Correctly formatting automatic APA 7th edition style citations in Word I have Office 365 and in Microsoft Word which is updated to the latest edition. I could manually enter inline citations, but for speed and ease of citing, I have elected to use the automatic citation generator.

I need to cite in the APA 7th edition style. However, I have noticed that when using the automatic citation generator, the correct APA citation is not provided in a couple of situations; and maybe more issues may come to light as I move forward.

One situation is that when, let's say you have a citation with say 4 authors, the inline citation will mention all 4 authors followed by the year, when it should mention the first author surname followed by et al.

For example, Word will cite

  (Okami, Olmstead, Abramson, & Pendleton, 1998)

when it should be

  (Okami et al., 1998)

There is also a known bug where if you have multiple citations from the same author, the citation generator fills in the publication title when it's not supposed to.

The Microsoft website provides a workaround for the meantime on the incorrect addition of the publication title, but has not been very helpful in dealing with other issues.

It says on the link above

  Important: APA and MLA can change their formats, so you’ll want to ensure that these format versions meet your requirements. You can create your own updated version of a style or build custom styles. For more information see Bibliography & Citations 102 – Building Custom styles.

but the link is dead.

Is there a more reliable style I can download and use in Word?  If not, how can I edit the current APA style to correct the issues or create a custom version?

Instructions on building your own custom citation style can be found at this Microsoft webpage.  This instruction can be used to learn how to modify the current style, or use it as a template for a separate corrected style.

In the meantime, whilst working on the style, I found a workaround for the et al. inline citations in SuperUser.  You may manually edit incorrect inline citations by editing the field.  Doing this is still quicker than manually typing all citations and references as it only affects a few inline citations.

For example, with the inline citation used in the question

  (Okami, Olmstead, Abramson, & Pendleton, 1998)

right click on the citation and select the "Edit Field" option.

The citation field for this example was:

CITATION Oka98 \l 2057

If you edit it to this:

CITATION Oka98 \n  \t  \l 2057  \f "Okami et al., "

It becomes:

  (Okami et al., 1998)

The following explains the switches used.

\n removes the author names

\t removes the title (to prevent it being displayed with the other bug)

\l is for the locale code

\f is for a prefix which in this case replaces the author names.


Are references with indication of page number uncommon in computer science? I am writing a computer science paper in which I cite several lengthy sources (text books and standard specifications). Whenever I cite such a source, I add the page numbers of the subsection to which I refer, e.g.:

  Bla bla is considered very important [52, pp. 210-214].

One of the reviewers of the paper remarks the following:

  Do not use references with indication of page numbers (e.g., [52, pp. 210-214]), this is very uncommon.

Is this really true (in computer science)?

Am I wrong to include the page numbers in the reference?

The reference in question is a 400+ page book that broadly covers a whole subject area and I thought knowing which pages I actually refer to might help the reader. There are several other (and longer) sources, such as technical standards, which I cite in the same fashion.

Specifying which part of a long book or article you are referring to in your citation is a sound practice, but in general section, theorem or equation numbers are more common than page numbers for this task: [52, Section 3.5] or [52, Equation 3.23] rather than [52, Page 132-134].

Personally I use page numbers only as a last resource where nothing else is available: that is, when the section or equation I want to refer to does not have a number of its own.

I do not have a compelling reason for this, if not that section numbers are more robust to minor pagination changes, but this is the behaviour that I have seen more commonly.


Can PhD Thesis be converted into Three IEEE Journal Papers (same as they are in Thesis)? The students of the laboratory in which I worked for follows the below rule:

1) In four to five years, they publish three-four IEEE papers.
2) Merge all those papers into a single document and publish it as the PhD thesis.

For me, the scenario became a bit different. In first three years of my PhD candidature, I wrote three IEEE papers, publish them, and got all the credit scores required by the university to fulfill my PhD.

Now, for past two years, I am working on a project. I wrote three manuscripts: one is basically on an Electronic Device, and another two are on the Software Modules based on that Electronic Device. Our initial plan is to publish them before my thesis submission. But, later my prof. decided to sell it to a company. So, we didn't submit those manuscripts. Since, we are not getting a good amount of money, my prof. asked me to write my thesis based on those three manuscripts.

So, my thesis basically looks like:

Abstract
PART I: Manuscript One (without Abstract & Conclusion)
PART II: Manuscript Two (without Abstract & Conclusion)
PART III: Manuscript Three (without Abstract & Conclusion)
Conclusions

I submitted my thesis and got my PhD degree. Now, I work in my professor's company (my student life is basically over). But, I don't want to throw away those three manuscripts into garbage can. I want to publish them into some IEEE journals. So, I took a "We Don't Care" certificate from the Dean of my University which basically says: "It is his work. We gave him a degree based on it. But, we don't have any copyright on it. We don't care what he will do with that work."

So, from my university point of view, there is no problem if I publish papers based on my PhD work. Now, when I asked my professors/colleagues about this, they told me: YES, YOU CAN PUBLISH PAPERS OUT OF YOUR PHD THESIS. Then, I asked what does OUT OF means. Different people has different opinions about it. Since they are confused, they made me more confused.

Some of them told me change the figures, some of them told me change some of the texts, some of them told me keep the proposed method same, but change the wordings......... the list goes on and on. Now, as I work as a full-time engineer in a company, I don't have that much time to do all those works. I want to publish those three manuscripts as they are in the thesis (like below).

Manuscript One (PART I of the thesis - only change in Abstract & Conclusion)
Manuscript Two (PART II of the thesis - only change in Abstract & Conclusion)
Manuscript Three (PART III of the thesis - only change in Abstract & Conclusion)

My specific question is that:

This is my OWN WORK. Nobody has any copyright on it. It is published as PhD thesis, but, never distributed online OPENLY. Only the students of my university can access it through their student accounts. I made it private on purpose. However, the university can make it public after two years.

The only problem is if I search in google the exact texts from my manuscripts, it takes me to the university library website (where you have to give user-name and password to view the thesis). That simply means, if I submit those manuscripts to three IEEE journals, all of them will say I HAVE PLAGIARIZED THE WORK (am I correct?). Because, the plagiarism checker of IEEE cannot differentiate between the works which have/don't have any COPYRIGHTS.

Can the learned researchers confirm me:

1) If I submit those three manuscripts into three IEEE journals, is there any chance that they will pass PLAGIARISM CHECKS? Please note that at the time of PhD thesis submission, I have uploaded my manuscripts to turnitin plagiarism checker website to get an "Originality Check" certificate. Is that could be an issue?

2) Should I just submit and tell the editors the above problem (to be legally/ethically correct)?

3) Is there any other solution?

Thank you for your time.

You are mixing up a bunch of things here:

1. Copyright
Since you have the copyright to your text, there is no issue here. (Personal opinion: It is rarely necessary to pay much attention to copyright issues in academia anyway.)

2. Plagiarism Since you wrote that text, there is no plagiarism issue here. Even if the journal should check for coincides in the text, they will see that this text is written by you.

3. "Self-plagiarism" / Double-publication The former is very unfortunately named, since it is no case of plagiarism. The latter points out what the actual issue is. As a rule of thumb, this only applies to the same type of publication - having the same text in journal article and dissertation is fine. In this case, the subsequent publication should clearly mention the preceding one. So the journal articles would say prominently that they are based on Chapter X of your thesis.

4. Writing appropriately for the setting If your dissertation is actually written as a dissertation, then to make good journal articles out of it, probably significant rewriting would be necessary. This is because the style (e.g. level of detail) is different; because chapters of a dissertation can be more tightly coupled than different journal articles, etc.

If you fundamentally wrote three journal articles, did not publish those but stabled them together, this is not an issue. Then updating the references/context description would be enough.


How to communicate college's financial problems to faculty candidates? I'm a faculty member at a small liberal arts college with significant financial problems, which make the long-term viability of the college questionable. In addition to faculty pushed out, junior and senior faculty have been leaving for other institutions.

My department gained approval to do a tenure-track search. I am wondering how and when to communicate the situation to candidates. The normal sequence for a search is:

Solicit applications.
Interview the stronger applicants at the big annual meeting in our field.
Invite the best matching 3-4 candidates for an on-campus interview.

Our reasons for wanting to let candidates know about the problems are:

It's the right thing to do.
We don't want them to reject us after we've used up a campus visit on them.
We don't want one to leave a year or two after accepting the job because they did not understand the extent of the college's problems.

When should we let candidates know about the problems and how explicit should we be? For example, we could point them to news articles, put them in touch with junior faculty not involved in the search, etc.

As a member of the search committee, and as a department in general, you want to aid the department in getting the best candidate possible. Misleading the candidate and losing them after the campus visit, or even after a few years, hurts the department. Doing the right thing may have long term benefits but might cause short term problems.

I would pass this off to a higher up. If you are not on the search, ask them how they are dealing with it. If you are on the search committee ask the chair of the search and/or the chair of the department. Once you get to the university level, they should be able to produce some numbers that presents the university in the best light. While this seems like it is deceiving, what you basically want to do is convince the candidate that whatever they have heard in the news, there is still a good reason to think the university will pull through the difficulties.


