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<issue_start>username_0: What is meant by "salami slicing" ? I see that a few researchers present papers at multiple conferences with a very similar theme or topic, but was not sure if this was permissible. My own research could fit multiple conferences, even if the topic at each of these papers would be virtually the same.<issue_comment>username_1: Salami slicing normally refers to a different practice; that of taking a result and slicing it up into several smaller results with the intent of getting multiple publications. Technically all of the resulting papers are different, but less significant than if all were presented together in a single paper (or smaller number of papers).
It doesn't really have to do with "similarity" as such. But some conferences would frown on "virtually the same" paper at their conference.
But it depends. If the purpose of a conference is simply to broaden the audience of a result then there may be no issue. But conferences in some fields, such as CS, are primary publication venues and the proceedings have the same weight (or more) than journal publication.
In the latter case you have issues about self plagiarism and multiple publication, both of which are best avoided.
But I know some people who give similar talks at multiple conferences (often by invitation) and there is no issue, since their talk isn't intended to represent new results. So, a bit subtle, depending on the conference.
So, while your idea may not be technically "salami slicing" you still need to evaluate its appropriateness.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: (Salami slicing is already nicely explained in @username_1's answer)
I'm in a field where journal papers are the primary thing rather than conference presentations (and conference proceedings are a nuisance that doesn't really count - we use special issues of existing journals instead). For us, it is completely OK to present with very similar title at several conferences as long as the audience is sufficiently disjunct, e.g. I may present some data analysis method at a more theory-oriented conference plus possibly several conferences that belong to different application fields.
The content would often still be quite different between theory vs. applied conferences, while potentially more similar at different applied conferences (depending on availability of good example data). While it is original research I present, the applied talks often do have a tutorial/lecture type aspect of showing how to approach a particular problem people in the audience may have.
E.g. I've been been talking about measuring random uncertainty in certain situations. On a chemometrics (statistics for chemistry) conference, I went into more details about the data analysis aspects, the "applied" conferences were a general analytical chemistry/trade fair, a meeting on cocoa and chocolate production, a more general plant science/agriculture conference, a more engineering-oriented conference where people meet who build measurement instruments, and a meeting with audience working in medical diagnostics, where I went into more detail about the application conclusions and practical considerations.
My guesstimate is that among those 6 conferences, maybe 10 - 15 people have heard me speaking more than once on the topic (excluding people from "my" group).
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing a book and am seeking feedback on different chapters before submitting for final publication. Can I use the draft chapters as conference papers or at visiting lecture seminars?<issue_comment>username_1: That is up to the book publisher. Some will be fine with it, others not. Copyright might be one (blocking) issue. If you have given up copyright to some conference, then some publishers will reject your proposal, since they want to hold it and it is no longer yours to give. Lectures and such are no real issue, since you retain copyright.
Another thing that might influence a publisher (around the copyright issue) is how different the book chapters are from the earlier material. But even then, you have to be careful about self-plagiarism since "repeating yourself" in one paper of something in another needs to be handled delicately and with full disclosure.
Just make sure you retain rights (possibly a license) to anything that you publish and want to include in a book later.
You can, of course, publish many things on a *topic* in conference papers that don't conflict with any rights that you might need in order to publish a book.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: There are a few different questions here. Are you "allowed" to talk about the work at conferences? I'd say "of course, it's not a secret". Possibly using your literal book chapter(s) as overheads would be inappropriate.
In any case, the point in the previous paragraph is that you are not prohibited from "ever mentioning again" your own prior work, or to-appear work.
What *is* possibly problematical is "getting credit twice" for one piece of work. And, relatedly, but differently, copyright violations. The "getting credit twice" prohibition in recent years (decades?) has struck me as strange, but, well, ...
Yes, I understand that there are "popular" algorithms to (supposedly) compute one's "impact" or ... whatever... And writing more than one paper about a given idea is somehow cheating. I have no idea.
So, yes, on one hand, it is certainly reasonable to talk about your own work as much as you want... in my opinion. Perhaps to use any repeated element as a novelty-scoring mechanism is not honest. And publishers will have varying opinions about prior appearances of the literal text (not ideas) of what you give them.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently undertaking my PhD and I have plans to get married before I complete my candidature. In particular, I will be double-barreling my current surname with my fiancée's current surname. We are indifferent to which name will appear first, and/or hyphenation. I have not begun publishing yet, however, I do have a first-authorship on a conference paper from my undergrad, though it is not likely this will contribute towards my PhD.
The core questions I have are:
1. How should I identify myself on publications produced *before* I am married (still >12 months away)?
My goal is to achieve consistency despite my decision to change my surname. My current thoughts so far:
* Use my birth surname before marriage (First Birth), and initial my fiancée's birth surname before my own on post-marriage publications. (First F. Birth). In this case, I'll likely continue to be referenced by my birth name (e.g. Birth et al).
* Continue to just use my birth name in publications, even after I change my surname. This seems like the lazy option: the option which is most convenient/appropriate at present but will become more inconvenient in the future as I continue to publish. I do have female collaborators in this situation, though they had more publications with their birth name before their name change.
A third option would be to simply change my name before I get married, and use that name on all publications. But, officially changing my name doesn't happen overnight, and I'd like to be prepared should I have to put my name on a publication before my name is officially changed.
2. This is a lesser concern, but I'd still like to consider: In academia, what are the implications of:
* a hyphenated surname?
* a double-barrelled, non-hyphenated surname?
I appreciate any thoughts and contributions. If it matters, I'm in STEM, and my surname is already quite unique, ~30,000 according to [1]. My fiancée's is ~300,000.
[1] <https://en.geneanet.org/genealogy/><issue_comment>username_1: Journals do not ask for birth certificates or name change forms. I changed my name while a paper was in revision and they said "Okay."
I had a colleague who signed her name "<NAME>." (where M. is her married initial), and used "First Birth" on papers. Really, the choice is yours as to the details.
Hyphenation does make things clearer for everyone, but if you are opposed, you can hyphenate only for papers.
>
> But, officially changing my name doesn't happen overnight, and I'd like to be prepared should I have to put my name on a publication before my name is officially changed.
>
>
>
Name changes don't take *that* long ... especially not compared to the length of time a publication takes from submission to publication. If you submitted a paper now and started the process of a name change, I would be extremely surprised if the paper beat out the name change.
If I was in your boat, I would hyphenate upon marriage, and put my birth name after my fiancee's.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I know you aren't considering this possibility, but a lot can happen in a year. What happens if, for any reason, you don't wind up getting married?
There is some advantage to keeping a permanent name throughout your career, but it isn't overwhelmingly important. Eventually your future work will dominate your current work and a few exceptions probably won't be a (serious) issue. Just a bit of inconvenience at times.
I suggest, as a first option, that you just keep your birth name as your publishing identity into the future. It may be "lazy" but it causes the least problems overall.
If you don't like that idea, then a hyphenated name is probably best, though you might use the hyphen *only* for publishing identity, with some other form in every day usage (and even legal usage).
But neither of these is a firm suggestion, just a way to avoid the inconvenience attached to the alternatives.
A third option is to adopt a pseudonym, unrelated to your legal or common-usage name and stick with it. It isn't especially common to do this, but it has some history behind it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think you’re overthinking and overoptimizing this issue. No one cares what name you publish in, as long as there is a modicum of consistency (i.e., you don’t change your publishing name more than a few times during your lifetime), and no one cares what name you choose to adopt as your legal name. So just decide on what names would be most preferable to you based on your own personal preference and sensibilities, and go with that.
Separately from that, if you do end up publishing in more than one name, you could preempt any potential confusion this might create by maintaining a clear online presence where people who want to look up your papers or other information about you can find them regardless of which of your known aliases they are searching for. This can take the form of a personal web page or web site, a google scholar profile, an ORCID ID, or some combination of those things.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergrad student taking a chemistry class. We have a 50 minutes quiz every week during the discussion section. The TA usually emails this quiz to us, and while my class is at 1:00 pm, the TA usually emails it to us at 1:01 pm. So, once I get the quiz on the email, I need to print it out (it takes some time to print out) then I start working on it. Usually, I try to finish the quiz by 1:48 pm so I can camscanner it, then email it or airdrop it to my computer, and then send it before 1:50 pm, because after 1:50 pm it considered to be a late submission which results in a zero for the quiz.
This is challenging:
* One time, I finished it at 1:48 pm, and at 1:49 pm I emailed it back to my TA. However, for some reason, the email was received late, and the quiz appeared to have been submitted at 1:51 pm. The TA gave me a zero for late submission, and I had to go to the professor to receive a full grade.
* For the next quiz, I thought writing an exam on an iPad would be much faster instead of printing, scanning, and emailing it. But, the file was too big for Gmail, so it took some time to upload. So I airdropped it to my computer and emailed it to the TA. My exam was 1 minute late again. I sent him an email right away with the screenshot that the file is big so it took a long time to upload.
* Today was the third time that this put me into hysterics. I went back to printing, camscanning, airdropping, and emailing. But, airdropping didn't work, so I emailed it to myself and sent it to the TA from the school email. Once again I wrote him a huge email with explanation and as well with proofs with time. My hands were shaking so as my head, I started crying because this was my third time when the devices are glitching, and I was going to get a zero again.
How can I get more time for the quizzes?<issue_comment>username_1: About your actual question, yes, there is a way to get extended time based on having anxiety during exams or related things (although I cannot make any guesses as to whether you would qualify given your specific situation). [Here](https://disabilities.uchicago.edu/) is what I think is the relevant office at your university to consult about that.
About the broader context to your question, this situation is very sad and unfortunate. I think your instructors are probably unaware of how badly their tech cluelessness is affecting their students. If they are aware, then treating you and your fellow students this way intentionally seems unconscionable to me.
Given this, I think you should consider going not only to your professor but to someone in your program with the story of how this situation is creating an impossible learning environment for you. I’m sure there are sympathetic, well-intentioned people at your program (e.g., an adviser, undergraduate program chair or vice chair, etc) who have authority and would be able to advocate for you, and would genuinely want to know about and address these types of problems, not just for your sake but for all the students’ sake. I can tell you that just as you are struggling with studying in an online environment, many professors are equally struggling with teaching in such a setting as well, and do not always have everything figured out about addressing the many practical and logistical challenges that come up. Hearing from students about what is working and what isn’t provides vital feedback that would enable them to correct course where appropriate.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm an undergrad student as well and this type of quizzes have become very familiar over the past year. Giving yourself 2 mins time for the scanning is **not enough**. I (and my friends in uni) start scanning about 5 mins earlier.
Of course, the problem here is that your professor gives you a 50-minute quiz but sends the question paper late, expects you to print it and then scan it all within the time that is allotted to you for actually answering the quiz.
If the professor *has accounted* for all this extra work in the 50 mins time limit itself, then there are two possibilities:
* If everyone in class is struggling to submit the quiz on time, I think you should all collectively let him know that the time is not enough, and you should ask him for an extra 5-10 minutes for the scan-upload process.
* If other students are able to submit it on time, but you are unable to do so, you should follow username_1's answer and get extended time based on exam anxiety issues. However, I believe this is country dependent. My own country does not have any such accommodations but I hope you get them.
If your professor *has not accounted* for all the extra work in the 50 minutes time slot i.e. it takes 50 minutes to just answer the questions and not all the other printing and scanning stuff, then it would be very surprising if your classmates are able to manage the time well. In such a situation, you all will be struggling. Make sure to collectively, as a class, request for an extra 5-10 minutes for the print-scan-upload aspect of the quiz. My uni does this (and I suspect many others as well).
Overall, in the unfortunate situation that your professor does not show leeway and provide extra time, **make sure to start scanning 5 minutes before the quiz is due**. Missing one or two questions is better than getting a zero on the quiz.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: While this is an unusual way to conduct quizzes in an academic environment, it is letting you practice some new skills in time management and risk management, so I do not share the strong opposition of others to the practice. I also think that academics should have wide latitude to set the rules of their assessments, and while it's not how I would do things, I think this probably falls within the scope of reasonable discretion. (Whilst there may be some "tech cluelessness" at play here, as [Dan](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/40589/dan-romik) notes in his answer, I disagree with his strong negative view of the practice.) I also note that the constraints seem to be the same for all students, so presumably other students are also having to manage the time required to download the quiz and upload their answers. This effectively just means that the total time available for the substance of the quiz is reduced for all students.
In any case, in view of the difficulties you are experiencing, I would encourage you to form a realistic view of the constraints you are under, and **formulate sensible risk-management processes** as a response to these constraints. Here you have a situation where there is a variable time cost for obtaining the quiz and for submission, neither of which you can perfectly predict in advance. There is also an extremely heavy penalty for late submission. That set of constraints means that a good risk-management process would be to give yourself a substantial "buffer" (e.g., five minutes) by submitting your quiz early, *even if the quality of your submission is poorer than it would have been if you worked a few more minutes on it*. Giving yourself a time buffer will give you some additional time for uploading if things go wrong, which reduces the probability of failure to submit within the allocated time. From a risk-management perspective, the "buffer" method reduces the quality of your submitted work slightly, in order to substantially reduce the risk of getting zero on the assessment. If the buffer is set to a reasonable level, this should give you a higher aggregate mark.
While it is unfortunate that you have already lost some marks on this, it tells you something useful: your time management and risk management skills are presently not good. Risk management and time management skills are important to develop during your education, so I think you have an opportunity here to identify a deficiency in your skills and work to plug it. For your next quiz, set yourself a buffer of five minutes, and aim to successfully submit your work no later than 1:45pm. If you can accomplish this, then set a goal to submit all future quizzes successfully within the time constraint, using whatever buffer you judge to be prudent. If you can look back at the end of semester and see that you managed to improve your time management and risk management on this process substantially then you will have formed a useful skill for your later career, which is something that will be useful, and of which you can be very proud.
Now, to deal with your main question, you can certainly seek additional time if you like, and there are usually formal university procedures for doing so. You will need a justification for your request, and the mere fact that you are under a difficult time constraint that also applies to other students would not suffice. Also, negative consequences to your "mental health" (by which you mean, essentially, that you are experiencing stress) caused by the existence of a tight deadline and your poor time management of that deadline, is highly unlikely to give you a valid disability claim. Based on your question, I see no valid grounds that would justify offering you a time increase. In any case, I would encourage you to try to adopt better practices here rather than seeking extra time --- give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Your TA wants you should give the exam before 1:50 pm on time. I think he wants that because of discipline , sincerity and maybe you don’t cheat after 1:50 pm.
I understand your problem and I also do have the same thing going on. I have to submit my maths test daily which is from 9:30 to 10:00 pm .It’s all because of online studies.I think the best approach is to :
1. Talk to your classmates as to how they are dealing with this.
2. Talk to your teacher and ask for help , guidance. Tell him the problems. Ask for better solutions. Tell him your ideas. He may help you or even maybe give some extra time to everyone or change the pattern. If you’re afraid to talk to your teacher , then remember no matter what , you can’t lose marks right. If you ask , it will also help in building up a bond and they’ll also give you attention.
3. Always check before if the email is working or not properly. Also , if you’re going to try iPad notes or whatever. Just send one file maybe to your friend or family to be on safe side that everything do works.
4. If you fear any problems may occur , then give the exam maybe even at 1:45 or 46 pm. It is better to get Sth than 0.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I got accepted in two different US schools for CS PhD programs. My prospective advisor/supervisor for the two schools are Professor X and Professor Y respectively. Professor Y was a PhD student of Professor X. Professor X has a lot of successful PhD students coming out of his lab and he is a heavyweight in the field. Professor Y is a tenure-track assistant professor but has really good recent A\* publications. How should I approach this issue of choosing one of them?<issue_comment>username_1: Let me suggest that Professor X is probably safest, other things being equal. There is a danger in having untenured professors, like Y, as an advisor since their first priority is to earn their tenure and it can easily get in the way of properly advising students. You won't contribute much to their tenure, and so they need to focus on their own work.
Not every such situation is bad, but it is better to have someone who has the flexibility to help you succeed without the weight of an important career point looming. And if, for some reason, an untenured advisor fails to earn tenure, either during or after your studies it will cause issues for you.
I once had an untenured prof as advisor and found exactly this problem. I was far down the list of his priorities.
Inexperience can also be an issue in some cases.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: (Moving from [comment](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/164164/choosing-phd-advisor-between-professor-x-and-an-assistant-professor-y-who-was-a?noredirect=1#comment442305_164164) to answer)
This may not be true everywhere, but when faced with a similar decision I was told that the more established professor is more familiar with the department politics and how to get students graduated. Graduation should be a top priority, and if Professor X has a good track record of graduating students, that may be the best choice. Professor X also may have heavily influenced Professor Y's work, so it is unclear how Professor Y will work without Professor X's supervision.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Different ways I thought of:
1. Looking at the size of the potential PhD advisor's lab: e.g., if many (>10) PhD students or post-doc, then likely to be quite hands-off.
2. Asking current or former members of the potential PhD advisor's lab. (but sometimes it is difficult to establish contact with them and obtain a frank answer, plus that's a bit tedious to do for each potential PhD advisor's lab).
3. Directly asking the potential PhD advisor but I am unsure whether this is a wise approach as for example if the prospective PhD student is asking the potential PhD advisor whether they are hands-on or hands-off, this could be construed as being too much dependent or independent from the PhD advisor (e.g., a hands-off PhD advisor would typically prefer independent PhD students), which might reduce the chance of being accepted in the PhD program in case of mismatch between the PhD advisor and prospective PhD student.
What could be other techniques for a prospective PhD student assess whether a potential PhD advisor is hands-on or hands-off, preferably without impacting that chance is to be accepted in the PhD program?<issue_comment>username_1: I would suggest looking at the PhD thesis of former students of the advisor, especially at the thank you/ acknowledgement part. All of them will thank their advisor (no information there) and most of them will thank their parents (also not useful for you) but usually there will be a whole paragraph or two about the advsior where the students explain why their advisor is awesome. This will contain a lot phrases that let you judge what kind of advisor they are.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Just ask their graduate students. There’s no reason people won’t be frank about this question, hands-off advisors don’t think being hands-off is a bad thing and vice-versa.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with your methods. I know other techniques:
1. Check the publication list of the advisor. More than 20 publications per year as last author means that the advisor prioritizes quantity over quality and has no time to be hands-on.
2. Check the website [Labvisor](https://labvisor.net) to see if there are any reviews from your potential lab.
3. Take a look at the advisor's office. If it's a mess it means the advisor has no time to organize it nor to be hands-on.
4. Ask the potential advisor how is the process to write/author papers. If the advisor just does the final review, that indicates a hands-off approach.
5. Is the advisor on the board of the Faculty or any other research institute? If so, the advisor has no time to be hands-on.
6. Check the websites [PubPeer](https://pubpeer.com/) and [Retraction Watch](https://retractionwatch.com/) and see if there are comments on the advisor's papers. Draw your own conclusions.
7. Is the advisor wearing a lab coat? Then they are hands-on. If they wear a business dress, they might be too busy in meetings. Ask if there is a dress code in the office.
8. Ask something related to travelling. Is it normal to travel to research partners locations OFTEN as a PhD? To where in the World? Are there many potential conferences to travel to after the pandemic? A lot of travelling means hands-off.
9. Ask if you should collaborate with their current PhD students or just with the advisor. In the former case, they may be hands-off.
10. Is your potential advisor a PI? Being PI involve a lot of responsibilities that give no time to be hands-on.
Edit: These might be heuristic "techniques", like indirect questions in a job interview, that can give you a sense of how the potential advisor works. Of course one can not draw 100% certain conclusions from them. But some of these insights might be confirmed by some PhD candidates' experiences. What do you think?
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: It is encouraged to cite relevant software in research papers (e.g. [MIT guide](https://libguides.mit.edu/c.php?g=551454&p=3900280)). The question is,
Are these citations indexed at all by any engine?
I can hardly find any software on e.g. google scholar to navigate the citations. For example, SageMath devs request to notify them *manually* about each citation to collect them on [their page](https://www.sagemath.org/library-publications.html).
I am of course talking about software without an accompanying research paper.<issue_comment>username_1: ### an attempt to answer your question:
To an extent this is a known problem -"how do I get credit for writing scientific software?" when our community largely tracks citations via Scopus, ORCID, Google Scholar etc., and also when software is versioned and in continual development, not usually one-and-done like a paper.
I do not believe (read: have never seen) any kind if citation counting for the "miscellaneous" references (to borrow the common entry type used in BibTeX for software) without a proper identifier, like a DOI. I also anticipate that there's confusion in citation counts when trying to sum over versions of a software package.
### some additional thoughts on addressing the problem:
Fortunately, being a known problem in scientific software development, a current attempt at a compromise solution that avoids writing an publishing a traditional, formal paper is [The Journal of Open Source Software](https://joss.theoj.org/) (JOSS).
The JOSS papers are essentially taken from the documentation, so if you write up the code properly, it is supposed to be minimal effort to generate the paper. They then send it out for peer-review, and assign a DOI on acceptance.
JOSS also has the advantage of putting all the relevant links in one place at one place (DOI) - paper, source code, releases, etc. JOSS has the backing of [NumFocus](https://numfocus.org/), who also have a few other [open journals](https://numfocus.org/project/open-journals) and are a major funder (donation bundler) for a large number of scientific, open-source software projects ([Julia, Pandas, NumPy](https://numfocus.org/sponsored-projects)), which is a long way of saying that JOSS is a legitimate and accepted part of the Scientific FOSS ecosystem and not some scam journal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Google Scholar does sometimes parse citations to codes; [here](https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=wickham%20package%20rvest&btnG=) is an example of the R library `rvest`:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0pxjU.png)
In addition, as MoinMoin implied, many researchers write so-called *data papers* or *software reviews* that accompany newly published datasets or softwares. They are submitted to journals and undergo peer-reviews like other kinds of scholarly articles.
Journals increasingly support such data papers or [software reviews](https://www.software.ac.uk/which-journals-should-i-publish-my-software). I am not only talking about journals that are specifically dedicated to such document types (e.g. Springer Nature's *[Scientific Data](https://www.nature.com/sdata/)*), but also to specified submission guidelines for this kind of documents at other journals (e.g. [at *PLOS ONE*](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/s/submission-guidelines#loc-methods-software-databases-and-tools))
Some bibliographic databases capture such documents with a special category. At *Web of Science*, for instance, you can refine the results to 'data papers', 'database reviews' or 'software reviews':
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mHHv8.png)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If by *indexing* you mean, "are citations for a particular piece of software trackable", the answer is "yes, they can be".
Indexing requires identifiers
=============================
The key to indexing is to give your piece of data - software, papers, whatever - a persistent unique identifier. This identifier is traceable back to a particular version of something, e.g., a specific data file or a particular release of the code, or a corrected paper. One example of this unique identifier is a Digital Object Identifier or DOI.
Until recently, typically only journal papers published by larger journals were given a DOI. In the last few years organisations such as Zenodo.org have started to set up the infrastructure to assign DOIs to other digital works, including software. This means that any piece of software can have a DOI and is potentially indexed. See e.g., [this search on Zenodo for a list of software](https://zenodo.org/search?page=1&size=20&q=software).
From that list of software I clicked on a [totally arbitrary result](https://zenodo.org/record/2585902) that I'll use for the rest of this answer.
The DOI of the software is 10.5281/zenodo.2585902. This DOI can be resolved using the <https://doi.org/> service. Or, I can link to <https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2585902> and I will be redirected to the source code immediately.
Identifiers can be cited
========================
Once a digital object has a DOI, it can be cited.
On the Zenodo page for my example software I can download a citation in a Bibtex format:
```
@software{tanlabcode_2019_2585902,
author = {tanlabcode and
software-github},
title = {software-github/SCRABBLE: make it suitable on CRAN},
month = mar,
year = 2019,
publisher = {Zenodo},
version = {0.0.1.1},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.2585902},
url = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.2585902}
}
```
Zenodo also generates citations in other formats like Mendeley, CiteULike, and others.
I can now include that citation in a paper. **It is crucial that
the reference list includes the DOI so that the citations can be tracked.**
We should also note that citing the first research paper where a piece of software is mentioned is not the same as citing the *code*, especially as the code will change over time. The great thing about a DOI from Zenodo or JOSS is that you can cite a specific version of the code directly.
Citations can be tracked
========================
At the bottom of the Zenodo page for the software you’ll see a box listing citations for this publication. This is based on exchanging citation data (references to the DOI) with other services. Together these services cover much of the international publishing community and data repositories. It can take a week or two, but usually citations show up.
Another important tool is [crossref.org](https://www.crossref.org/) which keeps track of all uses of a DOI. I can search the metadata index for that DOI. Unfortunately the random piece of software I chose has [no citations yet](https://search.crossref.org/?from_ui=&q=10.5281%2Fzenodo.2585902) :(
As mentioned by @moinmoin the process has been streamlined a bit by the Journal of Open Source Software ([JOSS](https://joss.theoj.org/)).
DOIs in indices
===============
Although software and other digital objects *can* be indexed, this does not mean that they *are*. As pointed out before, Google Scholar is one of the few that seems to do this; Web of Science and others don't appear to include non-traditional DOIs at this time.
You should expect increasing indexing (and awareness) of non-article DOIs in the next few years as employers and authors see the benefit of being able to track non-journal publications, such as data sets, software, and other digital products. It gives everyone involved much more recognition than would be possible with traditional papers.
What SageMath should do
=======================
Let's look at your example, [SageMath](https://www.sagemath.org/).
* They should check their software into Zenodo or submit it to JOSS. They would then get a DOI.
* They include the DOI prominently on their web pages.
* they update the DOI with each new released version of their code
* Users of SageMath should then be encouraged to cite that DOI.
* Usage of SageMath can then be tracked through CrossRef.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm interested in research in the field of educational sciences. I may enroll in a Ph.D. course in the future. But right now, I'm not a student anywhere and I want to do research in my interested field even without being in the university.
I think one of the most important benefits of being a Ph.D. student is access to scientific community. You have access to professors and other students, and you can engage in a group scientific research work.
My question is that what are the possibilities for an independent researcher (in a developing country) to have access to scientific communities? To have discussions, get reviews, etc. ?<issue_comment>username_1: One of your best bets would be to find some active SubReddits, Discord, and GitHub communities. Without university infrastructure, it’s a very steep challenge. Even with my suggestions, you become increasingly limited by what you’re able to do.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> My question is that what are the possibilities for an independent researcher (in a developing country) to have access to scientific communities? To have discussions, get reviews, etc. ?
>
>
>
To get reviews, you need to submit manuscripts to journals.
In addition, setting up a profile at scholarly 'social media'-like sites might help, e.g. [*ResearchGate*](http://researchgate.net/). Some people have concerns against such profit-oriented (but free-to-use) platforms, but it might help with finding a small initial network.
To discuss with an informal "community of attention", well, many scholars are on *Twitter*. You could see what is discussed under the hashtag [#HigherEducation](https://twitter.com/hashtag/highereducation), and follow like-minded people to exchange ideas. You can tweet about novel papers you read in your discipline; the authors will notice that and thank you for spreading their ideas (and thereby raising their Altmetric Scores).
Some Twitter accounts are specifically designed to introduce 'earliest career researchers' into the community, e.g. [@AcademicChatter](https://twitter.com/AcademicChatter).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: It is possible, but difficult. Possibly very difficult. On the other hand, if you can get the process started it can accelerate moderately quickly.
The problem is to make the first contact and convince someone that you have interesting ideas and who will be willing to communicate with you over the long run. Blind emails to people are a poor strategy, since people are busy and it is hard to convince them that working with you will have any value without personal contact.
If you can work independently then you can submit papers to appropriate journals and conferences and make contacts that way, but working alone is, as you say, difficult in itself.
If you can use other social contacts to get you in touch with some academic, and the people recommending you will vouch for you, then you can get started. But, once it happens, make expanding the circle of contacts and even collaboration a major effort. Co-authors, for example, will be happy to introduce you to others.
Note that publishing in academic journals doesn't require that you be associated with any academic institution. The review process tends (most cases) to focus on the papers themselves, not the affiliation of the author.
But, find a way to make some personal contact. Find a way to interest them in some idea you have for research/publications. Expand from there. Not easy, though.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: One silver lining of the pandemic is that most conferences and workshops have gone online, eliminating travel expenses, and cut registration fees, doubly reducing barriers to entry. You could look for some in your field to keep abreast of what is happening, present your work, and network.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/20
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<issue_start>username_0: I work industry (I'm an engineer with a decent background in math) and for work I often read through papers and I attend conferences to keep up with the state of the art.
I've noticed there're few papers (not very recent but not very old either) whose methods can be derived in a more elegant way using other mathematical frameworks.
I was wondering if it make any sense to re-work all the math these papers did and publish them somewhere. It wouldn't be potentially having new results from these papers but just reformulating them, maybe a new reformulation might highlight new properties worth experimenting.
My question is:
1. Is this kind of work worth some paper submission somewhere?
2. If no new experiments are produced that would yield different results I wouldn't really say they are worth engineering wise (I might be wrong though), so for sake of mathematical interest is there some Journal of applied mathematics of some kind that could fit for this purpose?
3. I struggle to find similar work somewhere but I'm not really good with looking up math papers / applied math papers do you have any suggestion of something I can look up?<issue_comment>username_1: Here is my opinion and suggestion (I claim no authority).
1. Elegant derivations are of indisputable value, even if they are mathematically equivalent to existing results. Think of postgraduate students reading your paper and having an "aha" moment, for example. By contributing elegant results, you are promoting your sub-field, which could be appreciated by other researchers.
2. I won't be able to suggest a journal, unless we work in the same area. I doubt it is possible at all without knowing the details. There probably exists an applied mathematics / engineering journal dedicated to your topic, which leans towards mathematical aspects and has many non-experimental papers. If you want to submit a concise paper, perhaps, look for the word "communications".
3. If searching by keywords in Google Scholar or similar doesn't yield what I want, I try the following. Crawling citations from the most relevant papers or books / volumes / series / conferences. Checking publication lists of the most relevant researchers / labs. Reading theoretical chapters of doctoral theses, which can be a good source of carefully chosen references.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This isn't exactly my field, so you will have to judge whether any of these suggestions apply to you.
In pure math and some other theoretical fields, the theorems aren't actually the most important thing. They are, in a way, signposts, that indicate where we are. More important in many cases are the proofs that lead to the theorems as they can give *insight* into why things are true and that insight can lead to additional advances of the art. So, here, a new proof of an existing theorem would be welcome, provided that it leads to a new insight.
In computational work, say CS, the efficiency of an algorithm on a particular class of problems can be all important. But a given algorithm that is good for one kind of problem may be inappropriate for another. Here, a new algorithm that is more efficient on some important class of problems, or even one that is no worse on a larger class might be welcome. Insight might also be important here, as well, if a new algorithm gives new insights into some class of problems.
In some fields, I think, that if you have a lot of scattered results, developed from different ideas and techniques, but you can unify them into a cohesive whole would, again, have value, though it might be harder to recognized in a Balkanized world. But, again, if the unification leads to insight it would be worth publishing.
There are other situations as well, I'm sure, in which such publication would *matter*, provided that it is recognized. You might have to point it out, of course.
And note that, in some sense, such a paper would be an advance in a somewhat *meta* sense. The problems are already "solved", but the improvement is in the way we think about those problems that forms the advance.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/21
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<issue_start>username_0: I am international applicant for a PhD program in Molecular Biology. I have interviewed with a professor and have had a chat with all of the members of the lab I am extremely interested in working in. It has been over 4 months since I first got in touch with the lab as of now. I am trying to be patient, but is it okay to get in touch with a current PhD student in the lab to get an update on what impression I had left on them and if the professor is going to be considering me.
This is for a graduate program in Molecular Biology in Canada.
Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: Contact the person who interviewed you, not a student. I doubt a PhD student will know anything about who is going to be made an offer.
It's perfectly fine (especially after four months) to send a short, polite email to your interviewer asking when you can expect to hear from them.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: No, it is inappropriate to contact PhD students in the lab to ask for an update on your application status. That is because they may not be involved in the process and it looks like you're circumventing the normal flow of information trying to get something underhand.
The correct points of contact are to ask for an update are:
1. the administrative office who handles grad applications for the department.
2. the supervisor you have talked to.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to submit my research article in a Mathematics journal and the online system is asking to mention three Referee/Reviewer names.
Should I take the consent of a few experts in my topic before I enlist three expert names as referees, by individually mailing them?
I think, I should take.
Any suggestions and advice regarding the question, please?<issue_comment>username_1: No. You do not need consent from them. There is no convention to do that.
Usually, the whole peer review process is an anonymous one, with the selection of reviewers occuring at the editors' full discretion. The editors have various channels to find suitable reviewers, and they usually do not tell the reviewers (nor the authors) how they came across them.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's not necessary. Firstly the editor might not use your suggested referees; secondly, if they do invite them then they will be writing to them themselves, so you writing to them first does nothing. After all, if they agree to referee your paper in response to your email, they would still have to agree to referee your paper when the editor invites them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: As an author, you should never ask someone's permission before suggesting them as a reviewer. This prevents a situation where a reviewer thinks you are offering a bribe. While this is unlikely, you should not leave any room for confusion.
There might be rare exceptions where you are required to ask for permission; I encountered this once and it was a waste of time.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: As others wrote, you don't have an obligation to ask the potential referees for permission to suggest them to the journal. However, I don't think asking for permission is problematic. I asked some people for permission. Some of them agreed, some of them refused, saying my work is beyond their area of expertise or interest or that they did not agree with my work. I just don't see any problem with that. For example, I don't think referees' permission prevents them from refusing to referee the article if the editor asks them to.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: So this is my first research paper, I just wanted to know whether these things are considered unethical or idk creepy way to lure your paper in or its totally okay and people do that.<issue_comment>username_1: First, you should check available materials on the scope of the publication. They might answer your question. But, you can ask, and it isn't creepy. But, if the editor is busy, or your email is too detailed, you might not get an answer. I suspect that editors get more of these requests than they'd like, actually. The editors of many (most, perhaps) journals are not paid employees and have other (usually academic) jobs.
But, submitting the paper will get you the same answer using normal practices. If your paper is clearly out of scope, then the editor will reject it rather than finding reviewers and you will learn just about as quickly as any other method.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It is fine to do this although prior research is usually an implicit first step: if you request is not serious, you may not get an answer.
A good start is by looking at recent back issues to see if material on this general topic has been published in that journal. Another good sign is that some of the cited literature in your work was published in your target journal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: To give you some context, out of my 13 journal papers I asked the editor twice. Once it was a regular issue, once it was a special issue. Once the paper in question was accepted afterwards, once it was rejected and landed elsewhere.
I wrote typically something along the lines of:
>
> Dear %editor\_name%,
>
>
> I am considering to submit my paper "On the sepulation in the context of the Mars phase" for possible publication in your "International Journal of Highly Reputable Research". In this manuscript I exploit the stigma of sepulation in the context of the planetary movement. Specially, the Mars phases were never before regarded in this context.
>
>
> The abstract of my paper is: %abstract in full%
>
>
> My article contains 4123 words (including footnotes, references and figure captions). It contains 5 color figures and 23 references. I have never published this article before nor have I submitted it to any other journal or conference.
>
>
> Would such an article be of interest for your journal? Please let me know if you feel that my focus on Mars phases would pose a problem for acceptance in your journal.
>
>
> Thank you very much. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
>
>
>
Hope this helps.
I have never perceived such queries as bad or damaging. But in most cases they are not needed, as you can tell the relation of your paper to the journal well enough from the aims and scope.
It's the intersection of the actual journal topic with something else, when you might want to ask the editor beforehand.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: It's acceptable to ask, but make sure you have a concrete question that doesn't amount to "is our paper going to be accepted" (because answering that question entails the full peer-review process). For example some things you could ask about are whether your paper is within the scope of the journal, or whether the length is appropriate.
Do note that even if the answer is yes, it doesn't mean your paper is going to be accepted.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I recently attended a seminar by an editor opening a new journal in an established (and high-profile) series of journals in my field. She highly encouraged authors to contact the editors of the journal before submission- the goal of the journal is to publish research that *fits the scope of their journal*- if you're not sure whether your paper is a good fit, it saves time on the part of the editor *and* the author to ask beforehand.
Instead of taking a lot of time to prepare your article for a specific journal, and the time of the editor to read through the whole paper and try to understand if it is a fit, a short email succinctly describing the paper can save both you and the editor time in the long run. The editor can see whether the content and novelty factor of the research is what they, as an editor, are looking for, and give you an early green or red light.
That being said- do your research. It won't be a good look if your paper is far off the mark for what the journal usually publishes. Where does your research group usually publish? Your colleagues? People working on the same kind of work as you?
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: Absolutely!
The term you are looking for is "presubmission inquiry" and they are fairly common, even encouraged. For example, *Current Biology* [writes](https://www.cell.com/current-biology/presubmission):
>
> The editors strongly encourage authors who are interested in submitting
> work for potential publication in Current Biology to send a
> presubmission inquiry prior to any formal manuscript submission.
> Presubmission inquiries should include a clear abstract and a cover
> note explaining the significance of the advance and the potential
> general interest to the broad readership of Current Biology.
>
>
>
The editor's response is not binding---how could it be, without seeing the whole paper---but can help avoid editorial rejections because the topic is a bad fit for the journal, or the result isn't glitzy enough for their "broad" readership. Occasionally, one even gets actual suggestions about how to frame the proposed manuscript. For example, one editor told me that he was a) generally interested in the topic but b) skeptical about it, and would therefore be expecting rigorous controls. This influenced how we structured the manuscript.
For a typical primary research article, presubmission inquiries are usually optional. If you feel confident that your manuscript is a good match, you can submit it directly. However, inquiries are more commonly expected for "exotic" manuscript formats. For example, *[Brain](https://academic.oup.com/brain/pages/General_Instructions)* requires them for their Review and Update formats, but not for regular research reports.
Note that some journals have an established procedure for making one. [*Nature*](https://www.nature.com/nature/for-authors/presub) and [*Cell Reports*](https://info.cell.com/cell-reports-presubmission-inquiry) have online submission systems. Other journals take them via email, but have specific requirements. Check the Author Guide carefully!
These posts from editors at [*PLOS Biology*](https://biologue.plos.org/2012/06/28/whats-there-to-gain-from-a-well-explained-presubmission-enquiry/) and [*Cell*](http://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/presubmission-inquiry-cheat-sheet) may be helpful for understanding them from an editor's perspective.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: Yes, of course. But before asking, make sure to thoroughly check their website to ensure they have not already answered your question; For example in the "Aims and Scope" or a similar section. Most journals have one. If even after reading this section you are not sure, ask them. I have done this several times. It will save you at least a couple of weeks because if you just send your article blindly, it may not be rejected immediately. The editors are always busy!
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Sometimes, there are good reasons to use synthetic data in research. In my case I am using data from Synthea, a program that simulated patient data including medications, names and addresses. I know that no hospital would hand me such real data, so there is no alternative. In my thesis I want to reveal specific patterns in patient records.
My idea is to test some statistical methods and neural networks to predict which disease a patient will have when he or she comes to the doctor next visit. Therefore a known statistical process in generating those patterns makes sense as I want to test some methods. I also want to infer which factors are the most important ones to predict the next disease. Therefore a mass of data is needed.
I am still not sure if using such data is useful in research. On the one hand, data protection or confidentiality in my case I would rate as positive cases using fake data, same as simulated data. As I have an ordinary private laptop it is a good idea to work with artificial datasets, as there is no need for special data security and data protection. Medical data are very sensitive and should not be stored on students' computers. Artificial data is also good for testing code and programs, as one knows what is going on under the hoods if the data generating source is documented well.
On the other hand, using faked data is considered as betraying sciences a lot of papers are retracted or removed when using faked data. Data fabrication is also listed as a scientific misconduct incident on the English Wikipedia.
What should I do?<issue_comment>username_1: Synthetic data and fabricated data are different. If you want to use synthetic data, you need to be transparent about how the data is generated and not tailor the synthetic data to support your hypothesis. Fabrication would be false data that is designed to support your hypothesis.
Remember that any statistical analysis will be a reflection of the process used to generate the data. It might be that the trend in the synthetic data reflects real data, but you would have to make that case by examining how the synthetic data is generated.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There is a use-case for synthetic data, but writing a thesis when dataprotection prohibits you from using real is not such a case.
An example of a use-case would be when the organization that does have access to the real data can create synthetic data with patterns from the real data, and give you that synthetic data. This could be all the "data" they can give you, or as an example dataset on which you can prepare your analysis before going on-site at the protected computer where you have access to the real data.
If you just create synthetic data without any relation to real data, then what would you hope to get out of such an analysis? I assume you heard of [GIGO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garbage_in,_garbage_out).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: If you are using synthesized data and *not disclosing that* in the finished work, then you are committing academic misconduct. This is essentially the same as using fabricated data.
If you are using synthesized data and disclosing that the data is synthesized, then there is nothing dishonest or unethical about what you are doing. It is not the same as using faked or fabricated data, and not academic misconduct. However, it may be bad science - just because something is not unethical doesn’t mean it is a good idea or a valid approach to doing research. Depending on what you are trying to do with the synthesized data and how the data was produced, your results may have some usefulness, or they can be completely worthless.
In any case, you should not decide to use synthesized data without consulting your advisor. And you should never try to publish anything using data that is presented as real when it is simulated, or that is presented as collected or obtained in some way when it wasn’t.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: ### Sometimes there are good uses for synthetic data in research --- this does not sound like one of them
The project you have described in your question does not sound sensible to me. "Synthetic data" (also called "simulated data" in some fields) is useful primarily as a way of illustrating how statistical inference methods and other modelling methods perform. For this purpose it is not necessary to use a real dataset. However, if the goal of your project is to reveal *specific patterns in the variables*, then all you are doing is determining the patterns that were generated in the synthetic data. Since patterns in synthetic data can be constructed however you want, what is the point of that?
Presumably the people at Synthea can specify the exact data-generating mechanism, so the patterns that arise in the data can be described deterministically. So you need to ask yourself whether there is really a need for inference about these patterns. If you want to use simulated data I would recommend that you refocus on illustrating the methodological aspects of your work --- e.g., showing that you have developed a good inference method that could be applied to other data.
As to the possibility of "betraying science" with "faked data", there is a world of difference between simulated data (which would be disclosed in the analysis) versus faked data (which occurs when a person attempts to pass off made-up data as real data). Any project using simulated data should make it clear that these data are simulated, and ensure that the reader does not confuse the simulated data with real data.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an economics major in my second year looking to pursue a master's in statistics after graduation. This semester I am taking calculus 2 and will be taking calculus 3 this coming summer. I am weighing the pros and cons of taking the class at a community college in my hometown. Obviously the class will be more rigorous at my university, but it would be far cheaper to take the class at a CC. Would taking the class at CC have an effect on applying to master's programs?<issue_comment>username_1: First step: ask your major advisor. When you consult them, be prepared to compare the syllabi for topics covered.
Further thoughts:
For a Master's degree in statistics you will need the best math you can master. Lots of linear algebra will be even more important than more calculus.
Since you are only in your second year, you will be able to take more advanced mathematics at the university along with your economics. That means a summer class at a community college after your second year won't weigh heavily in your application. But if this Calculus 3 class is the last math in your major I would recommend taking it at the university.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Actually, some community colleges do a fine job with courses at that level, since it is their reason for existence and the faculty is more focused on teaching. It isn't *obvious* that a university course would be better, especially if it has a lot of students in one class or is more "online"/remote. A class with 25 is probably better than one with 125, for example, when it comes time to ask questions and get help.
But taking it at the U will have the advantage that you will have only one transcript to deal with and there won't be any issues about the equivalence of the classes, as sometimes happens. That effect would be short term, however, if it exists at all
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I am assuming this is the USA.
Before you take a course away from the university where you are enrolled, find out if the course credit will transfer. Probably a minimum grade is required for transfer. Courses that do not transfer will not help you complete your degree. Rules vary.
Also, beware that courses can fill up.
>
> Obviously the class will be more rigorous at my university
>
>
>
Well, maybe. This would vary a lot. The individual teaching it matters more than the institution.
Summer courses are often taught by different faculty from regular-semester courses. This is true at both elite universities and community colleges. Either way you are probably getting a surprise.
>
> but it would be far cheaper to take the class at a CC.
>
>
>
This should be a very important consideration.
>
> Would taking the class at CC have an effect on applying to master's programs?
>
>
>
No, but you will have to order a second transcript, which will be inconvenient. It might have an effect if you took an *advanced* class from a community college. That would cause confusion because community colleges normally have not got advanced classes.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I have noticed one thing that whenever I submit a paper in arxiv on Friday, they keep "on hold" from Saturday to Sunday and then accept it later Monday or Tuesday. On the other hand, it happened that when I submit a paper during Monday, Tuesday etc, then process of submission becomes much faster. On Sunday and Saturday, the system seems to stop.
Thus: do the arxiv moderators not work on Sundays?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, arXiv staff are not working on weekends. They also do not work on major [holidays](https://arxiv.org/new) in the USA.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The exact times when preprints go online depending on when they are submitted are documented in detail on the [website](https://arxiv.org/help/availability). There is also [this](https://arxiv.org/localtime) site showing the time until the next deadline.
Upvotes: 5
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2021/03/22
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<issue_start>username_0: Similar to the [following question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17740/open-source-the-project-code-before-or-after-publication), I have developed a code to produce results in a manuscript that I've written which I wish to now share with the community. But this manuscript, which is currently on arXiv, is still under journal review (which has taken several months and still sits with the referees). Therefore, I was wondering if I should put the code publicly on Github while the manuscript remains under review or only after the manuscript has been fully accepted/published by a journal? Does the right answer depend on the journal? Is it better to wait for any reason(s)? Any and all insights are welcome.<issue_comment>username_1: The concerns to weigh are:
* Scooping. Your manuscript is already out on Arxiv, so there is no risk that someone will publish your same result earlier than you. By publishing code, you make it easier for other researchers to publish follow-up works. Is this something you want? Generally yes: more science, more reproducibility, more common world knowledge, and, more selfishly, more reputation in the community and more citations for you! But some prefer to keep their cards close to their chest, especially if they are already working on a natural follow-up.
* Anonymity. Is this a double-blind submission where you wish to hide your identity? I suppose not, in your case, since there is a preprint already out on Arxiv, so you are already non-anonymous.
* Replication. The referees may want to try your code and replicate your results. In some journals/areas, the code is considered a part of your paper, so if that is egregiously badly written that would reflect badly on your manuscript.
* License. Some journals forbid you to publish post-prints, because they already incorporate their 'work' (that referees and editors did for free for them). In theory, this could extend to code, so it is better to get it out early, when they can make no claim. I am not sure if it is even legal (and I am not sure if publishers ever sued anyone to enforce that clause or sent out DMCA requests to Github), but if you want the publishers to keep their greedy hands off your code it's better to publish it before submission (and the same applies to preprints).
[The standards on all these points vary](https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4471/958) in different fields, and individual researchers have different opinions, so it is difficult to give a unique catch-all answer. At least in my field, though, sharing code is considered a [good thing](https://sinews.siam.org/Details-Page/top-ten-reasons-to-not-share-your-code-and-why-you-should-anyway) and I encourage you to do it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Particular to your situation, I think the exact answer is highly dependent on some missing information:
* How do you plan to license the code once released?
* Do you have some sort of agreement with the journal that the code is part of the manuscript that they will own the copyright to?
In General: When should one release the code relative to publication? Before! (Allow me to explain)
My knee-jerk response was "why isn't the code already on GitHub (or another hosting site)"?
By publicly posting the code, publicly affiliating yourselves to it, and having a time-stamped "paper" trail of commits. I would expect this provides a good hedge against being "scooped", similar to, but more robust than, the old signed-and-dated lab books for maintaining development records in the case of IP/patent disputes.
I work, directly or indirectly (and often in a very minor way) on computational chemistry code, but we write the code and store it in a GitHub repo where it's public facing and has open source licenses. The code either gets cited in papers that use it (not necessarily well - see [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/164177/are-software-citations-indexed/164179)) and/or there's an article written up detailing the software that provide details specific to it (and maybe even later publications of new major versions with added features, e.g. [RMG](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2016.02.013) and [RMG 3](https://doi.org/10.26434/chemrxiv.13489656.v1) with actively-developed source [here](https://github.com/ReactionMechanismGenerator/RMG-Py))
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: You should post it *before* the paper is sent for review. Your paper is already on arXiv, and you do plan to make the code public after publication, so I see little reason to be secretive with it just for the duration of the review.
With certain types of papers, the review can be much more productive (and also easier for the reviewer) if the reviewer has access to the code. In *some* cases, having access to the code is critical for the review.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I frequently end up reviewing papers where code is a portion of the results, and in that case if the code isn't provided I'll ask for it while reviewing the other parts of the paper that I *can* review. If the paper is entirely about a computational method and the code isn't included I turn it right back around to the editor with "Unreviewable without the code". I think this is necessary, because I would say that 90% of my review for these types of papers can be summarized as "Write a better methods section and write tests for your code".
