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2017/05/24	1,045	4,581	<issue_start>username_0: What can be some possible reasons for an author to request his name be removed from an almost ready paper? The authors consist of 4 students and our professor. A few days before the submission deadline, the professor told us to remove his name from the paper for "personal reasons". This makes me wonder if he thinks the paper is of very low quality. Is there any other possible reason? The field is computer science. The supervisor contributed a lot and the paper was written for a conference.<issue_comment>username_1: In medicine there are clearly defined rules for authorship, although they are not generally followed. Computer science does not even have such rules, unfortunately. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has an excellen page about this at <http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html> > > * Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND > * Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND > * Final approval of the version to be published; AND > * Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. > > > (notice the conjunctions!) Additionally, anyone who contributed substantially must be listed as author. I strongly suggest that you ask your professor why they want to be removed as author. Communication needs to be strong between authors! I know that I once added my professor as a courtesy, and he insisted (rightly so) that his name be removed, as he was not a substantial contributor. I needed to learn to stand on my own academic feet, he said. "Honorary" authors should be avoided at all costs, as they indeed did not contribute to the work or stand behind it. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Even though the professor thinks the paper is low quality, that does not mean it is low quality for you too. A professor might not want to appear in a boarderline paper, and that is very natural. On the other hand, any paper significant enough to get published in a peer reviewed journal or proceedings (except fraud ones) is valuable for a master's student. The number of possible reasons for him to withdraw from authorship is maybe hundreds, if not thousands. But the real question is, is it a reason for you to withdraw as well? I think not. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In general coauthors should communicate with each other about what they're doing and why. It is strange to withdraw as an author for "personal reasons," as this is a purely professional decision. A supervisor of a graduate student has much more responsibility: they have a mentoring role on the project and they are training the student both intellectually and professionally. In my opinion it is not acceptable for an advisor to take their name off a paper without offering any real explanation. Of course this puts you in an awkward position. I would nevertheless recommend trying to talk to your supervisor about this, preferably in person. If you have your own concerns regarding the quality of the paper, then I'm sorry to say that you should think very carefully before going ahead with the submission. It might be appropriate to tell your supervisor that you will delay submission until after discussing the reasons for their withdrawal, but I leave that decision up to you. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Some guesses: A professor might have too many projects going on (or coming up) and feels that he/she cannot and want to contribute in the future, i.e., he/she doesn't want any additional work with rebuttals, revisions, resubmissions, conference presentations etc. A professor is assessed differently from a PhD, e.g., the paper might contain great ideas, but it might have some shortcomings. Some shortcomings are more acceptable for a young researcher than for a senior. For example, simple methodological issues that can easily happen without experience and can easily be spotted by an experienced reviewer. They might not be extremely severe, i.e., cause your manuscript to be rejected, but can cast a bad light on a supervisor, who should have seen such issues. However, it would be strange for a professor not to admit that he/she overlooked the issues and not to point them out to the collaborators. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/24	897	3,941	<issue_start>username_0: I have submitted a paper to a reputed journal (computer science; computer vision to be specific). While i was keenly waiting for the reviews, they were getting delayed. So I began working on an extension of the work. During that I realized that one of the qualitative figures in the submitted paper might be slightly wrong (a few pixels yet noticeable) due to miscalculation while generating the image. However, the final interpretation and the description of it in the paper still would not change. But, when I critically view the image I think the reviewer may conclude that it could be photoshopped. I checked on the journal tracking system that the reviews have been received. My questions are: (i) I am ready for a rejection, but could such a mistake may lead to public shaming or ban from future publications? (ii) Would it be advisable to write to the editor that I have found a mistake in the submitted paper and explain that it does not impact the discussion. Or should I wait and correct them in the next version?<issue_comment>username_1: To answer your question, it sounds like the difference is so minor that this wouldn't be considered falsification but just a simple (and minor) mistake on your part. You said yourself: the difference doesn't change the conclusions. Addressing the issue is what the editor is for. Contact them and point out that there was a bug that caused the figure to be generated slightly incorrectly (you are not the first person to have done this). He/she will evaluate it and likely conclude the same as what you have: it is minor, does not affect the overall conclusions of the work, and will have you update it for final publication. The reviews are complete but it sounds like you haven't gotten the comments back. It's likely that any discussion you have with the editor can conclude with you rolling this image in with the reviewer comments. Don't overthink it. Everyone involved in this process is human, despite carrying titles like "editor" and "reviewer." Those folks are in those roles because they have experience and know that these types of things happen. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Actually, this exact scenario is not very uncommon. Newer insights into data and mistakes on earlier analysis/data/calculations/etc are found at every stage: before submitting the data, during review and even after publication. The criterion is as follows: Did you, to the BEST OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE, believe your data & calculations; and conclusions that followed to be true AT THE TIME OF SUBMISSION? If yes, and if you find a significant change in either the data itself, calculations or conclusions, you can always communicate this to the editors with appropriate explanation. You fear that reviewers might conclude wrongly that your image/data was 'photoshopped'. You can communicate this fear of yours in your letter and be upfront about it. Most editors will give you the benefit of doubt. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Do not worry at all! This is very common and you can fix it and add a note in the letter to the editor / answers to reviewers in the next revision, clearly explaining the mistake, how you corrected it, and what has changed in this version of the manuscript (figures, conclusions, etc). As they have already pointed out, reviewers, editors, etc... are human and make the same mistakes than you, or more. Even if it were already published, you could submit a correction. Falsification of data or fraud is a completely different thing than what you are describing here. Falsification of data is manipulating it on purpose knowing that something is actually wrong to "prove" some claim that benefits you but does not derive from the evidence. Here you have a recent scandal in Spain: <https://forbetterscience.com/2016/03/18/erc-on-susana-gonzalez-suspended-e2mio-grant-peer-reviewers-to-spot-manipulations/> Upvotes: 3
2017/05/24	727	2,975	<issue_start>username_0: If a STEM field PhD student is not able to be funded for the summer, what do they typically do? I'd imagine they can't afford to take an entire summer off from their research - or they would probably risk not graduating in the standard 5 years in a U.S. program - but at the same time it would be hard for them to support themselves, eg, cover rent and living expenses, if they aren't supported by their parents / family.<issue_comment>username_1: Depending on your specific field, and when you've found out summer funding isn't guaranteed or available, I present main options in no particular order: * Research internship in 'industry' ($ to $$$$$) * Apply for summer grants to work in another University in different, but hopefully related, research ($ to $$) * Get a summer job or non-research internship - ideal if it uses some set of related skills to your PhD, but if not, oh well, bills to pay ($ to $$$+) * As Dawn suggested, a sub-set of summer job is to seek the option to be an instructor, summer teaching assistant, or grader in your University (or a nearby institution), or even being an adjunct for the summer if that option is available to you ($ to $$) * Vacation, travel, relax rejuvenate, try some hobbies, spend time with friends and family (-$ to -$$$$) * Focus on your own personal research, free of official obligations (at least -$, due to living expenses) * Have an existential crisis due to the lack of driving structure which otherwise distracts you from your morality/mortality and the uncertainty inherent in life itself (free, and can stack with other options) * Choose your own adventure Above all, I suggest planning ahead - if not for this summer, then for the next one. Most outcomes are uncertain, so judicious planning for multiple applications, budgeting (so you have options on how to spend your summer), and trying to develop a number of options will be important. Note also that many of the options don't need to - and perhaps should not - take up the entire summer, so you should have the option to try out multiple things. Remember: academic life is a marathon, which extends off into the unknown future until you fade away (go Emeritus) or leave ("go into industry"). That makes the longest ultra-marathon on earth seem short by comparison. No matter what you do, try to change things up a bit, work in some rest and contemplation, friends and family, and a bit of fun for yourself too. If academic life starts to resemble a 24/7/365.25 prison sentence, you might want to reconsider your worldview. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Is the school trying to tell you something? Like go away? If so leave. Assuming not Change Advisors If your advisor is so poorly funded that he can't afford a summer stipend, there is no chance he can afford to equip his lab, and this really does not bode well for his future, and you're probably going down in flames with him if you stay Upvotes: -1
2017/05/24	3,233	13,153	<issue_start>username_0: Recently, my state has declared graduate students as employees giving them the right to unionize. The students in the Engineering School are very well compensated. The benefits that we get are 1. Minimum stipend of 29k$ (which was increased ~3 years ago). 2. Top tier health insurance plan fully paid for by the University and Engineering School 3. Deans that largely respect student needs and actively address current issues 4. Plethora of funding for student lead activities 5. Free services like legal council, psychiatrist, campus clinique, campus shuttle buses, etc. 6. TA opportunities are always available for those that need them. Additionally, my department has a very high standard set forth for us. We have nice offices, the Chair actively addresses our concerns and complaints, funds for student activities and community building, computational resources, and more. The quality of life for students in my department (Applied Math) is quite high. Lately, we've had outside people dropping by to advise us to join a union. The humanities students are largely in support of this movement since they are not compensated as well as the engineering students. In my point of view, there are very few reasons why I can see joining a union will benefit the Applied Math graduate students. Given how well we, the graduate students in my department, are currently treated, what are the advantages and disadvantages of unionization? Edit: There is a similar question [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/20531/what-are-the-benefits-detriments-to-graduate-students-joining-unions), however, does not specifically address STEM students. I am a naive graduate student and will like to be better informed about the advantages and repercussions of joining a union. Whenever administrative University personnel have approached us to dissuade the effort, their tone has been extremely diplomatic and ambiguous about why they are advising against unionizing. A brief summary of the responses is as follows. 1. Advantages of unionizing * Security of current benefits * Bargaining power to timely address current, new, and growing needs of the entire bargaining unit * Guaranteed minimum pay * Improving circumstances of students in other schools who are not as well compensated * Human resources like representation for students facing abuse, harassment, or other adversities from their advisors 2. Disadvantages of unionizing * Partisan representation * Clarifying the distinction between student and employee (though some may argue that this is an advantage) * Paying dues (though contracts usually negotiate higher stipends to offset this amount) * Deterioration of student/administrative relationship Additional STEM specific points that I'd like to add are 1. Advantages * Incentives to address issues such as a single student having to monitor experiments running for 8+ hours * For international students, alleviating fears of not being able to find an advisor which prevents them for settling to the 1st person that says yes regardless of their interest * Some departments in the Engineering school offer things like funds for all students in their 3rd year to purchase a new laptop. Adapting this or similar policies universally would be appreciated. * Guaranteed funding beyond X years as set forth by the School, especially when the average is just slightly below X. 2. Disadvantages * As funds are rerouted into increased stipends, there may be + Decreased support for professional development (conferences, workshops, etc.) + Decreased supplemental resources (rented compute nodes and hours, new lab equipment, etc.) + Fewer graduate student and postdoc hires Thank you all for your comments; it is all very much insightful. I'll continue to look out for new responses.<issue_comment>username_1: The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 2016 set a minimum salary of $47,476 for professional employees to be exempt from paid overtime. in response to this, the NIH changed its [postdoctoral salaries](https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-16-134.html). While the NIH says > > NIH is fully supportive of increased pay for postdoctoral researchers and has proposed to increase the NRSA postdoctoral stipends to levels above the threshold > > > their behavior suggests otherwise. What they did is simple increase all postdoctoral salaries below the minimum to slightly higher than the minimum. While historically a year 1 post doc made 4% more than a year 0 postdoc, after the adjustment they made the same. There was no increase in the predoctoral salaries. In FY 2016 the [NIH predoctoral salary](https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-16-062.html) was $23,376 so slightly less than what you are currently being paid. While you may believe you are well compensated, some would argue that $29,000 a year is not a fair salary if you are expected to perform unpaid overtime (and what graduate student doesn't work overtime). A union can help fight for things like fair salaries. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: From a practical point of view, you rarely gain anything by joining a union or other similar lobbying organization. You either join if you feel that the cause is right, or you don't if you feel otherwise. Edit: I mean joining a union should be a moral choice, not a choice based on weighing the advantages and disadvantages. As a member, you have to pay for the lobbying the union does, but the benefits usually go to all employees. Hence it is more cost-effective to just take the benefits and let the others pay. This assumes a legal environment where the employer has no right to know whether an employee is a union member or not. If the employer has the right to know, union members can have higher salaries and better benefits, but their relationship with the employer may suffer. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: When I was in graduate school, my stipend was 19k. As the economy got worse, I had more trouble than usual making the ends meet. Yet, it was not this reason that made me consider joining a union. It was the climate in my department. Long story short, some of the faculty were extremely abusive and kept threatening to fire students, although everyone was working as hard as they could. In the end, we organized and pushed back against some measures our faculty thought about such as not allowing some people to TA simply because they had been PhD students for too long. Around the same time, some union people came to get us to join their union, but nothing really happened in the end. I can only speculate why they didn't succeed, but I think it was because things weren't bad enough. Going back to the question, joining a union benefits workers only if they need protection against their employer's abuses. In the case of graduate students, they aren't treated as workers, but as students. This opens the door to many abuses such as no overtime payment, unexpected firing, 12 hours workday, and so on. The faculty advisor has almost complete control over their student's life and many take advantage of that. Things like delaying forever student's graduation date simply because the faculty could use the cheap qualified labor were common at my graduate school. When I graduated, the average PhD duration at my university was 6.5 years. To give an idea how things can go bad for graduate students, one needs to look at the famous [NYU student strike](http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/1/nyu-grad-student-strike-rages-on/) in 2006. The striking students faced [retaliation](http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/2780). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Instead of a direct answer to your question about unions and as to why supporting the "plebs" from human resources is to your best interest even though you re already far ahead from them, here is [a quote from a poem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came_...) that suits your "predicament" perfectly > > First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I > was not a Socialist. > > > Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— > Because I was not a Trade Unionist. > > > Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was > not a Jew. > > > Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. > > > Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Some of the answers already raise good points, but I would like to add something: Although you feel that the treatment you get is good, perhaps some of your colleagues with different situations or background have issues. For example : Do you have parental leave? Or politics concerning work-family balance? A union could help represent minorities in their revendications, if there's any. And as someone stated, all this is very dependent on the chair you currently have, which can leave/die/change his mind. The relation between an union and the university officials does not need to be acrimonius. They can have good relations, working both in the same direction, safeguarding the rights of students. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: Another advantage: A union can help your department extract more funding from your university, or your university extract more funds from your legislature (if you are at a public school). "We would like to pay our TA's better" is less persuasive than "If we don't raise TA pay, they'll strike!". Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Pros: 1. It is harder for lazy workers to be fired, so if this is your goal in life union is good 2. Much more effective to get more money from employer if 1000x people are negotiating with the employer than if you do it personally. Cons: 1. Morality (this depends on you personally so this could go into pros also), but for example some capitalists would say that it is unfair that employees can organize to fix wages while it is illegal for employers to do that. 2. Union leaders are like politicians - they do not care about long term problems caused by popular short term actions or about non voters(non union members). For example unions preventing people from getting fired seems nice, until you realize that there is a guy that works 12h/week and he can not be fired, although there are 5 qualified candidates for his place. 3. As mentioned in 2. Union leaders are populists, so for example they might pursue policies that would make salaries of STEM and gender studies employees equal if the number of gender studies employees is 4x STEM employees even if the private sector salaries would justify the discrepancy. 4. Unions can make work atmosphere toxic: like politicians they need to energize the voters/members and they do that by appealing to emotions so after a while part of the voting/union population really believes that other candidate is Literally Hitler/ or that employer is evil exploitative... note that I know this A will be downvoted due to political bias of academia. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: There are several huge disadvantages you missed. Because student employment is not like a normal employer/employee relationship, the benefits of unions are diminished. The employment relationship is by nature limited in duration so long term contract changes not only don't benefit you, they don't benefit any of the students in the union. But it's worse than that, with special consequences for several STEM fields. Power is placed in the hands of representatives who have no obligation to your academic progress, only to your employment. If you are in a field where experiments must go uninterrupted (monitoring disease states in virology and immunology, growing cell cultures in microbiology, and note that work in these fields is not limited to majors -- statisticians may be studying effects of drugs, mechanical engineers may be doing tissue engineering, etc) then having the union call a mandatory strike may ruin your ongoing projects and set research back half a year. Even when the projects aren't as long term, you can be forced to miss submission deadlines for conferences and journals. It just isn't worth putting your education -- which is the primary form of compensation you are receiving -- at risk for some employment terms that may never benefit anyone but the union itself. How much would your salary have to increase to counteract the opportunity cost of a one-year delay in graduation (not only you lose the real world salary for that year, but you have a year less experience for the rest of your career)? The same moral argument that you need to subjugate your own needs to the best interests of the whole group, demands that you not place all the students who could suffer ruined projects at the mercy of the union, even if your own projects don't need that intradaily care. In your case the decision seems especially simple: you (and the larger group of students you are most obligated to) already have the lion's share of everything the union could possibly negotiate for on your behalf. Upvotes: 3
2017/05/24	745	3,126	<issue_start>username_0: I have seen in some faculties that I have been visiting that they give more importance to some citation databases than to others. About this issue, I have some confusions. I prefer to open only one global question here that cutting it up into smaller chunks because I believe the things I will expose are related: * What is the importance that some journals are indexed in Scopus and some in Web of Science or Thomson Reuters? Does Scopus have a better reputation? I ask this because I saw one faculty that strive to put their publications only on journals and conferences indexed by Scopus. * Is there any relationship between Scimago and Web of Science? * I found in the following link: <http://www.thomsonscientific.com/cgi-bin/jrnlst/jlresults.cgi> that a journal in which a colleague has gotten his article published that appears on this list, does it mean that journal is indexed by the Web of Science? Even though I have seen in the webpage of that journal that it does not mention Web of Science perse. Any clarification of these citation databases would be a huge help to me. The field that I am working on is Computer Science.<issue_comment>username_1: 1. Web of Science is probably marginally more selective; Scopus is a little broader (I routinely get higher numbers of hits in Scopus for comparable searches). My understanding is that Scopus has also made a deliberate attempt to increase its coverage of conference proceedings, which would mean more significant coverage in those disciplines which are very conference-oriented - ie engineering and computer science - but I'm not a CS specialist so please don't take that as gospel. "Only on Scopus" may be a deliberate nod to this, or it may simply be that that institution subscribes to Scopus and not WoS! 2. No, they are not connected. Web of Science is based on the "Science Citation Index", but this is not connected to SCImago. 3. <NAME> were the owners of the [Web of Science product](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_of_Science). (They sold it recently and it's now owned by Clarivate Analytics, an independent firm not part of any of the major publishers). Web of Science contains [a number of distinct databases](http://ip-science.thomsonreuters.com/mjl/); the link you give there is a 404, but it looks like it would be some subset of this list. It probably indicates that the journal will be found in at least some part of the Web of Science product, though I believe not all institutions subscribe to all parts of the service. (You can always plug the journal into Web of Science and see what comes up...) Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: On a broader level than @Andrew's answer: Whether a department uses one database or the other in most cases doesn't actually make much of a difference as far as departments are concerned, as long as that database fairly samples what faculty do. For example, both Web of Science and google scholar will give you a reasonably fair comparison between the performance of professor A and professor B, even though they will yield different numbers of citations. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/25	1,692	6,641	<issue_start>username_0: I am still not sure what should be considered as "literature" for inclusion in a literature review and what are not when writing a research proposal. For instance: > > A research proposal: 500-1000 words outlining your plans for your PhD > Please include a 'literature review’ of works you’ve consulted and > where your ‘contribution to new knowledge’ may > potentially be made. > > > Can books be considered as "literature" for inclusion in literature reviews? For instance: * <NAME>. (2011) Physics of the Future: The Inventions That Will -Transform Our Lives. Reprint, Penguin, 2012. * <NAME>. (1995) The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. Reprint, New York: Ballantine Books, 2000. I googled and found [this](https://laverne.libguides.com/c.php?g=34942&p=222059) and it says: > > "The Literature" refers to the collection of scholarly writings on a > topic. This includes peer-reviewed articles, books, dissertations and > conference papers. > > > It mentions books but does The Literature above mean literature review? Also, what about online sources/ articles? Are they "literature" for literature reviews? For example: * <https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/> * <https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/jul/05/can-artists-save-the-world> * <http://www.theoryculturesociety.org/elinor-carmi-cookies-meets-eye/><issue_comment>username_1: A literature review describes what is already known (and what is not known about a particular topic). So, given your research question, your literature review needs to explain to the reader what previous original research (especially empirical work) has concluded on this question and what is still unknown. This previous research will include findings from both books and papers, but will likely be light on blog posts (unless they present an important argument that is not made elsewhere). At the end of the literature review you need to drive home how your work will help to fill the holes in the literature. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Note carefully the word scholarly in that description. It refers to works whose intended audience is experts in the field, and which either present novel research or interpret existing results in a novel way. Books can fit that description; often they will have been published by an academic publisher and reviewed for academic merit by expert editors or referees, prior to publication. Scholarly books are sometimes called monographs, especially in the sciences. The books you mentioned by Kaku and Sagan are not scholarly books. They are intended for a non-expert popular audience, and they don't present new research or expand the state of the art. The same goes for the online sources you listed; they are newspaper articles or blog posts intended for a popular audience. A literature review is how you show that you are familiar with the state of the art. It convinces the reader that they should believe you when you say that your proposed project is feasible, novel, and interesting. You want to show that you are an expert, or are on your way to becoming one. Citing a popular book won't achieve that; it puts you at the same level as any random person interested in science who can read a bestseller list. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Whereas pretty much everyone recognizes that a literature review needs to be scholarly, people often seem to get confused about whether it is the literature review itself or its source studies that have to be scholarly. Many people argue that both need to be scholarly, but I disagree: whereas the literature review itself needs to be scholarly (that is, you need to do your review with scholarly rigour), I believe it is sometimes quite appropriate to include source studies in your review that might themselves not be scholarly works. So, to directly answer your question, yes, it might sometimes be appropriate to include non-scholarly books as part of the literature that you review in a literature review. The challenge, though, with including non-scholarly sources is that a lot of them (maybe over 80% of books and magazines, and maybe 99% of web pages, just to make up some numbers) are garbage as far as scholarly usefulness is concerned. So, if you want to include such sources, it is absolutely critical that you carefully evaluate their quality before deciding to incorporate their arguments and conclusions in your literature review. The advantage of peer-reviewed scholarly sources is that some scholars have already done that work for you. If you use practitioner sources, then you have to do that work yourself. And if you don't, then garbage in, garbage out: your resulting literature review will be just as trashy as the sources you included. Because of this, some scholars refuse to ever include non-scholarly sources in their literature reviews and advice against doing so. However, practitioner sources can sometimes provide excellent insights and data, and are often much more up-to-date and relevant than any available scholarly source. Thus, I think it's worth the trouble. For an excellent example of a scholarly literature review that incorporates many non-scholarly sources, see <NAME>. "[Transdisciplinary perspectives on environmental sustainability: a resource base and framework for IT-enabled business transformation.](https://scholar.google.fr/scholar?cluster=17327364595480483719&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5)" MIS Quarterly 35.1 (2011): 197-236. For your specific situation, the books you mentioned seem to be written by respectable physicists (I don't know, though, since I'm not a physicist). If so, they should cite their sources for their claims and arguments. These sources that the books cite should be peer-reviewed. So, if you only repeat claims from these books that cite peer-reviewed sources (and in your literature review, you should cite both the book and the book's source), you should be safe. So, if you do that, then you can benefit from including in your literature review the exciting ideas of a popular book written by a serious scholar. However, if the book doesn't cite peer-reviewed sources, then you should question the reliability of its claims. I talk about these issues in more detail in a [working paper I wrote about how to build theory using literature reviews](https://ssrn.com/abstract=2699362). Caveat: Some of my ideas have changed since I wrote it, but the sections on the Practical Screen and Quality Appraisal are quite relevant to the points I've raised here. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2017/05/25	1,784	7,690	<issue_start>username_0: I worked on a research project earlier this year with a group of people. The paper has been written up (not by me) and sent to the team to review it, give feedback and approve it before it is submitted for publication. I am just an undergraduate student and this is my very first experience with this. Most other people on the research team are much older and more experienced than me; so I do not have any critical feedback to give. The paper seems great to me. Anyways, I am wondering how to state my approval when I email the PI? Replying with “I approve of this paper” seems too entitled for me since I am so inexperienced. So what would be the best way to reply back with my approval?<issue_comment>username_1: If you've checked the paper to the best of your ability, particularly those parts with which you were closely involved, and you have no criticisms or concerns, then just say so. There isn't any special wording to use - just be clear that you consent to submitting the paper in its current form (it would be unethical for them to submit without your consent). For instance, you could say: > > I read through the paper and it looks good to me. I think it is fine to submit. Thanks everybody! > > > Just don't delay - it sounds like you've made your decision that the paper is okay, and your co-authors will be very frustrated if the submission of the paper is held up while you agonize over how to draft your email. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: A reply such as "Thank you for the opportunity to review this; I see no changes that need to be made." is appropriate. This confirms that you 1. Read the paper and 2. Are in agreement with the content and presentation. As a participant in the work and especially if you're listed as a co-author, point 2 is important. However, point 1 lets the organizer know that you've completed your task so that they needn't wait any longer on your feedback. An additional thought: > > Most other people on the research team are much older and more experienced than me; so I do not have any critical feedback to give. > > > Don't let age or experience of other team members influence how you perform your review. You have every right (really, a responsibility) to raise any issue you identify so that it can be addressed. Furthermore, I've often found that less-experienced team members tend to make very rigorous reviews of all the details, often catching details that others miss. Take this as an opportunity to dive into the work and learn the intricacies of it (especially the parts you weren't involved with). This will allow you to gain understanding of the field and allow you to more effectively perform another type of review: that of the overall nature of the work and the cohesiveness of how it's presented. Also, as you perform the review, you should bring questions to your team members. They understand you have little experience (you're an undergraduate, that's expected). However, displaying interest in the work and gaining knowledge in the field is a good thing. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: TL;DR: If you do not find anything to criticise on a paper, strongly consider the possibility that you were too coy. If I give a paper of mine to a bachelor student for internal review and they do not have anything to criticise, I assume that they did not thoroughly read it, underestimated their concerns, or are afraid of criticising senior collaborators. This particularly holds if they are a co-author. (And this also applies to peer reviewers by the way.) Every paper that has not already received feedback by thousands of people will be imperfect. It does not necessarily have to contain hard mistakes, but there almost certainly are parts that can be misunderstood and explained better – not to mention spelling or grammar flukes. The challenging part of writing a paper is not to correctly write down your results; almost everybody¹ can do that. The challenging part is to explain your rationales, methods, and conclusions to readers that may not be extremely familiar with all the details of your research. Therefore taking this reader’s point of view is essential for good paper writing. However this gets increasingly difficult if you are very familiar with a subject, such as your own research. Therefore somebody like you is probably a better proxy for the paper’s intended audience and a better person to provide feedback on the paper. This does not only apply to subject expertise but also to language: I often write sentences that I consider to be to the point and easy to understand, just to find out that my internal reviewers had to read them three times to understand them – which means that another reader may not understand them at all and they need to be fixed. If your seniors are wise, they are aware of this and will take any criticism coming from you seriously, not only regarding the paper’s didactics but also regarding possible mistakes: If anything seems fishy to you, it may also seem fishy to reviewers and the paper may need to be improved, be it by fixing an actual mistake or by better explaining why there is actually no mistake. Also, consider that your seniors may judge you like I did if you do not provide any criticism whatsoever. You may even waste their time as they may feel the need to consider another internal reviewer due to your lack of criticism. Therefore I strongly suggest that you carefully read the entire paper again and be as nitpicky as you can, in particular with respect to easy understandability, consistent notation, spelling, and grammar. You will almost certainly find something. --- ¹ who is capable of obtaining publishable results Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You are required to read an approve the final version of a manuscript to be included as an author. This is common practice. It is recommended criteria for authorship by many journals and the Vancouver convention. You should at least check the sections based on your work and make sure that you agree with how they are communicated and the overall message of the paper (abstract and conclusions). All you need to do is confirm that you have read it and approve of the current version. However, some specific comments will make it clearer that you've actually read the manuscript. It is not uncommon in our research group for students to suggest changes or even take a role in writing or submitting manuscripts themselves. This is a crucial part of research and you are being trained as a researcher. Do not hesistate to suggest revisions or point out mistakes. Believe it or not supervisors still make them and need proofreading assistance too. Of course do so in a polite manner, it is likely an honest mistake or ambiguity given how pressed for time most academics are. They'd rather have it raised now than once it's gone to review or to press. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Read it with a critical eye, don't assume that as a beginner your contribution isn't valuable, and send a brief message to give it a thumbs up; a quick turn-around will earn you brownie points. All that's been said here already. But I wanted to add: > > In your thumbs-up email, mention at least one thing that you really like about how it turned out. This positive feedback will be most effective if it's honest and personal. > > > For example, I especially liked the section about possible applications of the technique. I wasn't involved in that part of the paper, but it helped me appreciate the big picture better. (That's just an example. It could be anything, really, as long as its from the heart.) Upvotes: 0
2017/05/25	250	983	<issue_start>username_0: Just wondering if any German speakers can tell me how a manuscript "in press" is described in Germany. Writing up a German CV but I've never come across this phrase before. It could be a direct translation but I doubt it. <NAME> Voraus<issue_comment>username_1: You can write "Zur Veröffentlichung angenommen in...". I think this is the most common phrase in Germany ("Im Druck" would sound weird). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: A shorter alternative to @username_1's answer is "Erscheint in..." (literally, "to appear in..."). (Some journals also put manuscripts online as soon as they are edited or even accepted, but before they get an official volume and pagination; these are -- depending on the publisher -- also sometimes called "in press". In that case, I would just treat it as a terminus technicus and leave it as is, but the publisher usually explicitly states somewhere how these should be cited exactly.) Upvotes: 3
2017/05/25	6,787	28,301	<issue_start>username_0: I am a UK based researcher in life sciences. My research is in neuroscience, mainly involving in vivo electrophysiology. My PhD project was a disaster for a number of reasons (technical difficulties, difficult supervisor etc) and so I finished with very few results. Through a side project I got a middle authorship on a paper in a respectable but not outstanding journal (impact factor ~5-6). Despite all the difficulties I endured during my PhD I still wanted to be an academic researcher and decided to take a 3 year postdoc position at another UK university. The postdoc project seemed promising and the lab had a track record of publishing decent papers. Unfortunately disaster has struck again, and none of my experiments have worked or produced anything publishable. I only have 6 months left on my contract and the odds of me getting a paper in that time are pretty much zero. I know I need to think about what my next step is career-wise but I feel so stressed and demotivated that I worry I'm not thinking clearly. Plus my confidence is rock bottom from feeling like everything I touch in the lab falls apart. Part of me thinks it's time to cut my losses and try a different career path, however the thought of giving up on my long held dream of being a researcher is heartbreaking, and I then start to wonder if I'm quitting too easily. When I tell my science friends how I feel they all tell me that I'm not a bad scientist, that I've just been unlucky and that they're sure the next project (whatever it is) will go better. Are they right? Do I still have a chance? If I took another postdoc and got a paper from it, would that ever be enough to make up for the long gap in my publication record? Or would it be a case of too little too late? Any advice would be much appreciated!<issue_comment>username_1: Your PhD can't have been that bad, if you passed! I'm not sure how it works at your current university, but in my department our postdocs are often helping current PhD students with experiments, whether it's helping to design and troubleshoot or simply getting some data for them, and with writing papers. It also increases their publishing output. If you're concerned about your output, then that might be worth considering for your last 6 months. A second postdoc could yield numerous first author publications, depending on what it is you're looking at: however, there is definitely an element of luck involved, so you shouldn't take it personally if things don't work out. That's just how research is sometimes. It may also be worth considering industrial or commercial research: there are still opportunities to publish, and I know a number of academic researchers that started in industry and only moved to academia later. Speak to the academics at your university: they'll have a lot of advice to give, and I'm sure that a few of them will have been in a similar position. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: First of all take care of your self. Exercise, take some breaks. This will improve your mental performance. In this life anything is possible. In you position I will definitely change my mindset from "I will fail" to "I will shake earth and heaven to succeed". Do everything a human can do to make most of you remaining time as a postdoc. You really have to believe you can make it. The worst thing is to quit and say "it was impossible all along". You can to trust God/your destiny/wherever that one day, somehow, if you don't give up, you will achieve your dreams. To sum up, the most important thing in life is your viewpoint. Why feel "the pressure"? Just do your best there, try some more and research a topic alone (if the field allows it). You may ask: "And if I fail and years pass without results?". This is the wrong mindset. The correct one is: "No matter the result, if I do my best, this research won't be futile.". You may get hired for an industry position based on the fact you have a PhD. You never know, do your best, follow your heart, and don't ever give up because "it was impossible all along". It never really is. I would stick at least 2 more years in academia before thinking about doing something else. But no matter what, do not say "I have a last chance and I quit". Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: Unfortunately disaster has struck again, and none of my experiments have worked or produced anything publishable Not that I know the details, but this probably isn't right. It's a good question and correct methods that make research publishable, not the results. Even high impact journals like Nature publish no-effect papers e.g. Doi:10.1038/nature09042. So if you have unpublished work which was well conducted you still have opportunity to get some first author papers. As an aside, I got my current post - in clinical trials - with only one published paper in total (albeit first of two), so a lack of papers probably isn't a complete bar. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: Are you intending to stay in academia? You stated in your question that you've always wanted to be a "researcher"... you should be aware that there are many industry positions with similar duties and responsibilities. Having zero publications isn't good, but your skills as a researcher aren't limited to the length of your CV. I would spend some time investigating positions in industry that would allow you to perform similar work to what you're doing now in academia. Hopefully someone else can post something focusing more on your academic prospects. --- Edit: Your comment of "not sure if my work is relevant to industry" deserves more attention that an answer on an online forum can provide, but very briefly: You are not defined by your field. I have a BS in psychology, a PhD in biomedical engineering (which actually was entirely neuroscience, but all my courses were electrical engineering), my first two jobs were a bank quantitive analyst and a data science manager for an insurance company, and I now work for a cybersecurity research firm. When writing a resume you choose which skills to highlight and how to sell yourself. I strongly recommend you re-evaluate your own skill set and see whats out there that interests you. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: I have been in a similar situation. I finished my post-doc with very few papers. I only had two short papers (unrelated from each other) as first author to account for my postdoc time. This certainly costed me a position in a top 15 UK university, where my competition (other postdoc) had several top papers, and also grants. However, they still called me for the interview. In my experience "from the other side", that is, as a potential employer of postdoc has been that it is not that easy to find good post-docs. At least in my field (CS/HCI) there aren't that many people with the specific competences you might be looking for. Finding someone who has the sufficient training is what is important, even though they might not have an exceptional publication record. You might have to accept a position at a lower ranked university as it happened in my case. However, I was able to recoup the time lost with some good papers in the meantime and I will move to a top-10 European university later this year. So, it can certainly be done. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: I've actually been in a rather similar situation (I'm sure this kind of thing is far from unusual), and didn't really recover. I think to a large extent the probability of an eventual recovery from this kind of situation depends on what kind of leverage you have. You don't mention your supervisors (or what the term is for senior people where you are). What is your current relationship with them? This is highly relevant in your situation. Also, you don't say whether you are a UK citizen or a resident. This is also highly relevant. So, a little, hopefully relevant, autobiography. After my PhD, I spent some time in a couple of different places, nominally as a postdoc. One of the positions I was in wasn't really a research position. The people I were working for weren't very nice. This seems to be unfortunately quite common. I wound up working on various projects. What they mostly had in common was that in practice I was the only one working on them. I did nominally have other people working with me on these projects, but what they had in common was that they were senior to me, and their only interest was getting their names on those projects. These are not promising circumstances in which to complete projects, and the end result is that after a while I had a bunch of partly finished projects and no finished ones. As a foreigner in the US (in this case) I had no leverage, and nobody wanted to help me. And as everyone knows, doing a research project solo is horribly hard work, and very time-consuming. Anyway, the point of this is that (it seems to me) things can go wrong quite easily, and they're not that easy to fix. But a lot of it depends on your circumstances. If you are in a position to get a reasonable post-doc even after your current one finishes, then you're already in a relatively good position. One note: try very hard not to be the only junior person to be working on a project. The senior people don't care - they don't have much invested, and the failure of that project won't significantly impact them. However, other junior people would (or should) care. You don't specify anything about your current projects. Are you the only one working on these projects? Presumably you have senior people involved, at least to the extent that they will put their names on the project if you get anywhere. Have you been talking to those junior and senior people? Do you really have no results? And how many different projects do you have on the go? Oh, and to be clear, you got no published papers from your PhD? Did your PhD not contain any publishable results, or did you just not get around to extracting them? As you can see, this answer is more questions than answers, but it's hard to give specific suggestions without knowing more details about your circumstances. If you would care to elaborate, perhaps the forum members can make more concrete suggestions. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: The answers here so far are all encouraging and supportive, which is nice, but realistically and bluntly not having first-author publications after a Ph.D. and a postdoc is a bad place to be if you're looking for long-term academic positions (at least in the life sciences I'm familiar with). Does it make it impossible to find a faculty position? No, but it makes it much more difficult, and in today's climate finding a faculty position is already very, very difficult. No matter which university you go to (low-ranked or not) there will be lots of competition from people who do have first-author publications, and first-author publications are high on the list that hiring committees look at. I haven't worked in industry, but I understand that there's less emphasis on publications in the hiring process there, and there are other "alternate" career paths (I put that in quotes because faculty positions are now so scarce that they are the alternate). But for a traditional, academic pathway, you'd need to have some exceptional characteristic or quality to overcome the lack of first-author publications. If that is the path you really want to follow, you might want to do a second post-doc while searching for faculty positions. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_8: Having bad luck in experiments/results is something which happens even to people who are scientists. In academia - as in everything else which we do we can be lucky or unlucky and this can impact our options. (And consider that working outside academia is not the end of the world). The short answer is: don't bet on an academic career - usually these are set by the end of the first postdoc. Unless you have enough money (so that you don't have to accept any position and even can afford to work in badly paid positions for a long time) and are willing to go through a long streak of bad job circumstances which will complicate your personal life very much, following an academic path under this circumstance is very likely to convert some streak of bad luck into permanent damage to your life. As much as I would like have seen good people around me who had such a streak find their way back, most of them never recovered from something like this. The little bit longer answer is this: let's look at the facts: * this will be an evaluation factor when you apply for the next position * In order to get a position in which you can "make up" the missing success to some extent in a predictable time (e.g. 1 postdoc or 3 years), you would normally have to go to a good, successful group * Typically very good groups get many applications and can select from a big amount of applicants, putting you at a disadvantage * This leaves 3 options to you - if you want to stay in science: go to a bad group and accept a longer time of uncertainty with the prospects of getting a good result there with low probability, accept a job which is not that prospective, but gives you stability (e.g. lecturer/assistant/technician), or wait for a job/opportunity in a good group to come along. Which one of these you will take, depends on your personal savings, priorities, mobility, character, determination and dream job. I have seen people getting happy using the latter 2 options. Having a stable lecturer/assistant/technician job will not enable you to rise very quickly, but could be a way to come back on the long term or just do research happily. Joining a bad group can only work if you have some connections in the field so that you can collaborate with other groups (e.g. you are paid by a university which starts up, but work as a guest somewhere else) - for the people which I knew which assumed that the bad lab would get magically good when they appear, this lead to a disaster. I have seen that waiting for a opportunity in good group worked out for one person which I knew. If you can accept a long streak of uncertainty with an unforeseen outcome is up to you. Another word of warning: People will recognize that you are there because of your dreams. They will use this to put you under pressure, and potentially not care much about you. Added after comment: A good group IMHO has (in this case) the following properties: * solid publication record (regularly impact factors > 4) based on their own work (not as participants of collaborations) * a good groupleader - he should impress you by knowing what is going on * Track record of having many group members as coauthors (this indicates a good leadership and a collaboration in the group) * clear structure, with sub-groupleaders if the group is big enough (important to keep people from fighting) * Track record of not burning PHDs/postdocs and dropping them when a project/field gets cold, but rather using knowledge management to have them enabling other experiments * Good mixture of small and big investigations - the small ones should be collaborations where guests visit and bring in stuff to do experiments on, and give people a solid base as coauthors * Connections in the field: Postdocs and PHDs should be sent to other groups at some point. * Balance in co-authorships: PHD and Postdoc coauthorships should have no sign of nepotism. * a good reputation of solid work in the field - sometimes there are groups with a good publication but bad reputation. * Invited talks should be not only given by the groupleader Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: Watch the film Underwater Dreams. It is a documentary about a group of ragtag underdogs who beat a crack MIT team in an engineering competition. How did they do it? By documenting and explaining their work extremely well. I'm not going to say that your talent and skill at documenting and explaining will get you a dream job right away. But after reading your question and your comments, it is clear that you do have a strength in that area. I don't know what other strengths you might have, but that one I can already see. If you want to keep progressing towards your dream, I suggest you do another postdoc, get a position as a research assistant where you will get your name on some group papers, or in the worst case tread water as an unpaid researcher (which plenty of trailing spouses do). Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_10: Realistically, you don't have career prospects in academia, at least ones that offer a stable middle-class life. At least from my vantage point in the USA, to get a full-time faculty position in the sciences, you have to hit the ball out of the park serially - complete a stellar Ph.D. followed by one or two stellar post-docs, where "stellar" means "lots of papers, at least one or two head-turning results in fashionable journals, and a glowing reference letter." I have many friends who are tenure-track faculty, and all of them met this bar. The job market is simply too competitive for you to have good chances with less. In the USA, if you don't get a full-time faculty position, your working conditions tend to be worse than that as a high school teacher (I'm saying this as a person who was a high school teacher before his own Ph.D.). You have to go to war to make your rent and have healthcare. I grant that the UK is more civilized in this respect. There's an outside chance that two stellar postdocs in a row could redeem your chances. But that leaves no margin of error. If you can't execute two flawless postdocs at this point, you're done, having spent more of your prime overworked, having moved every couple of years, and having earned very little. I would never accept such a risk in my own life. That said, the skills, passion, and grit attained in a Ph.D. are valuable and sought-after in the private sector. In coaching grad students, both as a soft-money professional managing an academic research group and as a private-sector professional doing recruitment, I find the biggest hurdle in exiting academia to be emotional. It is deeply painful to curb-stomp your identity as an expert in "neuroscience, mainly involving in vivo electrophysiology" and admit that most of your hard-won subject matter expertise is worthless to your professional future. Once you can do that, you'll be able to attack the next hard job of retooling your skillset to be more marketable. Doing this in weekends and nights while maintaining appearances in academia requires some spring in your step. If you can do so, you'll subsequently find that your career prospects are excellent indeed. You'll do things you never thought you'd be doing. Believe me, it's hard. I wanted to be a chemistry professor since I was 16. I got the Caltech chemistry degree with honors, the U Chicago Ph.D. And I had to walk away. But there's redemption here. Life went from a straight-and-narrow crucible as a budding chemist to a true adventure as a software engineer, data scientist, educator, and general scientist about town, full of opportunities and impactful decisions to make. I love it. I wish you luck! Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: I would like to give you the same advice I would give to someone having done very successful PhD and postdoc, not getting a tenure-track job yet, and wondering whether to get into another postdoc or quit academia. Imagine you go to the next postdoc (or two), and do a truly great job, and that it does not suffice to get into academia (the market is hard everywhere I look) and you have then to move to industry. Would you be happy for your additional years in academia? Or would you regret not forking earlier? My advice (to almost everyone) is: take your decision as if it was a given you won't get a permanent job in academia, because that is the most likely turn of events. Only go for the next (or first) postdoc if you enjoy the prospect of it for itself, not because you hope it will give you access to something else (e.g. a tenure-track job). Otherwise, it is probably the best move to look into something else -- there are plenty of jobs around, and your PhD is proof that you can learn a lot, fast, and become autonomous in many, many different fields. Now, when I say "take your decision as if it was a given you won't get a permanent job in academia", I really only mean take your decision as if: if you do decide to go for a postdoc, then as soon as the decision is made you should go for it fully, and try to be the best craftsman (craftsperson?) you can in your line of work. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: I can certainly relate to your post! Still trying to figure these sorts of things out for myself. And, if you're at all like me, you tend to see the world in a pragmatic and pessimistic perspective when it comes to developing a scientific career because YOU CARE and YOU ARE THOROUGH. I, too, want a lab of my own (or at least I think I do). Maybe my American science story will help you to see that you still have a chance, even in the USA. I also have friends that are PIs today at GOOD American institutions who literally did 10 years of postdoc in several labs before finding their paths, and for the record, they are AMAZING scientists says myself and the institutions that hire them. Unlike you, my PhD experience was great. I was surrounded by great mentors and labmates that patiently and thoroughly taught me electrophysiology (in slices!). Even with all of that, I only published a single first author paper. That one paper was published in Neuron, and then I was proud and confident to begin a postdoc. According to an article that I read about 3 years ago, only ~10% of graduate students graduate with a first-author publication from their PhD. Mine wasn’t published until shortly AFTER I graduated and started my postdoc. That basically means that others saw promise in me despite my bare-boned CV. The same is true for you! I know that you are at the postdoc phase, but you REALLY don’t have to worry about not looking productive during your PhD even at the point of finding a faculty position. Here's where our experiences start to merge: After graduating, I started a postdoc at Yale. Very quickly I started to realize that things weren't working as they did in the previous lab. No joke,: amplifiers weren't working, the vibratome sounded like a jet engine, cameras were shoddy, I couldn't see fluorescence in slices, viruses weren't expressing, the osmometer wasn't calibrating, the pH probe wasn't pHing, the list continued! On top of that, my mentor and labmates - literally all of them except 2 - were strangely sadistic human beings: genuinely happy when I failed and genuinely upset when I succeeded at something. My mentor would throw things at me and other lab personnel, cuss at us, and the worst was the gas lighting. He would bully me into writing and submitting grants about a project that he designed even if I verbally expressed my concerns. And lastly, he would slam pens into counters while yelling at me to make a point instead of actually making a point worth discussing. I left that God-forsaken place after 16 months after a lot of introspection and internal struggle (I worked my whole life to get to an Ivy League institution and what a disappointment!). I knew that things weren't working after only 5 weeks in the lab, and the whole "courage-gathering" process required the advice and support of my PhD mentors and other PIs with whom I have developed personal relationships. From the Yale experience, I still do not know what lessons the universe was trying to teach me. Perhaps God was trying to show me that he really does exist by making me experience a Hell that could not exist otherwise?! All I can tell you is that I'm a different person today: I'm more cynical, less enthusiastic, more defensive, more cautious, and more insecure about designing and performing experiments. And if you could know me, you would understand that I'm not exaggerating or pointing fingers. I am most certainly capable of pointing one at myself. You would also understand how traumatizing this experience was on my psyche and my physical health. Today I'm in a very successful laboratory with 30 other labmates that are helpful. My new PI is generous and kind, although he is very fancy and busy so I don't see him so much. In fact, I chose the Yale lab OVER THIS LAB at Johns Hopkins when I initially interviewed. Why? Because during graduate school and before my paper was published, I wasn't very confident in my own independence….. because I am careful, thorough, pragmatic, and pessimistic. YOU, MY FRIEND, AREN'T IN A POSITION TO GIVE UP! Even as American neuroscientist and electrophysiologist, I am telling you this. You could end up in a great place: mentally and geographically! Just hear me out: Just because things aren't working for YOU, doesn't mean that they are working properly. Surprisingly, others in the lab at Yale were publishing and collecting data despite that commercial companies demonstrated that our osmometer, pH meter, amplifiers, and vibratome were malfunctioning in their own ways (even today I wonder how from those Science and Neuron papers emerged quality results upon one utilizing all of this objectively subpar equipment!). There were also people WHO LEFT THE LAB BECAUSE THEY WERE UNHAPPY AND UNPRODUCTIVE that weren't around to tell me that they were having similar problems YEARS before I arrived; I had to find them to hear this. From my Yale postdoc, I didn't really have any data! I went from patching 4 neurons simultaneously and ~20 cells/day in graduate school to patching 20 cells/year (that's a real number!) as a postdoc. But if I went to a lab down the hall, suddenly I could patch again! That was a telling and uplifting experience!!!! Also, reviewer comments associated with my REJECTED grant applications expressed similar concerns that I did to my PI at Yale before those applications were submitted; these experiences confirmed that I'm not a bad scientist and that I can design good experiments and scientific rationale. You might very well be suffering from BAD LAB SYNDROME! It's a real disorder, and I'm convinced that it's contagious (bad labs spawn bad scientists that make their own bad labs and so forth). I FIRMLY believe that most labs are good labs, but I know some people that are unlucky and have repeated awful experiences. Also, I know several people from Yale who aren't good scientists and also don't have stellar CVs that hold PI positions around the world. Some are lucky like that, and you and I are not. BUT, that doesn’t mean that you should give up! You are probably a wonderful scientist that is experiencing self-doubt from being in unsupportive environments. My advice to you: Keep going on this career path. PLEASE evaluate whether or not your lab is a good fit for you, all things considered. If the answer is "No" or "I'm not sure" then start looking for a new lab, regardless of the amount of time that you've been there. Cut your reservations about leaving a place without a paper. Just leave. I wasted arguable 15 months of my life, changed my personality for the worse, look less scientifically productive, and have developed insecurities that I'm still battling months later. I'm happy to give you my contact info if you wanted to chat more about any of this. Lastly, please don’t worry about looking unproductive by not having a list of publications. My PhD advisor would tell me that and would share stories about other scientists that she deeply respects that care about quality and not quantity. She also mentioned that our department had recently offered a position to an older faculty candidate who had only 3 first-author papers in her life: Science, Nature, and Neuron. Seriously, you have a lot of time! Don’t sell yourself short if you still care about something. A postdoc isn’t wasted time unless you only care about money; it is a valuable learning experience that both academia and industry cherish, appreciate, and seek. Unless you didn’t mention something extremely important, you aren’t as astray as you think. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/25	2,593	9,812	<issue_start>username_0: If this is not the correct forum for this question, or too specific, feel free to close it. I'm more or less from MSE, and this seemed like the place to ask. There's this well-known math text called "Characteristic Classes" by Milnor and Stasheff which is regarded as a staple among topology students in the field. It's a classic, and is highly regarded by everyone. The problem is that it's old, comparatively speaking. I don't seem to be able to hunt down a 'new' copy in the sense that it's updated printing, font, etc, and it's kind of an eyesore to read. For me personally, this writing actually causes headaches, to the point where I can't read for much longer once it starts. The copyright date inside the text is from 1974. I don't know anything about copyright law at all - I'm just a graduate student. Since I have time this summer, I was thinking about trying to transcribe some sections of the book into LaTeX, with modern diagrams and fonts that might be a little easier on the eyes. It would probably involve some headaches along the way, but I can't be the only one who experiences this, and it might help someone else down the line. Plus this would let me insert in footnotes or endnote comments about things that jumped out at me while reading. It's a rich text so there are lots of places where this happens. Obviously if I do this for myself and don't share it with anyone, there's no problem. But if I were to do this, it would really be for the benefit of other grad students or mathematicians. If I were to post it on a blog or something, it might violate some kind of copyright law, and obviously I want to avoid that kind of problem. Is this sort of thing legal, and more generally, how do I go about finding out what is or is not legal in the United States?<issue_comment>username_1: I would encourage you to contact the authors. Both [<NAME>](http://www.math.stonybrook.edu/~jack/) and [<NAME>](http://math.unc.edu/people/emeritus-faculty/) have their contact info on the web. As Stasheff is emeritus, Milnor might be a better bet. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: A very rough rule of thumb for US copyright law is that everything published in 1923 or later is protected by copyright. That means you can't make a copy without the permission of the copyright holder. Making a copy is precisely what you want to do. There are certain "fair use" exceptions, such as for quoting short passages, but they don't appear to apply here. You'd have to get the permission of the copyright holder; that might be the authors, or their publisher, or some other persons to whom the copyright might have been transferred. They could refuse permission, or demand an arbitrary amount of money; that would be their right. A nice general overview of US copyright law is at <http://www.bitlaw.com/copyright/>. It's a good thing for anyone in the US to become familiar with, especially an academic who is likely to publish copyrighted works. See also <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain_in_the_United_States> for a discussion of "public domain" which refers to works which are not copyrighted or whose copyright has expired. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: The [copyright holder is](https://books.google.com/books?id=vJbKCwAAQBAJ&pg=PR5&dq=%22Characteristic%20Classes%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiH5M658YvUAhXDbiYKHaZqCk4Q6AEIIjAA#v=onepage&q=%22by%20Princeton%20University%20Press%22&f=false) Princeton University Press. [Princeton University Press](http://press.princeton.edu/permissions.html#complete) says: > > Permission to Reprint a Complete Book > > > A full reprint of a Princeton University Press title requires a license from the Press or other copyright holder. For English language licenses, please contact <EMAIL>. > > > Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: No reason you couldn't learn a bit about copyright law yourself. You can actually get a decent understanding of the basics by reading [the law itself, title 17 of the United States Code](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17). I'm not a lawyer, but I've read a good chunk of this stuff. I'd point you to these sections to learn the basics: * Sections [102](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102) and [103](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/103) describe what copyright applies to: any original work "fixed in a tangible medium" (e.g. written down, recorded, stored on a hard drive), as well as compilations and derivative works (i.e. modified versions of someone else's work), but only to the added value you created by compiling or modifying the original. Copyright does not apply to the ideas contained within a work. Also, section [105](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105) says that official works of the US government are not covered under copyright (though there are subtleties in what is considered an official work of the government). * Section [106](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/106) describes what activities are controlled by copyright law. There are six: + reproduction + creation of derivative works + distribution to the public + public performances + public display + public broadcasting, in the case of sound recordingsWhen non-lawyers talk about "copyright", they are typically talking about the right to undertake these activities. To say that someone "owns (or holds) copyright in a work" means that they may reproduce, modify, distribute, perform, display, or broadcast that work, that they may authorize others to do so, and furthermore that other people are not allowed to do these things without authorization from the copyright holder - although there are some exceptions. * Probably the most relevant exception for academics is fair use, described by section [107](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/107). Fair use means that, under certain conditions, people can do the things that would normally be prohibited under section 106 even without authorization from the copyright owner. The catch is that just what those conditions are has to be decided by a court on a case-to-case basis. The law instructs judges to consider four factors when deciding: + "purpose and character" of the use: commercial? educational? for research, criticism, parody? etc. + nature of the work, e.g. how complex it is + how much of the work is used + the effect of the reuse on the market for the originalAll four factors matter, so you couldn't just say "I'm doing this for educational purposes, clearly it's fair use". * Section [201](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/201) says that the authors of a work own the copyright when the work is created, or if it's a "work for hire", whoever did the "hiring" owns the copyright. They can transfer it to others, or transfer only some of the six protected rights, or do so only under certain conditions, or so on. * Sections [302](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/302), [303](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/303), and [304](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/304) describe how long a work is covered under copyright law, i.e. how long people are prohibited from doing the six things without permission. It's an absurdly long time: for works published after 1978, the life of the author plus 70 years, or for works published before 1978, 28 years from publication with the option for renewal for another 67 years. (In your case, I think it's likely the copyright was renewed, so the book is probably still protected.) There's a lot more to the law but I think most of it is less relevant in your case. > > Obviously if I do this for myself and don't share it with anyone, there's no problem. > > > There's "no problem" in the sense that nobody would ever find out. (Or if they did, let's be honest, 99% of people wouldn't care.) But technically, I think even that might not be legal. After all, I'm pretty sure what you're doing is preparing a derivative work, which is one of the protected rights, even if you never share it with anyone. It might fall under fair use but that would have to go to a court to decide - again, if anyone ever cared enough to go after you for it, which they (almost certainly) wouldn't. > > But if I were to do this, it would really be for the benefit of other grad students or mathematicians. > > > This could easily be irrelevant. It would probably be considered in a decision on whether your project constitutes fair use of the original book, but other than that, copyright law doesn't care who the work benefits. > > If I were to post it on a blog or something, it might violate some kind of copyright law > > > I suppose technically it's the preparation of the derivative work that violates the law, and I'm not sure if distributing the work counts as a whole separate violation on top of that, but the important factor is that putting this on a blog makes it public, which means your copyright violation is in plain view of anyone who would want to hassle you about it. This hassling would probably take the form of a [DMCA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act) notice - something like a cease-and-desist letter for suspected copyright infringement - sent to your hosting provider, who would either pass it on to you along with a demand to remove the content (if they're "cool") or would just remove it themselves without warning (if they're not). Now, I'm not going to go in detail about the DMCA here, as this post is getting long enough already, but you should know that these notices are fairly cheap and easy to send, they do carry legal weight but there is a process for challenging them, and if the issue isn't resolved by that point, then you might well wind up in court. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/25	986	4,029	<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student in economics and working on stuff like Hopf bifurcations and limit cycles used often in mathematics. One of the graphics that I will use for my presentation is very similar to one of the photos in album booklet (dark side of the moon) of the legendary progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Here is the link ; [Album cover](http://thedarksideofthemoon.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/cropped-Heartbeat-header.jpg) It is like a limit cycle (it is a heartbeat sequence, note that there are also bifurcation analysis for heartbeats) and gives a quick idea about the concept. I am wondering if it is really appropriate to make this kind quick jokes during presentations. Anybody having bad experiences about that ?<issue_comment>username_1: It depends on your audience. If you are, for example, on your PhD defense, it is best to keep strictly formal. If your audience is your supervisor and your colleagues, who react well to this type of jokes, then you can include it. I saw some very informative and amusing talks that did include some jokes in them: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHix9akFTuA> so if the context is right, I think that it is OK to include this in your presentation. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I would encourage you not to force humor into - or out of - a presentation, depending on your goals for the presentation and the context of the situation you are in. The thing with humor is it is deeply contextual, and how it is received depends heavily on the delivery, the audience, and how you are perceived as the 'performer'. For a Brilliant, Serious Scholar, a light-hearted joke can help to improve your likability and make the talk more memorable and understandable to a wider audience. On the other hand, a Mewling Youngling cracking wise can bring about eye rolls and grumbling and help to cement an impression that you are insufficiently serious, plugging your talk with frippery because you don't have anything really substantive to add. It's annoying - and often unfair - that two people can say the same thing and have the reception of the statement be completely and utterly different, but in practice that's how it goes. Your talk is your performance, your work, and you decide what impression you want to give, how you present yourself, and how you want people to view you. Humor can be a useful part of that, neutral, or counter-productive. Personally, as a one-size-fits-all suggestion, if you plan a joke I suggest you also support it in such a way in the slides that you are free to skip it without it harming the presentation. You can then decide, on the spot and based on your read of the room and intuition, to use it or leave it out. Jokes bomb for lots of reasons, so don't try to lean on it too heavily, regardless, and don't set yourself up for needing the joke to kill to give a good impression. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I know someone who used to regularly present at certain top-tier computer science systems conferences. He had at some point gotten in the habit of inserting woodcuts (from, or seemingly from, very old texts) to illustrate points he was making. They were usually funny because the audience had to connect the dots and understand the relationship between the image and the CS content being presented. This approach was extremely successful, and I'm sure many people looked forward eagerly to his presentations. I agree with the comment that it shouldn't seem forced. If it can come across naturally, go for it! You may want to try it in a practice talk and see how it goes over before using it in a larger audience. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: This depends strongly on the audience and cultural context. In external presentations it is less often appropriate than in internal presentations. In Germany, it is far less often considered appropriate than in the UK. If seniors are in the audience, it is less appropriate than if it is composed of peers or juniors. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/26	1,198	4,886	<issue_start>username_0: I'm entering the last year of my undergraduate. In all honesty, I'm getting tired of it; I want to move on to something new. For a long time, I thought a master's degree was New Game Plus (that is, just a more demanding version of a bachelor's). Don't get me wrong; I've had little to no trouble with my undergrad, but you couldn't get me to do another one ever again! Well, here's the conundrum: everyone tells me I have to do a master's, and that it's not what I think it is. Well, what is it? What are the real differences between an undergraduate program and a graduate program? For example, what are the differences in your day-to-day dealings? In what way are yours and the professors' motivations different? -- For bonus points: if you personally chose to do a master's, or to avoid one, why did you make this decision?<issue_comment>username_1: first, it's hard to group all grad programs singularly. many programs have three sort of "classifications" of graduate students based on the degree they are seeking: M.S. non-thesis, M.S. thesis, and Ph.D. each of these classifications will have a different "day-to-day" and purpose. M.S. non-thesis option is not terribly different from undergrad. you're taking classes, and that's about it. hours spent per week will be governed by the amount of homework/assignments you have in class. hence, hours spent per week will be similar, maybe slightly more intensive, than undergrad. end game for most M.S. non-thesis students is to work in industry doing similar job functions as a B.S., but at a slightly higher salary. M.S. thesis option will involve 1-2 courses/semester, plus research directed/guided by your advisor. the research will require a significant time investment, and a lot more creative, independent thinking than courses. that is, courses are VERY guided since there's a clear set of expectations such as homework sets. research, on the other hand, requires you to think critically about what you're doing, analyze your results, interpret enough that you can explain those results or devise next steps to help you explain unexpected results, etc. career path for many M.S. thesis students is sometimes industry, sometimes a research lab-type setting. Ph.D. involves 1-2 courses/semester for just 2-3 years, plus a significant amount of unique, independent, first-of-a-kind research. typically the research will be guided by your advisor for the first couple years, then they'll expect that you eventually become self-guided. at the end of the Ph.D. you should be the world's expert on that topic. but, this doesn't come without a cost -- many successful Ph.D. students log well more than 40 hours/week on their research alone (course work is done on top of that). the biggest misunderstanding students have is assuming that coursework is important in the Ph.D., and spending too much time trying to get "A's" in courses. the research is extremely crucial, and should be the focal point for the student from the get-go. courses are there to help you learn topics that will inform your research. career paths for most Ph.D. graduates is independent research in academic, lab, or industry settings. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: (I am in linguistics and my master's degree was heavily research-based.) I remember an undergrad professor of mine cautioning her class as follows: "Being a graduate student is very different from being an undergraduate student." Three months into my MA, I found myself thinking, 'no it isn't', but six months into my MA, I thought, '...okay, yeah, it totally is'. The skills that the degree aims to impart are quite different: going to classes starts out feeling similar, but over the course of any graduate degree it should evolve from 'building knowledge base' to 'reading the literature critically and coming up with new ideas'. To me the biggest difference, psychologically speaking, aside from the big step up into the unknown (= major original research) was in terms of project scope. As an undergrad, I could run myself out of homework for the day, or the weekend, and then relax, because I'd dealt with everything I needed to do. Beyond the undergraduate level, that kind of stops happening. A grad-student in any program with a research component always has that work at least in the background, and projects are enormous in comparison to most undergrad coursework. You can't run yourself out of work for the day, or for the weekend. The research is ongoing; there's always more to be done. It's a marathon rather than a bunch of little sprints. You have to keep coming back to a thesis and picking up where you left off. At the graduate level you have to develop have a sense of how to work on something a little at a time. And how to put it away and to (try and) do something fun once in a while. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
2017/05/26	824	3,597	<issue_start>username_0: I agreed to review a paper that falls within my area of expertise. However, I am not particularly familiar with one of the techniques used by the authors. On detailed reading, their use of this technique feels wrong to me, but I am by no means certain. It is not a method that I have seen applied before in similar contexts. I can't put my finger on a definite flaw, but it just doesn't quite seem to "add up". Given my uncertainty, how should I comment on this in my review? I have the option of simply stating “I cannot comment on the validity of [one particular aspect of the methodology] as it is outside my area of expertise.” Alternatively, I could raise my concerns, while making my uncertainty clear, but would this undermine confidence in my review overall? Is it unfair on the authors to raise an objection on the basis of my incomplete understanding?<issue_comment>username_1: This happens more frequently than you think. Editors are sometimes under a lot of pressure to secure reviewers and sometimes they settle for non-experts. In such cases it is more than fair to state your concerns of the paper, while writing to the editor (private comment) explaining the situation by stating that you are not expert, but you tried to understand the paper but you feel that something is wrong for the reasons outlined in the review. This, will force the authors answer one way or another It is not possible to undermine like that your review. Editors want honest opinions. In any case, such techniques should be clear to a wider context, not only on the few experts on their fields, so if you feel something is unclear, please make service to the authors and the editors and state it! Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: *If possible, ask someone you know who is* an expert on the technique for advice.** Being able to give a more informed response, or drop any objection if there is no basis, would be preferable. Of course you would need to get input while maintaining confidentiality, but normally I wouldn't expect this to be a problem. If you can describe it in the hypothetical, without reference to the specifics of the research, it should be fine. There is no harm in admitting limits to your knowledge, or giving criticism that you are not 100% confident in. However, I don't think saying "I have a vague sense this doesn't seem right" is likely to be very useful. If you can't at least communicate a concrete reason for your concern, I don't think an objection is very fair to the authors; nor is it likely to be productive. So if you aren't able to further clarify what you find wrong, I would not raise this as a criticism of what they did. You don't really have enough to object to that. However, it's fair game to raise the issue that they failed to explain/justify what they did (I 100% agree with username_3's answer on this point). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, it is fair to raise concerns when you don't understand a paper. It is the authors' job to explain in enough detail what they did. Especially if the method used is uncommon, then it needs to be justified. That justification needs to be done in a way that it is understood by the intended audience, not just the specialist within that audience. Tell the authors in as much detail as possible why you think their method does not feel right. Maybe the method is problematic, and they will appreciate that feedback. Maybe they did not explain their method well enough, and they can use that feedback to pinpoint what was not clear. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
2017/05/26	2,160	9,025	<issue_start>username_0: We received two referee reports from the editor, who made a major revision decision. One referee has a long list of comments, while on the whole it is positive towards our paper. But the other one gave only half-A4-page comment with strong criticism on the paper as well as some other works in the community, as you can see as follows, which is very tough. Review report: > > The manuscript considers proposition. The authors carry out their study in the framework of an approximation. Unfortunately, the approach used in the manuscript > is totally wrong since reviewer's scientific objection. This issue representing a pitfall for many > researchers in the past (and unfortunately sometimes in the present) > is thoroughly described in one reference deleted here, which is an article of another author. > > > Therefore, I recommend to reject the manuscript. I do not see a > possibility to repair it and to reduce it so that it will fit for > publication. > > > After I read the reference provided, I think that the approach used in our work is correct and the results presented are reasonable, because none of which directly contradict with the reference cited by the referee. My questions are: what is the best practice to respond the editor and how do I refute the criticisms of the referee? I apologize if my question is too general for this site. Thanks for your help!<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, take this into account that you must provide answers to all concerns of all reviewers so that they become satisfied with your manuscript. Since you feel that your manuscripts' results are reasonable and do not contradict with references provided by the reviewer, I suggest you to politely describe your results for the reviewer and compare them with that of the references. Tell the reviewer why the results are not in contradiction with previous works. Moreover, consider that the reviewer has not stated anything about the results. His/her critics are about the methodology. All in all, be very polite when answering the reviewers. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The main problem with this as a review is not the brevity or harshness (neither one of which is necessarily inappropriate) but failure to adequately explain/justify their objection to your work. A good review should give objections/criticisms that stand on their own. References should be used to support the reviewer's points, not given in lieu of any explanation. In addition, it seems that it is also not obvious how the reference relates to your work. *Make the focus of your response not this reviewer is wrong* but I don't understand this reviewer's point. Explain why your work is different from that discussed in the reference and why you think the objections don't apply, and thus it is not clear to you why the reviewer objects. In addition, you ought to ask the editor what they have in mind by major revisions.** The "major revisions" response sounds like it was halfway between the responses of the two reviewers. But that doesn't mean it is a coherent synthesis of their positions. It doesn't seem there are any changes that would satisfy the second reviewer (indeed, they have pre-announced that). So what does the editor expect you to do with this request? I would seek clarification on this. It may well be that the difficult reviewer will not have their way in the end (the fact that the paper was not rejected by the editor as they requested suggests this). So you may be able to simply add some more supporting text for your approach, have their inevitable reject decision overridden by the editor, and be fine. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: How you reply is going to be largely determined by what's in the paper mentioned in the "described in xxx" reference. Step one is to read that paper, and understand it. Then read every paper that cites that paper. Then, maybe talk to some people in your area about the criticism and see what they offer. You're trying to refute a referee who flat out says you're wrong. You absolutely need to do due diligence so you can hold your own. After doing this work, you might even agree with the reviewer. If this is the case, you go into salvage mode: > > In the original submission, I said A, B, and C. The review pointed > out flaw X. Given this, A no longer holds, but B and C are still > true. > > > If, after doing your homework, you still disagree with the second reviewer, the response to that reviewer should take the form of > > I don't believe the second reviewer's criticism applies, because.... > In the original paper, this wasn't as clear as it should have been, > and this is how I've clarified this point in my resubmission. > > > If the paper is still turned down, if you think the paper is VERY important, and that the literature would truly suffer without publication, sometimes editors can be persuaded to send it out for a third review if there is a major disagreement between reviewers. This is more likely to happen if the first review is clearly and overwhelmingly positive, and not "on the whole" positive. Don't go to this well for borderline cases, and certainly don't do it too often-- it's a once or twice in a career thing. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: [dan1111's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/90044/41302) is excellent, but I want to add some aspects that have not been mentioned enough. First, in the second round of revision, the reviewers may see each others report and this may play to your advantage, if the first reviewer disagrees with the second. Second, it appears that your particular field is characterized by a split between competing theories, with you adhering to one and the reviewer to another. In such cases there is often a almost religious belief in the 'correct' approach and rejection of any alternative (including supporting evidence). If this is the case here, there is very little you can do to change the belief of the second reviewer. Third, you should not avoid confronting the 2nd reviewer by being just polite. An important argument is as follows. Whether a certain theoretical approach is correct or not should be decided in an open scientific debate and not by peer review. The scientific journals are the platforms for scientific debate, which happens in form of publications. Suppressing publications, not because they are demonstrably wrong but because they follow the 'wrong' theory, is dogmatic and suppresses scientific debate. Finally, it's not clear from your post whether reviewer 2 is not actually correct and your methodology is out-dated and proven to be unsuitable. When writing your response, it may be helpful to imagine that the reviewer is the author of the refuting paper XXX. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Walk away. Submit your work to a different journal. I received all kinds of reports, from detailed and helpful to totally unfair. Don't waste your time to try to argue against someone which cannot be convinced. Try to clarify some points in your paper and try again somewhere else. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: The good news here is that the editor clearly believes that the paper has merit and could potentially be published with revisions. If the editor agreed with your tough referee then you would have gotten a reject decision instead of a major revision decision. In such a case, I would imagine that the referee intends for you to undertake major revisions in accordance with the long list of issues highlighted by the first referee, and to justify your work in regard to the criticism of the tough referee. Now, you have read the paper this latter referee cited, and you still think your method is still okay. In view of this, you should add a paragraph to your paper noting the criticism in the cited paper and explaining why your research method is still okay despite this criticism. That will help to head off criticisms like the one made by your tough referee, and it should therefore improve your paper. In terms of responding in the response-to-referees document, I would then recommend something like this: > > Disagree, but revised anyway: We thank the referee for this general challenge to the approach used in our paper. We have reviewed <NAME> Jones (1994) and we are convinced that our research approach does not contradict this. In order to address this criticism, we have added an additional paragraph (p. 16) discussing the model criticisms made in Smith and Jones (1994), and explaining why our method survives these criticisms. > > > The editor will ultimately have to make a decision on whether your method is convincing in light of the referee criticism, and whether or not you have made the other revisions adequately. Based on the fact that your paper was not rejected outright after the initial review, the editor is obviously open to being convinced on this. Upvotes: 1
2017/05/26	2,304	9,718	<issue_start>username_0: Please help me. I can not tell psychologists about this because they are not mathematicians (They will not understand me) Sometimes I don't read about mathematics for a couple of months, I do not think anything about my research and then I feel like I forget everything when I go back to research. For example, I was working on a very important problem in March, and then I stopped doing mathematics so far. I want to go back to my research now, but I feel myself as weak, exhausted, lost my math skills and charlatan. Fear of failure, fear of losing everything, makes me crazy. what can I do? When I start researching again I have to learn math from scratch because I feel I have forgotten everything. It's disgusting because it makes me feel bad. Please give advice =) Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: As a grad student in computer engineering, I have a similar problem when I switch between projects that use different programming languages. I might spend months working in a high-level language like Python, only to switch to a project using a low-level language like C, or a project whose language I'm unfamiliar with, like MATLAB. As I see it, there are two issues here: 1. Documentation -- setting a project aside is unavoidable at some point. As @Bemte pointed out, the trick is to document your work well enough where you can pick the train of thought back up days, weeks, or months later. This takes time and effort to do well (something I'm still learning). Suffice to say -- your documentation should include everything that you need to familiar with the work in a reasonable amount of time. That might include: * Detailed notes of the conversations you had, proofs you were working on, etc. * Papers you were reading * Textbook chapters that are important * And so on. 2. Patience -- you said it's been a couple of months since you had looked at your work. I can say for sure that if I went 2 or 3 months without looking at my code, it would be like reading gibberish, and it would take me a couple of weeks minimum to get back up to full productivity. I may be reading too far into your words, but it sounds to me that you need to be patient with yourself. High-level mathematics is not a subject that you learn overnight; and any psychologist will tell you that it takes time to enter the [flow](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)). Be patient with yourself. --- I'll add this quick caveat: if you're concerned that you're still forgetting information even after you've been working on it continuously for weeks/months, that may be a sign of a more significant neurological or mental health problem. In that case, consult with (medical) experts. (Update: see @username_4's excellent answer on how to best do this [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/90084/36315).) But otherwise, it's likely just a matter of being human -- we all forget things after a while :) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: * When documenting your progress, err on the side of leaving a bit too much detail or explanation. This will increase the amount of time you can pick up and understand a document. * You might be experiencing [Impostor syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome), in which case, remember to "fake it 'til you make it". Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Sounds very much like the thing psychologists would know all about. That it happens specifically with mathematics is hardly relevant from the sound of it. I suggest disabusing yourself of the idea that being a mathematician makes you some sort of incomprehensible, special snowflake. You might need to specifically look for someone who has experience and specialties working with professionals or even academics, but beyond that you are definitely understandable enough to be helped. You show some, in my opinion, strong indicators of having fairly common psychological issues that a professional might be of great help to you with. Feelings of inadequacy and failure are quite common among researchers and other (high-end) professionals, and the more they dictate your life and well-being the more you should seek help. And altering the nature of your life and how you view yourself for months at a time is pretty significant. That said, there is an academia-specific matter that can be addressed here. As others have mentioned, being patient with yourself (it's hardly unusual to find your own work alien when you've not touched it in months) and documenting your work better are great ideas. There are also a couple of standard approaches researchers can use to keep themselves fresh even when they can't stay laser-focused on something. * The Feynman approach, as I'll call it, since this is something he specifically did for much the same reasons I'll state: teach. Teaching courses, be they undergraduate or graduate, helps keep you connected with the basic idea of doing math/physics/whatever, even if it's at a fairly elementary level. It's also great for forcing you to do rote repetition learning. You might be surprised at how much you help yourself by teaching courses. Constantly drilling in the basics of group theory, ring theory, even calculus is extremely useful for having the masteries of the fundamentals necessary to do good research. Teaching the occasional advanced topics course is also good. This can fix your issue with feeling like you're forgetting fundamentals pretty quickly. * Have a backup plan. Don't overspecialize by only ever having one thing to research and think about. Have a few other things on the back burner, so that when you're bored with idea A, or it's evolved to a high-effort enterprise you can't afford right now, you can switch over to one of B, C, or D. I keep a list of all of the research ideas I think up, so I can consult it whenever I need something. Don't be afraid or ashamed if some of the projects seem silly or minor. To steal and modify a line from Star Trek: Don't try to be a great mathematician. Just be a mathematician, and let history make its own judgments. Sometimes greatness emerges from amusing little dalliances. But most importantly, fun and amusement routinely do. * Socialize. Even if you can't teach, or can't seem to find anything to research even in a playful sort of way, there are still options. Attending conferences, or seminars at local universities (your own or not), are simple, low-intensity ways of keeping yourself engaged and (technically) productive without actually requiring you to produce novel new research. Giving talks can also help, and doing so doesn't always require you to have novel new results—sometimes a survey of results in a field, or a discussion of preliminary results, is acceptable or straight-up desirable. Attending such events also makes it easier to pick up additional topics for research, or people who will collaborate with you. This can turn a project that you couldn't proceed with into one that you can, should they luckily be interested in it. You'll also better understand your place in the research community. Because, quite honestly, some talks are awful. And realizing that there are successful researchers that sometimes (or often) give talks that bomb or are just plain boring and opaque can be reassuring. Be courteous to the speaker, of course, but take solace that the occasional failure or misstep is hardly a problem only you suffer from. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Others have contributed helpful things, e.g. make notes before putting a project on a back burner. But I want to tell you about something that I haven't seen here yet. I don't know whether this will be relevant for you; but it might be, so here goes. I help my fourteen-year-old son with his math when he needs help. He's taking Algebra this year. What I see is that there are periods, which sometimes last several weeks, in which he seems to have forgotten everything he ever knew about math! He has some neurological differences, specifically, Tourette Syndrome, ADHD, OCD and anxiety. Of all of those, the one that I have been able to trace most clearly to these periods of difficulty functioning in math is... (drumroll please)... anxiety. I know nothing about you. I have no idea if anyone would find any neurological differences or mental health issues that might explain what you have experienced. But what I can tell you is how to find out. The place to start is with your general practitioner (primary medical provider), and the next step is to get what's called a psychoeducational evaluation. This can be covered by health insurance if it is ordered by your primary provider. When you go see the doctor, just print out the question you posted here and give it to him or her. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: [Mathematics, anxiety, and the brain](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28157694) This info is from the NCBI, I am constructing it from the Abstract: Studies have shown that learning mathematical and numerical concepts relies on many cognitive processes, including working memory, spatial skills, and linguistic abilities. This paper discuss the relationship between mathematical learning and cognitive processes as well as the neural substrates underlying successful mathematical learning and problem solving. It also discuss the relationship between these cognitive processes, mathematics anxiety, and mathematics learning disabilities (dyscalculia). It says that mathematical cognition relies on a complex brain network, and dysfunction to different segments of this network leads to varying manifestations of mathematical learning disabilities. Hope this help. Upvotes: -1
2017/05/26	993	4,526	<issue_start>username_0: I have structured my Phd thesis as several chapters. First few chapters addresses the basics and functional aspects of the subject area and then i have 3 different chapters addressing three research questions with their own individual introduction, methodology and conclusion. My question is if i can follow my above structure or its better to sum up and have only one introduction and conclusion sections for my whole thesis. Many Thanks for your time!<issue_comment>username_1: Without knowing the specifics of your research topic, it is sort of hard for one to say "yes, this makes sense" or "no, this doesn't make sense". I can see how your current plan would make sense if the topics are sort of unrelated. But if they are sort of related and all lead to a bigger conclusion at the end (i.e. the whole is greater than the sum of the parts), then this plan may not make sense. The best person to help you through this question is your advisor. He/she will be more knowledgeable about the topic and may have ideas for a better structure. Also, some advisors and/or universities may have a prescribed format that they want all theses in, so you'll want to verify that you conform to that as well. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: A PhD thesis is typically expected to be a single, coherent work. Your thesis may have several subquestions, but those parts need to fit together to form a single story. I don't think you can do this effectively without an overall introduction that sets the context for the work you did and a single conclusions section that presents your overall findings at a high level. You really need single introduction and conclusions sections to bring the work together. (That's all the more true if your PhD seems like three separate pieces of work at first glance: then you need to make sure you work to convince those evaluating you that there really is a single story here). That said, an internal intro-methods-results-conclusions structure is a good way to organize chapters on specific parts of the work. I think you are on the right track here--you just need to bring it together with a higher-level structure about the PhD as a whole. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Some programs are moving from a single dissertation to a three-paper approach, where the student is expected to prepare three stand-alone papers that are ready for submission to peer-review journals. There are pros and cons to each approach. However, the traditional dissertation format is where you have a cohesive introduction (with sub-sections to address different topics), a single methodology chapter, and cohesive conclusion. While any of these parts may be more than one chapter, the dissertation is not necessarily designed to be three separate papers melded together. As said by username_1, your advisor will have to sign off on the dissertation, so his or her opinion is very important. You should talk with him or her soon so that you do not put more effort into a format that will not be approved. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The thesis is divided into five main chapters. They are 1. Introduction: The introduction part introduces the topic to the readers. It gives idea about the aim, scope, background, hypothesis, research gap and outline of the entire thesis. 2. Literature review: In literature review section, the literature related to the topic is discussed. The literature review is done to identify the gap in the previous research that our research is trying to fulfil. The theoretical framework is developed in this section. It is always suggested to write the introduction after completing the literature review since the gap identified serves as the aim and objective. 3. Methodology: This is the section where we discuss about what kind of approach that we are going to use to evaluate our aims and objective. The reason for choosing particular method, how it is going to be carried out, where it is going to take place, and who are the participants are also explained in this section. 4. Results: This is the chapter were the research is carried out and results are highlighted in this chapter. Statistical analysis is carried to evaluate the data. 5. Discussion and Conclusion: This is the chapter where the result is summarised. The results supported with previous literature and the limitations are highlighted. The conclusion part is where the results emphasised in relation to the aims and objective. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/26	465	1,776	<issue_start>username_0: I am a Molecular biology post graduate from India. I enquire about PhD vacancy to various potential principal investigators (PhD supervisors) by sending my CV and cover letter. When I receive a rejection mail like mentioned below, how do I respond to the scientist? I would like to have good rapport with the lab as I aspire to join the lab later. Or should I ask any questions? Examples of rejection e-mail: > > Thank you for your interest in joining our lab. Unfortunately, I'm not looking for a phd student. Good luck > > > > > I am sorry but the lab is full > > ><issue_comment>username_1: I would probably not bother to reply; the negative answer that you got seems to have to do with the fact that there are no open positions. The best you can do is to keep an eye open for PhD positions being announced in the future. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: These are per se not mails that require any response. Most likely, the matter is finished for the scientist. The most I would write back is > > Thank you for the information. > > > Sincerely, Ak2817 > > > If you wish to stay on the "good side" I would definitely not respond with further questions or inquiries at this point. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: Many labs receive many such email requests every week and don't even have the time to look at them in any detail (unless, of course, you are applying to a particular advertised position, but that was obviously not the case here). The best course of action on your side is to not respond. You should try to apply to advertised PhD programmes rather than just send uninvited CVs and covering letters to all possible labs. The chances to secure a position in this latter way are very slim, IMHO. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/26	739	3,301	<issue_start>username_0: I have started doing a project and I promised to report my results every week to my professor. At the beginning, he told me you should have a reasonably good laptop. I thought my laptop could support the project. Yesterday, I realized that my laptop has a 2G graphic card and the project needs a laptop with the at least 3G graphic card. I have written the code but my laptop can't run the code to see the results. What should I tell my professor? If I buy a new laptop it will take about 1-2 weeks, however my financial support from my family is poor.<issue_comment>username_1: Can you find other alternatives? Maybe you can install the tools you need on the computers in the library and use them to run codes. Many departments have servers which you can use remotely to run codes. Maybe that is an option too. Tell your advisor about this situation. 1-2 weeks is not a significant delay. Explain why you cannot run codes and tell them about your financial situation and that you may not be able to buy a new one. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It should really be the responsibility of your professor to secure the required equipment to successfully complete your project; it's not quite right on his part to demand that you pay for any part out of your own pocket. Typically, a laptop is cheap relative to the professor's grant whereas it is unrealistic to expect a student to pay 1k to 2k. After all, the work you do is probably for a project that your advisor has funding for, and it's as much to his benefit as yours to successfully complete it. If he requests you to pay, it seems like he's talking advantage of his students. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It's not quite clear form your post what kind of student project this is. However, it's highly unusual for the University to require you to have your own laptop. In most (undergraduate) courses computers are provided for report writing and similar tasks, which do not require powerful machines, but many students use their private laptop for these (mainly for convenience). However, for research projects, when more powerful hardware is needed, Universities generally provide appropriate hardware, for example in form of access to some University owned supercomputer or even a personal laptop. So what should you tell your Professor? Simply state the facts. Tell him that your personal private laptop is not as powerful as you thought and that it appears that you cannot do the project with it. You may add to ask what arrangements the University/Departmant/Lab has for such common situations. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Professors are (usually) not soulless monsters, and can understand your situation. A delay because the hardware requirements are slightly higher than what you expected at the beginning is not uncommon in research. Tell him right away, so he can tell you what options are available. It could be anywhere from borrowing equipment from the department or getting access to a computer cluster, to getting log in access into his own machine to run things, or even help adapting the code to run on your card. The bottom line is: you shouldn't be afraid of talking to him, you have a reasonable problem, and part of his job is to help you through them. Upvotes: 4
2017/05/28	2,336	10,169	<issue_start>username_0: What should a faculty supervisor do about a PhD student who does not seem to be trying to make their work better? Let's assume the supervisor has given detailed and specific instructions, which the student agrees to follow. But the student either does not finish the instructions or includes many errors. The supervisor points out the errors. This process has been repeated for several years, affecting both the student's research and job search. The student is from a different country, and has not adjusted to academic communication practices, despite being aware of the need to do so. The student has done a lot of things, but continues to have poor quality execution and pace. Typically the supervisor does not wish to kick students out of the group. What is the right course of action?<issue_comment>username_1: For simplicity, I assume OP is the supervisor. The ground rules need to be set early on. I will be quite tolerant of a student who clearly puts in effort to improve and develop themselves, even if it does not work immediately (learning takes time). But it must be very clear what is expected (from me) and very clear that they put in effort (from them). If this has not been done early on, it is almost impossible to change them. You say it has been going on for several years, so the pattern is unfortunately already burned in. To try to change this, you could try to make a drastic policy change with a clear-cut test period and consequences if there is no visible improvement. But your message must be believable in that, if they do not apply themselves, you won't be able to supervise them any further, or they won't change. Even so, consider the chances to be low for this; they will be moderately better if there is serious willpower behind it (even then it is very hard to change ingrained behaviour and it takes long time). The quote comes to mind "Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results." There is wisdom in the saying: if you expect a change in the situation, you must change the circumstances in some respect. If you expect a drastic change, you must change the circumstances drastically. Unfortunately, switching modes may be hard for you to do if you already have an amicable relation with the student; perhaps adding a second supervisor acting as "bad cop" might help here. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You could task (with no specific timeframe) the PhD student to get a paper published. This way, part of the "bad cop" role will be (a) anonymized and (b) outsourced to the community. Even better: (c) even if you might currently be under a misapprehension about the quality of the student's work, it'll show this way, too, in a nice and useful way - you both may think of it as free external assessment! Be ready to support with this task by allowing room for it, offer your expertise if and when needed, but don't force it. But make clear without ambiguity, that it's paramount to the PhD student's job not only to do own research, but to communicate about it, too. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: The best thing which you can do is: let the student carry his responsibility. Having a PHD thesis compliant to the norms of the place where the students wants to do it is his task. A PHD student is (supposedly) not a 16year old high-schooler. If he does not prioritize this very important evaluation of his life appropriately, the he should not have a PHD title. To do this work is his obligation and interest, not yours. Remark: i dont advise to throw him out but rather not waste time on him. Plainly wait if he does the tasks or not. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The phrasing of your question suggests that you are treating this PhD candidate either as just a student - like an advanced undergrad, or alternatively, like an employee who gets tasks from his boss and is supposed to faithfully execute them. This is a misconception (or rather, this should not be the case). A PhD is a period in which a young academic should experience conducting supervised, but mostly independent, research. An important aspect of this is having his/her own motivation, plans and goals. While these should certainly be worked out together - it seems like in your student's case that's all kind of external to him/her. Does s/he even want to do what s/he's doing? Being told to do? Also, you mention 'errors', but also having "done a lot of things" and an issue with pace. So, is it that s/he doesn't advance enough on any one thing because of being involved with too many activities? Has this PhD candidate decided what his/her PhD is about? Finally, does s/he confide in you (= his/her supervisor) as a friend? If not, and you're essentially the person who keeps tell him/her how he's done poorly and committed many errors, perhaps you should try finding a third party - either informal, such as a friend of his/hers who you can approach, or formal, such a PhD program counsellor, to try to initiate some indirect communication about the way s/he views things. I would not be entirely surprised if there are certain hardships, difficulties, challenges your PhD candidate is not sharing with you considering the dynamic you described. The bottom line is that I suggest you find out the answers to these questions; the answers will likely be a far better guide than our suggestions here based only on our limited information. In Proverbs 22:6 (of the Bible) it says "Train the youth by his own path, and he shall not stray from it even to old age." Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Dealing with wayward students comes with the territory of being an academic. Not every student will be successful and, unfortunately, you have to be prepared to deal with that. It sounds like the situation has gotten out of hand, as it has gone on for years. Expectations need to be set early and often, so that, if things do go off track, the problems are addressed as soon as possible. The other answers offer good suggestions, but your comments suggest that you [I'm assuming you are the student's supervisor] are worried about how it affects you. So I will offer a different suggestion: Involve other (more senior) faculty from your department. If you involve other faculty, they will share the responsibility for the outcome (thereby reducing the possible damage to your reputation) and, more importantly, they will be able to give you better advice than random people on the internet. Where I did my PhD, there were established procedures to involve other faculty: Early in the PhD, each student had to pass an oral qualifying exam involving several faculty, which helped identify struggling students and provide feedback. Also, there was an annual student review in which the entire department met to discuss the PhD students one-by-one, which allowed their supervisors to raise issues and get input from others. Finally, each student's dissertation committee was officially a standing committee (although for most students it only convened for the defense). That is, for problematic students, the dissertation committee would convene regularly to assess progress and set goals for the student. The committee thus shared responsibility for "kicking out" students. Does your department have similar procedures? If so, follow them. If not, suggest that such procedures be implemented and informally approach other faculty in your department for help. Remember that it is in no one's interest for a student to continue on a bad trajectory (including the student's). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Get the chair of your department and the appropriate dean(s) involved. They will help you begin a process that will (or could) end up with the student being removed from the program. Deans and Chairs know how to do this properly, with paper trails and specific goals and documentable targets that the student will have to achieve in order to continue in the program. Probably you'll end up sitting down with the student, the advising committee, and the Chair, and set a series of specific things that the student will need to do, by specific dates, in order to stay in the program. Document the goals, and set them to be realistic and achievable by a good student -- in other words, you can't set the student up to fail with impossible goals, but it's fine if the goals are impossible for them; that's the point, that they can't achieve reasonable goals. Make sure the student is aware that they need to meet these goals or they are out. Document, document, document. Record the progress the student has made so far and what they have failed to achieve. Hold weekly meetings with the student and note progress, or lack of it. If after six months (or whatever the committee recommended) the student has not met the goals, don't revise the goals or say "Oh, pretty close, we'll give you another two weeks". If the student didn't meet the goals you agreed on, they should be out of the program, and this is not something you can do, it's up to Deans and administrators, so you need to be communicating with them throughout. If the student does achieve the goals, set a new series of goals for the next six months with exactly the same documentation and aims. The most likely thing that that the administration will find a moderately face-saving solution for everyone involved. Most often, the student will be given an option to "Master out" -- everyone will agree that they've met the qualifications for a Master's degree, not a Ph.D., here's your diploma, good luck, don't let the door hit you on the way out. Does this sound like a lot of work? Probably -- but it's not much more than you should be doing for all your students anyway. Setting goals, holding meetings to ensure progress, holding people accountable for their actions and progress, are all routine processes for managers, which is what you are (among many other things). Unfortunately most academic supervisors aren't trained in management and have to learn it the hard way, screwing up at least one student's life and their own in the process. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/28	1,471	6,716	<issue_start>username_0: Every time I get a new research student, I ask them what they want to do after they graduate. I want to help them achieve their goals. Invariably, it goes like this. Me: What do you want to do after you graduate? Student: I don't know. Me: Make an appointment with career services. They are experts in helping you make career plans. The earlier you plan, the greater your chance of success. One month passes. Me: Did you go to career services? Student: No I have never worked outside academia. How can I improve on this process which has been failing miserably?<issue_comment>username_1: You do not mention if your research students are graduate or undergraduate students. First consider the extent to which career services at your university may or may not be helpful for your students. For instance, it may be helpful for resume and cover letter writing or interview strategies. However, it is designed for the whole student body and many not be helpful in pointing students in a specific discipline into a career path. So, they may not value career services as a resource for learning about future careers. Second, it may be that your students have a narrow definition of what types of jobs there are in your field or what type of work is involved with different types of jobs. Your students may be open to learning more, but are unsure what questions to ask or where to research job opportunities. This may also be why students are more likely to look into job opportunities later in their education, than early in their education. They know more later about the field. One suggestion to improve the process is to organize a seminar that includes faculty in your department and local professionals in your field to talk about careers in your field. Students will find this more inspiring and can learn more. You can make this a regular event (annual, each semester) and rotate the panelists so that students can see a variety of job opportunities and perspectives. I've seen this done in several disciplines and students seem to appreciate it. Also, since the panelists are basically discussing their own experiences, there is minimal prep for the people who volunteer. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: When I grade students' homeworks, and see that they consistently are missing answers to problems and thus making a low homework average, I will often suggest to them in written feedback or email that they attend office hours, study, and/or work practice exercises prior to the midterm. Some of them take that advice, but others don't and end up with a C average (or worse) on the exams and the class overall. I think you're finding a similar situation here. You give students some advice on how to improve their careers, and they don't follow the advice. It's our job to provide students with learning opportunities and environment, and advice, but ultimately the student has to take some actions of their own to succeed. Although it's tempting to take responsibility for our students' success, we can't make the choices for them. Think back to when you were a student. What career support did you expect from your professors and advisors? If you're meeting those expectations, then you're doing your job here. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I think this is a conversation that should evolve over time. For a new PhD student in the US, who might be beginning a 5 year program, "what do you want to do after you graduate" is a big question and they may not know yet. I think it's worth asking, because some students may know and of course the earlier they know, the earlier you can give them concrete advice. It might be useful for you to give them your perspective on the pros and cons of different, common options -- of course you can emphasize this is just your perspective and they should seek out other opinions as well, and you aren't telling them what to do or judging them on their decisions. But I think just providing a framework and emphasizing this is an important thing to be thinking about early on -- even if the student doesn't know exactly what they want to do -- is already being supportive. But there are still intermediate steps that can seem more attainable and real and still are useful even if they don't know what they want to do after graduation right away. For example: "you should be thinking about giving a good presentation and networking at your first conference. What are ways you can prepare for that?" Or, later on, "you should start thinking about who might be able to write you letters, and what are some ways you could get other faculty to know your work." These smaller-scale career-development conversations can naturally become larger ones over time, by building trust and establishing a language. And I think it is worth revisiting the question of long-term career goals with the student regularly, say every 6 months to a year even for students who had a clear answer on day 1, since plans may change (actually, in general, "career development" discussions can even be more frequent depending on your relationship with your students, although these might be about smaller scale issues than "after graduation" talks). As a student approaches graduation, they will start to have to grapple with whether to continue as a postdoc or pursue industry opportunities. They will also have more information about how they like academia and their field, and what their skills are. Students approaching graduation may not feel comfortable telling their advisor they are thinking of leaving academia; if you want to be supportive, then making it clear that you want to support them regardless of their decision can be extremely valuable. Showing them to career services is certainly one track, but if you have colleagues who have changed fields, then putting your students in contact with these colleagues is also very valuable, since it is very hard to get good information about non-academic jobs from within academia. And, on the other side, for students that want to pursue a postdoc and tenure-track position, there are many steps that are valuable to take before writing job applications that students might not think about; starting a conversation 6 months before job application season starts might help prevent common pitfalls. Of course it is also on the student to act on advice and take responsibility, but I think my overall feeling is that if you want to be a supportive advisor, having these kinds of conversations regularly, and trying to be as non-judgmental as possible and letting the student find their path in their own time, are good ways to help guide a student develop their own career. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/28	335	1,213	<issue_start>username_0: I’m not familiar with German academic system. I got a name card from a German professor and found that his title is as > > Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. X > > > When I am writing a mail to him, can I starting the mail as follows? > > Dear Professor Dr.-Ing. habil. X, […] > > ><issue_comment>username_1: If you yourself are not a German academic, I am certain it would be quite fine to refer to him as "Dear Professor X" rather than specify the full academic title. I've heard people refer to German academics using this abbreviation (although, frankly, not in German). I also suspect that this would be ok even if you are a German academic and are writing him in German - but that's pure speculation on my part, based on how it's unlikely you're supposed to use such long titles. Edit: Comment seems to verify this. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: No, just "Dear Professor X" is correct and completely in line with the German conventions. The "Dr.-Ing. habil." part refers to certain qualifications (PhD in Engineering and a Habilitation -- a German qualification to teach at a University), but is only ever used on name cards and CVs etc. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