How can I complete the prerequisites for MS in Computer Science? 2019 application I have gone through: Similar question asked 4 years ago but this person had a lot of experience.

My Background: I am currently pursuing my bachelors in electrical engineering. I wish to pursue my Masters in Computer Science. I will graduate in 2019 (expected) with only 2 months of internship experience in Python (Data Science application).

Country of Residence: India

Countries of Interest for University Applications: US, Canada and EU.

Probable MS start date: Fall 2019 / 2020

I have noticed that there are prerequisites to get admitted to those programs. Specifically, I need to have completed courses in Data Structures, Algorithms, Operating Systems, Theory of Computation, Compilers and Computer Networks.

My undergraduate degree did have courses like C programming and OOPs, but nothing else. I took a computer course on Python at a local computer institute and interned during the vacation.

With my current qualifications I am unlikely to get any meaningful work in CS so I would like to use a masters degree to start a career in CS.

So here are my options to fulfill the prerequisites:-

1) PG Course in computer science (Expensive; only distance learning mode will work)

2) Computer Science courses on edX, Coursera

3) Professional certifications like CompTIA a+ / Network+ etc.

My major concern is whether Option 2 &/or 3 will be considered by admissions committees? These may showcase my aptitude for CS, but will I still have to take UG level courses before pursuing a Masters degree?

Specifically, I need to have completed courses in Data Structures,
  Algorithms, Operating Systems, Theory of Computation, Compilers and
  Computer Networks.

These are the courses you'll need to complete then, and you'll need to complete them at an accredited school of some sort.

Professional certifications like CompTIA a+ / Network+ etc. won't cover those topics at all, and simply wouldn't address these requirements. Some of those computer science topics are available on edX and Coursera, but most of them aren't accredited, or proctored, so the school you are applying to may not accept them. Edx does offer an online MS in Computer Science in collaboration the Georgia Institute of Technology, but you'd have apply for admission to that program, and they too will want evidence of having taken undergraduate courses in algorithms, operating systems etc. Also, when taken for official credit, the Edx courses are not cheap!

That leaves you with option (1). I assume by PG you mean post-graduate. You should communicate with the school offering the MS, and see if they can offer suggestions for how this could be done.

There is a remote chance that you could learn these topics by self-study and demonstrate your mastery of them to the school offering the M.S., but this is something you'd have to negotiate with the department you are applying to. The department would probably be highly resistant to this because many who claim to be self-taught really don't understand the depth of preparation required, and it ends up being a lot of work for the department for very disappointing results. Many people can teach themselves JavaScript, many fewer people can teach themselves the theory of algorithm design.


Using open source code in my final year project I am a final year undergraduate student reading for Bsc. Electrical and information Engineering. As for the final year project, I am planning to do a project on deep learning. After doing some literature survey I found a research paper that goes along with my research interest, and the project code is also available in GitHub.I want to recreate the research paper and do some additional changes to their research methodology and evaluate the results.I just want to know if it is a plagiarism to use that code, and will there be any obligations, if I am to write a research paper using my experimental results including the additional changes to the research.

Thanks in advance and sorry If am being naive, as I am new to this domain. If some one could be of any help to clarify this, it would be of great help.

It is not plagiarism as long as you clearly write something to the effect of "I downloaded this code from this github" in your paper and cite the paper in question. Plagiarism would be to pretend that you wrote all the code from scratch.

(On a side note, the code on github is most likely under an open source license, but you should double-check this before you upload your modified code to github. If there is no license present in the project that explicitly allows it, it would theoretically be a copyright violation to publish your modified code. This doesn't affect the paper, which you can publish even if you can't make your code public.)


it is a good idea to use colors for citations in hard bound thesis(printed copy) Do you think it is a good idea to use colors for citations in the hard bound thesis(printed copy)?

I think it is a good idea to use colors to make citations more visible in the PDF files on the computer screen but not in the book.

I agree, don't use colors for citations or any other text in print.

Besides being potentially distracting or harder to read, it's often more expensive to print.


How to write CPD for an academic? I was thinking that Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is for people who has routine job, and with CPD they renew their professional skills. Normally, by attending some courses, workshops, and practical programs. However, for an academic, we do this everyday through teaching and research.

I an assistant professor of applied physics mainly focused on research. In an application, I was asked to write about my CPD in one page. I have no idea what should I write. Aren't my teaching and research CPD? What should I write about my activities in academia in one page?

Any idea what should be the outlines of a CPD statement for an academic?

In general, CPD is for activities where you are being taught. So while we learn in while teaching and doing research, they generally do not qualify as CPD. In the UK, new faculty need to complete a Post Graduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE). This is a taught course on teaching at the university level. A common form of CPD in my field are one day workshops on good clinical practice and courses on workshops on working with special populations (e.g., children and people with hearing loss). In addition to these practical CPD type things, conferences sometimes have special session CPD workshops which provide tutorial introduction to a field you may not normally stay on top of.

In Applied Physics I could imagine course/workshops either virtual or real on things like laser or radiation safety or proper use of large equipment (e.g., telescopes and particle accelerators). Obviously, they will depend on what you research is, but they might not be things you think of as CPD.


How to deal with co-authors' tardiness? I have a paper due tonight, and I have done my part. I have also volunteered to compile the texts from the other authors and hand it all in (there's four of us). I have all texts except one and frankly don't expect to get it on time (our internal deadline was two days ago.)

How should I handle this situation? Leave the whole section empty, with an explanatory editor's note? Just take it out? Send an explanatory email to my lecturer?

The correct answer is not to wait until two days before the deadline to check in on your co-author's progress. Presumably this is no longer an option.

If the section is not necessary, take it out. If it is necessary, you and your non-tardy co-authors can try to get together and do it together before the final deadline.

You should certainly tell the tardy co-author what you plan to do (I mean the collective "you," as in you and your other co-authors).

If the tardy co-author's contribution doesn't make it in before the final deadline, then his name won't go on it either.

Note that if this was a paper being submitted for publication, e.g. a conference submission, and not for school, you would likely just miss this deadline entirely and have to wait to submit to another conference.


Professional ways of saying "Keep me in the loop in case you have some other projects I may be able to contribute to" I’m a student and I’ve been visiting a collaborator of my advisor to work on a project. The visiting period ends in a few days and it has been productive and enjoyable. We have worked well together, but the professor has no shortage of students or collaborators.

What is a more “refined and professional” way (for lack of a better term) to phrase the following message:

  Keep me in the loop in case you have some other projects I may be able to contribute to.

I really enjoy working with you.  I hope you'll think of me if an
  opportunity arises where I might contribute to one of your projects.


What type of content (depth/breadth) is expected for a short presentation for Asst Professor interview in the UK? I have been recently offered an interview call for my dream job - Asst. Professor (above lecturer grade, but below Assoc Prof/Reader grade in the UK) in a newly founded research group at a mid-tier UK university.

I have just finished my PhD last month (Mar 2019) from a top-tier (Oxbridge) university in the UK and had applied for this position without really expecting an interview call. At the start of the interview, I am asked to deliver a 10 minute presentation titled "Your 3-year plan to become an independent academic"

My current problem is that this interview is scheduled immediately (within 2 days), and this doesn't give me sufficient time to contact my former PhD supervisor(s) for their valuable advice.

I have zero post-doc experience as an independent researcher. My questions are:

How deeply technical should I go in the presentation slides for such an opportunity? (i.e. are details at the equation-level required and journal citations expected?)
Should I have identified specific research methodologies, potentially leading to the PhD title for the students I shall be supervising?
Is it appropriate to be more modest and aim to only co-supervise (rather than be primary supervisor for) my first PhD student?
Is an individual year-wise breakdown/Gantt chart expected at such faculty interviews?
Should I identify the grants that I shall be applying to (in particular, the specific EPSRC schemes that exist for early career researchers)?
Are there any other aspects that I may have completely missed here?

I am really sorry to be naive in asking a lot of questions here. This faculty position is in the exact same area as my PhD (in energy engineering/alternative fuels) and I'd like to give it my best.

While really short, 10 minute job talks in the UK are the standard and I actually think they work pretty well in that they do a good job of weeding people out. Sure, there were applicants that we turned down because they screwed up the job talk, but generally if the job talk went well, we were happy with the candidate. The best job talks accomplish 4 things.

First, they demonstrate ownership of your research. Many recent graduates were handed a PhD project and really never made it, or a portion of it, there own. Schools want to hire people that own their research. Talk about what your supervisor envisioned the project as being and how you transformed it into something even better.

Second, they frame the research in a way that makes it broadly accessible and highlights links to other members of the faculty. You don't need to hit the faculty member over the head, but you can talk about how your work on underwater basket weaving is important to consider when studying transportation of goods. During the Q/A portion of the talk, there is almost always a question about how your work relates to someone else's in the department. Alice may ask you how your work links with Bob's.