I'm going to add one thing to the other answers (which are all quite good). It's very helpful to me to have a versioned release on GitHub (or PyPi or CRAN or conda or Zenodo, or really whatever release channel you want) that's the exact version that you used for your analysis. I do occasionally have the desire to see how a specific thing was implemented, and if it's buried in 700 commits because you're still working on your software (which is totally fine), it's really hard to figure out where your results came from.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an adjunct professor at a University for a course where the students have to use a certain software "X" during the course. The software is distributed under a proprietary license; our University has bought a number of licenses, which have been made available for the students. Due to COVID restrictions, I am delivering the course online.
Recently, I have received a couple of... questionable emails from students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X.
1. One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country.
2. Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.
Note that, in both cases, I did not inquire about these issues: they simply mentioned them matter-of-factly.
On the one hand, I realize it is not my job to investigate this kind of behavior; I am not sure I should report it, as I do not even have solid proof. On the other hand, not mentioning at all the legal ramifications in my email replies to the students can be seen as "letting it slide" or even condoning such behavior.
How should I proceed? I am inclined towards ~~reprimanding~~ admonishing the students (privately).
**Note**: This is not a question about the ethics of software piracy or of flouting social distancing regulations, but about the proper response to illicit behavior (which I have not personally witnessed) that happens off-campus. I am not completely sure that the students' conduct in this case is illicit, though I believe it is questionable at best.<issue_comment>username_1: I think it's reasonable for you not to *support* these circumstances, but also no need for you to report/escalate the situation to compel some change in behavior.
In your place I'd advise your students A) that you cannot help with installation of non-standard copies, and B) you can't be responsible if the non-standard software they use prevents them from completing assignments on time (you can choose to be more forgiving if and when these circumstances actually occur).
However, if students are in fact having trouble installing software provided to them by the university (rather than side stepping some additional fees) then I think it's your responsibility to address that root cause first. If you can't get support through the vendor, then **this is the issue I'd escalate instead**. Your university bought licenses and should either provide support for these sorts of technical issues or expect support from the vendor. Your university can complain to the company they purchased licenses from if that company isn't providing sufficient technical support, or make sure they provide sufficient support themselves.
If there is some additional fee, then you should consider whether that fee is really appropriate and whether there are alternatives.
Lastly, on the Covid-19 issue... I think it's important to be wary of judging others who may need to bend the rules a bit for extenuating circumstances. Breaking restrictions to party is one thing, doing so to access school resources sounds like the most non-issue circumstance you're going to encounter as an educator. Maybe he's really visiting the colleague because they have no sufficient internet access at home, or doesn't have a computer or the funds to buy one. Needing to visit someone else to work on coursework sounds incredibly inconvenient - I doubt anyone is doing such a thing without a reason beyond "I felt like it". Maybe it's not your business to ask, maybe it's something you can ask compassionately about in case there is something you can do to help, but this is not the situation to consider escalating towards some sort of "consequences".
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I dont think there is any particular academic practice or advice that can be offered to help you here. Whether or not you take action to report potentially unlawful behaviours (of two very different kinds) is a practical and ethical decision that will involve a lot of factors that are specific to your situation and your personal views. There is certainly no requirement for academic staff to act as enforcement personnel for general legal rules that are outside the scope of their academic duties, so I see no professional obligation to take action in either case. (It would of course be a different matter if you were talking about enforcement of a university rule or policy.)
It is certainly open to you to take action in your general "mentoring" role to students, so if you feel like this warrants a stern talking to, I think you should feel free to do that. There can some benefit to alerting students to problematic aspects of the things they are doing, and how you would act differently, so I don't think it matters that it is not strictly your job.
If it were me, I would see the software piracy as largely a victimless action, since the student should already be able to access the software through the university anyway. For the breach of Covid distancing restrictions, there are a lot of contextual factors that would be important, but most especially the level of cases in your area and the consequent public danger created by breaches of the restrictions. (I am located in Canberra, Australia, where we have had virtually zero cases for the past year, so if I saw someone breaking distancing restrictions here, I wouldn't care.) You may have different circumstances to me, or different views on the seriousness of the prohibited conduct, so ultimately, this will be something you have to grapple with on the basis of your own beliefs.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm thinking that "reprimand" may be the wrong idea here, and certainly in isn't your responsibility to police their behavior and report them to higher authority.
You can, however, remind them of the responsibilities inherent in ethical and safe behavior and recommend that they not cross lines that an honest person wouldn't. I think that is the limit of it, and it might be a message that you could/should deliver to everyone.
But, I'm a bit worried about the COVID restrictions issue. Without knowing more than what you wrote, it is possible that two people use the same computer at different times, and so don't break any separation/isolation rules. On the other hand, working together might be breaking academic rules as well as pandemic restrictions, depending on your class.
But, in general, your main job is to *teach* people, and I don't just mean the subject of the course. Teaching about how to learn effectively and how to behave ethically may also be important to consider. The students might come out better if you treat them a bit gently, while still giving them proper, if uncomfortable, guidance.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> How should I proceed? I am inclined towards reprimanding the students (privately).
>
>
> **Note**: this is not a question about the ethics of software piracy or of flouting social distancing regulations, but about the proper response to illicit behavior (which I have not personally witnessed) that happens off-campus.
>
>
>
**The ethics of this behaviour should be a key part of your response.**
The question states that the behaviour was off-campus. This answer assumes that the behaviour was not connected to the university in any other way (not part of a university event, not using university resources etc).
This answer also assumes that there is no legal requirement to report this type of behaviour, as this is something we cannot help with anyway.
So the only reason to respond to this behaviour at all is that you want to act as a *mentor* to the students – that is, you want to give them *advice*, rather than “reprimands”. The fact that the behaviour is illegal (assuming that the behaviour is in fact illegal) is hardly sufficient for this type of advice. Illegal acts are everywhere, from distributing decades-old games without the consent of the copyright owner (which has huge potential legal penalties, yet is generally accepted and generally harmless) to tailgating (also generally accepted, despite being potentially deadly). You cannot possibly give advice about such behaviour without considering the significance of the potential *legal penalties* and the *ethics* of the behaviour.
>
> How should I proceed?
>
>
>
1. Set **boundaries**. Make it clear that your role here is *solely* to give advice – unless it turns out that you are required to report the behaviour or take some other action, in which case you should make that clear, too.
2. Ensure the students are **aware of the relevant laws**. Perhaps, first, you should ensure that *you* are aware of the relevant laws (I am not quite sure what you mean by “quite sure”). Also ensure the students are aware of the potential *penalties* available under those laws.
3. Explain **why you are having this discussion**. The mere fact that you are having this discussion implies that you also consider the behaviour to be unethical. Perhaps you do, or perhaps you just want to warn the students of possible legal consequences. Either way, make it clear to the students.
4. If sufficient information is available, guide the students towards **acceptable alternatives** that still meet the students’ legitimate objectives.
Other users have given good reasons that both of the behaviours you mentioned may be reasonable in the circumstances, but this answer makes no specific comments on this point, as it is specifically excluded from the scope of this question.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Your legal position is now shaky (country-dependent). You know of criminal behavior: what makes you an accomplice in criminal behavior?
However, you should ask to have a chat in person with the students. Afterwards write per email the reprimand (think about leaving a trace that save yourself from being accused of supporting the use of unlicensed software).
Regarding the OP: I know spending time to design a course is extremely tedious.
But if the students are taking this course, and the course needs this software, why the course is not sponsored by the company providing the software?
The company is getting trained workforce that will bring the software knowledge in the private world. Are the teachers working for the company or for the students? Can they teach the student the same set of skills without using this software, or at minimum providing an alternative to who does not want to use it?
Side&personal note: my career has benefitted a lot from the choice I had in the year '9x ... a rather crazy TA offered us the opportunity of attending a certain courses with the support of:
* MATLAB
* Python
I do not say one is right and one is wrong. I just say I benefitted a lot from the crazy TA spending time to explain the same thing over and over with two different approaches ... and at the time the license issue was a non-issue ... almost no-one had a personal computer!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: Let me translate:
>
> I am an adjunct professor at a University for a course where the students have to use a certain software "X" during the course.
>
>
>
For *your* course, Students must use the software.
>
> students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X
>
>
>
The software provided by *you* is not working.
>
> One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country. Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.
>
>
>
Because the software is not working, students are *forced* to bend or break the rules. So:
* You teach the course. You need to know. These students are doing the right thing, they report a problem with the course, including ramifications. Others might also have problems, might have found a workaround, but they remain silent.
* It's a cry for help. That they have to bend or break the rules conveys the urgency. They need *your* help to rectify the situation.
* If they get into trouble because of their actions, the mails will prove that they were actively working on solving the problems.
COVID is forcing us all to improvise. It is impossible to always follow the ever changing rules, and people sometimes get reprimanded or fined for slight transgressions. We need to love and help each other.
If you want to mention these problems, you might state that it was imposed on them by the current situation, then proceed to how you are going to help.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> Recently, I have received a couple of... questionable emails from students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X.
>
>
>
Universities | colleges | schools frequently have an Information Technology (IT) department with full-time staff who are paid to help students manage problems like this. Ask for support from the IT department, if you can. For example, the IT department might assist you in creating a "how to" document that describes the correct procedure for obtaining, installing, and configuring the software for your course.
The software might require "floating" licenses that are issued from a dedicated software license server computer that is connected to the University's intranet. Access to that license server computer from off-campus locations might be restricted to users who are authorized to connect to the university's virtual private network (VPN) concentrator. Again, the IT department should be able to help with this.
>
> 1. One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country.
>
>
>
In my opinion, there's little you can do about this. If student M does not have a working computer or does not have Internet access, and another student N (who is M's classmate) decides to let M share N's computer during your online lectures, I'd be okay with that. But I would try to determine who M and N are so that you can monitor and verify that M and N are not submitting homework solutions that are identical or nearly identical, for example.
>
> 2. Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.
>
>
>
In the United States, for example, unauthorized reproduction of a computer program is considered theft illegal; see also the references section below. As a defensive measure, I would send the student an email that mentions this so that you are on record as saying you do not condone this behavior.
I also recommend that you review your university's published rules regarding student accountability and academic (dis)honesty. Remind the student that s/he has a responsibility to comply with the university's student accountability rules to remain in good standing with the university. In most countries, software theft is considered both a tort and a crime, and admitting to the commission of a tort (copyright infringement) or criminal offense (software theft) could jeopardize the student's standing with the university.
Also, review your university's faculty handbook (or code of conduct, whatever it is called) to determine your responsibilities in this scenario.
---
EDIT 1
For persons living in the United States and its territories, see also:
* FindLaw Attorney Writers, "Software Computer Piracy and Your Business," *Business Operations*, Nov. 10, 2017 [Online]. Available: <https://corporate.findlaw.com/business-operations/software-computer-piracy-and-your-business.html>
* Rain Minns Law Firm, "Misdemeanor Copyright Infringement," "Felony Copyright Infringement," and "More Government Prison Strategies," *Software Piracy and other Criminal Copyright Infringement*, 2021 [Online]. Available: <https://www.rainminnslaw.com/software_piracy.html>
* United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, "Intellectual Property Theft/Piracy," *White-Collar Crime* [Online]. Available: <https://www.fbi.gov/investigate/white-collar-crime/piracy-ip-theft>
* [17 U.S.C. § 506 - Criminal Offenses](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2010-title17/USCODE-2010-title17-chap5-sec506/summary)
* [17 U.S.C. § 1201 - Circumvention of copyright protection systems](https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/USCODE-2011-title17/USCODE-2011-title17-chap12-sec1201/summary)
* United States Congress, No Electronic Theft (NET) Act, Public Law 105–147—DEC. 16, 1997 [Online]. Available: <https://www.congress.gov/105/plaws/publ147/PLAW-105publ147.pdf>
etc.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: For the guy pirating software....
Students are often doing the best they can with what they have. Sometimes the software you give them legally through the class isn't working for them. So, they go pirate a full software suite or something. (EG: had some folks in my IS grad that pirated full versions of SAS & Tableau).
As long as they're getting the work done for the class, and it meets the standards of the exercise(s), then let it slide.
But, email them and let them know that in the working world, using pirated software is going to be a major issue.
Projects in the working world are designed to generate profit. If all your profit (and then some) is eaten up by a lawsuit for using pirated / illegally licensed / etc software, code libs, etc... then "that guy" is not going to be employed for very long.
In the working world, I've seen folks get stuck with some garbage software their company gave them, so they pirated a software suite to secretly do better work. (EG: back when internet first showed up, some guys at a job site were stuck using notepad & ms paint as their web-design tool for a dept's intranet. They pirated a version of Dreamworks & Fireworks to create the intranet site for the dept.)
The person using the pirated / illegal software has to take it upon themself to know when they're crossing the line.
IE: using a pirated one-off software to do something real fast.. ok, fine. But, including a pirated piece of software as Standard Operating Procedure at the company.. not gonna fly if someone does a software audit.
EG: if someone pirated the full version of winZip, and used it to unzip something. Ok, whatever. But, if they use it to script a solution where they get some zipped-up data transfer files, use winZip scripting to automate an unzip and pass-off to another process as part of their ETL (extract, transform, load) data process they kit-bashed together... yeah, that could potentially be a lawsuit or fine waiting to happen.
So, just warn the student that using pirated software is ok as long as they get the assignments done, but be more careful / diligent in the working world.
For the folks sharing the software... I'd ask that they prove they each did their own work.
That might be hard if it's an assignment where everything should look the same.
EG: we did SAP homeworks in info sys class. Everyone's outcome, if done properly, would look the same. But, everyone had to use their own modules and stuff, so prof could easily see who was doing the work and not.
If it's some code, you'll just naturally have folks in coding classes sharing code. It's ok if folks brainstorm together on some code. That's how programmers work.
What's NOT ok, is if one student is doing all the work, and then a bunch of other students are expecting them to hand it off to them so they can turn it in as their own.
Had a major issue of that in a java class, where some foreign exchange students were treating one of the students like their slave labor. When everyone shows up with the same code, same variable names, etc... yeah, that's not gonna fly.
But, if those two students have to share the software, b/c one of them can't get it to run on their computer, or doesn't have a computer with specs good enough to run it, etc... well,... again, students gotta do what they gotta do to get by. Students aren't made of money, and often they're choosing the "least crappiest" situation, not the best situation to get things done in.
Ideally, the software you're making them use would be loaded on the computer lab computers, but I'm guessing computer lab's shut down due to COVID.
So, students gotta do what they gotta do to pass the class.
These are extraordinary times that require a little extra leeway.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: If I were you I would not report these students, but I will not try to justify this here (this has been discussed in other answers and I don't think I have anything relevant to add to that). On the other hand, what I would consider doing is suggesting to these students that they consider being slightly more careful what sort of information they share in communication with their teachers (for their own sake).
As shown by existence of this thread, there is also another aspect of this issue: action of students has put the teacher in uncomfortable position. For this reason it could be seen as slightly inappropriate, but this is a question about etiquette, not ethics.
This small answer was initially posted as a comment, but it was suggested to me that posting as an answer might be more suitable.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: They informed you in good faith that they were not able to install the appropriate software and had to resort to other options. So it appears they were looking to you to help them with the issue so that they could get a legal copy of the software.
imo, your primary concern should be to make the tools for the course available to the student rather than worrying about this rule-breaking.
When things don't work as expected, people have to improvise and sometimes break rules unfortunately. You haven't given them any appropriate options. I mean what are the students supposed to do here? Should they just skip the course and fail?
My advice is to fix the real issue. The lack of access to the proper software. Fix the issues that are forcing the students to resort to these other options. Or give them some other options. They shouldn't have been put in this position in the first place.
As far as admonishment, I don't know about the software issue. Don't know which country you're in, and how big a legal issue this is.
As far as the COVID thing, are you sure they were doing anything wrong? If they wash hands and use masks, I don't see why it's not allowed. I personally would be very careful about "admonishment". I'd phrase it much more in terms of concern for the health of the students rather than "putting them down". Unless you're sure they are breaking some specific law, I'd just advise them to follow appropriate COVID protocols. I personally would be offended if I was put down for doing my best in a difficult situation set down by the parameters of the course.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: If you feel you want to take some kind of action then consider the primary market for the software in question.
From the perspective of a company selling commercial software you'd be out out your mind to prosecute student piracy because it's the fastest way to get your hooks into the companies that will employ them. In the eighties and nineties Microsoft actively encouraged student adoption of its products. A blind eye was turned to even the most blatant piracy because Microsoft knew that the moment students transitioned to a professional context
* they would want the software they were used to
* they would have a lot to lose from the consequences of prosecution
* there would be budget for software
In those days, had you reported student misconduct to Microsoft, they would have thanked you and carefully lost the information. The students were handling marketing and distribution for them at no charge and without support costs. The most profitable way to handle the situation was make it easy for them to do and look the other way.
How do you report it to a company that would prefer not to know?
>
> Based on correspondence it appears that some students are having difficulty in remaining fully compliant with licence terms. [Explain problem scenario.] If you have any suggestions as to how best to remedy the situation they would be welcomed.
>
>
>
They'll either delete that immediately or tell you how to sort it out.
If the software is strictly for academic consumption it's a very different story. In that case some of these other answers apply and it's on you and your department to enable the student access to services.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: Basically, in this IEEE paper, the writer states an equation that he has developed and consequently plots a graph to validate such an equation. The equation is a model of a wireless system.
At first, I didn't give it much thought, but then I notice something wrong. I started plotting some of his equations and they don't match what he plots. It seems as if he has used the plots to trick people, cause there are many inaccuracies in the paper.
My question is, how can it have been published? Should I contact the author?<issue_comment>username_1: "Lying" is a very, very strong accusation. Maybe there are some details that you missed? Maybe the description just isn't complete? There are many possibilities here, and you cannot prematurely assume malicious intent. Of course you can contact the author, but you should state how you tried to reproduce the result and politely ask for clarification instead of jumping to accusations. If it turns out you're wrong, you will otherwise look very bad.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Contacting the author seems like a polite thing to do first. It may give them a chance to clarify that perhaps there's an implementation difference, or there are some steps that were omitted from the paper write-up for clarity, etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Use [*PubPeer*](https://pubpeer.com/), find the paper (e.g. by using its DOI), and add your claims there.
*PubPeer* is specifically designed for such kinds of 'post-publication reviews'.
To be on the safe side, you could keep your comments confined to factual observations, without inferring motives (e.g. "lying").
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In my experience, when there is a situation like this, in which a low level student thinks they have found a fatal flaw in the analysis of a peer-reviewed technical paper, 95+% of the time the student has just made a mistake in their own analysis. If the student instantly believes the author of the paper is lying, without making inquiries about the substance of the analysis, I would bump that probability up to 98+%. If the student makes a clear spelling/grammatical error in their description of the issue, bump that probability up a bit more.
Now, perhaps you're one of the small number of cases where the student is correct and the paper is actually fatally flawed. Perhaps this case is even in the extraordinarily rare class of cases where there is a deliberate misrepresentation in the paper by the author, as opposed to an unintentional error. I'm going to play the odds and suggest that you should proceed with caution, making absolutely sure you are correct before you make any contact with the author or the journal. Start from a position where you do not assume malice, and show your work to an academic at your school to see if they understand the analysis any differently to you. If you find that some other skilled person agrees with you then you can write to the author (politely) to inquire into the difference between your own results and the material in the paper.
It is possible to get to a point where it is reasonable to infer an erroneous result in the paper due to deliberate malice by the author. However, that is something that should happen *at the end* of a long line of sober inquiry and consideration of all possibilities.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I have two inquiries, please.
1. Suppose that authors X, Y, and Z submit 3 different papers to the same conference. Will they all get notifications of acceptance/rejection at the same time (or a short period of time) or not necessarily?
2. Is it possible to get a notification of paper acceptance/rejection before the notification deadline?<issue_comment>username_1: "Lying" is a very, very strong accusation. Maybe there are some details that you missed? Maybe the description just isn't complete? There are many possibilities here, and you cannot prematurely assume malicious intent. Of course you can contact the author, but you should state how you tried to reproduce the result and politely ask for clarification instead of jumping to accusations. If it turns out you're wrong, you will otherwise look very bad.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Contacting the author seems like a polite thing to do first. It may give them a chance to clarify that perhaps there's an implementation difference, or there are some steps that were omitted from the paper write-up for clarity, etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Use [*PubPeer*](https://pubpeer.com/), find the paper (e.g. by using its DOI), and add your claims there.
*PubPeer* is specifically designed for such kinds of 'post-publication reviews'.
To be on the safe side, you could keep your comments confined to factual observations, without inferring motives (e.g. "lying").
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In my experience, when there is a situation like this, in which a low level student thinks they have found a fatal flaw in the analysis of a peer-reviewed technical paper, 95+% of the time the student has just made a mistake in their own analysis. If the student instantly believes the author of the paper is lying, without making inquiries about the substance of the analysis, I would bump that probability up to 98+%. If the student makes a clear spelling/grammatical error in their description of the issue, bump that probability up a bit more.
Now, perhaps you're one of the small number of cases where the student is correct and the paper is actually fatally flawed. Perhaps this case is even in the extraordinarily rare class of cases where there is a deliberate misrepresentation in the paper by the author, as opposed to an unintentional error. I'm going to play the odds and suggest that you should proceed with caution, making absolutely sure you are correct before you make any contact with the author or the journal. Start from a position where you do not assume malice, and show your work to an academic at your school to see if they understand the analysis any differently to you. If you find that some other skilled person agrees with you then you can write to the author (politely) to inquire into the difference between your own results and the material in the paper.
It is possible to get to a point where it is reasonable to infer an erroneous result in the paper due to deliberate malice by the author. However, that is something that should happen *at the end* of a long line of sober inquiry and consideration of all possibilities.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: So, in testing in the USA, an A is the best score you can get. Then comes B, which most students desire, and then comes a C, where you're on the verge of shattering your gradebook by getting a bad grade. Then there's D (even worse), and an F, where you will surely be very ashamed of yourself. Then, there's this alphabetical pattern, A, B, C, D, and then F. But where's E? Why isn't there an E in it?
In an answer given, I want a historical explanation of this question that tells how these letter grades popped up, and why E dropped out (or was never included) in the USA.
Thanks in advance!<issue_comment>username_1: I haven't located a super reliable source, but from [Slate](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/08/how-come-schools-assign-grades-of-a-b-c-d-and-f-but-not-e.html):
>
> The earliest record of a letter-grade system comes from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts in 1897. [...] The lowest grade at Mount Holyoke was an E, which represented failure. [...] One year later, administrators changed the failing grade to F and tweaked the other letters. The new scale offered better symmetry, since each grade represented five points, with scores below 75 resulting in failure. [...] Over the next two decades, variations on the letter-grade system spread across the country and into primary and secondary schools. It’s hard to put a date on the end of the E, but it was gone from most colleges by 1930. Apparently, some professors worried that students would think the grade stood for “excellent,” since F stood for “failure.”
>
>
>
Basically, four grades (and plus/minuses) and a fail option seemed to work out well from the instructors' perspective, and F was picked up for "fail."
Possibly the concern over "E" was affected by the ESNU system (according to an uncited [paragraph](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_grading_in_the_United_States#The_E-S-N-U_system) on Wikipedia):
>
> At one time (until roughly the mid-20th century), the most popular grading system in the United States used four letters, which ranked in descending order:
>
>
> * E (Excellent)
> * S (Satisfactory)
> * N (needs improvement; "NI" was also used interchangeably)
> * U (unsatisfactory)
>
>
>
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: For what it's worth, my High School in Pennsylvania did in fact use E instead of F. This was in the mid 2000s.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/03/22
| 3,390
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<issue_start>username_0: I am relatively new to academic publishing. However, there is an uncomfortable situation which I have already encountered multiple times by now (about five). It is what I would call **"low-key plagiarism"**. I will explain what I mean by this (completely made-up) term in the following.
I don't have many papers and citations yet, so I tend to check out papers that cite me to see how my work is being used and if the new result is relevant to my own work. In the mentioned occasions, I found that the authors used my work extensively or built directly on it. The way the citation was phrased, however, implied that my result was only tangentially relevant or somewhat helpful. Sometimes the relevance is also disguised by citing further irrelevant literature.
The goal of the authors in both cases seems clear: to mislead a reviewer or readers into thinking the result is more significant or innovative. Of course, an ideal reviewer should spot this. However, in highly specialized fields and if the formulation is sufficiently vague, this is very difficult and does not happen practically.
I am not sure if this should really be called plagiarism. It is the kind of borderline case where, most likely, nobody will bring up the argument publicly. If someone does, the authors will most likely say "but we cited you here and there". No matter if plagiarism or not, it is certainly misleading to reference in this way.
When I find a citation like this, it feels very uncomfortable to me. Especially for interdisciplinary research, people might start citing the newer result and forget the older one completely if the citation chain cannot be tracked properly. This is the exact same effect as completely leaving out the citation (i.e., plagiarism) would have.
**How can I deal with this kind of misleading citation practice?** Should one just get over it? Should one contact the authors to express disappointment without asking for consequences? Should one fully escalate and demand a correction or bring the editor's attention to it? Should one do it even if the chance of success is low and the chance of hurting one's own reputation by being perceived as petty is high?
**Concrete example**
As suggested by <NAME>, I've tried to come up with a fictionalized example for what the misleading paper might be saying. The example contains three tricks which I have encountered on separate occasions. 1. List citations to hide relevance. 2. Shifting the citation to a supplement and omitting the citation in the main text summary of the method. 3. Attaching the citation to a meaningless side sentence instead of to the main result.
Here is the example: Let the main text contain no reference to the paper, except for a bit in the introduction citing it as previous literature as part of a **list citation**. Instead, it is stated in the methods that
>
> We derive our main result using *some abstract formulation of the method for brevity*.
>
>
>
The method summary thus misses the citation, which is **shifted to a supplement**.
In the supplementary material, it is stated that
>
> Introductory discussion to notation. *Eq. (1) coming straight out of my paper.* We derive our main result based on this equation by solving some integrals for a special case. This includes a completely standard step, which was also investigated in [1]. Our result is then obtained this way: *concrete formulation of the method which was abbreviated in the main text and which is a special case of my method*.
>
>
>
where [1] is my paper. Therefore, even if the reader looks in the supplementary material, they will not know that the central Eq. (1) is straight from my paper. The citation is there, but **attached to a completely meaningless side-sentence**. Of course, a careful reader could go and compare the two papers, but without that, it is not clear how the result was used.
Even if the example is not great, maybe this gives an idea of what kind of tricks I mean. One of those can be accidental; in sum, they are likely intentional and designed to mislead. They certainly do mislead, but are they plagiarism?<issue_comment>username_1: It isn't plagiarism to suggest that your work is less relevant than you think it is. It is only plagiarism if they use it in any way without a citation and then give the impression that the ideas in the work are their own and not yours.
But, if they are clear about whose ideas are whose, then you should let it go - as plagiarism anyway.
Saying misleading things, or misinterpreting your work to others is also malfeasance, of course. People need to be honest about their own work and the work of others.
And if they say that you did X and they did Y when, in fact, you previously published Y then that is back to plagiarism again. But "almost Y" rather than "Y" likely doesn't count.
I'll also note that if the citation is there, then a reader can settle in their own mind how much of an advance the newer paper makes over your original contribution. It is when citation is absent that the thread of scientific knowledge is broken.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I agree with your assessment that this is misleading behavior on the part of the authors. I have run into this kind of behavior myself, including from authors who were famous researchers (and who were famous because they actually did very good work and not because they were good at misleading people about doing good work). It seems like it’s just human nature for some people to feel a need (probably driven by insecurity and lack of self-worth) to play up their own greatness and belittle others’ achievements.
As for what to do, I’d say just keep publishing good work and don’t worry about it. It’s not worth the time and energy it would take to fight such petty misconduct, especially when there is no hard evidence for a dishonest motive. Moreover, the advantage that these authors derive from such underhanded behavior probably does not outweigh the disadvantage of other people looking down on them and not wanting to work with them (I’m willing to bet you’re not the only one who noticed this), so their behavior is self-defeating and self-punishing. And your own contributions are documented in the scientific literature, so in case a dispute ever arises over something important, the truth will will be easy to establish and will come out.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Let it go, you won't be able to get a published paper changed in retrospect.
But if you review papers, keep this in mind and ask the authors to give proper credit to cited work. This would be the right point to change misleading texts when changes are likely.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I agree with the other answers, in that you should probably let it go. But I think it would also be helpful to point out a broader lesson that I learned through similar experiences: take your frustrations as opportunities to get better.
Like you — and most researchers — in my early years I was particularly anxious for the recognition that I felt my hard work deserved. Naturally, I would get annoyed when I saw other people getting recognition for work that was based off of mine, but didn't give me any credit. I actually had two really egregious examples of this during grad school, and they ate away at me. It upset me, which just made life less enjoyable; it embittered me, which led me to close off from possibly productive collaborations and friendships; and it distracted me from my own work. These were all bad for my career and for life outside of my career.
I realized that this was heading in a bad direction, and resolved that every time I start to get annoyed with colleagues I should take a step back and think about what I could have done better to avoid this situation in the first place. This helps because I stop thinking about those annoying colleagues for a moment, and therefore become more objective in seeing the situation for what it is. More often than not, it actually helps me see things from their perspective, which gives me much greater peace of mind and helps me be more effective going forward. This is true for everything from teaching and mentoring, to how I give talks and write papers, all the way to office politics.
So let's apply this to the concrete example above. The basic fact here is that your work didn't have the impact you wanted it to. This is undeniable. This *may* be due to intentional malfeasance or negligence on the part of those other authors, but that won't get you anywhere. You also need to consider other possibilities. Maybe your paper didn't actually *say* what you thought it said; you might just understand parts of their paper because of all the background work and thinking you've done on the topic, but didn't actually include that in your paper. Maybe your paper wasn't as *clear* as you thought it was. Was Eq. (1) so novel that it was the main point of your paper, or was it just the starting point for both you and them? Was it clear to them that their result was actually a "special case" of yours? Was yours couched in esoteric general formalism that they found hard to apply to their case? Should you have talked specifically about that special case in your paper? Was the result given context that was explained *clearly* and *prominently* in the abstract and/or introduction? Did you discuss your work with people other than you supervisor and/or collaborators before publishing so that you could work out how to explain things better? Did you use the referee reports during publication to actually *improve the paper*, rather than just respond to comments to placate the reviewers. Did you go to conferences and interact with people after publishing to make your paper known? Could you have possibly done a better job on any of these points? The answer to that last question is always yes, so focus on that.
To summarize: stop thinking about them, and start thinking about yourself.
---
A few notes:
This process shouldn't get you down on yourself, or exacerbate any impostor syndrome. You're in the position you're in because you *are* good, but every one of us can get better.
Also, don't be afraid to be an academic rainmaker — someone whose work provides inspiration and a starting point for others. That's exactly the position you want to be in. You won't always get the credit you deserve, but eventually it will build up.
I still get annoyed at colleagues all the time. In fact I'm currently writing a paper that shouldn't need to exist. Don't people know that a simple boost is just a special case of a general BMS transformation?! They should have just understood my first paper, and not written all those papers that misapplied it so badly and got everything wrong ARRGGG!!! ... Ah, but I guess I was striving for generality like a mathematician, without thinking about the astronomers who actually need to use it for relatively simple cases. Readers misunderstood my paper, but maybe it's not all their fault. My point is: You get to feel your feelings, but use your brain to try to understand and redirect those feelings.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Based on your example it sounds possible that the authors actually do consider the "completely standard step" to be completely standard. In other words, they could've done the step without your paper to guide them. As an elementary example, say you need to compute the derivative of a complicated function. You could work your way through it, or you could cite the paper that did the calculation for you. If you opt for the latter, giving it heavy credit might not be warranted.
If the above does not apply to your case, then blame the culture of asking for sexy results. Everyone (and I mean everyone, including non-academics like journalists or the government) want sexy results. We want Big News that generate excitement, citations, and funding. It's why theories such as MOND, which tries to do away with dark matter, attracts so much press time even though they're on the fringe of astrophysics; it's why null results are hard to publish.
Given that, writing a paper with "these guys did awesome work, we extended it in XYZ" is like saying "these guys did awesome work, you should've published their paper [and not mine]". If you've ever received a rejection not because your paper was wrong, but because it's not novel enough, you'll know what it's like. It also means that when you submit to a new journal, you'll need to make your paper sound more exciting ...
Ultimately this culture won't be changeable by one person, and it's not clear how one would change it even if one could do so (e.g. *Nature* wouldn't be *Nature* if it started accepting all technically correct papers regardless of novelty). You'll probably have to learn to live with it. On the bright side, your contribution is marked in the academic record, and you will be able to point out what you accomplished if it's ever necessary.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: Nice, you have another citation to show! Great. :-)
Is that plagiarism? No. They built on what you published and referenced your work.
Is it fair? Depends. I can imagine it's a mixture of
* Perhaps they read your paper a while ago when they started out with that research and mentally incorporated it into their idea of a general canon of prior art, and made it mentally their own. We all do that when we learn. They would then indeed — inadvertently — misrepresent the importance your paper has for their work.
* They *really* think (as username_5 said already) that the "stepping stone" they built on which they took from your paper is pretty standard.
* It is also possible that your work is indeed one of several works about the same theme complex, and that you don't know as many of the other, similar works as they do. You would then consider your paper more unique than it seems to them. The differences to other papers may seem larger to you as the author than to uninvolved third parties. (This does not diminish your achievement; often certain things are "in the air" and worked upon independently by more than one group or person, often with similar results.)
In general, I'd be happy that somebody could use what I wrote. Since they work in a related area: Do they do interesting stuff? Would it be worthwhile to get to know each other? Keep an eye out for them at the next congress, once we can travel again!
Upvotes: 1
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2021/03/23
| 1,004
| 4,653
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<issue_start>username_0: Are there any good methods for doing this? I can find papers with algorithms, but they usually do not show their computational results with the same problem sets and the publishing year of two papers is usually different so they will most likely use different equipment for solving the problems.
Edit:
By problem, I am referring also to the specific size of the problem, memory usage and other characteristics of the problem.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you have a misunderstanding about algorithm efficiency and its study. A good course in algorithms and data structures should correct that.
I'll assume here that you actually *mean* [algorithm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithm) and not just a useful computer program. They are not the same thing. Some useful programs, while they may contain algorithms, have their performance dominated by other non-algorithmic concerns. The performance there might, indeed, be tied to a particular kind of dataset for which small deviations result in wildly different performance.
Algorithms are judged good or bad based on theoretical concerns, not by running them on sample data. The theoretical measures make them independent of hardware within certain bounds. A fast algorithm will run faster than a slow algorithm on different computers that have a similar architecture (see caveats below). Some algorithms (bubble sort) are always bad. Others are always better (selection sort). Still others are "always" good (merge sort, but see caveats).
So, the "different equipment" idea is a red herring, provided that the equipment has a similar architecture.
Caveats, and there are quite a few.
Some algorithms require a lot of memory (quick sort on a large set) because they are highly recursive. If a machine has insufficient *fast* memory then quick sort on a large data set will be limited by the, independent, efficiency of the memory system.
Some "slowish" algorithms work well on small data sets and can be preferred over "fastish" algorithms if the data set is expected to be small. But these things are known and are normally incorporated into working software. For example, in quick sort once a "split" results in a segment of size 10 or so, a quadratic algorithm will take over to complete the sort. But that is just good software design, and it uses known, theoretical, results for the various options.
However, if the architecture of a machine changes drastically (as a GPU differs from a CPU), then the game changes and some algorithms that are fast on one will be slower on the other. For example, still sorting things, if an architecture makes comparisons "free" then an algorithm that uses lots of comparisons, rather than rearrangements, will be preferred *on that architecture*. But, again, this is based on the theoretical considerations that measures the various kinds of operations required by an algorithm.
So, to answer your question, you need to look at the theoretical measures, and these are normally provided by authors.
Another caveat. There are some applied problems that are fairly ill structured and haven't (as yet) yielded to the theoretical analysis assumed above. Perhaps a bit of chaos is involved. For these, some empirical measures might be required at the moment. But some of those sorts of problems can also drive people to invent new architectures that can efficiently handle the problems. But, the same sort of problem also drives the theoreticians to invent new algorithms that *are* amenable to a general analysis of efficiency. But, the results will, most likely, be reported in theoretical terms, not timings on specific hardware. This is probably what you are seeing. And, hopefully, part of their analysis includes limits on when the algorithm can be expected to behave well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: 1. I generally go through review papers in the field and try to cite them as well if they have any sentence in the paper **"claiming that the previous method is SOTA"**.
2. There are also benchmark sites.
3. Famous datasets even have their personal benchmarks linked to their sites.
4. You could use research gate or any other forum and ask a question there.
5. You could try a keyword search on google scholar and see if any paper claims to do so.
Regarding the difference in setting, generally the "well-acclaimed" SOTA papers don't have these issues. At least that's what I've noticed majorly in my field.
If that is the case, then I suggest making a small study within the paper covering all the results in the different settings. (Please do correct me if I'm wrong here).
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2021/03/23
| 1,697
| 7,376
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:**
I got an acceptance at a conference and now need to register for it. They said that only the person who registers, gets the certificate and not all authors (we have 5 but only 2 primary authors).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AHb5E.png)
**Question:** Is the publication in the proceedings (LNCS) alone sufficient to prove that you published the paper? Or does one need the certificate as well?
If required as to **whom I am asking for,** you can assume it to be a PhD (CS) admit panel in the US.
I am aware of this question: [How to show proof of publication?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12595/how-to-show-proof-of-publication). But my conference has no admit card associated with it.<issue_comment>username_1: Published conference proceedings suffice for proof of publication.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: No, if a paper is *published* then all authors have "published" that paper. Certificates are, I think, a fairly rare thing and may have only an internal meaning for the conference or its organization. Perhaps it means free or reduced cost admission to the conference. They may be more common in some fields or with some conference series.
And since publication is *public* by its very nature, the "proof" of publication is in the published record itself. No external verification is needed.
And, it isn't outside the realm of possibility that the "certificate" is just something cute you can hang on the wall or show your mom.
In general, attending a conference, but not presenting, has no added benefit for your CV (beyond bragging rights, perhaps). But you can say on your CV that you had a paper published at the conference and/or that you presented a paper at the conference and/or that your paper was published in the proceedings and/or a subsequent journal associated with the conference. Others will judge the relative merits.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: The language is very strange (not in the least because it ends in ", ok?") and I echo the concerns about whether this conference is reputable.
However, conference "attendance certificates" are sometimes required for visas or for reimbursement from your university. My impression is it's more common outside of the US. I'm not sure why a conference would want to limit certificates to just one person per submission, other than to reduce bureaucratic overhead.
If you don't know of any reason why you would need a certificate, you probably don't need one.
It's also possible this is language from when the conference was in-person, and wasn't removed or updated for COVID.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Anecdotal:
I work a bit on translational research and have attended conferences from mathematics to very applied measurement engineering.
I found out that the more applied the conference is, i.e. the more industry oriented, with more non-academic attendees, the more likely they are to give certificates for stuff. Certificate of attendance, certificate of publication, certificate of speaker, etc. They tend to give you a nice paper, diploma style.
I was a big confused on about why, but I think it comes from industry dynamics. In non-academic culture, having these certificates may be helpful to argue about a promotion or add to your CV, as conferences are not standard work events.
So I think this is an artifact of zero importance in academia.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Since they say
>
> ... the paper will be published in the proceedings if someone presents it. The certificate will be given ...
>
>
>
it sounds to me like the certificate is proof of *presentation*, (which is required for publication). So it makes sense only to give it to the person who actually registered and presented.
Once the paper is published anyone will be able to see that it has been published.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_6: I don't know the details for this particular conference, but this is pretty common for a lot of conferences that I attend.
The organizers want to make sure that somebody who wrote the paper actually attends to present it. If authors do not attend, it can cause a couple of problems for the conference organizers, 1) it messes up the schedule when nobody is there to present the paper, 2) if the hotel room counts are too low, it can be a big financial hit on the organizing committee. There was a period of time where we were getting a lot of papers from certain international countries, then nobody would show up to present the papers.
Once the conference is over, the certificate has no meaning. As long as the paper is in the proceedings, it is considered published.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Just to be clear about some versions of this issue: in the U.S., in mathematics, no conference I've ever seen "gives certificates". If one presents a paper or poster, everyone will simply believe you if/when you say so. Conceivably departmental travel-funding rules have become more fussy, but in my experience not quite needing a "certificate". Maybe some proof that you actually took the flight... which is not so hard to certify.
Apart from "certifying" things for funding, the issue of proving that one really did give a presentation at a conference... is something that is completely "on the honor system" in the U.S. these days. I've never asked for "proof". And, really, if a person were discovered to have lied about any such thing, they'd be ostracized... I can't even imagine anyone thinking to lie about such a thing...
But, yes, sure, other situations have other game-rules (as opposed to reflections of reality).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_8: Different countries have different customs and so do different fields. This applies to the value of conference certificates. They are often just something that you can hang on your wall if you want to brag. Maybe if you get reimbursed for conference costs, someone would like a paper confirmation.
Independent of certificates, all authors have published (independent of certificates). In the US, graduate student admission committees trust claims about papers to be published because inventing a publication would be (in general) sanctioned with throwing a deceiving student out of the program. Besides, presumably a co-author would write one of the letter of reference.
Once the proceedings are in the printing stage and the electronic version available, any claim about publication is already verifiable. Google Scholar picks it up almost immediately. If LNCS refers to the Springer series, then, based on recent experience, Springer is very quick at processing the final versions of papers. Finally, most conferences have websites with lists of accepted papers that often appear within days of sending out acceptance letter. Once the program is finished, it usually gets published very quickly.
In conclusion, there are many simple ways to verify claims of published papers. There is a small window between the 'authors have received a letter of acceptance' and 'claims of authorship can be verified' that a certificate would not cover in any case. Thus, for admission purposes, certificates are useless.
Good luck with finding a good graduate program and do not worry about certificates.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/23
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently finished a project that has accepted for publication in a preventive medicine journal.
I was hoping to submit the abstract to some conferences to improve my presentation skills, and my supervisor informed me that I should make sure my paper is not published before the abstract is presented.
The journal has given us a 12-week ETA on publication, and both conferences I was hoping to present at are much later than that (16-24 weeks). As a result, I was wondering what my possible options are? So far, I have four questions:
1. If my paper is accepted for an oral presentation instead of a poster presentation, could I still present them if the paper has been published?
2. Could I ask the journal to put a hold on production so I can present at these conferences?
3. Does it matter if one of the planned conferences is not international / if they do not publish abstracts?
4. Should I contact the managing editor to ask if I may present the abstract at the planned conferences?<issue_comment>username_1: I think generally speaking you're thinking about your advisor's point the wrong way round. The point isn't that the journal now owns your work and presentations thereof (re: point 2), it owns the copyright, and the right to distribute their presentation of your work.
Rather the point is that conferences are expected to be *new* work, ahead of the literature. People don't go to conferences to hear a paper read aloud, they go to hear about new things they *can't* read in the literature. It's a venue for feedback (which can't be applied to a published article).
I'm not in preventative medicine (but at one time was in a medicine-adjacent field), but have heard this before. Generally, an oral presentation might be the better avenue for work that was just published, but you should ask your advisor about point 1.
To point 3 - no.
To point 4 - no, the managing editor is not the one imposing the "restriction," if you wanted to ask someone besides your advisor, you would ask a conference organizer or someone else familiar with the conference to learn what level of novelty is expected there.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm worried about this and about your intent, though I don't know what you would intend to put into the "Abstract". If the abstract is nothing more than a description of a talk you will give on "recent results" or "recently published work", an ad, so to speak, then I see no harm. But if you are intending that you get another "publication" out of the conference proceedings then I think you are on very thin ice.
I especially worry that if you present at a conference before publication, that the journal will want to pull the paper immediately as being "old work".
However, in your field, where lives may be as stake there is certainly value in people speaking to an interested audience of practitioners to make them aware as early as possible about results that will appear soon. It may be that there is no understanding that such a talk is "publishing", in which case the issues may go away.
But, to be safe here, I'd suggest that you, the journal editor, and the conference program chair, all come to a common understanding of your submission and what it implies. Trying to finesse it could leave you in trouble with everyone. But, within certain constraints, I'd think that everyone could be made happy about what happens. But, you don't suddenly have several "first publications" of the same work. Don't try to go there. It is a dark and scary place.
And, of course, if what you say/write in one venue is an extension of what you have previously published then there is no issue, assuming that you cite properly.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/23
| 1,331
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<issue_start>username_0: I am being accused of academic dishonesty on a problem for a class this year. I have already accepted an offer to a Ph.D program and if I am convicted, there will be no mark on the final transcript I send them, and the effects are probably going to be nonexistent on my actual grade. Should I be concerned that this will turn up, and is it likely I will have to disclose this later?
Edit (some more information that may be relevant):
This has no way of connecting to the professors who wrote my recommendation. My concern in case of conviction is mainly the extent to which I may have to graduate schools, and whether or not my existing statement that I have not been convicted (submitted prior to all this) will be checked (in the case of a conviction, it may appear that I lied).
The alleged offense is itself minor (as far as these things go) and based on resemblance with something online. Not that I expect this to have an impact on how it is externally viewed.<issue_comment>username_1: The graduate school, or whoever sets local regulation, can do whatever they want. But most likely:
* No information will be sought beyond a transcript.
* The graduate school will not find out about misconduct not on the transcript.
* If the graduate school finds out, and any information you provide agrees with information provided by your previous institution, the graduate school will consider the previous institution's actions to have settled the matter.
If you disagree with your previous institution's findings, instead of saying "Y happened", say " found that X happened, but I found that Y happened." This way it is clear you are not misleading anyone.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I will venture an opinion.
Since
>
> The alleged offense is itself minor (as far as these things go) and
> based on resemblance with something online.
>
>
>
you should be able to mount a convincing defense. In my experience there's a big gap between "this might be plagiarism and we have to look at it, but can't know for sure" and "we are convinced beyond reasonable doubt that it's cheating".
In any case you did not lie on your application.
Even if the accusation should be deemed true, I think it very unlikely that your new school will ever hear about it. If they do, tell them your version of the facts. I very much doubt that you would be dismissed from the program.
Good luck.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: If you’ve told other people that something is true and then some time later it stops being true, and its truth status is a material fact that leads to you getting access to valuable resources, then the most ethical course of action — the kind that requires a high level of personal maturity and moral courage — is to inform the people of the change in the truth status of your statement.
Now, I’m not saying that this is what you must do, or even that this is something an average person would do. But this is, at least, an ideal to keep in mind and to aspire to.
If you don’t do this, you still have the reasonable (in my opinion) defense, in case you are criticized later, that you did not lie, since the statement was true at the time you made it. There is no universally recognized ethical principle that we have a hard obligation to correct any instance of a past statement we made ceasing to be true. What will happen in practice if/when you try to use that defense, I cannot predict. Should you be concerned that someone will not find it as reasonable as I do? I cannot say.
The most important thing in my opinion is that you must not lie about your misconduct charge if asked about it *in the future*. Saying untruthful things to the grad program could get you into serious trouble. Even if you get lucky and don’t end up getting caught in the lie, just living with the fear that you will be found out at some indefinite point in the future will be a heavy mental burden to carry.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: At this stage it is merely an *allegation*, so I don't think you have any obligation to disclose that. If you are found guilty of the alleged misconduct, such that there is an actual finding of misconduct against you, that may well be something you should disclose. This is particularly so if the misconduct gave you any advantage that would have shown up positively in your application for your present degree program. If you fail to disclose a finding of misconduct against you, that applies to a degree program that was one of the qualifications listed for your application to the program, then the university might take the view that you have failed to properly represent your academic record (or failed to properly update it with pertinent information).
*If you are found guilty of the alleged misconduct:* If the nature of the misconduct is minor, and you voluntarily disclose it without being prompted to do so, that will be to your credit. In some cases students engage in minor forms of misconduct when they are undergraduates, and then learn from this and improve their subsequent practices. (I do not understand that your assertion that it would be minor misconduct due to mere "resemblance" of your work with online material; resemblance is not misconduct, so presumably if you are found to have committed misconduct then it is going to be a finding saying that this was some kind of actual plagiarism.) What would be important here is for you to be able to give a compelling account of why your university should keep you despite the misconduct --- e.g., Do you accept that your conduct was wrong? Have you learned not to do that now?
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:** I just got an acceptance for a conference paper. While the conference isn't half bad (Nothing top of the domain. It's a top 80 conference in my domain as per guide2research), they are asking a hefty fee for registration and I won't be sponsored for it by my university.
**Question:** Is it okay to just keep the paper as a pre-print? I am extending that paper with another concept and a few more tests to submit it to a journal anyways.
***In the eyes of a CS PhD (US) admit panel***, does it make a difference whether I publish this paper or keep it as a pre-print?