2017/05/28	1,982	8,551	<issue_start>username_0: Is it possible to pursue a research career inside a university without teaching duties? I don't like to teach, I love research and I love being affiliated to a university. The universities I am interested are based in Europe, UK and USA. Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: Some universities in the US have Research Professor positions available. These usually are non-tenured positions, and they often don't have any salary lines associated with them; the research professor's salary comes entirely from the research grants that the research professor brings in as a Principal (or Co-Principal) Investigator, or participates in as a Senior Investigator (someone else, possibly even from another university, is the Principal Investigator) on the research grant or contract. There are similar positions at the associate and assistant professor levels. Such positions are often created at the behest of the applicant: a hot-shot researcher with no interest whatsoever (and possibly no experience too) in teaching wants to bring his lab/research program from, say, industry or a free-standing research institute, to a university and offers to do so if the university creates a position from him. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes. In the UK such positions are called Research Assistants or Research Associates. There are also Postdoctoral Researchers. These are full-time salaried researchers who are employed on specific grant funded projects. The only down-side is that they are often fixed-term contracts linked to the fixed term research grant; however, UK employment law does offer some protection, because if you land several sequential fixed term positions at the same institution you are regarded as a permanent employee with greater rights when the funding ceases. Such positions are advertised in the Academic press (such as the Times Higher Education Supplement) or on jobs.ac.uk. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: There are quite a number of fixed-term positions (research associate or postdoctoral research assistent), funded on research grants, typically for 2-3 years and advertised worldwide. There are also research fellowship with various funding agencies, typically for 3-5 years (or even longer) for early-career researchers. However, when it comes to permanent positions, the options are limited. There are some places where you can avoid teaching undergraduates. However, any (good) researcher should (and will want to) have postgraduate students (e.g. PhD). Some Universities have research-only positions and there are also research institutes, for example the German Max-Planck institutes, where researcher still have access to postgraduate students. However, having said all that I must warn you. 1. Passing the knowledge on to coming generations is a very important task of every researcher. This includes the more basic stuff, i.e. undergraduate teaching. 2. Research-only positions are generally more competitive and you may not be able to afford the username_5ury to only apply to such posts. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: In France the CNRS offers each year a few research-positions in a considerable range of disciplines. (The initial hiring is usually done at a level comparable to assistant professor.) The recipient of such a positions is then typically assigned to some university where they will work in the laboratory corresponding to their field. These are permanent positions, and there is an option for later promotions. For certain disciplines there are other organization that offer similar types of jobs (such as Inria, for computer science). With such a position it is also possible to supervise students, and it is often also possible to teach a bit on the side (if at some point, one wants to). Thus, I would say, yes, this is possible. But, as said in another answer, there is a lot of competition. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Firstly, it is quite simply incorrect to say that research institutions are void of prestige, especially amongst the academic community, whose respect is presumably what you are trying to garner. I would also suggest that a long-term career in research - with all of the ups and downs, the long projects, setbacks, funding rejections, problematic reviewers and more - is only sustainable if your primary motivation is to learn more about your field and contribute to its development, rather than prestige. Secondly, your comment about postdocs indicates that you do not understand how academic progression works. It is normal to carry out 2 or (usually) more postdocs before finding a tenured, permanent or long term post somewhere. Postdocs are an invaluable experience, where you learn about your subject, how to carry our research, the different cultures and working practices of other institutions and other counties etc. Indeed, many researchers find they were more productive during their postdocs than during their fixed posts, which come with additional admin, teaching and/or outreach duties. It would be foolish to suppose you can jump straight into a permanent post without gaining this insight into academic and building up your portfolio of articles, conference attendance and seminar practice. Thirdly, how did you get to where you are? Do you not think you have a duty to give back to the academic community who trained you, rather than rejecting the notion of sharing your knowledge with students, as your professors did with you? Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: It's perfectly possible. I'm at a UK Russell group university. I work with two professors with no teaching commitment whatsoever. (This isn't the 'research professor' post described in another answer. These are people with the same tenure and status as professors with a more diverse portfolio - they just don't have any teaching commitments) The university has a whole pathway from PhD through to professorial level for people with no teaching commitment (and similar pathways for people with no research commitment, and for people with a mix of teaching and research). Until a couple of years ago I was Director of a department which employed multiple staff at all these levels as research only, with no teaching commitment. It seems unlikely that my university is the only one that does this in the U.K. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I can imagine this answer being just the opposite of what you're asking for, but can I ask you why you don't want to teach? I remember that, when I was in my twenties, I didn't like teaching as well: I was so nervous while standing before a group of people that I froze and hence, I didn't see myself as being capable of teaching. So, when I graduated from university I started looking for a job in the industry but I didn't find anything right-away. As a result, I started teaching anyway, I was standing before some classes who didn't care at all about what I was saying ("Sir, why do we need mathematics for stirring in the soup?"), so after some months I was happy finding another job in the industry, where I'm working ever since. Now however I'm still enjoying the results of what I learnt at that school: I can still very easily stand before groups of people and say something without freezing, I even did the presentation of a quiz during the wedding of one of my best friends, in front of 150 people. This would not have been possible without that teaching experience. I'm not simply writing this for explaining my own personal situation: I am aware that public speech is a big burden for lots of people, and the more those people are interested in investigation and research (like you), the more they tend to have difficulties with this matter. (in case this does not apply to you, feel free to delete this answer) One other thing: as mentioned before indeed much universities give the opportunity to do research without teaching duties, but on the other hand, if you present yourself at a university, refusing one of the basic task of a university, you might make a very bad first impression. Therefore, I'd propose you to present yourself at a university, being very willing to do research, but you mention that teaching might be problematic, and you mention the specific reason(s). As universities are very good at problem solving, in case they need you to fulfill teaching duties, they will make sure you get the proper guidance and you might very well end up stronger than you imagined at first. Good luck Upvotes: 2
2017/05/28	2,862	11,533	<issue_start>username_0: I will be graduating with a degree in Software Engineering. I have a 4.0 GPA at this institution (not counting the 3.85 GPA I transferred in with). The institution is awarding me Outstanding Scholar for my degree program/campus/year. I am seriously considering not walking in graduation. Being on stage in front of people is not my definition of celebration, and I am not a fan of tradition unless there is a logical reason behind it. (I'm an INTJ personality type.) For the outstanding scholar award, they will be giving me a certificate and honor cords at an awards banquet that is before graduation. Does that imply they expect me to walk? Is it an insult to not do so when they are giving me an award? Actual diplomas will be mailed sometime after the ceremony in the summer. The ceremony doesn't cost anything to be a part of (other than the cost of getting a degree :). There are about 20 people graduating this year in my major. I have a sister graduating the same day in a city 8 hours away (and only an hour from home), so most parents/relatives will be at the other graduation anyway. As an alternative to the ceremony, I am thinking of writing thank you cards to the teachers and mentors who were influential in helping me get to this point.<issue_comment>username_1: They cannot make you walk, that said, they might be hoping you do. It sounds like the ceremony is prior to graduation, so there may not be any additional reason for you to walk. That said, it would be best to ask. That said, for many graduations, people do not get called up on stage. Those that do call people by name, the appearance is brief. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If attending a graduation ceremony is not your cup of tea, you don't need to go. Better to stay away than to go and be uncomfortable! It would be considerate to let your department know that you won't be attending. Some universities make more of a thing of graduation than others, so depending on the vibes at your school, you might want to have some travel plans that conflict with graduation day. By the way, congrats! Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: Your hard-work is the respect you gave to your university and your teachers. Whether you are around to let them put feathers on your cap isnt important - you can always excuse yourself with a polite letter. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: From the point of view of a faculty at a mid-size university: I honestly do not care if students walk or not. Any kind of personal congratulation or communication I want to have with outgoing students I do on my own time. I'm not going to keep track of any particular student (or count on being able to find such a person) at a graduation event. This might be different if you go to a much smaller university. However, graduation ceremonies are often much more for the people outside of the university rather than inside. Parents, relatives, and friends are probably much more excited to see you walk across the stage than you are, and definitely more excited than your professors are. I'd check with them before eschewing graduation before I'd check with professors. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: For a more generic case: check with your university's graduation department or equivalent. Other answers here are answering specifically to the US, but that does not apply to every country and institution. Here in Brazil I was obligated to participate in the ceremony, otherwise I would get no diploma, and enter a "hiatus" state instead of "graduated". Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: The institution itself is pretty unlikely to care. INTJ's a pretty common personality type in your major's field, so many of your instructors and peers probably feel the same way. ### Consider your family The one big consideration to make is your family. Depending on your family status and family members' inclinations, they might be the sort that's sacrificed a lot to help support you through your education and want to see you graduate. If you think about it, a lot of ceremonies are more about the family than the honoree (e.g., baby showers, infants' birthday parties, and funerals). Some parents take great pride in boasting of having just gotten back from their child's graduation, giving them another excuse to brag about all of their child's accomplishments. Gotta love parents! But, every family's different. Even if you have a very loving family who are highly invested in both you and your education, they may feel the same way that you do about such events. So, that consideration'll depend on personal factors. ### Let your classmates know Graduations have a lot of downtime in which students stand around. And what do you discuss? Your plans, career goals, exchange contact info, etc.; networking with your peers has become part of the ritual. While it's true that your peers could just look up your email address later, many prefer to do their networking at graduation - either because they planned it that way or because the ceremony of it all calls attention to the fact that you won't be seeing each other anymore. If you're going to skip the graduation, you can make up for it by getting this networking down in advance. Letting your classmates know helps signal that it's time to say goodbyes or/and exchange contact info. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: Your discomfort or disinterest in these events is something you'd better start getting used to : in real life (just starting, as it were) you're going to be required to attend all sort of proceedings which have little or no immediate practical purpose but are absolutely required for social, networking and simply to demonstrate you're part of a team. So, without being insulting, just forget about your own feelings and do it. At the very minimum, it's your duty to do do. It's also probably the one graduation ceremony you'll get the opportunity to attend, and I see no reason in avoiding it unless pressing business calls you elsewhere. So go and maybe, just maybe, it will be part of a small pleasant memory for the years to come. Think you're an INTJ do ya ? Well it's time to start factoring in the social and human needs of the world around you, not just yourself. Successful people - all of them - know how to do this. You're starting off badly by assuming the graduation ceremony is of no importance just because it's of no importance to you. > > I have a 4.0 GPA at this institution > > > Not at life. You appear to have a really low score at life. Honestly you give the impression of someone who thinks of themselves as above everyone else. Maybe it's only an impression and not the real you, but you need to learn to communicate and support other people, not just yourself. Soft skills. You need them. Be there and spend the day thanking people for everything they did. If you can't see the value of the human value in doing this, try the cynical, excuse me, logical one, that these are skills that will benefit you in the long run. > > I am thinking of writing thank you cards to the teachers and mentors who were influential in helping me get to this point. > > > A smile and a handshake and some words face-to-face would do a much better job and make better friends than a card. And not just the teachers and mentors, the librarians, lunch counter staff, porters and admin people. If they're not there on the day, the send them cards. A heck of a lot of people worked hard to get you to graduation. Learn to see the big picture. > > For the outstanding scholar award, they will be giving me a certificate and honor cords at an awards banquet that is before graduation. Does that imply they expect me to walk? Is it an insult to not do so when they are giving me an award? > > > In my view this makes it your duty to attend, and being outstanding or a leader of any kind requires you (if possible) to demonstrate that you appreciate the honor and want to show your gratitude and congratulate your classmates on their achievements. Leadership is about other people, not about yourself. Want to be a good leader ? Learn to factor them in as a first concern and yourself second. Start learning to look at the world this way. Treat the ceremony as a first step in learning to develop to leadership skills and soft skills you're going to need and, more importantly, the people who you end up trying to lead need you to have. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: > > INTJ personality type > > > You may view it as an extended training scenario! Do it, or learn to do it, and then do it. You feeling comfortable is not the primary function of this tradition. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: In the corporate work environment it is quite common for things to not really be entirely optional. A regional term I've familiar with is "business optional," but your supervisor might say something like "[person] is going to be at this event and you should meet them," or a mentor might tell you "this will be good for your career." All of these are effectively code meaning that even though nobody is going to force you to show up, it behooves you to show up. Usually this is something that comes up for [holiday parties](https://www.inc.com/alison-green/do-you-have-to-attend-your-office-holiday-party.html) but it's not just limited to those. The reason that I mention this is because commencement ceremonies operate the same way. If are recognized by the university in some way (i.e., Outstanding Scholar) then you are pretty much in a "business optional" situation. Likewise, I've always heard that if you are being hooded and your advisor can make it to graduation, you better be there as well. The good news is that, baring people on stage, commencement is a lot of sitting in the crowd not standing out. You are only on stage for a minute, tops, and it is over quickly. You also have a really good excuse not to go: your sister is graduating the same day and your family can't make it to both. You should inform people in your department. Usually there is a departmental celebration and you can let them know then. I doubt anyone will hold it against you under those circumstances. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Take a big breath, ignore the crowd and just go up there and accept the award. Once you start the walk to the stage you can ignore everything else. Like you, going to the ceremony was something I never wanted to do, but accepting an Academic Medal for Excellence is something that will only happen once in my lifetime. As a bonus I'll have the photos forever. Likewise, accepting the Dux award was at another ceremony, but I'm glad I went. I am sure that thank you letters are always welcome, irrespective of whether or not you attended the ceremony. So, IMHO, it's not an insult to the university if you don't go, it would just a shame for you to miss out on that special moment and associated photo opportunity. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: By all means do what you feel is best for you, but please don't typecast yourself based on the result you got from a Myers-Briggs test. It's more insulting to academia to perpetuate that pseudoscience than to not attend your convocation. Please don't claim to require logical reasoning for things when your basis for not attending isn't based on logical reasoning. Personality is extremely fluid and you are shorting yourself on a rare experience because of an apparent huff with 'tradition'. Upvotes: 5
2017/05/28	956	3,903	<issue_start>username_0: I am done with my MS in EECS from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and I currently working full time in a good company on OPT. I will be defending my MS Thesis in coming December. Moreover, when I contacted one of the well-renowned Professors in my department he expressed his interest in taking me as PhD student depending if his funding is approved in next few months. Here is the issue: My overall GPA is 3.43 and my core GP is 3.5. I had already mentioned this to the Professor, and I straight away told that after working hard I am just a solid B+ student that too when I study with friends. I sent my transcript to him thinking he would turn me down based on my GPA, but he did not. My question is: I don't have issues with quitting the well-paying job for the PhD program. But what scares me is the oral qualifying exam. If I don't make through the exam, and they decide to kick me out, I have no options. I will no longer be enrolled in the PhD program, and cannot go back to the industry as I have used up my OPT. My future goal is to join academia, but if I don't pass the qualifying exam, I will put my family and me in immigration issues. So, least I can do is to work in industry and give up on joining Ph.D. At least I will not put my family at HUGE risk of getting kicked out of the US after spending so much on MS program. Please advise. The reason I ask this question is that one must aware his limitations. When I compare myself with fellow PhD classmates, they way better than me in course work. I have never met any classmate in my graduate school who are less smarter than me.<issue_comment>username_1: While good knowledge is important - grades should not be a reason (in fact should not even be a part of the equation) you want/do not want to do a PhD. * Are you creative? * Are you really curious about something in nature? (need not be related to what you did for your master's) - or are you really really interested in building technologies that could lead to an interesting future for mankind? * Going back to question 2, are you curious enough to motivate yourself? * Again going back to question 2, Are you curious/interested enough to become an academic? i.e. spend long hours begging people for money so that you can satisfy your curiosity/interest and tell the world all about what you learn/invent. If the answer to these questions is yes, you can consider a phd. If you are trying to pursue a phd for industry (non-research)/management jobs - it is my belief that you will do well if you take up that job right now - it is easier to get, you will get valuable experience for the 4 to 5 years you will work on your thesis. These are of course my opinions. you can ask the expert - yourself. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Professors and admissions committees have a lot of experience in accepting students- they wouldn't offer you a position unless they were confident that you were capable of handling the program. It's just as bad a situation for your professor if you fail at the oral exam stage: they will be stuck in year 2 of a 5 year grant without an experienced student and no immediate replacement to carry on that work. Two specific thoughts: 1. Find out who the Graduate Program Chair or the Graduate Admissions Committee Chair is for your department and ask them the same question you asked your professor. These are people with a lot of experience handling and admitting graduate students, and they can give you an impartial opinion. 2. See if this program has an alternative to the oral examination. My program allowed thesis-option MS students to waive the oral exam under some conditions. In some labs it was very common for students (typically international students with weaker presentation skills) to fulfill the MS requirements and write a thesis rather than doing an oral presentation. Upvotes: 3
2017/05/28	627	2,572	<issue_start>username_0: I am starting my final year of my PhD and am starting to look into postdocs. I am interested in how much of a lag I should expect between getting my PhD and starting a postdoc. For context, I'm in the United States in biology. I would ideally like to defend my PhD and move for a new postdoc position within a month but I'm not sure how realistic that is. The reason I'm asking is that my landlord is expecting me to make a lease commitment and I'm not sure how long to commit to living here. The shorter the lease, the more expensive per month but too long and I have to break my lease early (expensive fines). For those who have gotten postdocs recently (especially in the US) how long would you recommend expecting it to take if I'm starting looking now (12 month before defending)? Any good rules of thumb?<issue_comment>username_1: Just changed from one post doc to another. It took me 3 months to send 100 applications, interview at few places. Ended up with 5 offers and chose 1. The kind of lab you join is extremely important. So don't shortchange yourself by picking a not-so-good lab to save yourself a few hundred dollars. A good lab will ensure a good job after the postdoc. Bad lab (which I chose too) will leave you in a shaky position and you might end up having to do another postdoc. 1 month's time has high potential of getting you in a not-so-good lab (that doesn't mean you won't get a good lab but chances are slim). Give yourself at least 3 months AFTER defense. In that time, apply to lots of places, interview at some and then pick the one that is the best for you. 1 month's time is not enough for defense and postdoc search. Good luck! Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: One (non comprehensive) rule of thumb is that post-docs are more likely than not to start at the beginning of an academic year or a semester even if we're not students enrolled to any classes. So, September-October or March-April typically. While this is in no way certain, you should probably allow for the possibility of not starting your new position right away but at one of these semi-annual points. Perhaps no less importantly: Try to get a rental contract with an exit clause. I'm not sure how common this is in the US, but in many states in the world you are allowed - either by the contract explicitly or by law - to terminate the contract with reasonable prior notice (e.g. 2-3 months) without the landlord needing to be compensated or having the right or charge you for rent beyond the time you leave. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/29	700	2,969	<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a scientific article. In the "materials and methods" section I must specify the hardware I used, namely an HP Pavilion dv6 Notebook PC (I also specified the details of its features). Now my doubt: Should I use bibliographic citations (such as when mentioning a software, book, or scientific article) when I mention the hardware? What is standard (if any) for such cases? Thanks in advance for any help and/or suggestion. P.S. I use APA standards for bibliographic references, although the question is independent of that subject.<issue_comment>username_1: You don't need to cite the computer manufacturer when mentioning that you use a certain kind of computer. In your case you don't need to cite HP in any way just because you're using an HP laptop. Honestly it's probably irrelevant but it's easy in this situation to be specific, so go ahead and be specific for the sake of reproducibility. If you are taking advantage of a particular feature of some hardware that is unusual or so obscure that it is unlikely to be common knowledge within your field then you would probably want to cite a user manual or similar reference so another researcher could get the details if they were interested. In empirical papers I've written in the past I've used descriptions like "Dell Opteron server with four Intel E2345 processors and 128GB of RAM" and nobody has suggested I need to be more or less specific. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There is a line to be drawn regarding which things that you used get to be cited. What deserves to be cited/mentioned? * The experimental hardware? A mention definitely, but a bibliography entry--probably not. * The PC you conducted measurements on? If the PC specs are relevant, yes. Again, why would you need to add a bibliography entry for that? If it is specifically mentioned that hardware need to be specified, then supply basic information like: Desktop PC with Intel Core i7 Processor (4x 2.0 GHz) and 4 GB DDR4 RAM. * The digital camera you took pictures with? Nobody mentions that. Edit: Apparently, sometimes people do, as salehgeek pointed out in his comment. As for the other points, I was talking about my field (engineering). I have never seen anyone mention the camera they photographed their samples with, but some may do that. Personally, I find it superfluous. * The software you used for processing the results? If it does something special (e.g. a simulation tool) yes, but nobody cites Word, Excel or LaTeX in their papers. In my field (engineering) the machines get mentioned in the experimental part (manufacturer, model). Sometimes exact settings on the machine are provided. Instruction manuals, manufacturer documents/websites are almost never in the bibliography. The best way for you to know what is accepted is to read related articles and see what the majority does. If it fits with your journal's guidelines, do that. Upvotes: 3
2017/05/29	893	3,768	<issue_start>username_0: Our team finished a paper 3 months ago. However, we use a result from another paper in a very top journal (one of the best). There are quite a lot misprints and somewhat mistakes. We can fix most of them but one inequality which they didn't have explanation why this inequality is true. We have spent 3 months to ask people (some extremely top mathematicians, they published many papers in the top 5 journals) and no one understand...We also asked the authors, but it seems that they don't want to explain that to us...We are really lost and don't know what to do...Shall we submit our paper? We really can not make sure that the inequality is true... PS. This result is crucial in our proof... Now, we have clarified the 'gap', there are some problems in the proof, the assertions are not accurate/correct. However, luckily, the final result is correct. After discussing with one of the authors, we confirmed that it is a gap and it took us quite some time to fix it. Well, some people told me that the 'big guys' do not care about the details. I am not sure whether these incorrect details would lead to wrong theorem. As a young scholar, I have to say that I am a little bit disappointed at math research (well, maybe my field).<issue_comment>username_1: If the paper clearly states the inequality is true and it was peer-reviewed and published in a reputable journal, you can assume it is true. The rule of thumb here is that you need to be able to fully understand the results of the paper you use, but not necessarily be able to reproduce ever result you cite. For example: when in any field you use statistics (e.g. an inequality), you need to understand the final equations you are using. However it would be silly to require almost every scientist to be able to independently prove each and every equation from scratch. The same is true for various measuring machines. As a scientist you need to know how to use your equipment and what it can and can't do. However beyond that, it is perfectly acceptable to cite that it works and treat it as a black box. Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: [Ask](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/ask) on [mathoverflow](https://mathoverflow.net/)! =========================================================================================== It's a site like this, but for math at research level. There is incredible expertise in all fields of math (I know of) over there. Before you ask, look at "[How to ask](https://mathoverflow.net/help/how-to-ask)" and also take a look around at the site to get a feel for how the folks roll. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Should you submit your paper under this situation - possibly. People assumed that Fermat's last theorem was true for centuries before it was proved. You don't necessarily need every detail of every proof. If it seems reasonable that it is true then it's okay so long as you are clear on this assumption, and caveats thereof, and your paper is essentially going to be retracted if the inequality isn't true, or have conditions to it. From your description however `There are quite a lot misprints and somewhat mistakes` this tells me that the paper is of questionable if not poor quality, and your mistake was doing further work that depended on this. In light of this I would not wish to publish without at least some verification of the inequality. Peer review in no way means something is true. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Well isn't it obvious? You just say "This is a proof dependent on the truth of result X". That will be true no matter if X is true or not. And then it is still a useful paper. Then if X is shown to be true, then your paper becomes a true proof. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/29	662	2,504	<issue_start>username_0: It was late at night I sent an email to my professor. due to time differences, it was early over there. After sending an email I slept and my professor responds me and askeS me to skype in 2 hours. I slept and I didn't even open the email. How can I ask a meeting? I didn't know he would ask me to have a skype, (in 2 hours after sending the mail):-O could you please tell me how to respond my professor?<issue_comment>username_1: Tell him "Sorry, I read your email just now. I am available for a skype meeting at (list of available times), please let me know which time suits you." Then just make sure that you will check your email before these times, so don't put "in an hour" and then don't check your email. All in all, he is also just human and will understand that you can't always sit in front of your PC and answer your emails. Oh, and make sure to remember the time difference when proposing a meeting time, don't propose something that is in the middle of the night for either one of you. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Students are allowed to sleep at night. In all likelihood the prof just forgot about the differences in timezone, or miscalculated the time difference. Just answer something like : Dear prof. XXX, Sorry I missed your reply. It was 22:00 hours when I sent that message, and went to sleep immediately afterwards. Could we make another Skype appointment? Best, YYY Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: > > Hi Prof X, > > Sorry, I missed the email about the skype meeting, > and the subsequent meeting. > > It was Ypm here when I sent it. > > Sending the email was the last thing I did before going to bed. > > This is the first I've checked my emails since I got up. > > > When would you like to reschedule the meeting (remembering I am in the Ztimezone)? > > > Kind Regards Nikki > > > There is nothing to be embarrassed about. I personally would suggest that this professor (or anyone) expecting you to read any email within <12 hours (or even <24 hours) of receiving it is a bit much. But that is a matter for you to discuss if you end up working with them: expectations of frequency of communications and responses, . It is obvious you couldn't have read it while asleep. So I wouldn't worry about it. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I hope I am not only one confused by futility of the question. Just reply and mention difference in timezone with proposing another term considering it. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/29	490	2,100	<issue_start>username_0: Just to explain my question a little bit. I know that if you owe the school money they are allowed to withhold your diploma and transcripts. My real question is if this is the situation and the college happens to change requirements for the degree before you fulfill your debt can they revoke the degree to make you take the classes needed?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, as you say, it is common that a university will refuse to issue a diploma or transcripts until you have paid them what you owe. However, I've never heard of them making you take more classes if requirements change in the meantime. Most universities have a policy that what you have to fulfill are the requirements as they were listed in the catalog of the year that you first entered the university / degree program. The university can't change them retroactively. But you'd better read your university's policies to be sure. This should be explained in the course catalog. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: What you're suggesting could happen, but it probably pretty rare in practice. Your school's policies will typically spell out the exact graduation requirements, including what happens when degree requirements change. For example, My undergraduate institution officially recorded the "catalog description" of each degree every year. When changes to the degree program occur, they only happen through changes to the official catalog description. The school's policy was that you were allowed to graduate under any catalog description for a year in which you were enrolled, for catalogs up to 7 years old. Suppose I enroll in school in academic year 2015- I'm entitled to graduate under the 2015 requirements up through the 2021-2022 academic year. If I'm enrolled for four years, then I also have the option of graduating under the requirements for 2016, 2017, and 2018 if I so desire. The intent here is that your degree program cannot unexpectedly become more difficult to finish, as long as you finish in a timely manner. This is pretty standard in the US as far as I know. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/29	904	4,197	<issue_start>username_0: The title is a bit vague by design. What I was actually wondering is, what happens if 1 out of 3 reviewers decides that the paper should not be accepted, but the other 2 reviewers find it interesting and suggest for it to be accepted? Must all 3 reviewers suggest that it is accepted or is that up to the editor? What is the most common outcome in situation like this? I'm stuck in this situation now - all 3 reviewers suggested some changes; while 2 were quite optimistic and also said that my work is interesting, the third one was really against it and suggested that we rewrite article anew, thus semi-rejected it; the reviewer really seems determined that our paper should not be accepted. Now, if I waste 2 months applying the changes and then wait another 3 for a review only to find out that the third reviewer still thinks it should be rejected, I've wasted almost half a year on nothing. The alternative is to resend the article to some other journal. Any kind of feedback will be appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: The editor will make the final decision, not the reviewers. Often you will receive a message (either via email or on the journal's submission site) from the editor that summarizes the reviewer comments and either outright rejects the paper or asks for a revised manuscript. Sometimes, it will specify "minor revision" or "major revision". As long as that message does not outright reject your paper, the editor wants to continue considering your manuscript for publication, and you should submit a revised manuscript. Even if you choose to submit to a different journal, you will need to disclose whether the paper has previously been submitted elsewhere. As such, the second journal can contact the first journal for reviewer comments. Thus, the negative reviewer's comments will sort of "follow you" regardless of where you try to publish this paper. Best bet is to stick with the first journal -- most journals that do not outright reject a paper after the first round of reviews will eventually accept the paper after reviewer comments are properly addressed. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: To add to the other answer that has been posted so far (from @username_1), I will add something from the perspective of a past editor in chief and frequent associate editor, in the field of computer science. Generally (look at the various posts about journal workflows) the reviewers provide their feedback, an associate editor recommends, and then the editor in chief either accepts that recommendation or pushes back in some fashion. So the comment about the editor wanting to proceed is accurate in the aggregate but it really refers to multiple people as a rule. But the key here is that when one reviewer recommends rejection, and other reviewers were more positive, I assume that the OP received a "major" revision that means it will be returned to the reviewers. Two already liked it so probably will be in favor of the revision. The one who didn't, if they were negative enough, may actually not be willing to review it again (after all, the editors didn't listen to them). I have encountered that several times as an associate editor. If they do review it again, hopefully they are professional about it and read it with an open mind, and you get your opportunity to improve the paper and respond to their criticism. So hopefully they are convinced to accept. If they don't, there is indeed a chance the paper will be rejected after revision. Just because the editor said to give you a chance to fix it doesn't mean in the end it is fixable. I once did a journal article that got back extensive comments and a very specific warning from the associate editor that we should not assume that the major revision we were doing actually would result in acceptance. We must have worked on it for another year and with a second minor revision after that, but it got in. But just because it may be rejected doesn't mean you shouldn't try. With 2/3 favorable, you seem well positioned, as long as you believe you can either fix what #3 complained about or make an argument in your response that they have it wrong. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/29	447	1,928	<issue_start>username_0: About 10 months ago, I submitted one little article to a journal and six months ago I received the acceptance. I uploaded the latex file and since then I didn't hear anything about it being published. Today it appeared a new issue of the journal so I must wait at least another 3 months. This will be my first published article and I started to become a little nervous about it. Can you tell me if something happened, like editor's changing his mind or delaying because they consider it less valuable than other submissions? Should I contact my editor about this?<issue_comment>username_1: It is very unlikely that the article has been "unaccepted", and as far as I know, most journals publish articles basically in order (modulo some special issues and things like that). However most journals have backlogs, and can take a long time from submission of the final copy to getting the article to print. I don't know how common that is in your field, but for math, in 2015, the AMS [published some data](http://www.ams.org/notices/201510/rnoti-p1266.pdf) on how long it takes math journals to publish an article; a quick glance shows that gaps of much longer than six months between acceptance and publication are common. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Many journals can take several months between when they tell authors the paper is accepted, and when the article appears in the print copy of the journal. (This is totally anecdotal, but in my experience, the time gap between acceptance and printing tends to be larger for journals that have shorter turnaround times for review and acceptance.) Suggest first pulsing your coauthors, peers, and/or colleagues on what their experience has been with this particular journal. If they suggest that this is out-of-normal for this journal, you might try contacting the editor who sent you the acceptance notification. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/29	819	3,281	<issue_start>username_0: In Chile, we score from 1 to 7 (this is a legal normative), where 4 is the minimum grade to pass. Thus, the passing grade corresponds to halfway point (50%) of the grade span (from 1 to 7). However, it is common practice to require a minimum score of 60% to pass (e.g. 6 points of 10). This creates a dissonance between the minimum grade and the minimum score to pass. If we use a minimum score of 50% (4) to pass, we use a linear function to assign grades. However, if we use a minimum score of 60%, we need two functions to calculate grades from scores. In other words, the function breaks at the minimum grade to pass, such that points at the bottom (below 4.0) are worth less than the points at the top (above 4.0). Having two functions to assess the performance troubles me. In other words, people that have more troubles in the course are being evaluated with harder standards than the ones with better performance. One solution to this problem would be to change the grading scale. Unfortunately, this is not legally an option in the short term. A second solution would be just to drop the minimum passing score of 60%. But I think sometimes you may need to increase the grading difficulty because of the importance of the content you are teaching. Under those circumstances, what is the better solution in this case: a single linear function or two different functions to grade scores?<issue_comment>username_1: You should focus on getting the grading correct for students who do much better than just passing, who score within the range where you would personally draw the line between who is an expert who has completely mastered the subject and who is good but needs to study a bit more to be considered to be an expert. This line is not usually at 100% because you can make minor errors even if you are an expert, it's more typically somewhere between 80% and 100%. You then want to assign some grade, say 7 to students who are at or just above that boundary, which mans that the boundary percentage should be mapped to 6.5. The goal of teaching is to assist students who do their best and may go on to embark on an academic career, it's not about catering to students who for whatever reasons end up not doing well. The students who are not doing well risk getting into problems; if they score sufficiently low they'll not "pass the course" but it's just a total waste of efforts to figure out how to draw the line for that. Your attitude should be that someone who scores well below, say, 85% has de-facto failed the course, but in the gray area between, say, 60% and that 85%, they are not going to be deprived of a diploma just because they didn't do well on your exam. Whether that 60% becomes 50% or 65% should not be of any concern to you. That uncertainty should make your students who are not studying hard enough worry a bit more so that they end up studying harder. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would tend to just follow the prescribed rule and call 50% (or 4) passing. My students generally have trouble enough meeting that threshold. On the other hand, you don't need "two functions" (nor a piecewise function) to do the task of transforming 60% -> 4. For example, y = 2.5x^2 + 3.5x + 1 does the job. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/30	2,542	10,196	<issue_start>username_0: During last 3 years I have published 17 articles, but I have only 15 citations (excluding self citation), which I find disappointing. My articles have 100s of downloads almost every month. They seem to be in high quality journals: 2 articles are in Q1 journals (i.e., a journal that is among the top 25% based on avg JIF percentiles), 5 in Q2 journals (i.e., 25-50th percentile), and the rest in Q3 journals (i.e., 50-75th percentile). I share my work on LinkedIn and upload them on arXiv as well, so I don't think reach is the problem. I work in the field of networks and security. Does this mean that my work is not worthy enough? Or I am missing something in attracting the research community to cite my work?<issue_comment>username_1: Do you go to conferences? Giving a good talk is a great opportunity to advertise your work and get it known by a larger circle of researchers. Also, I don't know where those download numbers come from, but don't take them too seriously. Typically these digits are inflated by search engine crawlers and other automated downloads. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: You might want to calibrate your expectations. What predicts how many citations you should expect? * Journal impact factor * Time since publication * Number of publications * Database used for counting citations In rough terms, the journal impact factor can give you an idea of how many citations you can expect to receive per year for a given article. Note that this is based on the relevant database. Google Scholar citation counts tend to be two or three times larger from my experience. Note also that the distribution of article citation counts are highly skewed. So many will get fewer citations, but hopefully as you aggregate over a body of work, central limit theorem will kick in. So it's a reasonable guide to a benchmark how many citations you should expect over the body of your work. Note also, the time it takes people to build on your work. So if you publish something late in 2014, it will often take at least a year for people to notice and start incorporating into journal submissions and for those articles to be published. The basic consequence of this is that if all your work has come out in the last 3 years, and therefore much of your work has come out in the last year, then you may have to wait a few years to see the citations accrue. ### How to calculate expected citations So let's do some basic math. * Mean impact factor: Based on your stated quartile impact factors, I'm going to guess that your average impact factor per article is around 0.8 (e.g., top quartile is around 2 or 3+; second quartile is around 1.5; third quartile is around 0.5, based on discipline it could be different). * Mean time since publication: I'll guess 1.5 years, i.e., half-way between 0 and 3 years. * Discounting self-citations: Impact factor does not discount self-citations, but you have. So let's say 20% of citations are self-citations, especially early on in an article's life. * Number of articles: you say 17 So a very rough estimate of expected number of citations is: ``` expected citations = mean IF * mean time since publication * self-citation discount * number of articles = 0.8 * 1.5 * 0.8 * 17 = 16.32 (i.e., 16 citations) ``` A few caveats: * If you are using Google Scholar as your metric, then you should multiply expectations by a factor 2 or 3 (so that gives you an expected citation count somewhere around 32 and 39). * You could get a more refined estimate if you calculated expectations for each article separately and then summed the expectations. * There is quite a bit of uncertainty about the timing issue. For example, with impact factor, the first few months often don't count and sometimes differences between accepted versus online access versus published with page numbers might make a difference. So actually, that does not look that different from what you have. Also, note that in theory, you could stop doing research today, and the formula would predict that 15 years, you could expect about 160 citations. As with all things, this depends on various assumptions. But if you are comparing your citation count to senior researchers who have been publishing for 20 years, then you need to really understand the fundamental role of time passing in generating citations. More generally, citation counts per article and even on aggregate can be quite noisy and the underlying distribution can be heavily skewed. So the difference between being above or below expectations may be whether you have one or two articles that have really taken off in terms of citations. ### Take home messages * If you are a PhD student or early career researcher where most of your work has been published in the last two or three years, citations will generally look small. Citations just take time to accrue. And the number of citations an article accrues per year is quite noisy. * In the first year after a publication comes out, the impact factor is often a better predictor of how many citations it is likely to accrue per year. * Based on the assumptions above, publishing in an impact factor 3 journal will on average generate 3 times as many citations as an impact factor 1 article, and 6 times as many citations as impact factor 0.5 article. While this is all an on-average thing, the point is that it is quite possible that your two Q1 publications are equivalent or more important than your 10 Q3 publications, from a citation generation perspective. So if you view things from an impact/citation perspective, then this can inform your understanding of the quality versus quantity trade-off when publishing your work. ### Generating more citations That said, if your goal is to generate citations from others, there are all sorts of things that you could be doing. * Try to do great work and publish in high impact outlets. When evaluating a quantity versus quality trade-off, give a lot of weight to quality/impact. * Advertise your work at conferences and online. * Attend conferences and network so that people get to know who you are and what you are doing. Other options that may or may not go into grey territory: * Self-cite where appropriate. Some citations will come from others seeing how your work is being cited. By self-citing, you are providing a template, and further secondary exposure to your work. * Collaborate and co-author papers with leading figures in your field. When they publish without you, they may cite your co-authored work. * Think about what topics receive more citations and do work on that. Important review articles, meta-analyses, methodological papers with a clear recommendation, etc. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: This is probably normal. [Citation analysis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citation_analysis) has created a small storm in the late 2000's by showing that up to [90% of academic papers are not cited by anyone](http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/04/23/academic-papers-citation-rates-remler/). This figure however only holds true for social sciences, since in other fields the figure goes down to [50% for most or even lower such as 18% for medical papers](http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2014/04/23/academic-papers-citation-rates-remler/). To go further, you can look at the distribution of the number of citations for a particular journal, and the median number of citations, instead of the mean, to get an idea of the citation repartition. Citations distributions per journal: [![Citations distributions per journal](https://i.stack.imgur.com/5erkf.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/5erkf.png) Median citations per journal [![Median citations per journal](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iix8N.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iix8N.png) Figures from [Quantixed article: The Great Curve II: Citation distributions and reverse engineering the JIF.](https://quantixed.wordpress.com/2016/01/05/the-great-curve-ii-citation-distributions-and-reverse-engineering-the-jif/) These figures were generated on 2014 for articles published in 2012 and 2013 in the same journal. If you look at high impact factor journals, such as the venerable Nature, you can observe that the distribution is highly skewed: most articles only get 0, 1 or 2 citations, not more (at least over the timeframe of 2 years since publication). Thus, publishing in high impact factor journals does not guarantee citations, it just increases the likelihood. This also shows that high impact factor does not equate high number of citations: a high impact factor is a measure of popularity, in other terms a measure of how many people have read it. You might potentially get more citations by publishing in journals that are more focused on your topic, even though the userbase is smaller (smaller impact factor). This is something to keep in balance (journal scope vs impact factor). Why are citations propagation so slow? Contrary to journalistic, or social media, posts that get propagated a lot faster, here the slow pace of citation increase can be explained by various factors (that are still being researched), but without doubt two factors are proeminent: 1. Academic articles are composed of long and dense information to read. It's not just something you glance a few seconds/minutes and can decide to share, reading academic articles sufficiently to understand them takes much longer. 2. Citing is not sharing (it's more): citations are an estimation of the number of "derived works", whereas sharing is just copying or creating a link. Thus, citing is much more involving than just sharing, since to cite you need to write your own paper and get it published. This is why some research tools offer alternative metrics such as [Mendeley reader counts](http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2017/01/17/mendeley-reader-counts-offer-early-evidence-of-the-scholarly-impact-of-academic-articles/). There is no clear solution to the "citation issue" right now, so that's why in my opinion the most important is to enjoy research and to be proud of the work you accomplished with your publications. Upvotes: 3