Third, they highlight which aspects of the technical details you have mastered and what things you still need to master. They will want to see that your current technical skills will allow you to pull off an interesting and funding worthy project. The best talks bring the audience to the weeds, acknowledge you are at the weeds and that you are happy to talk about them all day/night, all without actually going into the weeds. At the end of the talk you will inevitably get a probing technical question about some detail of your method from someone who has read your papers and understands what is going on (at least in a narrow scope). For these questions you apologize to the audience that you are about to jump into the weeds and give the technical answer.

The final thing is that they present a set of aims of the next research question. Ideally, the whole talk builds towards these so the faculty can see how your previous work leads to the aims and that your skill set will let you answer them. Even better is when a couple of other faculty can see ways to collaborate with you on the project. You do not need titles of sub projects or a timeline. Having identified a funding mechanism is always nice. You don't want to sound too independent at this stage, rather you want to come off as receptive to input and willing to modify the project to capture the strengths of the school. If there is a dinner/lunch afterwards, this will be the foundation of many of those discussions.


Is research in private industry more result-oriented than research in academia? I have been working for a year and a half in a lab doing research in applied computer science. Ever since I was a kid I had dreamed with being part of a lab and do research. However, I have now experienced what I believe a great majority of research is like. Particularly, I feel that everything is about funding and the "publish or perish" thing. It seems to me that the scientific community is too influenced by doing what funding organizations conceive as favorable just to get more points from evaluation committees to eventually obtain more funding.  I get the feeling that this situation only degrades the quality of the research performed, and eventually, the reputation of the authors, while also keeping researchers completely focused on hot topics (e.g. big data before, now neural networks) instead of what their curiosity leads them to.

These reasons have motivated me to believe that maybe academic research is not for me, and that I might should try to move to private and applied research (such as working in research departments at private companies). My impression on private research is (also based on some articles I read, in particular "The effect of government contracting on academic research: Does the source of funding affect scientific output?" Goldfarb, 2005) that the goals are oriented to get results (i.e. carrying out the actual research), whereas in academic research the only goal is to get the article published (and thus spending eventually more time on writing the article and/or applying for grant calls than on real research).

Is this just my impression? Are all labs like mine? Is applied research in private companies the way I am picturing it in my mind?

Thank you for your time!

(Remark) I have managed to get an article published in a good Q1 journal, so it is not about internal presure from the advisor, nor bad relationships with the team - I actually feel very confident and have good relationships with everyone

Funding priorities

  It seems to me that the scientific community is too influenced by doing what funding organisms conceive as favorable just to get more points from evaluation committees to eventually obtain more funding.

This can certainly be the case if you allow it to.  As John Baez puts it

  The great thing about tenure is that it means your research can be driven by your actual interests instead of the ever-changing winds of fashion. The problem is, by the time many people get tenure, they've become such slaves of fashion that they no longer know what it means to follow their own interests. They've spent the best years of their life trying to keep up with the Joneses instead of developing their own personal style! So, bear in mind that getting tenure is only half the battle: getting tenure while keeping your soul is the really hard part.

Governments fund a vast range of research.  Presumably you are funded by a grant whose proposal was written to fund the research that you want to do, and doing that research is what the funding organism will "conceive as favorable".

Funding priorities are largely determined by input from academics, who serve on the funding panels and write the national reports that influence them.  For these two reasons, "doing what funding organisms conceive as favorable" is often the same as "doing the research you want to do."

Goals of research

  My impression on private research is that the goals are oriented to get results

This is very true.  Industrial research is not (with rare exceptions) curiosity-driven.  The end goal is to sell more products, create them more cheaply, etc.

  whereas in academic research the only goal is to get the article published (and thus spending eventually more time on writing the article and/or applying for grant calls than on real research).

I would say that in academia you have more freedom to spend time writing up the results of your research.  I think it's true that some academics become so focused on publication that they lose the joy and curiosity that initially led them into research (see the quote from Baez above).  But writing is an important part of academic research, so if you dislike encapsulating what you have found and making it understandable to the rest of the world in this way, then an academic career is probably not for you.

The concern about time spent applying for grants is a very legitimate one, and this is something you will not generally need to do in industry.

Getting more information

I recommend talking to someone who has a Ph.D. in your discipline and has pursued a career in industry.  Your professional society may also have useful information.  For instance, in applied math there is the SIAM careers page with a lot of interesting perspectives.  Let me quote here from someone who worked in academia, industry, and government research (source):

  As an academic, you select the problems you work on, while trying to pick those that will interest your peers. In national labs, the problems you work on must fit somewhere into the needs of one of many ongoing projects; a fit with your own research interests is certainly possible. In industry, there is usually one (or very few) projects, and you will probably spend your time learning about someone else's problems.


How to cite a thesis/paper when it's not available online? In a published research paper, the author has cited a thesis/paper, which is not available online. The question is, when I'm writing my paper and I need to cite the corresponding unavailable paper/thesis, what should I do? Should I cite the original material even though I haven't read it? Or the paper that cited  the unavailable material, say in its literature review section?

Assuming X is citing the reference Y whose content is unavailable, it is fine to cite Y just as done in X. It is better to mention it as a secondary source by stating that the concept mentioned in Y is as claimed in X. @jakebeal's answer to this post is most apt solution for this problem.

Some sources may inaccessible or totally unavailable (as in your situation) but they are cited nonetheless in the conjecture that the content they are assumed to provide are true. For instance, if an important method was proposed long ago and you wish develop on it, you ought to cite the original author of the paper (in addition to the standard books you refer), even if you couldn't access the paper yourself.


Does it look bad if letter of recommendation comes from an emeritus professor? I wonder is it a good idea to ask for a letter of recommendation from a emeritus professor who I took his course and knows me well?

I was wondering is it bad to get a letter from someone who is not in Academia anymore?

The best reference is the one that is both honest and based on extensive firsthand knowledge of your qualities. Emeritus status would seem irrelevant to me.


How do I know if a PhD is the right choice? I am graduating in September in Economics from a world top school and I am willing to go on studying to earn a PhD (in Economics). My Master program is very focused on quantitative skills and research and although professors say we would be able to work in any field because of our strong preparation, I am feeling that only a PhD is the right way to make my studies worthy.

I decide to study Economics with the purpose of becoming an economist in a supranational organization and I feel I have found my field of interest too. My fear is that I am feeling pushed to enroll in a PhD because it seems to be the natural continuation of my studies.

Thus, without referring to my specific case, I was wondering if there are some signals, something objective, that would make me able to understand if a PhD is the right choice for me, besides the fact that I am feeling interested.

If your goal is to actually do research in economics, having only an MA will be severely limiting.

It's possible to get research assistant/associate positions at important institutions without a PhD, particularly if you're willing to work in the non-profit sector (think tanks, foundations) or in related areas like banking.  However, having been at two very prominent ones myself (Brookings and Urban), there is definitely a glass ceiling that even skilled researchers with a track record of successful research struggle to get past without PhDs.

However, it sounds like you're more interested in larger policy groups, like the IMF, World Bank, BIS, or central banks.  It will be even more difficult to get in the door there without at least being a PhD candidate.  These places generally have more full PhD applicants than they can handle, so they face little incentive to consider non-PhDs for anything beyond supporting roles.

In short, if you're willing to compromise where you work and potentially face a glass ceiling eventually, you can definitely do economic research with an MA.  Otherwise, a PhD is entirely necessary.


Could I change part of my paper after acceptance My paper is accepted in one of the Taylor and Francis journals and Today I figured out that I made a mistake in one row of one of my tables ( the minimum of one of variables in statistic analysis table is 0 in the paper but the actual value is 1). In fact, it does not affect the other parts of paper and the verification part.

Editor will provide the proofread of my paper in a week.

My question is, Will the editor give me a chance to edit the paper again? or he will change the grammatical problems his self?

And if I ask the editor to correct that row of paper, will he give the paper to reviewers again? I am worried that if I ask him to correct that mistake, he ask the reviewers to review my paper again. I need my paper to be published soon.

Since you have not proof read the paper yet, you simply ask the editor to make the changes to the table as part of the proof reading process. This is perfectly fine as long as the changes you make are trivial and does not change the basis for your conclusions. The worst case would be if the paper was accepted due to the data you reported and your changes will change the results so that the conclusions no longer can be made. The proof-reading stage comes after an accept and it is not allowed to make substantial changes. By substantial, I mean both by volume (changing a lot of text) or by quality (changing data upon which the decision was made).

Supply the changes to the editor as part of the proof reading process but make sure you explain that the changes in the table does not influence the results and conclusions of the paper.


How do editors publish in their own journals? I was invited to review a paper in which the journal's Editor-in-Chief is a co-author. I do not mind, but raised the question that this peer-review is no longer blind. The co-author can see who wrote the reports.

I do not say the editor takes advantage of his position, but the peer-review is not actually the same.

In such cases, the editor-in-chief should recuse himself from having anything to do with the review process. This gives the associate or deputy editor for the given paper essentially full control of the process. (In general, I don't think the editor-in-chief is aware of exactly who is assigned to which manuscript.)

One would hope that the editor-in-chief would know the quality and standards required to publish a paper in her own journal; however, should the paper fail to meet those requirements, you should, of course, call that out in the review.