**P.S.** If it makes any difference, I am an undergrad.<issue_comment>username_1: I assume it will make a big difference. Even without the conference being a major one (which would, of course, be better), acceptance shows that your paper passed peer review. That is the major difference to a preprint: anyone can in principle upload anything to a preprint server, so the value of having one "published" is (by itself) close to zero.
As a way to move forward, I suggest checking two things:
* Can you acquire funding from a different source? Often, universities are research will have special programs which you might apply to. Some conference even allow requesting a waiver if you're not funded. It's worth checking these avenues.
* Are there any other (similar, maybe even better) conferences that you can apply to where the cost is manageable, or which provide such a waiver?
On the other hand, if you plan to make a journal version, that is an alternative, too. But keep in mind that the time to get a journal paper published may be longer (with sometimes multiple rounds of peer review and multiple re-submissions if the paper is rejected), and, in particular, not foreseeable. Some papers take a long time until they appear in a journal, and that might be after you need the paper to appear on your CV in your application. Therefore, it's worth trying to find a way for the conference paper to get published.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: While [@username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/164350/4249)'s answer explains the difference between pre-prints and papers published in conference proceedings (however please note that none of this is necessarily true outside of Computer Science as conference culture is different between disciplines), I think it is important to mention some **etiquette about publishing**.
It is considered **very bad form** to send a paper to review, and then retract it post-acceptance. There are some exceptions to the rule (e.g. sudden illness, non-trivial errors in the results or data), such a retraction (or simply not paying the conference fees) can reflect very bad on you, as it points to:
* Lack of foresight if the reason is lack of funds.
Conferences typically have publication and attendance fees. As historical fees are usually known, this is an expense that could have easily been foreseen. This is even more true during the current pandemic situation, as many conference fees are reduced to a fraction of their typical price and the conferences shifted to online events.
* Lack of respect for reviewers time (if the reason is lack of funds; or lack of time to do the required revisions).
In order for a paper to get accepted to a conference, it will get assigned to an editor / session chair. That person will then need to read at least the abstract and the keywords, and attempt to solicit 2 or 3 reviewers for your paper. They will contact more than that, and many will refuse. Finally, the editor/chair will read the reviews, and will have the responsibility of making the final decision about acceptance or rejection (it's not as simple as a ranking list where top-X get in). Indicating that you never had the intention of publishing shows a disregard for this process and the time of all the people involved.
* Problems in academic conduct (if the reason is e.g. a dispute between co-authors).
It does not reflect well on anybody if you can't keep it civil with your co-authors for the period of time between submission and publication.
* Problems with research rigour (if the reason is non-trivial errors in the results).
Infinitely better post-acceptance than post-publication, but... well.
* If you do not give a reason, nothing good will be assumed.
My point not to make you feel bad, but that a paper that was peer-reviewed and accepted for publication, but not published (due to not paying conference fees/not presenting) **does not give you any bragging rights** on your CV. And while your *plans* to publish it in a journal certainly sound nice, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
To address your current situation: the one thing worse than retracting the paper by quietly not paying the conference fees is paying the conference fees and then quietly not showing up to present your paper. That might even land you on some blacklists on larger conferences, e.g. IEEE organised. If you truly can not find funding, I would suggest **informing the conference as soon as possible for your reasons for retraction, and offering your apologies for your lack of foresight**, rather than just quietly not paying.
I second [@username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/164350/4249)'s suggestions to look if the conference can waver the fees, or has any "student support" mini-grants, or if something might be available through your University (or even through a lab/team/professor if you are associated to one through an internship or TAing) or your co-authors. While it would have been better to do all this before submission, I hope you still find an avenue that allows you to publish your paper.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2021/03/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an associate editor for some international scientific journals. Unsurprisingly, I receive a number of submissions from Chinese scholars (working in China), which go through the standard peer review process and publication. However, when I ask Chinese researchers, working in China, to perform reviews they either never reply or turn down any invitation based on not being able to access files or external systems. This is not the case with Chinese scholars working in other countries.
This may well be just my own unlucky personal experience, but it seems to be a consistent phenomenon throughout several years already.
Are there any ethical implications of this? This is, publishing but never refereeing? Or is it that I have been unlucky for several years?<issue_comment>username_1: Internet in China is highly regulated and many usual Web sites are blocked there, say, youtube. It could be that the site of your journal is indeed not accessible there.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Your experience does not match mine - Chinese researchers accept reviewer invitations just like everyone else.
Statistics also indicate that Chinese researchers do perform peer review. As a group, they submit more articles than they review for (along with Indian & Iranian researchers) but they also perform more peer review than any other country's researchers except the US (albeit not on a per capita basis).
[See source](https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06602-y/).
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/XKDcb.jpg)
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I'll begin by quoting [dodd's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/135405/dodd):
>
> "Internet in China is highly regulated and many usual Web sites are blocked there, say, youtube"
>
>
>
and expand it by saying that even the sites that are not "blocked" (blocked sites include Google, Facebook, Twitter and their subsidiaries like Youtube, Gmail, Instagram, etc.) cam still be extremely slow even at the four star hotel in which I stayed for 1 month while visiting scientists there. In July 2020 I asked a Chinese professor at Qingdao Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (QiTCS) in Shandong University to answer a question on Stack Exchange and he asked me to copy and paste his answer into Stack Exchange myself, because:
>
> "It seems that I always met problem when trying to reply the post in
> the website"
>
>
>
which at first I didn't believe, because Stack Exchange is not blocked in China. But I asked professors at a completely different university to answer something on Stack Exchange and when the same thing happened, I asked my trusted Chinese academic colleague who told me:
>
> "I chatted with Qu and he told me that he cannot visit Stack Exchange.
> You visited here before so you know why :-(
>
>
> Perhaps of the two of them Ma is more familiar with Internet stuff (He
> works for the HPC centre of CAS), he will give it a try later.
>
>
> Qu is not here and will be back in several days so we can meet in
> person and talk about that."
>
>
>
I asked him:
>
> "Is stack exchange blocked? I knew google and facebook are, but I thought stack exchange would be ok"
>
>
>
He replied:
>
> "I think it is because that stack exchange is depend on some service of
> google or some other CDN blocked, which made the webpage cannot be
> loaded properly, or at least extremely slow. I checked and found SE
> is not blocked. However the internet connection is affected by too
> many reasons. From my own experience, when I am at home, visiting
> foreign website are all too slow to visit, even they are not blocked,
> although Chinese websites are as fast as usual."
>
>
>
**So it's not just "blocked" sites like Google, but almost any website can be very hard or inconvenient to access.**
Finally, let me comment on a completely different aspect of your question which has less to do with the specific components about Chinese nationals:
>
> "Are there any ethical implications of this? This is, publishing but never refereeing?"
>
>
>
**Journals do not pay referees** and yet they make a lot of money (almost always) or in cases that appear to be completely altruistic they serve the interests of the people who run the journal in some positive way, at least enough for those people to continue running the journal. **I username_6ly have not had a salary since 2018,** and while I do still referee papers and take it very seriously, you cannot expect everyone to do it, all the time. Should people who refuse to referee papers be banned from publishing? I don't think so, but if you do ban them, they will publish somewhere else and your journal may miss out on publishing 100s of papers over the course of that academic's group's life span, and since journals typically charge about $30/paper when people don't have a subscription (and annual fees in the thousands for institutions), the journal may lose money or popularity.
**If it's a problem for you that people are refusing to referee papers in your journal to the extent that it is making a significant impact on your journal's prosperity, consider suggesting to the higher-ups to come up with better ways to make it worth it for the referees (e.g. more "referee of the month" awards, gift cards, or maybe a small honorarium as a token of appreciation for the work they do to keep your journal running).**
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: As a (former) associative editor, I can assure you that it is very difficult and highly frustrating to find reviewers. Reviewers do not get rewarded, especially outside academia, and a good review can take days. My average is probably an afternoon plus some time to think about it.
Some highly regarding academics only review for conferences / journal that they themselves submit, and the custom of giving reviews to graduate students so that they learn how to do reviews and discuss it with their supervisors has pretty much finished because it is now considered a violation of confidentiality. Struggling assistant professors will be jaded by their experience and not so willing to do unrewarded community service. If we use the usual number of three reviewers, everyone with a Ph.D. should review at least three times the number of papers they submitted.
My recent experiences do not agree with yours (which just shows that anecdotal data is not very trustworthy) nor does it agree with the nice statistics in a previous answer. I had much better luck with Indian and Chinese academics than with US academics, which are in general much more likely to accept invitations than people in industry.
Finding reviewers is extremely frustrating and I run into free-loaders, which is upsetting. And then, after I scurried google scholar for potential reviewers, get no answers or non accepts, the editor sends me an automatic email telling me how important a short time in review is.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I am not sure refereeing or not refereeing has (or should have) any ethical implications. People referee articles for various reasons, and they don't referee for various reasons.
One may ask: what happens if nobody referees anything? Still I don't think the sky would fall on us in this case. Something would probably have to change, for example, journals would have to pay referees, or some other solution would be found.
For example, Feynman avoided refereeing anything (<https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5020-4>). Feynman: "I myself don’t referee any papers." Weiner: "What was your attitude on that?" Feynman: "(I don't want to give a long quote here, but it is very interesting)".
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: As an editor for several journals myself, I receive dozens of submissions from Chinese scholars, but they very very rarely help with reviews. They usually ignore referee invitations, or simply turn them down without explanation. Many of them with papers accepted in the same journal.
I cannot begin to imagine what are the reasons for this behaviour, but it is just what it is.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I had postdoc at a top 10 university in the world. The email of the first interview said I should expect questions around the job description. The first interview was very smooth and I felt very good about it.
A few days later, I received an email in the **afternoon**, the email said I have a second interview tomorrow morning and I should expect questions around the job description (I think these are just automatic emails).
The second interview however, was a bit different. In order to decide between me and another candidate, they said they needed a technical interview which they presented a problem I needed to solve in 10 minutes, the problem required a lot of programming skills and classic concepts. I haven't programmed in a while now and nothing in the job description not in the email says "programming skills".
I gave okay answers and played it safe **a lot** in my problem solving approach. I couldn't solve the problem in the given time because I simply needed to refresh my memory and remember some concepts, but I did get a "thumbs up" from the potential PI when I was explaining some stuff. Unfortunately, I wasn't selected and I think the other candidate gave better answers.
Now days later, I can't stop thinking about that whole process. Normally, if the panel expects a presentation, they mention it in the invitation email. It's very weird and a bit unfair to do that to candidates they clearly liked in a very short amount of time. I truly believe that the interview could have been way better if they mentioned anything about a technical interview. Just because one candidate performed better (obviously, people are different), doesn't make the evaluation process fair. What do you think about the situation, is this a normal routine for postdoc interviews?
PS:
The postdoc was in the UK and I live in north Africa. I am saying this because perhaps it justifies why the HR send an email and didn't call (perhaps they can only call candidates within the UK). The field is Computer Science.<issue_comment>username_1: It's **not respectful** to applicants for the interview process to be unclear or changed at the last minute. However, for various reasons, many of them completely innocent (busy people, miscommunications), this may happen.
It's also not always transparent what an interviewer is looking for. If the interview has you attempt "Task A", it may not be performance on Task A that you are being evaluated on. Instead, you may be evaluated for how you handle an unexpected change in plans. Or you may be evaluated on how you ask for clarification around a task, how you manage time if a task cannot be completed within the window you are given, what you do when you find you are stuck on something (do you ask for help? Stop and admit you are stuck? Make something up that might work? Pretend you know what you're doing?), etc.
Judging "success" on this sort of task is entirely up to the interviewer's views and opinion. As far as whether it's "fair", well...the definition of "fair" is a moving target and various opinions would give various descriptions of "fair". In one sense, as long as the same information is communicated in the same time frame to all the candidates, and all candidates are judged by the same criteria, it is "fair" among those candidates.
As far as whether it's the process that selects the true best candidate for the job, well... if we had a better way of determining the best candidate than the clunky interview process, we'd use that method instead.
---
I'm not sure you can do much about this except for continuing to interview for positions that interest you. Positions at desirable universities are likely to attract many qualified applicants, and you aren't guaranteed a job just because you're qualified. Ultimately, they have to select *someone*, and it's not even really possible for the person doing the hiring to know that they've got the best one.
I'd recommend not spending more time thinking about the process of this one interview. Maybe their expectation is that programming is a bigger part of the role but didn't think it was necessary to mention it. Maybe they had a preferred candidate already but lacked the justification they needed and invented this task on the fly to create it. Maybe they're disorganized. The answer, whatever it is, won't help for your next interview. Maybe you even dodged a bullet and this is a bad work environment, and had you been hired your next Academia.SE question would be about being stuck in a post doc where you're just treated as a programmer and aren't making any progress on independent research projects. Move on and forget this one.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> What do you think about the situation, is this a normal routine for postdoc interviews?
>
>
>
No. It’s not normal in several ways.
It’s not normal for a postdoc interview to have someone else schedule your interview for a specific time without consulting you first about whether the time works for you.
It’s doubly not normal when you are informed of the interview on such short notice, in the afternoon before an interview scheduled for the following morning.
(A possible exception to the above would be if it had been previously communicated to you ahead of time that this is how the scheduling would be carried out. But it sounds like that isn’t what happened in your case.)
Separately from that, it’s not normal to be tested on specific skills like programming, when you cannot reasonably guess based on the job description or obvious things about the PI’s research that those skills would be relevant for the job you’re being interviewed for.
Overall, it sounds like you had an unpleasant experience - sorry! - which does not reflect well on the competence and professionalism of the people who were interviewing you. Hope things go better next time and that you end up working with more thoughtful people.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Maybe you should try to see it from the other perspective.
What would you do if you had to decide between two candidates and cannot decide based on the interview. If you are not involved in HR hiring standards, you could easily try to break the tie by scheduling a second round of interviews on the fly. Postdoc positions tend to be short for getting collaborative work done and you do not have the time to wait for the post doc to acquire skills that you now have decided are needed. (Projects evolve and between posting an opportunity and interviewing the profile of the ideal candidate has changed.) Maybe you would want to break the tie by looking for something that is valuable, but not part of the original description.
So, (quite) a bit ad hoc, but presumably no malice nor indications of a bad working environment. My reading of the situation is that you came in second, which is disappointing, but should also give you hope about your employability.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: You might've been the subject of a [stress interview](https://www.thebalancecareers.com/what-is-a-stress-interview-2062108). These interviews are supposed to put you on the defensive and see how you react under pressure. For example, the interviewer might ask "your CV looks inadequate, what makes you think you can do this job?" This question is obviously aggressive, but it's kind of the point: it shows how you react. Other examples of stress interview questions are "How many rats are there in New York City?" or "Here's a problem, how would you solve it?".
Stress interviews are of course stressful, but don't take it personally. The interviewer doesn't hate you, they just want to see how you perform when stressed. From your description it sounds like you performed OK, but the other candidate was simply better. It's probable you could've done better if you had more time to prepare, but that probably also applies to the other candidate. Such is life. Good luck with your other interviews!
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/24
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:** I am an undergrad student who took a CS elective.
My software engineering professor has asked us to review a bunch of research papers on certain topics in software development. **He specifically wants us to review papers only from IEEE and ACM Transaction papers or conference papers.**
I found a [paper](https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8780518) of interest in IEEEXplore. It says:
>
> Publisher: IEEE
>
>
>
at the top, but below the abstract, it says:
>
> Published in: 2018 Third International Conference on Informatics and Computing (ICIC)
>
>
>
I tried to find more about ICIC but could not figure out if this conference is affiliated to IEEE.
**My questions:**
* Does this count as an IEEE Conference paper?
* Can I safely assume that all papers available on IEEE Xplore or ACM Digital Library are published as IEEE transaction or conference papers, and ACM papers respectively?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Does this count as an IEEE Conference paper?
>
>
>
Yes
>
> Can I safely assume that all papers available on IEEE Xplore or ACM
> Digital Library are published as IEEE transaction or conference
> papers, and ACM papers respectively?
>
>
>
I think so and will be surprised if that is not the case.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You can safely assume that. Since these are specific to the publishing body itself. For instance:
* ScienceDirect for Elsevier,
* ACM Digital Library for ACM Journals,
* IEEE Xplore for IEEE related journals and conferences/proceedings,
* Springerlink for Springer Journals and Conferences/proceedings etc
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: ```
Does this count as an IEEE Conference paper?
```
Yes!
```
Can I safely assume that all papers available on IEEE Xplore or ACM Digital Library are published as IEEE transaction or conference papers, and ACM papers respectively?
```
Not all papers available on IEEE Xplore are transaction papers. **Transaction papers are only "transaction papers" and not conference papers.** I'm not entirely sure if this is correct but they can also be counted as "journal papers". Transaction papers are generally regarded as the highest quality papers in that field. Any accepted transaction paper will have the "transaction" as part of the transaction name on top of the paper.
**All ieee conference papers are publised on ieee explore.** Any paper on ieee explore is part of ieee (in form of a conference/journal/transaction etc.)
The same goes for ACM as well.
Here is a example of the "transaction".
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/k67ar.png)
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/24
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<issue_start>username_0: In my university, professors in Computer Science decide by themselves the licenses for the code of their research group. This happens without consulting the university legal team (or the university, more generally). As an undergrad researcher, this strikes me as incredibly odd.
I have the following questions:
1. Is this common practice?
2. Is this good practice?
3. How should a situation like this be handled?
1. Is it reasonable to expect the software only to be published only if the contributors that did most of the work agree on it?
2. The software may or may not have economic value. Is it reasonable to expect the professor to consult if he is allowed to distribute it under open-source licenses?
For more specific context, I have checked the percentages of ownership on patents. It turns out research Groups get <10% of the ownership. My university doesn't have any special rules for software.
I have no interest in my possible ownership of this software. However, it worries me that my group director is able to make this decision on his own.<issue_comment>username_1: Patents and software licenses are completely different. Relatively little software is actually patented, and I'd suspect the university wants to be involved in any patent applications. University involvement in patents is also a way for a researcher to avoid the high cost of patenting anything (lawyers and such).
Patents need to be registered. Copyrights don't (US law, but it can vary elsewhere). Publishing a "creative work" implies a copyright for the creator.
A software license is usually about permitting some limited use of copyrighted materials, though patents can also be licensed. Some, but not all, universities want a say in software licensing. More want a say in patents.
Distinguish carefully between copyright, patent, and trade-secret (which doesn't apply here). All apply in different ways to IP.
In general (US, anyway) creative works get an automatic copyright. Only "inventions" are subject to possible patent. There is some controversy about whether a piece of software is an "invention", but in recent years it has often been considered so. This has led to some strange outcomes.
Currently (US again) copyright lasts a long time. Disney would like it to be infinite. Patents are more limited. This pushes some to prefer copyright when there is a choice.
---
A college or university that isn't heavily involved in research (teaching institutions) may have much less restrictive arrangements generally, since such questions arise less frequently - especially for patents.
---
The [Public Domain article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain) on Wikipedia has a general discussion of various aspects of IP and how long protections last. There are other, more specific, articles there, also.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Lawyers cost a lot of money. The university lawyers are probably busy trying to keep the university from being sued for any of several reasons and don't have time to go sort out legal review for a million software licenses. Outside counsel will eat your entire group budget as a retainer.
The cost of lawyers has to be balanced against the fact that most academic software is functionally valueless. Spending a lot of money and time to ensure you have the correct rights over something that is worth nothing is a good way to be an unsuccessful academic.
Finally, if you do have something of value and you spin it out to a startup, the university can get it's taste by taking a low-double-digit dilutive share or a couple percent non-dilutive (with the goal of cashing out around series A). So the school doesn't even have to pay a lot of attention to what you're doing until you try to turn it into a company.
Related to your edit- you might be able to refuse to allow the parts you've written get released by claiming copyright over your specific work, but that will probably destroy your current relationship with your group. They are also free to clean-room reimplement whatever you wrote and cut you out entirely. If you think it's valuable you'd be better off trying to go into business with the other people who control parts of the product, fighting them is a very bad idea. The university is not interested in getting involved until there's money on the table and will side with the professor they've invested in almost 100% of the time.
Also, if you've committed your code to a project with an existing license (like MIT) you've already released it under a permissive license and you can't revoke that.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: The software developed by most academics has no commercial value. It is a research product, similar to a paper, and is usually shared with other researchers by hosting it on the researcher’s web page (as I do) or on GitHub or other repositories. There is usually no need for any sort of license, but some people will include a license to make clear what use by others of their code they see as acceptable.
There is also no need for the university to be involved in any of these decisions, just like the university doesn’t tell researchers what “license” to use for the papers they publish. I think your main source of confusion is related to thinking of research code as some kind of valuable property that needs to be protected. In 99% of cases that’s not the reality.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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2021/03/25
| 1,053
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<issue_start>username_0: If it greatly simplifies the explanation, is it possible to present an algorithm in a paper without a high-level mathematical description but simply with pseudocode and very clear elaboration? Or should a high level mathematical description always be included?<issue_comment>username_1: Patents and software licenses are completely different. Relatively little software is actually patented, and I'd suspect the university wants to be involved in any patent applications. University involvement in patents is also a way for a researcher to avoid the high cost of patenting anything (lawyers and such).
Patents need to be registered. Copyrights don't (US law, but it can vary elsewhere). Publishing a "creative work" implies a copyright for the creator.
A software license is usually about permitting some limited use of copyrighted materials, though patents can also be licensed. Some, but not all, universities want a say in software licensing. More want a say in patents.
Distinguish carefully between copyright, patent, and trade-secret (which doesn't apply here). All apply in different ways to IP.
In general (US, anyway) creative works get an automatic copyright. Only "inventions" are subject to possible patent. There is some controversy about whether a piece of software is an "invention", but in recent years it has often been considered so. This has led to some strange outcomes.
Currently (US again) copyright lasts a long time. Disney would like it to be infinite. Patents are more limited. This pushes some to prefer copyright when there is a choice.
---
A college or university that isn't heavily involved in research (teaching institutions) may have much less restrictive arrangements generally, since such questions arise less frequently - especially for patents.
---
The [Public Domain article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain) on Wikipedia has a general discussion of various aspects of IP and how long protections last. There are other, more specific, articles there, also.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Lawyers cost a lot of money. The university lawyers are probably busy trying to keep the university from being sued for any of several reasons and don't have time to go sort out legal review for a million software licenses. Outside counsel will eat your entire group budget as a retainer.
The cost of lawyers has to be balanced against the fact that most academic software is functionally valueless. Spending a lot of money and time to ensure you have the correct rights over something that is worth nothing is a good way to be an unsuccessful academic.
Finally, if you do have something of value and you spin it out to a startup, the university can get it's taste by taking a low-double-digit dilutive share or a couple percent non-dilutive (with the goal of cashing out around series A). So the school doesn't even have to pay a lot of attention to what you're doing until you try to turn it into a company.
Related to your edit- you might be able to refuse to allow the parts you've written get released by claiming copyright over your specific work, but that will probably destroy your current relationship with your group. They are also free to clean-room reimplement whatever you wrote and cut you out entirely. If you think it's valuable you'd be better off trying to go into business with the other people who control parts of the product, fighting them is a very bad idea. The university is not interested in getting involved until there's money on the table and will side with the professor they've invested in almost 100% of the time.
Also, if you've committed your code to a project with an existing license (like MIT) you've already released it under a permissive license and you can't revoke that.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: The software developed by most academics has no commercial value. It is a research product, similar to a paper, and is usually shared with other researchers by hosting it on the researcher’s web page (as I do) or on GitHub or other repositories. There is usually no need for any sort of license, but some people will include a license to make clear what use by others of their code they see as acceptable.
There is also no need for the university to be involved in any of these decisions, just like the university doesn’t tell researchers what “license” to use for the papers they publish. I think your main source of confusion is related to thinking of research code as some kind of valuable property that needs to be protected. In 99% of cases that’s not the reality.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Imagine a paper which has unconventional ideas which could be controversial. Does publishing it on a preprint server have the same negative career implications as publishing in a journal? Or is a preprint server actually an appropriate place to get feedback on this type of paper?<issue_comment>username_1: I think the issue of presenting ‘unconventional’ and ‘controversial’ ideas is irrelevant. The question is- what benefit or risks are involved when any paper is put on a preprint server.
Best case-you get solid feedback and your manuscript improves.
Worst case-your competitors get a chance to scoop you or prepare eviscerating review that perhaps could be used if said competitors are asked to review your paper.
Why not take traditional approach of sending preprint to your colleagues and adversaries officially, thereby getting their thoughts while also eliminating them as potential referees?
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Imagine a paper which has unconventional ideas which could be controversial. Does publishing it on a preprint server have the same negative career implications as publishing in a journal?
>
>
>
Yes, potentially. You are making your thoughts and beliefs about a certain subject known publicly. Depending on what those thoughts and beliefs are, this can damage one’s career even if done in a tweet, email, stack exchange post (hmm...) or any other medium of expression. A preprint server is no different.
>
> Or is a preprint server actually an appropriate place to get feedback on this type of paper?
>
>
>
A preprint server is an appropriate place to get feedback on scientific work that’s maybe incomplete but is very close to being complete. Nonetheless, the potential for career damage if the work is of very low quality or reveals you to be a delusional or incompetent person still exists. If that is a concern, consider looking for feedback in more discreet ways.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Is it safe to write research paper on Overleaf? Some of my friends say that it is not safe to write research papers on it as it is connected it internet. Please suggest. I am afraid of plagiarism.<issue_comment>username_1: Overleaf is unlikely to be a problem
====================================
To plagiarize your work, someone would have to
* find it very valuable
* hack your Overleaf account (and know it is there they need to hack) or that of your coauthors or you would have to have shared it publicly
* finish the research before you do, which typically means they would have to have superior or in any case solid knowledge in the field,
* publish it before you do
* have more credibility than you do in the academic community, so that you can't just say that it was actually your work they are plagiarizing
Of all these factors the second one is the only one that has anything to do with Overleaf. In order for it to be the crucial issue, you already need to have a competent and well-connected researcher out to plagiarize you. While it could happen, it feels unlikely, and you probably know if you are in this situation or not.
If you do happen to be in a position that requires extreme information security (governmental research, dual purpose research, authoritarian regime, a powerful enemy out to get you), then it is a good rule of thumb to not use Overleaf or other cloud services. But in this case you really should seek help that is a lot more competent and specific than the answers here.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: A wide range of Academicians and Researchers have been using overleaf for a long time now, none of them have complained of anything as such other than some suggestions of improving it. I've personally never had any issues with overleaf since it is much more convenient to have a common platform for collaboration. Also, being insecure about an idea/paper being stolen isn't something one should be bothered about unless you've a ground breaking idea (pun unintended)
However, if one is reluctant to use the cloud based LaTeX editor, one can always switch to an offline LaTeX software if one wants. That should help.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Overleaf is indeed *slightly* more insecure than Dropbox, Git or e-mail, because it has one additional avenue for attack: you can get illicit access to a document stored there if you obtain the 24-digit hex number that appears in its URL. Clearly the probabilities to guess one at random are minuscule, but there are in theory some exploits that could help (sniff one from a plain-http connection, visited link attacks, etc.).
Dropbox also has unauthenticated share tokens, but typically one shares their document with specific users anyway.
Of course this is all theoretical, and probably this risk is only a tiny fraction of that coming from more traditional attacks (weak passwords and phishing, for instance --- as the saying goes, "problem in chair, not in computer").
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am preparing my PhD in computer science. I want to do a state of the art about the topic I am working on, are there any criteria to consider when choosing papers to review? Thank you in advance :)<issue_comment>username_1: A very rough criteria is to have a read of the 30/40 most cited papers on the very specific topic. Or find a review paper from the last 3/4 years and read the papers citing it.
In absence/difficulties in doing that (access to publications, topic still too broad, etcetc), try to look for video recordings of award prizes at conferences, usually the awarded person will try to give an overview of the state-of-art plus his/her personal take&contributions on given topic.
[Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg9kgTQoskA) you can find an example of the ACM A.M. Turing Award: likely it is a bit too popular, try to find a more R&D oriented prize.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: * There is a systematic way to perform a state of the art in any topic of interest usually referred to as SLR's and I'll be specific to the field of Computer Science here.
You should consider reading: [Kitchenham and Charters Guidelines on how to perform a systematic literature review](https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.441.9182&rep=rep1&type=pdf) and follow the same strategy.
* Another strategy is to use the [snowballing procedure](https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2601248.2601268). However, the two strategies suit better in conjunction to validate on being consistent with your retrieved results on that specific topic.
Or you can use any of them, explicitly.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I would want to include content in my PhD thesis from one of my research papers. I am a coauthor of the research paper. The order of the names of the authors in the research paper is not based on the importance of the individual contributions, but it is alphabetical. The point is that the content of the research paper is in turn based on the content of the PhD thesis of another coauthor of the research paper.
Given this situation, I want to know to which extent I would be guilty of plagiarism if I include the content in my PhD thesis with references to both the research paper and the PhD thesis of the other coauthor.<issue_comment>username_1: The answer to this is going to depend on country and disciplinary norms. But in my field (molecular biology/genomics) and country (UK) this is perfectly fine, normal even, as long as you are clear which data you generated, and which was generated by your collaborator.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: **Just be honest**: Be clear who contributed what. *(And follow institutional guidelines.)*
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: We published a paper, me as first and corresponding author. There was a technician who repeatedly refused to work, did useless measurements after having been forced, which he never evaluated and basically said "help yourself", never had a look at the publication during working on it, and now tries to force the group leaders to be included as co-author afterwards by lying about his contributions (still, he would have done no intellectual work but was pipetting down my protocols). Data integrity steps are not provided by the institute, so everyone could copy measurement files from the shared server. The group leaders want me to give in although they agreed with me on the phone, just because they fear more consequences from him than from me, since I was nice so far. Now I don't see why I should constantly reward such a person.
1. The paper is published. They agreed. Can they even force me if I (and another co-author) say no?
2. Would - by your experience - the journal be willing to amend at all?
3. Can he/they force me legally? I am not even employed there anymore.
4. Do I have to prove anything after publication? Can someone claim data from a shared server anyway? Is it my turn to (re)act?
5. Would you do some "preparing steps" from my side if not willing to give in?
6. Do you have any advice from former experience?
Kind regards and thanks for any help!<issue_comment>username_1: You might take a look [here](https://publicationethics.org/case/new-claim-authorship-published-paper); and as for a more detailed response, let me focus on this one question:
>
> Would you do some "preparing steps" from my side if not willing to give in?
>
>
>
You could ask everyone to tell you which contributions they offered based on the [Contributor Roles Taxonomy (CRediT)](https://casrai.org/credit/). And make sure that the CRediTs are visible in the publication as well.
On the one hand, it is possible that they will hesitate to point out their contribution in case they do not find anything worthwhile to pick from CRediT. On the other hand, you might actually end up finding one minuscule contribution of that co-author that does merit a mention according to CRediT. The "objectified" nature of CRediT might help to resolve such conflicts.
And if you have the CRediTs published as well, then the readership will at least know the variation in efforts of each co-author.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Technically, and it is generally honored, a journal needs every author's consent on the paper to be published at all. The implication of that is that they can probably, or at least *possibly*, force the withdrawal of the paper, but not a change that you don't agree with. This assumes the editor is both knowledgeable about the situation and ethical. An amendment to the paper requires everyone's consent. And if it is literally already published, an editor would be reluctant at best to make a change, especially in the face of a dispute.
They can, perhaps, make your life miserable in other ways, depending on your current position. You will have to evaluate the seriousness of any such threat. But it won't be a *legal* threat.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I think it is perilleous to make a judgement on this one-sided story, especially regarding the point
>
> There was a technician who repeatedly refused to work, did useless
> measurements after having been forced, which he never evaluated
>
>
>
I do not know your former lab policy, but a technician is just a technician: he should just provide you working tool, but he has not to do any research himself (see the technicians like a car mechanic fixing your car, but not driving it: yes, you can fix the car yourself, yes you **have** to check yourself that the car is in working condition).
Said this, the issue "Data integrity steps are not provided by the institute, so everyone could copy measurement files from the shared server." is not an issue, unless you think the technician will try to demonstrate he collected the data and that you stole them (can you provide a proof you collected the data? do you have any mail where you discuss the data collection /results with your professor?).
I would courteously ignore the technician request, although it is possible he may have some ground in asking to be part of the authors'lists.
If you cannot find an hard rule about authorship in the journal rules (something that states "authors'list cannot be modified after submission), I suggest you two steps:
* write the editor asking if there is the possibility of updating the authors'list after submission (and acceptance, if I understood correctly);
* forward the negative answer to all the authors and the technician;
If the editor shows some opening to changing the authors, do the Pontius Pilate way: write the publisher, with the technician and all other co-authors in cc asking if you can add an author to the list of authors. Without motivating it, just asking it.
See how it evolves. In the end, it is a paper and you are just the first author, if the co-authors think the technician contribution deserves authorship, let it be ...
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: My question is about the necessity of the qualification for teacher-researcher/[enseignant-chercheur](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enseignant-chercheur) ([maître de conférence](https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma%C3%AEtre_de_conf%C3%A9rences_(France))- abbreviated as MCF below) positions in France and its recent abolition in 2020. I'm unable to conclude if a PhD who doesn't already have a relevant position of teacher-researcher, can apply for the same in France without the [qualification?](https://www.galaxie.enseignementsup-recherche.gouv.fr/ensup/cand_qualification_droit_commun.htm) (N.B. please note that the qualification is a process or at least used to be a process, which every applicant has/had to go through, it's a technical term, not a generic English word in my post.)
I did some research and asked people already in the French academia, and from there, I'm getting two seemingly contradictory information:
**Information 1:** from December 2020, one is no longer required to have qualification to apply for the MCF (= enseignant-chercheur) positions, see [link1](https://actu.dalloz-etudiant.fr/le-billet/article/la-suppression-de-la-qualification-ou-la-remise-en-cause-programmee-du-statut-des-enseignants-cherc/h/fa81f326aedb76763727763b716db29a.html), [link2](https://www.campusmatin.com/metiers-carrieres/concours-recrutement/fin-de-la-qualification-par-le-cnu-le-vrai-faux-pour-y-voir-plus-clair-dans-le-debat.html),
**Information 2:** On the other hand though, when I wrote to the people of Galaxie, they replied:
"*Pour information, si vous n’êtes pas maître de conférences titulaire (ou assimilé) vous devez disposer d’une qualification délivrée par le CNU en cours de validité. La loi de programmation pour la recherche supprime l’inscription par le CNU sur une liste de qualification aux fonctions de professeur des universités pour tous les candidats qui ont la qualité de maître de conférences titulaire (ou assimilé) et non pas pour ceux qui souhaitent devenir maître de conférence.*"
The above essentially says that the **qualification step is no longer mandatory** for the **post of university professors only** and **not for MCF**. As you see, the two above pieces of information seem contradictory/confusing, as I don't have the link to the exact law that was passed. Hence my question to the academic people in France - **can a foreigner apply to the MCF positions now without having the qualification?**<issue_comment>username_1: I don't have a definitive answer because this is the first time I hear about this, but from following the links you provided, here is what I think is happening.
First some comments. "link2" further links to the actual text of the law, but I don't think you really want to read it. It is very, very long. Next, you early on in your question equate enseignant-chercheur with MCF, while it's MCF + professeur. From your prior questions here, I think you know this.
As to what is going on, both the first point discussed in "link2" and the reply you share under "Information 2" seem to make that clear. The suspension of the need to obtain the "qualification" dispensed by the CNU relates to those MCF desiring to become "professeur," but *not researchers desiring to become MCF*.
As to the actual process to apply as a foreigner for an MCF position (your essential question), I don't know. But the law you refer to does not appear to change that procedure from what it was before the law was passed.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Since there seems to be some uncertainty in the other answer / comment thread, I will offer my point of view. (I'm a MCF in a French university.) If you just want the answer, skip to the section that starts by **It depends** below.
You are misreading the information available. Qualification was removed for PR jobs. It remains mandatory in most cases to be a candidate for MCF jobs. The reply by Galaxie (*which you should take as authoritative: Galaxie is managed by the HR department of the ministry of higher education and research, and they are the ones who are going to process your application*) is pretty clear about that: if you are not already a titular MCF, then you need the qualification to be a candidate for MCF positions. This is also what is written in your links. I will provide translations in case you are not a French speaker:
>
> (link1) *Toujours est-il que la qualification aux fonctions de professeur des Universités est supprimée.* => Nevertheless, the qualification for the assignment of professor was removed.
>
>
>
>
> (link2) *L’article 5 de la LPR supprime la qualification par le CNU pour les maîtres de conférences (MCF) qui veulent accéder au corps de professeur des universités (PR).* => Article 5 of the LPR [Law of (budgetary) Programmation of Research] removes qualification by the CNU for MCFs who want to reach the ranks of professors.
>
>
>
And since nothing beats actually looking at the actual law, here it is on the French Republic's official legal website: <https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/article_jo/JORFARTI000042738037>
>
> Article 5
>
> Le code de l'éducation est ainsi modifié :
> 1° Au premier alinéa de l'article L. 952-6, après le mot : « particuliers », sont insérés les mots : «, et sauf lorsque le candidat est maître de conférences titulaire » ;
>
>
>
In short, persons who are already titular MCFs are not required to pass the qualification anymore. Moreover, if you read the rest of the article of law, some universities may ask to receive the permission to hire persons for any job (MCF or PR) without the qualification. But every university will have its own policy on this.
So to answer your question:
>
> can a foreigner apply to the MCF positions now without having the qualification?
>
>
>
**It depends**:
1. If you are already a titular MCF, then **yes**;
2. If you are applying to a job in a university that has asked and has received the authorization to hire MCFs that have not received the qualification, then **yes**;
3. In other cases, that would be a **no**.
The nationality of the applicant is in principle irrelevant. French nationals and foreigners alike are bound by the same laws for French academic jobs.
Note that to my knowledge, since the law is very recent, no university has yet asked for an exemption from the qualification procedure (since this is a hot topic, I would have heard about it, at least if it were for jobs in my field).
Given the possible discrepancies that will appear between the universities' policies regarding the exemption, your best bet is to get the qualification. Note that the procedure starts very early, in October of the year preceding job applications, so be proactive about it! Don't wait at the last minute, if you miss the deadline you have to wait a whole year.
Finally, note that the law about the exemption (case 2 above) is marked as experimental and the experiment will end in 2025. At that time, there will again be a vote on the law and it will either be maintained or rescinded.
Welcome to French academia, where the rules change all the time, no one's really sure of what's forbidden or allowed, and an error can easily cost you opportunities. Enjoy your stay :)
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: At what level does someone become skilled enough in math to publish their work? I am an undergrad student currently in calculus 2. My dream is to publish work of my own, but I know that will come to fruition quite a while down the road due to my current level of math. I would appreciate any advice you have to give. Thank you in advance. Just to clarify I am asking about math papers.<issue_comment>username_1: This is something that varies with every individual. The best advice is to first get a broad mathematical education and then focus on some area of interest. But along the way to that broad education, seek insight into *why* things work as they do, not just the computational skill that you normally get in something like Calc 2.
Some people are able to publish as undergraduates, but it is fairly rare. However, an undergraduate math degree should get you to the point that you have actual insight into one or two areas (mine were analysis and topology) sufficient to dig deeply.
Research is normally very narrow, focusing on some tiny aspect of some small subfield if mathematics (or physics, or ...). But before you go narrow, first go broad, so that you have some sense of the possibilities. And also, some sense of the interconnections between things.
Working with a professor on some project of mutual interest will give you both a sense of what it is like to explore the unknown and also lets you take advantage of their insights. And letting them know now of your goals can help you attain them.
Solve a lot of problems. Get a lot of feedback. Look for the why, not just the how. Notice things. Keep notebooks. Ask questions.
---
This is, I know, more than you asked for, but you seem eager to learn and I appreciate that. Also note that whatever "research" I did as an undergraduate was, though attempted vigorously, laughably naive. Oh well. It came, eventually. And it was "hella fun".
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Especially at your early point in life, I think your label of what you want probably is not what you really-really want, if the meaning and entailments of labels were clearer.
That is, surely a mathematician's idealistic goal is to "understand/discover cool things".
Not clear that fame and fortune follow...
Not clear what the prerequisites might be, for discoveries/understanding that is at the forefront of our *collective* understanding. I think it is important to distinguish goals/progress of *personal* understanding from progress in *collective* understanding. In many regards, all that any of us can do is advance our own understanding. If by chance it is also an advance in collective understanding, so be it. Maybe that makes it "publishable" in the sense of peer-reviewed journal stuff.
But/and, especially at an early point, trying to think in terms of novelty in collective understanding, rather than the honest and productive idea of one's own personal understanding, is corruptive and distracting.
So, in principle, there are no entrance requirements for "publishing a paper"... except that it be suitable for the journal you submitted it to. What the heck does that mean? Well, it is a professional thing which is not what one might imagine. You'd want advice. Style-of-writing is very important to get your foot in the door, and professional writing in mathematics is not at all like textbooks, even at graduate level.
But, again, I'd suggest not describing your goal as "publishing papers" or even "doing research" but something more like "trying to understand things..." This is a much less corrupting name for the thing.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I wonder if my head of the program/dean (1 man) actually reads 10 theses of approximately 10,000 words each, when there are only 2 months to graduate.
And does he actually check every reference as, for example, "*this paragraph does not belong to the reference [3]*." In other words, does he read all the references, for example, page 260-270 of the book referred as the source?
As I check, the library of my university does not have such books. So does the university support him to buy those books or he has to spend his money on them, and what is the possibility he will spend his own money on it?<issue_comment>username_1: Realistically, it's unlikely he reads all 10 theses cover-to-cover. But who knows, perhaps it's an element of the job he really enjoys, and prioritizes it.
You should write your thesis as if all parts of it will be read closely. It is impossible for anyone to tell you what sections to focus on for this reader. He could be a big methods guy, or he could decide he doesn't understand your methods in the slightest and focus on the discussion (for example).
I think the comment from [Rdd](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/99706/rdd) is apt:
>
> But they'll be better than you at knowing what they need to check to see if the thesis is good. Best to do it right rather than try to beat the system!
>
>
>
**All your citations should be correct**, but no, it's not really his job (at that level) to make sure you are citing correctly. Putting *<NAME> (2011)* when you meant *<NAME> (2012)* will not get you expelled.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I feel the motivation towards this question is not right. Especially with the OP quoting:
"If I insist this statement is from me and my experience. Nothing you can do to prove that this is a plagiarism."
If one wants to construct an undergrad thesis (which from my experience isn't mandatory in any college and only taken up by choice), they should do so with complete diligence. It shouldn't matter who sees what and who reads what. The thesis will be covering a good portion of your degree and by no means should you cut short the process.
In the off chance someone really does take up their time and go through your entire work only to find out few cites and statements are wrong is a complete waste of that person's time. This isn't a long answer question where the importance is given to certain part of the answer.
You should dedicate good time and make sure your entire report and research is without any flaw (as much as possible from your end).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: For a period of about 10 years, I gave a popular course on introductory crypto, with the relevant math rolled into it. I did also try to be progressive in what I asked students to do... and one feature, to get "buy-in", was to do semester projects of 10-20 pages (topics of the student's choice, with my approval). The enrollment was typically 130+, so the resulting stack of projects was a foot or two high. Yes, I read everything. Yes, I'm a fast reader, and, yes, having considerable familiarity with most of the background I could zoom through "the usual" stuff.
But, yes, I read them, and made comments. It seemed to me that it was "a good thing" to promise students that their work would be looked at carefully.
EDIT: (thanks @AzorAhai) I mean "cryptography and cryptanalysis", not cryptocurrency... Though, yes, some of the methods of cryptography and cryptanalysis are used nowadays in cryptocurrency stuff, and are useful in understanding it. Cryptocurrency was not apparently significant in 1995...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: No, your dean does not read every thesis or check every reference. And this is true more broadly: when you go out into the workforce, you will find that no one will check every last detail of the work that you do. Reports, emails, software code, legal briefs, engineering analyses, the work a plumber does on your house, the work your dean does — all of these are done by people who know that no one will check everything they do, certainly not right away and in some cases not for a very long time, if ever. And yet, successful professionals and in some cases even just average tradespeople still deliver astonishingly error-free work products. Errors do occur sometimes, of course, but they are surprisingly rare if viewed from the premise you seem to be assuming.
I won’t get into an extended discussion of how the world manages to operate this way, but I do think it’s related to why bachelor theses can be correct without your dean needing to read them. It’s related to the fact that the motivation of the students writing the theses, like the motivation of most people doing work that they are good at and take some amount of pride in, isn’t to cheat or to “get away” with as much sloppiness and as little work as possible. Something to think about.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: During the presentation I need to access a text file on my computer. However, it is required that the presentation file is displayed in full screen during the presentation.<issue_comment>username_1: Realistically, it's unlikely he reads all 10 theses cover-to-cover. But who knows, perhaps it's an element of the job he really enjoys, and prioritizes it.
You should write your thesis as if all parts of it will be read closely. It is impossible for anyone to tell you what sections to focus on for this reader. He could be a big methods guy, or he could decide he doesn't understand your methods in the slightest and focus on the discussion (for example).
I think the comment from [Rdd](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/99706/rdd) is apt:
>
> But they'll be better than you at knowing what they need to check to see if the thesis is good. Best to do it right rather than try to beat the system!
>
>
>
**All your citations should be correct**, but no, it's not really his job (at that level) to make sure you are citing correctly. Putting *<NAME> (2011)* when you meant *<NAME> (2012)* will not get you expelled.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I feel the motivation towards this question is not right. Especially with the OP quoting:
"If I insist this statement is from me and my experience. Nothing you can do to prove that this is a plagiarism."
If one wants to construct an undergrad thesis (which from my experience isn't mandatory in any college and only taken up by choice), they should do so with complete diligence. It shouldn't matter who sees what and who reads what. The thesis will be covering a good portion of your degree and by no means should you cut short the process.
In the off chance someone really does take up their time and go through your entire work only to find out few cites and statements are wrong is a complete waste of that person's time. This isn't a long answer question where the importance is given to certain part of the answer.
You should dedicate good time and make sure your entire report and research is without any flaw (as much as possible from your end).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: For a period of about 10 years, I gave a popular course on introductory crypto, with the relevant math rolled into it. I did also try to be progressive in what I asked students to do... and one feature, to get "buy-in", was to do semester projects of 10-20 pages (topics of the student's choice, with my approval). The enrollment was typically 130+, so the resulting stack of projects was a foot or two high. Yes, I read everything. Yes, I'm a fast reader, and, yes, having considerable familiarity with most of the background I could zoom through "the usual" stuff.
But, yes, I read them, and made comments. It seemed to me that it was "a good thing" to promise students that their work would be looked at carefully.
EDIT: (thanks @AzorAhai) I mean "cryptography and cryptanalysis", not cryptocurrency... Though, yes, some of the methods of cryptography and cryptanalysis are used nowadays in cryptocurrency stuff, and are useful in understanding it. Cryptocurrency was not apparently significant in 1995...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: No, your dean does not read every thesis or check every reference. And this is true more broadly: when you go out into the workforce, you will find that no one will check every last detail of the work that you do. Reports, emails, software code, legal briefs, engineering analyses, the work a plumber does on your house, the work your dean does — all of these are done by people who know that no one will check everything they do, certainly not right away and in some cases not for a very long time, if ever. And yet, successful professionals and in some cases even just average tradespeople still deliver astonishingly error-free work products. Errors do occur sometimes, of course, but they are surprisingly rare if viewed from the premise you seem to be assuming.
I won’t get into an extended discussion of how the world manages to operate this way, but I do think it’s related to why bachelor theses can be correct without your dean needing to read them. It’s related to the fact that the motivation of the students writing the theses, like the motivation of most people doing work that they are good at and take some amount of pride in, isn’t to cheat or to “get away” with as much sloppiness and as little work as possible. Something to think about.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: So a professor used a grad student's paper (anonymously) as an example of what not to do or what she doesn't want to see in the papers. The student was blindsided as the student wasn't notified that his paper would be used as an example, the student hasn't received a grade yet, and was not giving any corrections.
What would be a good way to handle this situation?<issue_comment>username_1: This sort of behavior by a professor is poor pedagogical technique and, in many cultures, poor etiquette. It is not misconduct and it is not rule breaking. If you are a student and a professor acts this way, you can criticise the behavior in any username_7ymous teaching evaluations. Otherwise, ignore it and move on.
Receiving criticism, including bad quality criticism, is part of academic life.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: If the name of the student is not given to class, then it is perfectly OK. It would be bad if the Professor reveals the name. For example if it was a test and 20% of students made the same mistake. Then the Professor can (or even should) discuss this mistake in class.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This could be done in both a clumsy, rude way, and in a reasonable way. The apparent username_7ymity of the student in the critique is a step in the right direction.
In terms of "what should you do?", um, well, not too much. The username_7ymity means that there was no public shaming... Yes, there is a shock in seeing one's work even username_7ymously discussed as a bad example. In my own dealings of this sort, I attempt to truly username_7ymize the discussion, by not using verbatim (or video capture) of anyone's work, other than my own.
