some data from it, including how many there were participants, their gender (how many men/women), age and BMI. There are some tables as well, from which I intend to take some baseline numbers. As a result, I'm making my own conclusions (words or sentences are not copied, only numbers).

Thanks.

No, it's neither:

It's not plagiarism because you cite the original source and you don't try to put others' results as your own.
It's not a copyright infringement because there's no copyright on data.


How to peer-review a conference "Symposium" I have to do a review of a "symposium" that will take place in a major conference in the business / management field. The document I recieved for review consists of:

Abstract + Overview of the symposium
Proposed format of the symposium
Relevance to divisions
5 Article summaries, each about 4-5 pages long

I couldn't find any specific information how to do a peer review of a symposium and I only reviewed regular articles before.

My questions is: how should I review this symposium document? Do I need a separate review for each article summary? Do I need to comment on the information prior to the article summaries, i.e. overview of symposium etc.?

This may be a bit late, but I'm a early-stage scholar in a management field that reviews similar proposals for our major conference. Here is how I approach reviewing symposiums (in no particular order):

1- I review them holistically (i.e. as one document), because that is how the final decision is made (accept or reject the entire proposed symposium). To answer your question, you don't need a separate review for each paper and for the introduction. Just write one review of the proposed symposium.

2- I structure my reviews similarly to how I review papers (summarize main points, strengths, areas for improvement, overall recommendation). I also treat them the same in terms of norms (conversational, developmental, includes what the proposed symposium does well, etc.)

3- I also keep in mind that conference papers are qualitatively different than published papers --- and are supposed to in our field! Conferences are where we get feedback on our ideas, get new ideas from conversations and presentations, and, above all, for everyone to learn :-) In short, I'm much more generous and err toward inclusion and look for the golden nugget of a great idea that needs to learn how to shine to guide me in terms of acceptance.

4- My advisor gave me these guiding questions as well to use in my review and these helped me out a great deal:

Does the symposium look interesting?  Are the arguments clear?  Do the presentations fit together well? Do you think there would be an audience for them?  Do the presenters look like they have a good idea of what they are going to say rather than just fluff?  Are the proposed presenters well-published people with something to say?

Hope this helps!


Reviewer noticed a significant overlap of my submitted draft with an earlier paper of mine in a single-blind paper reviewer one of the reviewer comments In total, 12% of the paper contains text from X et al. (2019) which is not properly cited. this cited article, is one of my works. in review responses can I discuss it? or not?

There are two issues here; self plagiarism and possible copyright infringement. If your previous work has been published then you may not hold copyright to it any more and your rights to reuse the text may be limited. You should check that. If you do still hold copyright or a sufficient license from the publisher then you are clear on that.

But self plagiarism is a separate issue. When a scholar reads a paper they also want the context in which the ideas were developed. So, if we use another work, we cite it so that the scholar can follow links, including the citations made in the earlier text, etc. If you just copy part of your own old work without citing it, you (probably) break that chain of context. You make the current work seem new and deny the scholar the chance of easily examining the context.

If you have copyright to your work, you can probably safely reuse longer parts of the old work than if it were by another, but you still need to cite it. In such a case, quoting long passages is probably acceptable provided that you can find a suitable typographic convention to show what is old and what is new. But citation is still needed.

The fact that a reviewer has raised the issue suggests that you have some work to do. First, you need to be clear about your copyright or your license. Second, you have to provide proper citations of things you use (i.e. quote) from the old work. Failing that, you are subject to having the work rejected.

Rephrasing the old work is not the issue. That can be viewed as an attempt to disguise your intent, just as if you rephrased the work of someone else without citation.

The fact that self plagiarism is viewed differently by different people is irrelevant here. This publication has raised the issue, so it is important to you. It is also, in general, safer to be conservative in such things just to protect your own reputation. If you use it, cite it. Easy rule.


Can I get a PhD in artificial intelligence with a pure mathematics background? I am currently finishing my master in pure mathematics. I've studied mainly logic, mathematical analysis a bit of probability and I'm writing my thesis about Riemannian Geometry. I've been thinking about doing a PhD, but I am not so sure if I really want (and if I am good enough) to stay in the Academia for all my life.

Even if I don't know anything about, I find the Artificial Intelligence field really fascinating but I know that my current background is inadequate.