Is there a free (as in freedom) alternative to Publons I have just reviewed for a journal that allows me to transfer my information to Publons. It seems Publons is a relatively new thing with limited uptake. It also seems like the type of thing that would be better suited to be managed by a non-profit in a free (at least as in freedom and possibly as in beer) sense.

Is there a free competitor to Publons? If not, what data should I be keeping regarding my reviews such that if at a later date I wish to upload them to Publons, or a competitor, I can?

It seems now there is a free (as in free speech) alternative, via ORCID. A few months ago they introduced a system to make verifiable peer reviews visible in your profile. You can read more about it here. I was thinking of making a Publons profile, but given that it is owned by a commercial entity, it ends up being just another data mining company, very much like academia.edu and researchgate are. Great that we have now an alternative!


How to Use a Result Already Under Review in Another Paper? This may apply to any mathematical scientists. I am working on a paper, which (as far as I can tell) needs a result that I obtained. The result needed is a part of another paper of mine that is already under review. If I would like to submit the new paper, but need to cite the old one, how do I best work this issue out?

There are a couple of ways.

Upload a pre-print of the paper under review to ArXiV. Then you can cite the ArXiV version. This is commonly done in many fields, but typically happens at the time of submission to the journal. Check if this is actually allowed after submission to the journal by your specific journal.
As a less preferrable variant, upload your paper to your webpage (or to Dropbox or an alternative service) under a non-public link. Cite your paper under review in the new paper with the note "under review" and the link under which the paper can be obtained.

Variant 2 is common in case ArXiV cannot be used for copyright reasons (some journals do not accept papers that have already been published in any form). Note that some journals allow to submit supplementary material - it makes sense to include a PDF of the paper with the result that you want to use then. The non-public paper link is not necessary in this case.


Why are there so many mental health problems in academia? One thing I've been really curious about recently is why there is a very high tendency for academics to suffer from mental health problems (e.g. anxiety and depression). There are a bunch of factors behind this:

Very long hours
Relatively low pay
Constant pressure to chase up funding and publish papers
Continuous flow of work resulting in feeling little personal reward
Dealing with abrasive personalities (such as some specific professors, supervisors and so forth)
Perfectionism, resulting in feeling that nothing is truly good enough
Lack of open-mindedness towards admitting difficulties or not understanding something
A feel that "if you can't take the heat, then you shouldn't be here"
Lack of external support at some institutions.

This is a very striking read, which highlights that many mental health issues in academia are accepted as the norm or simply ignored, whereas in any other job these would be picked up on and support would be offered.

Also, as someone who as experienced similar difficulties previously in my studies (such as in school and during my undergraduate degree) and had plenty of external support offered to me, it almost seems as though everything I learnt about having a healthy life balance and looking after myself is something that goes out of the window at research level.

I'm sure maybe there are some more that I haven't mentioned, but what would you say is probably biggest influence on people feeling depressed (and some even having dark thoughts) in university departments?

I think that part of the issue of why it seems there are so many people with mental-health issues is systematic. I think that academic environments are beginning to place much more emphasis on the mental well-being of their community members (students, faculty, and staff), so diagnoses of mental-health issues have increased compared to the past. Moreover, because universities tend to be more "accepting" of issues than most other environments, it's easier for people to mention such issues. Also, because of the nature of the people in academic environments, they're much more likely to recognize that they're experiencing mental health issues, rather than "passing the buck" or pinning the blame on someone or something else.

One other question that you haven't raised is if there's a greater correlation between increased academic training and propensity to experience mental-health issues; I'm not sure about the answer to that, and whether that skews the stats.

But in general, I think that what you're seeing is more likely something closer to the actual level of mental health problems in the general society in academic environments, and an underreporting of it outside of academia (where it is still heavily stigmatized).


Restoring self confidence - possible? I am having a personal crisis and I thought maybe I should ask for some guidance in this forum.

I have been in grad school in 4 years, failed qualifiers once passed at second attempt. I am dedicated to my math-intensive research area, queueing theory, yet I still feel I am far away of being an expert in it. I have only almost finished a paper, that requires feedback from my advisor but I feel I am a big failure. My advisor thinks that I am ready to propose my thesis (thus make an early presentation to committee) next month and possibly graduate next summer. The trouble is, although I respect his opinion, even if I do get my PhD I think I will feel like I don't deserve it. It is as if I hit the magic 4 year landmark and being allowed to graduate.

Now, publication record may not be the only indicator as in my department people don't publish as much as in other fields. When I look at some good thesis's I feel that mine can be considered as masters (personal not confirmed opinion). In retrospect, all the proofs I stuggled seem so easy to me. Although I never considered acedemia as a career path and only consider industry, I more and more feel that I am a failure and will have achieved so little in the last years. I have been always aware of the challenges of grad school but I feel I messed up somewhere considering I work 10 hours each day, at most a day off weekends and having no time left to cultivate my interests, develop new friendships or develop other useful skills.

Maybe I should also mention that I am doing my studies in a top 20 US university, people mostly have the impression that I am smart, and I am aware that I have learnt so much during the last 4 years. I have read many books on productivity, learnt about Feynman's method, watched TED videos. I started going to gym to manage my stress and I think that smartness is a matter of knowledge and I have the capacity to be smart. I don't regret going for a PhD but on the other hand I can't stop feeling like I wasted my years in going grad school and maybe should have just gone to a mundane job where I'd have time to read about architecture, finance or philosopy and be a much more interesting person.

Does anyone share or shared the same feelings? Any advice to people in my situation? Any help appreciated

I had some similar experiences in the recent past.

  I still feel I am far away of being an expert in it

No one can be an expert in a whole domain. Being expert/perfect is an ideal situation in my personal opinion. So in case you are not an expert, there is nothing bad in it. You admit that you are not an expert so this is a positive point, it means you are able and willing to improve yourself and your knowledge. It means that even if you get a PhD degree, you'll still try to get more knowledge.

  even if I do get my PhD I think I will feel like I don't deserve it

You seem to be a perfectionist. But remember no one is actually perfect. Each one of us has some strengths as well as weaknesses. How can you measure perfection? This is not absolute in my personal opinion. Have you ever thought why relative grading system is mostly used for evaluation instead of absolute grading? Because we cannot live in isolation. We are living in a society,interacting with our fellow human beings. So we need to be evaluated relative to our fellows. If you don't deserve a PhD, what about your fellows? When your supervisor is sure that you have possess certain knowledge level at which you can present your work, it means it is relatively better than many others. If those others can get a PhD, you can also deserve it. (Even if you ACTUALLY don't deserve a PhD after some time when you'll get out of this phase of life, you'll start thinking this way).

  In retrospect, all the proofs I stuggled seem so easy to me

Why don't you try to think yourself as an intelligent or genius person? The same proofs may be too difficult for someone else who is not actually interested in this domain. You may disagree but in my personal opinion, apart from the industry-academia discussion, you are interested in your research domain because without interest one can't achieve this level. However, you have been working too much on the same things for a long time that you have got bored from the same lifestyle and you need a break and a change.

  Although I never considered acedemia as a career path and only consider industry

I consider industry-academia debate to be separate from the research-development debate. And i think you are getting confused between the two. Industry is incomplete without academia and vice versa. Similarly research and development support each other. Most of us consider one of them to be more important that the other and hence get confused. We can characterize them in two ways... 1. what we get, 2. what we give
 Try to think seriously about choosing industry, academia or a combination of both and evaluate the pros-cons of each choice in terms of your time, energy, monetary benefits, work-life balance many other job motivational/demotivational factors. However, according to my personal experience and understanding, you are sick and tired of your routine in academia and you have been overloaded with work in the recent past which has disturbed your work-life balance. Considering industry as an alternative would only worsen the situation because job in industry can be more time and energy consuming.

  I work 10 hours each day, at most a day off weekends and having no time left to cultivate my interests, develop new friendships or develop other useful skills.

Take out some time for yourself. If you are able to afford, take some leave from your current job (atleast a month or so) and spend some time at home with your family and friends. Make sure that you are completely disconnected with the official/research work/supervisor and any relevant person who can give you relevant news. After spending around 15 days of your holiday, start working part time with some other faculty member of almost the same domain but with relatively different research interests as your supervisor. You'll probably automatically start comparing that faculty member with your supervisor and will most probably start missing your supervisor. You'll realize that you were taking him/her for-granted. Its just that you have been working with your supervisor for some time now and you know much about him/her technically so you don't find something new in this experience. As a result, you start thinking that their is nothing special in what you are doing. Hopefully at the end of your holidays,you'll be back fully energetic and enthusiastic to pursue your work.


Can I ask for an extension on the time to accept a job offer? I was recently offered a term position (VAP) from a good school, and was given one week to respond. I am still waiting to hear about a tenure-track position from another school – I already emailed them about the offer I received, and told them my timeline to accept it was the end of the week. I haven’t heard back from them, although I sent the chair a thank you after my campus visit and he responded quickly. I assume they received my notice and are still deliberating and will hopefully get back to me in time, but I’m not sure if I should call soon.