2017/05/30	445	2,118	<issue_start>username_0: Does presenting at conferences increase the number of citations to the work presented at the conference? I am limiting the scope of this question to disciplines where conference presentations are not publications and are not usually cited. Statistics or evidence of some kind would be appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, most definitely. The simple reason is that at conference it is relatively easy to pick up on the development of a certain field or ones own interest. And naturally, this leads to a bias towards those studies presented. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: First, consider the simple thought experiment that if a) people tend to cite work they've seen/heard about and b) people pay attention during conference presentations then it follows that there must be some positive effect of presenting at conferences. Of course, this isn't very helpful to answering your question. I don't think that it is possible to answer this with statistics or evidence, because any sort of study would only be able to show correlation between presentations and citations. And surely there is some sort of correlation: consider that prominent researchers often attend conferences because they may win awards from the conference, they are more likely to give keynote presentations, or they may be involved in the organizing/steering committees. The actual direct effect of gaining a citation because of a presentation you gave must be extremely small. Consider that in the audience you present to, probably only a small amount are directly working on the same problem as you. And if they're already working on the same problem, they're most likely going to cite you anyway, regardless of whether they hear your talk or not. Last, I'll offer my personal opinion that the benefit from giving a presentation is not that it increases your citations, but rather that it offers a networking opportunity. If you give a memorable talk, especially one that people in different subfields find interesting, they will remember your name and your work, even if they don't cite you. Upvotes: 0
2017/05/30	968	4,040	<issue_start>username_0: I was wondering how much influence a professor at a competitive university in the UK has in PhD admissions, when he/she really wants to work with somebody. I am mentioning UK specifically, since the PhDs here are shorter and its maybe clearer what exactly the student will want to work on for his PhD.<issue_comment>username_1: A professor may have a small influence on the admission of a candidate, but the way admissions decisions are made will vary across departments. I think, in general, if an applicant is already known to a member of the department and they would be happy to take them on as student, that applicant's chance of an offer of a PhD place is increased. However, I would still expect that a formal application, satisfactory references and an interview with other faculty members would be required before an offer was made concrete. I don't know what field you are in, but in mine (physics), funding for a PhD generally comes either from a research council (i.e. the government) or from the university itself. A single professor will have almost no influence on where that money goes. Funding decisions may be made after admission decisions and completely separately to that process, unless the candidates are applying for a specific funded project. Speaking from my own experience, I was made an informal offer of a place at a university where I know one of the professors very well. However, funding in that department was scarce and the money ultimately went to another, stronger candidate (as decided by a committee that my supervisor had no influence on). Consequently, I interviewed elsewhere, and was fortunate to be made a fully funded offer at another university. To summarise, if a professor really wants you on board, they may be able to offer you admission, but the funding decision is likely to be made by someone else. (This of course changes if the professor has some grant money of their own by which they can fund a student, or if the student is self-funded.) Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: To give a counterpoint to astronat's view, in Computer Science funding usually, but not always, comes (in one way or another) from a budget of the prospective advisor (e.g., her/his grants, startup package, etc.). So if (s)he really wants to work with you and funding is available (not all professors have funding to start with), you will likely be offered funding. This is often formally independent of admission into the PhD school (i.e., a professor promising you funding does not formally guarantee admission), but in all places I am aware of the de facto rule is that candidates that professors wish to spend money on are also admitted as long as they fulfill the formal admission requirements. Note that in many places in Europe the inverse is also true - candidates that no professor agrees to fund are often not admitted, independent of CV and letters. So to answer your specific question: > > I was wondering how much influence a professor at a competitive university in the UK has in PhD admissions, when he/she really wants to work with somebody. > > > Assuming it's computer science, I would assume that the professor has a very large influence on admission. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: No professor can reasonably be forced to take a PhD student they don't want. So there are only two sides/aspects to this question. 1. Does the potential supervisor want to supervise the particular candidate? 2. Can the potential supervisor obtain permission/funding to take on this candidate as a(nother) PhD student? Surely, for (1) the decision is all with the professor, but not with (2). There are various reasons for why this will not work out, such as * there are not funds * there may be legal issues (student visa for international students) * colleagues competing for departmental funds: it's not the professor's turn this year to have a(nother) PhD student * the candidate is not deemed good enough by an admissions panel Upvotes: 1
2017/05/30	394	1,766	<issue_start>username_0: The journals I am talking about are those accepted by Scopus etc, Elsevier journals for example. From my personal morals, I consider it my right as an author after a submission to a journal to have full access to: * all my submitted documents during the review process * all reviewers' comments made, expect the confidential ones between editor and reviewer * all additional editors comments * obviously during review but also afterwards, no matter whether the final result is an "accepted" or "rejected" paper Now do such mandatory guidelines exist from the Scopus or CrossRef side? If not, are there publishers guaranteeing this? Email communications can be lost for various reasons like switching the university. This is somehow the case with me and I really would like to get access to comments from two years ago.<issue_comment>username_1: Journals do not have any legal obligation to store all documents associated with the review process. While many do store them in the electronic system, these systems are still relatively new. I have never heard discussions about record archiving polocies. Further, when journals switch review systems, the records are sometimes lost. Of course, you have access to all these documents, and should use whatever archiving policy you think is relevant. I tend to save all the documents. I have paper files for my older manuscripts and purely electronic files for newer manuscripts. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: No, there is no such legal obligation. There are some [disputed cases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientific_priority_disputes), where the original authorship of a novel idea is disputed and where such records may be very helpful, but are unavailable. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/30	1,100	4,866	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently writing my master thesis in mathematics and for those who are more familiar with the subject, I am more into analysis whereas my supervisor is more into computational sciences. My project is on an application of analysis and there is also a numerical component. I will soon submit my first draft to my supervisor but I am slightly anxious about how he will react. To describe it quite generally: my background is very much in the theory of mathematics and I am a relative novice in the computational sciences, thus I am treating that component as an end-goal of my thesis while building up to it rigorously with the theory that I have become acquainted with over the years. Incidentally, in our meetings, my supervisor focuses most of his attention on the "results" of my thesis rather than the technicalities in between. You could argue that there is a "mismatch" in some sense. However, I am very much interested in this application which my supervisor does, but I would like to do it in my own style. This brings me to my question: do I have to write my thesis in such a way that he is able to read it, or is it quite common for them to seek the assistance of other professors who are better acquainted with the theory?<issue_comment>username_1: YES most definitely. Obviously, if you supervisor cannot comprehend your project, they cannot supervise it. This should only very rarely occur. I can only think of a situation in which the student has, from prior qualifications, superior knowledge about certain aspects of the project than their supervisor. In this case, perhaps supervision in the traditional sense is not really necessary, but merely some guidance and feedback. In any case, if you want to publish your research in the field of your supervisor, then you should speak a language and use conventions that people like your supervisor can comprehend. If you cannot express your project in such a way, then how can you hope that anybody relevant can understand it? Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If you write a thesis in a way that even your supervisor cannot understand it, then you have found the wrong level of abstraction. In general, write a thesis at a level so that a second year graduate student -- i.e., who you were when you started this research -- can understand it. I would imagine that it is a reasonable assumption that every professor in a department is able to understand any second year graduate student material, even if it is maybe not in their immediate field of research. Of course, a general truism in almost anything related to academia is that that is a question you ought to discuss with your supervisor! Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This is a tough one. You may want to wait to unveil the theoretical underpinnings section of your draft for the time being -- you could say that you want to work on that section some more before sharing it with him -- and give him the results section first. In the meantime, I suggest you look around for a co-advisor who will be able to understand the theory section. Otherwise, if you try to write the theoretical section in such a way that you include a primer for all your ideas, such that your advisor can really understand and appreciate them, you might end up with the equivalent of a textbook or two weighing down the first part of your thesis. But I don't have a crystal ball. It's possible your advisor will be happy with a strong results section, and just let you write what you want in the theoretical section. [Worst case scenario: you don't find an appropriate co-advisor, or your advisor doesn't accept the idea of a co-advisor, and your advisor wants you to exclude the theoretical section. If that happens, it's probably not worth a big fight. It would not be the end of the world for that section to go on a back burner for now, to be incorporated into another project farther down the road (perhaps in a PhD thesis).] Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Mathematics is one of the fields where writing theses and papers that only the topic experts can understand is accepted. Some areas would not be able to make progress otherwise. However, you chose to write with someone who is not method expert, but rather comes from a different field in which you locate your applications. In other words, you ended up writing an interdisciplinary thesis (whether or not your methods are interdisciplinary is not relevant, rather the fact that you chose to pick a field which bridges two areas). This means that you have the double trouble of making sure that your methods are fine and applicable, and that you now have to communicate to two communities. One of them is represented by your supervisor. This means that, yes, he should be able to follow your work at a reasonable level of detail. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/30	861	3,659	<issue_start>username_0: I am an international student who has been accepted into mathematics department at UCLA. In my application for the last semester I gave my grade point average as 9.5/10. I was taking two courses and was hoping that I would get a 10 and a 9, making the average 9.5. But unfortunately the grades in both the courses slipped up to a 9 and a 8 , making the average 8.5/10. I haven't informed them of this, and I was hoping that it wouldn't matter. I am going to get my visa next week, and I am really paranoid that my admission may get rescinded. What do you guys think ?<issue_comment>username_1: The offer (which you have accepted) itself cannot be reasonably rescinded. However, the offer should clearly spell out whether it was conditional (to you obtaining certain minimum marks) or not. If it was conditional, then obviously failing to obtain the marks required (which may be lower than what you told them) implies that you have not secured a place. If the offer contained a vague condition (such as obtaining good marks), then you should inform them about your actual marks as soon as possible and ask for clarification. One problem with international students is that the marks cannot be easily compared to those of home students or students from other countries, simply because the teaching and grading systems vary. Having said all that, 8.5/10 is still a very good mark (in most grading systems) and you should not worry too much at this moment, but don't delay clarifying your position. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: As someone with some experience on the other end of math graduate admissions, let me preface this by saying I really doubt that anyone cares; a program like UCLA looks at a lot more than grades (especially for foreign students). At this point it would be really disruptive for them to drop a student from the program (it's not like there are other students of the same caliber waiting around to be admitted), so they are not looking for reasons to do so. This is probably hard to imagine after many years of people telling your grades are the most important thing, but for math grad school, they are really actually not. They are a proxy for the ability to do good research in math, and the people running the program know they are a bad proxy and take them with a grain of salt. So, the important thing to do here is calm down. Imagine this from the perspective of the department; all the people making these decisions have a lot of other things to worry about, you are one of many grad students they admitted this year, and these grades are a very small part of why. Your grades are not something they want to expend energy paying attention to. Even if your offer is conditional, I think this condition would only be used in really dramatic cases; I've never heard of this happening. Look carefully at your offer letter. Either it will say the offer is contingent on your grades this semester, or it won't. (Incidentally, this info should have been in your post; answering questions well on this site is hard enough without people withholding obviously important information). If it doesn't, and they haven't asked about your grades, then drop the subject from your mind and never speak of it again. If it does, I would probably still not do anything unless they ask. If they really want that information they'll ask for it. If they ask, just write back saying "I got an 8/10 in X and 9/10 in Y. Looking forward to meeting you in August." Don't try to explain why your grades are not what you expected. Just act as if everything is normal, and I'm sure things will be fine. Upvotes: 3
2017/05/30	476	2,147	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a postdoc and I have never submitted a research proposal. There is a funding project at my current University open to postdocs. I have a list of past winners and I'm tempted to ask for their proposals to give me some guidelines in writing mine. Obviously I can just ask and I know that professors share winning proposals, but usually, they know each other. But I've never met these people and the only thing I have is their contact information. What is the correct way to ask for sample proposals and is it considered good manners to ask such a thing?<issue_comment>username_1: First: Good approach to looking at successful proposals first. You cannot write a winning proposal if you don't know how winning proposals look like. Second: Most people will probably be loath to share their proposals with anyone they don't know. But at the same time, most professors will (or at least should!) share their proposals with those they mentor in one way or the other. In fact, they may also take the time to walk you through the process, look over your proposal, give you feedback, etc. So ask your superiors, your department head, or others in similar position who look after your career development to help you with proposals that have been funded. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you have awarded proposals available from your advisor, but still want to get input from other post-docs, one way to approach this would be to reach out to the postdocs who have awarded proposals and ask them to meet (offering to buy coffee helps) and talk about their experience with the grant program. That is less pushy than flat out asking for their proposal. You can ask for tips on preparing your proposal and ask about feedback they received from reviewers. Some of them may have applied more than once and can tell you what they did wrong and how they improved. If the meeting goes well and they feel that you are sincere and trustworthy, they may feel comfortable offering to share their proposal at the end of the meeting. However, if they don't, you would still have examples from your advisor to help you. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/30	499	1,754	<issue_start>username_0: A friend of mine is defending his PhD thesis in the Netherlands this week. It is a custom to formally address them directly after the defense ceremony, where we use the Dutch term "welzeeredelgeleerde heer", which is something like 'very honourable well-learned gentleman' in Dutch and it very precisely corresponds to the title of PhD. However, this friend was born and raised in Mexico, and I would like to also address him in Spanish. I have asked several native Spanish speakers (both inside and outside of academia), but nobody seems to know the correct translation of this terminology. Does anyone happen to know this trivia?<issue_comment>username_1: I am a mexican, I dont think we use anything other than: > > "Doctor" + Lastname > > > or if you want to use "very honourable well-learned gentleman" > > Honorable y muy sabio caballero > > > Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It sounds like it would give you pleasure and satisfaction to lay it on thick for this special occasion. I think it would probably please your friend, too! I will suggest something pompous and hopefully lovely for you. I'm not getting this from tradition, but I think it will work for your purposes. (If you want to see some votes to guide you, you could ask that your question be migrated to Spanish SE.) Let's suppose your friend's name is <NAME>. > > Muy buenas tardes a todos. [That's to get people's attention and attune their ears so they'll understand that you have switched to Spanish.] Felicidades al muy estimado y honorable Doctor <NAME>. > > > It means: Good afternoon, everyone. Congratulations to the admired and honorable Dr. <NAME>. Upvotes: 2
2017/05/31	1,873	7,446	<issue_start>username_0: I have the following degrees: * PhD in Information Technology (Computer Science concentration) * MS in Systems Engineering (MSE) * MS in Engineering Management (MEM) * BS in Computer Science What would a proper e-mail signature look like? Examples: ``` Dr. <NAME> PhD IT, MSE, MEM ``` or ``` Dr. <NAME> PhD Information Technology MS Systems Engineering MS Engineering Management BS Computer Science ```<issue_comment>username_1: There is no formal academic convention for email signatures, although your university or institution may have formatting guidelines. You can simply include as much or as little information as you want the recipient to know. Personally, I think your name and position are sufficient and listing every degree you have is a bit redundant (and, as others have pointed out, pretentious). People will probably infer that you have a BS and MS if you also have a PhD. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you'll allow me, i'd like to play devil's advocate. Don't list your degrees in your email signature. The signature is there to format email more like a letter. It's not the place to communicate your experience. I'd recommend setting up a personal resume website or a linkedin page to showcase your experience. Allow your message content to communicate your command of a subject, don't rest on your letters. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It's supposed to be an email signature, not a CV. "Dr <NAME>" already says that you have a PhD. The rest is redundant, because having a PhD implies that you probably have a master's degree (which nobody cares about, because you have a PhD), and almost certainly have a bachelor's degree (which nobody cares about, because you have a master's). And, hey, you probably got some qualifications in high school, too (which nobody cares about, because you have a bachelor's). So the only reason for including all that stuff in your signature is tooting your horn. And, in an academic context, it looks crass because you're drawing attention to the obvious. "Oh, look at me, I have a PhD and a master's and a bachelor's!" Well, er, so does everybody else on the academic and research staff. That level of qualifications is implied by the fact that you work here. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: I want to give a different perspective. Do what is common practise in your institution/region (i. e. what your collegues or other comparable people do). Here in Austria, it seems to be common practise to list all your titles (maybe except for BSc/BA if you have a MSc/MA because people are not so used to these two titles). I often see multiple doctor titles and honoris causa titles in signatures. In my view, many people here see a signature (if there is any) as a place where you state your "official" name - and, at least here, this includes your titles. "Bob" in a signature would certainly be viewed as unprofessional and strange. (But then again, I am not sure if the commenters suggesting writing "Bob" are serious or joking.) While many people on this site view many titles as "bragging", not including them can certainly interpreted as an insult to the others - like you are saying "you guys including so many titles are pretentious". So in short, do what your environment does. However, I have never ever seen someone stating the field they received their titles in. (Although there are titles like "BA (FH)" (FH meanging Fachhochschule, "university of applied sciences"), which appear sometimes. Probably they have to be stated in exact this way.) Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: I never had an email signature. Can't think of something to put there that the person I'm communicating with doesn't know already or can easily find out if interested in having that information. When something is relevant to the other party I'll mention it in the email, not on the signature. If exchanging more than a few emails, having long signatures becomes annoying (IMO). As for the question, I'd keep the signature as simple as possible, e.g. `<NAME>, PhD`. This way you're not adding additional lines to your name/signature combo, while still informing everyone that you have a PhD and everything else that comes beforehand. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Another way to do this would be to just include your linkedin profile link. That way anyone interested in learning about your credentials can just click on there. Something else I see common in Academic settings is to link to their personal webpage for the department. That page usually lists their resume, educational credentials, what paper they may have presented in the past, etc. Ofcourse ensure to setup the webpage and add all the relevant information there. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Either: > > Dr. <NAME> > > > or > > <NAME>, Ph.D. > > > unless one of two things obtain. First, your organization has a set of internal customs or formal rules regarding the signature. Second, if your degrees are in different areas. For example, > > <NAME> > > > Ph.D. Management Science > > > MS Nursing > > > For interrelated fields, the Ph.D. supersedes the master's degree and ceases being relevant. It is also relevant to show certifications that are not superseded by the doctorate. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Your signature indicates how you want the person you're writing to address you. If you want be called by your first name, sign "Bob" or "<NAME>". If you want to be called "Dr. Roberts", sign "Dr. <NAME>". No one is going to call you "Dr. <NAME> PhD IT, MSE, MEM", and what do you really hope to accomplish with that signature? Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: I've seen `<NAME>, M.D. Ph.D` which i personally like because it's all in one line and the fact that the md and the phd are together makes it look more powerful rather than separated. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: While in grad school I was told by my dissertation advisor that in formal correspondence you should not refer to yourself by Dr. The proper form would be: <NAME>, Ph.D. in and not, Dr. <NAME>. Medical doctors seem to violate this convention quite frequently though. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: You can list your other degrees if they are relevant to your work. For example, if I were an art therapist, a BA in fine art is relevant to my work, so I'd list it. But don't list the BS in Psychology that led to the MS. And you would list any licensure first, if you have it, such as MFT. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: You shouldn't put any of that in your email. There is a general correlation of Ph.D.s who call themselves Dr. or use the ,Ph.D. being the weaker ones. Even if not true in your case, it will still come across that way. And not just to the general public, but other Ph.D. holders. (Same thing applies to retired military ranks unless you are writing a letter to the editor.) First Last (optional) position and/or org cell phone number email You include the cell so people can call you. Lots of people use email sigs for finding phone numebrs and get annoyed by others who don't list it. (Of course if it is an email you don't want the cell included, edit it out.) Include the actual email since many email programs or physical printouts list your name in the header but not the email adress Upvotes: 0
2017/05/31	736	2,970	<issue_start>username_0: I have been a postdoc and including occasional lecturer for the last several years. A former student just invited me to his graduation. Would someone at my career stage at an American research university typically be expected to wear academic regalia at a graduation ceremony? I have not seen any specific guidance for this.<issue_comment>username_1: It sounds as if you are going to be seated in the audience as guest (e.g., sitting with the family or as if you were friend or family), so just wear 'regular' clothes. It still is a very nice thing to do and to show support. If you are seated with the faculty (in those universities which have the faculty march in with the students), then those faculty who are part of the ceremony would wear regalia. If you are sitting with the faculty, you probably wouldn't be asking your question, as it is usually arranged in advance to do so (both to make sure there are enough faculty showing up, and to help with renting the regalia for those faculty who do not have their own. And - depending on the size of the university, there will need to be a lot of instructions of where to park, where to mass up and what time to show up in order to march in.). If the student is asking you to 'hood' him/her (for PhD in many US universities, the advisor can come up to put the PhD hood on the candidate) then talk to the department to find out how to get included in the 'faculty' who are formally seated in the ceremony. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As already noted, if in the audience and not part of the faculty then no one would expect you to wear any academic robes and it would be most unusual to do so. That being said, when my son graduated from my Alma-mater, where my wife and I graduated and where we met, we felt such a strong affinity to the place and the ceremony that we also wore our academic gowns in solidarity and pride for our son. Although we were the only people in the many hundreds of friends and family in academic gowns, no one batted an eyelid or looked askance. It is likely, for many of them that this was there first time in the audience of such a ceremony and they have no knowledge of the protocol and would just accept anything as normal. I also noticed the other phenomena, that if suitably robed you can go anywhere... Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I face this situation many times as a visiting faculty to several institutions. While most of them accept us as part of faculty and offer cloaks, some accept us as guests only and do not offer cloaks. The only issue I notice in not wearing your academic regalia is when your students wishes to take group photographs with you or introduce you to their parents. You would look alien and un-recognized without regalia for a Academic photograph. This would cause most students to ignore you when taking photographs as well and it can become an insult to your academic profile. Upvotes: 1
2017/05/31	467	1,819	<issue_start>username_0: Reference books, technical manuals, MIL standards, etc., prefix every paragraph with a short subject identification statement. For example, paragraph 1.3 in the 16th ed. of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) begins, > > 1.3 *Rectos and versos. Publishers refer to the ... > > > Is there a common terminology for the bolded and italicized* (in this case) subject identification prefix text? What is this writing practice called? In particular, does the CMoS define this practice (I've looked extensively in the CMoS but I couldn't find anything). (FWIW, the MIL standards I checked typically identify this text as "paragraph identification", "subject identification," or "paragraph and subparagraph identifications". But I can't find in other style guides a description for this paragraph summary text.)<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience, this is just called the (sub)section name --- as driven by the LaTeX styling used in many STEM disciplines. No fancier title is needed. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience in the software development industry, people usually just call it the heading or header. But (sub)section name is also used, as username_1 suggests. However, in my field, the heading is more commonly separated from the rest of the text, as shown below. So this may not be the terminology you're looking for. > > 1.3 Rectos and versos. > > > > ``` > Publishers refer to the ... > > ``` > > We do sometimes combine the heading with the rest of the text, as you have it. This might be done at the lowest level, for example, when there's a list of terms with their definition. In such a situation, If I wanted to make it clear that I'm referring to the text in bold, I'd probably say the heading itself. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/01	865	3,956	<issue_start>username_0: I gave my supervisor a paper draft today. They told me that I need to cut out the 5 pages of appendices that give all the equations (along with references of their original sources) needed for reproducing the results found in the main text. My supervisor's argument was that papers should not be self-contained but rather that papers should direct readers to the different sources that came up with these equations. My supervisor went on to say that others might think I am trying to steal their future citations by attempting to have people cite my paper for a formula that someone else came up with (even though I provide attribution for the formula). In my particular case, I am submitting to a journal with no page limits, albeit there are page charges that my supervisor will pay for. Obviously, I am going to do what my advisor says for this paper. However, is this the general advice that I should carry with me throughout my career?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no hard and fast rule on whether to include calculations in papers that have appeared in other papers. It is a judgment call on the part of the author. For my papers, I have sometimes included these equations (either in the main body of the paper or in the appendix) sometimes I have omitted them and directed the reader to the bibliography, and sometimes I have just provided a brief sketch of the argument. The reason to include them is because sometimes they are convenient for the reader. The main reason to exclude them are because they detract from the focus of the paper. As an extreme example, if your important new ideas in a paper take up 3-4 pages, it is strange to include 50 pages of previously published calculations, say, even if it is in an Appendix. It makes it harder for me as a reader to understand exactly what is the main point of your paper, and I might get the impression that the authors are adding fluff to make their contribution seem more important than it is. You want to keep your novel, important ideas at the forefront of your paper. And don't discount the page length: even if they are no explicit page limits in a journal, you generally want to convey your idea in as few pages as possible. First of all, is the possibility that potential readers might be discouraged from reading your paper if it seems too long. Secondly, journals do hold longer articles to higher standards. When I was submitting to the top ranked journal in my field (which had no explicit page limits) we were told by a senior professor that our idea was worth publishing there if we could keep it under 30 pages, and probably not worth publishing there if it hit 40. In other words, there was a sense where our idea was not worth wasting 40 pages worth of someone's time, although it was worth wasting 30 pages worth of someone's time. In summary, papers don't necessarily have to be self-contained, and how much to include previous work is a judgment call on the part of the author. I will add that as a student, it is probably best to defer to the advisor when making these judgment calls, as the advisor will be more familiar with the conventions and culture of your research area. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think it's simple: if the tools or techniques that you need are easily accessible to the reader with clear references etc., then I think the best you can do for the journal and readers of your work is to give the intuition of that work and a clear reference. Nothing more is needed and indeed sometimes full details of such techniques might produce opposite than intended effects. Keep your paper simple and to the point and avoid "fillers". Be also careful that many journals with no page limits actually do have such limits: Siam journal on Discrete Maths is one on my mind in my field at least which, although it has no explicit page limit, it silently imposes higher standards to longer papers. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/01	4,391	18,877	<issue_start>username_0: I am supervising a research group. Each year, our institution offers several four years postdoc positions, and one year ago I told a friend of mine to apply to it because we work in very similar fields and I thought there would be a lot of synergy. She got the position, but after these 12 months she refuses to do almost anything I tell her to. At the beginning I waited, since we are friends and I did not want to trouble our friendship, but at some point I realized that she uses our good relationship as an excuse for not doing anything at all, and from the other side, it is hard for me to tell her that she is doing wrong. Anyway, in the last 2 weeks we have had some words, and I told her that she must respect her work conditions and work in our projects. She says she has never done that, since she feels pressure, and that she works better starting and choosing all projects by herself without any indication from me or any other supervisor. In those projects she does not even count me in for co-authorship and sometimes never tells me what she is doing. In her project proposal it was stated "I will contribute to the group's research lines and adapt to it" and in her contract it was written the same. So it is clear to me that she is going against these conditions. I have talked with her about the situation but she refuses to agree and says that I am wrong and that she deserves respect since she feels like a very important scientist. I want to solve this situation but I feel dialogue does not work here anymore. Scenarios I see are: 1. I set up a meeting with her and the head of the department; here she knows she will be in real trouble, 2. I forget about her completely to avoid headaches, but I am responsible for her and need to report her output from time to time, so I could be in trouble if she does nothing, 3. .... So, what would you suggest to do in this situation? Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: It IS a common situation, although there a two parts here: One is work related, she is employed, you are her supervisor, she is not doing her job, you should act in an appropriate way. The other one is research related, she is producing results (although not together with you), so that might be a criterion to leave her alone. Once again, you shouldn't decide this on your own. All in all, I would suggest to first talk with the head of department in an informal way, maybe don't even mention her name (unless it is obvious who you are talking about), ask how to proceed. Maybe she produces enough results to allow for a change of contract, giving her more freedom to do her own projects? Maybe she is just lazy and should be fired before getting you into trouble? Either way, you should act before it is too late and you are held responsible for whatever happens or does not happen. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's unfortunate that you have let it run to 12 months, so that you cannot use the usual probation procedure, which is meant to deal with things like that from an employment perspective. If this were still during the probation period, you could refuse probation (or extend the period) on grounds that she is not fulfilling her contractual requirements. If the contract is not for a full 4 years, but for 2+2 years, you could terminate the engagement after 2 years and/or suggest this to her. But after probation, sacking her would 1. require a nasty and involved University-internal process of performance management 2. make the University and you vulnerable to being sued 3. damage your and your University's reputation 4. likely ruin her career for good 5. definitely ruin your friendship So sacking is not worth it for just 3 more years. What else could you do? I suggest 1. Keep talking to her regularly about her and your projects. In a research group, this can be naturally arranged by having regular (weekly) meetings of the whole group, where attendence is compulsory and each weak another member reports on their work (or on a conference they have recently attended) etc. 2. Don't consider her as a 'slave worker' (who does what you tell her), but try to support her projects. The best young researchers thrive when they have sufficient freedom to develop their own research agenda and are supported by experienced scientists. 3. Try to have at least one common research project with publications co-authored by both of you (and possibly others). 4. You have one last trump: reference letters. Point out that if you don't know her research well, you cannot really write supporting reference letters. She will know that failing to obtain a good reference from you may well end her academic career. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: There are various ways a post-doc - supervisor relationship can be symbiotic. The postdoc can benefit from the position in a few different possible ways, for example * stimulating discussions with colleagues, and seminars * guidance or at least a sounding board for her projects * the opportunity to participate in someone else's project, as an apprentice * having an office, and access to the library, lab and computing resources * learning academic people skills (by example, counterexample, and by trying things out) * learning how to mentor less advanced colleagues * adding to her publications list, thanks to her affiliation with the department and group, and thanks to the mentoring and perhaps co-authoring she's enjoying The group and the supervisor can benefit from having the postdoc be part of the group in a few different possible ways, for example * the postdoc takes her turn at running experiments and maintaining the lab * the postdoc brings glory and prestige to the department through her publications and conference presentations * the postdoc does her share in organizing workshops and picnics * the postdoc shows an interest in others' work; her enthusiasm is supportive, and her critical eye helps others improve One doesn't need all of the above to occur in each individual postdoc. I wonder which of these, if any, you'd be able to check off for this postdoc? A postdoc position is indeed a time for the bird to still be in the nest to some extent, but to start to fly and hop around more independently. If you find that the relationship between this postdoc and the group is out of balance, then you may want to negotiate with her. The best way to do this may be by offering at least two options for her to choose among. This way of looking at the situation will probably be more successful than thinking in terms of Is she following the terms of the contract. After all, there's a difference between a lab assistant and a research postdoc. You can certainly lay down some groundrules and common expectations for everyone in the group. It may be best to allow for multiple ways for individuals to fit into them. Let's take the example of keeping you apprised of what she's working on, and what progress she has made. You could say, for example, in an email, followed up by an in-person conversation (or the other way around if you prefer): > > Lisa, in our lab we don't just play solitaire. Interaction among group members is the glue that keeps our group healthy. But not everybody keeps in touch with the group in the same way. Some group members like to chat informally with colleagues in the break room. Some are introverts and like to send email updates. Some like to give informal seminars from time to time, sharing what they've been working on. Some like to keep in touch with everybody in the group, and some prefer to interact one on one with the P.I. or with one or another fellow student or postdoc. Those are just some examples. Everybody has to find what works best for them. I'd like to ask you to think about how you can contribute to the cohesiveness that gives our group its character. > > > Then change the subject to something completely different. But circle back (within a week) and ask her if she's thought about how she'd like to contribute to the team feeling. Your university may offer some management workshops. When these are well done, they can be rewarding and surprisingly helpful. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Your additional information that you put under the comment section and I think it should be placed in Question also, is that post-doc is paid for by the University, not paid by you/from your grant. So you are not PR, you are an advisor. <NAME>, pointed out something that is not specific for mathematics, also physics, material science, applied science, engineering and some types of medicine (biomedicine), I will quote him > > a Postdoc position is supposed to be the time when the researcher > starts working independently. I don't know how it is in your field, > but for me a postdoc wanting to work independently would be a good > postdoc. > > > <NAME> also pointed out very common thing > > A postdoctoral supervisor's primary responsibility is to help the postdoc develop into an independent researcher, if the postdoc is not already an independent researcher. The notion that a postdoc should just take orders and be another cog in a big machine is sad. So is the notion that a postdoc who independently obtains interesting results should add the nomical supervisor as a coauthor. > > > At my university, it is explicitly written in contract that mentor/advisor needs to be the corresponding author of a paper from a postdoc. I am aware that some contracts don't have this clause, and they can be purely independent. However, if this is the case with her contract, you should stop giving her any resources. If she is not dependable on your resources and still yields some kind of results that are publishable, I am sorry to tell you this, but according to info that you provided in your question, she is in the right. You need to report progress as it is to head and to above you body. You need to be honest with people that are above you that you don't have any control over her and that you don't know direction of her investigation. Does she know you need to write a report about her progress? I think if she knew that she was evaluated, she would tell you how far in research and what she is doing now. Again you should be more precise about the content of her contract. As far as I know, contracts with universities are very liberal and give a lot of freedom to the postdoc. Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Consider the following: while many people see postdocs similar to PHDs there is a simple difference: you are paid 100% to work for your employer. It's nice of you manage to get research done in the right direction, but not necessary (unless you have some independent funding/sholarship which allows you to do what you want). About your friendship: If you dont manage to recover you work relationship, your friendship will also turn sour. It's better to try to recover the work relationship and see if she accepts the following and you can be still be friends. Points to explain to her (you can do this in a friendly way like: "Sorry, but i have to protect the interests of this group and myself. And I would like to help you in achieving better, for which collaboration is necessary".): * An interesting aspect is that once she puts your group as an affiliation on the paper, you are able to call the journal one the article is published and most likely cause a retraction by saying "this research was not approved and checked by our group, and we are not affiliated with it" (which seems to me a perfectly true statement). Maybe in the end it goes trough ater a few iterations, but the timing could be a problem for a postdoc. * If she publishes without affiliation, you can sue her for fraud if she worked during the hours you paid for or used material provided by your group (and you can cause a retraction) * Explain to her that she will get no resources if she does not comply. * Explain to her that you can not give her a good reference under these circumstances. * On her own, she seems not to be super-productive either. She is there 12 months and you did not mention that she is visibly involved with any progressing research. Explain to her that this probably would not end well for her anyway. * Asking her how she feels and that you have the impression that she does not react to some pressure in the way which would be best for her- point out to her to seek counseling. (I had a colleague suffering from a psychological problem with very similar symptoms). If she agrees, set a timescale after which you revisit the topic. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: It all comes down to where the money is coming from and it will depend on the HR requirements of your University. If she is paid by you on your funding her job is to complete the project that is funded. In the US this is very clear as the effort is reported on grants. If she is an employee of the university and you don't pay her, you have no obligation to give her your own funding for her project. She has to pay for her own supplies, so if she wants to be independent she has to find her own money. As a young PI on a very strict tenure track I have to have very little patience for people who are unproductive because they waste time and grant money. That she's taking advantage of your friendship is particularly troubling... Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I think how much the postdoc should be independent and how much she shares the result with you depend on the source of money, and written or non-written mutual agreement. If her salary comes from your research money, and the contract says she is a part of your (bigger) project, she has a duty to spend her time (at lease some reasonable amount of time) to accomplish the goal of the project and report/discuss result to/with you. If she is paid by her own grant/scholarship or is paid by university, she may have more freedom on her project. But it'd be still beneficial for her to work with you and collaborate (and share result with you by co-authering). However, what makes me puzzled is that she doesn't want to discuss with you and share the result (and authorship) with you: If this is always the case, there is no reason for you to hire (whether you pay or not) her. Even if you don't pay her, if she doesn't collaborate with you nor shares, you're wasting your time and resource which you might have used to collaborate with others otherwise. Assuming her goal is to become a professor or independent researcher like you, she might be in a pressure of proving herself through publication and research independence. She might expect also an authority equivalent to yours even though it's a wrong expectation for her position as postdoc. I think it's worth addressing these issues and be on the same page as far as expectations before you fire her. Whether it's personal relationship or leadership, it's very important to synchronize the expectations and communicate. Without being emotionally hurt, I believe you can point out the expectation discrepancies between you and your friend and be clear about that you can help her to achieve her goal (e.g. by helping her to get mentored grant for postdocs) and give her independence which amount reasonable to both of you, and in return you expect that she will share the result (and authorship) on her independent projects (you deserve it as a give-and-take since you help her to keep the affiliation, provide resource and help her to grow) as well as contribute/collaborate on your projects. I'd make the argument more win-win than threatening her. It's also a good idea discussing with your colleague and department before and while you talk with her- you may approach them to get some leadership/communication advice on your situation rather than to accuse her. Keep them posted while you talk with your friend (and document the procedure/evaluations/key conversations if possible). When you have gone through all reasonable efforts and she still doesn't get it, you have grounds and witnesses for firing her, so don't need to worry about a backfire. It's easier said than done, but try to be proactive and win-win. Good luck. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I will write here from the standpoint of a postdoc who is likely to act in a similar manner. Perhaps there is something in what I state that could be of any help. I have always worked independently. I had the same advisor from undergrad until MD who was one very open-minded, humane, slow-paced scientist. As a PhD student I worked on an interdisciplinary interface under the supervision of a professor that had little to offer, intellectually. As a result, I brew my own set of collaborations, projects, methods. I just need a lab and resources to do my experiments. Perhaps "your" postdoc is someone with a similar background? There are too many labs nowadays that treat postdocs as technicians but still there will be those willing to host an early-career independent scientist. Likely you and your friend misestimated your lines in this scheme, and this needs to be readjusted. My advice is that first you decide whether you'd like to work alongside this person or not. Because this postdoc will never work for you or anyone. You cannot change that: it is too late. My second advice is to figure out whether this postdoc is really not doing anything in the lab or just not working with what you'd like her to. How to react will depend on understanding this very clearly. Thus, if you decide you do not want to work together with this person, and apparently she is just fooling around the laboratory while consuming resources, just tell her exactly that. The situation should be quite self-explanatory. It doesn't mean you need to become enemies: there must be a reason for which you don't want to work together and/or no work is being done at all. You can focus on that point, while pushing to the best possible solution (i.e. postdoc moving elsewhere). A fully-blown bum/sociopath may require bold actions. A clearly lost & depressed individual may need your support much more as a friend than as a workmate. Now, if you can see the postdoc is engaged in projects you feel like you'd also like to work on, you must do your best to get directly involved. Minding that you're just a collaborator and seeking to improve the project regardless of hierarchy or personal interests. Be prepared to end up in the Acks section of some paper while earning co-authorship (position not pre-defined) on something else. Then may you be able to do the best out of this situation conflicted interests towards future gains. I really don't think forcing the department hierarchy or lawyers on this kind of postdoc will yield positive gains for either side. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/01	792	2,891	<issue_start>username_0: My idea is learning new methods/fields by reproducing someone else results, and I would like to pick nice/good papers to learn from. If we define reproducibility as starting from the same samples/data, use the same methods, get the same results I would like to know papers which has already been reproduced. Is there any project/web-service/method that tracks reproducibility? Of course, some people citing an article might have (partially) replicate it, but that wouldn't help me as I don't have access to new samples/data. I am interested in bioinformatics field.<issue_comment>username_1: I would suggest graduate level textbooks for that. They often leave proofs or part of it to the reader and some of them even have exercises, allowing you to learn the new topic by actually working on it. Furthermore, they made sure that what they left open is solvable in an appropriate amount of time. Another nice point is that they often discuss the most important theories and concepts in a field, where on the other hand a paper might be focused on a very tiny topic. There are textbooks for many different levels (starting at undergraduate and going as far as to being interesting to a professor who wants to extend his knowledge to a new field), depending on how much you already know. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: With publications like [doi: 10.1126/science.1213847](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3383002/) and [here](http://www.nature.com/nature/focus/reproducibility/index.html), cross-disciplinary surveys like [here](http://www.nature.com/news/1-500-scientists-lift-the-lid-on-reproducibility-1.19970) and policy changes like [here](http://www.nature.com/news/announcement-transparency-upgrade-for-nature-journals-1.21627), your mentioned interest in informatics / computation may lead you to [runmycode.org](http://www.runmycode.org/). It is a repository for both data and code. Other inspirations regularly appear in PLOS, for example, both in publication (e.g. [doi 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002333](http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002333)), or its [dedicated collection](http://collections.plos.org/meta-research-reproducibility). While eventually directed towards deploying an editor for reproducible research, <NAME>'s presentation at NYC Emacs user group about the topic (<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGnt_PWoM5Y>) provides some perspective, too. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Check "pre-registration" of studies, or "[registered reports](https://www.google.com/search?name=f&hl=en&q=registered+reports)". This is a relatively movement (started, I think, by the Psychology community), all about reproducibility. New large reserch projects about the effectiveness of this are in the works. However it's not my field so I cannot give any more information. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/01	3,079	12,837	<issue_start>username_0: In a few days I'll be attending my first academic conference in Spain. I'll be going alone and this never became apparent to me that it might be a problem until I spoke to a few people about their experiences at their first academic conferences. The most common word that arose was 'miserable' - most said that it was difficult to get to know people and to keep up with the pace. While I think I'll be okay with the pace - I'm drawing up a rough idea of which talks I want to attend and where I want to be - I'm not so sure about the communication part. As I won't know anyone at the conference, my plan was literally to just smile and talk to random people so that I can network and make friends but I'm starting to have doubts about whether this will work - will it work? I have a (slight) anxiety problem and my history of socialising has been terrible so what I fear most is making a fool out of myself in front of people aren't really looking to socialise and make friends. I don't have very comprehensive knowledge in the field since I have only completed my undergraduate degree last year although I never really saw this as a problem. EDIT: Thank you to everyone! The advice given was really useful. I really just went with the 'talk to random people' strategy. It was awkward with some people as you can immediately pick up that they don't want to talk to you, but I think it's very important that you don't take it personally and just try again. And I made really good friends and connections by doing this. Preparing questions and such also helped a lot - asking my first question was difficult but it was much easier to participate afterwards. At the end of the day, I really think that what you put in is what you get out. Also, imagining people naked sometimes helps!<issue_comment>username_1: I also went alone to my first conference, and did not know any of the other attendees beforehand - but I had read some of the works by some of them. Besides the usual advice "talking to other that also look like they feel alone", I would also encourage you to prepare and ask questions after talks. ====================================== Do this especially for smaller talks (if there are any). This really has many upsides: You practice formulating questions - a very important skill to get something out of a conference. You may get into a nice chat, which, in my case, turned into a friendship more often than I expected. As a consequence, you do not feel alone anymore. If you did not get the chance to ask your question, you may also approach the speaker after the talk (either right after the talk but also in the next coffee break). Generally, scientists love to talk about their (published) work. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: You'll be totally fine. It's perfectly appropriate to walk up to random people and say "hi! I don't think we've met - I'm so-and-so." Then just chat about what they work on, where they're based, etc. Incidentally, one piece of advice I was given that I found really helpful: conferences are much more useful as a chance to meet other graduate students than they are as an opportunity to meet fancy big-shot faculty. Your graduate student contemporaries will be your community in the field, much more so than senior figures: these are the people who will be willing to read rough drafts of your work, give you a sense of where the frontiers in the field are, commiserate with you about your employment prospects, etc. And apart from anything else, it's typically easier and more fun to hang out with people who are at the same stage as you! (This isn't to say you shouldn't talk to senior people if the opportunity arises, obviously. But don't sweat it: your main priority should be having fun and making friends.) Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: First of all - there's no silver bullet. I share some of your background - averse to parties, feeling the odd person out, slight anxiety - and after several "first time ever" conferences (I've switched academic fields), I can't say it has gotten that much better. I've just learned to sort of "buck up" and force myself to socialize anyway. Some suggestions, though: * Try again after failures: You managed to somehow sit alone in a lunch break. You were going to talk to a speaker after a talk but other people got in the way. You didn't get up in time and missed seeing people at breakfast. Some of these things are going to happen. Don't sink into a dark mood and sulk in the corner! Try again in the next talk, next meal etc. And yet again after that. * Have an [Elevator Pitch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_pitch) ready: Suppose you're standing at some table in some short break at the conference. Someone walks up to you and says: "Oh, you're from ABC University?" or "Oh, you're the guy/girl with that XYZ paper, right?" when you shyly reply "Yes, that's me" they ask you: "So, what do you do?" or "What are you working on?" - you need to have an answer ready. A 1-sentence answer is relatively easy, but if they're slightly more interested, you can't lay a 15-minute talk on them - the next session is coming up and they have other things to do, and are probably tired. So it needs to be something very succinct, somewhat exciting, that relates to what the rest of the community is doing ("relate" can mean "goes in a different direction"), that would be interesting or entertaining to recount to someone over a short period of time. Not only is it important to have this in your head for actually recounting it, but the very fact that you can explain what you're about often helps you to relate to people and feel somewhat less awkward - as you can sort of justify your existence or your presence in the conference in another way than just suggesting people read your paper. * Stare at badges: One of the things that's always difficult for me is to read the small print on badges of people while they walk around. Even if it's embarassing to stare at someone's stomach, chest or a woman's breasts - they have a badge, so you stare. In fact, explicitly say "I'm trying to read your badge" to get them to stand still. By the way, this is a (weak) ice-breaker for a conversation. * Pimp your own badge: Create a second side copy of your badge in case it flips. Add a sticker you brought from home. Draw in something that has to do with your work (I put 'GPU guy' in a spiffy font). That's an excuse to draw attention to yourself in a non-conceited way - and also a good excuse for why you're staring at badges. * Ask people you don't know questions: Are you standing in front of someone you don't know, kind of up close and having caught their attention? This is an opportunity. Embarrassed that you don't know him/her? Say "This is my first conference" or "I'm new to the field" and then "Can I ask what the XYZ group at ABC University focuses on?" (assuming it's an XYZ conference and you've noticed from the badge that you're talking to someone from ABC University). * Remember: Everyone knows first-timers are fools who know nothing Actually, lots of people are fools who know very little even after coming the 10th time; and nobody really knows much about the sub-fields that they're not working on. So - even though it's a fancy-shmancy conference, it's ok to be ignorant, and you're not being an exception to the rule. No problem whatsoever if you say "I have not gotten into XYZ yet, but I still wanted to ask you..." or "I have not gotten into XYZ yet - since you're an expert, would you mind recommending a good starting point? Like a survey, or a few key papers?" * Explicitly trade off some of your time for social interaction When you're in a conference for the first time, you probably want to experience everything that's possible: Lots of talks seem exciting and useful; you want to make connections; you might want to explore the city you're in; you want to you want to take a lot of notes; you want to check out books and journal issues that are on sale; etc. This pressure to squeeze in everything makes it difficult to focus on social interaction. For example, you may be anxious about an upcoming talk that's about to start while you're striking up a conversation with someone. It's a bit of a challenge, psychologically, to tell yourself "I'm giving up on concretely and clearly useful conference activities in favor of informal chatting with people, which may or may not happen and may or may not lead to anyhing." - but you still need to do this. So you decide you will miss that talk but be more relaxed and have time to develop a conversation. * You can ask people to meet and talk later. A conference is busy and noisy; and people can butt in to your conversation. For many, this is a stressful setting in which to interact, especially when you're nervous about approaching some of these people, regardless of the environment. Well, it is very common and perfectly acceptable to ask people on "dates" - not romantic dates, talking dates: "I am working on XYZ, and I know that you are (etc. etc.); do you think you'll have time after today's schedule ends / tomorrow morning / at lunch break on Tuesday to sit down and talk for a while?" Note that conference venues often have cafes/restaurants close-by, and even if they costs money (as opposed to the conference, where you get freebies) - it's a very worthwhile investment. Plus you can sometime get reimbursement even for that. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: Many of the other answers are great, but I'd like to add this: find out where people will be socializing after the conference talks and go. In my opinion, this is where you really get to know people. I once attended a five day workshop/conference without knowing anyone beforehand. (It helped that the conference was small, so most everyone ended up talking to each other at some point during the week). I sought out people to hang out every evening, and we went out for drinks and/or dinner every night except one. Sometimes there were as few as three of us, but it was great getting to know people outside of the conference events. I've kept up with many of those researchers and even co-organized a couple sessions with one. I probably networked much better at this conference that at other conferences where I've known many people attending! If there aren't any events going on, you could ask someone you met (perhaps another grad student) to grab lunch/drinks/etc. This person could perhaps introduce you to others in their department or others they know at the conference. Like one comment suggested, there will likely be people in the same situation as you. At my first conference, I was deathly afraid of socializing/networking (so you are not alone!), but one person randomly approached me after my talk and asked a few questions. After this, he said something like, "Let's grab lunch. Do you have plans?" I was tremendously grateful that he did this. It really turned my week around! You might be able to do the same for someone else. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: If socializing with people you don't know, or don't know well, has been uncomfortable for you in the past, then please don't suddenly change your expectations of (a) yourself, or (b) the people around you. Introverts can have successful conference experiences, too. But they might not measure success in the same way that an extrovert might. Networking is not the only goal when attending a conference. Since this is your first conference, I'd suggest defining "a successful, satisfying experience" as > > listening to some interesting talks > > > If, in addition to that, the various tips people have offered on this page help you have some satisfying interactions with some people while you're there... so much the better! But let that be the icing on the cake. (Cake is also good without icing, remember.) You don't have to get to know people, or keep up with the pace, for the conference to be worthwhile attending. Especially not your first time. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: What I would do to start, is to follow Captain Emacs suggestion. From there, I would have one acquaintance that I could introduce to another. There will always be someone who is not any more comfortable than you. You may not have a lot in common with him (not likely, at a conference), but you now have a base to integrate yourself into the common. And, now, voila, you are networking. If you do come across someone who does not feel like talking (about your favorite subject), then you know why he is not mixing, and you move along. Everyone you talk to, as a rule, increases your confidence and comfort. But you do have to start; get the hard part behind you, and have fun. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/01	2,596	10,079	<issue_start>username_0: I am not sure if this question should be asked in the academia.SE. But, I don't have a clue either for other forums. Today, I received an e-mail(in my academic id) from Kazakhstan saying that they would pay me USD250 per review of the research projects submitted to `National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation (NCSTE) in Kazakhstan`. The e-mail reads as below: > > Dear Sir/Madam, > > > The National Center of Science and Technology Evaluation (NCSTE) in Kazakhstan regularly organizes peer-review of research proposals from Kazakhstan’s scientific community. The center was founded in 2011 according to Decree of the Republic of Kazakhstan. > > > NCSTE invites you to participate in peer-reviewing process of technical and scientific projects. The payment for assessing a research proposal is $250 (USD). One expert may assess up to 10 research proposals per call. The calls are expected to be announced throughout the year. > > > If you are interested in cooperation and would like to be a member of our peer-review expertise, please let us know by filling in the “Form for international experts” (see in the attachment).Please, send to <EMAIL> > > > Please note, that NCSTE expects your H-index to be 5 or above according to Scopus or Web of Science databases for a particular period 2012-2017. Links are provided below: > > > <https://www.scopus.com/> > > > <https://webofknowledge.com/> > > > In case your H-index is lower than 5, we still include you into our database, however won’t be able to use your service until it reaches 5. > > > All expenses (postage and bank transfers) will be covered by NCSTE. > > > Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. > > > P.S.: For more information, please visit our official web site at <http://www.ncste.kz/en> > > > I am hesistant to click any link provided or to visit any link provided here because of the latest Ransomware attack ([WannaCry](http://www.euronews.com/2017/05/17/second-massive-wanncry-like-cyber-attack-identified)). For answer to my worries, I went through a forum like discussion in [Cronicle page](http://www.chronicle.com/forums/index.php?topic=174231.0;wap2) where few persons claim that it is legit. I have the following questions: * Should it be legit? * Why will some agency pay this much money for a review of 10-15 page report? * For the first time I am experiencing this, how should I respond? Should I respond at all? * Can it be a spam or a scam? (There is a doc attachment, which I have not clicked till now.) Disclaimer: Please avoid yourself from clicking any link here if you think it could be a s[c/p]am even from my side.<issue_comment>username_1: TL;DR: it is quite possible that this is legitimate, but it just may be a well-disguised scam. Apply your usual cautionary procedures. I have reviewed for internationally less visible research councils before; there may be some reasons why they invite international reviewers - for instance, some ambitious science minister wants to raise the scientific profile and quality of the research and thus invites well-known and -respected scientists to the panel to improve decision quality and visibility. Without prejudicing your further investigations, there is a possibility that this is legit. Depending how the expense is paid (per report or in total) you would not have to read just a single 10-15 page report, but 10 of them; that can be tiresome (although some comments say payment may be per report, which would, in turn be very generous). It still might be legitimate to pay for that, and some research councils pay a compensation for reviews. Are you well suited for reviewing the call? That would indicate that they did some research and they are well informed. Still, it might be a spearfishing attack, so tread with care. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This is most likely genuine, in particular if the proposal to be reviewed fall broadly into your area. Just check the actual web address of the links given (rather than what they say they are) and/or search the respective institutions online. I did once a similar job for the Polish science foundation. Actually, if you click the link <http://www.ncste.kz/en> provided, you will learn that they are attempting to boost their science standing and one way to do that is to get international reviewers. Don't be too paranoid about viruses, just don't do stupid things (like typing your password into some unknown/new website), or opening mail attachments of unknown origin, etc.. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Well, the telltale sign of a scam is when payment time comes. There are basically four possibilities: 1. no payment: you have been scammed into doing a service gratis. However, the service you are doing here is unlikely to be useful for scammers. 2. payment "forthcoming" once you forward some processing fee/administrative fee that is small in comparison to the expected payment. Of course you never here anything once you pay. "small in comparison to the expected payment": the expected payment appears too small to make this scam worthwhile for this case. 3. You'll get the agreed fee. 4. You'll be paid quite more than you are supposed to receive, some flimsy excuse is given for that and are asked to move the excess payment back or onward to other reviewers. This is money laundering or fraud, depending on whether the owner of the original account is aware of the payment happening. In the former case, the police will eventually catch up with you. In the latter case, the money paid to your account will get retracted eventually and the money you "handed on" is gone irretrievably out of your own pockets. So the real danger is case 4): if anything like that happens, notify the authorities and refuse to handle any money outside of your own pay. Outside of that specific scenario, there does not seem much of a point in using this basic setup with the mentioned sums for fraud. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It is plausible that it is genuine. However, it is also plausible that, even if it is genuine, the information security there is lax. In particular, do not give them your bank account or routing number for "electronic transfer". If you want to do the work for free, just say so. If you do want the fee, (try to) insist on having a paper/physical check mailed to you, rather than electronic transfer. Even then, if they send you a check, it may take forever to clear, or bounce... eventually... and you pay a fee and get no money. I've done a few of these referee jobs for far-away places, just to be a good sport, and attempting to decline payment. In one or two cases, they did send me a physical/paper check anyway, and it did clear. I absolutely did not give out any personal info in the process! Again, no bank account, no social security number, no date-of-birth. The risk is not worth it. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I will respond in general terms. 1. Check the quality of the English. The worse it is, the higher the likelihood that it's bogus. Here, I saw one weird sentence: "If you are interested in cooperation" -- not too bad, could be legit. 2. Try responding to the email but without your signature, or with a throwaway account. The response you get will probably be more illuminating than the first, unsolicited one. 3. And, obviously, try googling them. When I come across something suspicious, it is sometimes helpful to type the normal search words that you would normally use, and then type "scam" as well. Or "complaint". You can set yourself up to receive payments via PayPal without divulging personal information. However, it is best to link PayPal to a separate bank account than the one you normally use. Once in a blue moon PayPal freezes the bank account, sometimes due to a misunderstanding; and then you can't get any funds out of it. Alternatively, although I haven't tried this, you can create an account at a freelancers' website, and then the payment would go through that organization. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Simply look at the domain where the email came from. Go to their official website then to check. Don't respond if it is from other than official domain. I don't trust emails from yahoo, Hotmail, gmail etc. Recently I did review a grant application from a middle eastern university and I got paid USD500 already. That one was also came suddenly by email but from the university's domain. So there is nothing to worry about. Many times we don't understand what is fake and what is genuine which is very simple. Do one application first and see whether they pay or not. If not, don't do again. Ask your payment by a check if you don't want to give your bank details. At the end of the day you are not loosing anything except some of your valuable time. Good luck. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: I have already reviewed 4 projects for them and send them everything by November 2017, but they didn't pay me yet. I am an associate professor and they found me with similar way as you described earlier. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: I performed 8 reviews for them back in November of 2017. While the grants were quite low quality in terms of the science, everything seemed legit in terms of the process, paperwork and contracts. While payment was promised by December 2017 I have yet to be compensated, initially it was just a constant string of excuses and delays but now stopped answering my e-mails. I will update if I ever receive payment. UPDATE: Payment received. While it was delayed by many months, I did end up receiving full payment for my efforts. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I sent my evaluations at the end of August the required documentation for the payment, but I am still waiting a reply from that email. No reply, no payment. I I sent many e-mails to Mr. Dusmanbetov and <EMAIL> lot of times. More than eight months without an answer. This is not serious. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/01	559	2,344	<issue_start>username_0: I'm not in academia anymore, but spend quite a bit of my time reading papers and using the findings as part of my job. Today I picked up a paper that contained a couple of emoji-type icons in the figures. It was to show which of two conditions was preferred. There's a smiley face next to the desired condition and a sad face next to the undesired one. It's an electrical-engineering/computer-science paper. It's the first time I remember seeing something like this in a paper and it made me question the quality of what I was reading. I googled a bit and it was presented at an FPGA conference in February this year and is associated with a well-known university in the USA, so it seems reputable. Perhaps I'm just behind the times. Is this more common than I realise?<issue_comment>username_1: In my humble opinion, the use of emojis within the texts is strongly discouraged, particularly in a journal paper. In regards to the figures, I have seen some papers that consider some, maybe funny, images to depict the senses. For example, the users of a system might be angry with the results of one approach and might be happy with the results of another approach. As the goal of any figure is to describe a subject more clearly, the use of emojis in the figures of a paper is acceptable, and sometimes it may even help the readers better understand the problem. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'll answer from the perspective of a different field. In the biomedical sciences, it isn't uncommon to use some cartoonish representations to depict animal tasks/procedures, particularly because actual pictures of animal subjects are often avoided for a number of reasons. The same can be true for human subjects. I wouldn't think twice about seeing a smiling versus frowning monkey indicating task performance in a figure, as long as it was instructive/guiding and not interrupting/distracting. Same for other types of icons like thumbs up/down. Certainly emojis in text would be totally different. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If I remember correctly, <NAME> once (or maybe more than once) used a smile symbol for "end of proof" and a frown for "end of counterexample". I think this is OK, but when I (only once) tried to do the same, the editor didn't allow it. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/01	1,558	6,593	<issue_start>username_0: I read that whatever you publish before beginning a tenure-track job does not count towards tenure, so it might be wise to wait with those publications until a tenure-track position is reached. (I read this in the book `The Professor is In`, by the way) On the other hand, I would imagine that a tenure-track position is obtained quicker (or: at all), if one has publications, and to have more publications seems generally better than to have less publications (with some other assumptions here, regarding equal journal impact factor and so on) What do people think? Is there a strategy which might make more sense than others? Does it make sense to hold back? Or not really? edit: Here is the quote I am referring to in the book, I hope it is ok to share this here: > > “Write your dissertation with an eye to the publications that it will > become. As I have said, you need at least one refereed journal article > while you are still ABD. At the same time, be aware that publications > that date from before you accept your tenure track job do not > typically count toward tenure. So the balance is delicate indeed. You > must publish enough to get a job without prematurely exhausting the > supply of material you will need for tenure. That is why I recommend > writing a master’s thesis, which will give you material for a > publication without cutting into your dissertation material.” > > > From: Kelsky, Karen. “The Professor Is in : The Essential Guide to Turning Your Ph.d. into a Job<issue_comment>username_1: I think the main takeaways of this paragraph are "be aware" and "the balance is delicate indeed". I think the advice in the book about one article and a master's thesis is a bit humanities-centered, so let me try to elaborate. I am a public policy person trained in economics. I interviewed with econ and public policy/affairs/admin departments. These departments typically had a stated minimum number of tenure track articles needed to get tenure, and pre-tenure publications did not count. Some departments had a point system with various points allocated for the different journal rankings, and you had to get a certain number of points. Some of the best departments had a guideline number to give you the best shot at tenure without having a firm number. Here is what you will do: 1. Find out how many publications are considered "good" on the job market in your field (i.e. how many publications the average new hire at your school has, not how many the average candidate has) 2. Publish that many papers, plus perhaps 10-20% 3. If you have more potential papers and you are near the end of your degree, talk to your advisor about continuing to work on these papers so they will be published (not submitted) after you have started your tenure-track job. A bonus of this is that you may be able to do some additional analyses during that time and increase you shot at higher ranking journals. Obviously you don't want to hold back papers if you haven't hit the "good number" for your job market. But, for instance, one of my colleagues had published several things, and so didn't feel any need to push her dissertation research out. She got several TT offers and Ivy League post-doc offers without that. She can now take her time with these papers and make some additional improvements and maybe they can hit top journals. You should especially consider holding things back/perfecting them in the time between when you have been offered the tenure-track job and started the tenure-track job. (I think that this would mostly apply in fields where you can get a piece from submission to acceptance in under 6 months.) In my field, although all publications may improve your letters, publishing during those 6-8 months will neither help you get a job nor count numerically for tenure. The idea is NOT to minimize pre-tenure-track publications but to have a research project with a stream of publications ready to deploy once you hit the tenure-track. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: > > I read that whatever you publish before beginning a tenure-track job does not count towards tenure, > > > The first part may be formally correct at some universities, but this restriction is impossible to enforce in practice. Your reputation has a high-quality researcher doesn't depend on only your faculty publications; it depends on all your publications. The people who write your tenure letters will write about your best work (in their opinion), regardless of when you published it. Pretending that your pre-faculty publications simply don't exist would be stupid, even if it were possible. A much more accurate statement is that your tenure case will focus on your publications since being hired as an assistant professor. Faculty publications are more important, but that absolutely does not mean that pre-faculty publications don't matter at all. (I am assuming a reasonable tenure process, where the committee actually makes a good-faith effort to assess the quality and impact of the candidate's research record, as opposed to merely counting CV bullets. Sadly, some departments are stupid.) > > so it might be wise to wait with those publications until a tenure-track position is reached. > > > This is absolutely wrong. Competition for tenure-track faculty positions is fierce—a typical tenure-track position, even at a mid-ranked department, attracts hundreds of applicants. Submitting anything but the strongest possible application is foolish. Candidates for tenure-track jobs are judged primarily by the quantity, quality, visibility, impact, and reputation of their research record. All else being equal, applicants with more good publications are much more likely to be hired than applicants with fewer good publications, not only because they have longer CVs, but because they can attract stronger recommendation letters (because the references have more research to talk about). Normally, of course, all else is never equal, but here I'm comparing your changes if you publish more versus your chances if you publish less. In my experience\, getting a tenure-track faculty position is considerably more difficult than getting tenure. Most PhDs do not get faculty positions; most assistant professors do get tenure. Worry about getting the tenure-track faculty position first.* (\*I'm a full professor at a highly-ranked American computer science department; I've written dozens of tenure letters and have many years of experience on hiring and tenure committees.) Upvotes: 4
2017/06/01	4,506	19,289	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a new and junior group leader. I therefore work quite closely with my (also new) MSc students. I try to let them work and figure out things as independently as they can, but have my door open so they can ask me for help. When they do, it will often be about scripting. In these cases I sit with them and we work together for a little bit. That's when I see that students often work in ways that are clearly inefficient, but not objectively wrong. I don't want to interfere too much. This is a learning process and it takes time to learn from one's own mistakes. But I have to really force myself to not suggest they use keyboard shortcuts, a bigger editor window to see more code, more sensible file and variable names, use Dropbox instead of emailing, etc etc. I think it's important that I hold back: it would be annoying of me to point out every little thing, especially if, as I said, it's not actually wrong. Is there a good way to suggest solutions but not be unnerved if students don't use them?<issue_comment>username_1: Personally, this is what I tell my students at the beginning of their work, and my justification in the parentheses. 1. Use Dropbox/GDrive/what have you for backups (if you lose your work 1 week before submission you are screwed). 2. Set up a wiki for project documentation in the faculty server (if you don't take notes later you don't know what to write in the dissertation). 3. Use Mendeley for reference management (spend time writing .bib's or writing your dissertation, your choice). 4. Set up LaTeX and write their dissertation in it (Word is good for up to 3-page documents). 5. Use Virtual Machines for their work environment and keep regular backups (Don't waste time setting up things again and again). 6. Email to both supervisors in CC and always use "Reply all" to work-related emails (I cannot help you if I don't know what you are doing). 7. Show up at the lab often (just by talking with senior researchers you learn the quickest and smartest ways to your goals). 8. Send me progress reports often (if you don't ask for reviews I have no idea if your work is ready for them). (Optional) 1. Get an SSD for their laptop if they can afford it (patience is worth more than money). As for stopping myself from pointing out every little thing, it's easy: it's their work, and their choice to do a good one or not. In the words of Morpheus, "I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it." Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My approach would be much more subtle compared to João's method. Instead of out right telling them what to do, I would show them my workflow while answering a similar question. Make sure to do this on your own computer, do not 'drive' on someone else's PC. An example would be to show them your "development method", with a large code window. Use shortcuts or the CLI while they're watching what you're doing. You can say something like "foobar saves me a lot of time", but not too much. The students which want the higher efficiency in their workflow will naturally pick up what works for them. > > "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink" > > > Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: What if you were to write up a list of "general development tips"? Then you can share it with everybody once instead of constantly giving unsolicited advice. You can also then give it to future students and hopefully get them started off well from Day 1. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: Choose the few things that are important and count as 'best practices', (being sensible or having some standard about file and variable names seems a lot more important than the size of the edit window or keyboard shortcut to me). Give some rules or examples that show the guidelines in action and go ahead and be a bit picky about those. The other things - (use a bigger edit window, shortcut) are really not 'important' as best practice. Standing over a student's shoulder and saying, press that key, etc etc is really irritating and can be overwhelming if too much information/detail is being thrown at them. (Which detail is important, which is just you being helpful?) And, they actually may have pretty valid reasons after time to do it differently (they may find other shortcuts that work better with their 'style' or that you find useful if you observe them. However, that being said - it is very true that time-saver techniques that will save them frustration are not immediately obvious to novices. I've found the best way is to let someone play with the tools first so that they might run across some of the frustrations. But mostly, simply answer the basic questions and if there is specific question about 'easier' ways to do it, then tell them. Then later - do the one-on-one to show how you would do the task pointing out your own practices and how they avoid particular frustrations. However, at that point, just let then choose to do it how they find best. It isn't useful to keep suggesting it every time you are helping them out. While I'm not involved in training students in coding, we do have to train novice users on equipment that is a bit tricky and has a long training period to becoming expert so the process has some similarities. Choose the aspects that are almost non-negotiable because they are important. Don't sweat it too much when the novices keep choosing to ignore the hints you've given them that are based one what the experts typically have found 'useful' strategies to make their own life easier. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: it is a process, I agree, but if you don't point out the "mistakes", how would they know that they could be improved? Personally, I nitpick everything, and so far it has worked well. I also like to make clear this exact point and remember to congratulate them when they actually do stuff right on the first try (Otherwise it seems you focus too much on the negative feedback). Of course, it is important to remember that ultimately it is not your decision. You present all sides, pros, cons, and they decide. Another way of saying this is that you mention each thing thrice at most :) Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I see nothing wrong with making suggestions. After all you are teaching them and it seems not unreasonable to offer advice on how to improve the way they work, especially if the suggestion is to make something objectively more efficient. I entirely agree that it may not be a good thing to force students to work in a certain way if it really doesn't make sense to them. Certainly my experience is that one of the most useful things about working with someone experienced (whether in a formal teaching setting or not) is that they will know a lot of useful tricks which aren't necessarily intuitively obvious. Once you've made the suggestion you can leave it up to them whether they want to act on it or not but at least then they have the information. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Does your research group have weekly meetings? If so, you could devote 5-10 minutes at the beginning of each meeting to workflow/development hacks that you think would be helpful. If your group does not have periodic meetings, it may be worth implementing some even just solely for this purpose. Students may not like this at first, but the net productivity increase will be beneficial to everyone. Also, you won't have to point out individual inefficiencies to multiple students (at least not as often). I implement something similar when I teach, but this is more geared towards undergraduate stuff. I discuss things like how/where to apply for scholarships and internships, tips for getting into grad school, navigating workplace politics, and also some simple workflow things from time to time. Students have commented that this has been very beneficial. I like @username_3's idea of coming up with a list of general development tips, but I think this alone might have some shortcomings. It may be time-consuming to write up something really high quality that covers everything. Some students may not even read it (but these students probably won't pay attention to anything you say during a meeting either). Other students might not understand your suggestions until they see it in practice. This actually happened to me the other day. I knew of Emacs' Tramp, but never understood how to implement it. I saw a tweet with an animated .gif demonstrating how it worked, and I've been using it everyday since. Perhaps discussing these things in meetings and building a list of development tips over time may work well. You could also make some group requirements that make your life easier. For example, you could require that your group use Dropbox (or something similar) to share documents, and in the process that may encourage them to use it for their own material. (You could keep the development tips document in a shared folder on Dropbox as a start!) I do think pointing out inefficiencies in person could be worthwhile, but you definitely would have to pick your battles and only do this from time to time. --- EDIT Some of the comments indicated that the several of the OP's recommendations are "objectively wrong," but I think that this misses the point. If a more senior researcher sees ways that her/his group could be more efficient, these are likely worth sharing even without possessing the perfect workflow. Sharing code through Dropbox may not be the best solution, but it'd certainly be better than emailing files back and forth. (I'm not even sure the OP was suggesting that the group share code on Dropbox; this is just an example). Also, it's possible that the students may have suggestions for the group (or even group leader), and these could be fleshed out by gathering everyone together. One comment also suggested not getting into a Vim/Emacs holy war... but do the students know about Vim, Emacs, other editors/IDEs, and their capabilities in the first place? I certainly didn't know about these as a Master's student, and developing skills with an editor would have helped me tremendously (I'm not in a STEM field, so these tools are uncommon; I'm not sure about the OP's field, but again, this is just an example). You could definitely discuss features and capabilities without getting into a holy war. Mere exposure might be tremendously beneficial. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_8: I suggest you approach this part of teaching the craft of programming as if you were a theater director. Tell your students you will take some time to observe each of them working and give them notes afterward. Observe a student and take notes. Keep silent during observation. After your observation, "give your notes:" have a conversation where you tell the student your observations of their work, and offer your suggestions for improvement. This way you're offering your suggestions in a structured way, and not nagging them. Be sure to tell them they're not being marked or graded on this. You can also encourage them to do this for one another. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: @username_7 suggested in a comment: > > If your research group has weekly meetings, you could also devote 5 minutes or so at the beginning of each meeting to demonstrating development/workflow hacks. > > > An interesting idea! Now, let's vary it a bit: > > Devote some group meeting time (not necessarily 5 minutes only, and not necessarily at each meeting) to going round robin, giving students the opportunity to share their own workflow hacks with each other. > > > Do give them a heads-up in an email in advance so they can think about what workhack(s) they'd like to share or demo. In other words, don't catch them by surprise. And allow individuals to choose not to share something. In addition, you can have some workshop-type meetings where someone volunteers to be in the demo chair, doing some code development or testing on the fly, kind of like a master class in a music department. Then invite the students to comment constructively, with the goal being that each student find something to praise. If they want to make some constructive suggestions on how to debug more effectively or efficiently, that's fine, but the main goal should be to learn to provide positive feedback to peers. It is remarkable how much more effective tips and corrections from a fellow student are, compared to having them all come from the professor. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: TL;DR: Make a distinction between 'tips and tricks' and 'guidelines/good practises'. Give hints towards the first, and try to enforce the latter. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If it is possible in your situation, you might want to organize a small presentation. Something like 'EditorX tips and tricks'. Where you can share with them some tips and tricks on using the editor in a better way, without pointing out any student in particular. This is not that different from industry. I work as a software engineer, and we have weekly talks where we can give a demo on something interesting in the field. Every few weeks someone will give a small demo of some tips and tricks. Everyone is encouraged to do this. The benefit of this approach, to me, is that you make other people see the benefit (faster development, for example) with a small demo. You'll also make them curious to finding more tips and tricks that they can share. This being said about tips and tricks, there are also other things that are not simply tips and tricks but rather guidelines and good practises that should be followed. Wether you use a shortcut or not is quite optional, or wether you realise there is a Zero Latency Typing setting in IntelliJ (an IDE) and want to use it. Yet on the other hand we have things like Version Control, sensible variable names, keeping some documentation, which they really should be doing. The way in which they use it is once again in the 'tips and tricks' part, but they should at least know the benefit of using it and be strongly encouraged to do it. The way I did this when teaching (academic setting), was by enforcing the usage of these things. I am not sure if you can enforce this in your position, but if at all possible I would do so. Can you set some 'guidelines' for your group? If so, enforce coding guidelines and have them documented somewhere. Put anything relevant in that document, such as if you want snake case or camel case. Give some tips on how to come up with good variable and class names. Enforce pushing to git (svn,..) and show example of good commit messages. (A way to enforce good code style could be to use a tool that checks the syntax, variable name patterns etc.. There are some good linters available for many languages) The ones whom I have taught did not always see the benefit of these things - but in the end turned around 180 degrees. It made me happy to see the guidelines being respected and having the students actually see the benefit of this. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: I'll try to answer the question you are actually asking - i.e., the questions about you, not your students: > > How to hold back from interfering with students' inefficient-but-not-wrong work? > > > ...and... > > Is there a good way to [...] but not be unnerved if students don't use them? > > > (And my answer is strictly about advice that was not asked for, like in your case. Nothing of this obviously applies when your students ask you how to improve.) Unfortunately, you are up to something quite profound with your questions. There are two facts which can make people like you (or me), who have very efficient techniques for doing stuff, very unhappy by witnessing other people plodding along excruciably slowly - for whatever reason, not necessarily related to their intelligence at all. 1. Not every technique (of using an editor, upload tool or whatever) works the same for every person out there. What you may find very obvious (e.g., having most Emacs hotkeys pat down, being able to envision a good on-the-fly keyboard macro streaming right from your fingers during editing, etc.) may be utterly impossible for others. You arrived at your techniques by thinking very long and hard about it, or by intuitively finding something which matches how your brain is wired. That is not necessarily applicable to other people. Hence the VI/Emacs, Windows/Linux, PC/Mac wars, etc. 2. Not every person is actually able to take advice, however well meant, and apply it to their own work, for different reasons. In fact, in my experience in all venues of life (university, work, family, friends), there were only very, very few people who were at all able to take any un-asked-for advice whatsoever. Now. I will not go into the specific reasons for these two facts, because there are many, and it does not matter. Just an example: for "1." the other person might just not know about it; his "thought routines" might just not match up with how an editor works, and so on. For "2.", you might just not be able to explain it in the words they need to hear, they might be blocked by pride etc. There may be plenty of other reason, but my answer is not about those reasons at all. Sure, for many of them, there is a way around it. But you will always end up in the position that you feel pain because you so dearly want to help but they just don't get it. How to hold back ================ Just do it. Sit patiently while they do their inefficent thing. Yes. Obviously you can show them how you work, but frankly, they see that simply by watching you, if you are working in a peer environment. You do not need to make a "thing" out of it. They are students and should be used to use their brain; if they see you working blazingly fast while they take a loooooong time, they should be able to figure out that there's something going on. The point is that it is not you that needs to do something. It's not you that is responsible here. If they see you working fast, then they are free to * Ask you to explain how you do it. * Feel bad about it and practice at home. * Sit together with their friends and "compare notes". * Buy some book and read up about it, whatever "it" is. * Download the tools you use and figure them out. * Or not be bothered about it at all and stick to their slowness. And probably other things. How to not get unnerved if they do not use your tips ==================================================== The secret about not getting unnerved is to think this through upfront, and remove the idea that you can somehow change someone else right out of your head. You cannot change another being, ever. You can coax them, force them, lead by example or whatever, and you can enjoy the situations where they indeed improve, but you cannot really make them change. So, by pure logic, it makes zero sense to get unnerved. That's a case of not seeing reality as it is. If you accept that things are as they are, your becoming unnerved will reduce, for sure. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/01	851	3,766	<issue_start>username_0: I am going to submit a manuscript that, if accepted, will be included in my Ph.D. cumulative thesis. The cumulative thesis will be composed of two papers: the first one has already been published in the same journal to which I am going to submit the second one. So, in the best case scenario, I will end up with a PhD thesis having two papers published in the same journal. The papers are somewhat linked but different. Now, I am writing the cover letter to the editor and wondering if it is a good idea to mention this aspect. Could it be good, bad or irrelevant?<issue_comment>username_1: It is always important to acknowledge past publication history in any paper or thesis. For example: * If any portion of your thesis has been published in any form (such as a technical report, conference paper, working paper, or journal paper), you must acknowledge that prior publication in your thesis. * If any portion of a journal submission has been published in any form (such as a technical report, conference paper, working paper, or PhD thesis), you must acknowledge that prior publication in your submission. In both cases, the later publication must acknowledge the earlier one. Some publication venues impose restrictions or conditions on the later publication of the same result. For example, in many fields of computer science, conference papers can be republished in journals only after the addition of significant new material; in other fields, republishing conference papers in journals is simply impossible. In chemistry, even submitting your PhD thesis to University Microfilms may publication of your thesis research in a journal impossible [[source](http://pubs.acs.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1218205107465/dissertation.pdf)]. Conversely, some publishers require that any thesis that includes results from a published journal paper not only cite that paper but include a copyright notice for the repeated text [[same source](http://pubs.acs.org/userimages/ContentEditor/1218205107465/dissertation.pdf)]. *But there is no similar expectation that you acknowledge future* publications, because they don't (yet) exist.** It's really none of the editor's business what you might put into your PhD thesis—that's entirely between you and your thesis committee. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: In general it cannot hurt to state in your letter to the editor that you intend for your papers to be inclusions in your thesis. Some journals may even prioritise your paper higher in the review queue because of the time constraints on finishing a thesis. I would check with the journal regarding any conditions in relation to re-publishing your papers in your thesis. I found this was usually somewhere fairly obvious (easy-to-find) such as in the author instructions or submission guidelines. Some explicitly stated that the author was free to republish in a thesis submission (provided the journal was was cited). Others advised that the author needed to contact the journal to obtain permission. What I found, and what my PhD supervisor thought, is that permission is usually given for a thesis along with instructions how that permission should be included in the thesis (so that thesis examiners know you have followed academic protocol). I published most of my thesis as peer-reviewed papers in journals. I think I had eight chapters that were published papers, and another that only made it as far as a pre-print at the time of submission, but they were published across three or four different journals. The papers that had a common theme were published in (almost) the same journal. By almost I mean I had one published in the Letters edition of the journal and the others in the main journal. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/01	4,227	17,107	<issue_start>username_0: I've recently been told to read an article for my research, but do not speak the language it is written in ("Drei Vorträge über Diffusion, Brownsche Molekularbewegung und Koagulation von Kolloidteilchen", Smoluchowski). It's fairly heavily cited, so I imagine that someone somewhere will have translated it. Has anyone heard of/found online repositories of translated academic documents? Failing that- I don't suppose anyone reading this happens to have a translation? (P.S. the original author is long dead, hence I will not be asking him for a copy)<issue_comment>username_1: I don't think such an online repository exists. But major libraries have many things that cannot be found online, so I would ask a librarian or try a national library. For example, > > [<NAME> (ed.) (1990), Collected papers of <NAME>, vol. I, Akadémiai Kiadó: Budapest](http://explore.bl.uk/BLVU1:LSCOP-ALL:BLL01007108223) > > > contains an English translation of > > <NAME> (1941), Egy gráfelméleti szélsőértékfeladatról, <NAME>, 48, 436–452 > > > The translation is called “An extremal problem in graph theory” and it is by <NAME>. It appears on pages 231–251. I challenge anyone to find that translation on the web, or even just the whole of the information above. It is especially difficult if you only start with the information about the original Hungarian article. [Füredi (2015)](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0095895615000568) cites the original and the translation, but does not give full detail and gets the English title wrong, suggesting that he did not actually look at the translation. (I can only view the [arxiv version](https://arxiv.org/abs/1501.03129) of Füredi's paper but the citation is probably the same.) On the other hand, sometimes you can find a translation by looking on the web. This paper > > <NAME> (1847), Über die Auflösung der Gleichungen, auf welche man bei der Untersuchung der linearen Verteilung galvanischer Ströme geführt wird, > Annalen der Physik und Chemie, 72, 497–508 > > > was translated into English by <NAME> as > > [<NAME> (1958), On the solution of the equations obtained from the investigation of the linear distribution of galvanic currents, IRE Transactions on Circuit Theory, 5 (1), 4–7](http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/1086426/) > > > Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I am not aware of any online repository for translations or even citations to translations, though those certainly are good ideas. The closest existing option would be a translation index, which I discuss below in #4. For my recent research I've relied on a fair amount of papers written in languages unfamiliar to me (mainly Russian and German), and the following procedure is roughly what I do when I identify a foreign language paper I want to find an English translation of. I figured this out primarily through trial and error because there were many Russian articles I really wanted to read. You may be able to use similar procedures to identify translations to a language other than English as well, though I have not. 1. Try searching Google Scholar for the author and a rough translation of the article title. Sometimes you can find either a direct link to a translation online or citation information for a translation in print. (This covers a number of databases with a lot of translations too, like the NASA technical reports search and DTIC.) 2. Check if a regular (cover-to-cover or partial) translation of the journal exists. By now I'm very familiar with the regularly translated journals in my field, so I don't need to identify these any longer. Here are some ideas about how to identify these journals: * Try a Google search for the foreign journal name. This often returns a publisher's website for the journal and/or Wikipedia, either of which often mention a translation journal. * Try checking the catalog of the [Library of Congress](https://catalog.loc.gov/) for the foreign journal, which often mentions the existence of a translation journal. Searching [WorldCat](http://www.worldcat.org/) for the foreign journal name often can return a translation journal. Also, it's worth looking for collected works of an author on WorldCat, as they'll often include translated articles. And as user1310503 mentions, frequently you won't know the collected works book contains the article you want until you look at the book. 3. Try searching WorldCat and [NTRL](https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/) for the author and/or approximate translated title of the paper you are looking for. NTRL is produced by the US Department of Commerce, and it lists many translations produced by the US government. It's worth trying variations of the title and/or author's name, especially if the original was not written in the Latin alphabet as transliteration schemes can vary. If you can find the item on WorldCat or NTRL then ask a librarian about obtaining the document (or, if you're familiar with services your library offers, ask the ILL folks or whoever directly). Often you can only get citation information this way, but that still can be helpful. 4. Citation information for translations produced is often compiled in indices. Typically you look up a journal to see a list of articles translated from that journal. Most translation indices cover translations produced in a certain time period (note the difference with when the original article was written; I can think of an article that was translated about 25 years after the original). Some other translation indices are comprehensive up through a certain date. Below are several which come to mind immediately. Your local library may have one of these or a different series. There is much overlap between these indices, but not enough that you should only check one. * [Consolidated index of translations into English](http://www.worldcat.org/title/consolidated-index-of-translations-into-english/oclc/924823860). This is typically the first index I check as it is fairly comprehensive. However, it only has translations up through the 1960s in volume 1 and 1980s in volume 2. (In the case of the Smoluchowski paper the original poster mentioned, it's not listed in volume 1. Volume 2 lists translation number 69-16866-07D. As for how to obtain that, your guess is about as good as mine. I asked the British Library and they don't have it.) * [World index of scientific translations](http://www.worldcat.org/title/world-index-of-scientific-translations/oclc/1475950). * [Technical translations](https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000636102). Available online. * [Consolidated translation survey](https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/002138668). Available online. * Asking the [British Library](http://www.bl.uk/) also can be helpful. They seem quite adept at searching through these indices (including their own, e.g., the [NLL translations bulletin](https://www.worldcat.org/title/nll-translations-bulletin/oclc/10474249)) and they have a large translation collection themselves. I have emailed them before asking about translations of papers I've had no luck identifying translations for, and been very pleasantly surprised by the results. They have many translations which do not appear to have been indexed publicly, including ones not indexed in their NLL translations bulletin. Obtaining copies of these translations can be rather difficult, though, as they are not always willing to send them via interlibrary loan. * The [CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room](https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/) is a surprisingly good source for citations to translations and also English language abstracts for articles published in the 1940s to 1960s. The CIA seems to have scanned some sort of internal card catalog which had citations for a large amount of scientific journal articles not written in English. Often these citations include information about available translations and English abstracts. Unfortunately the card catalog is often illegible due to the poor quality of the scans. And the search has fairly limited capabilities. Still, I find this is one of the most valuable sources I've checked for translations of articles in the relevant time period simply because it often lists things which no other index has. (Not to mention the translations the CIA made themselves, some of which you can find on the website as is. I also filed a FOIA request for one CIA translation last year and am still waiting for them to finish the request.) * There are also many many other translation indices available. The above was just what comes to mind immediately. Check out some of the links I give at the bottom for more. Additionally, you can often find indices for particular series, and it's not uncommon that these series are not included in the consolidated indices I mention above. 5. Searching Google Books or [HathiTrust](https://www.hathitrust.org/) can be useful to find citations of translations. Often you'll find the translation indices mentioned above, but not always as for some of the indices, the information provided is rather terse, not including even an author name or title (just the page range, journal year, journal vol., and journal issue!). Try searching for variations of the first author's last name (try different transliterations if necessary), the journal name, the year, and the first page number for the original article. Adding an English translation of the article title may also help. Try both putting the titles translation in quotes and not in quotes. 6. Some journals specialize in translating selected articles from foreign journals. Presumably these translations are made by request, though I am not certain. One example from my field is [Fluid mechanics: Soviet research](http://www.worldcat.org/title/fluid-mechanics-soviet-research/oclc/1437883). The journal appears to now be called the [International Journal of Fluid Mechanics Research](http://www.begellhouse.com/en/journals/fluid-mechanics-research.html). I've browsed the previous title in the stacks before to look for interesting foreign research, and you might find doing the same for a similar journal in your field to be worthwhile. 7. Checking articles which cite the article you are interested in. Some of them might mention a translation. Also worth checking are bibliographies for your field. I can think of one translation of a very highly cited article in my field that I was entirely unaware of until I checked a bibliography for my field. (Incidentally, I have never seen any paper cite this translation, or any of the other two translations I identified for this article. On that note, you might find some redundancy in translations.) Word of mouth can help too. I would not have heard about an entire series of translations had I not emailed some retired researchers about obtaining a copy of a particular foreign paper. To the best of my knowledge this series never appeared in any translation index, and while there is an index of them, it's not obvious how to obtain them. Thankfully one of the researchers I contacted had many of them in a storage unit and he sent them to a university library archive. If the above fails, you can try checking abstract journals, both in your native language and foreign languages. These depend on your field. Due to the shorter length, it's often fairly trivial to translate a foreign language abstract of an article via Google Translate (few sentences vs. frequently 10+ pages). Frequently foreign abstract journals are translated or partially translated as well, sometimes under a similar name as the original journal, but other times published in an English language journal. For example, old (50s-60s) editions of [Applied Mechanics Reviews](http://www.worldcat.org/title/applied-mechanics-reviews/oclc/1064296) sometimes have English translations of selected abstracts from different editions of [Referativny Zhurnal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referativny_Zhurnal). For a while the mechanics edition of that Russian review journal was translated as [Soviet Abstracts: Mechanics](http://www.worldcat.org/title/soviet-abstracts-mechanics/oclc/3548917), too. Another method I've found useful to get some information about a foreign paper is to compile a list of quotes about the paper from articles that cite it. This will often summarize the most important aspects of the paper in a language you understand. Unfortunately, there are some disadvantages. One is that a paper may be commonly cited for one topic, when it actually discusses several topics which are of interest to you. You may never learn of the topics not mentioned in the citations this way. [It's also not uncommon for an author to cite a paper without reading it](https://robjhyndman.com/hyndsight/sight-what-you-cite/), so some of what is said will be merely rehashing of what others said. The "telephone game"/"[Chinese whispers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_whispers)" aspect can come into play as well; I can recall one particularly hard to find paper I tracked down which said nothing at all about a certain subject on which it's commonly cited for. So this may not be entirely reliable. What can you do if you've identified a citation for a translation but can't find a copy of the actual document anywhere? If you're unfamiliar with obtaining documents from other libraries, ask a librarian as they can help you. You can also search for the translation series on WorldCat and see if you can identify libraries with that series. Often it's possible to buy a translation listed on NTRL (though not always). Sometimes visiting a library with large translation collections can help too. The Library of Congress's technical reports section has proved very helpful to me in this case. Unfortunately, you will not always be successful even if you find clear citation information. It's not uncommon to find out that a translation existed at one point but is now unavailable or inaccessible. Reasons a translation could now be unavailable include it being thrown away, it being misplaced, it being destroyed in a fire, etc. Some libraries do not participate in interlibrary loan, so you may not be able to get copies of anything from those places. A translation could also seem unavailable if few libraries which have translations from a particular series have the one you are interested in. You might have to contact many libraries before finding one with the particular document you want. After that point, if you really want a translation of the article but have not found one, you could try paying a translator or using Google Translate. I've translated several articles into English via Google Translate now, and while it is tedious and the result often is not ideal, I do find it to be worthwhile for certain articles. As an example, [here's a series of three 1938 articles which I translated from Russian and posted to my university's repository](https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/68550). I am less knowledgeable about finding translations of books. I check WorldCat for the authors of a book I'm interested and sometimes am successful. Sometimes you may find translations of isolated chapters listed in the translation indices. For translations of books to English, contacting the British Library may also be useful as I recall they had a special program for this at one point. This is a rather large topic, actually, and I certainly have missed a lot, so feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Other guides with additional information about obtaining translations: * ["How to obtain a translation" by <NAME> (1977)](http://www.worldcat.org/title/how-to-obtain-a-translation/oclc/557850250) (Dated, but has a lot of information about how to find translations and also how to request a translation from a translator.) * ["Translations of scientific and technical literature: a guide to their location" by <NAME> (1987)](https://www.worldcat.org/title/translations-of-scientific-and-technical-literature-a-guide-to-their-location/oclc/16882702) (Newer but still dated.) * [Caltech](http://libguides.caltech.edu/translations) * [Cornell](http://guides.library.cornell.edu/translationsforscience), [another at Cornell](http://guides.library.cornell.edu/c.php?g=31095&p=199029) * [Linda Hall Library](http://libguides.lindahall.org/translations) Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It's an awesome question as undoubtedly there is waste going on with retranslations occurring. All that said, if it is very important to you and you have flush funding (I did when I was doing a hard science experimental Ph.D.) just go buy a translation. (couple hundred bucks...nothing compared to tools and supplies.) You'd be surprised what you can charge to a grant. Push the limit a little and remember what Grace Hopper said (easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission!) Another idea: contact some of the people (who are alive) who are English speakers that cite it. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/01	3,972	16,449	<issue_start>username_0: Summary: Supervisor is verbally abusive on a regular basis. He may be trying to sabotage me by delaying the annual report on which my funding depends. Should I quit or stick it out? --- Details: I enrolled in the Mathematics department at a local university in June of last year. Now, I'm not a highly talented person, I'm average at best. So I haven't done any groundbreaking work in the past year, and what makes it worse is that due a problem of mismanagement, most of the time they do not have access to any of the online journals, so it's very difficult to do research work and yet my supervisor demands that I attend every day and stay from 11 am to 5 pm at least. I managed to come up with a few theories along with proofs and examples. As I have a government-funded fellowship, now it's time to send them the annual progress report and, suddenly, my supervisor says he won't prepare my report unless I have communicated a paper to some journal. First, he said that to prepare a paper, one must take at least a month to arrange one's findings in a proper order, take care of the minor details, make the best possible presentation etc. and that's understandable. Then, when he is expected to make the report—that is, last Friday—he suddenly ordered me to get the paper ready by Monday! I just learnt LaTeX so it took some time—two sleepless nights—but I finished anyway. Now comes the decorative parts like Introduction to the paper, sectionwise introduction, abstract, etc. I have never done these things before but I wrote what I could. Now my primary education was in my native language and my English is not really high-quality. Now starts the problems. I'll give a list: 1. He yelled at me because my typing is not up to the mark, I made quite a few typing errors. My English is so poor that makes him want to vomit!!! 2. He wrote a few lines for the introduction while saying I'm insulting him by making him do this. 3. He should not have accepted me as his scholar since he could tell from my signature(!!) that I was not worth it. 4. Regarding the typing errors, he questioned the authenticity of the certificates/transcripts of my previous degrees (implying I constituted some sort of fraud to get those). 5. Not only am I a bad student and a disgrace to his reputation(?), he also finds my mannerisms, the way I talk and dress and behave quite disgusting. This is another reason he regrets accepting my application. What does this even mean? 6. His good student 'K' wants to work in the field I am working now. Great news. But how did he break it to me? "Have you seen her transcripts from high school? or college? And look at you, you'll never be anywhere close to her. You'll never be like her." I don't know if there is a decent way of saying this but he was screaming like crazy. Why would I even want to be like her? 7. Brags about how many students he has rejected over the years but he is now 'trapped' with me. When I or anyone else forced him to accept my application is not known to me though. 8. Keeps threatening to write letters to the authorities so they will terminate my fellowship. 9. Someone called his cell phone and he said 'I'm stuck with the crazy one' loud enough so I could hear. Another professor from another department came to visit him. He pointed at me and said 'Can this one be deported to your department somehow? I can't handle this anymore, just insufferable.' 10. Says I'm becoming like his another callous student "<NAME>." Right, the teacher has codenamed an overweight student Fat J. Sounds funny? He must have codenamed me too. 11. I got my master's degree from a top ranked university of this country and the one I'm in now doesn't even come in the first 50. But according to him, that university has a good reputation (God only knows why, because they have no good faculty members and their syllabus and exams are designed so students get high marks). I know nothing, I've learnt nothing, I should be ashamed (of what exactly?) and it's his university that gives a proper education but got only bad reputation; so from now on, he will accept students from his university only. (Who's stopping him anyway?) 12. He should have invested this time in other fellows instead of wasting it with me, that would get some real work done. And so on and so on...... Now all of this may not look offensive but his tone and wordings, the degrading language he was using, it was unbelievable from a teacher. It doesn't sound like a teacher is scolding his student but like he has personal issues with me. This has been going on for the last 4 days. He called me in his office and screams these things at me for 2-3 hours in a row. I just keep my head down and listen quietly. Recap: First of all, he demands me to do a one-month job in 7 days. Then my efforts are not appreciated. If he has so much problem with me, if he wants me gone and appoint his good student K then he can just fire me officially on the grounds of unsatisfactory academic performance. Why is he doing this instead then? Is it possible that he is releasing some personal frustrations on me? While other professors are giving their fellows' first-year reports consisting details of topics they've studied, seminars, lectures attended without having any papers published/accepted/communicated, my guide is pulling off so much drama. Is he doing this on purpose? This way my annual report gets postponed for an indefinite time period and I lose my fellowship so I have no way but to leave. And all the work I've had to do on his behalf, from typing his letters, arranging his files, typing the entire syllabus of the department, to writing question papers for 10 different subjects in hand. While he can't even provide with access to any of the international journals. Questions: In such situation should I give resignation before this abuse takes its toll on my nerves? Or is this typical behaviour of research advisors especially during paper preparation due to stress? Although I'm the one in stress because whatever little work has been done is done entirely by me not one bit by him and then I've to put up with this. I was starting to like the subject but now just the thought of having to see his face and listen to that voice is keeping me awake at night. Should I quit before he harasses me some more or is it perfectly normal behaviour and I should learn to get used to it? Pardon me for this very long post about my personal experience. If you can take a little time to go through it, then please give me advice.<issue_comment>username_1: You should certainly not put up with your advisor's egregiously inappropriate behavior in the long term. The only question is: given that you cannot complete your degree under this horrible advisor, what do you want to do? Unfortunately academia does not reward people who resign immediately under almost any circumstance, so you should only do so if you really are ready to terminate -- or at least, interrupt for a substantial period of time -- your academic plans and career. If so: yes, this sure sounds like a case where resigning immediately is appropriate. I would also urge you to speak to other faculty members and administrators in the department and the university so they know why you are doing this. If not: unfortunately you need to bide your time and find a more graceful exit strategy. I would begin by sounding out other faculty members in your department to see if any is willing to take over advising you. (Let me say though that your description makes your entire department sound like a real mess. Still, it would be good if you could stay for long enough to gain admission to a better department.) If not, I would reach out to contacts at your former department(s) to see if you could come back -- not necessarily to get a PhD, but at least to stay in academia while you plan your next move. If you really want to stay in academia and can't find anywhere else to go: this is a very tough situation. I would consider speaking to the department head, graduate coordinator or some other administrative figure -- but someone for which you have reason to believe will be sympathetic -- explain how unbearable your current situation is, and see if they have any ideas. Unfortunately the kind of department/university where a faculty member can behave like your advisor is more likely to be the kind of department/university where other faculty and administrators are unable or unwilling to intervene usefully on behalf of the students. I'm really sorry for the way you've been treated. It is wholly unacceptable. Good luck. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: This is most definitely not normal, and if people in this department think it is, they are wrong. He may not be happy with you - this happens - but then his criticism has to be specific and constructive, or at least not personal, if he thinks it is unrecoverable. It may be that he is under pressure himself, possibly through ill planning or other mistakes of his own, and having to handle a supervisee which does not operate at (justifiably or unjustifiably) expected levels of performance puts additional stress on them that they just happen to take out on you. One indicator for this theory is that they took on a new role - this role may stress them out significantly, so that their self-control has gone. I am making this analysis not to defend or excuse them, but to give you a perspective where this may come from. This may make it easier for you to understand how to proceed; it would be a good idea to transfer to someone else. All in all, however, you deserve, like anybody else, to be treated with a minimum of modicum and respect, no matter how well you perform, and this is clearly not happening. TL;DR: it's not you, it's him. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I assume that the best is to try to talk to the student ombudsman/representative about this. Most likely the faculty knows about this issue with this person (this is not unheard of in academia), and while they maybe can't change him, they probably can make sure that you can switch advisers without big problems. However, try to go step-by step here in case that they are stubborn. Don't bet on legal paths since that will take long and give the faculty all of the incentive to deny the problem. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I'm in academia and have worked with many students from many departments, and, sadly, have heard of these types of inexcusable behaviors before. To the degree that you've described only maybe 1-2 in 20 years. However, my response is always the same because, as <NAME> said above, "You just have to eat crap until your advisor decides to release you from slavery". The only thing that differs is the amount a crap & the years of servitude, Lol. That sounds like 4-5th year students. :) That's extreme, of course, but there's a lot of truth in it. No matter what your technical/legal rights are (many mentioned above), I've never even heard of anyone using them (obviously, this doesn't mean that many people haven't). The main reason is that the unstated "contract" between a student & advisor is that they basically treat you however they want, but they will help you get published and hook you up with good jobs/postdocs, etc. Most of the time, the advisor honors this "contract." Since yours is not honoring this contract, you could file a complaint, etc. Before doing that though, I'd consider some important questions: * How big of a name is he in the field? That is, how far does his power (contacts) reach? If he's big enough (and you think he'll honor your "contract" in the end), I'd think long & hard before taking any official steps. * Will anyone else in the dept. be willing and ABLE to advise you (i.e., how specified is your research? Is he the only one who knows enough about your research interest?)? * If no one CAN be your advisor, are you willing to change your research topic to fit with another prof's? * If you decide to leave the math dept., where else could you go? What other depts. would allow you to research your current (or similar) topic? What other profs have the knowledge & interests that fit with yours? Would they be able to give you funding? * Would you be happy studying something besides math? * Would it be better to change universities altogether? This is too long, sorry, but I'd strongly caution you to have something set (acceptance, funding) before saying/doing anything that your advisor might hear about because he sounds like the type of vindictive psycho that would go all out to punish you. And if you're in the US on a student visa, you can't count on having time to get something going before you're out of status. Remember that many students make similar changes; it can be done. Just be cautious & smart about how you do it. Good luck! Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: First off, if you are a woman and the adviser is a man, then you're in a problem that is only recently being revealed as more prevalent (your post and language suggests that you're a man, but I wanted to get that question out of the way, because it would lead to the simplest stereotype of the problem). Record these interactions if he shouts at you or insults you. There are plenty of cellphone apps that can record audio; just set your phone to record before you walk into their office, shove the phone in your pocket (upside-down, so the microphone points upward to get a better recording), and make sure it save it afterwards. You probably won't ever need to show someone the recording, but it helps to know that you have it. And you can show someone the recording in a private and off-the-record way, in a way that lets them understand what you deal with. Your task is to look for another adviser. If there are conferences that you can go to, then maybe you can do so, even if it's only to observe, network, or ask researchers some questions about their work. If anyone asks about your situation, you can honestly explain it as "my adviser is currently overburdened and cannot work with advisees like either of us anticipated." That doesn't really blame him, and it will probably sound nice and reasonable to anyone else. Also, as you need some editing help, feel free to message me and send me a few paragraphs of intro, conclusion, or the less knowledge-intensive stuff. Poor english in research papers is one of my pet peeves, but it only bugs me in published papers; this editing and review process is the period when it can be fixed, and I'm happy to help improve the clarity of the literature. I can help you rewrite a few paragraphs towards english fluency (no credit or acknowledgement requested, and you shouldn't thank "that guy on StackExchange" anyway). If the advisor still complains about those, that will help you affirm that the adviser has some personal issue, and it's not your fault. And I can give you a 2nd opinion on the readability of your english, which many native english authors are bad at. I am a harsh reader and editor, but I'm like that because I have ADHD and I need a paper to be clear and well-presented so that I can follow it. Crazy grammar leads me astray and it takes me three times as long to read a poorly written paper than a well written one. I don't see any glaring errors in your post, but your post is written conversationally rather than academically. (I've not published anything yet myself; as I'm still working on that research, so I would only say I'm qualified to edit by virtue of being a native english speaker and pedantic). As the subject is my personal pet peeve, if I was an adviser then I would have the student work with another student who may not be as experienced but who is fluent in english and a serious student. Both students would benefit from that, and the junior student could get some acknowledgement or credit if they put in a lot of time or helped over several drafts. That's what the younger grad students are for. And no matter what, if I were the adviser I'd always personally double-check the first few sentences of the abstract, intro, conclusion, and whichever section starts the real content of the paper. Those are the fluffiest and most academically boring parts, but they are the parts that will set the reader's first impression. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/02	828	3,449	<issue_start>username_0: I have had a video conference with a university research center in the U.S. The interview lasted for about an hour and the professor told me that they would like me to come to campus to visit their center. I was told about the salary and it is lower than the average post doc salary that is followed by the NIH. However, he mentioned that there is additional 20 thousands dollars (I think he said for conferences but I am not sure). The big advantage in this position is that it will allow me to focus on research without being bothered with heavy load of teaching. At the same time, I have been on campus interview for a tenure track faculty position and I am waiting to hear from them. The tenure track is for a position that focuses on teaching but provides me the opportunity to do my own research as much as I wish. If I am inviting for a campus interview for the post doc position, is it acceptable to inquire about the salary again. Can the salary of a post doc be negotiable?<issue_comment>username_1: It is certainly fine to ask for clarification of what you were told about the salary and other financial details. Keep in mind that nothing is certain until you have an offer in writing. See [How to handle salary negotiations while negotiating a postdoc position?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/49639/how-to-handle-salary-negotiations-while-negotiating-a-postdoc-position) regarding negotiation of postdoc salaries. My guess is that the salary would be negotiable only within a narrow band, if at all. If you get offered the tenure-track job, you shouldn't expect the postdoc employer to try to match it. The main reason to choose the postdoc over the tenure-track job is if you think that the additional years of full-time research will help you get a better job afterwards, or improve your research success over the long run, and if you think this will compensate you for a couple years of a lower salary. It very well might. Keep in mind that a position that "focuses on teaching" will likely have teaching loads that leave you very little time or energy for research, and may also not give you much funding for that research. I think people who take teaching-oriented positions very often overestimate the amount of research they will actually be able to get done. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Let me only comment on the post-doc salary, as I don't think you really want to ask us whether it is better to work as post-doc during mostly research, of tenure-track doing mostly teaching - the answer would be highly subjective. ANY salary is negotiable: some governments forbid individual negotiation, but allow collective negotiation. US allows individual negotiation. In US, your salary would come out of some PI grant, i.e. a larger pool of money. Thus he/she can certainly offer a bit more than what he offered initially, if he/she believes you are the best match for his/her team, and is willing to sacrifice on other investments. How much you can negotiate depends on the size of the PI fund, the fair market value, your negotiation skills. In US academia and EU industry I was able to negotiate a 7-10% salary increase over the first offer. I am sure you can do better if you're good, and do your homework in understanding average salaries, and what influences them (private vs public academic institutions, lab vs universities, big city vs small city, etc.) Upvotes: 1
2017/06/02	419	1,791	<issue_start>username_0: I am writing my Master's thesis. I find it unprofessional to prevent the first page of the chapter to take headers and footers. Should the first page of a thesis chapter have a header and footer?<issue_comment>username_1: Many universities have quite specific requirements for formatting and layout of theses and dissertations. You should first check these requirements with your university's graduate college (or whatever entity oversees the approval and publishing of theses/dissertations) before you alter formatting. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If your institution or supervisor have a fixed opinion on this, adhere to this. Otherwise, consider the following: * Having both, a header and a footer, makes your layout rather crammed, so it’s not a good idea anyway. * Usually, the header of a page layout contains the page number and the title of the current chapter or section (varying on odd/even pages). * Usually, the chapter heading is designed in such a manner that it is open to the top. * In this case, using a header on the first page on a chapter is bad for two reasons: 1. It breaks the layout of the chapter heading. 2. Except for the page number, it contains redundant information: Your chapter title and your section title will be on the same page.As the page number is rather small, it can be stowed away at the bottom of the page, so it is there for the purposes of citing page numbers. For leafing through the thesis to find a particular page, a gap in the page numbering at the head is not a problem. Hence it’s quite common in professional typesetting (just look at some textbooks) to omit the header on the first page of a chapter and instead have a solitary page number at the bottom of the page. Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]
2017/06/02	194	784	<issue_start>username_0: I just applied for and got shortlisted for a Skype interview. In a mid size University and Department in Germany (in Physics), how many people are generally shortlisted for postdoctoral positions?<issue_comment>username_1: I cannot tell for this particular case, nor for that matter for a typical German Physics Department. But in my experience (also in Physics), it is a few, i.e. 4 ± 2, for a single position (depends also on the number of good applications, could be as few as 0 but unlikely more than 8). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't think there is a 'generally' for this scenario. In some cases, the number is actually 0 - i.e. a group or a researcher wants to hire a post-doc and nobody relevant presents themselves. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/02	1,083	4,161	<issue_start>username_0: Please Note I am asking how to cite a paper under blind-reviewed in an accepted paper, NOT a new paper to be submitted. Chronologically, * First, I submitted paper A that requires double-blind review. * Then, I cite it in another paper B. (In paper B, I explained that paper A is not available since it is under a double-blind review process) * Paper B is accepted while paper A is still under review. * Now I have to submit the camera ready version of Paper B before the notification of Paper A. Solution I Put my blind review article into a pre-print archive (e.g. arXiv) so that it can be available for citing. But, would it "spoil" the blind review process? Solution II place an anonymized version of paper A in a dropbox folder and cite it with a link to that dropbox file in the reference. (Inspired by dsfgsho's answer to [Double-blind review: submit a follow-up paper in a very short time](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/67789/double-blind-review-submit-a-follow-up-paper-in-a-very-short-time)) What's the better solution? Is there any other solutions? --- Related Questions: * [Citing an article under a double-blind review process](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/30324/citing-an-article-under-a-double-blind-review-process) (for a new paper) * [Is it legal to upload a paper to arXiv when it is under double blind review for one of the IEEE journals?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16831/is-it-legal-to-upload-a-paper-to-arxiv-when-it-is-under-double-blind-review-for)<issue_comment>username_1: While something is under review, it's in an indeterminate state and might not survive the review process. Once something is published, all of its critical supporting references need to be available. Thus, I believe that the correct approach here depends on whether paper B actually depends on paper A, or if it's just a "related work" (e.g., "In Paper A, we solved a different problem from the same family of problems."): * If Paper B depends on Paper A, then I think you have no choice: put a preprint of Paper A into arXiv (or similar), and hope it doesn't hurt the blind review process---and in most cases it probably won't. * If citation of Paper A is only a "nice to have" for related work, then I would instead suggest simply dropping the citation, since the related work has not yet come into being. When I had much the same thing happen to me, I ended up following the second route, which was the right thing to do. Nothing, however, can protect you entirely from the vagaries of the scientific publication process: in my own case, the first version of my Paper A was rejected partly because the reviewers took so long that they ended up complaining that I didn't cite my Paper B in it! Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Reason is very simple: You don't do that, because you don't even have bibliographical info about your paper that is under the review. You don't even know if it will be accepted at all! There is a very well known paper in my field, cited more than tens of times, from a top journal. The problem? Paper was never published, but somehow the authors managed to cite themselves or make the paper available online, along with the name of the journal where it was under review. Created hell of a confusion. So the only decent solution would be, depending on your field, perhaps putting the paper up as technical report (if it is not under double blind review, otherwise you will violate double blind review concept) and cite that. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: You can cite your work as an unpublished result, see e.g. <http://academicanswers.waldenu.edu/faq/72964> (related to Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association) > > Unpublished research includes work in progress, work submitted for publication but not yet published, or work that has been completed but not submitted for publication. > > > You will cite unpublished work the same as you would published work, with the author’s last name and the year the work is in progress or was completed. > > > Upvotes: 0
2017/06/02	1,286	5,300	<issue_start>username_0: My professer, regrettably and very suddenly, passed away yesterday. He was my mentor for my graduation thesis. His teaching capabilities were not great, but he was a great man. Always helping out with everything he could and very supportive. I have very fond memories of him. I have to hand in my thesis in two weeks time. Currently, I have his and another mentor's name on the front page to make it clear they are my supervisors. How should I proceed with his name? I'd prefer not to erase it from my thesis, as he helped me and supported me. Would it be appropriate to leave it? Is it appropriate to add a little symbol like a cross next to his name to mark his passing? Should I just leave it the way it is now? If it matters, I'm from the Netherlands.<issue_comment>username_1: You should definitely keep the name. I've seen that people who passed away during some endeavor usually have their names surrounded with a rectangle. You can also consider putting some In Memoriam page for your mentor somewhere at the beginning of the thesis. You should consult other people within your institutions culture to make sure that this doesn't come off as pretentious (although I see no reason why it should). Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In my country we put a frame, with the name and surname inside the rectangle. This means that the author died in the process of creation. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: My sincere condolences. I am in the same situation: one of my advisors passed away 6 months before the end of my PhD. Here are the issues I faced: * My thesis had to be supervised until the viva. OP (as it was the case for me) seems to have another supervisor. Talk with them and this shouldn't be an issue — especially if this other supervisor is in the academia. The PI of my research group also offered me to review my thesis even if it was not really within its field of expertize. You might otherwise find a more adequate other researcher ready to help you in your institution (just make sure that everyone in charge of your graduating program is in the loop when contacting new temporary advisors). * I had to put names on my thesis' cover. I just listed names of my two original supervisors. (I don't think that temporary supervising a thesis for two weeks is worth being listed as supervisor.) You can find [here ideas on how to indicate your supervisor passed away](https://english.stackexchange.com/q/391959/236922). The solution I chose was to indicate nothing on the front cover, to add a dedication page ("In the memory of Professor <NAME>") at the beginning of my thesis, and to thank the temporary advisor in the Acknowledgement section. In this section, I also refer to my deceased supervisor as "the late Prof. Doe". Reason for no special symbol on the cover is that your deceased supervisor was de facto your supervisor for your thesis. It thus must be listed. But my opinion is that you won't change your thesis cover in the future if another person passes away. So I think that the purpose of the cover is to indicate who supervised you (here, both supervisors, hence both names listed), not their current state (hence, no indication). The dedication page, imho, already makes obvious that this person passed away short before graduation. * This supervisor co-authored papers that were still under review. With the consent of my second advisor, I sent a note to journal's editors at the next round of review to explain them the situation. I asked them if it was possible to keep him/her acknowledged as author. It is then up to editors. Some journals have strict policies (e.g., having the written co-authoring consent from all authors regarding the accepted version — which we obviously cannot have.) Their name was then listed in the acknowledgment section. Most of them don't. What happened for a conference paper is that the name was listed along with the others, with a footnote explaining that the paper was finalized after their death. TL;DR: You should list both names in your thesis. Regarding indicating that one of them passed away, I would keep it short and subtle. (My opinion is to add no specific indication on the front cover — see above.) For what regards on-going publications, talk with the editors the next time you contact them. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: In case it helps, I want to add an answer from my own experience. My PhD Supervisor suddenly and unexpectedly passed away before I handed in my PhD memory. The bulk of the work was already done, but I still needed some advice and supervision to prepare the final document. My University allowed me to keep her name in the records as first supervisor. I added a cosupervisor, who really helped and encouraged me to finish the job. I wrote some special words to my first supervisor in the 'Acknowledgements' section of the PhD memory, and also added a special text at the end of the document (more precisely, I added the poem 'When Great Trees Fall' by <NAME>) which was implicitly dedicated to her. The thesis was in Spanish, but I kept the poem in English. A full electronic version of the PhD thesis can be found on <http://hdl.handle.net/10251/46373> . Upvotes: 1
2017/06/02	509	2,023	<issue_start>username_0: I was talking to a potential PhD supervisor about doing a "PhD" in his institution (in Germany). In several occasions he mentioned in an "emphasizing manner" that they award "Dr. rer. nat." in contrast to other doctoral degrees (like "Dr. phil." / PhD). In my environment/institution (also Germany), many have a PhD from universities outside Germany and he is aware of that. Why would he emphasize that? Are differenct "kinds" of doctoral degrees considered harder to get or more prestigious or something like that? Note: I had the impression that he was saying "be aware of what you´re getting into, "Dr. rer. nat." is serious business" to exaggerate a little... The field is CS/maths if that is relevant.<issue_comment>username_1: I'm guessing that he has had a number of candidates who were unclear on that from the outset and that he's simply clarifying to make sure there's no confusion prior to your joining the lab. I don't know whether this is likely to affect your long-term career, hopefully someone who knows more about German academics can clarify in the comments. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Whether a German department of mathematics grants the title Dr. rer. nat. or Dr. phil. has nothing to do with the research done in the institute or the difficulty of obtaining the degree, but is the result of some historical happenstance. At most universities departments of mathematics are quite young, and they may be split of an older physics department or a philosophy group, in which case they would have just inherited the naming of the title. The reputation of Dr. rer. nat. and Dr. phil., as long as they were achieved in the same area, are the same. Dr. Ing. is somewhat different, but not easier. Dr. med. is not taken seriously. There is also the Dr. hum. biol. (human biology), which can be obtained by students of other subjects than medicine, and is on a par with Dr. rer. nat., i.e., a Dr. med. for someone who actually did research. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2017/06/02	697	2,276	<issue_start>username_0: I need to use a formula, found in a book "A". The book itself refers to an academic paper from the 50s, "B". So when I use the formula, who should I reference? > > We use the formula given as g = 4x^2 ("A", 2001). > > > We use the formula given as g = 4x^2 ("B", 1950). > > ><issue_comment>username_1: You should try to cite primary sources whenever possible; in this case, that means citing the original paper "B". However, as GEdgar says, a textbook may be an easier source for people to find, particularly if that book is the de facto standard text in your field. It is therefore a good idea (and perfectly acceptable) to cite both "A" and "B", for example: > > We use the formula given as g = 4x^2 ("B", 1950, "A", 2001). > > > Personally, I prefer to be more verbose and might write something along the lines of > > The formula we use is given by Author B ("B", 1950) as > > > g = 4x^2. > > > This was later used [confirmed/ expanded on/ usefully re-derived/ etc] by Author A in their book "A" ("A", 2001). > > > Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Important and/or well-used equations/relations/results have a certain evolution to their citation pattern. 1. First their original authors are referenced. 2. After time has passed and it has appeared in several textbooks, people tend to just quote the textbooks, simply because these are much more accessible than an old paper. 3. After it becomes a basic, people stop giving a reference altogether and treat it as god-given (who quotes Cooley & Tokey 1965 for the [fast Fourier transform](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Fourier_transform)). 4. Some relations acquire the name of their author (some even acquire the name of somebody else), such "Maxwell's equations": nobody quotes > > Maxwell, <NAME> (1865). "A dynamical theory of the > electromagnetic field". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal > Society of London. 155: 459–512. > > > Many fundamental relations that form the basis of contemporary science have been developed by scientists in the past century, but rarely is appropriate credit given. In your particular case, point (2) above appears to apply, but in the end this is a matter of taste and personal judgement. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/02	602	2,780	<issue_start>username_0: Imagine that we have achieved the goal of a grant before the money runs out. Should we use the rest of money to make the research more advanced even though it won't be useful in the direction of the proposal? For example the grand is for computer science research with a specific application to medicine. Should we use the rest of the medical grant money in advancing the research in computer science even though it would not be much needed in that specific medical application?<issue_comment>username_1: Your question is framed as a false binary. In my view the most ethical response is to use the leftover money for related research, i.e. in the area of computer science in medicine in your example. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Different funding agencies (and programs within agencies) have different relationships with the specificity that they want in results. Some are much more comfortable with their investigators "following where the science leads," while others really care about the exact pre-specified goals of the project. Without further information about the funder and the type of grant, it's impossible to say what degree of flexibility there is likely to be in how the money gets used. The definitive source for this information is generally the program manager for the grant, and your supervisor should have been having periodic interactions with the program manager that could provide guidance on this decision. If they haven't, that's a warning sign, but that may be difficult for you to know since students are rarely included in such interactions in any case. Taking actions that go against the funder regulations or program manager guidance can cause big trouble. The risk is primarily for your supervisor, but you might get tarnished by association, particularly if you knew an action was dubious and didn't talk to anybody. If there are other professors that you know and trust (or a university ombudsperson or ethics office), you might talk to them to be able to share more details and get a more informed opinion---as well as to shield yourself from possible negative consequences if your misgivings prove well founded. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: What you can do with any 'left over' money depends very much on the terms of the grant or contract you're working under. I work for a major public clinical trials funder - if there is any money left over at the end of a project we expect it back. Every project gets a formal financial reconciliation at the end to make sure the money was spend how it should have been. Other funders in my country take a more relaxed view. You'd best check the paperwork associated with the money to see what you're allowed to do with it. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/03	491	1,767	<issue_start>username_0: I was filling IEEE Xplore membership form. In the form, there was a field "Suffix", the values for this field are I, II, III, IV, Jr., M.D., P. Eng, PE, PhD, Sr., V. Which one does best describe me? Currently I am a Research/PhD scholar in a department of information technology.<issue_comment>username_1: Do you have one of these titles? More specifically, as a 'PhD scholar', are you still working towards your PhD or have you already defended? Is your name 'snowbell', 'snowbell the third', or 'snowbell junior'? If the former, leave the field empty. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Names are complicated, and some people are very touchy about getting theirs exactly as they want it. In English-based naming, this can often include prefixes (e.g., "Sir" in "<NAME>") and [suffixes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suffix_(name)) (e.g., "Jr." as in "<NAME>, Jr."). This form is making things more complicated and confusing by combining two orthogonal categories of suffix: * Generational suffixes: I, II, III, IV, Jr., Sr., V. * Academic suffixes: M.D., P. Eng, PE, PhD And what should you do? Just leave this field blank. If your name had a generational suffix, you wouldn't be asking this question. From your comment, you don't have an academic suffix yet. Even if you did have an academic suffix, you might not want to add it anyway. In many parts of American scientific or professional society, for example, people do not bother to use their academic titles (it's always a little weird to me to be addressed as "Dr. Beal", and I would never ask somebody to call me "<NAME>, Ph.D."). In many parts of Europe, on the other hand, such titles are used much more commonly and comfortably. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/03	672	2,905	<issue_start>username_0: I'm an undergraduate at a research-intensive university and I have received funding with other students to do research. The other students involved in the project are all undergraduates. I'd really like to talk to people outside of the project who do research - not necessarily to 'network' in a formal sense, but to share resources, discuss the progress we've made, etc. We have a supervisor, but I want something more like a peer. The thing is that I don't know how to find people to talk to. I don't know any undergraduates outside of the project who are doing research. The university has many postgraduates, but I feel like an intruder in postgraduate and academic spaces (e.g. research discussion groups, conferences). It isn't about age; I started my degree as a 'mature student' and I am old enough to be a postgraduate, but there's obviously a hierarchy at universities in terms of how far you are in your education or academic career, and there are some physical barriers between me and postgraduates, too (e.g. they have their own spaces that only postgraduates can access). What should I do? I'm aware of the existence of undergraduate conferences, but it frustrates me that I'm at a university that is very oriented towards research yet I don't feel able to talk to people about it!<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience, researchers who are genuinely interested in the same topics as you will be happy to discuss them regardless of whether you're at the same stage of education. Push yourself to attend events that challenge and inspire you, whether they're mainly attended by graduate students or by undergrads, and don't tell yourself that you're an intruder there. Most people won't be thinking about whether you're an undergrad or a postdoc; they'll just be listening to the ideas you exchange. As a graduate student myself, I love working with undergrads who are motivated and excited about research. Of course there will always be some people who think they're above you simply because they have more credentials, but that's their problem, not yours. Asking people about their own research can be a great entry point since everyone likes to feel that what they're doing is appreciated. Check out a poster session on campus and find a few posters that you're interested in. Eventually you'll start a great conversation with someone. Be patient and don't give up! Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Asking people about their work and listening, really listening, will help. Everyone is lonely and even a little scared in academia. But they do tend to be very focused on what they are doing at the moment. The best thing is to write papers for conferences. That is the game changer. Do the work. Get into the game. If that makes sense. Take every opportunity to present and really do listen to others. Everyone else feels exactly like you! Upvotes: 1
2017/06/03	404	1,686	<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently writing an article and wonder if I could copy text from various articles. Is this appropriate? I checked similar review articles and found they copied the abstracts for similar works, but can I copy the an introduction from another article to complete my introduction?<issue_comment>username_1: You can quote verbatim, iff 1. the passage quoted is reasonably short (about one sentence, but not a whole paragraph); 2. and you put the quoted passage in quotation marks and/or italic; 3. and you give the reference immediately before or afterwards. For example: > > As John & Ali (2012) have phrased it "this is a verbatim quote from > their publiation". > > > However, having said that, you should avoid excessive verbatim quotations. Quoting verbatim is frowned upon and reflects poorly on your ability to express yourself. As stated in point 1 above, quoting a whole paragraph or even more is inappropriate in any case, because it implies that your text lacks originality. The same holds for near-verbatim quotes. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I can't think of any situation in which it would be appropriate to copy a section of another article (even with acknowledgment). In particular, since your article is different from any other that has ever been written, it needs its own introduction. If a small part of some other article is highly relevant, you can quote it with attribution; if you need to refer to a longer section of text, the only reasonable way to do this is to cite their article and draw attention to the appropriate section (e.g., "This is discussed further in Section 2 of (Doe et al., 2015)"). Upvotes: 1
2017/06/03	181	794	<issue_start>username_0: Sometimes for different purpose like taking new courses or job they tell to send a CV through email. But what should I write in body when I attach my CV?<issue_comment>username_1: You should 1. Say why you are sending the CV. 2. Thank them for considering your application (or doing whatever they're doing). 3. Keep the body of the email relatively brief. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Consider the body of the email taking the place of a cover letter (unless it was requested as a standalone document). Include items such as * Why you are sending the CV (what position you are applying for) and * Thanking the recipient for their consideration. When you sign off the email, include all your contact information as you might in a business letter. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/03	1,000	3,458	<issue_start>username_0: Are there any (accredited/recognized) academic institutions with a significant part of their activities - administrative and academic - held over a body of water (sea, lake or river), on some floating platform? [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RWMm6.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/RWMm6.jpg) The kind of platform could be boat or a barge; or if that doesn't exist, then at least - buildings built directly on struts in the water without solid foundations (a-la Tolkien's [Esgaroth](http://yemachine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/smaug-lake-town.png), or Lake-town). Notes: * Universities which have ships and/or operate ships and/or hold some classes on ships and/or send students out on trips on ships - don't count. The univesity or institute has to operate primarily on the barge/ship/floating platform. * Bonus points if it's a proper university and if what they teach is not just shipping/marine-related. * I don't want a recommendation of such institutions, nor a list of them, I just want to know if any exist.<issue_comment>username_1: The [California Maritime Academy](https://www.csum.edu/web/mycampus/home) is an accredited part of the Cal State system; much of the instruction takes place on the Academy's ship, The Golden Bear. While the curriculum has a Maritime focus, the Bachelor's degrees granted are in Engineering, Business, etc., and applicable to non sea faring pursuits. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Not sure if that counts, but there is a very well rated university in Venice, [Ca' Foscari](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ca%27_Foscari_University_of_Venice). Its main building is in the center of Venice. I do not know in specific if this applies to it as well, but in general the buildings in Venice are constructed on [wooden piles planted inside a layer of mud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice#Foundations). In addition, it is quite common for Venice to be partially submerged due to high tides ("[Acqua alta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acqua_alta)"). Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The [Semester At Sea](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semester_at_Sea) program is an established and respected program run by the The Institute for Shipboard Education, which I think only does this Semester at Sea program, and Colorado State University, which obviously has a lot of land based activities. The program offers a range of classes, but does not offer a degree (as far as I can tell). Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: [University at Sea](https://universityatsea.com) exists to give 'practicing professionals' the chance to earn continuing education credits in their field. The courses are taught aboard cruise ships. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: There is also the [Peace Boat](http://peaceboat.org/english/?menu=46) with it's '[Global University](http://peaceboat.org/english/?menu=89#global%22)'. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: After <NAME> hit New Orleans in the fall of 2005, Tulane University housed a significant number of displaced students and faculty in a cruise ship moored on the Mississippi River. However, from what I understand classes were not held onboard and this arrangement was only in effect during the Spring Semester of the 2005-2006 school year. [Tulane University press release from 2006.](http://www.ohr.tulane.edu/news/newwave/020306_ports_in_a_storm.cfm "Tulane news release.") Upvotes: 1
2017/06/03	423	1,943	<issue_start>username_0: In virtually every letter of recommendation I've seen, the final line is something to the effect of "Please feel free to contact me if you have any other questions". But how often is it to actually get contacted? I've never actually received any follow up before, but virtually all the students I write letters for have gotten into the programs of their choice. Granted, I only tend to write letters for undergraduates applying for scholarships and graduate school (no graduate program for my department) so maybe the likelihood increases for, say, letters written for master's students applying for PhD programs, but I'm curious if this is just happenstance that I've not been contacted or more par the course. (I know we do contact letter writers once we have a short(er) list for job candidates, but I'm thinking here specifically letters written for students who will continue to be students.)<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience as a letter writer and as a member of graduate admissions committees, it's very rare for graduate admissions committees to contact a reference. On the other hand, it's quite common to contact references in hiring situations. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I have never once been contacted for more information about a student recommendation, but I always include the offer. My reason for including the offer is that the letter is really an explanation of my support for the student (I would not write a letter for a person that I do not support), and an important aspect of that support is being willing to provide any information useful for the case at hand. If I do my job as a writer well, then I anticipate what will be useful in advance and the recipient shouldn't need to ask me anything---but a very relevant piece of information is that I care about the student enough to be willing to invest more time in their case if that would be useful. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/04	1,046	4,484	<issue_start>username_0: I'm a teacher in a private school and was asked by the school to develop lesson plans for an existing text book. Eventually that's going to be a manual for the teachers to use for that specific text book. I am paid for my time doing this, however there are more things I was asked to help with during that the time frame I was given, mainly develop more materials for school. The lessons plans can be used in any school that uses the same text book hence I would like to protect my rights and make sure it's not going to be used in other different school without my permission. Can I copyright my materials?<issue_comment>username_1: As I understand it, in the UK the answer is that your employer owns the copyright, unless they have told you otherwise: > > Where a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, or a film, is made by an employee in the course of his employment, his employer is the first owner of any copyright in the work (subject to any agreement to the contrary). > > > <https://www.gov.uk/guidance/ownership-of-copyright-works#works-created-for-an-employer> (Note: the question 'can I copyright the materials?' doesn't actually make sense. Copyright automatically exists on the creation of a work. Your question is really about who owns the copyright in this case.) Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As pointed out by JessicaB, the materials are implicitly copyrighted. Whether the copyright is owned by you or by the school depends on the specifics of your employment agreement, but I suspect if will be the school: teaching institutions generally want it to be easy for course material to be shared amongst the different faculty who teach a course over time. I would also, however, recommend that you reconsider your apparent desire to prevent others from using the materials that you have prepared. Neither you nor the school are particularly likely to make any money from selling lesson plans, and how does it hurt you if more students than yours benefit from your effort? You may wish instead (if the school allows) to release them under a [Creative Commons license](https://creativecommons.org/choose/), with your authorship clearly marked: that will both benefit more students and might even turn out to benefit you in return. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In the U.S., in at-least-moderately research-oriented universities, I have the impression that faculty creators of course notes/texts have the copyright (until they make some possible deals with publishers), rather than the institution. This is explicit in my university's policy statements. The corresponding question about adjuncts or contractors hired specifically to create course material seems not (currently) relevant, because I've not seen that happen (in mathematics). (IANAL, but, ...) In the U.S., there is a notion of "work for hire" (writing/creating something specifically requested by an employer as the central part of one's job), in which case copyright or corresponding rights are by default owned by the employer. In the case of research-oriented faculty who have no obligation (and won't be rewarded at all for it) to create course materials, I think the current interpretation is that any course material creation is voluntary (and probably not terribly profitable), so they keep the copyright. I know many people who've created course notes (for mathematics), perhaps most enthusiastically upper-division or grad-level or further, though I've put calculus notes on-line, myself. Doing this, obviously one does not expect profit or control. Many people who've published conventional physical books also have negotiated with publishers retention of copyright + rights to keep things on-line (sometimes with an "embargo" period). 20-30 years ago, when the internet was still embryonic, it was not clear how it would work, and people did worry about "getting credit", and/or profit, and/or people "stealing" their work. (Yes, there do exist TeX decompilers, so not putting the TeX source on-line does not prevent people from recovering the source code, and so on.) Sure, one can try "watermarking" or other steganographic tricks, but, ... Since my university does not consider anything on-line to have any status-enhancing features, anyway, I decided to stop worrying about people "stealing my ideas". Better to spread (hopefully!) good ideas and "not get full credit" than be secretive and be of no help to anyone. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/04	228	979	<issue_start>username_0: My professor gave me a project and I have completed it successfully. Now he has told me that he will get funding for my project. I am so excited about that. How can I write a thank you letter?<issue_comment>username_1: If I'm understanding you correctly, you worked on a trial project, it went well, and now you will be continuing work with a funded follow-on. This doesn't really strike me as a situation that needs a formal or complicated thank you note. Just tell the professor that you're happy things have gone well and are looking forward to continuing to work with them. The best possible thank you that you can give is to continue putting in good effort as you continue to develop your work with this professor. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I agree with username_1 but it does no harm to write a one or two line email of thanks. Any one suggest wording? You have been offered a spot on the funded project? Upvotes: 1
2017/06/04	934	3,813	<issue_start>username_0: Under which circumstances can a scientific publication have a dedication? It is not uncommon for theses (Bachelor, Master, PhD, ...) to have a dedication. Furthermore, some big publications in high impact journals happen to have a dedication. However, what about regular journals? Can I include a dedication in the 'Average Journal of okay results'? It is assumed that I will not have a top journal hit publication in the near future. Would such a request be turned down immediately?<issue_comment>username_1: I would be interested to know what high-impact journals you have seen dedications in, because it would be quite foreign in all of the ones that I have encountered. In my experience, dedications almost always only appear in stand-alone works, such as books and theses, or an explicitly dedicated collection such as a [Festschrift](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festschrift), rather than in individual articles of a conference or journal. There are exceptions, but they are unusual, and I would expect many journals to reject a dedication as "not complying with prescribed format" unless it is buried in the acknowledgements section. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: (Mathematics:) I have dedicated a few journal articles "to the memory of" recently deceased colleagues (one in a "special issue journal" for this purpose, but others in regular journal issues). I just included the dedication in the submitted paper, and no-one complained about or commented on it, and it appeared in the published version. Regarding placement: The place of the dedication seems to depend on the journal style; in most cases I encountered it was between the author list and the abstract. Actually, the first time I dedicated a paper I put the dedication into the acknowledgment section, the (copy) editor then moved it to the proper place. From that time on, I placed the dedications there myself, using in LaTeX (amsart class) the command `\dedicatory{Dedicated to the memory of N. N. (1930--2010)}`. So far all journals left the dedications there; apart form one who moved it to an own section between the abstract and the acknowledgment section. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I have dedicated a few journal papers to my colleagues too and by now I have at least one dedicated to me. There is nothing wrong with dedications, epigraphs, etc. in general if you exercise some common sense, tact and taste when including them. In the worst case scenario, the editors will suggest removing them (as happened to one of my epigraphs that was a bit too controversial; it is still present in the arXiv version, but not in the published one), so you risk nothing by trying. Just make sure that the dedication you write conveys exactly the meaning you intended (I saw a couple of rather ambiguous ones) and go ahead with it. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: [This paper](https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/13/11/113033/pdf) was dedicated to the memory of an individual and was published in a high-impact journal: New Journal of Physics is ranked 7th in the [Google ranking of journals](https://scholar.google.ca/citations?view_op=top_venues&hl=en&vq=phy_phygeneral) listed by impact factor. The dedication is indicated by an asterisk at the end of the title that sends to a footnote on the first page and there is also a line in the acknowledgements before the bibliography. I see mostly such notes to the memory of people who passed away but I have seen people dedicating papers to their wives, their newborn child etc. As far as I know, editors are usually ok to include a short comment in the acknowledgment sections. As a referee I always take these comments to be well intentioned and don’t have issues when they are short. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/05	1,108	4,899	<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a journal article to Forum: Qualitative Sozialforschung/ Forum: Qualitative Social Research back in September-October 2016. By February 2017, I received an R&R. April 2017, official acceptance. We were in the midst of the final edits, but I couldn't fully understand the editing requests of the editor. She threw the broad recommendations at me to "fix references" and to "improve readability". But even though I adhered and responded to all the specific queries/comments marked by reviewers throughout the paper and went through the paper multiple rounds after, the editor still wasn't satisfied. She snarked at me telling me she was "repeating herself now", and refused to read my paper in-depth until I'd made the appropriate changes. I apologized several times, but at this point, whatever responses/comments I'd written in the paper itself I now had to email directly to her or she wouldn't see them. I noticed in the edits she'd misunderstood some italicized words for a quote, so I kindly brought up that my italics were actually for emphasis and not quotation. I then asked her to simply identify which sections didn't look right or "readable", and I'd be most happy to edit it. Immediately after, she straight-out told me she decided not to publish my article, because she felt attacked by what I asked and because I had one reference that didn't conform to her guidelines (I wrote "trans." for translation rather than "transl by."). This happened this week in June 2017. I feel like I had a lot of my time wasted, and it feels unfair to have my article rejected AFTER acceptance. And even more so because the rejection wasn't for the quality of my paper nor the fit of my article, but because of a personal grievance of hers about something that I didn't even do, and a citation detail that doesn't really seem significant. Is recanting an acceptance this close to the finish line ethical? Can an editor decide this without consulting any of the reviewers or editorial board? I understand I made some mistakes, but they were just references and some issue with "readability" that I didn't understand, which is why I simply asked -- were these really so serious that an editor could justifiably do what she did? How should I respond? Edit: I should add the readability issue is related to a language barrier, as the Editor was not a native English speaker. I've published a lot over my career in reputable journals, so I'm fairly confident my writing's fine.<issue_comment>username_1: My take is that you cannot really know what is going on at the journal. Your role is to try and produce the best possible content for your academic article and accept the decisions of the journal. It does sound quite unusual - usually an acceptance means that it is accepted, period. You could try going down the official complaints route but I wouldn't recommend it. Editors have a lot of power. I would suggest finding another journal for your paper. Yes it will take some time but ultimately it will end up in a better place. Perhaps the reviews from another journal will further improve the paper. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The process is unusual for sure, but without seeing the reviews and what exactly the editor and you wrote to each other, I can't say that it is unethical. The acceptance of the article may, for example, have been conditional on improving language issues. This may or may not also have been stated in the reviews that suggested acceptance "subject to improving the presentation" or similar wording. In the end, what you describe is an editor deciding that this improvement in presentation or language is apparently not forthcoming, and so the conditional acceptance was turned into a rejection. I'll note that you state: "And even more so because the rejection wasn't for the quality of my paper nor the fit of my article...", but that is exactly what it sounds like: the quality of a paper is not only a function of its scientific contribution and originality, but also its organization and ability to convey its meaning accurately. I have certainly rejected papers that may have had sufficient content for publication but were written in a way that made it impossible to understand or follow the arguments. Obviously, I cannot say whether that is what happened. We lack the information for this. But in the end, I do believe that it is upon the author to present the material in such a way that it is understandable. Papers that fail to do so, even if their content is good, should be rejected. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I don't see any question of ethics. "Is it normal?"; "Is it polite?"; "Is it necessary?" These and the like are all very good questions. An appointed editor made an editorial decision based upon the revision process. I don't see any ethical issues Upvotes: 3