Do you think I could get I PhD in that area (possibly using also my mathematical background)?

And what kind of career path could I follow after? I mean, is it easy to find a job related to AI?

You have some of the elements of an artificial intelligence major. Your background in logic is pertinent. And your background in mathematical analysis and Riemannian geometry is at least interesting.

What's troubling about what I've seen of your background is your lack of computer science courses. Maybe that's not an issue, if you have the equivalent of a minor in computer science that wasn't featured in your question. Certainly, that would be an important "tool." And if you don't have it, you might consider going back to school for a five or six course minor or certificate program in CS.

The most interesting part of your question was, "I find the Artificial Intelligence field really fascinating." Why is that? And how does that connect with the rest of your background? Or are you starting from scratch, which would be difficult, though not impossible. In any event, these issues should be addressed in your statement of purpose.

Here's my experience in unfamiliar territory: In high school, I had four years of French, and none of Spanish (unless you count my one year of self-taught Spanish). In college, I bluffed my way into a second year Spanish class, and completed it successfully. Here's an example where my interest and natural aptitude compensated for my lack of formal training. Perhaps it will be the same for you and artificial intelligence.


What to ask a prospective supervisor regarding advertised PhD position? I have completed my master's degree in aerospace engineering from India, and I am continuously looking for PhD opportunities in Europe in the field of aerospace propulsion.
In this regard, I have come across a few advertised PhD positions in line with my research interest. I have met the minimum requirements for admission into these programs (Language and GPA requirements).
Before applying to these positions, I would like to know if my profile fits their requirements. In this regard, I would like to first email the professor and explain my case.
I have seen many people have answered on how to write to a prospective supervisor and ask them if they have any open positions or upcoming projects. But, I would like to know what to specifically ask the professor when I write a mail regarding the advertised position.

I would like to know if my profile fits their requirements.

If I were you, I would not ask this. First of all, it's not really clear what you mean by "requirements" -- you have already indicated that you meet the published GPA and language requirements, so it's unlikely that there is anything else they could tell you. Second of all, it's not relevant to your possible connection with this specific professor. Third and finally, professors are generally busy and do not always respond to unsolicited mail; the chances they will respond are even lower if you ask vague and/or logistical questions.
Instead, assume you do fit the requirements, and instead focus on your interest in working in this professor's group. Talk briefly about your qualifications (e.g., research interests and research or classroom experience related to the professor's area), and simply ask if they have open positions in their lab. Keep it brief but indicate your interest and knowledgability about their research clearly.
If you successfully establish credibility and the professor likes what you say, and they have open positions, it's likely you have good chances of getting in (because the professor can vouch for you). Typically, the actual "requirements" are not so important and may not even be well-defined.

I would like to know what to specifically ask professor when I write a mail regarding the advertised position?

The best question to ask is already in your post:

Do you have any open positions or upcoming projects related to [topic of interest X] in your group?

It's clear and to-the-point, and assuming your email has indicated you are a strong candidate, it gives them a direct opportunity to express interest in having you as a student.


Does a youtube channel with my lectures add to my portfolio in graduate applications if the response is good? Will teaching physics on a youtube channel and receiving a good response on it help me with my grad school applications in the subject?

I think this would depend on the location of your institution and how traditionally/modern inclined its culture is, as well as the person itself who reviews your application, but it certainly wouldnt hurt your application in any way. It is certainly a good way to stand out from the rest of the field, since I highly doubt any other applicant to your same programme would also be doing it.
If your graduate programme you are applying for includes teaching or TAing duties then it would be particularly relevant since it shows you already have good skills in explaining concepts to people who are less familiar with them than you are.


Template for taking notes for a paper? I will soon start my thesis, and have read a bit of literature, particularly a few short papers. One professor recommended using a template, displayed below. However, I generally feel that the questions in the template don't apply well to the papers I have read, and my answers get very "artificial" or "forced", while some aspects are not answered by the template at all. Obviously no template can fit perfectly for every paper, but perhaps there are better templates out there.

Are there any standard templates for this purpose? Perhaps a list of questions to ask oneself when reading? Or other structured ways of note writing for scientific papers or similar literature?

  Title

  Title of paper

  Citation

  Authors

  Abstract

  A short summary of the paper.

  Issues

  What are the issues that the paper addresses? Describe the problem.