I also was told I am a frontrunner for a pretty good postdoc, but I won’t hear back until early next week. In potentially the former and definitely the latter case, I won’t know until after I’m supposed to tell the first school about my decision. Would it be classless to ask for a small extension on the offer? Or will it put my chances for the position in jeopardy? I honestly went to the campus very recently and didn’t expect to hear back for a few weeks, so I don’t know what that means for their search either. I don’t want to jeopardize the offer but the two I’m waiting on are my other top contenders.

Or will it put my chances for the position in jeopardy?

The position has been offered to you. The typical advice is the worst thing that can happen is they say no. There are some horror stories were an offer was revoked, but I would suggest you question wanting to work in any department that behaves that way.

It is completely reasonable to ask for a week or two week extension. When a school moves fast between visit and offer, it is unlikely you will get more than a week or two extension. That said, it cannot hurt to ask.


Where to put my professional (academic) personal page after my PhD I am a PhD student, and the defense of my thesis is at the end of this year.
During my PhD, I had an institution server account to put my page.
However, it is closed (I finished my PhD longer than the expected time).

Although it looks like difficult, I still want to try to obtain post-doc position.
During several months (or even one year) after I graduate, I don't know where
to put my personal/professional page, which should be good for applying the job.

I found there are some personal website provider (e.g. wix.com), however
after a quick look on the templates, the styles not seem very academic professional.

Do you have any idea what should I do to create my page during this time?

Buy your own domain name and host your own website. You can design your own website, download a free template, or commission your own website.


Is reproduction of copyrighted material in a research proposal fair use? Say that I am writing a grant application to be submitted to a funding agency. The application is not a public document and so it will be only accessible to the review panel, the collaborators involved, and administrative staff both at my institution and at the funding agency.

Now imagine I want to make a point, in particular regarding the wider interest of my proposed research topic, for which a figure that appears in Nice Paper by Reputed Author is a perfect fit. Unless Nice Paper has been published under some Creative Commons-type license (assume it hasn't) copyright in principle prevents me from freely using this figure in my proposal.

However, one could argue that if 1) I credit Reputed Author for the figure and reference Nice Paper in my proposal, and 2) given that I am not using the figure for commercial purposes and that only a very limited amount of people can access this document, then 3) it is reasonable (and it constitutes fair use) for me to reproduce the figure without seeking explicit permission. Getting explicit permission could potentially be a tiresome process since it's probably the journal that published Nice Paper that holds the copyright.

Am I right to assume that reproduction of copyrighted material on a research proposal with the characteristics described above constitutes fair use?

A proposal is not a publication, and as such you do not need to worry about the usual strictures of copyright.  It doesn't really matter what the technicalities are: if the proposal is to remain private, de facto it is as though it doesn't exist from the copyright holder's perspective.

Academic honesty, however, is another story.  If the figure is not yours, you absolutely must give credit to its actual author.  Further, you need to ask yourself: is including somebody else's work actually good evidence for my ability to execute the work that I am proposing?  In some cases, it may still be the right thing to do, but usually if it is a diagram, you will probably do better to create your own independent version, and if it is data you will probably do better to cite the result but not to waste precious proposal space reproducing their figure.


When Submitting Code To Publisher Must It All Be In The Same Language? I might have the opportunity to submit a paper to an academic journal and also submit my code for it as well. However, I tend to do my projects across different coding languages because sometimes i'll be working in one language and then find a particular package available in another - so I work back and forth between languages.

I am just concerned that if I submit my paper and I am asked to supply code for replication purposes that it would be frowned upon that all the code is not central to one language. For example - I might do some of the project in Python and some in Matlab, and I would have to submit code for both languages.

Has anybody had experience with this?

The reason to ask for code is that the journal cares about reproducibility and quality of the science. The language of the code does not matter much, and normally it does not matter if two languages are used. A journal also accepts papers that use both fluorescence and mass spectroscopy, and there is no reason why they would refuse the use of two programming languages.

Of course it may be possible that your particular journal has additional requirements for code. If that is the case they probably say so in the author guidelines (you can check their website). If not, you can submit your code and they will let you know if something needs to be changed.


My research group "fishes data" is there anything I could do? I am a PhD student, and my supervisors have a "different approach" for doing research.  They do not dig into the literature to find a gap and then do research on that. Instead, they just do some surveys and then hand the data over to their students, who go through it in order to find an interesting research question to address. Is this fishing for data? Is there a body in which this could be anonymously reported? Or is just one of the bad practices that one can sadly find in academia, and unfortunately in this case on my PhD research?

"Fishing" is fine for exploratory analysis: formulating hypotheses to be tested. It can even be publishable if you are straightforward with your fishing: reporting data is not unethical. Fishing without accounting for your fishing, however, is quite problematic, as your question implies.

Unfortunately, in some fields it is common to go straight to publishing exploratory analyses as if they were not exploratory. Statistically, this is a bad idea; the 'replication crisis' in especially psychology is an example of the consequences. If you torture the data enough, nature will always confess.

As awareness of this problem spreads, some journals and funding agencies have now gotten very strict, for example with clinical trials, and demand that trials be preregistered to be published/funded to avoid the increased rate of false-positives from "fishing" through data. I'm not aware of anything similar in other types of research, but certainly that's the direction that statisticians would suggest to avoid reporting misleading results.

As far as what you can do, it really depends on the standards of the field, and you are in a vulnerable position as a student. I would recommend you not publish "fished" data with your own name on it unless the extent of the exploratory analysis is made clear, and that you advocate to apply appropriate statistical approaches to fished data, like using those results to inform a subsequent study to properly control your false positive rate.


How to choose an associate editor for my manuscript? I want to submit my manuscript to a journal.

It is written that I need to choose an associate editor for my paper and if the associate editor whom I assign rejects my paper,
I cannot resubmit my paper to the same journal with another associate editor of the same journal.

So the question boils down how to effectively choose the associate editor and assign my paper to him?

What are the things to keep in mind while choosing an associate editor for my manuscript?

Is it possible that wrong choice of associate editor can lead to rejection of paper? Or is it possible that even if I choose an associate editor who is not an expert in my field he may send my paper to the appropriate associate editor?

The question boils down how to effectively choose the associate editor and assign my paper to him?

The associate editor (AE) has to first decide if the paper is worth reviewing for the journal (they can often do a summary reject if the quality of the work is low). If it is, they then have to select the reviewers for your paper, get the decision from the reviewers, and then use that to make a recommendation. So, ideally you'd prefer someone who is:

familiar with your area and work,
familiar with people who would be good reviewers for your paper,
someone that you or your co-authors get along with.

Getting #1 is hardest - most journals don't have AEs in every sub-area of a field. As an AE I often handle paper that are in related fields so I know of possible reviewers, even if I'm not an expert in the field myself.

For #3 you can't have someone too close to you (e.g. someone that a co-author regularly publishes with), and you also don't want someone with whom one of your co-authors has very poor relations (e.g. fundamental disagreements about the field).

Note that while you may recommend an AE to the editor when submitting a paper, the editor has the final say on the AE that is selected for the paper.

With regard to your other questions:

  Is it possible that wrong choice of associate editor can lead to rejection of paper?

It is always possible (eg if the AE doesn't like the line of research or chooses poor reviewers), but there are many factors that can lead to the rejection as well, and it is almost impossible to control for all of them.

  Or is it possible that even if I choose an associate editor who is
  not an expert in my field he may send my paper to the appropriate
  associate editor?

The editor may do this if the AE is busy or if the editor thinks that someone else can handle the paper well. It would be more rare for an AE to  ask for a paper to be sent to someone else.


Does one need a master's in math before taking a PhD in pure math? I finished bachelor's in mathematical finance and am nearly finished with master's in mathematical finance (I am already done with thesis), and I plan to pursue a PhD not in mathematical finance but in pure mathematics particularly stochastic analysis.

Is getting into a PhD in pure mathematics possible without a master's in pure mathematics? If so, how can I best prepare for it what difficulties may I encounter?

I have two concerns in particular:

I feel I do not have enough training in mathematical research. In undergraduate studies, we did not have many mathematical research projects. Some of our projects included researching on particular topics involving applications of mathematics we learned (since we were an applied mathematics course) and problem sets, but I don't know for how much they count towards mathematical research experience. We had some statistics and finance projects, but obviously they don't count.

We did not have a thesis in undergraduate studies, and most of our theses in master's did not involve much pure mathematics (which in mathematical finance would be stochastic analysis since as far as I know no other non-statistical math is used in mathematical finance). I have a hunch none of us this batch or in the batches before us ever had to research in mathematics for our/their theses.

I do not have much exposure to other kinds of mathematics. One of my coursemates helped me realize that one of my reasons of choosing stochastic analysis is our limited exposure to other math. I was aware of this but did not think this was a problem.

As far as I know, MS Math programs require Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra and then some electives and thesis. I don't think the lack of classes is a problem as I guess I can take those during the PhD program. To me, it seems my concern is the lack of a mathematical thesis.

So, is my limited exposure to other math a problem?