A comment to the instructor, that a lighter touch would be desirable, might be the only politick thing to do.
We might imagine that "grown-up professors" would know better than this kind of thing, but many of those "grown-ups" are merely older "nerds/geeks" of a not-necessarily socially-aware sort, whose intellectual chops have vastly outstripped their sense about people.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Ugh. I cannot believe professors do this, either as a good example or (worse) a poor example. You said that you're in the US, so it's completely legal unless it's easy to infer who the student was--for example, if there are a very small number of people in the class--in which case it's a FERPA violation.
If you believe it's a FERPA violation, then go to the department administration, and if they blow you off, go to the registrar or whomever is in charge of enforcing FERPA at your school. And if *they* blow you off, report it directly to the US Department of Education. I think there's an online form for that.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: A better way to do this sort of thing is to not single out any one student.
This happened, very effectively, to me in my first week as a grad student. Monday we dozen students chose technical terms out of a hat, and trooped over to the reference library (this was pre-Web). Wednesday we submitted one-page essays explaining those terms. Friday the professor surprised us with a pageful of howlers excerpted username_7ymously from *all* of our submissions. He didn't need to say anything: the gasps of private recognition all around the table showed that we saw that we didn't yet know how to write.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: The professor may need to think about the value of such practice.
But, like it or not, there nothing anyone else can do.
This is already stated in much better ways in other answers,
but since FERPA and other professional violation was mentioned in answers and comments.
I'll just add what I just learned from my FERPA training.
Semi-public criticism, semi-public evaluation,
or peer grading has been excluded from the
the concept of "education record" in the 2008 revision to FERPA
following the (US) Supreme Court decision in
Owasso Independent School District v. Kristja Falvo.
Here, semi-public can be understood as a classroom
or a course with several sections (I'm not familiar with the legal terms).
So at least FERPA will not provide any protection in this situation
even if the name is *not* username_7ymized.
On a tangentially related point,
if students don't like their work to be criticized somewhat username_7ymously,
then they should really stay away from oral qualifying exams,
comprehensive exams, dissertation defense, or submitting papers.
It only gets worse from this point on
(speaking as someone who has filed a similar complain as a graduate student).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Unless the professor leaked some amount of information that could make the student easily identifiable, I don't think there is anything that can be done (at least for US universities).
This answer is bound to be unpopular, but I personally wouldn't view this as a bad thing from the student's perspective (although I can fully sympathize with the student being taken aback). The student is getting direct feedback from the professor and potentially the class, and is likely going to be getting much more feedback than the typical scribbles most professors leave in the margins while grading. This potentially opens a window for increased learning and growth due to receiving additional, detailed feedback. It is also reasonable practice for receiving feedback during committee meetings or a department-wide presentation.
While this may not have been handled well, at all the universities I have been affiliated with, this kind of practice is 100% fair game (including without prior notice).
**What the Professor Could Have Done Better**
In general, it is a common courtesy to let students know if their work is going to be publicly discussed during class. At a bare minimum, the professor should have mentioned in the syllabus that assignments may be used for username_7ymous, public critique. Most preferably, this should have been announced during the first day of class. I have also found that when students know their work may be made public, they tend to put more effort into assignments, so knowing ahead of time is beneficial.
**What the student could consider doing**
If the student is comfortable doing so, I would recommend emailing the professor or talking with them privately during office hours. Depending on how the student feels, I would recommend saying something along the lines of:
a) "I appreciate the direct feedback I received in class, but having my work made public without notice made me pretty uncomfortable. Could you give me advanced notice next time you are planning to use one of my assignments?"
b) "I appreciate the direct feedback I received in class, but having my work made public without notice made me pretty uncomfortable. Would it be possible for you not to use any of my future assignments publicly? If I have made some serious mistakes I would rather discuss it with you privately during office hours then have them displayed publicly to the class."
Hopefully the professor is a reasonable person who does not intentionally want to make students highly uncomfortable. If the professor is doing so unknowingly, I think it is better for them to hear from a student personally rather than as a negative username_7ymous review after the semester is already over.
As long as the professor does not feel attacked or accused when approached by the student, I think there is a good chance they will be open to considering the student's feedback.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: On the whole, this pedagogical technique is fair game
=====================================================
If this is a groundbreaking research paper in the process of peer review, this could be a breach of confidentiality. One could argue that it is a breach of the author's copyright, but it is possible that the author has waived it by submitting the paper, and even if that were not the case, the professor could argue that his/her usage is fair dealing under an educational exemption or such like.
Beyond the potential "confidentiality prior to publication" and "copyright" reasons, I see nothing objectionable in this practice. But, judging by some of the other answers, this issue seems to be very culturally contingent, with some institutions and countries having a very different attitude from mine (I am an arts & humanities scholar educated and based in the UK).
Personally, I think that analysing a weak essay can be a very effective pedagogical tool for everybody, including the student(s) whose work is quoted. Provided that the criticism relates to the content and does not involve *ad hominem* attacks on the author, it is fair game.
It is very important for a postgraduate student to learn to handle harsh criticism **of his/her work** -- robust and candid (and constructive) criticism is essential to the functioning of academia, and a serious postgraduate will have to handle it sooner or later if he/she expects to complete a PhD successfully or publish in a peer-reviewed outlet. I remember the first time I received peer-review comments in relation to a book-chapter, and, upon first reading, was taken aback by the criticism (of many months of hard work), and this despite my having a very thick skin **and** having candid PhD supervisors who put me through my paces. But I did take on board the comments, soon appreciated their validity, and made the necessary improvements.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_8: Needless to say this is terrible from a pedagogical point of view. Way to go and generate a toxic learning environment.
Most answers here are focusing only on the username_7ymity part of the question and disregarding another fundamental aspect of it: the possible impact this might have on the student's (and peers) self-confidence and trust on themselves and the instructor.
If you're the student: Send a polite email to the instructor asking them not to use your assignments (or your peers') as examples in the future. You don't even need to explain why, something as simple as "I'd appreciate it if you could avoid using my submissions as examples in the future." would be enough.
If you're the instructor: **don't do this**.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: Your voice matters. There is always something to be done. Academia should be an environment where critical thinking and questioning of practices is natural and encouraged.
It could be that there are no pre-existing mechanisms to address this at your institution, e.g. some shared code for what's allowed in classes, and somewhere to report violations. If there is not, I would recommend discussing with your fellow students what their opinions are on this matter. A student council, if existing, might be a natural venue for this. An open mind should be kept, and arguments in favor of this practice should be considered. If there is no student council, it could be a good opportunity to start one. Maybe it turns out that there are other practices that students wish to speak up against. Another option might be an open letter to the head of teaching signed by you and other students who agree with you.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: Go to the Head of Dept. Say that examples of bad practice (if they really need to be made) should be made with past student papers - otherwise it becomes a means for a professor to create his/her own hierarchy among students and a justification by conceited/cynical grad students to adopt superior airs. Tell the HoD that you will NOT accept this and that if the professor concerned does not immediately acknowledge the wrong they did (as opposed to some spurious apology that simply acknowledges apparent offence on the part of the victim) then you will go to the Grad Students Union or elsewhere.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: So in a few weeks I will be submitting applications for Master's Programs in Germany. I am a resident of the United States living in Ohio and am required to submit certified copies of my Bachelor's Diploma and Transcript. The German website that handles several online applications list these as available sources:
1. issuing institutions, e.g. schools, universities and language schools
2. the Ministry of Education in your home country (I guess the Department of Education in the US)
3. German embassies and consulates (nearest one is several states away)
4. the department of cultural affairs of the embassy of the country in which the certificate was issued
5. public authorities and notaries which are authorized to supply official certifications in your country of origin.
The last point leads me to believe that it could be any notary, but then one application in particular says: "authorities and notaries authorized to provide official notarization in the respective country
**In no case will we accept notarizations from private individuals, lawyers, a priest's office, banks, health insurance companies or the AStA (student union executive committee)!"**
To sum up, basically I am wondering where I could get certified copies of my documents and which notaries count as "official notaries". For instance there is an Ohio Notary Public office nearby, which is a state department, would that count?
If anyone has gone through this process before and could shed light that would be greatly appreciated.
Edit: After some additional research it would seem notary publics in most US states can not certify copies of documents, including in Ohio. Accepted top answer as option 1 is really the only viable option in my and most US states.<issue_comment>username_1: Option (1) is probably easiest.
It's normal in the US to send official transcripts directly from one educational institution to another. The way you do this is typically to go to your school's website and search "official transcript". You may need to pay a fee or may only need a fee to send more than some number.
Since schools are used to sending these to other US schools I'm sure they are also prepared to send them to Germany. They'll come directly from the university with some sort of seal.
When I was applying for grad school this step at least was still entirely by physical mail; there may be digital options now too.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There are far more notary publics in the United States than in any other country I know of. Your bank will have one, and your department may -- ask the front office. They all can certify copies for you.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: This is for Ph.D admissions in STEM area.
I was put on the waitlist for >5 schools where I have applied to, some of which have emailed me asking if I am still interested for consideration of their "second round of offers."
The dilemma is, what if I expressed interest to (say) >3 schools that I am still interested, but at the end I ended up with >1 offer from them? Doesn't that make me a liar since I have to (due to pigeonhole's) decline at least 1 offer?
Don't get me wrong. I'm more than willing to attend any of the schools where I'm currently on the waitlist, I'm just worried it will put me in an awkward position.
Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.
(posting anonymously, since some of the contributors here are graduate directors of programs I applied to)<issue_comment>username_1: They are using this question to find out if you have already accepted another offer.
If you say you are interested, what you would be implying is that if this is the only additional offer you get, you would seriously consider attending. There is nothing wrong with being interested in more than one program.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> what if I expressed interest to (say) >3 schools that I am still interested, but at the end I ended up with >1 offer from them? Doesn't that make me a liar
>
>
>
No it does not. Say you are interested if that is true. If you are so lucky as to get multiple offers, accept one and politely decline the others.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Currently, I'm doing my bachelor's in science. I wanted to write a bachelor thesis so I tried contacting many professors so that I can get some projects and can write my bachelor thesis but most of them were busy or better to say all of them were busy. So I decided to do a project by myself and to write a paper (a bachelor thesis). But What should I have to do with it?
Where I can publish it so that in the future I can have proof?
---
Edit:
I'm a physics honors student currently in my last year of the degree. I understood that research work and writing a bachelor's thesis are two different things. I have read [this post](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/7252/133008). And I don't have any research work as I have not come too far in the subject. But I have some things in my mind like writing a new solution to [Brachistochrone problem](https://mathworld.wolfram.com/BrachistochroneProblem.html) or some geometrical proof for some theorems that I want to be in some official paper as my bachelor's work.
I contacted many professors from my department as well as some other universities but I got no response from them apart from saying that they don't have time or something of the sort. I haven't contacted Ph.D. scholars as I don't how to contact them (How I can access their information from the site?) But I will try to contact them. Any of the students don't have a personal tutor or anything. And I haven't written the paper under their supervision so do they give really mention it?
I actually tried it posting on arXiv but they too need some endorsement approval or something of the sort. So I ask some professor showing my work and asking to approve it but He said,
>
> Dear student
> ?It is better to publish it in a journal rather than sending it to arXiv.
>
>
>
I don't understand what's the difference and I don't know How to do what He said.<issue_comment>username_1: There are many assumptions bundled up in your question which I think need to be addressed.
Firstly, a bachelor's thesis and a research paper in physics are very different, in almost every aspect (content, length, aim, purpose, style etc). It is perfectly possible to write a bachelor's thesis on a topic and then rewrite part of it as a paper that you then submit to a journal for peer review and publication, and it is also possible to incorporate the findings of a published paper in a bachelor's thesis. However, I do not know of any journal (in physics at least) that would simply publish a bachelor's thesis as it is.
Secondly, it is extremely rare for a bachelor's thesis to contain actual novel research. In some countries, it's rare for a Master's thesis to contain novel research. The main purpose of a bachelor's thesis is to give the student a chance to develop their literature review and writing skills. Typically you would write about the history of a certain topic in physics, and perhaps discuss some recent findings or developments. In my bachelor's thesis, I wrote about Noether's theorem, describing its history, showing a couple of basic proofs and talking about how the theorem can be applied to orbital mechanics. Obviously I am not <NAME>; none of this was my own original research.
Thirdly, I expect you will find it extremely difficult to progress without supervision. You mentioned that you have contacted various professors. Are they all at your university? Have you tried contacting professors at other universities to see if they would supervise you remotely? And have you considered contacting PhD students or postdocs instead of professors? They may have more time to devote to you and could possibly provide more hands-on supervision.
If you do write a thesis but your university does not offer it as an official part of your degree (i.e. it will not appear on your transcript in any way), then the best "proof" that I can think of would be to show the finished thesis to whichever of your professors you are closest to (do you have a personal tutor or equivalent?) and ask them to mention it when they write reference letters for you. That way you have their word as well as your own that it is your work.
Alternatively you could consider posting it on your own website, or putting it on [arXiv](https://arxiv.org/) as a preprint. I would think carefully about the latter option, however, as you cannot delete things from arXiv and, as your personal standards improve and you move on to more in-depth research, you may not want your bachelor's thesis to remain public five, ten or twenty years down the line.
**Edited to address the new details provided:**
It sounds like you have some ideas for a research paper and you want to publish it when you have finished it. Your professor told you that it's better to publish your paper in a journal rather than on arXiv, which is true. ArXiv is a preprint server and does not provide peer review, unlike a journal.
Submitting your paper for publication is fairly easy. Firstly you need to identify an appropriate journal for your submission. I'd suggest asking your professor for advice on this, but it sounds like they are not the most helpful. A good way to decide on a journal is to look at the papers you cite in your paper and the journals those are published in.
Be aware that journals have different standards for submission and for some journals, it is common to receive a "desk rejection" i.e. your paper is rejected by the editor before going out for peer review, either because the editor thinks your paper does not fit within the topic of that journal, or because it is insufficiently novel or otherwise of low quality.
Once you have identified a suitable journal, navigate to the website of that journal. There will be an obvious link to click called "submit" or something similar. Click that link and follow the instructions given. Then, if you do not receive a desk rejection, you will have to wait (perhaps a month or two) to get the referee report. You may have to make corrections or alterations to your paper based on the referee report. If you do that satisfactorily, your paper will be accepted and published in the journal.
In physics, it is typical to upload a copy of your paper to arXiv. In my subfield, it's common to post to arXiv, wait a couple of days for the inevitable "you didn't cite me" emails, then submit to the journal. Once the paper has been published, you can then update the version on arXiv. You can check the arXiv help page for information on how to get endorsed: <https://arxiv.org/help/endorsement>.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Let me address one point that isn't mentioned in the otherwise complete [answer of astronat](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/164474/75368). You have discovered that it is hard for an undergraduate to make contact with professors at other institutions. This is because they are busy with their own work, including giving proper attention to their own students. Helping you adds to an already full workload, so many will just ignore your emails.
If you want to get such help, however, you can, perhaps, use an intermediary to make the initial contact and recommend you. Your own professors are probably a good source of such introductions if they have maintained a circle of contacts through their own work.
It is easy to ignore an email, especially a long and detailed email, from some unknown person. It is much harder to ignore one from someone you consider a colleague.
So, rather than asking your professors for suggestions on who to contact, ask if they will make an initial introduction on your behalf, giving their "friend" a heads up on why it would be useful/fun/valuable to start a conversation with you.
---
And, I'll also emphasize that anyone can publish, provided that they write something that editors and reviewers judge worthy of publication and it is brought to their attention through a submission. But the standards are high and few undergraduates (but not none) have yet learned how to meet them. Good luck in your studies.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I get the impression from your post that you are confident in your research skills, perhaps more confident than is likely warranted for a bachelor's student. I think it would help to clarify research for you.
First, although I would consider any paper in a good journal to be sufficient work for a undergraduate thesis, most undergraduate theses do not rise to the level required of a good journal. (I say "good" here because there are predatory journals and conferences looking for money that will [publish almost anything](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/archive/scigen/).) Most undergrad theses are published online by the university of the student.
When submitting a paper to a good journal, the journal will peer review your paper before acceptance. They will invite reviewers, who are usually other faculty working on similar topics, to assess whether your work appears to be 1) correct and 2) new to the literature. ArXiv is a pre-publication site used to distribute manuscripts before they undergo peer review. It does not have the same prestige as a good peer-reviewed journal.
Second, most master's and PhD students are guided by an advisor. For master's theses, the advisor will often shape the topic and direction of the thesis. Even with a PhD dissertation, where the student is learning to become an independent researcher, the advisor often has a large influence on the topic of the research. This is because it is difficult for a person new to a field to make interesting contributions: 1) they probably lack knowledge of the technical methods used in that field; and 2) they are not familiar enough with the field to know what would constitute a novel contribution. This is true for most master's students and first-year PhD students. As you are a bachelor's student, I am skeptical that you are expert enough on any research topic to work independently.
The level expected of a bachelor's thesis is usually much lower than the level expected for a good peer-reviewed journal paper. Even so, I would be concerned about whether an unsupervised student project would meet that level.
Third, when most master's and PhD students choose an advisor, they are also choosing to work on a research topic within their advisor's expertise. This is even more so of undergraduate research assistants, who often work closely with a PhD student on their research. Most students applying to work with a professor state their interest in the topic, some familiarity with relevant technical skills, and then expect the professor to shape the specific direction of the research as well as provide more technical training.
It is not clear how you approached the professors you mentioned, but I believe that for most professors, if a qualified undergraduate student wanted to be a research assistant with them or their PhD students for thesis credit, they would most likely say yes. When I personally have rejected undergraduates, it is usually because they 1) seem to lack technical skills that other undergraduate students usually have, or 2) they want to work on a specific topic that is separate from my research.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Posting here rather than on StackOverflow as the question is not code-related.
I have been wanting to make the switch to RMarkdown for academic writing (as opposed to Word) for a while now, but there is one question that has prevented me from doing so. Does writing in RMarkdown permit exchange of reviews and comments with collaborators/supervisors?
I understand that .doc output is an option and I can just send this file across for comments, but if I were to receive a draft back with many changes and comments, how do I accept/reject those changes easily as in Word (with the click of a button)? Is manually making the changes in the .rmd file the only option? If so, can this workflow not become inefficient in the long run? How do people deal with this issue?<issue_comment>username_1: For collaborative writing in Markdown, you could use [Manubot](https://manubot.org/).
I don't think there is a good versioning system (which would be indispensable for efficient collaborations) with RMarkdown as of now.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: * In principle you can [use Markdown on Overleaf](https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Articles/How_to_write_in_Markdown_on_Overleaf) (**tl;dr**; with a few "wrapper" lines in LaTeX at the beginning and end, the body of the document can be in Markdown format), but the RMarkdown layer would be an extra challenge (that is, if you actually have R code embedded in your document).
* There is an interesting possibility [here](https://github.com/noamross/redoc) but it's unstable (I know the author but haven't used it). You could give it a whirl (maybe try it out with a collaborator who's up for a small adventure) and see if it seems OK for your needs. It's supposed to handle bidirectional conversion from Word tracked changes to [Critic Markup](http://criticmarkup.com/spec.php).
I don't personally have a good solution for this; I either suffer the burden of propagating changes back from marked-up Word or PDF, or work with people who can handle (R)Markdown or LaTeX.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I thought of my question when considering if I wanted to be a math professor.
**Background:** Currently I’m an undergraduate studying math with a concentration in computer science, and I am interested in subjects like algebraic geometry, specifically derived geometry and stuff like combinatorial algebraic geometry, algebraic number theory, and complex algebraic geometry, more specifically with complex manifolds.
I’m an undergraduate so I have a way to go, and I definitely want to earn my PhD and do research. Of course that does include the possibility of a job in academia.
But then I wondered when postdocs/ post phds apply to assistant professorships, especially major research universities:-
**Question:** does an applicant with a specific area of research give them an edge over others?
For example, would someone who does research in Ergodic Analysis have preference than those who do research in General Topology?<issue_comment>username_1: There is some effect, certainly, but it is probably a poor strategy to depend too much on it. If you look at what the American Mathematical Society, for example, has published in the past three or so years you will get a sense of where the *current* action is. It won't include my old specialty, hard classical analysis, as the number of open problems there as decreased relative to those available in newer fields.
However, a given university will usually have a specific need when they put out an announcement. It might be a hot area or maybe not, since there is value in having a broad range of specialties on a faculty if it is possible. So, if I were 35 years younger, I might have a few openings available.
But there are two negatives that I can think of. First, things change. You are unlikely to be a serious contender for a faculty position for more than five years (I'm assuming you are asking about the US, actually). A lot can happen in a field in that time if those "essential to answer" questions actually get answered. The currently hot field may cool appreciably, to be replaced by the next big thing.
The other, and this is even more serious. It is hard to say where your mathematical insights will come. Mathematical insight is specific to a field (or even a small subfield), not general. You can have (as I did) tremendous insight into real analysis and almost none in abstract algebra (especially Ring Theory). I could solve the necessary problems in a course, but lacked the insight to push against the frontiers in algebra. You can seek insight and it may come, but it is an elusive thing. So, if you pick a hot field, a priori, just because it is flaming at the moment you may find the necessary insight impossible to attain while that area cools.
Rather, I suggest at your current level of development, that you seek a broad understanding of many mathematical areas and choose later, based on your insights and the then current evidence about the academic market, what you want to do. And the market is now very tight.
Finally, there is an old saying: You don't choose mathematics. Mathematics Chooses you.
But, I think the same can be said, almost as validly, for the various subfields within mathematics. I was "chosen" by classical real analysis.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Departments hire postdocs which can work with (be supervised by) existing faculty. So if your area of research is close to a faculty X and you have strong results in that area, then you have good chances to get a postdoc position at X's department. Hence the more popular the area is, the more X's work in that area, the bigger your chances. Examples: number theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, operator algebras. The drawback is that if the area is more popular, the competition is stronger, and the chances to succeed in that area are smaller.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: Can I include other students' master thesis in the literature review of my master thesis? These master thesis that I found are published in Google Scholar and other online libraries/archives.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, it might be *essential* to do so. Especially if you draw on or extend their work. You need to cite anything you use, of course.
Moreover, a literature review, if it is to be complete may need to draw on things that are "visible" even if not formally published. You may, however, need to make it clear that some such things haven't been peer reviewed so the reader needs to take some caution in accepting their results.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If the thesis is relevant, then yes, you can certainly include it. If the thesis disseminates important and original findings on the topic you are surveying, then you should definitely include it.
I once read a peer-reviewed book-chapter by a professor that cited a master's thesis (the thesis was neither by the professor himself nor by a superstar).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently submitted an under-review paper to arxiv. I mistakenly chose CC BY 4.0 as the license. I suddenly found out that I've done that mistake. Can anyone publish my paper in a journal or conference? Is there any way for changing the license? Would you please guide me on how bad is the situation for me? What are the consequences? I have worked hard on this paper and it is important to me.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Can anyone publish my paper in a journal or conference?
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They'd need to attribute the paper to you. Most journals will only accept papers written by the person who is submitting the paper.
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> Can a journal publish my paper on its own?
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Yes. You already gave permission to do so. A legitimate journal probably won't do so.
Possibly a predatory journal might do so if they wanted to pad their journal.
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> Is there any way for changing the license?
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Effectively, the answer is no. The CC BY 4.0 license is irrevocable. If you release the paper under a different license, people can just take the copy they received under CC BY 4.0 and distribute that.
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> What are the consequences?
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username_2e can take your paper and publish it wherever they want, even if you don't provide individual permission. However, they will have to cite you. <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/> provides an overview of these permissions.
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> How bad is the situation for me?
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It's not that bad for you. CC BY 4.0 still requires attribution. Unless you're trying to make money selling your paper, there's usually no reason to care if people freely distribute your paper. Of course, many journals will refuse to publish a CC BY 4.0 paper (e.g., because they sell access to the paper or because they want an exclusive license).
**Edit to add more details in reply to comments**
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> Is it legal for someone to publish my paper without asking for explicit permission?
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Yes. username_2e is free to "redistribute the material in any medium or format." Mind you, they still have to attribute the work to you.
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> Can they do so without contacting me?
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Yes.
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> Someone I dislike published my work. Do I have any recourse?
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Not usually. Many licenses, including CC-BY 4.0 are specifically designed to prevent authors from having recourse, except if the license terms were violated.
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> Why would someone design a license that blocks authors from exercising control over how their work is used?
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By disclaiming control over your work, licensees are protected from rogue licensors who later retract permission. Similarly, licensees can spread the work without working with the licensee. Licensors wishing to spread their work as widely as possible may wish to avoid placing any barriers on distribution of their work.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Anybody attempting to publish your paper under their name would be committing plagiarism and breaking the license agreement. Anybody submitting your paper under your name would be committing some sort of misconduct, and possibly worse if they sign paperwork. No serious journal or conference would want to deal with either scenario, so I wouldn't worry about what third-parties might do. More realistically, a publisher might (or [might not](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/119562/17254)) frown on this license choice, see [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/9740/17254) as well as [this one](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/57052/17254). The license (on that version of the preprint!) is irrevocable, but with open access or a publisher that's OK with that license it shouldn't matter.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Can anyone publish my paper in a journal or conference?
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As mentioned in the other answers, they could, with attribution. But they probably will not because it is not profitable.
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> Is there any way for changing the license?
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As mentioned in the other answers, no, the license cannot be revoked.
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> Would you please guide me on how bad is the situation for me?
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This is a good situation. You have made it easy for people to access and cite your paper.
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> What are the consequences?
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Most likely the consequences will be exactly the same as if you had selected any of the other ArXiv licenses; a few people will download and read your work on ArXiv. Probably nobody will use the extra rights granted by the license you selected.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: **The license mainly affects legal rights, not academic ethics.** Codes and conventions of academic ethics provide (generally) clear guidelines on who can submit papers for publication, what authorship attribution is required, and so on. Reputable journals have their own submission policies that confirm this; a typical policy might say that the submission must be made with consent of all authors. A CC licence may give me the right to “remix” your paper and distribute a derivative work with (or even without) attribution — but if I want to submit it to that journal, you are still an author, and so the policy still requires your credit and consent. All this would still hold even if you’d put your paper entirely in the public domain.
So **within reputable academia, no, the license doesn’t allow anyone else to publish your paper, or do anything out of the ordinary.**
The main effects are (as noted in other answers):
* It reduces your *legal* protections against some kinds of plagiarism. username_2e publishing your paper as their own is still committing severe academic misconduct (so if they’re at a reputable institution, or it’s a reputable journal, you can still report them for it), but it may not be the same *legal* violation it usually would be.
* Some journals may not be willing to publish your paper, for several reasons: they expect to get certain exclusive rights (e.g. commercial distribution); and they need the legal rights to enforce these.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Get in Touch with Your University's Legal Counsel
=================================================
All of the other answers explain what would happen as a consequence of licensing a paper under a Creative Commons license, which is fair and certainly worth knowing. To me, though, **this is a legal question**, not an academic question. The question is, can you actually offer a work under a license unintentionally? Since this is work you intend to publish — and *especially if it's grant-funded work*, which may come with its own set of requirements — you (and your advisor if you're a grad student) should probably **get in contact with your university's legal counsel.**
Contracts
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Up front: I am not a lawyer. This is just my understanding from a few years publishing in academia, and many more in the US software industry dealing with licenses.
In the US, at least, it's not exactly clear whether licenses probably considered contracts. I found an article from LWN about four other (software) licenses that were researched by an expert. Their conclusion was
>
> In short, under US law, with the possible exception of the Fair License, all the licenses under consideration are likely to be regarded as contracts.
>
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> — <https://lwn.net/Articles/747563/>
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In those cases, it was the fact that the licenses contained restrictions, requirements, and disclaimers that moved them beyond “bare licenses” into contracts. All Creative Commons licenses definitely contain restrictions and requirements (e.g., the requirement for attribution). The CC-BY-4.0 license itself contains language alluding to this possibility.
>
> To the extent this Public License may be interpreted as a contract, You are granted the Licensed Rights in consideration of Your acceptance of these terms and conditions, and the Licensor grants You such rights in consideration of benefits the Licensor receives from making the Licensed Material available under these terms and conditions.
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>
> — <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode>
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This is important, because in the US it's difficult to “accidentally” enter into a contract. It requires [a meeting of the minds](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meeting_of_the_minds) — the intention and understanding of *both parties*. **Only a legal expert can tell you whether this requirement was satisfied in this case.**
Other Parties
-------------
Additionally, as I alluded to above, you may not even have the right to license your work under a Creative Commons license. If your work is funded by a grant, you may have already assigned some rights to another party. If you have co-authors, they have rights too, as might your university (who may be your employer depending on your situation).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I will not repeat the points raised in other answers (I especially find [username_1's answer](/a/164505) excellent), though I will summarize: you cannot revoke an irrevocable licence; but no legitimate journal would let anyone get away with plagiarizing your article.
However, there are at least two important points that were sometimes mentioned (e.g., by username_4), but deserve more focus.
First, some journals require an exclusive copyright assignment in order to publish your work with them. **So, check the copyright assignment policy of the journal that is currently reviewing your work.** (Just ask the editor in chief or editorial assistant for it.) If the journal requires exclusive copyright assignment, then this is incompatible with CC-BY. You would not be able to sign such a copyright assignment statement. That said, there are ways to explain the situation to the journal and get a custom copyright assignment statement that allows non-exclusive publishing, but that would be a little bit complicated.
Second, although no legitimate journal would let someone get away with plagiarizing your work, there are lots of illegitimate journals that might publish your work right away without asking you further (which is perfectly legal under CC-BY). Hopefully, that does not happen, but before eventual publication of your work, you should do a search on Google Scholar just to make sure. (One nice thing is that, as far as I know, Google Scholar does not index predatory journals, so even if someone does this, it should be invisible to the Web and so should not affect you negatively.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: It's not an answer to your question but an idea:
After review, you will likely make some corrections to your paper and publish version 2. Publish version 2 under a different license.
In that way, anyone who wants to make use of your paper will probably prefer to use the revised version 2 which will be licensed less permissively.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in masters and came from a very developing country to EU for study. The classes started online due to covid19 and exams were supposed to be on campus but they started online due to the situation. This was my first exam of the first semester.
I came to EU country for an online exam to save from internet problems. This was the first exam of my life which was open book and online. We were clearly told that you can use all resources you need. Time was short so I used the internet.
There was one practice question that was taught in detail in class so I wrote it as it is. I was not really aware of plagiarism and the rules surrounding it. I copied from the internet and from notes which I made after listening to recordings of lectures because I record lectures during class. I didn't have a high typing speed and didn't use my laptop very often so I copied and pasted. In some places, I used software quilbot to paraphrase and forgot to put references, although they didn't tell me to put them. I also used recommended books and some other websites.
The Professor even mailed us about a question that was going to come in the exam where he just changed the value. I have a habit of learning things by writing on a page so I practiced there and wrote down in the exam. Now I got mail that I had 95% overall plagiarism and 100% in the practice exam with 3 other students of my country and from internet sources. By looking at the paper it can be clearly determined that it is cheating. Even spelling mistakes were also the same but only I know it was just a coincidence, or maybe we came from the same system of education and searched the same kind of things. Despite this, we have different grades. I was the second position holder in the bachelor's project.
So what should I do now? I am ready to give them the paper again but I am worried they don't put strict allegations. I have no idea about this kind of thing. I asked them many times to take an on-campus exam due to my unfamiliarity with computers.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you will need to provide more information before anything else can be determined. However, a few pieces of advice can be given
First, try to read up on the plagiarism guidelines of your institution. Reach out to teachers and/or colleagues to get a better sense of how plagiarism works where you are. It is essential to familiarise yourself with the system in delicate situations like this.
Secondly, you claim that you copied and pasted a lot. You also claim that even the spelling mistakes that you made were the same as those made by others. This seems like a clear case of plagiarism, although your institution's views may differ a little. From my personal experience, even if there is an open book exam, you aren't allowed to copy-paste answers. You have to attempt the questions yourself, you can just refer to outside sources for help. Copying answers would defeat the point of a practice exam, thus presumably wouldn't be allowed. It would be advisable to admit this to your professor honestly when discussing the issue with him/her. Lying or making stories could land you into bigger trouble.
Finally, you should definitely talk to your professor, and other relevant authorities about this. Tell them the full story, apologize if you did anything wrong and then explain to them your problems with computers. If they understand your problems, you might be treated more leniently. Even if they don't treat you more leniently, it is unlikely that you will be reprimanded for trying to explain the situation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you need to do two things.
First, and I don't know whether it will save you or not, talk to the professor and explain that in your past education you never learned the rules expected in your current situation and that what you did would likely be acceptable. I'm assuming that is true, of course, and don't really know the details of the education system you grew up in. You might be able to obtain some accommodation, perhaps a re-test. But an apology is probably essential here.
Second, and this will definitely help but in the long run, undertake to learn the standards expected of you. Your professor might be able to point you to some things, but there are a lot of questions on this site that will give you an idea of how to avoid plagiarism, how to use sources, and the difference between copying and research. Let the professor know that you will do this and that you have learned from the experience.
People with different backgrounds can interpret the specific words of an instruction differently. If the professor has assumed a common understanding, especially with novice students, that might be a contributing factor here, but it probably isn't going to be enough to save you. It does, of course, surprise me that your undergraduate education didn't give you better guidance in these things. You were ill served if you haven't yet learned those lessons.
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<issue_start>username_0: Actually, this is my question: [which option should i prefer Thesis vs Non-thesis for MS in CS?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/68766/which-option-should-i-prefer-thesis-vs-non-thesis-for-ms-in-cs) but I hope this post will not be closed as either off-topic or duplicate because I hope to be specific. There's some more context than the little context below, but it's kinda long to explain and maybe unnecessary. So, suffer with this short weird/dumb question (which could be made only less weird /dumb instead of non-weird/dumb with context).
**Observations:**
1. I notice some curricula of master's programs in pure math, there's like a thesis option and a non-thesis option. It seems like the only difference is in the non-thesis option, the thesis is replaced by 3 additional courses and a comprehensive examination.
2. **In [the other question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/68766/which-option-should-i-prefer-thesis-vs-non-thesis-for-ms-in-cs)**, it says thesis option is more suited to those doing phd afterwards (or the converse: those planning to phd is more suited for the thesis option...idk. or both).
**Weird/Dumb Question**: Ok so then my confusion is like... I see thesis option has less courses compared to non-thesis. Ostensibly, more courses means more knowledge. But obviously this is wrong because of the previous answers about thesis option as more suitable for future phd applications (or conversely or both). What does a thesis do when the non-thesis option means more courses? I mean, will I actually gain more knowledge working on the thesis as compared to taking those 3 more courses?
* Scope: It's not mandatory, but my ideal answer is for **math**. Next best thing is for **theoretical research**. Third best thing is in general.
---
A little context:
* **My background in applied math**: I did bachelor's and master's but in applied math. I want to now go into pure math. I didn't do a thesis in undergrad. In grad, we did have, in my opinion, a 'thesis', but our professors don't actually call it a thesis. (You can refer to my previous questions if you want.) But, Hell, it was tough. It was also so rewarding seeing it hard bound and in those fancy colors. But I didn't quite really learn many new things there. It was more of like experience applying things we already knew. Well it was 'applied' math, so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised that our sort-of 'thesis' was about 'applying' things. Oh also, it was just a master's (not a PhD or even an MPhil).
* **Recently in pure math**: I was rejected for pure math phd program in [Dec2018 and then again in Mar2021](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/121558/for-the-average-pure-math-us-phd-program-what-are-essential-topics-after-basics) (in [Country A](https://academia.stackexchange.com/revisions/75677/7), where I currently live. I'm from [Country B](https://academia.stackexchange.com/revisions/75677/7), and I might have to go back here for a second master's). Both reasons were simply insufficient knowledge. There was no mention of any lack of 'research ability' or 'skills' or anything (see below re 'research ability' or 'skills').
+ I actually remember reading online (at least in the applied math case) that doing a thesis for master's or even in general taking up master's or PhD in applied math demonstrates to potential/future employers (the context here is banks or financial institutions) 'research ability' or something.
* **My preferences**: Anyway, I **don't mind** doing thesis or non-thesis. It's about the same time to complete, and I wouldn't really care if one was longer than the other. I just wanna do **whichever gives me more knowledge** to eventually apply for a pure math phd ([in a european-style university](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/43313/why-are-us-phds-different-from-european-phds). I'm good enough for some [us-style countries](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/121558/for-the-average-pure-math-us-phd-program-what-are-essential-topics-after-basics), I believe. But I want to do my pure math phd in a country that is unfortunately european-style. The country is [Country A](https://academia.stackexchange.com/revisions/75677/7), btw). I plan to ask the universities of those master's programs, but I also wanna ask here on stackexchange. Perhaps here on stackexchange, I can even ask the universities better, or at least less dumb/weird, questions.
---
Maybe related questions:
1. [Why doesn't a master's thesis get read by a PhD admissions committee?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/67944/why-doesnt-a-masters-thesis-get-read-by-a-phd-admissions-committee)
2. [Will an off-topic Masters hurt my chances of a PhD place?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/72289/will-an-off-topic-masters-hurt-my-chances-of-a-phd-place)
* 2a. In particular, I notice there's an answer here that says
* >
> "People don't expect miracles from your master's thesis, rather they want to know whether you have the necessary knowledge/skills to embark on a PhD.
>
>
>
* In relation to this, I am interested in acquiring not necessarily 'skills' or 'research ability' but 'knowledge'. (In this way, I hardly expect 'knowledge' and 'skills' to be separated by a '/', at least in my context.) I sincerely doubt that [the professor, or any other professor in the university, who/that rejected me](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/121558/for-the-average-pure-math-us-phd-program-what-are-essential-topics-after-basics) cares about 'skills' or 'research ability', or is probably already convinced enough from my applied math background. I believe the only thing I'm lacking here is **knowledge**. (Well, I was told I was lacking knowledge, but I wasn't told anything about lacking 'experience' or 'skills' or 'research ability'.)<issue_comment>username_1: I can't answer for pure maths, as that is not my field, so what I say might not apply there I guess, but a PhD is a PhD.
The first thing to note is that formal examinations and theses test very different things. The test at the end of a PhD is a thesis, not a formal exam (in the sit down and take a paper sense). Thus, your performance in a thesis is more representative of what your performance in a PhD might be.
Doing a PhD is about research, it is not about knowledge. In a PhD you might be learning things, but a PhD is not about learning, it is about the generation of new knowledge. A thesis will test/develop your ability to:
* Find new directions to take something to places no one has ever taken them before
* Think about the wider disciplinary context in which your work takes place and use this context to guide which directions will be most fruitful/most useful to the discipline. Be able to explain the relevance of your new knowledge to others in the discipline and recognize how it fits in with their work.
* Advance several different lines of research simultaneously
* Deal with the fact that most of those lines will be dead ends, and you will have to discard most or all of them.
Now you need a knowledge base to be able to do these things. Or rather, you need to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills to go away and learn what you don't know when you need it. But success in a PhD is not primarily measure in the amount of knowledge you have.
For most students, they have spent a long time in education, learning things they have been told to learn, and, if they are lucky, applying that knowledge to new situations. For this majority, skills/experience at generating new knowledge/scholarship is the weak point. Being good at exams =/= being good at research..
That said, it might be that you have already demonstrated these skills in the master's degree you already have, and for you it is the missing knowledge that is holding you back.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: username_1's answer is excellent, but here's something more. A general aspect is that students tend to think that things are learnt by being told. This runs counter to most educational research. Discovering things for yourself as required while working with a bigger scope (thesis topic) and applying them in turn with more freedom to make own decisions is usually far more effective for learning than having facts told and having to replicate them in an exam. Admittedly many (but surely not all, probably not even the majority) courses do better than that and use more interesting tasks for assessment, maybe even involving some freedom for own decisions, however by and large "teaching and exam" style learning is normally less effective in the long term than project work.
Things that students should learn when doing a thesis:
* Acquiring knowledge from the academic literature, deciding what is important/relevant and what is not, and applying it to a problem that is not of a kind that was taught in the same or a fairly similar way before (note that you don't only learn the knowledge itself in this way, but also how to do this with new material for the next problem),
* Scientific writing,
* Time planning and structuring the work,
* Strategies for solving hard problems that are not tailored to the methods taught in a course; particularly dealing with mistakes and approaches that don't work,
* Competence to make your own decisions and take responsibility for them.
Now I have to admit that this is a rather idealist view, and that due to thesis supervision, unsuitable topics, or also student's attitude the student may not have "learnt" all of these in the end; however it is of course also true for courses that the students often don't learn all the stuff that is taught. If a student is interested in doing a PhD with me I'd always ask for a thesis and I will actually read it (if maybe not word for word); for me that's in fact the most important qualification. I'd always prefer students with thesis to those without if they are otherwise fairly equal (and 3 courses more than the one without thesis may have will not change that). Obviously this is from a system where the supervisor decides whether to take on a student rather than a commission of people who ultimately don't have to work with the student. (Actually a commission may decide general suitability but the student needs to find a supervisor who agrees to take them on anyway.)
PS: Your first question was already asked (and answered by somebody else and me) [here.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/157718/should-my-masters-thesis-be-related-to-my-future-phd-research/)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Speaking for the milieu familiar to me, mathematics in the U.S. (probably some people would label the work I do as "pure", as opposed to "applied", despite its applications... but, nevermind, let's go with the cliched labels... I'm well acquainted with them, as inaccurate and misleading as they may be.)
And, having been on grad admissions in a (what some people would call) "joint pure and applied math department", I am well acquainted with *our* criteria, anyway.
A thesis-oriented M.S. does invariably involve more self-actuated, self-selected work, and practicing doing that is a great thing. It is often less informative about the accumulated historical record of math stuff (which, in some contrast to other subjects, does not become "wrong" (usually), even if maybe less relevant in some cases).
A course-oriented M.S. is more "automated", and can be stultifying, but is (at best) far more informative in a scholarly sense (if the courses are chosen wisely, as opposed to being chosen to make the easiest possible path).
Only rarely would a PhD admissions committee look at an M.S. thesis. Most of what would be informative should be clear from the title and the abstract (and the advisor's comments about it).
Yes, I have observed that some aggressively-self-styled "applied" grad students (whether M.S. or aiming for Ph.D.'s) misconstrued "applied" as some sort of license to not know much... This is a ghastly self-deceit. Yes, there is also much useful computer science and other "natural sciences" to know (and engineering), to meaningfully apply mathematics... but ignorance of mathematics is not so helpful in that! :)
(Being in a hurry is understandable, but often leads to error... :)
A possibly amazing thing about mathematics *and* its applications in the practical world is that abstraction is very, very useful. A great economy and simplifier in many situations. (Not always...) And, as with many things, a 2-fold speed-up (not to mention 5-fold or better) is indistinguishable from miracles or genius. If that can be acquired by study of standard (if "fancy") mathematics, ... well, whoa, I'd take it! :)
So, no, an M.S. thesis will rarely impress PhD admission committees. It can be a plus, if it shows initiative and creativity and such. But/and the coursework, especially if your earlier coursework background was thin, is also something people do not want to see missing... It's nice to be clever and hard working, but failing to take advantage of all the hard work of all the clever people in the past is ... very foolish.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: My manuscript is rejected by the editor after receiving the reviewer's comments. The rejection is based on the comments from the reviewers. Two reviewers rated my manuscript as important. I received a full 2-page long comment from reviewer 2, which after all recommends re-submission after extensive revision. The problem is that one of my data is not relevant to the rest of the manuscript. So the manuscript needs extensive re-write, re-collect of the irrelevant data. The rest is ok. This is the reason for the rejection from the editor. So if I revise and re-collect the data, should I re-submit it to the same journal with a rebuttal letter?<issue_comment>username_1: Unless you were told not to resubmit then a complete reworking of the paper (from the data up) could be submitted. It might be rejected immediately, of course.
But I caution you about a "rebuttal". If you try to explain why they were wrong to reject the paper it will probably fail. If you, instead, submit a note of changes, updates, and improvements of the paper it will be better received. Unfortunately the word "rebuttal" is often misused in this context and the literal meaning gives the wrong impression about what should be included. If you think you need to explain why the editor was wrong, you should save yourself some time, effort, and pain and jut submit the paper (with improvements) elsewhere.
But note that "reject" means different things to different journals. Sometimes it is absolute and final (i.e. "go away"). Otherwise it just might mean "you've got a lot of work to do here - more than we care to deal with". Hopefully the rejection note from the editor lets you distinguish which situation applies.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless there's a specific note that they don't want a resubmission, reject usually just means you have to revise and resubmit. If you think the comments are all reasonable you're better off resubmitting to the same reviewers with an updated manuscript and a response letter.
I'm pretty sure it's because they'll list the initial submission date as whenever you resubmit. I can't recall the last paper that I had that didn't get "rejected" on the initial round of review.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Related to [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18491/i-believe-i-have-solved-a-famous-open-problem-how-do-i-convince-people-in-the-f), except I do not believe (and have not claimed) that I have solved an open problem, famous or otherwise.
I came up with [an idea](https://bartshmatthew.medium.com/a-brief-summary-of-my-pronunciation-for-binary-and-other-bases-that-are-powers-of-two-idea-tool-aabaff777941) (specifically, how to pronounce numbers in bases that are a power of two) that I think is useful for the research community, for educators, and in recreational math.
I have seen it mostly ignored and poorly understood. Occasionally it has been ridiculed and called 'pure crankery', 'Doctor Seuss names', 'pure bullsh\*t' without the asterisk, downvoted, and even in a some rare cases deleted on internet answers sites. But about three (out of about a hundred) maths and computer professors have said it is 'valid', 'very clever, or 'works to some extent' (all on Quora).
How do I interpret this? How to find out whether I am a crank? I am not aiming to convince others that I am not a crank because only others can judge whether I am a crank or not. I don't want to convince people that I am not a crank if I actually am one, because that would mean I would be more likely to stay deluded, if I am deluded.
How should I respond to those that refuse to discuss the idea on the ground that it is crankery? What are they thinking?<issue_comment>username_1: First of all, find out if you are [not even wrong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_even_wrong). From your description of your proposal, it does not seem to be a falsifiable statement.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: In my opinion, "Dr. Seuss names" and other epithets you get don't contradict statements like "it's valid" or "clever". If I understand your idea correctly, you basically propose to introduce alternative number names, such as "shi" for what I'd pronounce as "sixty-four", which provides some potential benefits.
Academics would ignore this proposal because it's simply outside the domain of academic research. For me, introducing "shi" as an alternative for "sixty-four" is like proposing Dvorak (or other alternative) keyboard layout instead of the usual QWERTY.
You can do it, and you can argue why it is superior in your opinion, but what kind of response do you expect? Some people would like your idea, others would not. I personally can't force myself to use "kibibytes" and "mebibytes" even though they are kind of established.
Even if you manage to prove that your method is "better" according to some well-defined criterion, I think it is still mostly a political and cultural matter, and should be treated as such, rather than a part of an academic discourse.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: In answer to the 'How to find out whether I am a crank?' sub-question, you could try surveying the (especially peer-reviewed) literature in the same area to see whether there are any easily-discoverable objections to your ideas, or alternatives to your proposal, with which your articles have failed to engage. For example, given the IEC definition of "kibi", isn't it rather unfortunate that your proposal uses "ki" for $2^7$, rather than reserving it for $2^{10}$? And what makes your proposal better than that of Stern (1958, *Science* **128**(3324):594-596), or that of McFeely (1959, *Math. Teach.* **52**(5):356-357)?
You could also check the text of your articles for potentially-controversial assertions that are presented without a citation or other supporting evidence (For example, 'In schools and universities around the world, students are often invited or required to do arithmetic in base two, and/or in base eight. The students are often explicitly asked to compare base two or base eight with base ten' sounds far from obviously-true to me.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: If I draw a drawing on a piece of paper and show it to some friends, that won’t make me a crank despite the fact that I have zero talent in drawing. But if I start claiming my drawing is an important work and should be published or sold or talked about, then I am a crank. The difference is in having a realistic view of the significance of what you’ve done.
Your idea is “valid” and can be reasonably described as “clever”. It is a cute idea, in the same way that I thought it was cute one day many years ago when I discovered I can count all the way to 1023 using my fingers instead of 10 if I make use of binary representations. But your idea is not an idea in math — maybe in math education or in the general area (that doesn’t have a proper name because there is little need for one) of math terminology/notation. And, like my idea at the time, it solves a problem that I don’t think is a real problem anybody has: there just aren’t enough people with a need to extensively communicate numbers in base two by reading them out loud.
>
> What does it mean when on the Internet most academics ignore your idea, and a few say you are a crank and a few say your idea is valid?
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It means your idea is technically valid but not as interesting as you think it is.
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> How do should I respond to those that refuse to discuss the idea on the ground that it is crankery?