  Approach

  What did the authors do? How did they approach the problem. What did
  they do? What methods did they use?

  Conclusion

  What are the authors conclusion? What do they claim about their
  results.

  My Conclusion

  What do you think about the work presented in the article? Explain

  Rating

  Give a score [0 - 10] 0: awful, 10: brilliant.

It can't be any more minimalistic than that.

Basically you have some metadata: title, citation, abstract, comment (your conclusion) and rating.

That fits every intellectual work, you could apply it to movies, songs or anything that has an author and about which you can have an opinion.

Then there are a few other fields that cannot be any more minimal:

issues: why is the paper written and published? There has to be a reason for that work to have been done, presumably people don't enjoy wasting their time.
approach: which is basically what they do. There was a reason to do something (and then publish it) an "issue" and something has been done about that "issue" so that it is less of an issue in the future.
conclusion: there was an issue, something has been done, is it still an issue? are there more open issues?

Quite simple if you think about it.

Survey papers and so on basically solve the issue of summarizing something, they cite other papers, so you should also fill this template for those other papers.

Are you having trouble with some other kind of papers? This seems to capture everything that is relevant. Do you miss something?


Software for submitting and testing programming assignments Can anyone recommend an open source system for students to submit programming assignments? Ideally it would be something that would run on the web, do some level of testing on the server side, and provide feedback to the students based on testing.

The open-source web program CMS (Contest Management System) was created by people at my university (CS institute, university of Pisa). Screenshots here.

It has been used also in the international informatics Olympiad and several other international programming contests, so it is mature and well tested.

It is in use since a few years in the undergraduate course on Algorithms in our CS degree. It allows students to submit their source code online, where it is executed in a sandboxed environment and scored automatically on the basis of some test cases. It supports out of the box C, C++, Java, Python, Pascal, PHP, and other languages can be added (although I don't know how easy it is).


What is the academic route to study Archaeology? I am really fascinated by ancient civilizations and cultures.

I do not know what subjects one has to take up to study Archaeology (like what subjects in A Levels or High School) at an academic level?

I would just like to know in general but would appreciate any details about United States and India.

It is very difficult to answer with very little information. Archaeology is a very vast transversal field. It can be decomposed by techniques, by periods or by the targeted cultures. So the first question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to be an archaeologist (expertise in techniques) or a specialist of a period or culture (egyptologist for instance).

In the first case, scientific majors in high school is probably better than others, but this is not very important after all. However, be advise that excavation techniques are related to "dirt on the hands" techniques, but also to some top notch scientific techniques (specially for the analysis, where you may need knowledge of stats, paleontology, zoology, botany, chemistry, etc.).

In the second case, I would advise to start quickly to acquire a strong background in art history and ancient languages (starting with greek and latin). I will be easier to learn linguistic and semiology afterwards. I guess that both art history and ancient languages can be learned at the high school level in most countries.

At the university, students usually progress concurrently in archaeology techniques and culture specialization.


Translation of Dr. rer. nat. outside of Germany Psychology at universities in Germany is either in the natural sciences or in philosophy, depending on the university. This affects the kind of academic title you get. People doing their doctoral thesis either get the doctor in natural sciences (Dr. rer. nat.) or the doctor in philosophy (Dr. phil.).

If I am not mistaken, most doctors in psychology (internationally) are Ph.D.s. So my question is, how would you refer to your title internationally? As a doctor of natural sciences? As a Ph.D. (even if you have a Dr. rer. nat.)? Are there legal requirements? I am thinking about a website that is generally understood internationally and -- perhaps -- about business cards.

(And yup, personally, I think -- and act if -- psychology is closer to natural sciences than philosophy.)

(I'm sorry if I can't specify the question more closely. There's a similar question (Choosing a title to hold upon completion of a doctoral degree: “Dr.” vs. “Ph.D.” [duplicate]) but I don't think it really covers this issue.)

In the US, most doctorates in science and engineering are also a PhD even though our degrees aren't in philosophy. While other degrees exist, they are less common. I would suggest translating your degree as a PhD since most international audiences will understand that you mean an academic doctorate.

That being said, I was able to get what Dr. rer. nat. meant, too, so you might decide to put that and not worry about it. Most people have the ability to search the internet when they are confused.