Our math classes besides Calculus I, II, III, Linear Algebra and Elementary Probability are:

1 class of each: ODE, PDE, Discrete Mathematics, Numerical Analysis/Scientific Computing, Elementary Real Analysis (the one with Riemann-Stieltjes), Advanced Real Analysis (the one with Lebesgue), Advanced Probability (the one with Measure Theory)
4 Statistics classes. (As I like to put it, "More statistics than I'll ever use in my life.")
NO Complex Analysis, Abstract Algebra, Topology, Graph Theory or Number Theory (though the last 2 are in our discrete mathematics, they weren't taught in our discrete mathematics classes).
2 Stochastic Calculus classes

This comment says I should be "be comfortable with mathematical proof in a variety of areas"

It depends on the country.

In the US, it is frequent that students go from undergrad right into their PhD. While there, some do get a Master's, but as a side effect of coursework for the Ph.D. Though, I myself did get a Master's first.

I believe it is more common in Europe to get a Master's first due to the shortened Ph.D. process there.


How do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor? This is a question that has been in my mind for a long time. Now I am a M.Sc. first year student  in mathematics and planning to apply for graduate school next year in Europe. But for applying to graduate schools, it is written that first I have to write an email to a supervisor along with a idea of a research project and I have to convince him that I am well prepared to work under him as a PhD student. Also,  it is recommended that you should study the papers of professors to whom you are applying.
Now, I am interested in a topic. My college does not offer that topic. So, I have learned the topics on my own. Also, at this moment I do not participate in an internship program because of this pandemic situation all over the world. That is why I have decided that I will read some papers of the professor to convince him that I am well prepared to work under him.
My question is as follows: How do I demonstrate that I read and understood a professor's paper to the professor?
Please advise me. Thanking in advance.

That is why I have decided that I will read some papers of the professors to convince him that I am well prepared to work under him.

I disagree with this advice. I would rather see applicants (especially those with an MS) demonstrate their ability to do research, usually through a publication or a strong thesis. As long as their topic is somewhat related to my research, that would be a stronger demonstration of their potential to succeed in a PhD program. Being familiar with specific papers that I have written is not necessary or expected (you can always read such papers if you are accepted).
If your only option is to study the papers of professors, my advice is to implement the methods discussed in those papers numerically, i.e. repeating the results, or possibly even conducting some trivial yet new extensions (like repeating the experiments on a different dataset). That would be far more impressive than simply reading a paper (where your depth of understanding is not clear).


Responding to papers which reinvent ideas without citing them A few months ago a very well-known (and controversial) authority in my field published a theoretical model of a phenomenon that one of my collaborators addressed many years ago. Interestingly, the paper does not reference my collaborator's work at all, even though the authors of this new paper are well aware of it, and have carefully cited "around" it.

My initial response was not to respond, but then I noticed striking similarities between specific paragraphs in the paper and my collaborator's work. The authors reach the same conclusions as my collaborator, but using a model they have developed. Though it doesn't qualify as plagiarism, it annoys me when "new" ideas are proposed without crediting those who originally proposed them. Of course this happens all the time, but I have never been in a position to respond.

My question is how should I respond to this paper, and whether I should respond at all. My collaborator has ceased publishing in this field, and was not interested in responding (but wouldn't mind if I did). Otherwise I have had mixed responses from colleagues, everything from "it happens all the time", to suggesting that I write to the authors or the editor of the journal. Another point to consider is that the senior author is on the advisory board of the prestigious journal the paper was published in.

From what you have described, it is unlikely that the author's decision to omit mention of the previous paper would constitute any breach of the journal's policies, or any violation of academic integrity requirements.  You have stated your assessment that this is not a case of plagiarism, notwithstanding some similarities between the present paper and the previous paper.  If that assessment is correct then you are really just talking about a decision by the author to omit mention of a previous paper, which is a decision that is within his discretion as a researcher, and which has gone successfully through peer review.

Since there is no evident breach of policies or academic integrity standards, the journal is unlikely to change the article unless its authors request an addendum.  You could either write to the authors suggesting this, or you could try to publish your own "letter to the editor" supplementing the information in the recently published paper by mentioning the previous work.  A letter to the editor could draw attention to the omitted work in a respectful way, noting the similarities of the ideas in the two papers, and noting the way in which the present paper formalises the previous idea with a new model.  That would make a nice supplement for readers who are unfamiliar with the previous work.  Of course, there is no guarantee that the editors would publish it, but if you feel strongly about this, it might be worth a try.  If you can say something valuable about the connection between the two papers then the editors might decide that it is a worthy supplement.


Can I help the impact factor of a journal by citing my own papers? Lets say I have published paper A in a journal.

I am now ready to submit a new paper, paper B.

Paper A is cited in Paper B.

Since B is related to A, I will probably submit it to the same journal.  Would this help the journal's metrics?

Or, lets say paper A currently has no citations.  Would they be reluctant to accept paper B?

The reason I ask is that it seems like a single person could tackle an area of research that nobody else cares about, submit paper after paper to the same journal, and achieve a paper-to-citation ratio near 1:1 (is that  good?).

Since B is related to A, I will probably submit it to the same journal. Would this help the journal's metrics?

I fail to see the connection. One paper having one more citation is irrelevant to journal metrics (eigenfactor excludes self-citation, while JCR does not, if I'm not mistaken). Also, I'd expect that papers published in a particular journal would include citations to lots of papers on the same journal.

Or, lets say paper A currently has no citations. Would they be reluctant to accept paper B?

Very likely, no. I don't see as costumary for a referee to look at citation record of cited papers. But, if A is not being cited, maybe that's indicative that this research is not suitable to this journal.

... achieve a paper-to-citation ratio near 1:1 (is that good?)

No. Especially if it's a self citation.


Official designer designed a logo for my lab but it turns out that it's just a copy from somewhere else, should I report it to the university? About 8 months ago, somebody in our university that works for our library designed a logo for my lab. A few weeks ago, when I was searching in Internet for something, I suddenly found out that this logo is just a copy from somewhere else exactly. I mean there is no apparent difference between the one that is given to me and the one that is already on the internet. I'm not sure if it is a violation of academic integrity or not cause it's not a research project, but individual that gave that logo to me claimed that she designed it herself. I don't want to put her in trouble for something that might not be that important and also I don't want to go to so many meetings with university administration people to describe what happened or whatever cause it takes time and just might accomplish nothing at the end. I appreciate any help or idea here.
Update:
One question is that does using this picture actually from this website needs some sort of attribution or it is copyrighted? I can't find any information on that. Indeed the logo is just that graphic at the top of this page: https://www.clicdata.com/blog/the-few-the-proud-11-key-principles-of-effective-data-visualization/
Even I can't find any information about when this page is posted online to find out if it was after that she designed that logo for me or it is just a really rare coincidence.

I'm not sure if it is a violation of academic integrity or not cause it's not a research project

It is a violation of academic integrity.

Even I can't find any information about when this page is posted online

The Internet Archive shows the image existed on that page 26 July 2018.  Furthermore, it's advertised for sale:
https://stock.adobe.com/au/189585864?as_campaign=TinEye&as_content=tineye_match&epi1=189585864&tduid=4956906e07434ca59f9d78b2979d22da&as_channel=affiliate&as_campclass=redirect&as_source=arvato

should I report it to the university?

If you have used the logo, perhaps on a website, you should report this to university counsel.  They should figure out what to do to prevent litigation.
Of course it is possible the "graphic designer" purchased a license and then claimed the image was original work.  But it is more likely they did not purchase a license.
In a university context, you should have no tolerance for plagiarism by staff.


Is it conventional to provide a list of GUI element descriptions in a thesis? I'm currently writing my dissertation/thesis regarding my Rubik's Cube Solver program (sounds more exciting than it actually is haha). Anyway, I have created a GUI to visualize and animate the cube throughout various processes like solving and scrambling. However, this GUI has more elements such as buttons, sliders, multi-dropdown lists, etc. than I originally thought.
Would it be convenient to provide each specific GUI element with its own description somewhere? E.g. a glossary for the GUI or perhaps bullet-pointed? I had a recent thought of labeling everything via a screenshot?
I get this could be subjective but what would be regarded as a more professional/cleaner route to take?
Any thoughts, ideas, recommendations are more than welcome.
Thanks!

I think you are writing a thesis, not a user manual for a program. Focus on the technical advances. That is what your thesis will be judged on.
I'd suggest leaving the GUI out of it unless you have designed new, and innovative, human-computer interaction elements. Creating such elements has value, certainly, but it doesn't sound like that is the focus of your work.
If you want a user manual, make that a separate project - just for fun.


Doing a masters degree level research without following a Master Course I have a degree in computer science but I don't have any research experience. But everyday I read research papers from free journals. I also managed to understand the content of them. Now I want to do a research like that. Can anyone help me to learn standard procedure of doing a Computer Science research and publish it in a free journal ?, it's better if you can some give books reference on "how to do a computer science research" with your answer and format of standard thesis.

I read about several question like This. But they don't tell about standard format of thesis and research methodologies.

I don't know that there's going to be a single book that describes what you want, however, I'm going to make some suggestions which may help you on your way. I'm a little biased towards CS and research-heavy MSc, so I think I can be of some help here.