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You should not respond in any way but leave those people in peace. People have no obligation to discuss your idea, and if they don’t want to discuss it then it means they don’t think it is interesting enough to discuss. Find someone else who does, or find a better idea that people will be more impressed by.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: <NAME> might suggest that you [be skeptical of your own work](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/career-advice/be-sceptical-of-your-own-work/). In order to produce great ideas, you need to put bad, average, and good ideas through many phases of refinement. If you do not view your own work critically, you might not identify necessary changes.
It is my personal opinion that your idea is not a *mathematical* idea (or at least, not an interesting one); based on the responses you have received from others, it seems like I am not alone in this opinion. It may be an idea about a topic relevant to math, but it does not provide any insight into the sort of questions that math aims to study. If you view your work skeptically, you may come to the same conclusion as me.
However, this is not to say that your idea is not interesting *whatsoever*. Suppose I were reading a science fiction book with a civilization that used binary as their customary number system. If one of these creatures said the word "tinmirlish" for 2^123456, I would be intrigued. If I then went and read your naming system, I would be floored by how creative and interesting it is -- changing vowels to express negation and inversion?? Awesome!
**Upshot:** Maybe the real issue you are facing is how to categorize your idea. I don't think your idea is interesting mathematically, but I think it is very interesting as a world-building concept. Perhaps other people find it interesting in some scopes and uninteresting in others. If you want to convince someone that your idea is interesting, try presenting it in a context that best fits the idea.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: The main question to ask is: why should anyone care?
Naming conventions are a dime a dozen. It's not like they need to be nonsense, not at all. Every computer library developed from scratch comes up with naming conventions, usage conventions, interface conventions, etc. But precisely because such conventions are quite freely choosable, it creates a cost to use them consistently and this will not happen if there is not a very tangible benefit.
If I have a software library with very extensive, say, parallelization support, then it may make sense to learn the conventions that it imposes on the user. Maybe it even finds a way of expressing things more cleverly than existing models and if that happens, it may ultimately take on. Still, this can take a very long time. Many clever programming paradigms from languages such as Lisp or Haskell took decades to seep into the mainstream. Mind you, these are operational advantages that they confer and yet it was not easily accepted.
Introducing a notation/expressive language that does not fill an obvious niche or confer a distinct advantage is mostly a futile exercise and rarely takes off, independent of its rationality. Perhaps the most interesting such experiment is Esperanto, which is, comparatively spoken, a modest success.
So, your idea may be rational (I cannot judge if it is), it may be even modestly useful (I have no opinion on that), but to get many people to adopt it or even just take it seriously, it needs to provide very tangible and substantial benefits and even then its success may still be decades off.
Unlike a mathematical theorem where there may be few people able to judge its merits or proof, but where there is at least a kind of "objective" importance to the question and reality check to the proof, naming jugglery is often close to crankery in the sense that many self-styled physics "revolutionaries" simply clothe either trivialities or non-committal vague statements with verbal jiu-jitsu which makes them capable of "proving anything" and impossible to falsify. I guess that your idea is also a name game is what may induce some of your critics to consider your idea close to crankery.
Again, I personally do not have an opinion about that, but it's clearly not an idea many people consider important to discuss or advances their own understanding of things.
The fact that 3 out of a hundred profs have stated something positive about your idea, may give some indication that you are trying to cram the idea into a hundred people's throats. Is it really such an important idea? I mean, it's not solving world hunger, cancer or even just determining the nature of Dark Matter or the Hubble constant.
It begins and ends with the one question I mentioned at the beginning: Why should anyone care?
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: A lukewarm response would mean that either the idea is not interesting or useful to the intended audience. You should try to judge whether the idea is intrinsically interesting (the question certainly indicates that you feel so) and whether you are approaching an appropriate audience using an appropriate medium.
It certainly seems that you are pushing the idea too hard when you face a lot of indifference and still continue to reach out to individual professors. It is evident that they aren't interested in discussing it, and you should respect that. Maybe the proposed method has value in a different setting. Not every tool that is/could be useful to a researcher is published in scientific literature or discussed on academic fora. Seek out other media, gauge interest and try to identify if there is a group that is interested in/benefits from the idea as you envisage them to.
If you don't find such a group, record the method somewhere, preferably on an open platform and simply leave it until somebody that finds it useful comes along. If the idea is ahead of its time, then you should wait for somebody visionary enough to come across it. If you feel that the idea can do with more refinement, keep working at it and then try exhibiting it once you find significant improvement. Or if you feel it can be monetized and are interested in that, explore intellectual property options.
The bottomline is, irrespective of the true worth of an idea, it is counter-productive to force people to take note of it.
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EDIT: Since articles related to the idea/tool have recently been shared by the OP, I am adding a few thoughts specific to the present situation. I hope that these will help clarify the difference between a research submission and an invention.
At the outset, the idea is (to me) clever, of possible interest to hobbyists and recreational number crunchers, and may have some potential contributions to specific fields (linguistics). There is no indication of crankery. As such, a case ***may*** be made that this idea (once established as novel) could be converted into a research submission. To make this case, the following crucial points would need to be addressed:
1. Identification of a target group/domain which would be benefitted by this work.
2. A clear and emphatic justification of why there is a need to undertake this effort. Presently, this is lacking. There must be a concrete use-case or demonstration of value, beyond a general statement of it being interesting or 'worth exploring'. Without this, the academic reader would conclude that insufficient background study and thought has gone into this idea. The onus of establishing worth through objective arguments lies on the author of the idea, not on the reader.
3. A discussion of why this has not been addressed so far (i.e. did nobody think of it or was it not worth the effort), and the related work that has already been done in the field. This may indeed require access to some academic literature, but is necessary. Hopefully OP has found some useful references in the linked answers.
4. A clear statement of what benefit the proposed tool gives. Is it to make teaching easy (in that case, look for a pedagogical audience)? Is it to enhance linguistic/numerical abilities (look for a linguistic audience)? It is going to make some computational process more efficient or unambiguous (go to computer scientists)? Is it going to add to how we deal with number systems (seek out mathematicians)?
5. Related to 4., demonstrate (ideally quantitatively) that the tool achieves this objective in comparison to the existing procedure, and therefore is worth consideration.
If these can be addressed, the response from academicians may be warmer. Personally, I think the blog format is well-suited and is quite engaging for these ideas.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a first year undergraduate student studying philosophy. One of my lecturers does not speak English as their first language, and is extremely difficult to understand. I could get over this if the lecturer was any good, but unfortunately they aren't. The module is a history of philosophy one, and they don't explain anything that's going on. All they do is read a quote from the text, put the argument in premise-conclusion form (which is not at all helpful), and then move on. There are other major problems with their teaching, but I won't get into them here as it would take all day. What the philosopher is saying, the justifications for their arguments, and everything else that is crucial to actually understanding the texts, are all left out. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that I have learned almost nothing from their lectures. What should I do?
I've looked over some similar questions both on this site and others, but none of the answers to those have been helpful. Some of the same answers will probably be given for this question so I'll try and anticipate some of them:
* The problem is not me just being stupid. I got quite good results in my last semester, and I haven't had any problems like this with any of my other modules. The lecturer is definitely the problem.
* There is no textbook or other resources for the module. It's just the historical texts and the lectures, so I can't just "do the readings" and figure it out. Again, this has never previously been an issue, as other lecturers have always explained the texts well. I have tried to look at secondary literature to make up for the lecturer's inadequacies, but much of it is beyond the level of a first year, I struggle with it because I don't even have the foundations that the lectures should provide, and in any case I shouldn't have to go looking for extra material just to have a basic idea of what is going on.
* I don't know if other students in the module are having problems to the same extent as I am. I had planned to ask others in a tutorial if they were also struggling, but the opportunity didn't arise. Tutorials are fortnightly for this module, so by the time the next one comes around the semester will almost be over, and there'll be little point in it then.
I really enjoy philosophy and what we are doing now *seems* really interesting and I want to understand it, but if things continue as they are then I feel that I'm going to finish the semester having learnt absolutely nothing from this module.<issue_comment>username_1: I've had bad lecturers in the past as well, and in my experience there wasn't a lot that could be done that would matter in the near term. The one thing that comes to mind is to try talking with the instructor. You would need to approach it in a non-confrontational manner, and see if you get a positive response. They may be new, or unaware everyone is struggling. I've definitely noticed this with the switch to remote (I'm assuming you're remote right now), that it can be very hard to get feedback from students, and therefore hard to know if what I'm doing is working.
You should also make sure you get in direct contact with other students. Figure out how to form a study group. Is there a class forum or other place for dialogue? Once you're in a study group you can ask how others are finding the lectures, to see if they share your feelings.
In the longer term, if the short-term solutions don't work, you'll need to make your feelings on the lecture known to administration. Usually through student reviews, or direct contact with advisors. But it will help immensely to show that you tried to solve the problem yourself first.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: You seem to have three options, but I think only one will lead to success if you want to continue in Philosophy.
The first is to complain to the administration about your issues. This might work, but I don't think it is very likely. The administration may have limited options in the time frame available. Of course it might make a change long term (not assigning this instructor to this course in future or firing them), but not on a time scale that will help you.
Second, you could approach the instructor and let them know that you aren't able to learn from lectures. It would be better to do this as a group than and individual, I think. It would be a bit safer and might be more effective if you have the support of your peers.
Third, and I think the best option, is that you figure it out for yourself using lots of resources available at the library and on the internet. History of Philosophy has been widely written about, of course, so there isn't a lack of materials. And learning how to learn, how to teach yourself, is an incredibly valuable skill for anyone, both in academia and in the outside world.
The third option can also be taken as a joint project with a few peer students. Form a study group to discuss sources related to the current course topics. You can do this remotely if necessary, but in the days before the pandemic (and zoom) a few students would get together to do this. They would even break up the topics so that one member studied something especially deeply and passed on their knowledge to the other members. It wasn't a matter of cheating, but just a form of joint learning. (I hope the rules don't forbid such things. If they do it is an even deeper problem.)
And even in the best of situations with a brilliant lecturer, not everything that you learn in a course needs to come from the lectures. Your learning is much more dependent on what *you* do than on what the teacher does.
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<issue_start>username_0: Currently, I am working on my Master Thesis. Before whenever we had to write reports, we had a section called "Literature Review" and a separate section called "Theories". Sometimes the second one was merged with Methodologies - "Methodology and Theory".
In the Theories section, we used to include theories such as "Aesthetics Theory" and so on. But from what I have reviewed so far, all Masters Thesis have only Literature Review as a section but not a Theories section. Does this mean that I can actually include the "Aesthetics Theory" in Literature Review?
A bit confused here!<issue_comment>username_1: Since, the literature review part is to give the reader a clear understanding of the field that you're working in. It is however required that within the literature review part, you do provide the pre-requisites of the subject you're targeting (so that you can maintain coherence among the sections). Therefore, that's where the theory part would fit-in I reckon, along with the other sections you mentioned. Say for instance (Methodologies etc).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Questions along the lines of "what goes where" in a thesis, especially a master's thesis, have a standard, simple answer: **ask your supervisor**. This is because there are many, many different conventions for writing master's theses, even within the same discipline, even within the same institution, so all that practically matters is whatever is acceptable to your own supervisor. Even if you get a very good answer from Stack Exchange, if your supervisor does not like it, it does not help you.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am not far away from finishing a PhD in molecular toxicology. However, with time I have gotten more and more interested in topics such as renewable energy, environmental/climate science and engineering. My education so far is not completely alien to environmental science, but my background heavily oriented towards molecular biology so I lack basic knowledge about things relating to renewables, climate systems and field work. Another big factor is that non-academic jobs in my current field do not interest me at all.
What would be the best route for me if I wanted to move towards these fields? Get a new master's or try to land post-docs incrementally closer to where I want to be?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't expect this to be the best answer (I am not from these fields), however what I'd do in your place would be researching websites of environmental science departments and research groups in order to find some topics/projects for which your qualification up to now makes some sense or adds some relevant competence. There even may be postdoc positions, however maybe you can ask for some project or internship work. Maybe also there are some biologically oriented temporary teaching jobs in such departments, which could enable you to get into the community.
In the meantime try to read and learn, and try to get into contact with people. I can't guarantee it of course but sometimes opportunities open up when looking for them in a determined way. And surely try to make use of your already achieved qualifications, try to connect things somehow.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: There are people who get a masters degree in other fields after getting a similar (or higher) degree in another. However, I don't think you are in a field so far away that this is necessary. I think you can leverage your knowledge of chemistry to work for you in these other fields that you mention. So perhaps your "incremental" stepping towards that is the way that I would go, but don't shoot for too small a change, if it isn't what you want. You (likely) have the skills to learn complicated things very quickly, so you can probably make bigger leaps than you give yourself credit for. My advice is to apply for the jobs you want - the jobs (e.g. postdocs, etc.) you are passionate about - and see what happens. Of course you need to be reasonable with qualifications, etc. (so that you aren't wasting your own and others' time), but I think often people are looking for particular *skills* over particular domain knowledge, but perhaps this is just my field...
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a low-income undergraduate student at a US university. Last semester, another student approached me and offered to pay me a lot of money if I take one class for him. Because of my family’s financial situation, I accepted this deal. Long story short, I have completely taken one class for him in Fall and one this Spring. I have also helped him with his exams and homework in his other classes.
It makes me incredibly angry that you can just buy your degree like this when you are rich. I would like to know what would happen to me if I report it to the university after I graduate or if there is anything else I can do about this situation without ruining my future.<issue_comment>username_1: If you are a student, you could and probably would be expelled and the lasting record might follow you.
But even if you are not a student, you have committed a fraud against the university which could be a legal matter. I don't know if it would be a criminal matter, however, but at least a civil lawsuit would be an option by the university.
So, the consequences are bad. Maybe nothing will happen, but the more often you do this, the more likely it is that you will be caught and the past might be revealed.
You are right to be angry that this can happen, but the means of preventing it *absolutely* are pretty grim also (biometric surveillance..).
Reporting it to the university will possibly blow back on you. It would probably be denied by your "patron". But the advantage to the one that paid you is probably limited. They haven't learned something that might be essential to their future and their propensity to cut corners may well catch up with them eventually. Not necessarily, of course. There is a lot of injustice in the world as you probably realize.
Maybe your best course of action is just to stop and hope for the best.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I would like to know what would happen to me if I report it to the university after I graduate or if there is anything else I can do about this situation without ruining my future.
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Both your own actions and the actions of this other student would certainly amount to serious academic misconduct. It may also amount to some species of criminal fraud, such that it could also be a criminal offence. If you would like to get reliable information on this, I suggest you go and see a lawyer in your jurisdiction.
In terms of what would happen to you if this became known, I would think that you would be found to have committed academic misconduct, and some substantial penalty would be imposed. It is impossible to say what penalty would be imposed, but it could entail rescinding your degree. On the other hand, your adverse financial circumstances might count as a mitigating factor, and so it is possible that a lesser penalty would be applied. It would generally also be a mitigating factor if you report your own infraction in circumstances where it would not otherwise have been detected, particularly if you are then willing to give information to assist the university in bringing misconduct proceedings against the other student as well. These mitigating factors might lead to a substantial reduction in penalty but it is really impossible to say. The penalty applied would depend heavily on the particular views of the relevant committee assessing the matter.
Whether this would "ruin your future" depends largely on your ability to change your future behaviour and bounce back from adversity. I don't believe that a finding of academic misconduct ---or even a criminal conviction or loss of a degree--- is necessarily ruinous to one's future, but others may have a different view.
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> It makes me incredibly angry that you can just buy your degree like this when you are rich.
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There is no valid cause for your anger. *You have facilitated precisely this behaviour.* Without the actions of people like you, it would not be possible for the rich to buy a degree. *We* can be angry about it, but for the time being, you have lost the right to be so.
Perhaps when your own conduct is more remote, and you have had some years to reconsider this episode and lament your own participation in it, you will once again have standing to feel anger over the short-cuts taken by the rich. For now, perhaps you should reserve some of that anger for people like yourself who defraud our educational institutions for money.
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<issue_start>username_0: I will try to make this short.
1. My Ph.D. was in life sciences. I was a part of an "International Ph.D program in life sciences" in Germany. The Ph.D was a nightmare of its own. I had to start the project from zero, there was a strict time limit of 3.5 years to finish. The worst part, after some time I realized that the PI either did not write recommendation letters or wrote bad recommendations for his own people (both Ph.D students and postdocs). At the end, I got my Ph.D, but without publications and, obviously, without recommendations.
2. I managed to find a "postdoc" position in "no-name" university in Canada, however, it was not a normal "postdoc" as one might expect. At that time, the lab was a mess: high turnover, overworked and demotivated people. Few people had to put extra effort and time to keep that place together. The remuneration was extremely poor. Moreover, foreigners were paid less than Canadians for the same position and, essentially, same job. I barely lasted for 3 years and had to quit and walk away from all results, because my mental and physical health started to collapse. I authored one "book-chapter" as the first author. My name is on some 7 or 8 papers but in the middle, as 5th or 6th author. So these are obviously useless. I cannot expect any recommendation from that place either.
3. I tried to get another job in a university environment or in bio/tech. I managed to land a half-decent job as a project manager in another small university in Canada. Conditions are much better than before, but my salary is paid by "grant funding" and it is one-year contracts that have to be renewed.
I am in my mid-30. Sometimes I feel that I cannot do this anymore. I cannot make any long-term plans and always feel insecure. I simply tired of this life. I need at least a semblance of stability in my life.
Lately, I looked at some ads for university jobs in Middle East and in Asia. I would take a lower pay, only to have some job stability.
My problem is that everywhere one needs (a) papers and (b) 3 or 4 recommendation letters. I do not see a way to circumvent these requirements.
My problem is that my Ph.D + "postdoc" took good 7 years of my life and it is very difficult for me to accept that all this experience (and suffering) is completely useless.
I understand that I should stop looking at anything academic, but it is very difficult to let go. Any career advice will be appreciated!
**P.S**. **To be clear, I am not trying to complain, I have been desperately seeking any legitimate career advice/mentorship for a very long time.** The problem there is none for "life scientists", neither here nor on Reddit! Even in my current position, which technically calls for solid experience in molecular biology, I utilize ~1% of my knowledge/experience in molecular biology. The moment I move out of "life science" arena, I am basically on par with a fresh "college graduate" with regard to skills/experience.
On the other hand, I have been hanging on 1-year contracts last 8 years of my life. I cannot do this forever. Basically, I need to re-invent myself somehow, but I do not know how to do this job-wise, finance-wise etc.<issue_comment>username_1: I would suggest that you are framing the problem in a bit of a negative way. Your options (as you put them) are either "suffering" (continuing to look for a university job) or "giving up" (looking for non-university jobs). It's no wonder you don't like either of those options!
My recommendation is to understand these options a bit better. Presumably, you already understand your university options well, and they are not great. But, I suspect you have only a vague (and negative) idea of what non-university positions are like. Try to concretize this a bit more: what jobs do you think would be a good match? How much would you get paid? Where would you live? Where could you be in twenty years? To what extent would your current skills and knowledge be useful? These questions should take weeks or months to answer; don't just do a google search and frown at the results.
I suspect you will find that there is intellectual life outside of universities; rather than invalidating your previous efforts, taking a permanent position somewhere else could be a logical next step in your career trajectory. But even if you end up confirming your suspicion that no (achievable) job in the world would be more satisfying than what you are doing now, at least you will have a concrete sense of the trade-offs involved.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I am a Mathematician now working in Computer Security. Towards the end of my PhD, I gave a lot of thought to the problem you are suffering from right now, even though I enjoyed my PhD (for the most part ;-)). My conclusion was the following, and I think it still applies in your case; To stay in academia, you need to satisfy the following criteria:
1. You have to fairly evaluate your potential as a researcher, which includes your scientific intuition, the ability to execute on it, and your (social) network. Now deduce from this the potential position you can hope to ultimately land. You need to be ok with having that position for the rest of your life.
2. You have to be willing and able to go through the process of getting to that position, which I anticipated would include unpleasant post-doc experiences like the one you already mentioned.
3. Now comes the big one. In fact, you need to not only be "ok" with the position in (1), you need to be *so* incredibly dead-set on having that position that you are not deterred by the fact that (2) is not even the worst that can happen. You need to be so dead-set on it that you do not fear the possibility to end up in your mid-40s with absolutely no job experience and in a dead end that does not lead to new academic prowess.
The alternative is to get a job in the industry. If you do this, I want to give you one piece of advice: Do not look for a job that requires a lot of the specific subject matter expertise that you acquired as a researcher. Do not look for a job that is "like academia". In short, do not fall prey to a [sunk cost](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost) fallacy. Instead, look for the job you would have wanted fresh out of college. You have proven that you can learn a difficult thing, you can learn a new difficult thing.
Now, chase that job. Industry jobs have a much higher density than academic jobs, so laying out a career path to your dream industry job is much easier. It might be necessary to first work less perfect jobs, to acquire new skills, or simply because you do not have the experience yet. Nevertheless, there is a much lower chance of just falling off the edge and not having any prospect job at all.
In any case, I sincerely wish you the best of luck.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: This is a very common problem for academics (in most disciplines only a tiny fraction of PhDs go on to a TT position in a research role). However, when you are inside the academy, it will seem like a rare problem, because by definition, no one else around you has left!
*The Professor is In* addresses this in her [fantastic book](https://theprofessorisin.com/buy-the-book/), in the chapter entitled Leaving the Cult. There is a much shorter feature on her blog [here](https://theprofessorisin.com/2013/08/05/on-leaving-the-cult-a-letter-from-a-client/) covering the same content.
The short version is that you do not have "nothing" to show for a PhD plus postdoc. However, most academics have a very poor sense of which of our skills are marketable and to whom, in part because many of the rare and valuable skills we have are taken completely for granted inside the cult. Some examples:
* You are likely in the top 1-5% of all workers in your ability to quickly learn new complex topics.
* You can read and assess scientific studies better than virtually any worker. Even in areas outside your discipline, you will not have difficulty interpreting things like whether a study design has established causality, whether an effect size is large enough to matter, whether there are other risks that the study did not account for, etc. Investment firms and management consultancies, for example, may value this kind of skill greatly and employ some workers based on it alone.
* You are likely in the top few percent of workers by ability to autonomously plan and execute complex, vaguely defined tasks. Beyond this, you have concrete experience doing this for years, on some of the hardest problems imaginable. Employers *love* workers who can do this, no matter the area you work in.
* Your statistical, mathematical and experimental skills are likely to be strong.
* Your computer skills are likely to be strong. Even if you don't program well, as a scientist you probably program better than ~85% of workers.
* Your professionalism and communication skills are likely to be strong.
* Crucially, you know how to write grants, and have demonstrated the ability to secure short term funding from governmental programs. There are startups and consultancies that will pay you just to do this.
All of these skills are actually in great demand, some across all industries, some in more niche areas.
In my experience, "failed academics" tend to have a lot of difficulty at first figuring out a match for their skills and how to sell that skill set outside academia; a moderate amount of difficulty landing the first job (but realistically, far less than landing a faculty position!); and almost no trouble quickly adapting to and advancing within industry once they land a position. You're at the hardest part, deciding to leave the cult. It's only going to get easier from here!
Something I did not do when I left, but which some of my colleagues did do, was book a consultation with someone like *The Professor is In*. These people specialize in helping academics understand how to market their skill set inside and outside the academy. It's best if you can find one who knows your own area well, but even someone outside your area will be able to see far better than you how to make a good living with your training.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: This doesn't address your question directly, but I think it merits an answer.
MITACS offers internships to postdocs in Canada. Reach out and learn about their programs. It's a fantastic platform to learn about the industry and transition if you so desire.
These internships can start from a 4 month (paid) project to a couple of years from what I've seen. I know many people who have transitioned to industry after one of these.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/27
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<issue_start>username_0: A journal claims to have a policy that if a paper is rejected then any later improved version of the paper is unwelcome.
A quick editorial review happens before the paper is sent to a referee, and rejection often happens then. At that stage, a reviewer wrote of a very short letter saying that I had submitted something like "The corollary to the main proposition only says that if the left side of the equality changes, then so does the right side." That was the *only* thing about the paper that was mentioned in the rejection notice. But the corollary is a short simple sentence and anyone who reads it would know better than to think it says anything like that. Clearly this was not done honestly.
**Here (not elsewhere) is the question:**
What might happen if I emailed every member of the editorial board to ask whether the policy should be considered applicable to cases of a rejection known to result from lack of honesty in the review process?
**End of question**
**PLEASE NOTE: My actual question here is my actual question here.** It seems people often react to things like this by answering questions that are insinuated but not explicit. That may be useful but it's not the same as addressing the actual question.<issue_comment>username_1: Very likely nothing would happen. Their policy is probably long standing and works well for them in most cases. You might just stir them up to no effect.
I suggest that you submit elsewhere for success. Quite a number of journals, but not all, have such a policy.
Alternatively write back to whoever you corresponded with and suggest that the reader/editor/reviewer
seems to have misinterpreted something. It might have been an honest error, actually.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: For most journals the "Editorial Board" is not expected to jointly decide on anything. Papers get an editor assigned and it is more likely than not that other Editorial Board members are only interested in the papers they get assigned but wouldn't care about what happens to other papers. I am Editorial Board member myself. This is because I was invited, they're happy to have my name there and that I do some work for the journal. However I'm not all too committed to the journals for which I'm on the EB and to decisions that somebody else makes there. Most likely I'd ignore an email like the one you're asking about (I may drop a single line that I'm not expert for the paper in question or that I don't have time to take this on with the editor who made the decision). Even in the unlikely but possible case that your paper makes me curious and I have a quick look, the very best you could expect from me is "sorry but that's not up to me to decide; I think your paper is nice, so I recommend to try another journal".
However I may of course also think that the editor was right rejecting it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> What might happen if I emailed every member of the editorial board to
> ask whether the policy should be considered applicable to cases of a
> rejection known to result from lack of honesty in the review process?
>
>
>
There is a 99% chance that this would result in the other editors rolling their eyes and muttering something akin to "another bitter author who can't take a rejection" and pressing delete and forgetting about it almost immediately. It doesn't matter if this is not a fair assessment of the situation, it is what they will think. Particularly as you suggest you don't even want to bring a specific accusation, but rather pose the question to the bored as some kind of hypothetical. Indeed, them forgetting you is probably the best for you, because if they remember you they are likely to approach any future submission with an attitude of "its that crank again".
Except in cases of abuse, bullying or discriminatory behavior, you will always get further by at least pretending to assume good intensions. If you really want to kick up a fuss, you would do much better to start by appealing the decision, directly to the editor you rejected, pointing out patiently, in detail and in a friendly manner why what they said is wrong. If/when that fails, you could try making a complaint to the editor-in-chief, not the editorial board members, but I would still stir clear of making accusations of dishonesty without hard evidence (and in this case, hard evidence is impossible). The complaint should be *specific*, *concrete* and with a request for how you would like to see the mistake remedied (i.e. your paper sent out for review).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: The most likely thing that would happen is **nothing.**. Editors are used to authors complaining about unfair rejections and learn to shrug off such complaints in the vast majority of cases, which I am reasonably certain your situation falls into.
The second most likely thing that would happen (that I think is actually still somewhat likely) is: nothing, but at least some of the people you are emailing will take serious offense at your accusation (explicit, or implied) that the handling editor or reviewer acted dishonestly. You will mark yourself as an unreasonable and difficult person, and this could end up damaging your career in various ways — not immediately, but at some point in the future.
The immediate effect, as I said, would be the same in both scenarios: nothing would happen.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Nothing will happen. Just waste of time and likely upsetting yourself (or upsetting yourself more in case you were upset already) and others. As it happens to me answering this.
Now the question is edited so I guess you can change vote.
(I am a chemist and my interests are the chemistry and physics of organic molecules as materials)
Upvotes: 1
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2021/03/27
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a sophomore in college (undergrad) so I still have a while to go before applying to grad school. I am currently majoring in CS with a minor in Bio since I am also very interested in computational biology and bioengineering. I am definitely more interested in research than going into industry, at least right now, since I have participated in research during my time at my undergrad institution. I have a few questions on applying to grad school.
How do you go about deciding which subject to study in grad school? I am majoring in CS but am interested more in working in computational biology specifically, so I am unsure whether I would apply to a CS program or a Bio program.
Even after deciding a subject of study how do you go about deciding about whether to apply directly to a PhD program or to do a Masters program first? Specifically: I know I am interested in research but does this necessarily mean I should do a PhD or is a Master's fine? Are PhD programs harder to get into than Master's programs and should you apply to a mix of both PhD programs and Master's programs or just one or the other?
I would appreciate if people could share any of their experiences with any of these questions.<issue_comment>username_1: In the US, most people who aspire to a doctorate apply to doctoral programs at the end of the bachelors degree. A masters along the way isn't necessary and might even cause a delay (though not necessarily). On the other hand, many doctoral students earn a masters during doctoral study, sometimes just by asking for it and filling out a request. Other times a thesis might be required. But you don't need to apply again for doctoral studies.
As to your studies, I'd suggest that you look for universities that have actual computational biology programs, or at least a few professors who specialize in that. Taking a pure CS or pure biology program might take you afield of your goal.
And no, a doctoral program isn't (appreciably) harder to get in to. In some ways it is a bit easier, since doctoral programs often come with a TA position (and a stipend and tuition waiver) and universities often need those TAs to help in the undergraduate program. TAs are not always open to masters students, nor is tuition waiver usually granted.
But apply to several programs, not just a few. And not just the "top 10" programs in the country. The broader your search the more likely you will find something suitable.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: To add to @username_1's answer:
The sort of computational biology you will do in a CS program will be different to the comp bio you can do in a bio program. Specifically comp bio programs will probably offer you the opportunity to select groups working in both types.
Comp bio in a CS program will probably be focused on the development of new algorithms, frameworks and abstractions, and the implementation of these into new tools. Here you will probably apply your new tools to some biological problem to demonstrate they work, but the details of that biology is secondary.
Comp bio in a Bio program will probably be focused more on solving a specific biological question using computational tools. As a computational biologist how came from biology myself I describe my self as a "Biologist who just happens to conduct experiments using a computer rather than a pipette". I do occasionally generate new tools if its necessary, but its my focus, or the focus of anyone who works in my group. If you choose this route it is important that you still work with a computational biology group (or at least a supervisor) - don't end up being the lone computationalist in an experimental group without a computational mentor.
(a third entry way into comp bio is via statistics).
The final point is to answer:
>
> Specifically: I know I am interested in research but does this
> necessarily mean I should do a PhD or is a Master's fine?
>
>
>
If you want a research career, you need a PhD.
>
> deciding about whether to apply directly to a PhD program or to do a
> Masters program first?
>
>
>
username_1 has observations from a US perspective.
In the UK, traditionally people in the life science apply directly to PhD programs from undergrad, but masters are becoming more common, and in our last admissions round we only admitted people with masters degrees, but they are not officially a requirement and plenty of people do get onto PhD programs without them.
In continental Europe, you will definitely need a masters degree.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/03/28
| 957
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:** I'm preparing research about a music-based arcade game, playable in the arcade game center. Requiring video dataset (including music in it), I recorded videos from the game playing by myself.
**Question:** Is it legal to use the videos for publishing an academic paper, even though they are just a kind of replay-videos?
Like many published research about games (e.g., Super Mario, League of Legend, ...), it seems to be possible to use in-game contents for research. I know there is a copyright issue especially using audio data for commercial use, but I'm wondering if it is still an issue in terms of academic research.
Actually, I don't know where to start searching keywords about this.<issue_comment>username_1: In the US, most people who aspire to a doctorate apply to doctoral programs at the end of the bachelors degree. A masters along the way isn't necessary and might even cause a delay (though not necessarily). On the other hand, many doctoral students earn a masters during doctoral study, sometimes just by asking for it and filling out a request. Other times a thesis might be required. But you don't need to apply again for doctoral studies.
As to your studies, I'd suggest that you look for universities that have actual computational biology programs, or at least a few professors who specialize in that. Taking a pure CS or pure biology program might take you afield of your goal.
And no, a doctoral program isn't (appreciably) harder to get in to. In some ways it is a bit easier, since doctoral programs often come with a TA position (and a stipend and tuition waiver) and universities often need those TAs to help in the undergraduate program. TAs are not always open to masters students, nor is tuition waiver usually granted.
But apply to several programs, not just a few. And not just the "top 10" programs in the country. The broader your search the more likely you will find something suitable.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: To add to @username_1's answer:
The sort of computational biology you will do in a CS program will be different to the comp bio you can do in a bio program. Specifically comp bio programs will probably offer you the opportunity to select groups working in both types.
Comp bio in a CS program will probably be focused on the development of new algorithms, frameworks and abstractions, and the implementation of these into new tools. Here you will probably apply your new tools to some biological problem to demonstrate they work, but the details of that biology is secondary.
Comp bio in a Bio program will probably be focused more on solving a specific biological question using computational tools. As a computational biologist how came from biology myself I describe my self as a "Biologist who just happens to conduct experiments using a computer rather than a pipette". I do occasionally generate new tools if its necessary, but its my focus, or the focus of anyone who works in my group. If you choose this route it is important that you still work with a computational biology group (or at least a supervisor) - don't end up being the lone computationalist in an experimental group without a computational mentor.
(a third entry way into comp bio is via statistics).
The final point is to answer:
>
> Specifically: I know I am interested in research but does this
> necessarily mean I should do a PhD or is a Master's fine?
>
>
>
If you want a research career, you need a PhD.
>
> deciding about whether to apply directly to a PhD program or to do a
> Masters program first?
>
>
>
username_1 has observations from a US perspective.
In the UK, traditionally people in the life science apply directly to PhD programs from undergrad, but masters are becoming more common, and in our last admissions round we only admitted people with masters degrees, but they are not officially a requirement and plenty of people do get onto PhD programs without them.
In continental Europe, you will definitely need a masters degree.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/03/28
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<issue_start>username_0: Some conference organizers recently emailed authors who submitted a paper to the conference the following rebuttal policy change:
>
> 1. You are not allowed to include new links (e.g. to datasets or repositories) in the text of the rebuttal
>
>
>
Why would the conference organizers ban the inclusion of new links (e.g. to datasets or repositories) in the text of the rebuttal?<issue_comment>username_1: It's usually to keep people from trying to ID reviewers by logging visitors to a private website. Same reason the NIH only allows links to one place, and that's a NCBI website they control.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The underlying reason might be that rebuttals should not present new data/results which were not included in the original submission.
Presenting new data/results in a rebuttal is problematic because it increases the review load: The new data might require some detailed explanations of how they were obtained and how they add to the overall work. Effectively, the reviewers have to discuss two versions of each paper (without and with the new results). The organizers might want to avoid that, given that the review load at good conferences is normally already quite substantial.
Of course, one could still allow links if they don't present new data/results. But this raises the question why these links were not included in the original paper. Potentially there have been previous experiences according to which the risk of misusing links to refer to new data/results is seen as too large.
Upvotes: 4
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2021/03/28
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been working on a project with a faculty member (let's call him S) that is not my advisor (let's call him A).
They are in different departments, and have little overlap. I am working on something with S (actually I am doing it mostly by myself, with a bit of advice from S) and am planning on publishing the results. I have shared the project with A, but since it's not his field, I know he has at best a vague understanding of the contents of the paper. However he did give the idea for the methodology, which I used.
S has continued giving me advice about this paper, mostly relating to expanding on the theory of the methodology he suggested. I don't think it's very useful (he doesn't understand the context) and would prefer to just go in the direction set with S.
However, when it comes to authorship, should I include A? It feels wrong to not include him when he has been giving well-intentioned advice (and supplied a crucial suggestion for the methodology). However, it also doesn't feel right to include him, since he isn't familiar with the rest of the contents of the paper beyond the methodology section.<issue_comment>username_1: Ideally, he (either S or A or both) should be included if and only if their intellectual contributions appear in the paper. If they have contributed that, then they should be an author, just as is true for any other person.
Unfortunately, the world isn't ideal and in some fields it is just "pretty standard" to include an advisor even if they have contributed only indirectly (such as funding a lab). Many see this as an aberration. But I'll write further here about the world as it should be, not as it is.
A contributor (of intellectual content, not just time and effort) of even a part of a paper is still an author. "Advice" probably isn't, in itself, enough of a contribution to rise to the level of author.
If you have a good enough relationship with the advisor, I'd suggest that you just ask him for his advice and reasoning. Don't argue over it, but consider whatever he says. I was never co-author with any of my students and would have declined in any case. I also advised a few other students for whom I was not the official advisor. After they completed their dissertation and were working on other papers, then I'd have considered it on any joint project, of course.
But the question you want to ask yourself, to help resolve this, is whether it feels like plagiarism to write the things you do, attributing the ideas of S to yourself. If it does, then they are almost certainly worthy of authorship.
It isn't the same thing, however, if what you got from them is an idea for a question to explore. Thank them for contributing, but if the answers are yours then authorship is yours. Ideally, at least.
In a less ideal world, you might have to do what you have to do.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I am a mathematician, but I did co-author a paper published in a chemistry journal. The paper was co-authored by seven people from the lab where I worked at the time: two mathematicians, two physicists, two chemists and an engineer (the lab director). I understood (and still understand) only the math part of the paper, I am sure that non-mathematicians, including the lab director, do not understand the math part. Nevertheless, certainly, there were no objections to including all seven people as co-authors.
Upvotes: 3
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2021/03/28
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<issue_start>username_0: I hope this question is appropriate for this site. Maybe community wiki might be a good option.
I was the TA in a course for undergraduates last term. I student approached me after the course ended and wanted to know how he could dive deeper into the subject of the course. I suggested him that we could launch a reading course, in which we would work through a research paper. I know the topic of the paper a bit, but want to use this reading course to learn about that specific subject myself.
**Question**: Do you have experience with such a format and can provide best practice?
What interests me in particular is: When I study a new topic on my own, that happens somehow in a non-linear manner. Together with another student, I guess it's necessary to give the whole thing quite a bit more structure and assign e.g. weekly reading assignments and specific tasks?<issue_comment>username_1: My experience was primarily as a (math) student many years ago but the course didn't focus on a single paper, but on a topic of which the paper was only an example. Maybe this is something you could use.
The basic meta concept is that reading isn't enough to learn and that students need to be more active if what they read/see/hear is to actually be learned.
So, if you organize a group around a *topic* and select, not one, but several papers that refer to that topic. Each student (or perhaps each pair of students) is responsible for creation of a presentation on that to the others, giving key concepts and any insights they manage to develop. But, all students are responsible for reading the paper.
A session, with everyone present, has two parts. First is the presentation of one of the follows by an open discussion at which questions can be asked and further ideas developed.
If the group meets once per week, then you "cover" one paper per week.
After the presentation and the discussion, the student could be asked to then develop a write-up.
This idea can be adapted to chapters of a book, also.
Note, however, that undergraduates can be expected to be awkward at this, so you need to be pretty understanding if it is a graded/marked activity. It is a useful skill to have, but one in which they have little or no experience. And not every suggestion here need be incorporated. There can be many variations.
---
Edited to add:
Suppose, however that you have a large and long single paper. Such is difficult to divide up, since understanding early parts may be essential for reading later parts.
In such a case, the paper can be read in "sections" by everyone. One student (or a pair) is designated to lead the discussion of the "next" section and develop a set of initial questions. When the group meets that student leads the discussion. Alternatively, each student must turn in a written question or two on the section of the week. Or perhaps an insight along with a question. But, again, but the emphasis on student activities beyond reading and just making up questions on the fly. Insist on some actual preparation.
---
Over the horizon. Bonus points.
The following is probably too much to expect from undergraduates but you might offer bonus points (in any grading scheme) for any student or group of students who can come up with a research question that might arise from the paper. You could suggest what might lead there such as "changing some initial condition" or "generalizing" or "specializing" or whatever seems appropriate for the readings at hand. It might even happen, even if unlikely.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I did it several times with individual students rather than a group. What we did was just to meet once a week and go one logical unit a time (could be anything from a section to a single lemma, depending on the length and difficulty). I asked if the student had any questions first, then I let him to present the piece on the board (closed book style, but I gave hints if he got stuck anywhere), and then we decided on what the next logical unit would be for the next week. The student was also welcome to ask questions between the sessions.
We have managed this way 2/3 of <NAME>'s "Random series of functions", about 1/2 of L. Hormander's "Functions of several complex variables", Carleson theorem on the a.e. convergence of the Fourier series (exposition by <NAME> and <NAME>) and a couple of other things (though I usually tended to choose books over individual papers), so I view it as a positive experience in general despite varying student's abilities and degrees of motivation.
IMHO, the main points are
1. to let the student do most of the work,
2. to thoroughly check understanding (the superficial knowledge of the first section of a long paper will invariably get you completely stuck by the fourth one, if not earlier),
3. to go reasonably slowly (so plan plenty of time for everything), and
4. to keep momentum (so for the hardest sections, the teacher has to participate in the discussion quite actively too; I usually tried to explain the general idea *before* I made a formal assignment for the next week in such cases).
I'm a bit wary of trying a group discussion (mainly because of point (2) I mentioned) but I'll not be surprised if some people managed to pull it through with more than just a short "one-session" paper.
The last but not least thing to mention is that you'd better read and understand the full paper yourself before assigning it. The only time I deviated from this rule resulted in a near disaster.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/03/28
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<issue_start>username_0: My MS advisor who is a tenured professor in a US school is padding his wife's name into my publication papers. His wife is an PhD candidate from the same department too and she didn't have any contribution on my research work. This is ethically and morally wrong but as the advisor is my thesis committee chair and I want to do my defense in coming month, I haven't opposed his idea yet. What I could do in this scenario? (He submitted one paper in a conference already with her name as second author and I am working to submit another in a transaction- he insisted her name to put in the second author position)<issue_comment>username_1: This sort of "guest" authorship is not unheard of. For instance, that may be why Chinese universities primarily give credit to the first or corresponding authors of papers (as opposed to other authors, who may be "guest" authors).
Assuming your description of the situation is correct, including another PhD student who had little to no contribution as the second author, especially one with a personal connection to the advisor, is definitely ethically questionable. It's good that you noticed and disagree with it.
Practically speaking, it's much easier to raise this issue **after** you have graduated and received any recommendation letters you need from your advisor. For instance, if indeed you are submitting in a few months, you could delay submission of the papers until afterwards. Alternatively, even if you submit a paper with a non-contributing second author, as the first author you will still receive the primary credit from any applications of your CV.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The situation you describe is known as the "White Bull effect" and was for example described [here](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/articles/PMC1734216/):
>
> "Junior researchers can be abused and bullied by unscrupulous senior
> collaborators. This article describes the profile of a type of serial
> abuser, the White Bull, who uses his academic seniority to distort
> authorship credit and who disguises his parasitism with carefully
> premeditated deception. Further research into the personality traits
> of such perpetrators is warranted."
>
>
>
what you can do? In your current situation: Most likely nothing. You can hardly win anything but lose a lot. But on the brighter side, in most fields only the first and the senior authorship count anyway (for exactly the reason described in the paper above).
Upvotes: 0
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2021/03/29
| 1,152
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<issue_start>username_0: There is legislative proposal in our small country (Republic of Latvia, Baltic Country, European Union) that proposes to allow elected associate professors, full professors and provosts of the research universities to be without doctorate (e.g. PhD or MD or other doctorate). The authors of proposal are saying that anglo-saxon and Western European countries have tradition (even Stanford University) to have such positions filled with persons not having doctorate.
I can not believe this. Doctorate degree is so common in academia, I can understand that only junior lecturers and assistant professors can be without doctorate (with mandatory master degree). But starting from associate professors - degree should be a must in science and medical studies.
Is there clarification available under which circumstances the Continental Western European research universities allow associate, full professors and provosts to be without doctorate (e.g. PhD or MD) (I mean specifically doctorate in medicine, and no just the professional qualification).
**My question applies specifically to the Continental Western Europe starting from Germany and Austria and going to the West. My question applies to the research and technical universities, not the Tertiary Art education (in which it is fair to have professional degrees)**. *The previous version of this question applied to Anglo-Saxon countries as well but I was reminded about similar US specific question, as well as there were comments about distinct UK traditions. So - there are a lot of information on Academia site about US and UK, so, I narrowed this question to the laws and practices of Continental Western Europe.*
**I edited question once more - I replaced wording "PhD/MD" with "doctorate". Of course, my question is about doctorate generally, not about particular type of doctorate as PhD or MD.**
If this question gathers enough proof that such legislative proposal is contrary to the traditions of the Western Universities, then I can bring this proof to the authors of the proposed legislation to question their true intentions.<issue_comment>username_1: It's pretty rare, but it looks like the University of Cambridge recently appointed someone without a doctorate to the <NAME> Professorship of English Law, and I've seen advertisements for associate-professor level vacancies in Engineering (in the UK) that call for either a Ph.D. or Chartered Engineer status, but not necessarily both.
The "Order of seniority of graduates" of the University of Cambridge (which primarily decides who's at the front and who's at the back in ceremonial processions) contains a special category for Professors who are not Doctors, which kind of implies that such people must exist.
ETA: I see the question has now been edited in such a way that this is no longer an answer to it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Academia has turned into a meat grinder and generally people who have a PhD will try to keep people without a PhD out purely because they didn't go through the same process.
There continues to be an inflation of qualifications for every area, classically a PhD was not needed not valued- Newton didn't have a doctorate nor did many important scientists in the past that worked at universities.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: In certain regions of Germany, you need a habilitation (above a PhD) to get a top-level W3 professorship, though there is wiggle room for "equivalent qualifications". See for example <https://inspirehep.net/jobs/1854066>.
In the UK, Cambridge is recruiting the <NAME> Professor of Cosmology, who must hold "a PhD or equivalent postgraduate qualification": <https://inspirehep.net/jobs/1849843>.
So it looks like the answer to your question is that it is possible to get such a job without a PhD. In practice, I think it is quite rare.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: In France, in order to be allowed to apply for a "Maître de Conférences" position (~=Associate Professor), one must either have a PhD **or** have 3 years of professional activity (excluding teaching and research) during the last 6 years.
See [this link (in french)](https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/article_lc/LEGIARTI000039331001/2019-11-01) for more details. There is a similar rule for Professor positions (habilitation **or** 5 years of professional activity during the last 8 years).
Therefore, in France, there may be Associate Professors or Professors who do not have a doctorate. Note that, however, most of them do.
Upvotes: 2
|
2021/03/29
| 361
| 1,483
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<issue_start>username_0: I am writing my MD thesis, which is about therapy for MS, and some drugs come up in more than one specific subchapter. Should I discuss them in detail in the first subchapter they come up in, or should I discuss them in the last chapter they come up in?<issue_comment>username_1: The answer varies: Readers will sometimes expect introduction there-and-then, in others they'll expect a delay, some readers will be divided. Regardless, generally avoid *will be discussed later* and *as was discussed previously*, use section references to guide the reader.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I tend to find forward and backward references that provide more context to be useful, such as: "Section 4.3 presents experiments that show that mint chocolate chip ice cream significantly reduces MS symptoms" and "This chapter presents experiments, as motivated by the discussion in Section 1.2, on the effect of mint chocolate chip ice cream on MS"
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Several thoughts.
* Think about who might read your thesis, and why. Put yourself in
their frame of mind. Then structure your thesis the way you would
like to encounter it.
* Do tell a story - the one that's right for that reader.
* Do use section number references rather than just "earlier" or
"later".
* If you can look at other theses in your program you can see what they
do.
* Ask your advisor.
* Don't worry too much about this. Whatever you do will be OK.
Upvotes: 2
|
2021/03/29
| 502
| 2,035
|
<issue_start>username_0: Four weeks ago I contacted the department of the University to ask whether there are PhD positions open. They emailed me some questions I needed to fill in and said that they will review my application and let me know if they have something available for me as soon as possible. After two weeks, I sent a follow-up email asking if there was already some news about my application, but they didn't respond.
Now, two weeks after that follow-up email, I still haven't heard anything. Is it okay to send a second follow-up email? How should I formulate it? I don't want to seem annoying and intrusive. On the one hand, I'm willing to be patient as I really want to pursue a PhD at that faculty, but on the other hand, if they don't offer me a position, I need to start looking for other positions as soon as possible.<issue_comment>username_1: It's typical to apply for multiple (10+) PhD positions simultaneously, rather than sequentially. Don't wait to hear back from this place, just send your other applications now. It's fine to ask again about your application, but this time ask for the date by which you can expect to have a decision.
Here's a suggestion for how to formulate the email (you can modify it according to the specific details of your situation):
>
> Dear Prof. X,
>
>
> Last month I applied for a PhD position in your department. Do you
> have any further news about my application, or an idea of when you
> might make a decision? I am really excited about this opportunity and
> look forward to hearing from you soon.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> MDG1999
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Another factor may be if the department hires a pool of students that are afterwards matched with supervisors after a year or so of courses, or if new students enter a research group directly. In the latter case, you could reach out to your potential supervisor. In certain cases it is in fact beneficial to reach out to possible supervisors ahead of time.
