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2015/08/11
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<issue_start>username_0: I am looking at a particular research group for graduate studies. The research group is in STEM.
From talking to the professors, they have repeatedly told me that a master degree merely takes two years. First year you take courses, second year you complete your thesis. Sounds about right.
But when I look at the CVs of the students, a lot of the students seems to be graduating way past this two year limit. One student was doing his masters from 2011 all the way till 2014. Another recent student is still completing her master that was started from 2013. I have only sampled a few students, they might not be representative of the entire research group.
Still the question remains, what could be the reason that a master student is taking so much longer to complete his degree given that the research group has explicitly told everyone that it only takes two years.<issue_comment>username_1: Your Master's isn't normally awarded to you until you specifically apply for it. If your goal is a Ph.D., you might just forget about it until it's about time for you to apply for the Ph.D. I got my Master's a few months before I got my Ph.D., when the requirements were finished long before, because I did exactly that. For those without the Ph.D. goal, it's probably because they had some other goal in mind, as suggested in the comments. Including, but not limited to: raising a family; health issues (personal or among loved ones, especially family); being employed at the same time; the effort needed to acquire the degree being outside their intellectual comfort zone--many people will pursue them because they know or expect to get a promotion or better job as a result, not because they burn with an intellectual passion; travel; etc. etc.
Basically, what your Professors told you is the ideal situation, based off minimum considerations (minimum amount of time to complete courses, minimum amount of time to pass exams or write a thesis, as well as any other requirements). This timeline is what they'd expect of someone who can acquire a Ph.D. in the field, and not what they'd expect of someone trying to advance their already-established career.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Here is one more *possible* reason: **the students may be working so much "on the side"** that they need more semesters to complete all of the necessary courses.
Not at all universities are students supervised thoroughly or progress is checked regularly, so that working part time and studying part time is possible **even when not explicitly studying for a part-time degree**.
It is not difficult to imagine that when working 50% of your time and studying 50% of the time, it takes twice as long to complete the course of study.
Obviously, it depends on the rules and regulations of the university and/or course of study whether this is a possible explanation. As an example, my undergrad course allowed this, and the average duration of study was 85% above the normal duration of study, mainly because so many students studied while working. It was a STEM course. I know of on case where the student actually spent 2/3 of the time working and 1/3 of the time studying.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: *Bear in mind that this will vary by country/institution etc. according to rules and time limits.*
Reasons for exceeding 2 years could include:
* The student worked slowly/poor time management
* The student decided to extend the scope of their thesis (as part of a larger project or to include an internship/secondment)
* The student decided to change thesis topic
* The student's project involved an experiment which caused a delay
* The student was waiting for an available time to defend their work (if an oral defence is a requirement) or other administrative reasons
Any of the above (or a combination) could be the reason for a thesis taking longer than a year to complete. If you have concerns I'd suggest contacting a current student or students in the working group you're hoping to join and asking a few questions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The Masters programs that I've been involved with, if they advertise themselves as two-year Masters degrees, have to come up with an actual plan by which students can, in fact, graduate in two years. Often this plan involves a heavy course- and workload that is hard for most Masters students to commit to, because of work and family obligations. This is why the norm is most often closer to three years, because it's more realistic, and the older the students are that your program attracts, the more this will be the case. Any of the reasons above in the other answers could apply.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: Life.
* Working full time
* having a family
* Choosing a bad topic
* Comprehensive exam problems
* Unfamiliarity with research methods
* Bureaucratic issues and paperwork deadlines
* A desire to have something published (with a 6 month lead time on conference submission, 2 years goes by fast)
* having issues with publication deadlines
* advisor issues including scope creep
* committee issues
* department politics
* course scheduling conflicts and availability
* oh, and the thing about research, how do you know how long it will take if it hasn't been done. You really need to clarify what your adviser expects from masters level work. (speaking from a cs background) Some advisers think novel research like creating a new algorithm is required at the masters level. Others in the same department may think creating a webpage is somehow research. Finding a balance in between the two is important.
If you are single, have experience with research and writing papers, know what your topic will be going in, have no other responsibilities, are in good mental and physical health, can maintain a full course load and research at the same time, have no interest in a coop/internship or related fear of having a degree with no experience on graduation, then I see no reason you shouldn't be able to finish in two years.