Referencing someone else's Appendix with news articles URLs, or putting the links in my own appendix? I am referencing someone else's work, specifically an Appendix which contains ~100 news article URLs. For example, "bla bla bla (Author, Appendix A, article 5)". The reason I do this, is simply to avoid duplication. If someone needs to know the article URL, they can simply check the appendix in the reference work.
However, at the same time, one should generally try to cite primary sources in academia, and also the article was not written by the Author but by a news site, so from this point of view it would be better to include the article URLs in my own appendix, would it not ?

What if the reference work is unavailable to your future readers? You should always cite the primary source if you have it.


Are students who are asylees eligible for National Science Foundation (NSF) grants? Are graduate students who are asylees pursuing a doctorate able to apply for funding from the National Science Foundation?

According to the proposal preparation and submission guidelines (part E):

  Graduate students are not encouraged to submit research proposals, but should arrange to serve as research assistants to faculty members. Some NSF divisions accept proposals for Doctoral Dissertation Research Grants when submitted by a faculty member on behalf of the graduate student.

The guideline also says that one category of applicants for funding are:

  Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members.

Does this mean faculty can apply for NSF funding through their academic institution for a student who has been granted asylum but is not yet a permanent resident?

That's a great question to ask the NSF directly, but generally everything the NSF does distinguishes people only by the following categories:

Their position in their career. For example, some programs are only available to graduate students, to early career faculty, etc.
Their citizenship status. Some programs are only available to citizens and  permanent residents, but not others.

I have never seen a distinction based on the exact non-citizen (non-permanent resident) status. That would mean that it doesn't matter whether you are a student residing legally in the US because you have an F-1 visa, are an asylee, or are in the country through any other legal means.

(I will say that just because I haven't ever seen such a distinction doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. But I suspect the NSF doesn't care about these things.)


Make Up Tests: Should I alter the questions? I'm teaching a unit this semester that involves an in-class test. The students will be required to conduct a textual analyse of a video using the themes/unit literature etc to help formulate their responses. This is for a sociology unit.

It is a large unit and there will undoubtedly be students that will need to sit a make-up test at a later date (as long as they have appropriate documentation).

I will change the video for the second test, but I was wondering, should I also change the questions on the make-up test? Or should I leave the test questions? They are not straight correct/incorrect answers but rather, questions that ask students to use critical thinking and analysis skills to analyse the video contents in relation to the unit themes (short essay style).

There are no policies or procedures at my university that highlight what a make-up test should entail, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to what might be the best way to go about this to ensure fairness to both students who take the test on-time, and those who sit a make-up.

It all boils down to this: Would you consider publishing the questions before the first exam?

If knowing the questions in advance help them in any way provides an unfair advantage, the make up should be changed. Otherwise, they can remain the same.


Paper rejected. Should I appeal against biased reviews? I received a rejection letter from a relatively high-impact journal based on the feedback from three reviewers. After I reviewed their comments, I feared that their comments were biased and am not sure if I should appeal. The comments from all three reviewers are all negative, but one is more bias than the other.

The first reviewer say that I need to carry out a lot more experiments that will involve a lot of cost, which is not practical. However, in the comment, s/he only suggests one additional experiment that need to be done. The second reviewer complains about the quality of the figures, but I think they are fixable. The third reviewer complains about the novelty of the paper but I think s/he did not carefully read and understand the paper.

Is it still possible to write an appeal if all three reviewers were negative about the paper since their reason to support rejection wasn't strong?

@Fomite's answer is spot on. I would like to expand further on the differences between a biased review, a lazy review, a significantly erroneous review, and a negative review, and which do/don't warrant an appeal.
The examples given in this post come from a contest held by the always-excellent FemaleScienceProfessor. Quite a few are real reviews, or based on real reviews.
Biased Review
Does warrant an appeal, if it's the reason your paper was rejected. Often editors are smart enough to identify a biased review on their own, and will simply discount its advice.
Example #1 (here, the reviewer clearly lets his personal goals get in the way of a fair review):

I am afraid I cannot support the publication of this paper. The authors present an idea that I myself have had for some time and just haven’t gotten around to writing it up yet. I think that when I write my paper, it will be better than this one. These authors would be well advised to wait until my paper is published, and then they can cite it.

Example #2:

Since the author is a woman, I had lowered my expectations accordingly, but the author did not even meet those. Even though I have never done experiments in my life and have never used any of these techniques, the experimental results presented were completely misinterpreted in my distinguished opinion.