2017/06/05	5,307	21,725	<issue_start>username_0: Last week, because of a subway delay due to bad weather I arrived 15 minutes late to class to find out my professor had left 10 minutes before because nobody else had arrived. Was it okay for him to do that? Would it be rude to complain about this matter? We are just 4 students between mid 20's to mid 30's, this is a grad school elective course with a single session of 3 hours every week, starting at 17:00 ending at 20:00. I'm also a former TA and currently a lecturer of an undergrad Physics 101 course, so I'm aware of how it feels when even half of the class is missing. Update version 2 Today I was the only one to attend (unsure about the reasons my classmates had, the weather was OK this time). And talked to the professor about the issue. He said this situation wasn't his problem. About the weather/commute issue he said this: "Of course I know that happens, I'm much older than you". Then decided there wasn't enough people, handed me the class notes saying we will skip theory again because "everyone is irresponsible" (exact words again) and left. I'm dumbfounded a second time. Final update I decided to let it be for now. I'm not going to pick a fight alone like a crazy person (my classmates don't see a problem, neither with the professor's behaviour, nor theirs). If the situation takes a turn to the worse, I'll just withdraw for the course and hope someone else teaches it next year. Thanks for everyone's interest :) never expected so many comments!<issue_comment>username_1: Generally, Professors have the authority to schedule their classes as they see fit in accordance to their department policies, i.e. tests and assignments. Ultimately, cancelling class is usually at the discretion of the Professor in question. If you are concerned with missing out on class materials taught on that day, or if attendance is part of your grade, it would be wise to send an email to the professor indicating that you were present on that date (albeit late due to the subway delay) and that there was no one present in class. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I guess it was kind of frustrating for your professor, too - imagine yourself to prepare a lecture, and to go to the lecture room... and noone shows up, and then you have to re-plan all the future sessions in order to catch up with the missing lecture. You certainly may make a complaint. But then he alike may dock points for being not there when the lecture started (...or, even worse: remember your name). Thus, I'd strongly advise against complaining: You should cooperate. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: If my classroom was empty a full five minutes after class was scheduled to begin, I might start wondering if, unbeknownst to me, class had been cancelled for some reason. I don’t know that I’d leave after a mere five minutes, but I would certainly start thinking about it by then. To prevent this from happening again, perhaps the best solution is to make sure at least one student is on time – even if you all have to draw straws to figure out who that will be. There is really too little information provided to say much else. You have omitted a lot of critical details, such as the size of the class, how bad the weather was that day, and how habitually students wander in late to class. If the majority of the class is rarely on time, your professor might have been using this as a chance to teach a lesson about promptness, manners, and the value of an education. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: I think this is less about regulations and more about respect and conditioning the students. Also, don't feel offended, you are not the (primary) reason for what happened. Legitimate Reasons for Leaving ============================== ### Respect The fact that 0% of the students arrived shows the professor an * immense lack of interest in his teaching subject ("I disdain the subject that you spend years researching and thus I disdain you.") * OR complete disregard of his didactic skills ("You are so bad at teaching, that I don't think I can gain anything from your lecture.") * OR disregard of his personal status ("You are such an unimportant person and your status is so much below me, that you will have to adjust your life to mine and wait for my arrival.") Even if the class only consists of 5 students, he might extrapolate that everyone has one or more of these convictions. If he waits for students to arrive, he accepts his lower status and/or personal offense. ### Operant Conditioning If the professor waits for students to arrive, they will be conditioned that coming late has no negative consequences. Canceling the class will incur a penalty to students and might force them to take arrival times more serious in order to gain the advantage of having the course material explained to them. Recommendation ============== Communicate (in person or via e-mail) to the professor 1. that you are very sorry for your absence 2. state your reasons (should be severe enough) 3. and make sure to allude to one more of the three points mentioned in the respect section. If he feels that you have legitimate reasons for being late and that your absence was not a sign of disrespect, I am sure that he will be more inclined to wait longer next time you are late or might even offer you to come by his office to "pick him up" for the lecture. --- OP's Update =========== (This should probably be a new question, since the update significantly changes the circumstances.) I am very sorry that the professor refused to give a lecture for you alone. It is not your fault that you were the only present and thus it is imho unfair that you have to bear the consequences. Updated Recommendation ---------------------- I would approach him again 1. start with how unsatisfactory the situation for him and you is * again alluding to the respect section and 2. then ask him: Why do I have to bear the consequences for the action of other students? hoping that he is rational enough to realize his mistake. Basically you should try to make him understand that he does the same to you that other students are doing to him. Maybe he was just disappointed about the low presence again and is an overly emotional person. Unfortunately that is not something you will be able to change. If this does not resolve the situation I would ask around the department for existing regulations regarding this. Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_5: As a former university professor, I can only speak to my experience. Students were required to be in class, whether or not the professor was in attendance or not. The reasoning is that perhaps the professor was late and/or a substitute was on the way. However, this policy is entirely up to the individual school. If many to most of my students were missing at the start of class, personally I would assume there was a transportation issue. I would wait a reasonable amount of time and then start the class. However, if all the students were missing, I definitely would think something is amiss and would investigate. If you have an issue with your professor's actions, talk to the faculty supervisor, or whomever might be in charge, and discuss what transpired an why you were frustrated. That is the best course of action. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: I would like to mention the [Academic quarter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_quarter_(class_timing)). But this rules for students waiting for professor, not vice versa. Complaining is not really the option since it was impolite from students to be absent at all. It shows disrespect. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: This probably isn't going to be popular here, but: No, it is NOT OK for the professor to leave early. They get paid a salary to teach classes. ============================================ As such, you cannot just abandon your workplace just because there's nobody in class. A poor analogy would be a doctor leaving office for 2 hours because a patient with an appointment didn't show up within 5-10 minutes of the appointment time, except that the doctor is on a retainer and was already paid for the appointment previously. It is absolutely irrelevant whether this shows disrespect from students. Or whether it's a good way to teach them manners. Or whether there are 5 or 50 students in the class. The only thing that's relevant is that you, the student, are a customer whose money (in the form of tuition) is paying for the salary of a professor who's paid to teach the class. At the very least, what the professor did is unethical and immoral. At the most, it may have violated their employment contract or university rules. Either way, contact the department and complain, preferably obtaining evidence like testimony from other students, weather report from that day, etc... UPDATE: To address some points raised in comments: * Yes, I agree that there are other things a professor is paid for than teaching class. Some parts of those job facets can be done while sitting at a desk in class, waiting for students (perhaps with a laptop); so if the issue is best utilization of professor's time, there are valid solutions NOT involving leaving the class after 10 min. * No, it's not reasonable to assume that being 10 min late for class is something outrageos in bad weather. This is graduate school - people come to class from work; and/or have families to take care of; and don't necessarily live on campus. Throughout my life, I had commutes which literally jumped from 1 hour to 2 hours one way in bad weather - in a major metropolitan area with advanced mass transit. While it's rather disrespectful to be late, and bad form, and unprofessional - the bottom line is that the student pays for the privilege of being in that class and the professor is paid to teach it. That's a fundamental asymmetry in expectations. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: There's probably policies with the school or in his handouts from the first day around this subject. If it's not explicitly written, then it would be assumed that it's okay. Most policies are put in place to the benefit/aid of the professor so that he/she can facilitate a learning experience to students with little to no obstacles. The school entrusts in their professors to provide the best experience and leave most judgement calls with them for many areas from bad students to cancelling classes. Having said that and going with "not explicitly written", as long as the professor tailors the homework and tests to his skipped lecture, there shouldn't be a problem. I see it from both his perspective and yours. He should have sent out an email to everyone when he left to state that class is canceled, but otherwise he was not in the wrong. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: "Stuff Happens". You don't say how bad the bad weather was, but I'll assume if it was bad enough to impact your commute, and if NOBODY showed up to class, the prof had some reason to assume that nobody was going to show up. Been there, even from the teaching perspective. Once, I allowed an extra 90 minutes for a 30 minute commute, and the commute ended up taking me FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. I missed my class, and did my best to get word out to my students. Would I have waited a bit longer to leave if I were the instructor in your narrative? Possibly, especially if the weather weren't that bad -- but if it weren't, it's not that unreasonable to expect that if students are going to show up, that they show up on time -- especially graduate students. Flip to the other side of the coin ... you were late, and presumably only once. Do you think your teacher would be justified in calling the head of your grad program to say that you're an irresponsible student? Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_10: As a TA you should also know that teachers, like students are allowed to leave after a certain period of time if there is a no show. This may change based on university policy, but most schools I have attended give the students 10 minutes before they are able to leave if a teacher does not show up. Most schools make an attempt to avoid this by sending another faculty who is free to the class to stall for time until they can find a sub OR release people. Why should teachers not have the same luxury? Even if you showed up 15 minutes late and was the first person to arrive, by technicality he would have still been gone. You also made no mention to attempt to tell him you are arriving late. This is something you can easily see. You are stuck on a train, there are issues, bad weather. You see it is 10-15 minutes before class starts and not having any success in showing up on time. Email the teacher and notify him that you are running late. The teacher is aware of the bad weather. They had to get through it too or can look out the window and see. No students, no one tried to contact him until after he left. He figured everyone took advantage of the weather and left. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: For a regular class (with at least 10 people, say), as a teacher, if no one showed up after 10 minutes past the beginning of the class, I would assume that there has been some mixup with the schedules or something like this. I would probably leave to investigate if the class is waiting for me elsewhere, or ask the school administration what is going on. For a class with 4 people, in my opinion, the teacher should have a phone number or email address for the students, so that the teacher can reach them easily in case something like that happens. To me a class with 4 students is essentially like a meeting: if someone is missing from a meeting, you'll probably try to get touch with them, ask what's up, and reschedule if there's a good reason for the person being late. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: For a class of 4 it might be appropriate to share your phone number (or whatever means of communication you both happen to use) with your professor. That way, you could contact him in advance whenever you're late or unable to attend, and he could notify you whenever he's late or has to reschedule class for some reason. Complaining doesn't sound like a good idea, as it can easily backfire since nobody came on time. Unless the weather was so bad that a state of emergency was declared, I doubt that a subway delay is a valid excuse for being late. At the very least, check the policies your institution has about no-shows and being late: it may so happen that you're just as wrong showing up late than your professor is leaving after 10 minutes. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: Given your update. I do not believe what your professor did was OK. What he should've done: "Since most of the class is not here, I am not going to cover any new material today. Do you have any questions about previous material? Anything you want me to explain in more detail?" If your questions lasted for only 5 minutes, then you guys would be done in 5 minutes. The way he handled it: calling you "irresponsible" by generalization and then leaving was just plain rude and unprofessional. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_14: This is something that is going to vary quite a bit from one country to another. My personal opinion about the ethics of this, for a three-hour class that meets once a week, on a day of a torrential downpour (and I have lived in places that featured this kind of bad weather, so I get the picture): the professor should have waited a bit longer. Also, it would have been considerate for him to go to an office or library nearby, to get some work done, leaving a note in the classroom. But I will focus my answer on a positive action you can do, now, about what happened. You had prepared some questions. Good. Now bring those questions to the professor in office hours. If the professor looks at his watch in a nasty way every three and a half minutes, ignore it and pretend he is being polite. And be polite. Do not make any snide or subtle remark connecting your visit to office hours with what happened the day you were late. You may briefly apologize for being late, if you can trust yourself to do it completely deadpan. This approach has a couple of things going for it: 1. You get your questions answered 2. The professor may put two and two together and realize that it is less convenient to answer questions in office hours than in class. But don't overdo it. Don't spend more than half an hour in his office discussing your questions with him. It might be inconvenient for you to make a special trip to campus just for 20 or 30 minutes in office hours, but it will worth it, as this can be more effective than grousing. *Note:* This answer was written in response to the un-updated version of the question. If OP would like me to write an answer to the question in its new form, a separate question should be posted. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_15: Your university probably has a written policy covering a situation like this. Read that before deciding how to proceed. (The policy may only cover the responsibilities of the students when the professor is late, though.) At a minimum, I'd go to the head of the department and complain that the class has effectively been cancelled for a full two weeks of the semester. (I know you don't want to make a fuss but you are not getting the educational services you paid for.) If the professor is unwilling to stick around when only one of the four students has shown up, he may want to convert the class format officially to distance learning. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_16: I've been teaching at universities for 20-ish years, and, while I've never heard of there being an actual rule, I'd say that 15 (20 if you're feeling generous) minutes (for both students & teachers) is the standard. If it came to it, there's no way your prof could justify leaving at 5 after, especially during a storm. For the first 15 min., I'd agree with a previous poster that he's being paid to be there; after that, he should go do other work. I would have emailed him email immediately, saying that you're in class and wondering if class was cancelled. He would then have to explain. That way you have proof of the time; plus,it would not come across as aggressive to wonder where "everyone" is. Then you'd have it all in writing just in case. He'll recognize this (these days profs- depending on tenure status - worry a lot more about complaints & bad evals than in the past), so doing this will put him on notice that you are going to require explanations if he pulls stunts like these in the future (again in a nice, non-aggressive way :). Situation 2: Canceling class due to low enrollment -- barring any additional mitigating factors -- NEVER justifiable. It stinks to have to teach one person, and I could understand his being annoyed because it might require completely changing his lesson plan, etc. However, that's part of being an instructor. Plus, it's not your fault, so being rude to you is indefensibly unprofessional. Solution: You could discuss it with him directly, which is the "correct" answer, but you know that may very well blow back on you (he's clearly a jerk). Realistically, I think that after the fact, the only "safe" options would be to ding him on the evals (written comments carry a lot of weight these days), to do nothing, or to withdraw. At the time, I would have gone with a surprised, "Wait. Why?! I'M here!" Because, while he might still be a jerk & leave, you'd have (non-aggressively) reminded him that you're there, having paid good $$, and it doesn't matter if no one else comes. This would have required that he respond -- even if it were something rude ( more info to use in a bad eval or complaint). Sorry, I don't have any fabulous solutions; I'm just looking realistically at what a typical student who wants to avoid any negative fallout would probably feel comfortable with. Good luck! Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_17: 'Is it okay if...' won't get you anywhere. Drop the blame-frame. Instead, try to tell the professor upfront what you need, but without judgemental language or assumptions, thus putting neither of you on the defense. > > For the last class, I arrived 15 minutes late and saw that you weren't there. I'm sorry I was late and l'll do my best it won't happen again. I > really need to learn xy (and want to discuss issues yz), but for > that to happen I need to be able to trust that the lessons won't be > canceled. Could you perhaps wait at least 15 minutes > before walking out of class the next time students are > late? > > > Notice what judgements or diagnosis this doesn't entail: * You are wrong and I am right (nor vice versa) * You waited too little and the students were only slightly late * You waited only five minutes (you're just assuming this in your question) Of course, the professor can still say no. That's just the nature of a genuine request. But you increase your chances of getting a yes if you say precisely what you need and why, and avoid blaming and assuming. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_18: For me, the professor is bound for three hours (within your class timings). He should spend all time in the class or library and conduct class as any student reached. For me, ethically, legally it is not allow him to quit the class after 10 seconds of wait. He can do this only if he certain that no one will come to join class or students are too rude, not take class properly on time. Upvotes: -1
2017/06/05	2,554	10,954	<issue_start>username_0: I have attended several lectures in analysis, linear algebra and "higher mathematics for computer science students" in two universities in Germany. None of the professors giving these lectures provided lecture notes. Therefore the students had to copy what was written on the blackboard while at the same time trying to understand the material. The sequence of a lecture was usually: 1. Professor arrives and gives a short salutation and very brief recapitulation of the last lecture 2. Professor immediately continues where we left off and starts writing proofs, lemmas, etc. on the blackboard while explaining the material in parallel. Rarely he stops to clarify something. 3. When he has filled all three blackboard, he stops to erase one or two of the blackboards while usually continuing to explain what he just wrote down or introducing the next concept. 4. He continues with the now empty blackboard. 5. The whole process repeats from step 2 until 1.5 hours have passed. I found it impossible to copy the blackboard and at the same time understand the material he was trying to teach. During the few breaks (question or blackboard cleaning) that we had I was frantically either trying to understand the proof or was squeezing my eyes trying to decide whether an index is i or j and was making sure to not copy i instead of i+1 or i+j by accident. Although he did encourage us to ask questions and did answer them when someone did, the general pace was so high, that it hardly gave me some time to catch up. When asked why there are no lecture notes, all professors said something along the lines of: "You can learn/memorize better if you hear and* write the proofs yourself."* While I agree that having multiple input channels helps memorizing, in practice, all that most students could do was to barely copy what was written on the blackboard, there was no time to understand. I felt like the students were "demoted" to human copy machines because this is all what most could manage to do. Considering all this: * Is there really proof that not providing lecture notes and forcing students to frantically copy the blackboard is beneficial for learning math? * OR Are these professor just too lazy to create proper lecture notes? * OR Is my perception warped and I was in the minority and just too stupid to study math?<issue_comment>username_1: I think your three points for consideration may all contain some truth. Let's see. * Is providing lecture notes beneficial? According to my own experiences (as lecturer), there is no clear-cut answer. In an ideal world, lecture notes should be very helpful and most students appreciate access to lecture notes, but providing them does rarely improve the exam results (though I have only anecdotal evidence). Presumably, this reflects the fact that students tend to switch off from attending the lecture with their full concentration, knowing that they could rely on the lecture notes as back-up. But this is a fallacy, because once they are no longer on top of the material, they will be unable to follow subsequent lectures. * Are these professors just too lazy to create proper lecture notes? Almost all material taught to undergraduates in mathematics is extremely well covered in many textbooks (often generated from some lecture notes), often much better than lecture notes can do it. So why should the professors take the time consuming burden to write their own notes? What they should do is to recommend a number of textbooks. * Is my perception warped and I was in the minority and just to stupid to study math? My first weeks a Uni (also attending a first-year math lecture in Germany) was quite a shock: the speed at which the material was disseminated was completely different from what I was used from school. So, welcome at Uni! The difference is mainly that at school you are given all sorts of explanations and examples, while at Uni you must look after yourself to learn the stuff. Advice: always keep on top of the material. Nobody expects you to fully understand the content of a lecture then and there, but you must make sure that you have understood the content of the previous lecture before you attend the next one. IMHO, this is the single most important rule for studying math-related subjects at Uni. You should go over your notes, complete them, compare them to textbooks, and do the course work assignments as soon as possible after each lecture. You can do all this on your own, or in a group of peers, but don't let it slip! ----added in edit---- To answer your further question whether writing down the proofs improves your learning: Yes most definitely. And the professors will have had the experience that by providing lecture notes the students actually no longer write out the material (at least not to the same degree). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Writing something down absolutely does help you remember it, as more different aspects of your brain are engaged with the material at once. See, for example, [this CogSci.SE post on the matter](https://cogsci.stackexchange.com/questions/68/does-writing-something-down-help-memorize-it). The cognitive benefits of engaging multiple channels, however, can certainly be outweighed by the detriments of poor lecturing technique. The problems that you describe having do not actually seem to be about the availability of notes, however, but about the pace of the lecture being too fast and with too little explanation for you to comprehend the material --- writing things down slows you own partly because you have to be thinking about the material and summarizing as you go, rather than just letting it wash over you. From what you have written, it is not possible for we strangers on the internet to distinguish between two common cases: * The professors you've had were going too fast and not explaining enough to teach effectively. * The pace felt too fast for you because you had inadequate preparation or some other issue. For example, a dyslexic student would likely need a slower pace. You may be able to tell which it is by seeing whether most other students are experiencing the same issues as you. If they are, it is likely a problem with the teaching; if they are not, it is more likely the problem is on your side. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm going to add to the other answers that it is a very German thing for professors to provide lecture notes, and for students to expect them. I have never really understood this practice, because it requires professors to write lecture notes for something for which almost certainly there already are excellent text books. There may be other shortcomings in the professor's teaching, as the other answers already suggest, but I think not providing lecture notes is not one of those. He/she probably pointed you at one or two textbooks on the subject -- go to the library and check it out, use it in place of lecture notes instead! Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Not really a direct answer to the question, but extended comments on the context: As other answers and comments have noted, to make publicly-presentable lecture notes requires much, much more effort than the kind of sketchy notes adequate for an experienced person to give coherent lectures. Thus, given the priorities of not only faculty themselves, but of deans and funding agencies (which can affect those of faculty), it is not surprising that faculty would choose not to invest their time in polishing lecture notes. Also as noted, "frantic" note-taking is not so useful, but with a more positive adjective it does (in my own experience, and in my observation of others, over several decades, in mathematics in the U.S.) create a more intense engagement with "the moment". As recently (!) as 35 years ago, it was not so easy to create typeset lecture notes, for technical reasons, apart from the possibility of photo-copying hand-written notes. In particular, especially for more advanced courses, the tradition of skimpy notes-to-self amplified by the lecturer during the lecture, written down by students as their main source, is still vivid in senior faculty's minds. And, as above, endorsing this does rationalize avoiding the effort that writing-up serious notes would entail... I do claim that thinking in these either-or terms is misleading, though. I started thinking about this in 1974, while attending lectures of a very eminent mathematician: he obviously had very carefully prepared his lectures, writing everything out in long-hand (=cursive) on lined paper, and very carefully copying it onto the blackboard, without saying a word. :) Eventually, when typesetting mathematics became much easier, I realized that written material and "live" material (with blackboards or whiteboards) are very different mediums, and do not successfully/usefully imitate each other. That is, the typeset notes or text should be one thing, and the lectures another. Lectures as a vehicle to impart written material fails... Written material to convey personal excitement, or to interact with audience questions... possibly steering the whole course of the discussion... fails. So I do attempt to provide respectable notes for my courses, though they do not pretend to echo my lecture/discussions, and in lecture I do not necessarily pretend to "follow" the notes, since I pointedly attempt to react to questions and general audience reaction (which, obviously, notes cannot do). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: One thing that many of these answer leave out is the effect on students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD), such as dyslexia and developmental coordination disorder (DCD). I would say that around 30% of my classes have a diagnosis for one SpLD or another. Provision of material to these students is more or less mandated by discrimination legislation where I am. As a suffer of DCD, I can speak to that specific problem: DCD (which sometimes falls with in the category of dyspraxia). People with DCD absoltely cannot process information from multiple sources at once. They cannot read and listern, and certianly cannot read, listern and write at the same time. It also means they can't read or listern AND consider/understand at the same time. The lecturing style of your lectuerer here sounds like it would be dreadful for such students. But also students with dyslexia, ADHD, ASD etc. There is however a trade off to be made. It is definately the case that if you provide detailed notes, many students simply stop attending your lectures and studies show that these student do not perform as well in exams. I tend to compromise. Instead of providing proper polished lecture notes, I provide the slides and the speaker's notes I use for my self. Of course, all our lectuers are recorded (which is common these days) as well. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/05	2,817	12,135	<issue_start>username_0: I have an issue with my Masters' dissertation. I was supposed to complete it for May, however when I submitted my proposal on February 24 but I had no reply about confirmation until I emailed my tutor multiple times and she only responded on March 20. So, because she took nearly a month to approve it, I have missed the chance to hand it in in May and graduate in July. I have emailed my tutor with questions regarding the dissertation on April 19 and heard nothing back, I emailed her asking for an answer again on the 19th of May and still nothing. It is really hard because she is also the module organiser so I can’t email anyone else about this. S,o not only did I miss may deadline and now need to hand it in in August, but I don’t know what’s going on exactly and also don’t get replies to my emails regarding the dissertation. What would you suggest I do because clearly emails are out of the question and I am getting really frustrated. Because it’s a distance learning course, I can’t go to university to see her.<issue_comment>username_1: You should definitely follow up on unanswered emails before a whole month passes. Perhaps try calling her office directly to see if you can reach her. And if not, then contact the departmental admins to find out how you can. If your questions are related to substantive material and not the logistics of your module, then I'd suggest asking someone else in department who does work in your area. Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: I would try to schedule a phone meeting via email. The key to this is sending a very simple email. My hunch is that you have been sending complex emails which she decides to "deal with later" and then forgets about. The key is to make it easy for the professor to respond immediately. To do this, you want the email to be a very simple question. Suggest three phone meeting date/time blocks in a email and ask which works best, or if another time is better. If no response after 2 days, call and leave a message "Just checking to see if we can schedule a phone meeting. I sent an email request a few days ago and wanted to make sure you saw it, thanks!" On the next day, send a follow-up email repeating the info from the first email. On the next day, try getting ahold of a departmental administrative assistant for her to make sure she isn't out sick/on vacation. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: First -- embrace the idea that this is not necessarily your supervisor's fault. This is a communication problem between the two of you (or at least nothing you've said so far leads me to believe it wasn't). When communicating something like this, you need to make deadlines very clear, as well as what the deadlines are for, and what happens if they're missed, and then make sure you receive a timely acknowledgement. As to how to make this go better, if your emails haven't been perfectly clear, make them so. Also, send the email to your supervisor and cc it to the rest of your committee. They should see your near-finished draft as a courtesy, and knowing that other faculty are involved in the communication might prompt a faster response. Lastly, finish the email with a request for a meeting to discuss the document and recommended changes. Leave enough time for the document to be read -- about two weeks feels good. If you haven't heard back about confirming the email in about two or three days (I think this is a fair time considering the history of this document, but is perhaps a bit short for a first try in general) follow up with a phone call or visit. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: My advice would be you need to accelerate your timeline: A month to get a reply to an e-mail is untenable. At least in the US, there is usually a written commitment to turnaround time for e-mail that's on the order of days (24-72 hours excluding weekends/holidays was common). If they aren't responding, send an e-mail to the department or university expressing your concerns. Explain what is going on, including the significant delays and lack of communication. My largest concern is I can't fathom this happening at my university, so I'm worried you may have gotten involved in an institution of ill repute. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: It sounds like it's time to go to a dean, or some kind of administrator or supervisor of the non-responsive professor. If you have trouble figuring out which administrator to contact, try calling the office of somebody quite high up. That office will have the crème of the crème of secretaries/administrative assistants, who know the university hierarchy like the back of their hand. Once the appropriate administrator has been identified, you will likely have to make your case to him or her by email. When you write that message, I suggest saying that if Prof. X does not have time to provide feedback for the proposal you submitted, then could the department please assign someone else to do so. The more neutral you can keep your tone, the more effective your self-advocacy will be. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: From the point of view of UK Universities (relevant as per the questioner's profile) there should be a number of people you can contact: * A more senior member of staff or course administrator, as suggested by other answers * Student Services -- This may be more for non-academic issues, but I expect they would know who to contact on site * Your academic student representative (possibly listed as Post-Graduate Taught) -- they may have finished for the semester * Your students' union would be able to give advice * An ombudsman -- my University had this service for post-graduate research, but again, they would know who to talk to Check the material you received when you started the course. This should be listed in a student handbook, any if you signed a "contract" there may be a section on the University's obligations to you. If you cannot resolve the issue, your university should have a webpage detailing the complaints and appeals procedure. Failing that, there is the [UK office of the independent adjudicator (OIA)](http://www.oiahe.org.uk/). Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: Have you tried making an appointment with what ever e-mail system is in use? It will send your supervisor a reminder message. Have you suggest using Skype to your supervisor? That way, you could have a one-on-one conversation without having to travel a long distance. Do try to keep a diary of all your interactions with your supervisor: * Record when you send an email, and when you get a response * Record when you attempted a phone call; record why do you wanted it etc. Once you have a diary, it's a record of what you have tried to do. It can be quoted at your supervisor, his manager, the deed etc. You can try having a chat with students union, the deed, the welfare office etc. They might be able to resolve any issues with a chat between all the different parties. As soon as you go for making a formal complaint, the legal route etc, peoples' hands are tied because the official process has to be completed. Do remember that your college has probably had this type of issue before. They will know how to defend themselves, and you don't. The legal route will be very expensive. I wish you well with your studies. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: Some basic points : * If you can't get a response by email or phone, it's time to write. * No organization can (should) ignore a registered letter sent and marked urgent. Keep a copy of the letter and the registered mail number for tracking. The post office are very careful with registered mail, so the "we didn't get it or notice it" excuse is not going to fly with anyone. * Dissertation time. However busy your supervisor is, you ought to be near or at the top of their priority list as you're completing the process. It ought to be in the university's interests to complete that process and get you out and about and off their books so that they can get in a brand new candidate and add to their count of successful candidates. Ignoring you is very disturbing, bordering on suspicious. * Don't wait a month between attempts to communicate. Your need is justifiably urgent and it's probably time to contact the head of the department, who ought to be angry at the failure of their subordinate to deal with such an important issue effectively. Go rapidly up the chain of command - not months, a few days between attempts at most. @steve gave some relevant info for UK universities. * I know it's distance learning but it's five hours away, not on the moon. You may simply have to get up early and get to it by bus or train (or car if it's an option). If they don't respond to your registered letter promptly (that means email or letter - something you can have a record of !) in a week, then it's time to investigate. Record any contacts you have in the hopefully and probably remote possibility legal action is later required. Under no circumstances engage in angry verbal arguments. This simply gives them an excuse to ignore you. Ask straight direct questions, record the answers as you're entitled to. > > Next in line would be programme leader, he is even worse when it comes to emails. No one would speak to me over the phone because you have to make appointment over email to arrange phone call and as you know no one is replying to my emails. > > > That's a very disturbing pattern of avoidance, I may tell you. One person ignoring you, for whatever reasons of their own, is problematic, but an institutionalized system which seems to have no function other than to prevent you communicating with people is very poor. This is why it's time to use registered mail - ignoring registered mail is something courts everywhere regard as very bad behavior, and that's why when one of the things lands on your desk in an organization it's time to sit up and pay attention. They're equivalent to a shot across the bows legally. When writing keep it simple. Avoid angry comments (difficult but important) or confrontational language. Stress simply the urgency of the matter and why, the failure of their organization to respond promptly and your reasonable expectation that they respond "constructively" (always a good word for these documents) to deal with your urgent need and "their responsibilities" (again important phrase) quickly and satisfactorily. Something to consider is that the reasons for the delay in contacting you are irrelevant to you. You don't need reasons (excuses) you need action. There could be a hundred reasons why your supervisor ignores you, but they should not and if it's a failure of the department or the supervisor, it's not your concern. Don't let them divert you into a discussion of why this happened. Concentrate on seeing it stops happening and that they act accordingly. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: It sounds like you're already past the point of trying simple methods, but for in the future, I've found that in a professional environment when someone is slow-responding or even non-responsive by email, emailing multiple people in the same email and making it obvious that you've done so returns better results more quickly. It puts pressure on the individual who is responsible for following up on your issue. In my experience I've found many times people don't mind being slow to respond when they're emailed individually, but they don't want their peers and especially their superiors to know they do that, so they'll try to give good customer service when they think others might take notice in the issue. There's a good chance they'll never have to deal with you again so they don't really care what you think of them. They very much care what their peers and superiors think of them, though, since they work with them every day, so they're much more prompt to respond when they have an audience. This is a generalization and won't work in every case, but I have found it to be a good next step after the standard "email and wait" method doesn't seem to be working. Upvotes: 0
2017/06/05	546	2,395	<issue_start>username_0: I was sure my application was going to get accepted but unfortunately, it wasnt.Should I email my research supervisor to explain to him that I will not be his future student? Is there a way that he could fight for me? Added information in comment: To be honest, my supervisor received an email from the committee asking him why they should accept me. I am 100% sure he forgot to send them the letter explaining why he wants me as a MSc student. Otherwise, they are unreasonable for rejecting because we already formulated the research proposal etc. How can I email my supervisor about this?<issue_comment>username_1: Sorry to hear. I'm afraid there's no way he can fight for you once the official decision's been made. You should book a time to sit down with him or talk to him about it though. In addition to letting him know you didn't make it in, you can ask him for pointers on what the committee might've thought you were lacking, and what steps you should take next, especially if you're thinking about applying again in the future. Chin up, and good luck! Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, email him and explain and ask if there's anything he can do. The answer might be 'unfortunately not', but what if it isn't? A very similar thing happened to a friend of mine (paraphrasing from an old email here). She was in touch with a supervisor she really wanted for a master's degree, and applied to the program. One of her reference-letter writers messed up the online submission form by uploading a letter but not clicking 'submit'. The application was incomplete, and <NAME> received a letter of rejection. She wrote to Prospective Supervisor and asked what could be done. Prospective Supervisor wrote back unaware that <NAME> had received a rejection letter and said she'd go talk to the committee about the incomplete application. She argued for putting <NAME> on the waitlist, and the committee agreed. A sufficient number of people turned down the program in question that <NAME> got in...and ended up doing both the master's and a Ph.D. program with Prospective Supervisor. It's not going to happen like that everywhere. Each department, school, country is a bit different, and admissions committees vary widely in terms of how much input a separate faculty member can have. But you never know. Upvotes: 3
2017/06/05	642	2,828	<issue_start>username_0: I wonder how to politely handle the following situation as a PhD student. Any suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help you could provide. I was working for almost one year in modelling some results on the work of another PhD student visiting us. He is supposed to be first author. After a very hard and intensive work I got some positive results and we realized that part of his data was wrongly interpreted or wrong. That student left time ago and returned to his home country and I sent him the results in order he could prepare a first draft. Aftersome times with no answers I wrote him again asking for the status of the draft but he had stopped because he was close to defend his thesis. He became a doctor , continued in his lab, and I sent him the results again, as suggested by my supervisors. After many times of asking him for a draft along several months he sent a document with many figures and almost no text or explanations. I've been kindly asking him to fill it with some information in order to work on something. However he has done anything for longer than 3 months. I feel he is not interested in publishing it anymore. He is always answering 'I will send you something'but no answers. This work has been extending for almost 2 years already. Other co-authors and supervisors are tired of the situation but they seem not to care about. I have talked about this with the coauthors but not evolution has been observed. I am frustrated as it is been delayed so long and It is not my paper but my work. I am really worried.<issue_comment>username_1: That is a thing which your supervisor needs to settle with his supervisor. I had that situation, and unless his supervisor does his job (e.g. prioritize or settle other issues) or supervisor says: "ok i am fed up, enough with these guys", you will be in a weird situation. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Sometimes, when the expected first author of a publication abandons it, one of the others steps up to becoming the driving force behind the writing. If you understand the project well enough and care enough about the writing, that person might be you. If you want to do this, you first need to talk to your supervisor and have them talk with the other supervisor. If they agree with the plan, then you don't have to wait for the non-writing author any more, but can go ahead with working on the writing yourself. Authorship order might or might not end up changing, but at least you'll be much more likely to end up with a paper. Alternately, not all papers that are started get completed. If it is not important enough to you to invest that level of time and effort, this might be one of those for you, and you may need to move on to completing and writing up your next project. Upvotes: 3
2017/06/05	672	2,808	<issue_start>username_0: I seek advice from mathematicians. Sometimes I come across a topic I partially understand in my research, but I understand enough to get my work done. Yet I want to know everything about the topic, even if it isn't beneficial to my work. I can not get rid of universalism. For example, I think I do not know a lot of about my research field without reading all the grad texts. But at the time of doctoral education teachers always advise you to look at the research and stop reading too many books. How is it possible to get rid of universalism?<issue_comment>username_1: Not a mathematician, but my field gives rise to many many of those moments. Just note the areas of interest in a text file or table. You need to focus. You can also set aside a fixed hour or two each week, to allow yourself to cover those additional areas of interest. But mostly you'll just have to accept that you'll never ever know everything in the world... It's like wanting to eat everything on the buffet table. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I propose that your behavior is not caused by flawed methodology but stems from certain acquired beliefs about your self worth, that you should try to address to solve this "problem". Reason for Behaviour -------------------- The need to * read everything stems from the need * know everything which stems from the need to * not miss anything important/useful which in turn stems from the need to * submit the perfect paper or thesis which stems stems from the need to * get appraisal from your advisor or peers which is a * source of happiness Thus, unconsciously you are afraid that, if you miss some information your work will be less than perfect and you will not get the approval that you are used to get. People will be disappointed, saying something like "This is not the quality of work we are used to get from you". Recommendation -------------- It is usually hard to change these core beliefs about ourselves, but you could * realize that even with a non perfect paper you will be much better than other researchers (if the need to be the best is not something you can change) * realize that your advisor values it more, if you finish your research in time than making the best work possible ("Better done than perfect"). Therefore you will get more appraisal for finishing quickly. * look for other sources of happiness and validation in life that will make imperfections in your work seem less important + friends that value your company + spouse that loves and values you as a person + children + teaching, where the amount of knowledge you need to acquire is much lower and the reward (admiration from students) is easier to achieve (Disclaimer: I am not a mathematician) Upvotes: 3
2017/06/05	552	2,228	<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a paper to a prestigious control journal. The editor provided the following review: > > The decision is that your contribution cannot be accepted for publication in [the journal] in its present form. It needs substantial revision in order to possibly become publishable. Overall the decision is paper rejected provisionally. > > > The editor has invited me to revise and resubmit. Is "paper rejected provisionally" equivalent to "major revision" ? Will you advise me to politely inquire the editor about it so that there is no confusion. I mean before revising I want to be sure that there is some chance that the paper can be accepted if I incorporate the reviewer's comments.<issue_comment>username_1: I've seen language like this before as well, and feel that it is unnecessarily confusing. Usually, what I have found is that it's effectively equivalent to "Major Revision." Here is a good heuristic for distinguishing: * If they give you a date that they'd like to see the revised version by, then it's equivalent to "Major Revision." * If they don't give you a date, then you've been rejected, but they really are inviting you to submit a better version when you are ready. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: > > It needs substantial revision in order to possibly become publishable > > > That's sounds the same as "major revision" to me. > > Is "paper rejected provisionally" equivalent to "major revision" ? > > > You're simply concentrating on the last thing written, not the part about "substantial revision", which is unambiguous. All the "provisional" part is saying is that they're open to re-submission after a big rewrite and are not completely rejecting it (and you). I'd actually consider it as a mildly encouraging choice of words. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As an invited reviewer to some journals, my advice is to prepare a letter detailing a response to each comment and a major revision of the paper. The comments should direct you to what needs revising. Aim to do this as soon as you can. If there's a date, you must submit by that date. If there isn't, turn it around within 1 month. Good luck! Upvotes: 0
2017/06/06	1,017	4,245	<issue_start>username_0: I think the question is fairly clear. Someone could have idea A, and write paper A, but then instead of submitting paper A to multiple journals, he or she might re-write the thing into a paper B, but the basic idea is still idea A. Say the idea is amazing. He or she could then submit paper A to top journal A & paper B to top journal B, and have two top publications from one idea. This is obviously wrong, and what I describe is extreme, but what would prevent someone from doing this, what would the consequences be? A bad reputation? There might also be less obvious cases, where parts of a previously published paper are re-used extensively. Is something like this ever o.k. to do? Why don't more people do it? Or am I just wrong in the assumption that people don't do this? PS: I am coming from a Humanities background, I think in some subjects things like these might be more difficult, e.g. in maths or a paper which describes a certain study / experiment.<issue_comment>username_1: Submitting (almost) the same paper, the same content, to two different journals at the same time is bad. Once it comes out, the author will be in a lot of trouble, e.g. reputation, both papers withdrawn, etc. Reusing old results for a new paper is plagiarism if there are not enough new results. Even if the author of the new paper also wrote the old one, it is still bad. There are cases where different papers by the same author look really similar, for example if the author presents in paper (1) a new technique and then publishes paper (2) on nice results obtained with said technique, he might copy some of the explanations on how the technique works. If this is good or bad seems to be opinion based, all I can say is that it happens. Regarding your question about what prevents people from doing such things: * Yes, a bad reputation might be one possible reason. * Actually, there are people doing this, e.g. trying to submit their paper to different journals at the same time, hoping that at least one of them will accept it. There was a question here a few weeks back from one who got busted doing it and asked for what to do now to save the sinking ship that was his academic career. The reason why it seems that this is not done might be thanks to journals taking measures against it, e.g. not publishing such papers or withdrawing them later on. * One last point to mention here might be colleagues or advisors. If you feel like it might be a good idea to just spam your results to get them accepted or to get a high paper count, you might get the advice that this is not a good idea in the long run from one of the above - if you are lucky you get it before you do something irreversible. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There may be policies from the publishers which could result in a paper being withdrawn. For example, from [Elsevier's policies and ethics page](https://www.elsevier.com/authors/journal-authors/policies-and-ethics): > > Multiple, redundant or concurrent publication: An author should not in general publish manuscripts describing essentially the same research in more than one journal or primary publication. > > > Anecdotally it's not uncommon for research groups to find ways of getting many papers out of work (Core work, work applied to situation A, work applied to similar but distinctly different situation B...) which is sometimes completely appropriate, sometimes less easy to justify. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: What you're suggesting is self-plagiarism and almost as bad as plagiarism. It is unethical and explicitly prohibited by most journals, which demand that submitted work should be original. However, having said that, some high-profile discoveries often result in several papers, such as 1. A brief and fast publication in a high-impact journal, such as Nature. 2. A long paper describing all the technical details and methods very carefully in a high-reputation journals of the respective field 3. A review article that summarizes the main results These papers can refer to each other, but must not quote verbatim w/o indicating (see also [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/90387/41302)). Upvotes: 1
2017/06/06	339	1,370	<issue_start>username_0: In many journals, authors who have never published anything before are required to have two or more "referees" in order for the paper to be reviewed. Who are these referees, and how can one "find suitable ones"? Also, how does one go about finding referees when one is not in academia (i.e. doing research as a hobby rather than a profession)?<issue_comment>username_1: Typically look at the highest ranking people which you cited. * Highest ranking: since the journal will like that they dont need your citations * People which you cited: most likely they cas easier get into the topic, since they may know the foundations. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: From my experience, most journals do not require you to propose referees. It's more like the journal allows you to propose some names of potential referees. The referees are appointed by the editor and you as author will not know their names. So the answer to "How does one go about finding referees when one is not in academia?" is You don't have to. just find a suitable journal that does not require that you suggest referees. If you the journal system does not allow you to submit your paper without suggesting referees, either suggest authors that you cite or authors that cite the same papers you cite (using, e.g., Google scholar). Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2017/06/06	447	1,824	<issue_start>username_0: What are the best options for publishing an original piece of research for someone who is not in academia? The main issues are: * zero prior publications, i.e. no reputation whatsoever in the given field, * no contacts, i.e. no-one that can step in as a "referee" or a "supervisor", * no academic titles in the given field (ex. a PhD or something equivalent). The research is original and does provide new information about a given topic. But given the above limitations the options are not obvious. What can one do in this case? I heard people who are starting out in publishing can post on arXiv.org, and once they have a couple of "published" papers respectable journals will be more likely to consider the candidate. Is there any advice out there for people doing research as hobby?<issue_comment>username_1: Typically look at the highest ranking people which you cited. * Highest ranking: since the journal will like that they dont need your citations * People which you cited: most likely they cas easier get into the topic, since they may know the foundations. Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: From my experience, most journals do not require you to propose referees. It's more like the journal allows you to propose some names of potential referees. The referees are appointed by the editor and you as author will not know their names. So the answer to "How does one go about finding referees when one is not in academia?" is You don't have to. just find a suitable journal that does not require that you suggest referees. If you the journal system does not allow you to submit your paper without suggesting referees, either suggest authors that you cite or authors that cite the same papers you cite (using, e.g., Google scholar). Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2017/06/06	453	1,819	<issue_start>username_0: I am interested in publishing a statistics textbook (e.g. through Duxbery, Springer, etc.). I do not have PhD in Statistics, nor am I employed in university or college as an instructor/professor (but I have BS and MS in Statistics). Do I have to have PhD and/or have career in academia to publish statistics textbook with those publishers? Thank you,<issue_comment>username_1: No, there are never any degree requirements in academic publications. I am in the field of mathematics, and I have some colleagues who published academic books while in graduate school and even, in a few cases, as undergraduates. There are also academic textbooks published by people who have no degrees whatsoever in that field. It is possible that the editors and reviewers will look into your credentials and may apply a bit more scrutiny to someone without a terminal degree...but more scrutiny when it comes to textbook publishing is not necessarily a bad thing. In any case, if the book really is good they'll be happy to publish it no matter who you are. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes, it is possible to publish a textbook with Springer when you have no academic affiliation. They will likely send it to some academics who are instructors of an appropriate course, and ask them for comments. This could result in rejecting the manuscript. Or in suggestions to improve the manuscript. Or in immediately offering you a contract. Who knows? They may also ask you whether you have tested your text with actual statistics students. If you answer, "No", they could still publish it. > > Isn't it true that [Michael Spivak](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Spivak), who has written a number of successful textooks, has never held an academic position? > > > Upvotes: 2