With full time classes you should be able to complete the course requirements in 2 years if the department is structured with that in mind.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: In my personal case, I will take 5 semesters rather than 4 (2.5 years vs. 2) because I made a switch from physics to engineering; I had some undergraduate level courses to make up (deficiencies) in the first semester as a condition of continued study.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: In our program (Statistics) we have had several students take more than 2 years because they were either simultaneously enrolled in another program (for instance, Biology Ph.D.) or were going part time while working. At least one student took extra time because her project was funded for an additional year, so they stayed to work on it. On the other hand, it seems to be normal for many Wildlife Biology students to take more than 2 years to complete a Master's degrees, possibly because it takes more than two seasons of research to collect enough data.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I am entering a seventh term of master's studies in a Canadian university (i.e. 2.5 years) because of supervisory communication problems. At the same time, I have been doing side research projects and research employment work. Not completing my thesis at the 2 year point has been difficult for me, but it is not abnormal. Colleagues of mine have experienced extended wait times for ethics applications to be accepted and some, such as myself, have had to change the thesis project completely at the end of the second year.
I'm wondering how PhD decision committees or employees look up a >2 year master's stint.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a young PhD-student who just started doing real research in mathematics. Of course, this starts with learning stuff which has already been investigated. If I try to understand for instance a paper someone wrote, I find it difficult to focus on the main aspects and ideas of the paper. Most of the time, I get stuck on some elementary details, which I had not thought about until I read them in that paper. Convincing myself that this detail is true is a matter of a few minutes, but the time adds up, so I end up losing quite a lot of time trying to understand details not directly related to the problem, but occurring in the solution of the problem. But if I skip this detail, I have the feeling that I did not really understand what the author is doing in the paper. On the other side, if I think about every detail, I lose my focus on the main aspects of the topic, which is not great either.
Conversely, if I work on my own problems, I tend to get stuck on minor details as well. Unfortunately, my advisor is not a good help in this regard.
My question is therefore the following, which can be also asked in other areas of research, not only in mathematics:
*How does one find the right balance between focussing on the main aspects of a topic and the details, both in actual research and in trying to understand works of other people?*<issue_comment>username_1: In mathematics, being able to read papers is a skill on its own, and learning how to do it properly is part of “mathematical maturity." Most everyone runs into this sort of problem at first, and with practice, you get better at seeing the forest through the trees.
One concrete strategy is to skip the small steps and to assume the details in them are true. You can verify those details after you understand the main ideas. Of course, you still need the skill of telling apart the small details from the important ideas. Same goes for research -- you can make a big plan of attack and assume the details will work out later, and then if the big plan succeeds, you can go back and do the detailed calculations carefully. Here, what is needed is intuition about what "should be true if worked out." But such intuitions take time and practice to develop.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As Lev said, as you get more experienced, this will resolve naturally. However, I have a couple of ideas for you to speed things up a bit.
* When you attend a talk someone is giving about his research, you
can't stop and smell the roses. The presenter is plowing ahead, and
you can't go back to the previous slide and think carefully about how
that equation was derived. If you have not had this experience
often, then please attend some more talks, to give yourself this
experience of letting things wash over you.
Once you are feeling more comfortable with this type of experience,
you can use it as a mental image for what you want some of your
paper-reading experiences to be like.
Of course, not all your paper-reading experiences need to be like
this.
* Join, or organize, a journal club for students, where each week
someone presents a paper he read and liked. As you are preparing for
your turn, you'll want to skim through a nice stack of articles to
narrow the field. When you've got a short list, then you can read
for more detail, in preparation for making your final choice, and for
preparing your presentation.
* There's a technique from psychology you can try if you're still
having trouble: Pick up a paper you are interested in reading. On a
page of a notebook, write today's date on the first line. Start
reading. When you get to the first equation that's not immediately
obvious to you, write down a number between 0 and 7 to the right of
the date, on the same line. 0 means you have NO urge to verify that
equation for your own satisfaction. 7 means you have the MAXIMUM
urge to verify. Now keep reading, without verifying. After an
interval, write down your new measure of your urge. Keep reading.
Keep taking your "pulse" every so often. You might see your number
increase initially, and then start to decline. You may stop
measuring when it has stabilized at zero.
If continuing to read the paper is very painful, you can set it aside
and do something else, such as listen to music.
You can aim to do this exercise once or twice a day. Probably after
one or two weeks you'll find that you're able to *choose* when you
want to verify a step and when you are okay with skimming that bit,
reading ahead, and possibly coming back later to verify.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think your concern is very reasonable, especially in the context of the usual paranoia-inducing undergrad and beginning graduate curriculum, where, somehow, every detail matters as much as every other, and *any* gaffe or gap is as "wrong" as any other. In real life, of course, things are nothing like that.
Similarly, analogous to real life, or... *in* real life, the point is to get to the end, whatever debts or doubts are incurred on the way, and often to meet some schedule, whether internally or externally imposed. Indeed, quite often one finds that the whole conclusion is not sufficiently interesting (as far as can be ascertained on this pass...) to look at or worry about the details. So much the better, then, to have not invested time in them.