Lazy Review
Does not warrant an appeal. If all of your reviewers give you a lazy review, you need to do a better job exciting the reader (thereby motivating the reviewer to carefully read the whole paper in detail because it's such compelling reading.) (Very rarely, this can be an indication of a bad journal/conference and you should find a better place to submit your work).
Example #1:

The topic of this paper is not of critical importance to furthering knowledge.
Sent from my iPhone

Example #2:

Paper Title: Linear and Nonlinear Methods to solve XXX
Review: "Why is the approach limited to linear methods, and the author does not propose nonlinear methods?"

Significantly Erroneous Review
(per JeffE's suggestion)
This is a distinct case from the Lazy Review. It does not include the case where the reviewer "erroneously" concludes that your work is not interesting or useful, just because you disagree with this conclusion.  It does not include the case where the reviewer says "I am concerned about X" and you believe you've adequately addressed X.
It does include cases where a review is affected by a significant factual, logical, or mathematical error.  This is grounds for appeal.
Example (the reviewer is mistaken as to the meaning of "graph" here):

Paper title: Graph analysis of System ABC shows differences in A-B connections during Condition X vs. Y
Review: This paper uses a novel method to study ABC system dynamics. However, I don't know anything about graph analysis so I'm going to interpret the paper through the lens of a different analysis method I do know something about. Thus the only constructive feedback I can give is that this paper is a poorly written explanation of a structural equation model of XYZ - the conclusions drawn make little sense given the data, i.e. they frequently refer to "graphs" but all I see are these pictures of circles and arrows.

(A minor error is highly unlikely to be the reason for a rejection. Therefore, for a minor error, an appeal is not likely to be successful - an appeal will be useful only if the point of appeal was the reason for the rejection. In the case of a minor error, I would advise to use the reviewer's mistake as an opportunity: to clarify in the text points that might lead people to mistakenly discount your results, or even to decide to ignore the criticism because it's not a common enough misconception to be worth addressing in the paper.)
Negative Review
A review that does not fit into the above categories, but still criticizes your paper, is just a negative review. It is not grounds for an appeal. It should be taken as constructive criticism, and you can use it to make your paper better.


What are the benefits/detriments to graduate students joining unions? The graduate students at my university (a relatively large state school in the US) are considering joining a union. To help decide whether to sign a union card in support of joining the union, I'm interested in more information about how unions have helped graduate students at other universities. What are some improvements to graduate life gained by graduate students at other universities upon joining a union?

I'm also interested in information about how unions have hurt graduate students at other universities. What are some detriments to graduate life caused by graduate students joining a union?

I'm primarily interested in student-body-wide benefits/detriments, instead of student-specific or faculty/administrator-specific claims (e.g. "my advisor treated me better with the union behind me" or "my students have stopped working since they joined a union" is not what I'm looking for).

I went to graduate school in mathematics at a university with a TA union. I think the main effect was to level off graduate student compensation across disciplines -- so, the union was apparently a great boon to those in the humanities, but I heard that compensation for math TA's would likely be higher if not for the union.

Another benefit to the union was that it instilled (for many) a sense of camaraderie and common cause. Union events were fun, and they served beer. It was a good way to get to know your fellow graduate students.

The main disadvantage was that dues had to be paid, around $200 a year (most of which went straight to the AFT). This is not a lot, but on our salary it did mean something. Dues were mandatory, even if you opted out of the union -- although state politicians have since seen to it that this is no longer true.

Another potential disadvantage is that union dues went (in part) to political contributions to union-friendly politicians. I didn't mind, but this tended to alienate graduate students who were more politically conservative than me.

There was occasional heated rhetoric when I was there, and even more after I left, but overall the union didn't seem to do much good or harm. Mostly, I remember the beer.


How to get in situ anonymous global evaluation from students about the works of their peers My undergraduate students are going to present their group works to the whole class. I would like that their companions globally and anonymously evaluate them, so that each team can in situ get a grade for their work in this way (besides the evaluation they would get from me as teacher).

My questions are if someone can provide some previous experience about this evaluation strategy (either as a teacher or as a student); and which app or tool could be used for this purpose (i.e. so that the class can vote and we instantly know the points for each team).