Upvotes: 0
|
2021/03/29
| 1,381
| 5,849
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm writing a Computer Science Dissertation and am wondering if I should make all mentions of terms in my glossary hyper linkable to the corresponding glossary definition. Should I or shouldn't I?
EDIT: Thanks for the feedback guys. Although the advice is somewhat conflicting, I think I'll hyperlink the first mention of these terms in the report. Might leave this until I've written the entire dissertation too! Else I might get too caught up in ironing out something that isn't worth very much, haha.
More advice is welcome! Thank you!<issue_comment>username_1: You shouldn't: Your thesis will be overfull with hyperlinks.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As username_1 said, hyperlinking for all mentions is probably excessive. In particular, in a long discussion of gizmos, the reader won't benefit from having a hyperlink at every occurrence of "gizmo". But it could be useful to have a hyperlink for the first occurrence in each chapter (or even each section if the sections are long). If a general rule like that doesn't work well, then ask yourself, whenever you use a glossary word, "Would a reader benefit significantly from a hyperlink here?"
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes you should. But hide all the links: `\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}`.
You cannot expect the reader to start on the first page and finish at the last, someone interested in a particular topic jumps to a subsection and will be happy to find a linked glossary term.
Manually linking the terms at the beginning of each chapter contradicts a main advantage of Latex.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: The two parts are the index and the glossary. I think this works best when the two are not separated.
We go to an index to find out where in the main document we need to go to learn about a specific term. Hyperlink a term to the index when you want the reader to find a specific concept, principle, or formulation associated with the term by going backwards from the index itself. Otherwise, do not hyperlink.
The first definition of a term within the main document deserves hyperlinking into the index. That may sometimes not be the first use of the term.
Example
-------
In below, terms to index are in [ ], with {this sub-link} as the message. Reappearances of that term not put in the index are in ( ).
An [atom]{smallest unit of matter} is the smallest unique chemical constituent of any matter. The (atom) cannot be divided to smaller components with unique chemical behavior. The [atom]{its fundamental particles} contains protons, neutrons, and electrons as its base fundamental particles. The [atom] does not directly contain muons, or gluons, or bosons as its base fundamental particles. An example of the unique chemical nature of an (atom) is its participation in a chemical reaction. One [mole]{with substances} of a substance contains a defined number of [atoms]{atoms in a mole}.
Now that we have the index, build the glossary. Use one (bi-directional) link between the glossary term and the index term. This can suffice to provide both one place to find the term (the index) as well as one point of reference to find the glossary term from any point where it is indexed.
Example
-------
The glossary might say this:
[atom]{link to index term} - The smallest unique chemical consistent of any matter.
...
[mole]{link to index term} - A unit of substance that contains a defined number of physical or chemical things.
... and the index might say this:
atom
* [definition]{link to glossary}
* [smallest unit of matter]
* [its fundamental particles]
* [atoms in a mole]
mole
* [definition]{link to glossary}
* [with substances]
If you do not build both an index and a glossary, then only reference the glossary term *in a bidirectional manner* at that point where you define the term or first use it in the main content. Other hyperlinks would be redundant. Why? Presumably, if this is going to ePub or PDF, the final document will have its table of contents sidebar that can be used for navigation at any other point.
References
----------
Follow ups for the mechanics of doing glossaries can be directed to the [TeX StackExchange](https://tex.stackexchange.com), perhaps especially referencing practices with the [glossaries package](https://ctan.org/pkg/glossaries).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: To follow up on existing answers with personnal experience. In my thesis, I linked *all* notations to their definition. In their report, one member of the jury says (roughtly translated) : "The existence of links between notations and their definition is particularly useful", and later, "We can also notice the systematic of links not only between a reference to a definition or a lemma and its defintion, but also between notations and definitions. Those links improve considerably the reading comfort.". When writing a dissertation, one should have in mind that the document, which contains non-trivial elements, is meant to be read by other people. Anything you can do to ease the reading improves the understanding of your document.
Of course, all those links should be hidden, not to disrupt reading comfort. If you use hyperref, something like `hidelinks=true` in `hypersetup` should work properly (as a matter of fact, when I was writting, I actually turned the color on to check that I did not miss any links).
The easiest way to do this reference work is to use macros. For each notation, term, etc., you create a macro which automatically adds the reference. For elements that always have the same form (e.g., since you are in computer sciences, names of class, functions, etc.), it additionnally ensures that your names are consistent. For elements that may change (e.g. verbs, nouns), the easiest way is to take what should be displayed as parameter.
Upvotes: 1
|
2021/03/29
| 1,438
| 6,037
|
<issue_start>username_0: There are already some discussions on whether it's illegal to use Sci-Hub for research purposes, such as in [this Academia SE thread](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/87688/what-are-the-consequences-of-using-sci-hub).
But [one answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/111057/) and comments there open up another question: Is it illegal to publish a paper containing information or data acquired from such sites such as Sci-Hub and library genesis (if downloading papers from where is deemed illegal)? One argument for this is one should not use information acquired via illegal means. Then in strict sense we cannot even cite a paper downloaded there. I cannot come up with a counterargument to that now though.<issue_comment>username_1: You shouldn't: Your thesis will be overfull with hyperlinks.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As username_1 said, hyperlinking for all mentions is probably excessive. In particular, in a long discussion of gizmos, the reader won't benefit from having a hyperlink at every occurrence of "gizmo". But it could be useful to have a hyperlink for the first occurrence in each chapter (or even each section if the sections are long). If a general rule like that doesn't work well, then ask yourself, whenever you use a glossary word, "Would a reader benefit significantly from a hyperlink here?"
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes you should. But hide all the links: `\usepackage[hidelinks]{hyperref}`.
You cannot expect the reader to start on the first page and finish at the last, someone interested in a particular topic jumps to a subsection and will be happy to find a linked glossary term.
Manually linking the terms at the beginning of each chapter contradicts a main advantage of Latex.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: The two parts are the index and the glossary. I think this works best when the two are not separated.
We go to an index to find out where in the main document we need to go to learn about a specific term. Hyperlink a term to the index when you want the reader to find a specific concept, principle, or formulation associated with the term by going backwards from the index itself. Otherwise, do not hyperlink.
The first definition of a term within the main document deserves hyperlinking into the index. That may sometimes not be the first use of the term.
Example
-------
In below, terms to index are in [ ], with {this sub-link} as the message. Reappearances of that term not put in the index are in ( ).
An [atom]{smallest unit of matter} is the smallest unique chemical constituent of any matter. The (atom) cannot be divided to smaller components with unique chemical behavior. The [atom]{its fundamental particles} contains protons, neutrons, and electrons as its base fundamental particles. The [atom] does not directly contain muons, or gluons, or bosons as its base fundamental particles. An example of the unique chemical nature of an (atom) is its participation in a chemical reaction. One [mole]{with substances} of a substance contains a defined number of [atoms]{atoms in a mole}.
Now that we have the index, build the glossary. Use one (bi-directional) link between the glossary term and the index term. This can suffice to provide both one place to find the term (the index) as well as one point of reference to find the glossary term from any point where it is indexed.
Example
-------
The glossary might say this:
[atom]{link to index term} - The smallest unique chemical consistent of any matter.
...
[mole]{link to index term} - A unit of substance that contains a defined number of physical or chemical things.
... and the index might say this:
atom
* [definition]{link to glossary}
* [smallest unit of matter]
* [its fundamental particles]
* [atoms in a mole]
mole
* [definition]{link to glossary}
* [with substances]
If you do not build both an index and a glossary, then only reference the glossary term *in a bidirectional manner* at that point where you define the term or first use it in the main content. Other hyperlinks would be redundant. Why? Presumably, if this is going to ePub or PDF, the final document will have its table of contents sidebar that can be used for navigation at any other point.
References
----------
Follow ups for the mechanics of doing glossaries can be directed to the [TeX StackExchange](https://tex.stackexchange.com), perhaps especially referencing practices with the [glossaries package](https://ctan.org/pkg/glossaries).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: To follow up on existing answers with personnal experience. In my thesis, I linked *all* notations to their definition. In their report, one member of the jury says (roughtly translated) : "The existence of links between notations and their definition is particularly useful", and later, "We can also notice the systematic of links not only between a reference to a definition or a lemma and its defintion, but also between notations and definitions. Those links improve considerably the reading comfort.". When writing a dissertation, one should have in mind that the document, which contains non-trivial elements, is meant to be read by other people. Anything you can do to ease the reading improves the understanding of your document.
Of course, all those links should be hidden, not to disrupt reading comfort. If you use hyperref, something like `hidelinks=true` in `hypersetup` should work properly (as a matter of fact, when I was writting, I actually turned the color on to check that I did not miss any links).
The easiest way to do this reference work is to use macros. For each notation, term, etc., you create a macro which automatically adds the reference. For elements that always have the same form (e.g., since you are in computer sciences, names of class, functions, etc.), it additionnally ensures that your names are consistent. For elements that may change (e.g. verbs, nouns), the easiest way is to take what should be displayed as parameter.
Upvotes: 1
|
2021/03/29
| 1,820
| 7,465
|
<issue_start>username_0: I currently have a postdoc at a university in the US whose contract stipulates only that I "produce research" relevant to my field. I have no supervisor and have not been hired as part of a particular grant requiring regular updates to a funding institution. I have been offered a second year of this postdoc should I choose it (I have not yet).
In the meanwhile, I have accepted an offer for next year in another country funded by a private foundation in which I will be working closely with a supervisor. For a fleeting moment, I have wondered whether or not it would be possible to run both jobs simultaneously, since one (my current appointment) has no tangible requirements beyond the "production of research". I can't find anything relevant in either of my contracts or in the conflict of interest statements for the respective universities. However, I haven't pursued this option since:
1. It seems tasteless, and I wouldn't want to jeopardize my relationship with anyone at either institution.
2. I assume there must be some injunction against accepting two positions, particularly with regard to the intellectual property produced by the researcher.
Point 1 also prevents me from asking anyone at my institutions about this option (for the moment). Are my suspicions correct?
Thanks in advance.
**Edit**: Two more relevant points: first, my current position allows me to work remotely at the moment and I strongly suspect this will continue; second, I do have some extremely light obligations in the form of aiding in the organization of departmental events, but, again, this can be done remotely and I would certainly continue this in the event of a dual postdoc.<issue_comment>username_1: It is hard to predict what is "possible". Your contract(s) and policies may stipulate expectations.
But to be safe, I would suggest, only do this with everyone's knowledge and permission. I doubt that it would be given, I guess, but you could suffer if you do it "on the sly". If you do a good job in both and no one learns of the deception then you might be ok, but that certainly isn't assured. And, working it out in advance will help make expectations clear and avoid any legal issues.
Also, it is good to sleep, occasionally and to have an actual life.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: There isn’t an employer in the US who will agree to pay you a salary knowing that you are also getting a salary from another employer for working during the same hours. If we’re talking about moonlighting during the weekend, that would be something else, but what you are proposing? No. The lack of tangible work requirements is irrelevant, it’s just a non-starter from an HR and policy point of view. Even if your PI is okay with it (they won’t be, but let’s pretend just for argument’s sake), their institution won’t be.
So, it comes down to whether you can do this surreptitiously and avoid getting caught, and what the precise legal and reputational risks are. I’ll leave that for you to ponder about. The folks at law.stackexchange might have some advice.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It is rare but OK (within contracts) to be paid to do the same work by two different entities.
The problem arise when Uni A will tell you: "hey, i want you to work on problem XYZ now" and organization B tells you "keep working on QWE problem".
Now what you gonna do? You can try working 16hrs a day, but that is usually a recipe for disaster.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I do not think that your employers will agree to such a construction (after all, they both pay you for a fulltime job), but even if they do, I would strongly advise you not to do it.
I have no experience with parallel postdoc positions, but I tried to combine two part-time jobs for some years (with the knowledge of both employers), and I think there are some aspects that might be similar.
The problem is that even if both employers know that you have another job and they agree, they expect you to be available whenever they think it reasonable. If employer 1 schedules a meeting on Monday morning and employer 2 expects you to do some urgent work for him (or attend a conference or something like that) at the same time, you are in trouble. If you promised employer 2 to be in at a certain time and employer 1 expects you to work overtime, you are in trouble. There will be many situations where you have to disappoint at least one of your employers, and this will fall back on you. In the end, you work a lot more than others, but with mediocre results. This is very dissatisfying.
Stay away from it. Instead, take your choice and concentrate on one job.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: At some universities, you might get under-100% contracts and in those cases, I agree that having a small extra-job is ok. Say, you accept short-term extra pay for collaborating on a paper from another university, or a 20% job elsewhere if you're hired 80% at your main place. In those cases, it's customary to let both institutions know.
It's ok to have multiple affiliations. I have two for some papers because I was hired by a lab for a specific small project for 3 months.
I would not have done that in the case where my main employer dislikes or has a rivalry with the other department.
However, if you have a full time job from both places, it's not acceptable. Also, even with an 80% position, you're often expected to work more ("it's your career", after all).
You can also think about it ethically: If you accept a 60-40 or 80-20 solution, that's one thing, since you are filling some specific need. I had a 60-40 situation during my PhD time, where I worked as lab manager (which was a position that isn't seen as furthering your academic career where I work) part time and as a PhD student researcher for 60% (but actually much more, as we all know). This was possible, because my lab manager hours were clearly delineated. I had very clear tasks and ad to report my hours. Whereas the PhD position was your run of the mill "just" having to do research, papers, conferences, and all that, which is less clear in terms of hours and often even tasks.
However, if you're taking up two full positions (or almost full, if they're both, say, 80%), you are taking up a position that another researcher might take to further their career.
And in your case it doesn't even seem like it's because you really want to work with someone at your first university, it's "just" for the pay?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Most of the other answers get the logistics right, you can typically make an arrangement like this at 80/20, but not both full-time. That said I think the other answers are failing to make clear how serious a problem trying to get around this could be. I am not a lawyer, but this would almost certainly be fraud, and might open you or your PI’s up for criminal charges. Grants require the PI to certify that each person paid is working on the project for the number of months you’re paying them for. You can’t double-dip like this (eg if a PI has two grants that both require the same experiment you can’t double-pay a student to do the experiment). What you’re suggesting is a crime, and even worse could be drawing your PIs into your criminal scheme for failing to supervise their employees enough to know whether they’re working on their grant when they certified that they were.
Don’t do this!
Upvotes: 3
|
2021/03/29
| 746
| 3,002
|
<issue_start>username_0: I have a bachelor's degree in Physics. I am currently doing my master's in Physics with a focus on machine learning. I want two thing for future:
1. I want to gain coursework experience from different country - I am fascinated how coursework, be it undergraduate or graduate level, is done in different countries and I want to experience that.
2. I want to be a veterinary professional. (I wanted to teach at one point and do research. Therefore, had a plan for PhD but I no longer want to be in academia). That could be a veterinary nurse or a doctor.
I didn't share this with anyone as I was afraid of being judged as immature or naive. I would really appreciate any advice on what I can do to achieve my goals. Are my goals justified?<issue_comment>username_1: First: Don't care what people think about you or your decisions, as we often fail to make dreams come true for fear of what others will think of us.
Second: there is no problem with doing several degrees, but one thing is certain if you are not a well-defined person in your goals there will come a time when all this excitement will end and you will look back and think "I arrived here and the did I do for a living? Think about it!
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm a skeptic about this plan, actually. It is good to learn a lot of stuff, actually. A bachelors in the US is intended to teach you lots of stuff and also get started on a specialty.
You may have unlimited money to support your student "habit", and you may *think* you have unlimited time. But the latter isn't really true. If you have no real goals and can support that habit without a career then fine. And the ride will be fun, I suppose, until at 50 (or 70) you are the oldest person in some elementary course and you don't really share interests with anyone anymore.
But an alternative plan, even with a multiplicity of goals, is to first choose the main goal (say vet med) and work to get that under your belt, rather than delaying it, possibly for years. Then, if you still want to you can use that base to do other things.
The one downside of an unfocused plan, several degrees in different areas, is that people might get to the idea that you aren't really *serious* about anything in particular and just refuse to work with you as it wouldn't seem to lead anywhere or matter much. They might, well, decide to work with someone who has real dedication to the current program.
However, [<NAME>](https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2017/06/15) in Doonesbury has had a lot of fun with an unfocused life and a very long run as a student.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: You need to identify what specific courses are needed to enter into the fields you are interested in. Then determine what you are missing and what your options are for completion. For example, for many health professions in the US there are post-baccalaureate programs specifically for career changers to finish their prerequisites.
Upvotes: 2
|
2021/03/29
| 1,262
| 5,371
|
<issue_start>username_0: Let assume a journal accepted a topical review proposal I submitted. It's often a good approach for a student like me (PhD student) to coauthor the paper with a more experienced researcher who is quite known in the field. In my previous papers, when was the first author, I wrote the whole paper and asked for feedback from the coauthors at the end of the writing (since they contributed in the experimental data acquisition for example, but not on the research development).
For the specific case of a topical review, I wonder how the coauthoring is done in practice ? Are the coauthors expected to write some parts of the review ?<issue_comment>username_1: Who does the actual "writing" (i.e. putting pen to paper or fingers to keys) is actually immaterial. I've published with half a dozen people where everything was "written" by one person, since he is (by far) the best writer in the group. He chose the words and the sentence structure. But the *ideas* came primarily from two other people and the rest of us contributed ideas from our own experience. The "writer" synthesized all of that into a nice expressive form. But without the rest of us he wouldn't have been able to do it.
Authorship is (or should be) about intellectual contributions, not physical manipulations of keyboards or even of experimental equipment.
At the other end of the scale, I've written books with major publishers and worked with a *copy\_editor* who helped with some of my (occasionally!!) awkward syntax. In no such case would anyone expect that their contributions were authorship.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I wrote a couple of reviews with 5-7 coauthors in the last years, and indeed, in all of them almost every coauthor was asked to write their part. Some of my co-authors were indeed PhD students. On top of that, there was one "main guy" who was basically responsible for getting everything together, making sure that different parts have comparable weight/length, taking care of the figures etc. This person was a corresponding author too.
Interestingly, while generally in my field there is a tendency that the first author is often a PhD student and the last author is a group leader, in review papers the order can be very random.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Coauthorship in academic publications has two very important, distinct perspectives. One is a matter of scholarly principle, the other is a matter of scholarly politics.
Concerning **scholarly principle**, probably the most thoughtful and influential guidance on coauthorship is the [authorship recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors](http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html) (often called the "Vancouver Protocol"). In summary:
>
> **2. Who Is an Author?**
>
>
> The ICMJE recommends that authorship be based on the following 4
> criteria:
>
>
> * 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.
>
>
> In addition to being accountable for the parts of the work he or she
> has done, an author should be able to identify which co-authors are
> responsible for specific other parts of the work. In addition, authors
> should have confidence in the integrity of the contributions of their
> co-authors.
>
>
>
I personally strive to follow these principles in all my coauthorship. I recommend that you read the full document to develop a sense of what is appropriate.
However, especially as a PhD student, you must also pay carefully attention to **scholarly politics**. The reality is that not all of your supervisors, chairs, senior professors and so on will follow these principles--some of these people might not follow any of them at all. You need to learn to astutely navigate the institutional environment in which you find yourself. On one hand, you should never do anything that violates your own conscience. On the other hand, as a PhD student, some people who have direct power over you sometimes constrain you to do things that you are not confortable with and which you do not have the authority to oppose. (From my PhD days, I have a few publications with "coauthors" who certainly did not deserve it, but I and my fellow PhD student coauthors were powerless to do anything about it. However, since I became a professor, I do not tolerate any such nonsense on a publication where I am a coauthor.)
To take care of the politics, I recommend that you find a trusted mentor at your academic institution who knows the power plays going on among the people around you and whom you trust to advise you in your best interest. Such a mentor might or might not be your official supervisor. It would be wise to consult this mentor about any coauthorship decisions, such as this one you are asking here. However, politics or no politics, you need to always take care of your conscience.
Upvotes: -1
|
2021/03/29
| 4,870
| 21,127
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<issue_start>username_0: I quit my current research group after four and a half years. I am currently looking for other opportunities to join a new research group and finish my PhD.
Based on recent meetings with my former PhD adviser, our graduate coordinator, and our department chair, I was asked to sign and accept a **Data Transfer Document** to acknowledge that all the data, code, and intellectual property that were created during these four and a half years belong to my former PhD adviser, which I don't have any claim. I am willing to give up all the data, code, and intellectual property to him. I don't want to use anything created during these four and a half years for the rest of my life.
I received this **Data Transfer Document** today, and it contains some information that my former PhD adviser still recommends me to stay and continue my work with him. Still, I'm not going to do that. After that, a long list of data, code, implementations, and other created things during these four and a half years. In the end, there is a place that I need to sign and attest that I acknowledge that I transfer everything to him. It's OK, and I'm going to sign that.
This list of contributions gives me the impression that my former adviser expects me to complete all the incomplete tasks, and then I would turn them to him. My concern is that he hopes to do new work on the existing research materials and possibly bring them to a shape that he expects to see. My understanding of transferring all the data and research materials to the PI when somebody quits is like a freeze. Everything that was created and developed up to that moment should be transferred entirely to the PI in its current form. I don't think my former PI should expect that I'm going to do more work when I want to give up four and a half years and accept the pain of not getting a PhD for all the work I did during these years. If I wanted to continue to work on these research materials, I would stay, not leaving and abandoning all of my works.
It should be noted here that I **never** received any funding from my former PhD adviser. My funding comes from a different department entirely unrelated to my former PhD adviser.
In response to his list, I compiled another list that points out what data, results, or code is located where and how to access that. All the materials are stored within the university's storage and repositories. I don't want to have a lengthy discussion with my former adviser about why something is not complete in his opinion or if he expects me to do extra work on current research materials. I'm going to send him this list that I compiled and the signed Data Transfer Document and say whatever that is created during these four and a half years is entirely yours, and I don't have any claim. I wanted to know if he can force me to do extra or new work on the current research materials or not?
**Update**: I communicated my concerns to our graduate coordinator, and I received this response:
>
> 1. It is not in my competency to decide what should be in the Data Transfer Document. It is created solely by your adviser.
> 2. You are not supposed to do extra research to satisfy this requirement. My understanding is that you need to Transfer Data that is already existing.
> 3. About intellectual property issues, you might consult with appropriate IP persons prior signing the document. Also you might consult with them if there are any consequences of not signing this document.
>
>
>
So, even if item 2 might be correct, I'm not comfortable with the hostile language and how it is worded. My other impression from this response is that not signing this document is also not that important as long as I acknowledge the University's IP policy.
**Further update/clarification**: I originally did not have the confidence to refuse to sign the data transfer document. But after this discussion, I have now told my adviser that I am not comfortable signing.
**Latest update**: Following my question, it seems that I must sign the proposed document to be able to switch my research group inside our department. I have pasted the two parts of this document that I am not comfortable with. I kindly ask you to read these sentences and let me know if reading this content will affect any prospective adviser's decision. Please tell me if you get a bad impression from a student approaching you and not accept him/her after reading these sentences.
>
> You have indicated that you wish to withdraw from your research course and abandon your dissertation research following an incomplete (I) grade that you did not resolve, resulting in a no pass (NP) grade for the semester. My recommendation remains for you to work with the graduate school to develop a plan to improve your research skills while recognizing the tenets of academic integrity. The sanctions imposed for previous violations of academic integrity remain binding. You should also be aware that according to the university regulations, all requirements for a doctoral degree must be completed within eight years from the date a student first matriculates into a doctoral degree program at this university.
>
>
>
>
> The undersigned acknowledges Mr. Alone Programmer’s obligations outlined in this memo and enclosed documents and acknowledges Mr. Alone Programmer’s responsibility to resolve any pending issues of concern under University’s Graduate School Policies and Procedures.
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: If you sign a document in which you promise to complete unfinished projects, it will become much harder for you to refuse a request to do that, since you will be refusing to do something that you promised to do.
Now, whether what you signed constitutes a legally enforceable contract or not may be debatable, and may depend on whether you are receiving [consideration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consideration), whether you had a reasonable option to refuse to sign, the precise legal jurisdiction, and many other details. Regardless, it is generally a good idea not to sign documents in which you make commitments you don’t think you should be asked to keep or which seem unfair. Even with a document that’s not legally enforceable in some hypothetical sense, people tend to put a lot of stock in a person’s signature on a piece of paper, and the former adviser may still have influence over your future career.
I suggest that you study the data transfer document some more to make sure you understand what it is asking you to do. If at that point you still have concerns, raise them with the department chair, *before* you sign the document. Good luck!
**Edit:** I see that other people are advising you to consult a lawyer. I didn’t suggest that at first because in my experience people tend to throw around such suggestions much more casually than they would follow such advice themselves. (For example, in my entire life I went to “consult a lawyer” about something exactly once, and that was regarding an issue involving a large amount of money.) Anyway, for what it’s worth, if consulting a lawyer is an option that’s available to you and within your budget, then yes, I agree that may be a good idea in the current situation, especially if you still have serious doubts about the data transfer document after studying its contents more and/or suspect the department isn’t looking out for your best interests.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Do not sign any document you are not sure about. Do not sign a document that assigns property to someone else unless you are getting fairly paid for it.
Your PhD advisor cannot force you to do anything unless you have agreed contractually to do it.
Very probably the work you did as a PhD student belongs to your university, and not to yourself or your advisor. Consult your university's policies.
If you need detailed advice, consult your union (if any) or a lawyer.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: This seems rather unfair to you, but let’s put that aside. It seems like the crux of the issue may be whether the word complete means “finished” or “total.” If I were to ask you to give over the “complete” data for a project, is that the finished data or all the data you have?
I am not a lawyer, but to the best of my knowledge the way to deal with this ambiguity is to add a clause to the document which spells out the meaning of the word complete. So here you would want to specify that complete refers to all items in your possession on a particular date. You could also specify that this agreement does not create any obligation for you to incrementally improve work after X date to achieve a more finished state.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Your immediate question concerns whether to sign a Data Transfer Document and/or to add a clause or substitute a different document. My advice is to take a step back and sleep on the paperwork and if possible show everything to a good friend who is COMPLETELY UNINVOLVED. Get some outside perspective and bear in mind what YOUR best interest is. Earlier answers have good advice about who legally owns what but consider also how your former advisor can help or ignore or be an obstacle to your career in future. It seems likely you are not getting along with your advisor and I'd be the first to acknowledge that Ph.D. students are a modern day form of indentured servants, but your overriding goal should be to leave on friendly or at least neutral terms. The best would be if your former advisor were to (publicly) say that you'll be welcome back in 6 months or a year if things don't work out.
It's not necessarily fair but wherever you go they are going to expect a reference from your former advisor. They may give you an opportunity to explain it and they may discount it but it will always be there. You spent 4.5 years or about 10% of your work career working for or with this person. You will notice that I don't regard this as "school" but rather "work" even if your advisor didn't fund you. And FWIW these situations frequently arise in the work world where you are employed by one organization but spend long periods working for another. Once I got 2 different annual reviews but mostly I got collaborative reviews where the manager I was actually working for day to day provided feedback to my "owning" manager. The reality is that any person you move to will want to assess both your skills and your teamwork. Many times people leave good jobs because of personality differences and new bosses are fine with that if they are reassured that you will fit well with their team. Try hard to lay the groundwork now for such a determination in future.
Best of luck to you. And always remember, friends come and go but enemies accumulate.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: **Don’t sign**
At least until you have had some proper advice. I haven’t seen the document and IANAL but there is a difference between what the University or PI might assert is its IP and what actually is.
This matters because you say you still want to get a PhD and the work you have done in the last 4.5 years might be useful to you in that. You wouldn’t be the first person to have a dissertation that involved some disparate research conducted with different PIs in the interests of graduating and moving forward if that was what, after some time and reflection you decided to do. Certainly, waiving your rights to all of your work may create difficulties for you if the PI decides to be difficult.
It also matters potentially given your funding is from a firm. Again I don’t know the details but they may have some interest in the IP.
Finally, if it’s valuable to them, and you created it, they should pay you for it. If you prefer not to involve money you could release it via some type of open source license, assuming the status of the IP allowed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: What's going to happen if you **don't** sign? If nothing much, then refer them back to the University's policy document on IP.
I'm wondering why they need this. If it's not already covered by agreement then just say no. Either they own the IP and rights or they don't. If they don't then why do they think they have the right to demand it? Why assign to a particular person? That's fishy.
Watch out for **what** you're assigning. For example, you might be happy giving title to 'stuff' but *not* the fact that *you did the work*. You did a lot of work and should get, and keep, credit for doing it.
In the case of a falling-out with the powers that be, you also need to protect your reputation. For example you wrote "black is not white" but then this was simply changed, yet still attributed to you, then what can you do? You need to keep cover-your-arse copies because anything from malice to carelessness might blot your reputation. Quite likely the funders will get a skewed story from the management and your work will be used to polish the reputation of people you don't like.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I'm just repeating here what others have said already, mostly, but I will add it again to be sure. Don't sign anything.
Not that the legal implications are terribly important anyway; but it will be an important psychological step to snap out of the strange state of mind you are in.
You are not a serf beholden to some job you worked at for a few years. You don't owe these people anything. No signatures, no additional work, no excuses.
There is a whole world out there outside of academia. I get the distinct impression it isn't making you happy. Walk away from it. Get a job washing dishes if you must; anything to snap you out of this PhD-induced-psychosis (I don't mean that literally, but whatever) and remind yourself that there is a whole world out there.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: You are being asked to sign a legal document. You should seek legal advice from a lawyer, if you really are interested in protecting your own self-interest. Even with regard to IP, your name should still appear on any resulting copyrights or patents, as the producer of the IP.
You should not sign a document you are not comfortable with.
You should certainly check with a lawyer, but there may be no problem with communicating your concerns to your Chair and Graduate Coordinator, listing specifically the sentences in the document that preclude your signing it. If you're willing to sign without those sentences, let them know that (but you should really talk to a lawyer before signing!)
There is substantial risk that not signing will be an obstacle to matching with another advisor -- though matching with another advisor even if you sign is certainly not a given.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: I would try to get out of it without signing anything. It doesn't matter if you don't expect to use what you did in the foreseeable future. Basically, when you enrolled in this PhD, everything you did was covered by some existing rules to which you agreed explicitly or implicitly when you entered the PhD program. Asking you to sign something now doesn't seem to make sense, unless they are trying to get from you something they are not entitled to. If they cannot force you to sign, like implicitly blackmailing you by making you understand you will never be able to enroll in something else in the same university (supposing it's something you want), then don't sign. It doesn't matter if you don't value what you are giving them when signing such a document.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: First off: You can't be forced to do anything in any situation where you are walking away (\*).
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This implies that when you are *asked to* sign a document, you can decline. You can also decide to sign it, but you should ask yourself (and the other party) what's in it for you if you do. It's a negotiation, and that means both sides should strive to get something meaningful out of it, and walk away if they don't. In a situation like this, that could mean that they support you for your future steps, give you good references etc (even if you don't see their benefit right now, you can insist on that). That basically means, there needs to be a benefit for you in that document and they will also need to put a signature under that.
**In any case, take your time!** This is nothing that should be done in haste, and there should be no urge from their side. You would be well-advised to consult a third party for legal advice, anyway. Sometimes there is an association of law students or something similar that might be willing to help you if you can't afford it.
(\*) unless you have a contractual obligation from a *previous* contract, but then they wouldn't need you to sign anyway.
Don't sign before you are 100% sure of what you are doing!
----------------------------------------------------------
On top of that, there seems to be a lot of confusion about the contents of the contract. What exactly are you *giving away*? An instruction on how to access the data/code? The exploitation rights (right to publish the codes etc.)? Removing you from the authorship lists (that would be wrong)? This should be clarified. Regarding the recommendation to continue your work, that may be just a CYA for you advisor to make sure that he did his due diligence that you are acknowledging before you put your career at risk. But if you feel like it could be seen as an obligation to do more work, then, again, don't sign (possibly negotiate the wording).
When you are making a disrupting decision, don't forget about future eventualities!
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This is very important! You never know how everything will pan out in the future. There is a common pattern when people leave in grief that they want to close the chapter, and can't get rid of the emotional weight fast enough. Try to assess this calmly:
* Are you giving up the work of 4.5 years (!!) just to be done with it?
* You may need your past work in the future! For another PhD very likely! and even if not, you never know how it could be useful.
* Can your relationship with your former advisor / faculty be salvaged so that everyone can leave saving their face?
* Are they trying to help you, maybe, and can you benefit from that?
* How can you build your future in a constructive way, and how do your current actions shape that future?
* Can you aim for a solution where you can give a positive spin to it at some point in the future?
**Take your time!**
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_11: You wrote:"My fund comes from a different department completely unrelated to my former PhD adviser."
When you accepted this funding, you probably signed a document with a lot of fine print. Check this fine print. I wouldnt be surprised if all your code and IP might actually belong to them already. It is rare that you receive funding from a department not wanting something in exchange. (Scholarships can be different).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: You have a say in the wording of the doc. In my experience, there is a bit of back and forth about what these docs say pursuant of a signature. I'm with most of the people above, I'm not sure walking away from 4.5 years of work when you are trying to build a future is sound but only you know the circumstances. Short of hiring a lawyer, I'd simply go through the document and modify it to fit your comfort level and counter offer an agreement that outlines specifically, that you WILL NOT be obligated to future work for or with the advisor or the project and the information being released to them will be "as-is"... You can word-smith it but you get the jist.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_13: If there is someone you are on speaking terms with (dept head? grad chair? student rep? union?) you could explain your concern about signing up for more work though you do not object to handing over existing data as is.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_14: >
> It is not in my competency to decide what should be in the Data Transfer Document. It is created solely by your advisor.
>
>
>
If the advisor **solely invented a document** for you to sign then really you should not sign it and wait for an official document to come in (I heavily doubt it will come someday).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_15: If understood correctly, you are not finishing the PhD and will not continue the work with that PI.
Then he has no claim to even ask for you to do any extra work whatsoever.
As for what was done before he left, and if that solely belongs to him etc, that’s more of a legal question and I saw you asked a graduate coordinator. Great! Ask within the institute or university wherever you were based and if you don’t get answers that are fully understandable and acceptable to you. Climb up the ladder to that persons boss and ask them. Keep doing that until you legally know exactly what is that you should or shouldn’t do.
Good luck
Upvotes: 1
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2021/03/30
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<issue_start>username_0: One of the top Italian research centre for applied physics, the Area Science Park located in Trieste, just elected its new president.
The president's CV can be found here:
<https://ginko.unipg.it/ws/sitopersonale/cv.php?humanid=caterina.petrillo&tipo=EV>
By reading it, I discovered she got her Physics degree in 1984, starting in 1985 a post-doc bursary at an Italian institution.
Is it still possible to apply for post-doc bursaries&fundings in Italy without having completed a PhD?<issue_comment>username_1: The doctorate in Italy (*dottorato di ricerca*) was officially instituted [in 1982](https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/do/gazzetta/downloadPdf?dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=19820920&numeroGazzetta=259&tipoSerie=FO&tipoSupplemento=SO&numeroSupplemento=57&progressivo=0&estensione=pdf&edizione=0), and the first courses started in 1983, so it was definitely not a common thing in the 1980s. People even got full professor positions without having one (since it did not exist).
Post-secondary education was not standardized across nations then like it is today; Italian scientists did their first research experiences with other research contracts, 'assistantships' (*assistente*) and other early-career positions that just weren't formally a PhD and did not end with discussing a thesis.
Regarding that CV, the most likely explanation is that "post-doctoral fellowship" is a liberal translation of the name of the Italian position she held. Note, though, that another non-standard practice of Italian academia is that people can legally be called *dottore* as soon as they get *any* university degree, even a 3-year bachelor. (although in the 1980s university degrees came after a single 4- to 6-year course, which was roughly equivalent to a BSc+MSc course with today's standards). So maybe in the eyes of the translator that position was "post-doctoral" because she was already a *dottore* (although not a *dottore di ricerca*).
As for your last question, it depends on the exact kind of position, but for instance I think you can still apply for a RTD-A (non-tenure-track assistant professorship) without a PhD [EDIT: not anymore since 2017; thanks @MassimoOrtolano for the correction].
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: About your last question, let me add something to [Federico's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/165689/20058). Unless you are a lawyer, and I'm not one, in Italy it is frequently difficult to properly navigate and understand the constraints imposed by the law but, as far as I understand, both the RTD-A and RTD-B positions1 require a PhD or equivalent title2. These are the current entry points if you want to aim at a tenured position.
Probably the only position that in Italy does not require a PhD is the *assegno di ricerca di tipo B* (the *tipo A*, instead, is a post-doc position), which is the typical way used to hire someone who has finished the standard three-year PhD period but hasn't yet defended the title. But if you don't have a PhD, you cannot go beyond this, and this position cannot be turned into a permanent one. Without a PhD you're also quite at risk of not being selected if someone with a PhD applies too.
1See [this answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/46009/20058) and [this one](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/159713/20058) for a more detailed description of these positions.
2If you open a *bando* (the application rules), you will likely find that the first 1-2 pages just list the relevant laws, decrees and university regulations on which the *bando* is based, and it's a daunting task to trace back the origin of a certain constraint.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Mathematicians don't seem to have a consensus on which questions are mathematical, and which ones are interesting but sometimes one pronounces with an air of *authority* on a question or solution or unfamiliar new method. So what exactly is the *training* that mathematicians have had that allows them to be so sure about their answers?
What would be a valid way for a mathematician to prove or at least demonstrate or argue that a question or technically valid solution is not interesting or not mathematical.<issue_comment>username_1: One cannot prove this. Interestingness is inherently subjective.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It is your job to convince others that your work is interesting, not their job to prove it is not.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I am facing a very difficult situation. I sent a paper for peer-review in a SCOPUS indexed journal. My supervisor though did not contribute anything rather than reading my draft insisted that I put his name in the manuscript. I had put his name as the second author as otherwise he would stop my funding. Now my paper has been accepted and published online. To my ignorance the journal has re-arranged the author names in alphabetical order making the name of my advisor to appear first.
In our university, it is mandatory for authors to be listed in the order of their contribution. Also it was me who did all the hard work. My advisor had no idea about the reviews sent by the reviewer.
Though I had clearly made myself the first author and my advisor as the second author in the TeX file I had submitted for publication, the journal has changed it.
The journal did not send me the page-proof before publishing it online. They just changed the author ordering in the TeX file I had sent and published it as it is.
They put my paper in "RECENTLY ACCEPTED" section with no DOI and no VOLUME NUMBER but it is posted online and is accessible.
What shall I do now? I mailed the journal. They are not replying, it's 2 days already.
Can someone please help. Shall I withdraw the paper from the journal?<issue_comment>username_1: Two days is insufficient for a response (in this instance), you should wait.
Publications are immutable, so correction is perhaps unlikely. You could push forwards on breach of contract grounds. Argue that the publisher has not fulfilled the contract and a correction is necessary.
You likely can't withdraw, once published.
Another solution: Do nothing.
**EDIT:** It's unclear whether the work is published. If it isn't, just update the camera-ready version.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: ok after the clarification in the comments I'll post it as an answer. Like I said, the "The journal did not send me the page-proof before publishing it online" part seems very odd. Some journals do put early "just accepted" versions of the accepted papers online, and only then send the proofs to the authors. The fact that there is no DOI yet is in line with this too. Please check the e-mail where the editor informs you about the paper acceptance: there might be something about the page proof coming soon. When returning the proof, you can raise the issue about the order of authors.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You should wait for the proofs. If you do not want to wait, ask the managing editor of the journal when will you get the proofs. Your article is **not** published yet. What you see is the online pre-publication.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You seem to be in a Math department, and are having a problem that is going to effect everyone in that department. I suggest you speak to the chair of the department.
There are journals in mathematics, good ones, that insist on an alphabetical order of authors. This is also the standard in most of pure mathematics. If you have your facts correct, your university has policy that will make it very hard for anyone in pure mathematics to publish. Applied math is a bit different but this still will be a problem.
As an example, the journal Results in Mathematics [explicitly requires](https://www.springer.com/journal/25/submission-guidelines#Instructions%20for%20Authors_Authorship%20principles) alphabetical author order.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: tl;dr:
------
**1. Your supervisor will know what to do.
2. For the long run, change the rule.**
>
> In our university, it is mandatory for authors to be listed in the order of their contribution.
>
>
>
This is highly unlikely, as it is not the university which decides on publication order conventions. I would suspect this is at most a guideline or default suggested order.
It's also not very useful to ask us. I mean, mathematicians, theoretical computer scientists etc. from your university have published in the past, despite this clash in author ordering rules, right? Well, do what they usually do. Your supervisor will know the appropriate course of action, for sure.
Generally, the whole ordering-by-contribution business is unfortunate IMHO; and at least in Math and a few other fields it is not the norm and will not simply be accepted/ignored. So, if this kind of rule snuck into the university's regulations - you should ask your supervisor to initiate formal procedures in the university senate or governing body to repeal this rule. Or better yet, ask your advisor to have the math department collectively initiate such a procedure, so that it's not associated with an individual researcher.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: If the journal's styleguide requires listing the authors in alphabetical order, convincing them to make a change, even--or especially--a one-off one for you is going to be difficult. The university's policy, dumb as it may be, will also be hard to change quickly. As a result, I think neither is likely to be useful for a paper that is already in press.
If your principal concern is your CV, I think you can safely assume that **people in alpha-order fields know the convention**, and your contribution won't be ignored. This is especially true if author list is solely a professor and a trainee (student, postdoc, etc). If you work in fields where this is less common, you might want to indicate to note that "authors listed in alphabetical order" somewhere in your publication section.
However, suppose you need a "formal" indication of lead authorship, (e.g., to meet a graduation requirement). Could you **compromise with a footnote**? It's not uncommon to have a footnote indicating that several authors contributed equally; it would be perhaps be a little odd, but not totally impossible, to use one to denote a "lead author." Some fields already use **corresponding author** to indicate the the largest contribution from the senior authors; you could potentially overload that as well.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: This is likely too late for the OP, but in communicating to the university that an alphabetical order of authors is the norm in mathematics, it may help to refer to a [statement by the AMS](http://www.ams.org/profession/leaders/CultureStatement04.pdf) to that effect.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I was reading over some of my supervisor's old papers and I have found one from 7 years ago in which part of the analysis is fundamentally flawed which effectively undermines half of the conclusions. The issue is in a paper in a subfield of a subfield so it's unlikely that any other people will find this mistake.
My question is what should I do. On one hand, I feel like I have moral obligation to let him know so that the issue can be resolved. On the other hand, I feel uncomfortable bringing it up as I don't want it to have any negative repercussions on our working relationship.
What should I do in this scenario?
Thank you.
Edit: This question is different from [Should I warn my professor about some errors that I've found in his paper?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/35344/should-i-warn-my-professor-about-some-errors-that-ive-found-in-his-paper) as in that case it was a paper in advanced access (e.g. one that was worked on recently), while in this case it is a 7 year old paper.<issue_comment>username_1: Regardless of your "moral obligations", any reasonable advisor would be happy to hear this from their PhD student, especially if you make it sound like a (potentially tricky) question, not an accusation of making a simple mistake.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: First, I'd double-check your work. Are you **certain** this is a mistake? Is there something you're missing? Do the best you can to understand what's going on.
Second, I would definitely raise this with your supervisor, but do so from a perspective of questioning and seeking clarification. Rather than appearing in judicial robes with the paper in hand and declaring it flawed by the laws of humankind and the universe, approach it as a question: There's a step in the paper that you don't understand. You think the step should say "XYZ", but the paper says "XZY". You're not sure if you're making a mistake or if there is an error in the paper.
There's nothing disrespectful about this humble approach, and you get a double benefit that if it turns out *you* are the one that is wrong then you have no face to save, and hopefully learn something along the way.
Mistakes happen, and they don't indicate the person making the mistake is dishonest or flawed in some fundamental way. Next steps to take after this will depend on how crucial the flaw is and what other work it might impact. If you take these steps and there are *still* some negative impacts on your working relationship, well... probably that person wasn't worth working with anyways, and some rift was going to develop sooner or later anyways. It would not be your fault.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]
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2021/03/31
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm in a Phd program right now and it seems there are some unethical practices going on in my department. Examples include: testing over irrelevant material or material that was not really covered, not grading/giving feedback on homework, instructors breaking college and department policy for convenience, dishonest course description and listed prerequisites.
When I got my masters in a different discipline at another institution, I felt everything was so well put together and my instructors really cared about the class and the students. I have considered leaving with a masters in stats since I feel slimy for participating as a TA in what I mentioned above, but I would like to reach out. Does anyone care? Would anyone listen? Who should I reach out to? How should I phrase my concerns?
I can include more details if that would help.
---
**EDIT**
I wanted to give more details:
I'm in a Phd stats program right now and I have a masters in math (I was all but dissertation)
I TA for a masters level core class. The instructor doesn't grade, lecture or make notes for the class (they are reusing the video-lectures and notes of another instructor from previous semesters). As far as I am aware, the instructor just pulls questions from a bank of questions for tests/homework. When I learned the material, I took a two semester sequence to cover everything and we still didn't cover all the material this class does. Every semester, masters students spend more than 1000 USD on the course and have to drop due to lack of background even though they work hard. Last semester about 25 out of 80 students dropped. The only prerequisite for the course is calc III.
For another course, the boss (instructor) of another TA in my cohort tried to make the TA create the assignments and tests which is against department policy.
In my case, I have had several instructors whose exams don't reflect the material covered in the homework and I feel that I could have not studied and done just as well (bad) because the exam questions end up being some difficult honors calc II question instead of using the material we cover in class. In fact, one instructor got stuck for a few minutes when giving us the solution to a problem that no one was able to solve on an exam. A subgroup of my cohort is unable to attend office hours for a required class due to having another required class and the instructor was unable to accommodate them due to "being too busy with research".
In summary, I feel that the department is trying to make money off of master students and is more focused on research than being good teachers.
Maybe this is normal and didn't know since my last institution was really good. Just let me know if it is. Thanks for your time.<issue_comment>username_1: The fact is that institutional norms and expectations regarding teaching vs research for faculty vary widely. At my current institution, teaching is very important. At my previous institution, no one really cared. Basically, I would not voice this opinion in any strong way unless you want to make your life difficult. It would only work if the faculty member you are working for is disliked and the person you complain to is firmly on your side.
I did have a similar situation as this in my PhD institution and "voiced my concerns" in a very tactful way. I argued that the course was extra challenging because it was a new advanced level course and had not been given enough resources. (Note that I was careful to say nothing about the effort or quality of the instructor.) The department was able to pay me extra as a TA to take over some of the instructor’s responsibilities. But the instructor was someone who got on the other faculty’s nerves, and my advisor was the associate dean for academics.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Keep in mind that as a grad student you are not part of the permanent faculty. You are supposed to be there for a few years, get your degree, and leave. It is the responsibility of people like the Chair or Director of Graduate Studies to decide on these bigger issues. If it really bothers you, you could discuss with them, if you trust him/her. But if they don't seem interested in changing things, don't press them on it.
Don't create any drama, don't lecture the tenure-track/permanent faculty about how teaching should be done (or more broadly about how the department should be run), don't send passive-aggressive e-mails to the department, don't complain on Twitter or social media about what you believe is a neglect of teaching quality in your department, etc.
Remember to maintain a good reputation in the department. In the meantime, just observe and think about what kind of department you would like to be in if you want to continue in academia. Use that to inform your job search. If you get a position where you have more of a say in how the graduate or undergraduate program is run, you can bring up your experiences and ideas.
All of this applies if you are a postdoc/Visiting Assistant Professor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Agreed on all the answers above about the incentive for not making waves, and that any effective approach will create more work for you. It's probably in your best interest professionally to ignore these problems, do what you can to help the students you have access to, and spread information invisibly about highly dysfunctional people/classes to avoid, especially if your goals for your career path have strong research components (ie, you want to be an R1 professor or work at a national lab).
If you DO decide to take action, however, here are some moves you can make to put you in a position to affect positive change:
* Look for department committees to join. There will likely be a curriculum committee, and they may have a spot for a graduate student to join. If they don't have such a spot, get in touch with the faculty on the curriculum committee and express interest in how the committee works/what it's like to be involved in that process. If you can't get on a curriculum committee, getting on some other committee could still put you in a place where you can affect change (for example, a soft committee like graduate student life or something could still put you in the right place at the right time)
* Look around for student groups that are actively pursuing campaigns to change things (they will likely have a more euphemistic goals like "improve life" etc). Focus on groups nearby your department and expand outward as necessary. If there's a group like "EDI in math" and your department is math, start there. Sit in on a meeting or two to see if there is already an ongoing campaign to advocate for higher accountability when it comes to teaching. If no such campaign exists, voice your concerns about what's going on. If what you've noticed is a big problem negatively affecting a lot of students, you'll see that right away from the reaction of the group. If the group isn't quite the right setting, usually the people involved in these things are otherwise tapped in to organizing and can point you in the right direction.