Topic

A master's degree typically is going to consist of two phases: One of breadth: where you try to find what you're interested in enough to specialize, and one of depth: Where you start to push towards the edge of human knowledge on that subject.

If you're already reading papers, then you should be finding the kind of papers that hold your interest the most, those which have you tracking down their references.

Once you've already got a topic, start to find the papers from the best conferences and journals (in CS, good conferences are often as good or better than Journal papers) in the area. Creative use of Google can often track down full-text even of papers which are officially 'paywalled'.

The goal of your reading here is to identify a gap in the understanding. This might be as simple as working on comparative evaluations of techniques, or as complicated as trying to create a new technique for yourself. What you'd like to do is answer a question the community is interested in.

Background

While you're doing your reading and trying to find your topic or get up to speed on the state-of-the-art, you should also be building up your background. There's always room to grow your background to support research. In CS, there are certain foundational topics which are (almost) always going to pay dividends when doing research: Algorithms and algorithmic analysis, statistics and probability, and utility programming (Data munging, shell-scriptng, etc.).

As you get further into a specialization you'll notice more techniques being deployed which will require more background --- i.e. your specialization might require more calculus than you know, which then will involve learning the calculus required.

Research

I know you asked for a methodology, but in my experience, research is a process of creativity and perseverance. At the highest of levels, you're going to come up with an idea, work on it, and find out it doesn't work. Rinse and repeat until you find out something that works --- in a special case. If the special case is interesting or common, you might be able to publish it! Otherwise, you'll work on generalizing the idea until you can.

Communication

To be recognized as a member of the research community, eventually you'll have to publish. This means learning to write.

I'd suggest learning to write informally first -- Start a blog, and document your learning. If you're not a native English speaker, use this time to practice writing in English. Get everyone and anyone you can to read your blog, and tear it apart on style, grammar, content, concision.

After your confident in informal English, start to transition into Academic writing. Read good papers. Take notes on what makes them good in your mind. Read about writing good papers. Write papers. Take previous projects, and start writing them up like you would submit them. As you write, you'll find the holes and flaws. Finish it anyhow, then sit down, and edit them: Why wouldn't they be accepted. Keep doing this! As far as format and outline, it's going to vary from field to field, and even venue to venue to some extent.

A Caveat:

This is going to be a very difficult process to do alone, with little guidance. Ideally you'll seek out and find a mentor. This might involve actually signing up with a school for a Master's program.

Most of the pieces I wrote about above will be an order of magnitude easier with an academic guide.


GRE score sending how long This question is similar to this one but is different enough I felt I should ask it separately.

I am wondering how long it will take a given institution to receive my General GRE scores from ETS.  Note: I am not asking how long it will take after I take a test for the scores to be sent.  These are scores from a test I took almost two years ago; I am asking how long it will take for scores already available to be sent and available.

If it matters, I am putting my score submission request into ETS on Jan. 2.  I don't know if some times of the year are busier for them than others and thus processing and sending times may vary.

You should contact ETS to ask about that https://www.ets.org/gre/contact#general_inquiries

Generally I'd say that processing and sending times should be somewhat the same. But I think that mail delivery would depend on how far the institute is from ETS.


Who should write summary papers and what are the pros and cons of doing so? My advisor has suggested that I write a survey paper. I am concerned because neither my advisor nor I are know for, or are knowledgeable in, the topic my advisor is suggesting. We would be starting completely from scratch. I am concerned this will be an exercise in futility as our combined lack of experience would make our credentials questionable at best and make publishing our work in a quality journal either hard or not possible. Even if we can create a publishable work, I am concerned about how many PhD students undertake such a project. From my (admittedly) limited experience it seems like survey papers require an exorbitant amount of time and may not offer as high of a return on investment as research papers can for PhD students. I am in the computer science PhD program at my school if that helps. Are my concerns irrational? What are the pros and cons of a PhD student writing a summary paper? Thank you!

In my field survey papers are highly cited. If the same is true in your field than the low chance of success may be ofset by the high reward if you succeed.
Regardless, you need an overview of what has happend in your field concerning your thesis. Making it an article forces you to really think through the relationships between the articles. For me it is quite common for me to read articles and think "well, it is kinda like that" and when I force myself to sit down and really write that argument down it does not work. So even if your overview does not get published, it is still a great investment in your subsequent articles. And who knows, maybe you are lucky.


Do I need to report that the professor I have been assigned to TA hasn't assigned any work for me to do? The professor I have been assigned to TA hasn't assigned any work and has stonewalled me. I have sent three emails to check in and he hasn't responded. How should I respond? Should I bother reporting this to my graduate advisor?

UPDATE!! - He finally responded. He did have some issues, but is doing much better and is going to be more responsive moving forward. Thank you for all the great advice on this forum!

First try some other methods of getting in touch with him.  Call him on the phone, go to his office (during scheduled office hours if possible).  It's possible that for some reason your emails are not reaching him, or he's just overwhelmed with other stuff and forgot to reply.  Don't throw around words like "stonewall" unless you have proof that he received your emails and is willfully refusing to reply.

If you can't, then yes, you ought to report it.  Your advisor may not be the right person; I would look to whichever faculty member supervises the TA program in your department.  It could be the chair, or graduate vice chair, or some similar person.

It could be that this is a sign of bigger problems, and if so, it will reflect poorly on you when it is found out that you knew something was wrong and took no action.


Is shifting from one field to another helpful for a good career? I have a Master's Degree in Pharmainformatics (which is quite IT oriented and different than regular Pharma Masters) from India. Since two years I am working on Microbial Genomics, which is Bioinformatics and now I have got a task of Database Management for next year. Is this shifting of fields increasing my exposure to different fields or am I just wasting time learning different things?

Shifting among several fields is definitely exposing you to different fields, and as the comments indicated,  being an expert in more than one field is helpful for a successful career in academia. Answers to other questions on this site make it clear that shifting (or even completely changing fields) in the duration of an academic career is normal and advantageous.

For example, see Bitwise's advice here, where he says

  Changing fields is very common in academia, especially at the PhD/postdoc transition. In many cases it is actually considered an advantage, since you can import your skills, expertise and a certain thought-process into a field in which many people do not have those skills. For example, many physicists, computer scientists and mathematicians have migrated to biology and have made significant contributions. In fact, there are even postdoctoral fellowships that specifically fund this type of field-change.

The question was specific to changing fields at the PhD/postdoc transition stage, but his advice holds at any stage of an academic career.


Journal biographies: Presenting name, degree, university, etc I'm required to include a biography at the end of a journal article written by myself, John Doe, and my supervisor, John Smith. I'm a BSc candidate in Information Systems Engineering at Piled Higher and Deeper, where my supervisor is Research Director. My supervisor is also a Lecturer at Another University. How should I present that information in the biography?

The following answers the original question, not the edited question. I'll update if the OP confirms they're satisfied with the edit.
Questions about the English language are off-topic here, but the question might be on-topic had the context been explained. E.g., in a journal article's biography, how should the authors' titles, affiliation, etc. appear.  In that context, for the examples given, I suggest:
John Doe, BSc candidate, Subject Name, University A.

(It's unclear from the question what the precise Subject Name is.)
John Smith, Research Director, University B, and Lecturer, University C.

Since the full addresses of Universities A-C presumably already appear elsewhere, e.g., as author affiliations, they can be omitted.
Alternatively,
John Doe, BSc candidate.
John Smith, Research Director and Lecturer.

Or
...

(Options are numerous.)


Can political escalation between Iran and western world affect Iranian students? Can political escalation between Iran and the western world affect Iranian students in getting admission from university in Canada, Australia, and European Countries?

After two years of hardworking, TOEFL exams, publishing articles in journals, etc. I am ready to apply for many universites to pursue my PhD, but I am wondering if it would be successful or not. The political escalation between the Iranian regime and the western world is escalating on a daily basis and universities may reluctant to accept applications because of sanctions or any other reasons. Even they issue the admission the embassies may cause some trouble for students. I don't know what to do???

Can political escalation between Iran and the western world affect Iranian students in getting admission from university in Canada, Australia, and European Countries?

I will go ahead and disagree with Buffy, many other on this page and get plenty of downvotes. The truth is yes, it can very well effect your chances. Here is an example,

https://nltimes.nl/2019/10/17/amsterdam-univ-scientist-fire-rejecting-turkish-student

This was just one extreme incident where nationality based bias was explicitly mentioned. I am pretty sure anyone can get away with implicit bias to a certain extend. The very sad truth is some  people get railed up in politics and start to overlook people or institutions based on their governments decisions. I was talking about a fairly old Romanian mathematician and he impilictly mentioned similar issues. Romania, as you well know, was very much in the USSR orbit. From what I understand, he or people around him had various issues regarding their country of origin and he was still troubled by the fact. I have also heard (from the 2nd or 3rd hand) that goes along the lines "students from X country can't do well here" allegedly uttered by an admission offical for a doctoral program. There are also some alleged bias for certain ethnic groups for undergraduate admission in US. Court on that is still going on I believe. I have also been personally warned by an American mathematician saying something along the lines of "you will have a harder time getting admitted because of your nationality".