You should think this through carefully so that no one can game the system. This could easily just reward popular students. Many nice students will not want to grade people down (making the grades basically meaningless), while a few hyper-competitive students might give everyone else zeros thinking that it raises their own grade.

Scarcity of votes could force people to make thoughtful votes.
I've heard when you ask people to grade themselves and their groupmates, you can get truer evaluations by giving them a set of points to split. E.g., 3 people in group means divide 30 points among you. Instead of the usual, "Oh, everyone gets 100%!" students are often more realistic if boosting one person's score without merit takes away from another person's score. (In any case, you might not want to bind yourself to using the students' scoring directly for grades, but rather using it to inform your decision.)

You could apply this "scarcity of votes" in a couple of ways.

Come up with, say, 3 rubric categories (content, oral presentation, visual presentation). After each presentation, ask people to vote (hands or clickers or some web poll app) on which category the team did best. Two teams that were great overall or horrible overall may the same score as each other, but each gets feedback about which part is most productive to spend time improving (the rubric category they got the fewest votes on).
Have all the voting at the end of the session. Write each group's title on the board (or project it) and give each person 3 sticky notes place on the board next to the titles, to vote for their 3 favorites.

If voting happens after each presentation, I'll also note there will be strong ordering effects from non-trained evaluators. If all the topics are similar, the early ones will have high scores and the later ones will have low scores. If it's a harder task than expected, then people will be kinder to later presenters. These effects may still be present if you save the voting until the end, but perhaps not as strongly. (Possibly you'll get recency effects, that people will remember the most recent good presentation and vote for that.


Emailing HOD to enhance faculty application I am a postdoc in the process of applying for faculty position in universities. Most applications require you to apply all the materials on an online portal or careers page, which I do.

Now there must be hundreds or more applications. To stand out from the rest of the applicants and to bring to attention the application to the head of the department (HOD), would emailing the HOD enhance my application or would it affect it negatively. If it helps, what should the content of the email be?

I have seen a similar question on SE: emailing contacts after applying for faculty jobs, but my question deals with an unknown person at the university.

To stand out from the rest of the applicants and to bring to attention the application to the head of the department (HOD), would emailing the HOD enhance my application or would it affect it negatively.

Realistically, it does not affect your application at all. Firstly, this does not make you "stand out" nearly as much as you think it does, because quite a few people have the idea that writing some sort of personal letter to the head of the hiring committee improves their chances. Secondly, what do you expect will realistically happen? That the HoD thinks "gee, nxkryptor certainly shows initiative, better put them on the shortlist"? This is really not how academic hiring works.

The most realistic effect is that the HoD sees your email among the >100 mails of the day, exhales a short sigh, and then either directly moves it to "read" or writes you a polite "thanks for letting me know". 120 seconds later they have forgotten your name again, and it won't impact the evaluation of your package in any noticeable way.


Can I list an educational paper in my publications? I have published a paper in Journal of Chemical Education by my supervisor. This is about a teaching approach for an undergraduate course. The paper was peer-reviewed and we spent more time on it than a research paper.

In my CV (I am applying for a faculty position), the list of publications is normally peer-reviewed research articles. Can I add this paper to the same list or it is better to create a separate section in my CV?

My worry is that this may undermine the entire list that some of other papers are not based on cutting-edge research.

It is very simple: everything that is published is a publication. However, some authors choose to only list peer-reviewed publications. In both cases your educational paper qualifies.

Of course you are free to list certain types of publications in separate sections on your CV if you think it is better. How that is viewed depends on the person reading the CV. For what it's worth: in my opinion any list of publications has papers that are better than others even if it is all original research. There is no reason to list it separately.


My potential MSc supervisor doesn't visit his research lab ever, should I be concerned? My potential MSc supervisor is a surgeon, and he doesn't really focus on his research lab that much. I had an interview with him and his lab members and I was told by them that he doesn't really visit the lab like, ever.
I have very minimal research experience, and his post doc told me that I can ask him questions if I had any, and that I needed to prepare my research proposal by myself. I have an idea about the lab's general research projects, but I feel that I am clueless as to what exactly I'm supposed to propose!
I can't really reject this offer (I had a hard time securing a supervisor and it took me a year to find one), but I also don't want to be taught and helped by a post-doc who is frankly more concerned with his research than my education. I don't feel very comfortable about me starting a project and directing my future questions to my lab partners (I also hate asking my peers for questions and I much rather ask my teachers instead).