* Go to department town halls or other events where faculty directly ask input from graduate students in your department. Prepare what you're going to say a bit (you don't want to come of as complaining or nit-picky, but you do want to come off has having a few ideas that are easy to implement that would make a big difference). Voice your concerns about teaching, present your strategy for improvement. Get ready to be interrupted/talked over/shut down with off topic random opines from faculty, etc etc. This is hard but if you play it right you can germinate your ideas in a few faculty's minds. I brought up a problem in this setting, and got the distinct impression the faculty didn't really hear what I was saying in the moment. One member of the faculty, however, did follow up with me afterwards, and I actually got the wording changed on a handout given to students (small achievement, I know).
* Literally take things into your own hands and start an activity that will create a better support system for students. Examples: create a website that compiles practice problems for a course that is frequently poorly taught and doesn't give enough practical examples, create drop-in tutoring sessions to give students more access to people who know what they're talking about and can actually help (and helps students get to know each other and work together to teach themselves).
I've seen these strategies actually make a difference in some departments, but I'm not going to lie: progress is very slow and very hard. The examples I provided in the last bullet point (website + tutoring center) I actually saw implemented in my PhD department, completely driven by basically volunteer work from graduate students. I think the best attitude is to accept that teaching quality is low and the resources individual professors are providing students now won't change. Instead, think about how you can give students more resources by utilizing the institution: set an example starting with your own volunteer work and hope the department will like it enough to keep the activity going after you're gone.
Also a lot of these courses of action are going to give you a reputation as someone who cares a lot about teaching, which may or may not be a good thing for you depending on your career goals.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Agreeing with people before me, I would say that you cannot change a lot. You have to understand that what you are observing, with number of students you are referring to, is not secret. People whose job is to change that (if they feel to) probably know about it and decided to keep it that way. So you have to assume that the institution is fine with that course, as it is handled now.
So your job **if you decided to change how the course is executed** would not just be "letting them know" or "opening their eyes". It would be convincing them that the course needs changes, even though the people think it does not, and base this opinion on fully knowing what it is going on. And this ... is a very very uphill battle and I am not sure you are in the right position to do it.
Now, I may speculate, why this is as it is. Maybe the institution prides on itself to be "extra selective" where the selection criteria is ability of students to do the work themselves. Or maybe they don't care. 1000 USD seems to me a low price for a course, so maybe the institution feels that the what the students get reflects the price.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/03/31
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I learned someone who received a university fellowship (with no TA duties) turned down the fellowship and position at a department I applied to for a doctorate. I was placed on a waitlist for admission to the program.
I'm wondering whether this creates a vacant spot (in the same department) or the funding goes somewhere entirely different, given it's funding provided by the university and not the department.<issue_comment>username_1: Not necessarily in the same department, but in a case in which the university bothers to have a waitlist and notify people that they are on it, then I would think that is is more likely than not that it will be offered to someone on that list.
But, it may be that people from different departments are on the waitlist, so it might not be offered to someone from that same department. This would depend on the nature of the fellowship and it might be possible to deduce from the original announcement how widely it might be available.
It is possible, however, that, even in this case, things have changed and the fellowship won't be offered or that applications for it would be reopened.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It's impossible to answer in the general sense. The two main constraints on PhD admissions are funding and mentorship capacity.
Someone who received a fellowship turning down the department might not free up any money, so it is possible the department does not have enough money to accept more people.
But that does free up a supervisory spot. So if the PI they intended to work with has the money, perhaps they would move to the waitlist.
Other factors can include the size of the previous cohorts. If they were large, then the department might take this opportunity to reduce the size of the department by not going to the waitlist.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/03/31
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a master student at UFMG, a university in Brazil. I am at my last semester (out of 4) and, due to the pandemics, it was given to us the possibility to extend our study for one semester.
Here goes some details: I'm studying Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT), I have a scholarship, I'm a bachelor in Physics, my grades are OK, I have completed my credits and the only thing remaining to get my master degree is to finish a dissertation. I have attended to graduate courses such as Advanced Algebra, Complex Analysis, Algebraic Topology and some others less relevant ones.
I can finish everything in the usual time if I want to, but I really would like to use the extra time given to us to read more interesting stuff, attend to some extra advanced classes, prepare myself a little bit more to engage in a PhD.
The thing is: what do you think is, in general, more valuable in regards to a PhD admission process, to finish all my duties in the usual time or to have some extra advanced classes in my transcript?
For instance, my department will offer a course on Homotopy Theory, which is quite relevant for the area I am currently studying (HoTT).
Thank you.<issue_comment>username_1: Not necessarily in the same department, but in a case in which the university bothers to have a waitlist and notify people that they are on it, then I would think that is is more likely than not that it will be offered to someone on that list.
But, it may be that people from different departments are on the waitlist, so it might not be offered to someone from that same department. This would depend on the nature of the fellowship and it might be possible to deduce from the original announcement how widely it might be available.
It is possible, however, that, even in this case, things have changed and the fellowship won't be offered or that applications for it would be reopened.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It's impossible to answer in the general sense. The two main constraints on PhD admissions are funding and mentorship capacity.
Someone who received a fellowship turning down the department might not free up any money, so it is possible the department does not have enough money to accept more people.
But that does free up a supervisory spot. So if the PI they intended to work with has the money, perhaps they would move to the waitlist.
Other factors can include the size of the previous cohorts. If they were large, then the department might take this opportunity to reduce the size of the department by not going to the waitlist.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/04/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently working as a teaching assistant for several courses in STEM in the US at the college level.
During the past two semesters since Covid19 started, I have noticed that whenever a deadline is approaching, on or close to the day of the deadline, a student will inevitably email the instructors (including the TAs) an email requesting deadline extension due to the loss of a relative, which in turn has affected their mental states ("feeling stressed or depressed").
Note that the death of a relative is a common but not the only scenario. We had another student who claimed to test positive for Covid on the due day, but curiously only requested a 48 hour extension to a deadline...While other students simply said something about being stressed out (by jobs, by other courses) and then immediately followed up with some suggested due dates which we should accommodate for the student (or the entire class).
**In all these cases, the student has not obtained a doctor's note, which is the appropriate/standard way of requesting for extension. There has been no change to this policy since Covid.**
Since we need to approve the extensions and quickly, these sorts of emails always put us in a very tricky situation:
1. it seems inappropriate to question about whether if a death has actually occurred, how the person is related to the student, or when it has occurred. We just take these claims to be true despite the scant details.
2. since the situation affects a relative, but not the student him/herself, therefore, this situation is often not distressful enough to have a formal doctor's note, i.e., serious depression or disability. So we would seem rude to send the student to go through this formal and often lengthy process, especially at a time where reaching a doctor is probably inconvenient for many.
I am not sure what is the most appropriate way of dealing with these situation. And I have to stress we have not had this issue before Covid (I've been doing this for years). But this year we're dealing with this on a biweekly basis.
Can experienced instructors chime in on how we can be considerate to the student's personal lives while also hold on to our standards and be vigilant with academic dishonesty?
Should we just let these things go?
---
Thanks all for the replies, here is a follow up:
1. it is multiple students, at the beginning of the year it would be 3-4 students per course, but now I guess when the semesters are heating up, its up to
8 - 12 students (for the two courses combined).
2. it is different students. With about 3 "recurring" students this semester. I haven't paid too much attention to their names.
3. the problem here are not the medical concerns or emotional stress, but the lack of formal certificate or a proof. We have been giving these extensions like freebies throughout the semester(s) but the assignments now have more weights and we want to be vigilant.
4. one of the course is my PI's course and I'm sort of the main contact person and we have been conducting this course for many years. The other course I'm the "lead" TA, so again I oversee a lot of these issues. The impact ultimately hits the TAs, as we need to account for all these asynchronous extensions/grading/accommodations.
5. For one of the course, we have a "we will aggregate the skipped assignment in your exam" policy. Students know this. The reason why they are requesting extension is because they do not want it to be aggregated. The other course we have been giving them 1 time extensions (even though its not in the course policy) and at least one student is requesting extension after the 1 time extension has been used.<issue_comment>username_1: Demanding a bereaved student *get a doctor's note* isn't an appropriate strategy. (A death certificate or notification would be more suitable, but still inappropriate, in many instances.)
>
> Can experienced instructors chime in on how we can be considerate to the student's personal lives while also hold on to our standards and be vigilant with academic dishonesty?
>
>
>
Follow university policy or defer students to administrators. This isn't your problem, it's your institute's.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> Should we just let these things go?
>
>
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Yes. Either the situation is real, in which you would be causing great harm in refusing and distressing the student further OR the student is lying and they get an extra 48 hours. Do you really care if the student is getting an extra 48 hours? Is the ability to complete work within a very specific time frame one of the key learning goals of the course?
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: If it's true and you are being difficult about it the effect is far greater on the student (and potentially on you if they then complain) than if it's false and they get some extra time does that really affect you?
Don't waste your valuable time on such matters, I don't think we study to try and become very good researchers to end up checking doctor's notes...
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I's suggest to handle this similar to how such things are handled with employees, and I'd distinguish two cases:
Where I am (Germany), employees get some accomodation when a close relative dies (typically would be 1 - 3 days paid leave when spouse, child or parent dies; usually needed to organize stuff plus the funeral day).
We're talking here of a time frame rather directly after the death. These are by their very nature requests that would occur directly at/before the deadline ("my mum died yesterday, may I have an extension of the deadline?")
I'd consider it indecent as well as impractical to ask for documentary proof (I have not been asked by my employer for any proof - and the civil register excerpt anyways wouldn't have been available till much later; the death certificate that is available at least in preliminary form practially immediately contains information that is considered none of the employer's business).
However, see @WoJ's comment that documentary proof is routinely required e.g. in France, so better check with your local customs.
The second case is if they are later on unable to work (the "recurrent students"). For that, a medical note of not being able to work would be appropriate. I'm not talking of a full-blown diagnosis of depression or anything the like, here, btw. - just a doctor certifying that the student isn't able to work for n days, the same as they would for an infection or injury. If the situation isn't sufficiently distressful for this, the assumption is that they are sufficiently able to work to meet their deadline (or take an exam).
(I know of several students who were "rescued", i.e. got access to appropriate treatment/accomodation, by the public health officer they were sent to by the university exam office. This was between being sick affecting also one's mental capabilities and lack of knowledge about accomodations and who should get them.
I see this as a collateral benefit of telling students to bring appropriate medical notes.)
Right now the only complication with this is that access to the physician may be hampered by Covid. Other than that, there's nothing wrong with sending the student to the doctor.
---
>
> it is multiple students, at the beginning of the year it would be 3-4 students per course, but now I guess when the semesters are heating up, its up to 8 - 12 students (for the two courses combined).
>
>
>
Difficult to say whether this is a lot or not, since it depends very much on course size (I've been in courses where we were 3, and I've been TAing in courses with 200+ students)
Still, I don't think it is easy to conclude much from the increase during the semester. Someone may be able to cope with the same amount of stress due to a death when there's only one deadline due early in the semester or the exam in question is only one minor one, but the generally higher stress at the end of the semester with many and more important exams and deadlines may genuinely be too much.
>
> We have been giving these extensions like freebies throughout the semester(s) but the assignments now have more weights and we want to be vigilant.
>
>
>
Being more vigilant is likely a good idea. I'd recommend to take care that this vigilance stays proportionate and equal, i.e. affects all requests for deadlines equally.
For me, it would not be proportionate if students with an actual death conclude that they can save hassle in a stressful situation by getting the extension by any other excuse than getting the extension they're actually entitled to because it comes with a lot of burocratic hassle and prolonged uncertainty such as their passing/failing the course potentially being undecided for many weeks or even months because they do not yet have a civil register excerpt.
The most obvious and sure way for the student would be to obtain a medical note, and while that is good for you since you have a paper trail for your decision, and it will also put a certain hurdle to discourage fraud, an MD certifying that the student is not in a mental state to take the exam or deliver their project for another 2 days will typically not know nor probe more deeply into whether that death is fake or not, or whether the deceased was sufficiently close to warrant 1, 2, or 3 days off since that is not what the medical question is.
As a side note which may serve to decide what is proportionate: we do have lots of oral exams, and at least the more important ones are supposed to start by asking the student whether they feel sufficiently healthy to take the exam now. What exactly happens if they say "no" depends on the regulations for the particular exam, ranging from nothing other than that the exam does not take place now to sending the student to a doctor to obtain a medical certificate.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: One important point in your question is unclear. Where you write: “whenever a deadline is approaching […] a student will inevitably email the instructors […] requesting deadline extension due to the loss of a relative”, **do you mean different students each time, or do you mean there are one or more students who have made this request multiple times?**
**If it’s different students each time, then there’s no reason to press for proof,** as other answers already say. It’s a comparatively common circumstance, so more likely to be genuine than not, and if the occasional liar gets one or two extra deadline extensions, that’s not a significant unfair advantage.
On the other hand, **if a single student is repeatedly asking for extensions due to bereavements, that is a legitimate cause for concern.** Repeated bereavements coinciding with course deadlines seems unlikely — Occam’s razor suggests it may well be a serial liar exploiting the instructors’ compassion. So in this case, it would be good to verify the situation. **However, tread very carefully and tactfully!** If their story is true, they’ll be having a really distressing time already, and the last thing you should be doing is aggravating that.
In your position as a TA, all I would suggest is notifying the main course instructor of the issue; it’s their responsibility to decide whether and how to investigate. As an instructor, I would do several things before talking to the student at all:
* Look for any other red flags in the student’s work/behaviour/grades.
* Talk to instructors from their other courses (current and previous), to hear what they’d seen from this student. Further similar claims of bereavement in previous years would make their story less plausible. On the other hand, if they’ve made no previous such requests but given the same story in other current classes, that would support their veracity.
* Talk to the department’s head of teaching (or someone similarly responsible) for advice on the department’s policy/practice in such situations.
If all of these support doing so, then (and only then) I would approach the student (still tactfully and cautiously) to try to verify the claims.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: ### Do not give extensions, just average grades if the reason is valid
Extensions are always problematic. They create extra work for the instructors, and they may cause a structural unfairness in the course if some students are felt to be getting "extra time". And from the other side, if someone is genuinely suffering, for example with a death in the family or with personal medical issues, there is no guarantee that simply giving them more time will let them complete that course work in a way which reflects their ability. Either way, simply allowing an extra 48 hours to complete the work is not a constructive solution.
The simplest answer is to say that extensions simply will not happen. Any student can submit a reason why they could not complete the work on time though. For almost all cases (except final year projects, perhaps) it should be possible to look at past assignments and work out an average grade based on those. If there is some major trauma going on in the student's life, this lets them focus on healing themselves without also feeling under pressure to complete work which realistically they are never going to be able to put their best efforts into. This is fair and compassionate.
Conversely, if a student does not have a valid reason why they could not complete the work on time (and "my job is distracting me" is certainly not a valid reason) then they get zero. That's fair too, on the student affected and on the other students.
And the instructors then know exactly what work they have ahead of them for marking submissions, and aren't going to have random late hand-ins to deal with. Which is fair on your staff too.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: Ideally, students who are really in a serious predicament should be able to get an extension. To allow this, but to minimize lying, I suggest that if you're free to set course policy, you:
1. Make one or two extensions available **no questions asked**. Specifically tell the students that the intent of the policy is to accommodate them in case of serious emergency, but that it's up to them to decide how to use it.
2. Make sure that all the students know this information: that it is official policy, rather than simply the way you handle extensions in practice.
The first point ensures that dishonest students don't have an advantage over honest students. The second point ensures that students who are more comfortable "negotiating" don't have an advantage.
In general, if you claim to draw any kind of line in course policy, but actually you're flexible when students ask you about it, this is unfair to students who just take you at face value. I suspect that this specifically disadvantages first-generation college students who are less comfortable with how everything works. In any case, I wouldn't want to make wheedling the dominant strategy in my classes.
Similarly, if you're not free to set course policy, you should actually follow the policy as it is stated and not make exceptions.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_8: My policy in cases like that is "innocent until proved guilty". So, on principles, I tend to trust students and not question their motives. After all, they have a private life just as well as we do, and I'd certainly feel hurt if somebody asked me to justify me taking time off in such circumstances -- who am I to impose harsher policies on students ?
On the other hand, if the student has an history of looking for loopholes, always having good excuses ("my dog ate my paper"), etc., surely I'd start to be a bit suspicious. Well, even cheater's relatives happen to die, of course, so I'd prefer to catch him/her on a less important issue (the car accident of last week perhaps, or the flu of the week before....).
On the third hand - does it actually matter ? A student engaging in that sort of petty fraud (if it is fraud) is unlikely to be a good student. So Ok, he may get 55% out of a paper (or a class) that may otherwise have earned him a 50. So what ? You're not talking of totally altering the results of the degree, are you ? On that note, I'd make a distinction between a competitive exam (only the first 10 of the class move to the next year) and a regular exam (whoever scores more than 50 % passes). In the second situation, no real harm is done to anybody.
So on balance, compare the pros and the cons:
* accept the excuse at face value: con: may earn the student a few undeserved points in his yearly aggregate mark. pro: the only humane thing to do in this case, perhaps even with a few kind words of support.
* challenge the excuse: pro: stern but fair. con: if he was honest with you, you really behaved like a prickly as\*h\*\*e and distressed further the poor fellow.
On balance, I'd say the benefits of challenging the excuse (except in special circumstances, known liar or competitive exam or something like that) do not counterweight the "cost" of the other options (I'm too lazy to formalize it in terms of "expected value", this is left as an exercise to the reader).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: >
> Should we just let these things go?
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>
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Yes.
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> hold on to our standards and be vigilant with academic dishonesty
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Consider a typical undergrad student. In-person learning shut down in March 2020, and classes have been online since. This means that after the immediate shutdown in March 2020, student had a couple weeks of remote learning and had to do their exams online. Assuming a summer break, they had two semesters fully online since then and it's looking like a lot of places will try to reopen schools for in-person learning in September 2021.
So, in the grand scheme of things, 2 full semesters online during the course of their degree. In my opinion, that leaves plenty of time for the University to weed out the students who don't meet their standards.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: **One extension with no questions ask is common and reasonable.**
You should not demand a grieving student show proof of a relative's death. I also wouldn't demand a sick student provide a doctor's note.
Going forward, set a policy that any student who request an extension before an assignment or exam gets one extension, no questions asked. Treat your students like adults who have life emergencies. Don't make a difficult situation worse for the student by requiring documentation.
In general, I feel this is better as a soft policy that isn't announced in class, as some students with medical issues will need more accommodations, and students are less likely to use it up and then have an actual medical or family emergency.
**EDIT**
Some students have 2 or more genuine emergencies. One the second one look at past behavior. Did the student turn in good quality work on the first extension? Are they failing the rest of the class?
**EDIT 2 - addressing comments**
The reason I suggested not to make it an explicit policy is the extension should take into account the emergency situation. If a student is in a car accident and hospitalized for 3 days then it's reasonable to give a longer extension. Making it an explicit policy makes it more difficult to adapt it to the situation.
If you want to make it a policy then I prefer making a "drop 1 test or project grade" which lets students miss a single major grade without issue.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: Some courses have a policy where a certain number of lowest scores on weekly homework assignments and quizzes are dropped. Because of this, I'm fine with not granting any extensions. I also tell the student that even though the assignment will get a 0, they can still request feedback from me. This usually does not cause any issues. However, with COVID, I think that it is reasonable to extend the number of dropped assignments.
This is why it is important to have a course policy regarding late assignments *before* the class starts and put on the syllabus for all of the students to see. You should not deviate from the course policy.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_12: Is there an institutional committee/policy for handling these requests?
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First, it depends on your institution's policy. Many universities have a formal procedure for considering such requests, which may well involve a dedicated committee independent of the course convenor (this independence is a good thing not only for ensuring consistency but also because it means that the course convenor need not actually know why an extension has been granted or refused -- this means a student can keep the details of his/her adverse circumstances confidential from all but the committee members themselves). If that is the case, you should refer students to the relevant procedure.
If not, then you must always require some form of proof at some point (may be retrospective)
============================================================================================
However, it is possible that, for relatively small extensions, the institutional policy may permit or require the course convenor to make decisions individually (but here in the UK, it is unthinkable for one individual academic staff-member to have absolute discretion over the granting of extensions of more than a few days for formal assessment deadlines). **If** you are required to take these decisions individually, whether due to it being a small request or due to lack of a policy, then I would advise:
* be flexible as to **how** the student proves the adverse event he/she cites as grounds for wanting an extension;
* be flexible as to **when** the student produces proof of said adverse event (i.e.: permit it to be retrospective); **but**
* **be absolutely consistent about always requiring some form of proof at some point**, as a matter of due diligence (in the same way that just about any reputable employer will demand to see certificates proving credentials stated on the CV, and also do some sort of criminal-record check or background check when hiring someone) -- make it clear that **any** student requesting an extension will **always** be required to substantiate his/her claims, no matter how convincing/sensitive they are (the consistency is very important here, because it reassures students that the demand for proof is nothing personal -- failure to be absolutely consistent about this could lead to accusations of racism/sexism/ableism/religious prejudice/homophobia/victimisation/discrimination on a protected characteristic);
* in the event that the student is unable to substantiate his/her claims after having made exhaustive attempts to request some sort of evidence and having given plenty of time for the student to produce it, you should apply any penalties for late submission that you would have applied in the absence of an extension.
Possible forms of proof
=======================
For a bereavement, one or more of the following forms of evidence strike me as appropriate:
* a note from a medical professional (as you suggested);
* a death certificate accompanied by evidence that the student is related (e.g.: in the case of a parent, the student's birth certificate);
* a public obituary which mentions the student as a "survivor" (usually at the end -- something like "<NAME> is survived by her three sons, Adam, Cain, and Dorian, and her two daughters, Beatrice and Eve");
* an affidavit attesting the death and the relationship from a notary, solicitor, funeral director, or public official who knew the family and was involved in administering the affairs of the deceased in some way;
* the Will of the deceased, if it mentions the student;
* the life insurance policy of the deceased, if it mentions the student;
* where the student is involved as an executor/executrix of the estate of the deceased, legal paperwork demonstrating that;
* where the student was asked to identify the body by the police, a letter from the relevant police force confirming that;
* where the deceased died in hospital or a care home, a letter from the relevant hospital or care home;
* where the student was officially listed as the deceased's next of kin, confirmation thereof (whether from the deceased's legal, medical, or employment records);
* a programme for or documentation of the funeral (especially if the student was Chief Mourner or involved heavily in arranging the funeral).
(this is not intended to be an exhaustive list -- there are probably many more ways that the circumstances can be proven to a satisfactory level of certainty)
Showing proof to a trustworthy third party instead of you
=========================================================
If the student is uncomfortable showing evidence of this sort to you, you could ask him/her to show it to an official at the university (appropriate officials may be a departmental secretary, a counsellor, a pastoral/welfare tutor, a chaplin, or somebody else in a more 'neutral' position within the university). You then ask the official to sign a declaration that he/she has seen documentation proving to his/her satisfaction that the bereavement took place, and keep the declaration on file.
Again, you should check whether there is already a dedicated committee for this purpose (validating/assessing claims of personal adverse circumstances). As I said earlier, universities usually make some sort of formal provision for handling such matters in a reasonably confidential manner.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_13: I disagree with the answer by *username_1* because "*This isn't your problem, it's your institute's.*" is not a solution at all. Yes, you do have to follow official policies, but that does not mean you should not try to solve the problem **within the bounds** of official policies, instead of just chucking it off to the university administration, who might attempt to solve the problem very sub-optimally!
I also disagree with *username_2*'s answer for the very simple reason that it is unfair to other students, and I don't understand how it got so many upvotes. If you want to extend the deadline, you will at least have to do it for every student, but even doing that fails to solve the unfairness because other students would have put extra effort into meeting the original deadline, which may have an effect on their other courses.
So what do I think is a solution? Well, you can make it your policy (stated in black and white right at the beginning of the course and announced in class) that late submissions would **not** be accepted for any reason **but** give a few more assignments than are needed to obtain maximum possible credit, with the final grade being computed based on ignoring the bottom few assignment scores. For example, if you have a maximum total assignment score of 60, you can give 5 assignments each worth 20 points, and drop the worst two scores before adding the rest.
This solves the problem because good students simply don't have to do so many assignments, and students with legitimate reason for missing one or two assignments would face no real penalty. You should also announce to students that if they have any legitimate reason that even your assignment grading scheme is insufficient to cater for them, then they must go through the official administrative processes. This prevents deliberate dishonesty, and yet you do not have to deal with cases that are really beyond your capacity to handle.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_14: I'll keep it short. The classic answer is students need to show all the evidence needed to the department and not the TA or the professor. Department is the only capable body to trace this being a pattern or a real incident. And Departments can have their own policies to help students by helping them cancel a course or semester past deadline or etc due to tragic events.
That being said, I think maybe you need to frame the situation a bit differently.
Rather than making it about the individual students and trust, let's revisit why they have to be worried about something like this enough after a potential death of a relative to contact a TA and create a chain reaction of stress and guilt. Even if 30% of the time they tell the truth, I would hate for them to be worried about this kind of matter and its impact on their long-term view of academia and the education system.
Here is my suggestion:
Please do the student's mental health over their lifetime a big favor and give bonus points if they submit things early, fully symmetric to the penalty if they submit late. And they can always (pre/post) compensate for being late, themselves by being early in other times. Also, psychologically they are not going to submit early when there is no incentive, and procrastination is only natural in this kind of setup. I suspect if academia moves to this new paradigm, even industry, governments, and other venues will follow and we all have a more manageable world. And as I said before, looking back don't hate academia or the education system.
Upvotes: -1
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2021/04/01
| 1,240
| 5,196
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a 16 year old who is currently at an intermediate German level. I also have previous experience on working with data science - specifically, Bayesian statistics. I would like to do a summer internship at a recognised German-speaking university for practising my German and getting work/research experience. How should I go about this?
After contacting many professors, many have excused themselves with COVID-19 or their lack of open positions for interns. What can I offer them that they don't have?<issue_comment>username_1: You are very unlikely to be able to make successful contact with a professor acting on your own. Especially with cold emails. They almost uniformly get ignored as people are busy and have lots of responsibilities already.
If you are really serious about this, you need to find someone who can act as an intermediary. Someone who is a peer of the people you want to ask. One of your own instructors might be able to help, provided that they have kept contact with their professors. But the intermediary has to be someone who knows you well and can vouch for your seriousness.
It is much harder to turn down a request "look at David..." than it is to turn down one "look at me...". The intermediary needs to have an idea of what you can offer and something, even minor, about what the needs are.
Assuming you can find an intermediary then keep an open mind about what to work on. It may be that something "interesting" is available, but not data science.
If you can manage to get someone to open a conversation with you then you might be successful. Otherwise, get what guidance you can from those about you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I assume the chances of scoring what you ask for (an internship for work / research experience) are rather low, for a few reasons:
* Are you sure your level of expertise in Bayesian statistics is enough for working in a university research department? Usually people do that after a few years of university studies, and research groups like to work with people who have established their skills.
* Also, in my experience, it is hard even for Bachelor students to get internships in research groups (see also @username_1 answer). Internships at companies may be easier, but not easy.
* Also, interns usually get rather boring assignments at company internships (especially at your age). You may be lucky, of course, but you can't rely on being lucky.
Maybe there are other options for practising German? It seems like it might be a good idea to try to pursue both of your goals (German, research experience) separately.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Being under age (< 18) means all kinds of hassle in Germany for employment or similar situations, and university administration will want to avoid this additional complexity for research interns (which are anyways organized in a very different fashion in Germany compared to what I hear of the US).
However, there are research institutions (and universities) that offer *Schülerpraktika*, i.e. internships for 10+th graders. These internships are usually organized by the school, though. So totally different logistics. Also, they usually take place during the term and are therefore much shorter (e.g. 2 weeks) than what you are likely looking for.
>
> many have excused themselves with COVID-19
>
>
>
Which is likely a very valid excuse:
* many universities and research institutes are rather closed down wrt. physical presence for months now, and have announced that they will continue like this for the summer term. Also larger scale politics seem particularly unpredictable right now.
The professors will have to put an emphasis on their already existing students who are hampered in doing the labwork they are required to do by their curriculum first. Volountary internships will have to wait until other things are working smoothly again.
* There may (will) be additional hassle, e.g. with accomodation since you are under age, and e.g. you may be required to quarantine on arrival in Germany. But unlike an adult student who can legally be told to organize themselves beforehand how to handle this, you are under age which would put additional legal and moral duties to the professor.
E.g., right now, I don't think the regulations would grant you an exemption if you're already vaccinated. I certainly hope they will by summer, but I wouldn't bet too much on this seeing that right now not even closed groups of vaccinated inhabitants and staff of old age homes are allowed to meet...
OTOH, you could learn a whole lot about the cultural differences between Germany and the US right now...
---
All that being said, I'm not a professor but I've been at a research institute (doing statistical data analysis among other things) that regularly offers Schülerpraktika. I have no idea about their Covid policy wrt. internships, but you may contact me (see profile) and I'll have a look at your application and see whether/where I can introduce you.
All in all, I think you may want to postpone this till next year, or at least wait and see how things look wrt. COVID-19 in a month.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2021/04/01
| 513
| 2,145
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<issue_start>username_0: Long story short, I did bad in a graduate interview because I was not prepared and I am in a depressive episode but was trying to fight it, I am way better than what I presented myself as, I felt that the committee found it weird because my cgpa is very high, the referees wrote me very strong recommendation letters and my BSc. thesis is very good and I presented a poster in a prestigious conference.
1. Does this mean that I will get rejected for sure?
2. As a professor doing an interview, how would you judge such a student?
3. If I got rejected and applied again for the next year. Will I be considered?<issue_comment>username_1: I doubt that you get rejected *for sure*, but it is possible.
If I felt the interview was wildly inconsistent with the written record I'd either make my best judgement call or possibly suggest another interview. But the latter only if the written record is really outstanding. And as lighthouse keeper mentioned, your judgement may, itself be clouded at the moment.
I doubt that there would be any carryover.
Your other information suggests that your record is good enough that you will probably be fine - unless you called the interviewer a "witch", of course.
And if depression is an issue for you, then you need to get some professional advice to help you deal with it. Graduate study is hard enough in the best case.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: My experience is that people who are confident think they did well and people who are nervous think they did poorly. Whereas i think nervous is fine if you can talk about stuff and very confident people are often very confidently wrong and come off like morons. So I'm not sure if your gut feeling is a good judge of how well you did.
That said, one really bad interview might be enough to tank you. A middling interview is fine if the rest of your application is ok, but if you've convinced someone you're not capable of the work you'll have to do, they'll prevail when it comes to not accepting you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Depends in part on how the other candidates fared.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/04/02
| 298
| 1,324
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently writing my thesis/dissertation and was wondering if there is a preferred convention for the way paragraphs are formatted and spaced in a thesis.
Would they all have indents; would they be spaced or not spaced apart from each other.
I'm doing my best to separate topics but sections / subsections but when a subsection has multiple paragraphs worth of information, I want it to look neat.
Any recommendations, advice or ideas are appreciated and welcome.
Cheers<issue_comment>username_1: Unless there are specific prescriptions in your place (that you should have been informed of) there are no rules. You can do whatever you think is best for the reader.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: The library at your institution can probably provide you with a thesis or two from your field. You can use those as a source of guidance.
Your advisor probably also keeps copies of the theses of former students. Again, those samples can guide you and you know they were acceptable in the past.
Some universities and some departments separately have style guides that are either suggested or required.
You can also get some feedback from your advisor on early drafts and use that as a guide. You don't have to do it "blind". But a locally accepted solution is probably he best.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/04/02
| 870
| 3,678
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<issue_start>username_0: Currently, at a broad level, the scenario I am observing is as follows:
**Tasks by Instructor** (assistant professor, associate professor, professor)
1. Collecting presentations from either the internet or asks TA's to make a presentation or rarely prepares a presentation for a given topic and presents it in front of students.
2. Doesn't deal with coding
3. Clarifies the theoretical doubts asked by students during class timings *only*.
**Tasks by Ph.D. TA**
1. Prepares content for instructor class (sometimes)
2. Prepares coding and theoretical content for tutorial class
3. Clarifies doubts in tutorial class
4. Deals with both theoretical and coding aspects for the tutorial sessions.
5. Receives more doubts from students since students work on the topic after a (theoretic) introductory lecture by the instructor.
6. Prepares assignment questions and also answers keys.
7. Evaluates the submitted assignments, makes result sheets, distributes grades and deals with grade discrepancies.
Most of the time, postgraduate TAs assists in the last two steps. (It is not happening during pandemic days).
In general, for every couple of weeks, there will be a tutorial class. It takes **at least** 4 full days to complete all the tasks with satisfaction. Covering both mathematical and coding aspects in great detail is a challenging task. And even if one prepares with so much effort, it may not be useful for the research work.
So, I am wondering whether the workload is the same for a Ph.D. TA's in other universities or is my university is using them excessively?
Note: Although there are guidelines regarding TA work, no instructor follows them in strict sense.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, I don't think it is *excessive*, though it may be a bit steep. It was a long time ago, but when I was a PhD student in mathematics at an R1 in the US, the "load" of a TA was about half that of the teaching load of a professor (1 course equivalent vs 2 for a professor). I don't see anything in your list that is really out of bounds, assuming #1 is *occasional*. In fact, all of it is good training for anyone wanting a career in academia. You need to practice all these things to get good at them.
I was thrilled (*thrilled*, I say) when, as an advanced TA, I was given complete responsibility for one section (of many) of an elementary course. The course was pretty standard so there wasn't much course design prep and the final exam was common to all sections, but, otherwise, the course was mine.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, because this is unfair to the students.
============================================
Simply put, every student should have exactly the same opportunities, regardless of who their TA is. As such, every TA should be working off of the same lesson plans, the same example questions, the same homework problems, etc.
If each TA is responsible for creating the material for their own tutorials, then this isn't possible, and you have a fundamental problem of equity. Either the instructor in charge should be organising meetings for the TAs to share the material they've prepared to finalise the plans for each week's tutorial, or the instructor in charge should be the one deciding what is being taught in each tutorial.
Similarly, all students should be getting the same items for their marked assessment, and there should be moderation sessions for each piece of assessment where the TAs get together, show each other examples from the work submitted to them of what they think each letter mark looks like, and then discuss this with each other to ensure consistency in their marking.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/04/02
| 1,043
| 4,499
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<issue_start>username_0: I am interested in applying to PhD in Mathematics in University of Luxembourg. In the webpage it is written that "We recommend that you contact potential thesis supervisors by email to discuss your areas of general research interest and specific ideas for a thesis topic. You may consider sending a description of the research project and your CV. Once you have identified a supervisor, he/she will initiate the application process and complete the application for admission."
Therefore, I need to contact potential thesis supervisors by emails to discuss areas of general research interest and specific ideas for a thesis topic. That is, first I need to convince a professor to supervise me or I am well prepared to work under the professor.
Therefore, I am thinking that I will send an email to a professor. But I am facing some troubles.
I want to apply to PhD in Mathematics on Algebraic Topology. One thing that I have understood is to be selected I need to show interest on that particular subject. I want to convince the professor that I am well prepared to work under him and eager to join his research group. But, the problem this how to show the interest?
I have planned something and I want to execute my plans. I am sharing with you. One of the ideas is to read some papers of the professor and do comment on that. But I think it's not so the good idea because it may be cause of a bad impression. But I may be wrong. Now I am writing here, what I am thinking.
I am thinking the followings.
1. Since, I am particularly interested in Algebraic Topology, I will attach in the email a detailed learning roadmaps (mentioning the references) of Algebraic Topology in which way I learned the subject.
2. I am thinking that I will attach (or give a google drive link) solutions of the exercises of some books, the exercises of those books are not easy to solve (even for researchers). I am preparing the hand written solutions on the IPad.
3. Also, I will attached a write-up for the ideas for future research on the particular topic, in which I would like to help from some papers of the professor and mention those in my write-up. That's mean I will read some papers of the professor and made a write-up where I will include my ideas as well as some parts (or results or may be some ideas) of the Professor's paper.
Please advise me. Am I thinking in a right way? Please help me. It will also be helpful for me if you add your opinions and advise in details.
Thanking in advanced.<issue_comment>username_1: Actually, I don't think it is *excessive*, though it may be a bit steep. It was a long time ago, but when I was a PhD student in mathematics at an R1 in the US, the "load" of a TA was about half that of the teaching load of a professor (1 course equivalent vs 2 for a professor). I don't see anything in your list that is really out of bounds, assuming #1 is *occasional*. In fact, all of it is good training for anyone wanting a career in academia. You need to practice all these things to get good at them.
I was thrilled (*thrilled*, I say) when, as an advanced TA, I was given complete responsibility for one section (of many) of an elementary course. The course was pretty standard so there wasn't much course design prep and the final exam was common to all sections, but, otherwise, the course was mine.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, because this is unfair to the students.
============================================
Simply put, every student should have exactly the same opportunities, regardless of who their TA is. As such, every TA should be working off of the same lesson plans, the same example questions, the same homework problems, etc.
If each TA is responsible for creating the material for their own tutorials, then this isn't possible, and you have a fundamental problem of equity. Either the instructor in charge should be organising meetings for the TAs to share the material they've prepared to finalise the plans for each week's tutorial, or the instructor in charge should be the one deciding what is being taught in each tutorial.
Similarly, all students should be getting the same items for their marked assessment, and there should be moderation sessions for each piece of assessment where the TAs get together, show each other examples from the work submitted to them of what they think each letter mark looks like, and then discuss this with each other to ensure consistency in their marking.
Upvotes: 2
|
2021/04/02
| 1,239
| 5,367
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am stuck at an implementation of a scientific paper's algorithm, could I ask help from staff to code a part with me or even my advisor to do so?
Thanks for the clarification.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes you can ask, but whoever you ask, make sure you check with your advisor first so that you understand the requirements. The answer might be "do it yourself" of course.
But more likely is that, while they leave the task to you, they might point you to some resource that will help you do it. One principle that is important in teaching is to give the students sufficient hints so that they learn how to do things themselves, rather than just giving solutions.
In fact, rather than a direct ask for help, tell the advisor that you are stuck at a certain point and ask for advice about how to get unstuck.
In some fields, it can be appropriate to have others do certain coding tasks. I doubt that they let grad students directly code the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, for example. It isn't a place where you want to hear "oops...".
In general, you can ask for whatever help you need. But not asking and getting outside help could be interpreted by an advisor as misconduct.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: I'd like to add to username_1's answer and some of the comments: It does happen that the difficulty is in the paper rather than the one sitting before it.
I've had a situation where our Master student couldn't figure out how to get an algorithm from a paper working. Neither could I. We decided that they should go on and use a different approach.
I later on met some industry people on a conference who cited the very same paper for one of their products and talked to them about the paper. Turned out, neither had they succeeded with that algorithm...
As username_1 says, yes, do ask your supervisor. They anyways need to know of your difficulties.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: The question is sufficiently vague that I'm not sure why everyone is assuming that your advisor has set you with a goal to implement something from a paper and no one else can touch it because it's a learning experience for you.
Of course you can ask for help from your group - that's why we work in groups. You should definitely ask your advisor who could help you.
In more experimental fields and depending on the scope of the work, your advisor would want to assign a staff member that is paid off the appropriate grant. But generally speaking, assisting someone else with code is a completely normal task that could fall under a staff person's duties if their manager (your mentor) set them to it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: ### Yes, you should ask for help
Assuming you are more-or-less proficient in coding, it is possible (even likely) that the problem is with the paper itself. In that case you will definitely need your supervisor to help figure this out.
This is part of the reason why I constantly disagree with people saying "post the source" for academic papers. There's no guarantee that what they implemented for their research matches the paper they published. If you implement the algorithm from the paper, you'll catch methodological errors like that.
I've personally had this where my company had paid for the rights to a paper published by a *very* senior person in the field. His work is repeatedly referenced by a lot of other authors. He should have been top notch.
Instead what we found was that of the 9 papers he'd written on his results, and the 5 separate circuits implementing his algorithm, not one of the circuits corresponded to any of the papers. Not one. When we called him to ask about this, it turns out there was an issue at lower frequencies which the changes in the circuits were intended to resolve.
Except that it turns out these changes invalidate the conclusions of the paper. They added a non-linear element which his algorithm could not deal with. And when we looked at his results, it was absolutely there in the data. He'd only managed to conceal it by quoting his numbers for something like 5% accuracy plus a long-term drift over time, when the field would consider 0.1% accuracy as just about adequate and would not tolerate any control loop drift.
It's possible that he was sloppy and didn't look for this. Or it's possible he raced to publication and thought her could solve the flaws in a later paper. Or it's possible he sold it to us knowing it was crap and simply not caring. If you can't reproduce results, don't discount the possibility that this is what you're dealing with. And if that's the case, you really need to work it out.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: As a PhD student, I had this problem - the solution turned out to be to call the paper authors for help. One group just sent me *their* code, which was nice. Another clarified some bits I was doing wrong. I *think* I remember that one had a typo in the paper, but that might be wishful memory.
However, I would also say I came up in an enviroment where my supervisor definately knew if I was having problems and generaly knew what those problems were because my first action on having a problem was normally to wander into his office and thrash it out on the whiteboard. If you don't have this type of relationship then I suggest you work towards it.
Upvotes: 0
|
2021/04/02
| 720
| 2,997
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<issue_start>username_0: I have not enjoyed my undergraduate math program, primarily because it is not challenging enough - not enough advanced courses offered, too few research opportunities, classes are just not at the level I feel they should be for junior-senior math majors. I am choosing to apply to grad schools (pure math) which I know have elite and challenging programs. I do not want to spend 5 years repeating this undergraduate experience. In the statement of purpose one is asked to explain why they are applying to the particular program. Should I mention this desire to have a more challenging, competitive environment, as compared to the undergraduate program, as a reason? I do have other substantial things I will write about, but I'm wondering if I should also mention this, as it is one of the main motivations I have for applying to the programs I am applying to.
Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you'd disserve yourself by making such a "complaint". Colleges have limited resources, and especially these days tend to be squeezed by administration... to offer ever-fewer courses, as ridiculous as that sounds. (Our graduate program at an R1 in the U.S. currently is under even-more-extreme pressure in this direction, for financial reasons that are themselves fairly non-sensical, but nevermind. It's essentially impossible to "argue" with higher administration...)
Read books (or notes, from on-line). Get advice from faculty on books/notes.
Do not be passive. Be eager. Even if the environment wasn't what you'd have wished, that's not really an *obstacle*, just "less help".
And, as in comments, it would be unwise to give the impression that you "need to be pushed" to do anything. I am aware that there is some notion that this is ok, but it is corruptive to one's thinking to sit and wait... Do not be passive.
EDIT: in response to your comment appended to the original question... I'd recommend that you not feel disappointed that your were "not challenged in class". Things don't have to work as challenge-and-response. Can be *opportunities*...
I'd agree that a sluggish environment can drag a person down... but, well, don't let your environment determine you, even if it has an effect.
If anything, a person could argue that a not-too-stimulating environment is a nice *quiet* environment, so that a person is not coerced...
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I think it's great to mention it, but frame it in the way that shows you will be a good candidate for the program. "I realized I can perform at a high level and I'm looking for a place that will challenge me to grow my skills" sounds much better than "School XYZ was not good enough for me and I want an upgrade". I think a good statement of purpose shows the reader about your attitudes and potential to make your school or research team a better place, and that is more important than the bare facts of your history and goals (goals change all the time).
Upvotes: 2
|
2021/04/03
| 257
| 1,177
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<issue_start>username_0: I am conducting a survey to measure the impact of social distancing on family dynamics, for which I came across a tool that fits my study perfectly. However, I am not able to find information on the scoring key, manual and interpretation, and I'm unable to contact the author. I couldn't find any other tool or papers that have used the CHES questionnaire and I'm running extremely short on time. How do I proceed?<issue_comment>username_1: The only option I see is to use a different tool. You think this one is perfectly suited for you, but actually it isn't, it's incomplete because you're missing the other half of it.
Typically other options would include looking for other authors that have used it or finding other papers that might describe the procedure more completely, but you've already said this is not possible. You've already tried to contact the author without success. You're running out of time so it seems past time to cut your losses and move on.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If the survey is useful, then use it to collect data, cite the author as appropriate, and develop your own scoring to suit your needs.
Upvotes: 1
|
2021/04/03
| 777
| 3,256
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<issue_start>username_0: **Background:** I read this Quora post where someone mentioned they TA'ed pretty much their entire PhD tenure and took up extra TA spots as well for the same because they really liked teaching. The person only ended up publishing 2 papers (very good ones) during their tenure because maximum amount of their time went in teaching (The person won multiple TA awards and Head TA positions).
**Question:** Is this something which is frowned upon?
Personally, I really love to teach and would love to devote some of my research time to teaching.<issue_comment>username_1: This might depend somewhat on the field and certainly on what you intend to do as a career. It is field dependent since different fields place a somewhat different balance on teaching v research.
But if you seek a career in an R1 or R2 then you want to focus primarily on showing good research "chops". For those seeking to (mostly) teach at a liberal arts college then teaching will be looked at closely.
But you also need to think about the number of jobs available and their specific requirements. Look in professional publications, for example, to get an idea of what is being looked for.
At some colleges and universities, research into the specific pedagogy of a field might be honored. Other places it would be discounted. Moreover, it is easier for a senior faculty member to focus on "out of the mainstream" research than it is for someone on the tenure track.
And also note that it is probably easier to move from an R1 (say) to a teaching oriented college than it is to move in the other direction, though getting hired and then tenure at an R1 is pretty tough. Very hard in some fields at the moment.
Finally, if you can manage to do what you love, then you will be happier overall, so think long term about goals and how best to achieve them.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: There are lots of good teaching-focused jobs in academia, for example faculty positions at small liberal-arts colleges, and lecturer-type positions in larger departments. It sounds like this kind of job would appeal to you more than a job whose primary focus was research. That’s great! Go and learn about those jobs, find people who have taken that career track and talk to them, and start doing what you need to make yourself an appealing candidate for those positions. Part of that last point is teaching, but it’s not really about teaching *more*, it’s about doing things that make your CV appealing to SLACs. You need to do some teaching, but it’s going to look better if you advise an REU student or run a directed reading program than if you just teach one more section of a class you already teach. See if you can find teaching assignments that add to your CV, eg if you have the opportunity to be instructor-of-record instead of just a TA, do that. Finally, even if you have teaching-centered career goals, you still need to graduate! So don’t overstretch yourself teaching at the expense of getting a solid thesis done. Research expectations are different at SLACs, but they definitely want you to be able to supervise undergraduate projects and they want you to have a PhD, so you can’t neglect that aspect of your program
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]
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2021/04/03
| 907
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<issue_start>username_0: I was wondering if it is possible to do an unpaid post-doc in the united states (Boston, MIT) for one year, especially in regards to the needed visa (I am german). I am unsure if I would be eligible for a visa when my plan is to cover all the expenses during that year with my own saved-up money.
I already looked at all the regulations of J-1 visa but I couldn't find anything regarding the possibility of getting a visa without being paid. It seems like I need to be paid for H-1B though, so this won't help me.
Thank you in advance for any information or experiences you can share :)
Cheers!<issue_comment>username_1: I don’t know about the visa, but even aside from that there are legal, ethical and reputation issues with your idea. Considering all of those, I’m 99% certain that neither MIT nor any other reputable university will give even passing consideration to the idea of an unpaid postdoc.
On the legal side, there is this thing called minimum wage that forces organizations to pay their employees. The exceptions are volunteers and unpaid internships, and there are rules governing who can count as either of those, to avoid organizations using those categories as loopholes to exploit workers. I don’t know enough about this topic to be able to say for certain that a postdoc couldn’t be categorized as an unpaid intern, but I suspect that at the very least, the idea would be unusual and eyebrow-raising enough to deter anyone from wanting to even test whether this is possible.
On the ethical side, postdocs are already a somewhat vulnerable population that are paid less than their qualifications make them “worth” on the free market (outside of academia). This raises real issues about the potential for exploitation. There are reasonable arguments why this pay structure makes sense, but employing unpaid postdocs absolutely does not make sense, and would undermine the ability of people who can’t afford to take such unpaid positions from being competitive in the academic jobs market. The last thing a university would want is to open itself to accusations of such exploitative behavior.
On the reputation side, a university like MIT can afford to hire the best postdocs in the world, and its reputation is much more valuable to it than the cost of employing a postdoc. If you are good enough to want them to work for you, they will offer to pay you like any postdoc, to avoid anyone getting the impression that they are settling for subpar talent in order to save money, if for no other reason - even setting aside the legal and ethical issues I mentioned above.
Bottom line: an unpaid postdoc at a good university almost certainly isn’t going to be an option for you, sorry.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: No, you cannot. The two visa categories you mention (which are indeed the typical "postdoc" visas) explicitly do not allow what you have in mind.