2017/06/06	526	1,868	<issue_start>username_0: Why do some people use middle name for their first name like attorneys? And is this ok in the academic venue?<issue_comment>username_1: > > Why do some people use middle name for their first name like attorneys? > > > Perhaps they don't like their first name, or maybe there's already a well-known person in their field with the same name, so they need to distinguish themselves. > > And is this ok in the academic venue? > > > Yes. Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Believe it or not, there's some ambiguity in the question because of "middle name" and "use". Example 1: I've been known as "Andreas" all my life. For the first eight years of my life, that was my middle name. My baptismal certificate says "<NAME>". But when I became a U.S. citizen, the idea that I'm called by my middle name didn't fit with the forms that needed to be filled out and/or with the mind-set of the official filling them out. So I became "<NAME>". Am I therefore using my middle name as a first name? Example 2: <NAME>, professor emeritus of math and philosophy at UCLA, writes his name just as I wrote it here on his academic publications. But everybody calls him "Tony", even in academic contexts like introducing him when he lectures at conferences. So which name is he "using"? As long as I'm writing this answer anyway, let me give a few examples to indicate how common the use of middle names is. Just among my own past Ph.D. students, there are <NAME> and <NAME> (about 7% of the total). Emeritus colleagues in my department include <NAME> and <NAME>. Other mathematicians whose work is close enough to mine that I've cited it in my papers: <NAME> (called "Tony"), <NAME>, <NAME>. And I'm probably forgetting a few here. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/06	1,004	4,283	<issue_start>username_0: It's common in my field to have articles with many (>>6) authors including several "co-first authors." For example: > > <NAME>\, <NAME>\, <NAME>, <NAME>, ..., <NAME> > > > \* These authors contributed equally to the work. > > > When citing a paper with many authors in APA style, one would normally use the following citation (Anderson et al. 2017). However, in this case where there are multiple co-first authors, would it be appropriate to include all co-first authors in the citation e.g., "(Anderson, Brown et al. 2017)"? Obviously, once there are 4 or more co-first authors, it gets cumbersome to include all of them. Also, I realize that this alternate citation format is by no means necessary if it's even allowed at all. My gut reaction is that this still would be inappropriate since it would look out of place; at the same time, I want to acknowledge all of the main authors' work on this article.<issue_comment>username_1: Short Answer: You should follow the standard citation style. E.g., "Anderson et al". As far as I'm aware, there is nothing in APA style that speaks to an exception for the situation where the authors of a paper contribute equally or that set out multiple "first authors". More generally: * Ultimately, author order is a thing that exists independent of contribution. It is often related to size of contribution. In particular, being first author is often related to making the greatest contribution. But disciplines vary substantially in the meaning of author order. And even in fields where first-author usually indicates greatest contribution, authors in other positions sometimes make greater or equivalent contributions. For example, in some cases the first and second author will have contributed equally. It seems more sensible to say that both authors contributed equally than to say that they were both "first authors", because at the end of the day, a reference has to have a canonical order to the authors. So whether the order of authors is determined by contribution, agreement, a coin toss, or [a game of croquet](http://www.academiaobscura.com/co-authoring/), there is an order to the authors, and someone is first. * It seems strange that it would be the citing person's responsibility to adopt a citation style that captures every nuance of relative contribution in a given cited paper. An appropriate place to mention relative contribution of authors is in the author note in a paper. More generally, there are a lot of variants on the "co-first-author" scenario. In some cases, authors will note equal contribution or that author order was determined by a coin toss. Ultimately, this could all get very fuzzy. * It would make citations and references even more challenging to compile. Relative contribution of authors is not usually encoded in abstract and indexing services. And it is not encoded into reference management software such as Endnote or BibTeX formats as far as I'm aware. So it would be an additional hassle to keep track of these things. * The primary goal of citation styles is to unambiguously direct readers to sources. Managing author credit effectively is a secondary goal. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My take: Language only changes when people change it, and the "authorities" catch up eventually. If you want dual first-authorship to be a thing, you need to CITE IT LIKE ITS A THING. Otherwise, being the second co-first author is functionally no different from being the second author. I believe the most appropriate method is a citation such as "(Anderson & Brown et al., 2017)". Most citation formats can already accommodate listing two or three authors in the in-text citation. There's no reason these two names can't be the co-first authors. This format implies that Anderson and Brown led a study, and others were involved who are omitted for brevity. It rewards the co-first authors with actual ACKNOWLEDGMENT of their contributions, rather than letting most people, who won't read the footnotes on the original study, think that there was only one first author, whoever was listed first. Cite your papers like this and let the editors tell you if they don't like it. Change has to start somewhere. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/06	1,059	4,736	<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a year or two away from a PhD in differential geometry. I love doing research, and I would like to make my career doing research in some form (preferably mathematical), but I have no idea the jobs that are out there for pure mathematicians, or what skills are required in order to obtain them. For what it is worth, I don't care about the money - as long as my family is not starving, I'm fine with a lack of significant disposable income. So, I ask: 1) What are some areas (broad or narrow) of industry in which I should consider looking for employment? Specific company recommendations are fine also; right now I have very limited knowledge of what's out there. 2) How should I tailor my skillset to be competitive for industrial jobs in math? Right now I have a fairly diverse mathematical education, and rudimentary knowledge of a few programming languages, but not much else that might be useful to an employer. What do you recommend I learn (either through courses or on my own) while I'm still in school? Note: I have avoided asking about professorial positions because, while I'm not a bad teacher, and a position at a research institution would be great, I lack the prestige that comes with graduating from a top-tier school and I want to remain realistic about my job prospects. Thanks for your time, EDIT: Recommended reading suggestions are also appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Short Answer: You should follow the standard citation style. E.g., "Anderson et al". As far as I'm aware, there is nothing in APA style that speaks to an exception for the situation where the authors of a paper contribute equally or that set out multiple "first authors". More generally: * Ultimately, author order is a thing that exists independent of contribution. It is often related to size of contribution. In particular, being first author is often related to making the greatest contribution. But disciplines vary substantially in the meaning of author order. And even in fields where first-author usually indicates greatest contribution, authors in other positions sometimes make greater or equivalent contributions. For example, in some cases the first and second author will have contributed equally. It seems more sensible to say that both authors contributed equally than to say that they were both "first authors", because at the end of the day, a reference has to have a canonical order to the authors. So whether the order of authors is determined by contribution, agreement, a coin toss, or [a game of croquet](http://www.academiaobscura.com/co-authoring/), there is an order to the authors, and someone is first. * It seems strange that it would be the citing person's responsibility to adopt a citation style that captures every nuance of relative contribution in a given cited paper. An appropriate place to mention relative contribution of authors is in the author note in a paper. More generally, there are a lot of variants on the "co-first-author" scenario. In some cases, authors will note equal contribution or that author order was determined by a coin toss. Ultimately, this could all get very fuzzy. * It would make citations and references even more challenging to compile. Relative contribution of authors is not usually encoded in abstract and indexing services. And it is not encoded into reference management software such as Endnote or BibTeX formats as far as I'm aware. So it would be an additional hassle to keep track of these things. * The primary goal of citation styles is to unambiguously direct readers to sources. Managing author credit effectively is a secondary goal. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My take: Language only changes when people change it, and the "authorities" catch up eventually. If you want dual first-authorship to be a thing, you need to CITE IT LIKE ITS A THING. Otherwise, being the second co-first author is functionally no different from being the second author. I believe the most appropriate method is a citation such as "(Anderson & Brown et al., 2017)". Most citation formats can already accommodate listing two or three authors in the in-text citation. There's no reason these two names can't be the co-first authors. This format implies that Anderson and Brown led a study, and others were involved who are omitted for brevity. It rewards the co-first authors with actual ACKNOWLEDGMENT of their contributions, rather than letting most people, who won't read the footnotes on the original study, think that there was only one first author, whoever was listed first. Cite your papers like this and let the editors tell you if they don't like it. Change has to start somewhere. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/07	513	2,351	<issue_start>username_0: I submitted a paper to a special issue of a very reputed computer science journal. Now as per the original timelines, the special issue was expected to be published by this month with two cycles of revisions. However, there was an extension for a month in submission deadline. I submitted the paper within the extended deadline and yet to receive even the reviewer comments (4 months since submission while as per timeline the period for first review was two months). During this time, the manuscript was in peer-review. It went to "Awaiting Decision" three weeks ago, but I am still to hear on any decision. Since this is my first submission to a reputed journal, is it normal for special issues to be delayed to such an extent?<issue_comment>username_1: From my experience, special issues are rarely published on the announced date. The review process for papers submitted to the special issue should be as rigorous as for any other journal article and thus, may experience all the usual delays (referees not answering, promising a review but not delivering, contradicting reports…). The only difference is that the journal has announced a time frame for the whole process which puts a little more pressure on the handling editors. However, this does not necessarily imply that the whole process is any quicker (also note that the guest editors of a special issue may not be as experienced). I do not know too much about the usual delays for papers in computer science, but for math, the times you describe still sound pretty short. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Reviews for periodicals can drag on ... see many previous questions in this forum in that regard. It can certainly sit with the editor for a recommendation for a while. And if a special issue, one possibility is that the editor needs reviews of other submissions to make the call as to whether yours will make the cut. If a special issue of a CS journal, I think it is common for the date not to match the official publication date. But if a magazine then they do keep to a tight schedule, at least for IEEE Computer Society (where I served as an editor in chief of a magazine). And that definitely does put pressure on the deadlines ... but submission dates and such were padded to allow for some slippage. Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
2017/06/07	656	2,713	<issue_start>username_0: When one cites an article which appeared online-first in a journal of mathematics, but which is not in print and has no volume number yet, I have read that one can just use the DOI instead. But do you think that in this situation it is appropriate to add the link to the arXiv version anyway?<issue_comment>username_1: In the citation that you use for your preprints you may use any citation style (the only criterion I follow there is that it should be as easy as possible to track down the references for anybody who reads the paper). For published versions, often the publisher decides how the references should look like. Sometimes they add dois (or other identifiers) themselves. Some may strip the link to the arXiv version and in that case you still may add the arXiv version as another entry and references it separately. Anyhow, if people search the paper by title, several search engines will bring up the arXiv version anyway. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Here is an article about [citing "advance online publication" in APA style](http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/advance-online-publication/). Once an article is in the form of advanced online access at the publisher, you should generally cite this version, and not the ArXiv version. The online access is the final version of record. Page and volume numbers are cosmetic. The exact form of the reference will depend on your citation style. But I agree that including the doi in the reference is helpful as this will not change. In contrast, the year of the reference may change. Here is an example from the post above: > > <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., <NAME>., & <NAME>. (2012). A > longitudinal analysis of estimation, counting skills, and > mathematical ability across the first school year. Developmental > Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0028240 > > > So in general the reference really shows almost no difference to a standard reference. It's just that the volume and page numbers are missing. You might append some text to indicate that it is "advance online publication", but this is optional in many cases. And you should probably include the doi (either in doi:10.. form, or in <http://dx.doi.org/10>... form). The doi will be helpful especially where the paginated version comes out in a subsequent year. Obviously, depending on your citation style, you'd need to adapt the above. But the basic concept is the same: Authors, year, title, journal, doi, optionally some indication that it is an advance online publication. Basically, follow your normal citation strategy but omit the volume and page details and include a doi. Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
2017/06/07	562	2,400	<issue_start>username_0: [Wikipedia](https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Scientist) says that New Scientist publishes articles which are not peer-reviewed. But I found no information about "Scientific American" (SciAm) and "Popular Science" (PopSci).<issue_comment>username_1: From the Scientific American [website](http://www.nature.com/scientificamerican/information/submit.html): > > Generally speaking, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN presents ideas that have already been published in the peer-reviewed technical literature. We do not publish new theories or results of original research. > > > Please allow six to eight weeks for the review process. > > > From this and other submission instructions on that page I conclude that the manuscripts undergo a general review that is probably aimed at accuracy and style, which is different than typical scientific peer-review of original research. No scientific peer-review is mentioned in the relevant page on the Popular Science [website](http://www.popsci.com/writers-guidelines) either. Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Neither journal is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, both are popular science journals. So (1) they don't publish original research and (2) the aim of the review process is completely different. In particular, reviewing is done to ensure that the article is suitable for the scientifically minded public, i.e. avoids complicated math and difficult terminology, but hardly to scrutinize correctness (or even originality). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: These are not academic journals, but magazines which report on stories of interest to the public. They source their stories from peer-reviewed academic papers from various journals. That is, they are not the primary place of publication or the original paper for any of the research presented within; they are simply reporting on research published first elsewhere. So. Is the research they cover peer-reviewed? By and large, yes. But it has been peer-reviewed elsewhere, in another form - and has been reported on by a journalist specialising in science, who did not write the original publication or do the experimentation themself but is seeking to expose it to a larger audience. You are given the opportunity to consult the original publication; each story that originates from a scientific publication should cite its source. Upvotes: 4
2017/06/07	548	2,238	<issue_start>username_0: I appreciate the technical answer to this is "zero", but in reality, there is probably some room for pragmatism. I have identified a senior academic, who in two published books has copied and pasted short sections (up to a paragraph) without citiation, or copied and pasted verbatim without using quotes, but citing the source, to make it look they have paraphrased the work. I have identified so far around 50 examples. Would you consider this a serious case of plagiarism, or would it be assessed as minor?<issue_comment>username_1: There is no clear quantitative cut-off point, if that's what you're looking for. The severity of plagiarism has to be evaluated qualitatively and within the context of the work itself and of the discipline and its conventions (e.g. regarding citations and "public", unattributable knowledge). Qualitatively here means several things: * Has the author fraudulently claimed a major idea or a finding? Even with perfect paraphrasing, this -- it might be argued -- is the most severe form of plagiarism. * Has the author claimed an idea as original that is only tangential to the author's contribution (but doesn't bear much argumentative weight)? * Is the author merely sloppy with citations, i.e. can it be guessed from the context that the passage was meant as citation, that the attribution was (conveniently) forgotten; or is it merely incomplete or erroneous? * Are we talking about "self-plagiarism" (if that exits)? Depending on the answers to these questions, 50 examples might be a scandal or not worth making a fuzz about. Moreover, even if plagiarism could be evaluated only quantitatively, it is unclear what you would measure. The number of copied and unattributed passages? The length of each problematic passage? The ratio of changed words in a paraphrase? Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: * That should be a question to the publishers of the books. They are the copyright holders, I suppose. * if there is some misattribution of scientific results, the story is different - could be the case if one book was published with a coauthor, and a more prominent version was published without the same coauthor (that would be an authorship issue) Upvotes: 1
2017/06/07	890	3,696	<issue_start>username_0: I am going to study "Bioengineering and bioinformatics" for the next 5 years and plan to pursue a scientific career afterwards. My family does not have much money to support me studying in cities like Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, so I chose a university with the best cost/prestige ratio(Mordovia State University). I am worried that the type of my diploma (specialist) and mediocrity of the university will decrease my chances of getting admitted so much that hard work won't be able to offset that (grades and research experience won't be an issue, I invest all my time in studying). I know that 5 years is a lot of time and I haven't even started to study, but I don't want to find out one day that my degree is useless and I won't be able to achieve my life goals. So the main questions are: How is the specialist's degree in such a field perceived in UK/Ireland? How much will mediocrity of my university affect chances of getting admitted to a PhD program in a more or less good university? What is more important in the admission process anyway, prestige of a university or hard work and passion that a candidate has?<issue_comment>username_1: tl;dr: Don't do this. Long version: Studying in a second-class university for a 5-year long program will significantly reduce your chances to get admitted to a MSc/PhD program in UK, Europe and US. In particular: * The "specialist" programs are not known in western world. While a specialist diploma from MSU could be recognised by some Universities as a MSc degree and allow admittance to a PhD program, a similar diploma from unknown universities will be only recognised as an evidence of BSc-level education or not recognised at all. * The educational program in Mordova University is likely to be outdated and the assessment standards are likely to be low. It will be very difficult for you to keep yourself motivated through all 5 years. Inevitably, people get sidetracked from such programs into self-education and tend to become IT specialists or self-learnt coders rather than scientists. * Your current level of English is decent; it is likely that a second-class University program will not help you to improve you language skills above your current level. * It is very likely that lecturers in Mordova University are not really involved in international research. You will not obtain essential understanding of how the research is done in the western world, and this could significantly limit the scope and success of your applications. Suggestion: Try to get yourself a stipend/scholarship/loan and get yourself to a decent program in Moscow / St. Petesburgh. Alternatively, search for any BSc program which admits you in any EU country. Remember, 5 years of your life is a huge commodity. If you are going to spend them on education, make sure this time is not wasted. Good luck. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I work in the field of bioinformatics. I have studied in an International PhD program in Germany after completing a BSc in Biology from a university in Ukraine. Upon admission my university mattered - one of our faculty members was from the same university and they could reassure the admission committee that the education quality was decent. However, what I think was crucial for their final decision to accept me, was my internship abroad. Come to think of it, over half of my class did at least one. No matter where you decide to study, I can certainly recommend to apply for an internship in the country of your choice. It gives you an edge over other candidates, provides you with practical experience, shows that you are able to adapt. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/07	1,403	5,591	<issue_start>username_0: For the first time, I've been asked to referee an article for a journal, and a prestigious one. I work in Maths, so the article has been online as a preprint on arXiv for some time, and it was on the top of my reading list anyways. I feel very confident that I can referee the article, that's not the problem. I understand it well, I don't have a conflict of interests. But I don't know how to handle my refereeing work socially. Can I talk about it? When my office mate asks me "I've noticed you are reading this article very carefully and you're taking a lot of notes.", what can I say? Is it ok to say that I'm refereeing the article? Can I name the journal or the editor, if the conversation continues? I'm thinking about the article a lot, so I'll inevitably talk about its contents often with my colleagues. Can I bring up my task as a referee? If I should hide it, what are some recommendations to do it? I also happen to know another referee of the article. Is it appropriate to bring the review process up in a conversation? And the killer aspect: If I meet the author on a conference, is it acceptable to tell them that I was a referee? --- In short, I want to know what the appropriate boundaries are when discussing my refereeing work with others.<issue_comment>username_1: First, it's important to distinguish two cases: The case where the work under review is already publicly available as a preprint (which seems to apply here), and the case where it isn't. In the latter case, the work under review needs to be handled with absolute confidentiality. In the former case, things are less clear. I will answer your questions for the case I feel confident about: a non-publicly-available submission in software engineering. For a publicly available submission, adequate answers may be less (but not more) conservative. > > Is it ok to say that I'm refereeing the article? [...] Can I bring up my task as a referee? If I should hide it, what are some recommendations to do it? > > > It's OK to say you're reviewing "an article" or "the article on my desk". It's not OK to disclose the title or author name. > > Can I name the journal or the editor [...]? > > > Yes. The information that someone has been reviewing for a specific journal is routinely mentioned in CVs, and the list of editors of a specific journal is normally publicly available, too. > > I also happen to know another referee of the article. Is it appropriate to bring the review process up in a conversation? > > > Yes, but only after both of you have submitted their reviews, and if the conversation involves no additional persons other than the referee. > > And the killer aspect: If I meet the author on a conference, is it acceptable to tell them that I was a referee? > > > I've occassionally seen cases where reviewers revealed their identities even within their review, which effectively amounts to the same situation as in your question. However, in fact, this seems to be a [controversial question without a universally accepted answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14358/in-single-blind-peer-review-can-you-reveal-your-identity-without-the-editors-c/). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: My answer is going to differ from the comments currently left. Ethically, there's a certain reserve you need to have around the articles you are reviewing. You certainly can't share the manuscript. But what you are talking about is coffee break conversation. I see no issue in saying that you are reviewing an interesting manuscript, on subject X. You should not revealed the authors' names, but you can certainly talk about it. Reviewing is not a secret mission. You should not however discuss it with the other referee, as you don't want to influence each other. As for revealing your identity to the authors, I personally see no problem with it, especially if you had a positive review. Be careful, however, as if their article got rejected, they might not like you very much... Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: There are different confidentiality requirements involved, some to protect the authors, some to protect the referees. A) As a referee, you absolutely must not reveal the content of an article you are refereeing to others. In many cases, the paper will be available on the arXiv anyway, and you can speak about the contents of the arXiv preprint, even if you are refereeing the paper, but not about anything you couldn't have learned outside of the refereeing process. R) It is not customary to reveal oneself as a referee of a specific paper, but there is no strong consensus on how strict this should be handled. It is quite certainly ok to mention that one is refereeing for a specific journal (many people list the journals they have refereed for in their CV). To your detailed questions: * When discussing the article, do not mention that you are refereeing it. Be careful not to mention details exclusive to the submitted version and absent from the preprint. * When ask by your office mate, it is fine to say that you are refereeing. They should not pry for details. If they know which article you are refereeing, do not mention the journal. If not, you can mention the journal. Better not name the editor. * As mentioned in the comments, it is typically better if referee reports are independent. Do not discuss an ongoing referee report with your co-referees. * Some people do reveal themselves as referees to authors. In general, I would advise against it though. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
2017/06/07	1,366	5,236	<issue_start>username_0: Assuming that Adam conducted an interview with <NAME> and Adam is the only source. 1. Should I source the direct quotation separately? > > The chocolate rain machine was invented by <NAME> in 1980 and was regarded by Doe as "the most significant invention of the 20th century" (Adam, 2017). He constructed it from wooden bars that were...[several sentences] (Adam, 2017) > > > [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NR8TA.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NR8TA.png) 2. Or is the source at the end of the paragraph enough? > > The chocolate rain machine was invented by <NAME> in 1980 and was regarded by Doe as "the most significant invention of the 20th century". He constructed it from wooden bars that were...[several sentences] (Adam, 2017) > > > [![enter image description here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bqa7Z.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Bqa7Z.png)<issue_comment>username_1: First, it's important to distinguish two cases: The case where the work under review is already publicly available as a preprint (which seems to apply here), and the case where it isn't. In the latter case, the work under review needs to be handled with absolute confidentiality. In the former case, things are less clear. I will answer your questions for the case I feel confident about: a non-publicly-available submission in software engineering. For a publicly available submission, adequate answers may be less (but not more) conservative. > > Is it ok to say that I'm refereeing the article? [...] Can I bring up my task as a referee? If I should hide it, what are some recommendations to do it? > > > It's OK to say you're reviewing "an article" or "the article on my desk". It's not OK to disclose the title or author name. > > Can I name the journal or the editor [...]? > > > Yes. The information that someone has been reviewing for a specific journal is routinely mentioned in CVs, and the list of editors of a specific journal is normally publicly available, too. > > I also happen to know another referee of the article. Is it appropriate to bring the review process up in a conversation? > > > Yes, but only after both of you have submitted their reviews, and if the conversation involves no additional persons other than the referee. > > And the killer aspect: If I meet the author on a conference, is it acceptable to tell them that I was a referee? > > > I've occassionally seen cases where reviewers revealed their identities even within their review, which effectively amounts to the same situation as in your question. However, in fact, this seems to be a [controversial question without a universally accepted answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14358/in-single-blind-peer-review-can-you-reveal-your-identity-without-the-editors-c/). Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: My answer is going to differ from the comments currently left. Ethically, there's a certain reserve you need to have around the articles you are reviewing. You certainly can't share the manuscript. But what you are talking about is coffee break conversation. I see no issue in saying that you are reviewing an interesting manuscript, on subject X. You should not revealed the authors' names, but you can certainly talk about it. Reviewing is not a secret mission. You should not however discuss it with the other referee, as you don't want to influence each other. As for revealing your identity to the authors, I personally see no problem with it, especially if you had a positive review. Be careful, however, as if their article got rejected, they might not like you very much... Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: There are different confidentiality requirements involved, some to protect the authors, some to protect the referees. A) As a referee, you absolutely must not reveal the content of an article you are refereeing to others. In many cases, the paper will be available on the arXiv anyway, and you can speak about the contents of the arXiv preprint, even if you are refereeing the paper, but not about anything you couldn't have learned outside of the refereeing process. R) It is not customary to reveal oneself as a referee of a specific paper, but there is no strong consensus on how strict this should be handled. It is quite certainly ok to mention that one is refereeing for a specific journal (many people list the journals they have refereed for in their CV). To your detailed questions: * When discussing the article, do not mention that you are refereeing it. Be careful not to mention details exclusive to the submitted version and absent from the preprint. * When ask by your office mate, it is fine to say that you are refereeing. They should not pry for details. If they know which article you are refereeing, do not mention the journal. If not, you can mention the journal. Better not name the editor. * As mentioned in the comments, it is typically better if referee reports are independent. Do not discuss an ongoing referee report with your co-referees. * Some people do reveal themselves as referees to authors. In general, I would advise against it though. Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
2017/06/07	2,142	8,975	<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently a Lecturer in Computer Science at a (medium ranked) institution in the UK and I've been given the opportunity to join one of the (top ranked) universities in Australia. While I do consider the above to be very good news, I'm a bit uncertain what to expect in terms of the different academic cultures and expectations (from me) compared to being a Lecturer in the UK. Also, are there funding opportunities in the Australian research funding landscape tailored to new staff? In the UK one can apply for an EPSRC First grant scheme but I couldn't spot such schemes for AU.<issue_comment>username_1: I happen to be a PhD student in Computer Science in one of top 8 universities in Australia. I don't know much about the available grants, but there seems to be an early career research grant. More information about that and the grants in general in here: <http://www.arc.gov.au/discovery-early-career-researcher-award> The Australian Research Council (ARC), in general, is the go-to source for information about government grants. Apart from that, if you are female, there are additional opportunities available such as this one: "APEC Women in Research Fellowship" and for Women in STEM through WISE program. I don't know about the academic culture in the UK, but here is Australia research staff usually have a teaching load which is about 0.5 of your FTE. It can be more or less depending on the academic, but I'm not sure how it is decided. There are research only academics as well, with no teaching load, but they have a publication target to meet, I'm not sure what happens if they don't, most probably they receive teaching load. In our university, there is a formal annual review for academic where you fill a form much like the one PhD students fill, but you have to meet targets on publication, teaching and PhD completions under your supervision. Other than that the academic culture depends on your local research group. I am not sure about the expectations; I think it can depend. Most academics have a crew of PhD students and postdocs and these pump out publications like there is no tomorrow. A few others just chill and hang out, and I have seen them doing that for the past five years that I have been here, no publication or anything and they seem to be doing fine. So I think the expectations depends on non-trivial factors. Congratulations on your move to Australia. I am just a PhD student so hopefully some academic can give you more detailed information. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Before saying anything specific, it is worth noting that the culture, expectations and rules varies a lot within Australia. Universities differ; faculties and departments differ within a university. So, it's definitely worth starting conversations with people who might be your mentors at your new university, and reading material on the university website (e.g., grants office, rules about probation and promotion, information about the workload model, etc.). Funding: Regarding funding, most Australian universities will have internal funding programs designed for different levels of experience. In particular, there will often be programs for early career researchers. The ARC (non-medical) and the NHMRC (medical) are the two main government funding schemes. They each have schemes designed for early career researchers. They are highly competitive. Your new university should have a grants office, and probably an academic in your school or faculty who can advise you about grant strategies. You'll want to learn more about ARC Discovery (for more pure science) and ARC Linkage (where you have an industry partner who is providing resources) funding schemes. You ask about funding "tailored to new staff". If this exists, it will generally be at the university-level. Funding schemes outside the university are generally based on time since you were awarded PhD. So early and mid-career funding schemes will typically look at time since PhD possibly with adjustments for career interruptions and so on. Thus, whether you have changed universities is not really relevant. That said, universities will often provide additional support to new staff to help them get their research program started. In some cases, you will be given a default allocation of research time which is protected in the first few years regardless of performance, but after a few years, your research allocation may be based on performance. Probation. You ask: > > In the UK most people pass probation (at a much higher rate than passing tenure in the US). Is the same true for the probationary system in the Australia? > > > Yes. I think that most academics pass probation. The expectations for probation vary between institutions, but it is not like the U.S (although see @username_3's comments that some Australian universities are moving more to the U.S. model of probation/tenure; I've particularly heard this from those at Group of 8 institutions). The academic hierarchy seems similar in Australia and the UK. In general, the challenges in the Australian system are less about passing probation and more about getting promoted. So for example, each jump from B (lecturer) to C (senior lecturer) to D (associate professor) to E (professor) is where you need to prove yourself. Many So for example, someone who is doing less well with research, teaching, service and so on will struggle to get promoted. More generally, only a few academics get to level E. It is common for academics to plateau at a particular level (e.g., C or D). In addition, the concept of tenure is different in Australia than in the United States. My understanding is that Australian academics on ongoing contracts and who have passed probation do not have tenure. Rather, they have an ongoing job. Thus, you could presumably only lose your job for performance issues or redundancy. In general, redundancies are quite rare, but they are not unheard of. Teaching/research/service mix: Universities and departments vary a lot in how they allocate workloads. @username_3 mentions that you may be notionally allocated 50% of your time to teaching. This is perhaps a useful guide, but there is a lot of variability. For example, in my department, the default allocation is 40% teaching, 40% research, and 20% service. The 40% research allocation is protected for your first three or four years. After that, it is based on research performance metrics (e.g., publications, grant money, PhD completions). So, academics who achieve less in the research domain will be asked to do more teaching or service. And if you consistently excel at research, you can get a greater research allocation. More importantly, universities and departments vary substantially in the hours they assign to all these activities. Some universities have very strict and bureaucratic workload models (e.g., you make $49,000 instead of $50,000 in grant funding, then you might find yourself taking extra tutorials, etc.), whereas others are more fluid and flexible. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Dan and Jeromy answers cover much of the culture. I would like to add that * You will be assigned 0.5 FTE to teaching, but you typically can buy out of that with research grant money, provided that you can get any. * Research output is high in Australia, and funding is low. The funding situation is not good here, and we spend an abysmal amount of money compared with other OECD countries. This makes grants very competitive. Furthermore, the major grant awards (the ARC Discovery grants) assign 40% of the score to your past publication output. If you are more than 5 years past your PhD, this will put you at a serious disadvantage unless you are a super star. * The caveat to the above is that if you are on not yet past the 5 year mark past your PhD, you can try to get a DECRA (for early career researchers). This looks really good down the road and ~~isn't as competitive as the discovery projects.~~ is similar in competitiveness to Discovery grants (16.4% and 17.7% award rates for 2016 respectively). * There are also the Linkage grants, which are even less competitive than the DECRA and DP (31.1% award rate), but they require a non-academic partner who is willing to put in some money. The linkage will then match the money. I came from the US culture, and it seems like there is a lot more administrative work put on researchers here as opposed to the US, but there is more paperwork in general. The other strange thing that I noticed in the academic culture here is that all Lecturer's in a group/department rotate through various classes in order to maintain a collective expertise. This increases the number of teaching hours required over the long term. In the US, research heavy institutions have academics teach one or two courses which they specialise in, and the academics often teach those same courses for years on end. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/07	669	2,915	<issue_start>username_0: N is the first author for a paper (PhD work) and there are three co-authors, B, C and D. B and C are from the same department and the author D is from different department but they are all from the same institution. B had the biggest contribution in terms of the experimental work and N spent a long time writing the paper. The paper was sent to all for revision. After the paper is ready, the co-author submits the manuscript considering herself as the corresponding author without the first author permission. The problem is that she gave an incorrect email address of the first author to the journal. Is this situation illegal? Can the first author contact the journal and at least change his correct email address?<issue_comment>username_1: Legality doesn't really come into this, but academic ethics most certainly does. The real problem here is that the paper was submitted without a clear agreement amongst the authors that it was ready for submission and about who would submit. From your story and comments, I assume that you are "N", but you don't say which of co-authors B, C, or D submitted. I am guessing that one of those co-authors is your advisor, and I believe that's who you need to have a conversation with. * If your advisor was the one who submitted (or told the other co-author to submit), they may have had good reason for doing so, or may have thought that you had already consented to submission. * If your advisor didn't think the paper was ready to submit, they need to know that it has happened so that they can help defend both of your interests. Depending on what happens in your conversation with your advisor, there are three basic paths from here: 1. It was a misunderstanding of some sort or a basically harmless error, and nothing needs to be done, 2. The journal editor can be contacted to change paper meta-data, or 3. The article needs to be withdrawn and resubmitted at a later date. From what you have written so far, however, it is impossible to tell which is the appropriate course. Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I assume that your field is one of those where "first author" is important (indicates how much work N contributed) but "corresponding author" just means the person willing to handle correspondence about the paper. If that's correct, and if the order of authors wasn't changed, and if I were the first author N, then I would be happy that B or C or D has volunteered to take over the work of dealing with future correspondence. If "gave an incorrect email address ... to the journal" means that an incorrect address will be published in the paper, then I would write to the editor to try to have it corrected. If, on the other hand, it only means that the journal can't reach me by email, then I wouldn't worry about it, because the journal is supposed to contact the new corresponding author, not me. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/07	549	2,172	<issue_start>username_0: I just finished my 2nd year in a social science program and decided to stop. I received an MA at the end of this school year. I have decided to leave without finishing, however I do not want to leave the program without a job offer. So I hope to search for jobs (while completing an MS degree, which is over half way done now) in the next year and exit. Here is my question. Although I will have two Master's degrees upon leaving the PhD program, will leaving the PhD program show on my transcript? Will that negatively affect my chance of getting a business-related job? You know, for people who recently graduated, companies will always look at their transcript. Thanks a lot for the output!<issue_comment>username_1: Even if your transcript does not explicitly say "left a Ph.D. program," anyone who sees that you have two masters degrees in related areas can make a reasonable guess that you have left a Ph.D. program. It's also the sort of things that's reasonably likely to come up in discussion of your academic background. If you are applying for industry jobs at an appropriate level (i.e., Masters or equivalent), this should not inherently be a problem. In some cases, it may even be a good thing---for example, if you left because you were more interested in focusing on implementation or real-world impact. In short: if you have good reason for leaving your Ph.D. program and heading for a particular segment of industry, I would advise you to own that and embrace it as a positive part of why you are making a move towards the jobs that you are applying to. Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: > > Will leaving a PhD program show on my transcript? > > > If it is the policy of the university, it will. --- Transcript, hmmm. It is almost like a Zen thing. 1. If the interview goes well, no one cares about it. 2. If the interview doesn't go well, no one cares about it. 3. If you are self-employed, no one (including yourself) cares about it. 4. If you don't have experience, no one cares about it. 5. If you have experience, no one cares about it. 6. You should not care about anyone who cares about it. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/07	782	3,317	<issue_start>username_0: I received my rejection letter today and I was devastated. I was shocked because I have finally found a supervisor who saw my passion in the field and didn't care about my low GPA and lab members who were welcoming and offered to help me through my project. The committee believes that my GPA and academic record is below their standards (its one of the top 10 universities in Canada). The department does not even have that many faculty members and is fairly dead ( a friend of mine with a similar GPA got accepted, so I am even more surprised why I was rejected). Although I aced my undergraduate thesis research project (A+), I am still considered that candidate with the lowest GPA. This GPA will never change and it will haunt me forever until I get a higher one in MSc degree, so should I just give up? to be honest, I am only pursuing graduate school because it will increase my employment chances in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry. I have been unemployed for a year after graduating from BSc and unless I have an MSc or PhD, employers will see me underqualified. I am in a bad place, I volunteered in labs and hospitals, but that will never offset my GPA. Should I just throw in the towel? P.S. I could continue applying to other schools, but I'm sure my referees will not be willing to write me reference letters for the third time.<issue_comment>username_1: If this is necessary for your career, certainly don't quit trying yet. But realize a few things: 1. Being at a top school doesn't always matter much for graduate studies, especially in Canada where Masters programsv tend to be more like mini PhDs. So you may find you have more success applying to smaller schools where there is a supervisor whose interests match your own. The supervisor likely matters more than the school. 2. Strengthen your application in any ways you can. Take some time to get experience in your field outside of academia. Do some extracurricular activities that show leadership potential. If you can upgrade your marks, do so. See if you can turn your bachelor's thesis into a published paper. 3. Put lots of effort into the other aspects of your application. Make sure you have excellent references. If there's a place to explain extenuating circumstantial, use it to explain your GPA Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Have you tried applying for any certificate programs? You might be able to apply for some sort of graduate certificate program that will you allow you to demonstrate that you can handle graduate coursework and get good grades. That second transcript could perhaps offset the negative effects of the first. As for your P.S., don't count yourself out! If I believed in a candidate enough to write two letters of recommendation, I don't think I'd mind writing a third or fourth letter as well. (In fact, I might even write that third letter a little bit more strongly, just out of admiration for your tenacity and persistence – two helpful traits in graduate school.) Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Take some upper level undergraduate course(s) as a non-matriculated student. Make sure it's something you're truly interested in. If you are very engaged in the course, you will likely get a strong grade, and a strong letter of recommendation. Upvotes: 1
2017/06/07	1,873	8,156	<issue_start>username_0: The Dean of my faculty recently made the suggestion that we change the graduate student office spaces to a "hot-desking" or "hoteling" model. This is only being suggested for office space, not lab space which obviously has certain safety/operational requirements that would preclude this model. In a nutshell, hot-desking involves shared office spaces (normally open-plan) where no individuals are assigned specific seating. Instead, individuals can pick any available desk whenever they enter the office. It is generally expected that individuals do not "claim" certain desks by leaving personal items on the desks. The current state of the graduate student offices vary from department to department: from small offices shared by a pair of students to open-plan offices with around ten students. Current indications are that the Dean would like to have less desks than students, the rationale being that most grad student offices are half-full at any given time of the day (instead they would be working in the lab, performing TA duties, or working from home). My faculty is Engineering and Applied Science so most students have laboratory/experimental components in their research that take a significant proportion of their time. The argument that I have seen for this model are that it encourages collaboration, but the more likely explanation in this case is that enrollment is up and space on campus is limited. I have found some articles online about implementing this model in a typical office, but I think there are many ways that graduate schools differ from a typical office environment. As I said, this was a suggestion by the Dean, so he is looking for input from the students and faculty before they begin drawing up floorplans for renovations. I've taken part in a committee to investigate attitudes among faculty and students towards switching to a hot-desking model. The general feeling is between "not enthusiastic" to "downright hostile". I'm personally on the fence about the idea. So my question is, what are the impacts of implementing a hot-desking model for graduate student workspaces? I am looking specifically for answers from students, staff and faculty in the sciences, applied sciences and/or engineering who work at a university that currently uses a hot-desking model. Can you say whether there are tangible/measureable benefits or drawbacks to more traditional office models? I am not looking for an opinion on hot-desking is good/bad, I already have lots of those from my own colleagues, thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: I have seen hot-desking (or the equivalent) work well with undergraduate researchers. In the particular incarnations that I have seen it, however, it wasn't a large-scale formal hot-desking model like you're talking about, but rather a sort of "pool office" that was the shared space of a bunch of undergrads. With the undergrad researchers, this worked well because the number of hours each student typically spent in the office was quite small, and they tended to work on projects for relatively short periods of time. Graduate students are a different matter. They tend to be around for a much larger fraction of their time, and you want them to be in the office more and to develop professional networks and commitment to the group. Thus, I don't see the advantages of hot-desking for undergraduates translating well to established graduate students in most STEM environments. [Here is a report of a personal experience that seems to corroborate the problems.](https://rachelhandforth.wordpress.com/2015/01/29/phd-working-environments-and-why-they-matter/) That said, there are some environments where is seems like it could be appropriate, in which one does indeed expect an office space to be transient and sparsely used. For example: * If students spent most of their time in lab, then their "home base" is their lab bench, and a hot-desking space for non-lab tasks could be workable. * Some graduate programs start with a year of "rotations" in which students work with a number of different groups before committing to one, and since rotation students are inherently transient, hot-desking might work for them as well. This all seems to point to some potential metrics, along the lines of measuring how much time is spent working in the hot-desk space vs. how much of the tasks done in that space are being done elsewhere. If students are elsewhere because they are doing different types of tasks, then it might be guessed to be succeeding; if they are doing the same sorts of tasks in coffee shops, libraries, etc., then it might instead be driving them away. Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I am a graduate student in computational neuroscience and the "hot-desk" model has worked for me personally. Here are the reasons why it works for me: * I do all of my work on my personal laptop which I can cary from office/home as needed (code, manuscripts, grant applications, PPTs). I use a cloud service for backups. * Majority of my communication is done via email, TXT, phone, Skype/GH. For in person meetings I usually go to wherever the other party wants to meet. * All my grading/teaching materials are online (Blackboard, PDFs, PPTs) * All my papers are digital/online (PDFs, I use school VPN to get library access to papers) * I have all my textbooks in digital format (again PDFs) * If someone gives me a "paper" paper, I usually find its PDF online and recycle the original. I use apps like CamScanner to digitize to PDFs most of anything else. I personally like the model because I am free to work from wherever convenient (lab office, home, library, cafe, etc...) and can control the level of interaction with others more easily (difficult for others to walk-in and interrupt me when I'm not in the office). One downside is that my laptop is not as powerful as a desktop would be at the same cost level. However, remote login to a desktop/cluster at the lab alleviates this somewhat. Another downside is that this model makes it too easy to work from home, resulting in reduced socializing. I personally find it be usually distracting, but have committed to being in the lab during certain times in the week, and take an active role in creating idea-exchange opportunities with others. I can see the following barriers to wider adoption of the above approach: * Funding for laptops is problematic. I understand there are restrictions/prohibition of using grant funds to pay for laptops, but not for desktops. Your Dean would have to address this problem somehow, as not all graduate students can be expected to own a laptop, esp. a high-performance one, which might be necessary for research. I urge influential readers to use their positions of power to lobby federal agencies to loosen this restriction. The argument that every researcher needs a laptop to present one's work at conferences or seminars might be persuasive. * Path dependence on earlier paper-based methods. If you already have stacks of papers on your desk, it would be difficult to digitize them, and remove all sources of them. I started at a time where being "fully-digital" was a possibility. In that respect my situation is unique. However, trends in academia, and outside, point to increasing cultural connectivity and digitization. So this model might work for incoming students, but would likely be difficult for existing ones. * Requirement for some technical sophistication. I have a software development/computer engineering background, which has made it easier to be fully-digital. So the above approach might work for students in CS, engineering, or other computationally intensive fields. In less computer-dependent fields, students might need additional support for the transition. Your Dean could consider hiring a department level "all things IT person" to provide such support. But again, with cultural trends in mind, it seems that students across many other fields appear to be becoming more technically sophisticated, so this problem might disappear over time. Upvotes: 3
2017/06/08	841	3,624	<issue_start>username_0: After having submitted my Ph.D. recently, I am working on a first solo paper (without my advisors). I have some interesting results, but, I have difficulty in formalizing some of the mathematical arguments. I tried to send the manuscript to some mathematicians for comments, and they said they will read it when they have time, but so far, apparently, they did not have time. So, I scheduled a presentation in a local math department seminar. My hope is that, when people come to a seminar, they have more time to listen, and probably some of them will be able to help me. My concern is that, presenting such half-baked results might make me look unprofessional. So, my question is: what is the best way to present such results in a way that will encourage interested listeners to collaborate with me, while not creating a negative impression?<issue_comment>username_1: Caveat: The following applies to venues where presenting work in progress is accepted, such as workshops or (as in this case) an internal department seminar. Of course, a high-ranking conference is not the right place for anything half-baked. The idea is to explain at least those aspects very clearly that are not (as) "half-baked", while being honest about those that are half-baked. * Make your research question very clear and explain why it matters. In the worst case, your audience can't comment on any of your half-baked findings, but then they can at least think with you about your research problem. * Describe very clearly your analytical approach. Which methods/models/concepts/theories did you use to attack your problem? Help your audience to think about whether your analytical choices are useful and how they can be used to attack your problem. * When it comes to your findings and their formalization, try to do a good job in their informal ("natural language") presentation. Perhaps you can already break down the finding analytically without going "fully formal". Then explicitly state that your current challenge is to formalize those findings. Show the audience briefly some angles that you have tried and where you got stuck. Explicitly and politely invite your audience to comment on the formalization. The easier it is for your audience to understand your work, the easier it will be for them to help you with its formalization. This makes their comments more useful. At the same time, the better job you do at explaining clearly what you have done, what you know, and what you don't know, the more professional you come across. Your goal is to make the audience think: "Hey, this guy has a very interesting and important puzzle. I think he also has a great model that explains it. I guess I should work with him on its formalization." Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: First, I am not sure what you mean by "half baked result". You have to be very clear about what results you actually have and which you only anticipate. * If by half-baked result you mean "almost proven result", it is still a conjecture and should be presented as such. For a talk you should present results for which you have a clear proof (presenting the proof itself may not be a good idea depending on time and audience). If you have proofs of special cases of your "conjectures" listeners may be interested to collaborate on the proof of the conjecture. * If by half-baked result you mean "results for which you have an informal proof" but no rigorous one, I am not sure, how to proceed. I would say, that a non-rigorous proof may count as "no proof" and the first bullet applies. Upvotes: 2
2017/06/08	858	3,526	<issue_start>username_0: I am looking at organizing a small conference next summer and I would like by all means to avoid concurrent dates with any major or highly-overlapping conference on the same or related topics. I thought that it would be really useful if there was an online directory where I can check a calendar of upcoming scientific conferences and workshops (maybe sorted by field) and plan mine on a week in which it does not coincide with an already planned event. That way I would not be "competing" for speakers and attendants against the organizer of a different event. I would prefer to avoid "manually" browsing the internet to find this information out, so a centralized online service would be perfect for my needs. Does such an online resource exist? If the answer depends on the discipline, I am mostly interested in physics, chemistry and materials science conferences and workshops.<issue_comment>username_1: The first resource that springs to mind is the [COMS directory](https://www.conference-service.com/), which lists conferences in the scientific disciplines (physics, chemistry, maths, life sciences etc). I don't know how comprehensive the listings are, but I think most major conferences should be listed there. You can filter the search by subject area (down to subfield level, such as astronomy or condensed matter) and country. More specific resources exist which only list conferences in a certain country or subfield, for example the [IOP](http://www.iop.org/events/scientific/conferences/calendar/index.html?trumbaEmbed) (UK physics only), [APS](http://www.aps.org/meetings/calendar.cfm) (mostly US physics only) or [Inspire-HEP](https://inspirehep.net/collection/Conferences) (international, but mostly high energy physics only). Another resource used in my field (cosmology) is the [UK Cosmo mailing list](https://lists.sussex.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/ukcosmo), maintained by the University of Sussex. Organisers can mail conference and summer/ winter school details to the list, and it's not limited to UK meetings either. A similar mailing list for your field may exist, although the benefit of such a list is its narrow scope-- after all, people don't want their inboxes spammed with emails about conferences in other fields, so I would use one with caution. Another drawback is that not everyone may be on such a list in the first place. Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: [PaperCrowd](https://www.papercrowd.com/?utm_source=academicstackexchange) is a new research conference directory that may help. - Researchers can search for conferences based on research interests, topics, keywords location. They can follow events of interest. - Organizers can add their events in a couple of minutes. - It's limited to academic research conferences to reduce clutter. - It's free. Disclosure: PaperCrowd is [Ex Ordo](https://www.exordo.com/?utm_source=academicstackexchange)’s contribution to the research community. We’ve committed to keep it free. We’ll continue to develop and support the platform as a side project to offset the development costs. Making it light-touch to use and to support will minimise the on-going costs. We need the research community to embrace and populate PaperCrowd with conference data to make it a really useful resource. Please spread the word. [Read more about PaperCrowd here.](https://www.exordo.com/blog/papercrowd-the-global-research-conference-directory-fixes-call-for-papers/?utm_source=academicstackexchange) Upvotes: 0