What should I do? I need this opportunity so bad, but the lab environment isnt very encouraging and my supervisor is a surgeon who relies on his post-doc students for all the work. How am I supposed to learn about research techniques and method?

Do members of his lab have regular meetings with him, either one-on-one or as a group? Sometimes it's better to have time set aside specifically for your questions, rather than someone breathing down your neck in the lab as you try to formulate your proposal. In my experience PIs are super busy and neglectful in general. Also it's ok to ask anyone that can help you how to get where you need to go. They were probably in the same boat before you got there.


Is it wise to use the paper reference numbers defined in CV in statement of purpose? If in my CV I assign to each paper of mine exactly one number, say [1] On ...; [2] On ..., and if I want to introduce my works in my statement of purpose, then is it wise to use these paper reference numbers in my statement of purpose?

Don't make anyone do extra work. They may not want to (or easily be able to) open a different file to find the reference. Give up part (1/4th?) of a page for references. Don't cram text in the main body, but references could be written with a (slightly) smaller/tighter font size/spacing if necessary.


How to calculate a rough 'chance of admission'? I am looking to apply for graduate programs for Fall 2019 and I am so confused about my chances of admission for different universities.

I know it cannot be really calculated and there is no such formula (2*GPA+5*publications etc) but I think there should be a way to estimate a rough probability. Like someone with a 3.0 GPA and no research won't in %99.99 of the time get admitted to MIT right?

Particularly in case of international students like me, knowing your chance of admission is the key to just apply for where you actually stand a chance and not to waste money on application fees.

I think I shouldn't mention my own GPA and application material by the rules of SE. So I won't. If I can please tell me in comments so I add them.

I think your chances of admission to MIT are near zero. Nothing about you, just numbers. They, and similar places, attract many many many high high high quality applicants. What you need, instead of a prediction formula is a plan to optimize your chances to get into a suitable program - one in which you will be happy and can be reasonably assured of success.

To do this you need a list of reasonable schools that is a little broader than you think your CV and letters from professors will support. Choose some schools a bit more "elite" than you think you would be assured of entry, more in the "mid range" of your expectations, and a few that might not be quite so prestigious. Try not to over or underestimate your potential - get whatever feedback you can from your current professors on that. Perhaps they have a sense of what has happened to students similar to you from their past.

Since you have a year, yet, you can work with a smaller selection of your list, including your top choice. Apply to those first to see what happens. Whenever possible, try to get personal feedback on your application by speaking to people who can affect your acceptance. This might be professors, department heads, admissions officers. They probably won't give you all the information you want to have, but it might be enough to judge whether you are being seriously considered or not. Don't be passive in contacting people if they make that option available, but don't be a pest.

If your first batch seems to need supplementing, you have more for the second round. If it seems like people are taking too long to reply, send out a few more applications.

If you get an offer that is not a high choice for yourself, and if you have time yet, you could try a few more schools that you would find more desirable. Use any offer as a backup rather than immediately accepting it if that is possible. As you get any feedback, and if your situation allows, discuss the results with a faculty member at your current school.

But unless you are the reincarnation of Einstein, don't apply in top-down order from your list. And note that even Einstein got rejection letters. Nothing is certain. You have a lot of competition. Any formula is just probabilistic in any case. Follow a plan.


Should I still submit if my final results are not good? Firstly, I am aware of this question, but: 1) there is no accepted answer there and 2) my situation is not as good as the OP's in that question.
Being new to research, I have always thought it is about the new knowledge you create. Many times, you follow a theory to find out that it doesn't work. I had thought it is OK to publish such findings and to provide a constructive criticism thereof, but recently I got a second rejection which made me revisit myself.
From your practical experience, is it worthy submitting in such cases? if not, how is this situation best dealt with provided that much time and effort are usually invested therein?
I assume it makes sense to submit in principle but I am wondering whether the academic reality agrees with such an assumption.

There is a big problem called publication bias: only studies that "find something" get published. In part this bias is due to journals being less likely to accept papers with negative findings. In part this is due to researchers not even submitting the papers. So, the fact that you submitted those papers is an important and positive step you have taken to (try to) reduce publication bias. However, it is an uphill battle.