J1 visas are for for exchange visitors who are funded either through scholarships/fellowships or their host institution. They explicitly do not allow for self-funded postdocs.
Similarly, a H1B Visa is for skilled workers, and one (crude) way to prove that the work you do is sufficiently skilled is through a minimum salary of +$60,000 (or thereabouts).
If you are academically competitive, try to obtain a fellowship. E.g. the DAAD has some great opportunities to support your endeavours. If you're not academically competitive no lab/group at MIT would be interested in you even for free. (In fact, many of the postdocs in the top labs at those top institutions do in fact work "for free" as far as their host institution is concerned. Because they come with their own fellowships from their home countries.)
Upvotes: 2
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2021/04/04
| 1,138
| 4,796
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<issue_start>username_0: I asked a professor I know (we are outside the US) to write a strong letter of recommendation for me and he said he would be glad. However, the possible content of the letter (we have only talked about it together) gave rise to two questions for me:
Firstly, he wants to include a line to the effect that he plans to work with me in different ways in future research. At first glance, it feels like a very positive note but I am not sure if the admissions committee may see something implied here that may become problematic (e.g., the student may be too distracted or he may be too busy to focus on his PhD). What do you think?
Secondly, when I asked for some other issues he seemed a bit reluctant. For example, I asked him whether it is possible for him to write more than one page but he insists on one page being enough. Or, when I brought up the issue of illustrating praise with specific examples (as a question) so as to make it credible, he agreed but kept saying that a minimal approach will be more successful. Again, this could be true but I just don't want to rely on my own judgement in this regard. So, I appreciate your take on this issue.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you should defer to the advisor on both counts. I don't see any negative implication in the first point. It is actually pretty high praise.
And on the second, I'll have to guess that his judgment is based on more experience than you have.
Moreover, if he doesn't feel constrained by your "instructions", then he will probably write in a more natural way and that, alone, could make a difference when the letter is read.
I think that trying to micromanage this would hurt, not help.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Having read your question and the comments you have left, what strikes me is what I perceive as an incredible air of entitlement. You are asking this individual for a favor, and you are honestly thinking about badgering them to make a recommendation letter more than one page long (who wants to read that, anyway?) and include loads of specific examples? This is a presumably busy person who is willing to take time out of their busy schedule to altruistically help you out, and here you are complaining that they aren't doing enough.
I can understand that this is your future, so you are very invested in it, but that doesn't excuse taking the kindness of others for granted. It's bad enough that you are given access to the letter, now you want to edit it? Usually, or at least very often, such letters are sent directly to the target institution and the student has no idea what is in them.
Now, setting aside the presumptuous nature of asking for more than one page and many specific examples, I also feel it will be counterproductive. Nobody wants to read a multi-page essay on how wonderful a candidate is. First because that will be very boring and second because it will come across as fake. It will feel as though someone asked a personal friend to write the letter and then was breathing down their neck pushing them to add more and more. So even if you do convince this poor professor to write something long enough to please you, that is very unlikely to come across in a positive light for the admission committee.
If I were you, I would go back to this professor, thank them very, very much, apologize for being pushy and hope that you haven't damaged your relationship with them beyond repair. If it were me, I would be seriously reconsidering whether I would ever want to work with a student who turned out to be so ungrateful.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: **Abort!**
If a professor takes the time to write a letter of recommendation for you, and you come back to them saying that it is not good enough, this is *highly* offensive (and I do not believe I am easily offended).
There are three possible reasons why you may think the letter is too short or not detailed enough:
1. The professor doesn't really think that highly of you. In this case, it is common to write a concise letter which says more by not saying too much. By your description, this does not appear to be the case here.
2. The professor has taken the time to write a good letter, but not done a very good job.
3. You have unrealistic expectations on how fulsome a letter of recommendation should be. In my judgment, this is the case in this situation.
If #1 is true, nothing you can do or say will improve your letter. If #2 is true, you are calling the professor incompetent. If #3 is the case, you should of course not say anything.
In short, by continuing down this path you are *far* more likely to lose the support of your professor (and thus the letter, and much more, entirely), than you are to get the letter changed.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/04/04
| 1,914
| 8,409
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm collaborating with another person on a public-key cryptosystem that we intend to publish. I could only think of two references (one to the 1976 Diffie-Hellman paper, and one to SHA-3 FIPS-202), even though most of the contents are completely original.
I put my content onto Grammarly Premium and it only found 2% of so-called plagiarism - so called because the source of plagiarism is actually a low-quality prank question on a Q&A site that contains a series of digits 9 and asks its sum, that happen to collide with our experiment data.
What can I do to improve our paper?<issue_comment>username_1: If the work is truly yours, and if you understand the state of the art and how we got to the present in the field and the work doesn't, in fact, plagiarize, then you should submit it. Reviewers will give you feedback on it.
But, a warning. Plagiarism won't necessarily be caught by an AI system, since it is about ideas, rather than their explicit expression. So, a paper could be completely plagiarized if it presents the ideas of others as if it were those of the authors, while using none of the phrasing and few of the words of the work plagiarized.
If you know the state of the art and who is the originator of the various ideas then it is easy to know whether what you write is original. And it is possible to unknowingly express the ideas of others as your own if you don't understand what came before. But that is just sloppy scholarship. And reviewers will catch it quickly.
But, assuming the best case, there is no reason not to submit your paper. The reviewers will give any necessary advice for improvement.
---
While you need to have read, and understood, the literature relevant to your work, not every paper needs to recapitulate the history. If you are writing a thesis, then you need to include much of that, but for a professional audience it isn't necessary. If you are writing for novices, then you need to say more, of course, but people in the field are, themselves, knowledgeable already about the history and the current state.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Citations aren't just about avoiding plagiarism. They are more about embedding your work into a scientific context. Every paper should explain in an introduction section
* why this work is relevant, and
* how this work differs from previous approaches.
It is extremely rare that an approach is so novel that there is no meaningful prior work that can be referenced – many papers just apply an existing concept A to an existing problem B and analyze whether this is useful, or extend an existing approach to have some desirable properties. If you can't reference such prior work, that is usually an indication that you don't understand the state of the art in your field. Such papers are unlikely to contribute to the field, and are very likely to be rejected by journals or conferences.
Most of the citations are usually in the introduction section of a paper, which is where related work is discussed. In contrast, it is somewhat normal that there are fewer references in the section where you describe your novel approach. You would still reference existing building blocks and methods of your approach. E.g. an experimental paper in CS might reference relevant software libraries that were used.
I am not an experienced author and know how hard it is to break into a field. It's difficult to get an overview of the state of the art in your field. However, this is a crucial part of writing a good paper – otherwise, it is quite likely that you're either doing something that has already been done, or that you're flaunting the methodological conventions of the field. For example, there might be existing testing methods or benchmark problems that every serious paper in that field should use. (If those existing methods were unsuitable, a paper about *that* could be useful as well!)
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: >
> Most of the contents are completely original.
>
>
>
How do you know with only two references?
Show your readers and reviewers that your work differs from what has been done before. Show them that you know what has been done.
That's what references are (also) for.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends what you're actually saying in the paper. If all you're saying is "We invented cryptographic algorithm X.", then you may not need any citations at all, but that would be a really uninteresting paper. A more interesting paper might say "Cryptography is necessary in the modern world because A, B, and C. We invented cryptographic algorithm X. On benchmark test M, cryptographic algorithm X performs better than cryptographic algorithms Y or Z; whereas on benchmark test N, cryptographic algorithm X performs better than cryptographic algorithm Y but worse than cryptographic algorithm Z. However, cryptographic algorithm Z is patent-encumbered." In that case, you'll need to cite the people who discovered the implications of A, B, and C, the inventors of algorithms Y and Z, the inventors of tests M and N, and the patent on algorithm Z.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: While you say that your work is completely original, it is unlikely that *nothing* you have written relates to previous work. If this really is the case, then the paper is certainly missing vital information.
A cryptography paper is not just a description of an algorithm. There are many important things that need to be discussed:
* What is the problem that you are trying to solve? Why is it important to other people?
* What background should the reader be aware of in order to understand your contribution? What theoretical tools will you be using to analyze your cryptosystem?
* What is the algorithm?
* Why is it secure? Generally, this requires a security reduction to some well-known computationally-hard problem.
* How does it perform?
* How does it compare with and relate to previous work?
Almost all (if not all) of these will require reference to other work. If you don't analyze your cryptosystem in terms that the cryptographic community are familiar with, it will be difficult to convince them that your algorithm is secure. Even if you manage to do so, without comparison to the competition you won't be able to convince anyone that it is better than the current state of the art.
To give a more concrete example, you should analyze your cryptosystem to see whether it provides a certain kind of security under some assumptions. What kind of security, and what assumptions? You will find well-understood options for these in all good cryptographic textbooks, which you can then use in your subsequent analysis. If you don't provide a convincing analysis in terms of well-understood definitions, then even if your paper is correct, then it will be difficult or impossible to validate this.
For your particular situation, though, I think it is important to set reasonable expectations if you submit your paper now. The security community has spent decades trying to convince people not to use cryptography in ways that have not been blessed by the mainstream cryptographic community. If you fail to build on their body of work, which your current lack of references suggests, then you will not get anywhere, for the simple reason that even modern cryptographic systems (let's say, those from the last 40 to 50 years which were clearly designed in the computer era) have failed in so many different ways, that it is simply not believable that you have built something secure without taking into account all the lessons that have been learnt during this time.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: If nothing else, if your paper gives the impression (by skimpy biblio) that you are not acquainted with the mountain of work on public-key crypto in the last 40-50 years, people will likely not even want to look at it. There are toooo many cranks who think they have a terrific idea, but are ignorant of the actual literature.
So, in this year, it would be very, very wise to demonstrate your knowledge of prior work, and state-of-the-art, by a substantial bibliography, and to place your work in that context.
I'd have to think that, if you believe that your work is somehow independent of that body of work, you are almost surely mistaken... and misguided... and will have people not take you seriously.
Upvotes: 4
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2021/04/05
| 2,229
| 10,365
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<issue_start>username_0: I find myself in a very unusual situation. After sending the paper to a top journal, we received two positive feedbacks after 12 months, asking only for minor revisions.
We promptly did the revision and 6 months later we received the reports: one reviewer recommended acceptance and the other rejection, saying simply that the paper was not suitable for such a top journal.
The editor sent out the rejection to us saying that he agrees the paper is not suitable for such a top journal.
I wonder if this is a reasonable behavior of a reviewer (and editor). Is it reasonable to simply "change your mind" about the paper (without a justification)? I feel disrespected as a researcher for receiving their honest opinion on my work only after a second round of review.
My question is: Should I reply to the editor or not? What should I say?
---
Edit: I replied to the editor pointing out two things: i) How should I have replied to the minor revisions to meet the journal standard? ii) Asking for a third reviewer given the unusual radical change of mind of the reviewer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edit 2: It turns out the paper has been handled by an anonymous associate editor. The editor in chief replied agreeing that the reviewer and the associate editor made a poor job in the first review. However, at this point, there's nothing that can be done.<issue_comment>username_1: The last time this happened to me, it was because one of the two original reviewers was unable to review the revision, but journal policy mandated two accept recommendations before acceptance. So the editor invited a third reviewer, who recommended rejection. I do think it's pretty unfair to the authors when this happens. After all, if the paper is not suitable for the journal, the journal ought to desk reject immediately and save everyone's time.
I suggest writing to the editor and asking them if they're sure of their decision. After all, they did say minor revisions in the first decision. If they say they're sure there's nothing you can do but submit elsewhere, but there's a chance they'll agree they have been unfair.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: In principle, this is what the second round of reviews (review of the revised version) is for. The referees should read the revised version again and they can change their opinion. That is normal. The main difference between top and not-so-top journals is that referees and editors for top journals try to find reasons to reject while the referees and editors of other journals try to find reasons to accept.
In practice very much depends on whether the editor told you before the revision that your paper is accepted subject to minor revisions or not. If not, there is nothing you can do.
If the editor told you that the paper is accepted, it makes a big difference and you can and should complain first to the editor and then to the managing editor of the journal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You do not say whether the journal has a policy on how soon revisions must be returned. Some "top" journals only allow a return within a specific window of time. Otherwise, the dust gathers, new information appears that supersedes the publication, and what was once acceptable is no longer acceptable. Otherwise, some "top" journals consider anything submitted after the deadline to be a new submission worthy of an entirely new round of first (not second) reviews.
You should confirm that you submitted your revisions within the allotted deadline.
Considering the case where you did submit the revisions promptly enough, a period of 6 months or 12 months to hear back is rather long. Have you maintained a record of email correspondence asking the editor for a status report over those periods? In such a case, the onus can fall on the editor to explain the change in opinion. Otherwise, the long delay may be a case where the work simply and inadvertently fell through the cracks, as the saying goes, both from your side and from the editor's side.
In the meantime, you may also want/need to justify that your paper is still "top" quality in terms of meeting the guidelines for the journal. Have findings from your work already been published in the meantime, so that what you once submitted those 18 months ago as fore-front work is no longer fore-front work? Have the findings from your work long since faded out of the appeal for the journal, so that what once was occupying a significant chunk of reports in your field is now occupying perhaps only a sporadic hiccup in some on-line journal in a foreign language? You can only do well to present supporting information to show that your work is still worthy of publication in the "top" journal even after the 18 months time. You may even have the foresight to provide a revision to the citations with any updated information to support your case (e.g. a recent publication that shows the continued relevance of your work even after this time). If you are inclined to put in the additional effort and if the option seems to arise, you may even consider asking the editor whether, in light of the circumstances, you might have permission to resubmit with revisions that will highlight the article's relevance even after the 18 months. Given the previous history of long delays, I suggest that you may want/need to negotiate a definitive frame with the editor to get this done in short order if at all.
You can also do well to determine whether your report represents an anomaly or not. What are the typical turn-around times from submission to publication in the journal? You can generally find this by looking at the submission and acceptance dates. Is a period of 12 months representative? Are there clear cases where the turn-around was even longer? Also, this report is being considered in a time-frame under COVID-19 contingencies. Does the journal provide any notice of grace periods for such contingencies?
In summary, you are within bounds to ask the editor why your paper was accepted with minor revisions (after 12 months) and then, 6 months later after those revisions were submitted on time, is flatly rejected. You are within bounds to go one step further above the editor as supported by any records of follow-up contacts with the editor over that extended period.
Unfortunately, even with all this, your paper may remain rejected, you may not be able to find out entirely to your satisfaction why, and you may have a suspicion that something was "dishonest" about the process. Reflect that your perceptions may not be the full reality. Perhaps, all things considered, this is a case where the work simply got lost in the administrative shuffle for the two periods of time and that, after 18 months, the same reviewer had an objective change of mind.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I can imagine two different scenarios in which this might logically happen and possibly be appropriate.
First, a fair amount of "stuff" has been published in the interim, perhaps making the paper appear less important/innovative.
Second, it might be that a reviewer has been "thinking about it" ever since the first round, and now thinks they were overly positive and now see some deficiencies that they didn't previously.
You can ask the editor, of course, for reasons and for any advice. You can try to submit elsewhere as well, but if the first case holds, then you may need to revisit the problem in light of recent research.
But that first case is also especially unfortunate if it was delays in review that resulted in the paper being less "current". You might have a complaint to make about that.
But in future, I hope you follow up before an 18 month delay becomes a factor. Ask for updates fairly regularly.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Two things from my experience:
1. In the journals I'm involved with on the editorial side, reviewers give a response to the authors and a separate one to the editor. The editor will not normally disclose the individual decision recommendations of the reviewers. It is absolutely possible that the reviewer in question already had doubts about the suitability of the paper for the journal in the first round. They may not have written this to the author (because it doesn't have implications about how the paper should be changed) but only to the editor. The editor may have recommended "minor revision" because they tended (maybe just about) to the positive side, maybe not being sure whether the paper is acceptable, but deciding that revisions required are only minor in any case (more major revisions wouldn't save it either if the minor revisions don't). Now, having finally rejected the paper, it seems like the editor has made the wrong call initially, but these things happen. Such a decision can be very narrow, may in the perception of the editor rely on the revision (even if called "minor"), without the authors knowing. Of course it's unfortunate that is took so long.
2. As reviewer, I often ask for revisions because something is not clear. I may even ask for "minor revisions" in such a case, not expecting ensuing problems. However, after the thing is clarified in the revision, I understand more and may realise that the whole approach is more flawed than I initially thought. I am not proud of situations in which I have recommended minor revisions in the first go, then changed to "reject", but it has happened, and the reason was that either the authors were not able to clarify something that is essential and I would have expected them to do it, or where the clarification has made me see more fundamental issues with the paper.
In such cases, complaining will not help. In order to accept this, you may think about it in the following way: Had everything turned out in the same way with the only exception that the initial decision letter would have sounded slightly more negative and asked for "major revisions", you wouldn't be in any better situation than you are now (in fact you may have put more time into the revision, only to find out afterwards that it was in vain), but you wouldn't have any reason to complain.
Upvotes: 2
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2021/04/05
| 316
| 1,384
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a full professor in a US STEM field about to go on the job market for teaching professorships because of a terminal financial emergency at my current institution (a liberal arts college). I am fortunate to have worked with someone very well-known and respected in my field, especially for his contributions to education. When I went up for promotion to full professor, he wrote a strong letter of support, which he was kind enough to share with me.
Would it be better for me to include the letter in my applications or to just list him as a reference? He is fine with me doing either.
(Technically, I'm not applying for a specific position right now. Faculty at my institution have been invited to submit a CV, teaching statement, and research statement to a neighboring R1 institution in better financial shape. I am also planning to create an online dossier, which I will reference in my statements and will share with people I know at other nearby institutions.)<issue_comment>username_1: Sometimes hiring committees prefer a letter coming directly from the evaluator, as opposed to via the candidate, as it may be more candid.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I take it this is in the United States. In that case, letters are never provided by the applicant. A list of references would be provided by the applicant.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2021/04/05
| 1,131
| 4,876
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<issue_start>username_0: As an academic, you are in the business of producing research. I know it might sound odd to call it a "business", but frankly, you get paid to do it, and most of you wouldn't do it if you didn't get paid, hence it is a business and you're selling a product (your research) to your clients (the rest of society) and you get paid a price for that product (grants and aid and donations and other types of support from governments and other institutions).
This means that there is a danger that your research output is driven by a self-serving bias. After all, the 'better' research you produce (as in, research that draws a lot of attention), the more of it you will sell and the more money you will make.
How do academics controls themselves for this bias, that may be occurring consciously or subconsciously?
One might say that peer-reviewing solves this exact problem, but I fear that all peer-reviewing accomplishes is moving the goalpost. Okay, so now the bias of the lone researcher is being controlled, but who controls the biases of the peers? After all, this bias is an industry-wide phenomenon. Your peers, the ones that review your research, have the exact same bias as you do, and are also interested in seeing your research be validated if it brings more attention to your field, a field which is obviously shared between you and your peers.
Hence the bias affects you all at the same time. Who is controlling that? Is there a 3rd party? If not, how do academics, as a group, control themselves?
Obviously, this question is more pertinent for less fact-based fields, so not for example mathematics, where if a wrong theorem is approved, it would be catastrophic and probably discovered soon enough, to the shame of all people involved. But for more experimental fields such as physics, medicine, etc., how do academics ensure that there isn't a cartel of researchers some where all (sub)consciously agreeing to promote research that advances their careers?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a good question, and arguably I would say research is not without bias. There are many biases that exist, and there are several fields that have actually become too bias and suffer from this cartel mentality, but that is an opinion.
One thing that you can personally do to combat your own bias is to practice being mindful about how you engage with your research and that of others. It’s very hard to remove bias from research because humans are inherently bias. This why there are fields of study dedicated to survey research and making surveys less bias.
You just need to practice good scholarship and encourage/promote it within others. That’s about all you can do to reduce bias in others aside from changing them as people.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Everything is in the end vetted by the community and by time.
Many researchers were fooled by their biases (including Galilei or Millikan who did systematic errors in their studies) and the biases were slowly uncovered by time. This is normal. Of course, a good researcher, as Feynman says, needs to take care not to fool themselves, and good researchers work hard to do so. In the end, however, it is time and the scientific community that filters out the wheat from the chaff.
One key thing to maximize your objectivity is to avoid p-hacking. Be aware what your hypothesis is *before* you run the experiment. Be aware of what parameters you extract from the experiment and how to factor them into your evaluation of the theoretical vs. experimental model.
Try to have at least two maximally independent ways of getting to a critical result. Understand the assumptions that got you a result.
Taking care of these various things will minimize the probability (it will never entirely go away) that you fool yourself and increase your confidence that you have done a proper job at doing good science.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: The question seems to be about choosing the topic/ type of research so as to pander to grant agencies, rather than falsifying or having experimental biases. I'll focus specifically on the first.
Yes, grants and financial support do sustain research and most of us must tailor our work to have synergy with the funder. But rarely do researchers limit themselves to that focussed research. The usual tendency is to do this directed work (ie the bias in the question) so that other interesting ideas can be supported and pursued in parallel. The origin of dynamic programming and its nomenclature is a notable example of this. So while some research output is indeed directed by the interest of funding agencies, it would be wrong to conclude that all research is driven by this.
Note that the topic directed research could be biased, not its outcomes, unless there is something unethical or inadequately rigorous happening.
Upvotes: 0
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2021/04/05
| 959
| 4,192
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an undergraduate student who is submitting my thesis for committee review. However, one of the committee member is unsatisfied and thinks that I attempted plagiarism from my advisor's paper. However, in my situation:
1. I am writing a result in extension to my advisor's paper;
2. I have proved new results in the almost exact same setup as the reference;
3. Since it is my first paper, a great deal of my explanation and logic is inherited from my advisor and his paper. Therefore, a lot of explanation and formula takes the same form (with possible slightly different definition of variables).
4. I pointed out directly that how this paper is related to previous work and added reference for directly quoted prop/defn.
This committee member will not support my submission of thesis unless I rewrite everything in my own words. However, I doubt if I can rewrite everything instead of simply rephrasing due to the nature of this work. I wonder what are your guys opinion and how I should deal with it?<issue_comment>username_1: It is possible that the reviewer has a misconception. It is also possible that you do. Rewriting things "in your own words" is not a guard against plagiarism, which isn't about copying "words" but about misattribution of the source of *ideas*.
The proof against plagiarism is to make it clear where the ideas came from by using citation and some form of "setting aside" such as quoting (quote marks, indentation, ..."
I suspect that you need to do a rewrite and make sure that any reader can make a clear distinction between your ideas and those you have inherited, pointing to the source in the latter case.
But, rephrasing isn't enough. Rephrasing the work of others can be accepted, provided, again, that you make the source clear. If a reader might infer that the ideas are yours, when they are not, then it is plagiarism, no matter the words.
---
Note, the actual expression of the ideas, the words, is more a question of copyright than of plagiarism. They are actually independent ideas, but both involve proper attribution.
If your advisor still holds copyright to their work then they can grant you permission (a license) to quote extensively. Otherwise (if a publisher now has copyright) you have to follow normal copyright (and fair use) rules in quoting. But the attribution needs to be there.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I wonder whether the committee member is not so much concerned about plagiarism *per se* as whether you actually understand your advisor's work. An undergraduate thesis is supposed to involve, at least in part, the student gaining a certain level of mastery of prior literature (as well as building on it.) This sort of understanding is usually conveyed in a "theory" or "background" section near the beginning of the thesis.
If this section reads like it was copied-and-pasted from your advisor's previous work, then the committee member may be concerned that you don't really understand what you've written and are simply parroting it without any real comprehension. They may then have doubts that you haven't really engaged with the material in a manner that is really worthy of whatever level of distinction is associated with a "thesis" at your institution. Being a mathematician is not just about finding some interesting results; it's also about understanding about how they fit into the broader picture of mathematics, and about being able to convey your understanding successfully to others. Your institution may value these latter parts just as much as the ability to find new results (and I applaud them if they do.)
If this is the case, you may just need to bite the bullet and rewrite the section. It's probably OK if the equations remain in the same form; but the "connective tissue" between the needs to show, in your own words, that you actually understand how you get from equation (1) to equation (2) to equation (3). (One of the things I always try to convey to my physics undergraduates is that the "connective tissue" between equations is just as important for conveying meaning and understanding as the equations themselves—if not more important.)
Upvotes: 4
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2021/04/05
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently, I taught a class of five students. I asked for their native place and all said that their hometown is X, but I didn't tell them my reason for asking.
I asked them because I can communicate *easily* with them if they are from Y, since I can speak the language of my hometown Y well.
Although I can communicate in our common language, I cannot communicate as well as I can in Y's language.
My doubt here is whether this would constitute *discrimination based on place* or is it perfectly fine to ask them? Is it similar to asking about race, religion, caste, etc., which is generally not recommended?<issue_comment>username_1: It is possible to ask such a question as a way of making a connection, as long as you say something about yourself.
But it is also possible to ask it in such a way that you imply that the person is somehow an "outsider" or "other". Avoid that, of course, though it may take some finesse.
In other words, the question can be an *inclusive* or an *exclusive* one as well as being neutral. The first situation is fine. The last might be misinterpreted, so use caution.
---
However, I worry about your motives for doing this. In a class, even a small class, you should speak a language known to all students. A language in which they are proficient. If your use of language would exclude some students you should rethink it.
My understanding of language in India is that, an educated person probably speaks at least three languages; English, Hindi or Tamil (maybe both) and a local/regional language, possibly several. I don't know how much the local languages differ from each other or from the more widely used languages, but using one in class (rather than in private conferences) could be problematic if they aren't shared. Again, it is the inclusion v. exclusion issue.
An additional principle, is that if a student in a class asks a question, then all students should hear and understand both the question and the answer. Questions asked by one student are also of concern to others, some of whom are less willing to ask.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In the US, and I suspect a fair number of other countries, it would be frowned upon for a professor to ask students in their class where they are from, unless perhaps that had direct relevance to the topic of the class. This is considered a personal question, and while generally appropriate in a social setting where you are having conversation with someone you do not hold authority over, for a professor asking that of their students (especially in a class setting in front of other students) would be perceived as nosy, intrusive, and at least mildly inappropriate.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I thought it would be good to edit my answer to start with a link to an article written from the perspectives of people who have had the question "where are you from?" asked repeatedly and who can explain some of the issues with it much better than I can: <https://hbr.org/2020/10/whats-wrong-with-asking-where-are-you-from>
---
No, don't do this the way you describe.
I suspect you're talking about local languages in a nation state where there are many many languages, and yet there is a standard [lingua franca](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca), perhaps government-imposed, in which business at your institution is typically conducted. I don't have any personal experience with this situation, being an English speaker in a primarily English country, but I think there are some more general ideas that I'd recommend you think about.
Three recommendations: first, if you must do so, why not merely relay where *you* are from? If a student recognizes this location and can infer you can speak an additional language with them, they can make this connection on their own. Avoid asking questions of others that they might be uncomfortable with or that might lead to stereotyping.
Second, avoid playing favorites (or even *appearing* to) as an instructor. I think it is natural to associate with someone who shares something with you (fans of the same music? same hobby? same language/hometown?) and to treat them differently, as well as to view someone from someplace less common as "different" or "other". I'd avoid asking questions that categorize people. A safer alternative sometimes used as a mnemonic by instructors is to ask about a more generic "something special", where students can choose exactly what piece of information to share (that said, not all students really like these get-to-know-you games, myself included).
Third, although I think there are a lot of good reasons to promote and cultivate languages and prevent their loss, I'm not sure the university classroom is the best place. Students who learn concepts from you in a common local language to both of you may have difficulties when they advance and are in other courses (or the "real world") needing to use the same concepts in a more typical language. Practicing using the language of the course may be better for both of you.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I'd think you should not do this, probably in any of the main cultures (that I'm dimly aware of) in the world. It invites trouble. Those who can feel they're part of the same smaller cultural group as you may feel happier, but those not in that smaller group will have reason to wonder what impact that will have...
I've said before, and do truly believe, that a good teacher should have a substantial "professional persona", but it should be somehow personal yet impersonal, specific yet non-specific...
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Asking someone about their identity, including their place of origin, is not discrimination. It is not necessarily a bad thing to do. Not talking about identity perpetuates the idea that some identities are bad and should be hidden.
However, in an educational context, drawing attention to students' identities can cause harm. If you ask students where they are from, students who are from disadvantaged areas may experience stress, which reduces how much they learn. This phenomenon, which is known as stereotype threat, has been found in many experiments.
If you ask students about their identities *after* they have finished learning and taking exams, then stereotype threat is no longer relevant.
You can asks students about themselves in a more general way, such as "What should I know about you?" at any time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I see two issues here:
The first issue is that **you don't even need to know about the students' hometowns - your query is actually about their language proficiency**. In an attempt to make your question more palatable you are using hometown as a proxy for language proficiency.
**But answers about hometowns give more information than merely about language proficiency.** The answers combined with other pieces of public data like surnames might contain hidden socioeconomic information - financial status, caste or class, family literacy level, family migration and parents' inter-caste marriage patterns, etc. Things which certain students might feel uncomfortable in revealing or discussing.
Asking about hometowns might also be code to know which students will be favored over others. Teachers should not appear to favour linguistic or cultural groups. Just to avoid this appearance of potential discrimination is in itself a sufficient reason to not ask such questions.
**The second issue is that every course already has a certain language.** This language is predetermined, and is connected both with courses taken prior to this course, as well as to coursework or industry work the student might take up after this course. There is a continuity of thought, jargon and even culture across the students' education, which is part of the learning.
Because of this continuity, is not appropriate for a teacher to unilaterally change the language for a course even if it results in a temporary improvement in understanding or retention.
Twenty years after your course, when the student needs to keep abreast of the latest developments in the industry, they will need to self-read journals or publications in the dominant language of the industry. If their education is already in that language, then having a few intermediary concepts delivered in their native tongue might be counterproductive. **If the student is forced to work through their language difficulties now, it will result in a better long-term outcome.**
This goes doubly for instructors. Teaching is not merely about knowing the subject - it is also about transferring information effectively. **An instructor who is not comfortable with the language the course is to be delivered in, cannot be considered fit to deliver the course**, regardless of the instructor's expertise with the subject matter.
Instructors need to use the course language instead of switching to their native language even if the class solely comprises of students proficient in the native tongue.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Let's say half of the student were coming from Y: you would be able to build a special relationship with them ... what about the students coming from X?
You have to be fair.
You could provide an excellent "service" to students from Y and a very good "service" to students from X. Do not proceed that way: you have to provide a common "service" service to students from X ***and*** from Y. Will it be only "very good"? probably.
Let's say you are employing two persons, a man and a woman. They do exactly the same job, performing the same tasks, carring the same responsibilities ... and the man is paid an excellent salary of 90 carrots per hour, while the woman is paid a very good salary of 80 carrots per hour. Someone[1] may argue that people from all genders have a very good "status" since they get a very good or an excellent salary, but they all got a salary.
What do you think?
In these relative terms, students can say you discriminated them, and they would be completely right. If the solution is to strive to give both groups the excellent service, or set just the minimum common, giving both groups a very good service, it depends on external conditions/forcings.
[1] someone not particularly brilliant, I admit.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Since the question "What is your home town" has many possibilities for misinterpretation, and in addition it is not even the question you want to ask, don't do it.
Most of the courses I teach are taught in English, and not the local language, due to the presence of many non-native speakers, exchange students etc. The official course language in those cases is English. In smaller classes I will usually ask all students to just briefly present themselves, using open ended questions such that they can choose what information to relay themselves. In most cases it is clear already from that presentation if I happen to be in a class with only native speakers. In those cases I will simply ask if everyone is a native speaker to comfirm, and then I switch. If not, I of course stay English.
I think you can use a similar approach.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: *Do the opposite: tell them about your background.*
Your motivation, if I understood the question correctly, was to offer an additional means of communication, i.e. in addition to the common language you can also communicate in the local language Y.
So, instead of asking them if they're from Y, just tell them that you have a Y-related background. The students can come to their own conclusions: thus, if there are any students who also speak Y, they can choose to communicate in Y instead of the common language, if they feel the need for it.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: First of all, asking about one thing to find out another is sneaky and somewhat manipulative. If/when people find out, they may feel hurt by this. Secondly, I like the idea of expanding a class to include another language, but it has to be done right, and if it's done without prior warning, I strongly disagree with it.
A lot of answers focus on the harm that can come to students who learn concepts and jargon in a language that isn't the predominate industry language. And that's a valid concern. On the flip side, sort of next to the 'favoritism' thing, but beyond perceptions and hurt feelings... It's unfair to the students who don't speak your native language to have parts of the class that they can't access.
I'm an American English speaker, and I'm now imagining being in a class with 30% hispanic students (which is accurate to how my elementary school was), and having the bilingual teacher teach certain math mnemonics only to those students who understand Spanish.
Granted, the reverse exists here, and is just as (or more) problematic, especially for children. But I agree with the other answers here: There's an understanding that the course is taught in a specific language, and the students signing up for the class are not expecting to need to know a different language.
If I were in your class and was one of the few students who did not know your native language, and you were to explain important concepts to only those who did, and I missed valuable information because of this, especially if my grade suffered or I felt like I couldn't apply the rest of the information because of the missing content, I would likely go to the dean or try to ask for a refund for the course. And although there may be no intentionally missing concepts, it's easy to forget that you haven't explained a concept, because you explained it on the side.
On the other hand, if it was in the course description, "Professor speaks X and Y", or "Office hours help available in language Y", then there's no problem with that. The students know what they're paying for before they sign up for your class. And the students don't have to tell you personal information to get to the point. To my previous example, if my parents had enrolled me in a bilingual English/Spanish school, no one could be upset if half of math class was inaccessible to me because I don't speak Spanish.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_11: *My doubt here is whether this would constitute discrimination based on place*.
Asking a clear and direct question with no offense meant (whatever it is) would certainly not constitute "discrimination" of any sort, especially if the students are not obliged to answer. Discrimination means preferential treatment or mistreatment and you haven't done anything to that extent. The current attempts to extend the notion to everything that some people may possibly find somewhat "sensitive" under certain circumstances are just mere abuse of common sense and communication norms.
As to languages, I'd better stick to the official language of the university whatever it is: that is what is normally expected and what the students signed up for regardless of their native dialects. It is OK to switch to a particular student dialect in a one on one conversation during the office hours if you both find out that it facilitates the communication but I wouldn't do it in the classroom even if everybody there were speaking my native tongue (and I had such small graduate classes a couple of times). The reasons vary from the fact that all terminology and other similar things the students need to learn and use in parallel courses (as well as the textbooks) would be in English, so I'd better make my presentations coherent with other lectures and texts, to just my desire to practice the language of the country I am currently living in as much as possible.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_12: No question is discriminative; the reaction to the answer may be.
For example: "Are you pregnant or are you planning to be within X months?" is a question that will start up fanatic spree and the highest-qualified job for the asker will be a dustman. In my work this is a must-answer-truly question because we are working with radioactive materials; any answer but "no" means the candidate is immediately rejected or offered different position.
---
Lectures, meetings, conferences, exams,... It does not matter what type of "venue" it is, the rules are the same.
Hometown, county, continent,... It does not matter either - it is about communication proficiency, language mostly.
Asking about the members' origin does not cover their abbility to communicate. Even though 90% of attendants are native in language A it does not mean they are all proficient in language B.
Your question should be "What are the languages you are proficient with?" and pick the one with 100% coverage. Otherwise stick to the oficial one. For the lectures do cover all mandatory parts in the official language and use the preferred one only for clarification and finetuning the nuances. The test will be in the official language so the students must be given informations mandatory for the test.
---
I have attended few international conferences where English was the official language, or one of them and all of them were in non-english speaking country. English is my second language as well, after Czech. There some of them with language issues.
#1: The conference was held at the 100 years anniversary of the organising body. For the first day the speeches were demanded to be one in english and one in the native language. I and my colleagues were pissed off by that choice and looking in the audience we were able to find all the attendants who were not fluent in the native language as well. They didn't even ask whether the audience is okay with this. Even the presenters were surprised and one was kindly but strictly asked to return to the native language (her #3) when she slipped to english (#2) because her slides were english.
#2: The conference was organized by a department of a university and most of the presenters were from the university and many were PhD students there. Many struggled with english and sometimes they switched desperately to their native language and kept there for few presentations even though the official language was english. It was annoying for few of us who were not able to speak the native language.
#3: At the conference there were few attendants that were known not to be profficient in the native language. When the chairman saw they left the audience and saw the presenter was struggling talking english he asked the audience whether all are okay with switching the language. After the nod from almost everybody and no complaint then they asked the presenter to switch to the other language. Next presenter was asked to give their talk in english again.
Upvotes: 1
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2021/04/05
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<issue_start>username_0: What is the basic difference between being a researcher in a corporation, and being a researcher in a university?
Is there really any difference apart from giving lectures and grading student's exam papers?<issue_comment>username_1: The *basic* difference is that research in corporations is much more likely to be *very* applied, even just applied to product development. In universities (and government labs) the research is more likely to be *basic* research: answering questions for the sake of knowledge itself.
This isn't entirely true and some (a few) corporations do basic research but it has declined quite a lot in recent decades.
There are a couple of reasons for the split and the change, but one is that, in recent years, there has been an extreme focus in corporations on returning value to stockholders and company officers are rewarded for that and little else. This was not so prevalent in the past.
Another reason for the split, is that most government funding of research (again, not all) goes to universities and government labs, so that the *stakeholders* are the general citizenry, not *stockholders* of a corporation. So, the questions supported by government funding are more likely to be basic research questions: "what are *quasars* doing anyway".
Some of the exceptions might be pharmaceutical research that depends on basic knowledge before you can start to think about products. Agricultural research may be similar, but it isn't my field.
Bell labs was once the paragon of company based basic research, as was IBM research. They are mere shadows of their past glory.
Some companies are supporting things like research into encryption and AI at the moment, and some of that is fairly pure math, but they are doing so primarily for competitive reasons, not for the love of just plain "knowing stuff". Tenured faculty have few pressures to produce for competitive reasons, other than those related to reputation.
---
Another difference, that will matter to some, is that the pay (base salary) in corporate research is likely to be higher than in a university for people with similar qualifications. One friend of mine earned just about double what I did and it would be hard to find many distinctions in job expectations between us. He was mostly paid to think and his ideas were often useful. He was, in part, a walking advertisement for the quality of work at his companies. I think my retirement plan was much (much) better than his, but his salary was much higher. We were both quite satisfied with our decisions and could arguably have swapped positions.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The goals of research are different; a researcher in a corporation is expected to find solutions to specific problems that impact the functioning of the corporation. Alternatively, the corporate researcher may work towards inventions that add direct value to the corporation. Often this means developing something that other corporations do not have.
On the other hand, a university researcher is more free to choose problems that appeal to curiosity, provided the solutions add to the intellectual stature of the university. The focus would be on adding to the reputation, not profitability of the university (though reputation would indeed draw more grant money and generate profits, and therefore baby, bathwater etc.)
A more concrete difference is that universities generally value output in the form of research communications (journals, conference proceedings etc). Corporations generally place higher value ok intellectual property markers like patents/design patents.
It is sometimes argued that university research is disruptive due to its unfettered nature, while corporate research is incremental due to being confined to more norms and standards. This is true in some fields and less in others.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Speaking from personal experience. I've done both kinds.
As a professor, I looked for questions that intrigued me and that I thought I could answer. Sometimes they came from conversations with colleagues, from papers I read, from courses I taught, even from the time I spent playing mathematics with elementary school kids. When I found new mathematics that was publishable, I wrote papers. I changed fields often, as different things caught my fancy. Once I had tenure I felt no pressure to publish. There were fallow years when I focused on teaching and wrote textbooks (and on some administration).
As a consultant at a software company that built products that depended on the mathematics of queuing theory I learned a lot of queuing theory. Sometimes the answers I found to problems ended up in the products. Sometimes they led to talks or papers at professional conferences in the industry. Very occasionally they led to a papers in math journals. That was a bonus. If my work hadn't been useful either in products or as advertising they would not have kept me on.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: As a researcher in a company, I need to take issue with the current answers as reflecting a very narrow view of corporate research. This view is common in academia and reflects the typically limited experience of university researchers with the diversity of the non-academic research ecosystem.
A large amount of research in corporations is, indeed, focused on the near-term needs of products. Companies whose business model is based on widget sales will tend to put their money into better widgets, after all. There are a lot of business models, however, that are not about widget sales. Some examples:
* Some corporations have government funded R&D as a long-term component of their business model. There are important aspects of the research space (even basic research!) that universities are often ill-suited to execute, including:
+ Research with high team complexity or high integration complexity (professors are not typically professional program managers)
+ Research that requires a high degree of quality control (grad students are often unreliable!)
+ Research involving classified or otherwise controlled information
+ Research at intermediate levels of maturity (where papers are scarce, but the relationship to widget sales is still hazy)
* Some corporations have long-term strategic interests that they support by means of R&D investments, including university-like basic R&D. This was the old [Bell Labs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Labs) model (which is [still going strong!](https://www.bell-labs.com/)) and it's still in play in many large corporations, such as IBM, Microsoft Research, etc.
* Some corporations, especially non-profits, have missions that explicitly include research goals.
* Some corporations are education-focused (just with different educational models), and carry out research as part of advancing their educational mission.
* The boundaries between universities and companies can often become blurry, particularly around university "advanced ventures" organizations and in the medical space, where there's a near-fractal complexity in the academic/corporate relationships in many university medical complexes.
The life that you will lead as a researcher in these different sorts of organizations is very heterogeneous. Even within a single organization, such as the one that I work at, the goals and incentives are very different for researchers on the primary investigator track, the program manager track, and the implementer track. Even tenure can be less different than you might think, given the existence of fellows programs and the like.
So what is the basic difference?
* All universities are primarily focused on student education, and all professor positions fall into one of a small number of career models.
* Every other research organization is much less constrained in form, and you cannot make any assumptions until you understand their business model.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: I've worked as both a researcher in academia and industry. Most answers are correct in that it varies widely by position. However, here is my experience.
*Academia*
You pick the question, though there are constraints based on available funding, advisor, department goals, etc. It's freedom in the sense a tagged wild animal is free; people watch you closely and want interesting things to happen but the animal can go where it wants. You'll also need to determine if the question is noteworthy or novel in some way. Once you get a result, you also need to communicate/sell the result in academic writing, which has a very established formula with limited freedom to deviate. Other forms of selling your research help, such as conferences, presentations, etc. My view here is "pre-tenure". Salary is generally lower than industry.
*Industry*
Your boss picks the question, though a great boss will be open to hearing better questions and ideas. It's not as important to make sure the question is novel/noteworthy, a well run company has already made this determination. Once you get a result, you need to convince people it matters. There is much more freedom here than academia - just set a meeting and "sell". The downside is that audiences tend to vary widely in technical acumen where in academia most people are experts in the field. Salary is generally higher than academia with potentially lucrative bonus potential.
I moved from industry to academia, and I'm still in the process of deciding where I'd like to end up. I like teaching, which is a nice perk of academia. Industry requires many other 'non-research' tasks, too. Some are fun like mentoring and some are a waste of time like 'town halls'. There are pros and cons to both. If you're a brilliant researcher, it won't matter where you are (Einstein was working in a patent office when he published some of his most groundbreaking papers, after all).
Upvotes: 3
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2021/04/06
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<issue_start>username_0: Many college instructors have been struggling with a significant rise in cheating in the last year, notably in the context of required distance learning and online testing during the time of the COVID pandemic. Among websites that facilitate such cheating, foremost may be the [Chegg](https://www.chegg.com/) website.
In the last month it appears that Chegg have updated their "Honor Code" with a new tool which they are calling the "Honor Shield". In brief, this tool appears to promise the following:
* Chegg will now create and verify registered accounts for course instructors.
* A registered instructor can upload a copy of an upcoming exam.
* Inquiries or answers are blocked for those exam questions in a set timeframe.
* Chegg will delete information from the uploaded exam one month later.
* "Presently, there is no charge to use the Tool."
[Chegg page for the Honor Shield tool here.](https://www.chegg.com/honor-shield)
[More terms for the tool under the Honor Code page here.](https://www.chegg.com/honorcode#proctoringToolTerms)
[More context in this Forbes article that mentions the Chegg Honor Shield.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2021/01/28/this-12-billion-company-is-getting-rich-off-students-cheating-their-way-through-covid/)
Would making make use of this new tool at Chegg be an effective tool for promoting honestly? Are there any drawbacks?<issue_comment>username_1: I'll make the argument: **No, instructors should not use this tool at Chegg.**
In general, Chegg is among the worst actors of the online academic community. Their business model is fundamentally predicated on supporting violations of academic integrity, fraud, and malfeasance. In this sense, we should not be supporting them with engagement, mind-share, or test cases for their systems.
In the same vein of general lack-of-trust, Chegg is not an entity that can be trusted with our exam information. Despite the fact that they currently claim no IP rights to uploaded exams, and a promise to delete information after a month, their promises are not reliable, and we should not give them an opportunity to use our exam information in any scurrilous fashion in the future.
There is no transparency to the exact details of how the tool works. Does it look only for exact text matches, or something similar? If we assume so, then it's quite likely that students will learn to slightly modify the text of submitted questions, so that they avoid the blocking tool, but still get the essence of the answer they need. In this sense, the tool will be a waste of time and give a false sense of security to the instructor.
Additionally, the details say that attempts to post such exam questions to Chegg are simply blocked, with no record of such attempts made. (Per website, "We will not be able to provide any information regarding users who attempt to post a blocked Exam question during the Exam Timeframe.") This short-circuits the possibility of detecting students who make such attempts, and giving required corrections to the students in question. Students may also be driven invisibly to some other platform or method of cheating in those cases.
And the instructor-registration process gathers the instructors' .EDU email addresses, which could be used for other profiling, marketing, or spamming purposes (noted by Anonymous Physicist).
Arguably, even in principle, the tool does not prevent academic dishonesty, as going online to search for answers is itself already a violation. The fact that the Chegg Honor Shield turns students away without reporting them is a broken process (noted by username_3).
The [Forbes article](https://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2021/01/28/this-12-billion-company-is-getting-rich-off-students-cheating-their-way-through-covid/) on Chegg as of January 2021 assesses:
>
> It’s doubtful that Honor Shield will dent students’ chegging.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Seconding @username_1' answer to his question... and adding a bit:
It is trivial to see conflict-of-interest and/or corrupt motivations in this development. First, Chegg would be happy to improve its PR among college and university instructors, especially if this involved getting instructors to *engage* with them. At first for free [sic!?!?], and then eventually extort universities to pay Chegg a fee to not help students cheat?!?!
And, as <NAME>. mentioned, they can harvest exam questions and emails of instructors... And the wanna-be cheaters don't actually get reported. And there's no enforcement mechanism from our end. Etc.
Really, when a consistently-bad actor seems to have miraculously turned over a new leaf, there is probably more reason to expect bad faith than a conversion miracle.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I think the service is disingenuous, for a number of reasons.
1. If they could do this, they could allow me to submit my own exam questions, without ceding copyright, and make sure those questions NEVER appear in their collection -- because I've provided them the question and asserted my copyright in advance.
2. When they create instructor accounts, that should entitle us to see ANSWERS in their database. I've actually paid for membership in order to sleuth questions of honesty before taking them to my Board on Honesty to request info from Chegg (that's the only mechanism there is!)
3. We should not be promoting a "try to cheat, and we'll stop you if you're doing something wrong" ethos among our students. Students should not cheat because it is dishonest -- not because Chegg doesn't let them. In fact, the act of submitting an exam question during an exam *is cheating*, regardless of whether they get the answer. (In fact, by my Univ policy, unauthorized sharing of course material is a violation of the honesty policy -- so submitting exam questions after the exam, homework questions, and the like are all violations). Simply locking out answers does not communicate the gravity of the incident to the student, and is not sufficient. When an answer is blocked by this policy, the Chegg policy should be to notify the prof without providing account ID's, so the prof can follow up through school honesty systems if they desire.
I'm not thrilled with the Chegg Model, in general. They make money by using other people's IP, hoping the impacted parties don't notice. They don't do nearly enough to discourage illicit behaviors, because those behaviors *are* their business model.
So, until I can examine students in the classroom, my policy is to scan Chegg for questions that belong to me, well in advance of the exam, and ask for take down (Chegg is very good about that -- likely because nonaction threatens their whole business model). I watermark my exam pages, every page, with the name of the course and University, and "Unauthorized sharing not permitted". I repeat my Chegg scan after the exam, and if necessary pay for membership so I can see the posted answers to see if my students cheated. If I find they have, I rigorously follow up with Academic Honesty cases.... and yes, despite these precautions, I still find and refer honesty incidents.
I also mention in my syllabus, and discuss on the first day of class, that unauthorized sharing of my material for *any* reason, is an academic honesty violation, and will be followed through as such, and that I do not authorize sharing.
Upvotes: 3
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