  I am ready to apply for many universites to pursue my PhD, but I am wondering if it would be successful or not.

You should apply. These are relatively fringe cases. Although it is possible that a bias exists, it is less likely for an entire admission board to be biased. You might not get into a program that you normally get but that is life. We can't give up on our aspirations because of some sugar coded facism. If you have the financial resources, I would advice you to apply more places. Most schools publish names of their graduate students as well. You can check and see if they have students from Iran or another Islamic country.

  universities may reluctant to accept applications because of sanctions or any other reasons. Even they issue the admission the embassies may cause some trouble for students.

I have no opinions on this point.


research statement for assistant professorship (W1, pure mathematics in Germany) What should a research statement for an application for an assistant professorship (W1, Juniorprofessor) contain (pure mathematics in Germany)? How long should it be?

Assuming you speak German, you could search for guidelines on the evaluation of "Juniorprofessoren" which are published by many universities ("Leitfaden zur Evaluierung von Juniorprofessuren), e.g., see here for one from the University of Magdeburg: http://www.uni-magdeburg.de/rektorat/JPLF.pdf. In such guidelines, you will often find at least information on the content, see point 4.5 in the linked document.


What are the duties of the reviewer when reviewing a literature survey/review paper? What are the minor and major concerns that the reviewer should be concerned about and what improvement suggestions should they take in mind when reviewing a survey/review paper?
Are their duties for checking the language of the writing? Are they to check for the figures are in sufficient resolution?

If you are new to this, ask the editor of the journal for guidance. They probably have some prepared.
The minimum is to make a judgement about whether you think the paper should be published at all. If it is obviously sloppy or incorrect then you don't really need to do more than say that you think it can't be salvaged.
But, to serve both the journal and the authors you can, for reasonable papers, provide any advice that you think will (a) be required to make the paper come up to the journal's standards and (b) improve it for readers.
For a review of the literature you can point out that parts are missing if you notice that and possibly provide some pointers. But your job isn't to complete the paper.
This can include some minor suggestions on the writing and on the quality of the images. But you aren't expected to be a copy-editor. But if the language is terrible, you need to say that and, if possible, say how the author might go about getting it improved.
There are very rare cases, say in mathematics, in which the paper contains a poorly written but very important result. Then you, the editor, and the authors have the possibility of getting something important out, even if it requires a lot of work. For such things you can make more extensive suggestions if you have the time.


Copyright issue of recorded video game when publishing research paper about it? Background: I'm preparing research about a music-based arcade game, playable in the arcade game center. Requiring video dataset (including music in it), I recorded videos from the game playing by myself.
Question: Is it legal to use the videos for publishing an academic paper, even though they are just a kind of replay-videos?
Like many published research about games (e.g., Super Mario, League of Legend, ...), it seems to be possible to use in-game contents for research. I know there is a copyright issue especially using audio data for commercial use, but I'm wondering if it is still an issue in terms of academic research.
Actually, I don't know where to start searching keywords about this.

Don't worry about it.
After all, you might be using copyrighted data during your research, but when you're writing your paper, it's not going to include the music or gameplay recordings itself, right? It'll probably be a pdf file written in LaTeX, which wouldn't include encodings for rich media formats; at most, you'd just include screenshots of the process used to produce the data, or individual still images from the gameplay. Neither are likely to infringe copyright, being fairly clear Fair Use.
Of course, using copyrighted material in your datasets might prevent you from distributing the raw datasets, but that wouldn't stop you from writing papers about the analyses performed on the data, or the conclusions drawn from those analyses.


If I use non-government funds to pay for flight on non-U.S. carrier, can I then use government funds for other costs of that trip? The Fly America Act states that all U.S.-government funded travel must be done via U.S. air carrier service (there are some exceptions, but none of them apply to my scenario).  I recently received a travel grant from my university, independent of any government research funds, and I know that I am allowed to fly non-U.S. carriers with that university travel grant money.  However, the grant does not cover all of my expenses for this trip, and I wanted to use government funds to cover the remaining.

Can I fly on non-U.S. carriers and pay for the flight portion of the travel costs using the university travel grant?  Would there be any issues with this?  To reiterate, I would only use the government research funds to cover non-flight portions of the travel.

The text of the Federal Travel Regulations explicitly states:

  You are required by 49 U.S.C. 40118, commonly referred
  to as the “Fly America Act,” to use U.S. flag air carrier service for all air travel funded by the U.S. Government, except as provided in §§301-10.136 and 301-10.137 or when one of the following exceptions applies:

  [...]

  (g) When the costs of transportation are reimbursed in full by a third party, such as a foreign government, international agency, or other organization.

In this case, since you are not requesting federal funding for your air travel, you can use a non-foreign carrier. Clearly, foreign travel will most likely require lodging and per diem costs at non-US-owned venues—unless you happen to like staying at Holiday Inns and eating at McDonald's, Starbucks, or Pizza Hut. Moreover, the above portion of the regulations say that if improper air carriers are used, only the transportation costs are ruled unallowable. It does not talk about the per diem expenses for lodging, meals, and incidentals.


What is a "diploma mill"? I recently deleted a response on Academia.SE because many people thought my response was supporting the idea of a 'diploma mill'.  My understanding of the matter was that a diploma mill is simply a business that provides a piece of paper, and possibly some kind of shady verification service, for a fee.  That's it.  Money in, diploma out.   This does not seem to be the case for many of this community, however.

I've done a bit of research, cursory to be fair, and the most clearly defined line that I can find between a "real" school and a "fake" school is that of regional accreditation.  Beyond that it appears to be a subjective melange of opinions, ultimately boiling down to the idea of 'second class schools'.  Clearly, I am out of touch with the general consensus on this matter so I put it to you SE.

What are the defining characteristics of a 'diploma mill'?

We should start with the Wikipedia definition:

  A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is an unaccredited higher education institution that offers bogus academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. These degrees may claim to give credit for relevant life experience, but should not be confused with legitimate prior learning assessment programs.

If a student doesn't have to do any academic work for a degree, or the student is given credit based on "life experience," it qualifies as a diploma mill.  Another key indicator is whether there are actually any teachers that work for the business.  While it is probably not illegal in most cases to claim a degree from such a company (and I deliberately do not use the term "institution"), there have been many cases of employees being disciplined or fired for using the degree to either get a job or to obtain a higher salary based on claiming a degree from a diploma mill (esp. teachers whose salaries are based on the level of a degree).

As the Wikipedia article notes, there are legitimate schools that have a system for awarding credit based on other formal education, such as military education obtained while on active duty or in the reserves (see, for instance, this guide to transferring credit).  This type of credit transfer is rare for graduate work, although certain rigorous post-baccalaureate programs in the military, such as the U.S. Navy's Nuclear Power School, may qualify for some post-B.S. programs.  This type of credit should not be confused with work obtained at the military's post-graduate schools, such as the Naval Postgraduate School or the Air Force Institute of Technology.

Diploma mills should also not be confused with for-profit education, such as the infamous University of Phoenix.  Arguments over the merits of for-profit education are not really within the scope of academia.stackexchange, but for what it's worth, degree-granting institutions of this type do require students to follow a curriculum, take actual classes (many times online), and give grades based on assessed performance (and charge a good bit of money per credit-hour).

Bottom line: if you have to pay a nominal fee for a "degree" that requires no official classes or research, you got your degree from a diploma mill.


Is it worthy to publish an extended abstract in a conference? I have an accepted Extended abstract in an international conference. As a master student, it is heavy to pay for an extended abstract (400 Euros ).  But at the same time is it good for my future to publish an extended abstract ( 2 pages paper ) in a conference?

The aspect of what an extended abstract is differs from one field to another. Refer this page to get a better idea on what does it mean in your field:

What is an extended abstract?

For example, in CVPR,
extended abstracts are handed out to the attendees before the start of the conference. They are much more handy than a huge proceedings book as each article is much smaller than its full version and includes all relevant details at a glance. It serves as a means to attract attendees attention especially when there are multiple venues occurring in the same time.

However, whether the amount you pay for it worth it or not depends on various factors, such as the field, the tier of the conference and so on. Sometimes in top tier conferences, there may be funding agencies who might be attending the conference. In such cases extended abstract would be a pretty valuable. But in any case, this decision would be better sought out by consulting it with your advisor or faculty members of your department as @ff524 suggested.


How to cite a reference in another reference? I am reading the literature review of an article and the review article mentioned that the second article found positive relationship.

Now, should I cite both or just the second article that found the positive relationship?

You should cite and read the older article that shows the finding. Referencing articles through somebody else's publication should be avoided at all costs. the reason is simple. When you reference a fact through somebody else's work you are also unwittingly citing their interpretation of the original work. There are examples of misconceptions that have been born and carried through many publications because the original have been misinterpreted or misrepresented by a citing author and from which other have sourced the information.

If no other options exist then citing the work as, for exampe " X (yyyy) cited by/in Y (yyyy)" or "(X, yyyy, cited in Y, yyyy)".