As @LevReyzin already noted, being able to sift out the critical details (especially on just one pass or so) is a skill that is acquired, and is very important to professional function. In particular, the palpable fact that novices are not good at this is completely unsurprising, and is perhaps their chief difficulty. The problem cannot be quickly solved, not by willpower nor by "tricks"... although noting times and dates *can* help you track your own intransigence. :)
I do seriously recommend analogies to very practical things, like going to the grocery to get food. Sure, there are details that come up along the way, some things that may be hard to understand, present other issues, or add to your to-do list, but things have to reach a substantial thresh-hold to actually *prevent* "getting food". True, lack of transportation, for example, may provide a direct obstacle, but many public issues that are substantial in their own right do *not*, in fact, fatally obstruct getting groceries... So it would be an error to *allow* such things to do so.
To believe that this is a reasonable analogy requires believing certain things about (most) mathematical papers, namely, that most of it is "just the usual"... so the fact that it appears anomalous or disturbing or ineffable to a novice \_means\_nothing\_. The default assumption should be that 90% or more of a paper is completely routine... whether or not one can personally vouch for this.
Yes, making notes of what one hasn't understood, at least as a to-do-when-there's-time list, is useful. But one does not make progress as a professional by "waiting" until one has understood all the background... if only because such an "understanding" is often misguided or even erroneous if one has not seen the things \_in\_use\_. Thus, it is all the more important to "skip ahead"... to understand the things one is skipping.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: In the United States, most professors are paid by the university on a 9 month basis for teaching (Sep - May). During the summer months a professor is typically paid from their grants and other revenue sources. How is the summer salary chosen? E.g. if a professor is paid 10kUSD/month, can (s)he choose to be paid 20kUSD/month during the summer?<issue_comment>username_1: Typically not. If the money comes to the university through a grant, then they just get additional months at their university salary rate. However, if they choose to do outside consulting instead, then they can typically set whatever rate they can agree on a contract for.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I suppose this could depend on the funding agency. For the NSF, your summer salary is determined by your academic year salary and you cannot receive more than that, although you could receive less if the program officer cuts that part of your budget. I believe this is standard for U.S. funding agencies.
This situation is of course not fair to those who hold lower-paying jobs that do not reflect their achievements (but rather state budget priorities). Like many things in grant funding, there's tremendous bureaucratic inertia and no hope of changing this aspect of the system.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Under federal rules, it's not permissible to pay a faculty member on a grant at a higher rate (per hour, week, month, or whatever) than they are paid at other times of the year. It is also not permissible to use multiple sources of funding (e.g. grants from different agencies) to pay a faculty member at more than 100% of their usual pay rate.
If a faculty member has a 9 month salary of $90K, and if they have a grant with an approved budget including two months of summer salary for the faculty member, then that faculty member can be paid an additional $20K for working on the grant for two months during the summer.
Note that NSF policy does not permit faculty members to collect more than 2 months of summer salary from any combination of NSF grants. It is sometimes possible to combine funding from NSF and other sources to get a full 3 months of summer salary.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: We know that family can have a lot of impact on academic direction of a student, but is it appropriate for a student to have a supervisor/advisor who is also a family member? For example, a dad might supervise their son. What would make this more or less appropriate? What conditions might be required to make this appropriate?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm sure that such cases might happen (and frequently do for earlier education, like elementary school), but they should not happen at the graduate student level.
All of the usual concerns of nepotism and coercion apply, just as for any other professional relationship. Moreover, at the graduate level, there are so many different options available and an emphasis placed on intellectual "cross-fertilization" that means most institutions strongly prefer to send their students elsewhere for future positions. I cannot then see how a graduate student supervised by their own parent would be anything but a rather dubious relationship at multiple levels.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, I happen to know a researcher in country A supervising his own wife's PhD :)
They are both from country B, and come from the same city. He was her lecturer during her undergraduate in that city. He then moved to country A, and they had been dating before she started her PhD in his institution.
After they had got married, she changed to another supervisor. During her PhD, she published 8 papers: her husband was the first author in 7 of them, and the second author in the 8th (in which she was the first author). The new supervisor only co-authored 3 papers. So I guess, he continued to mentor her even after she had changed supervisor.
She graduated last year, and seems to have a good job in industry, according to her Linkedin profile. He is now director of research in his institution, having published more than 100 papers. Their baby is also nearly one year old now.
A is one of the most developed countries in Europe. B is also in Europe, but not in the level of A.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I can see why some might raise an eyebrow at this arrangement – from both perspectives. Other students might wonder if the thesis student is getting preferential treatment. Other faculty might wonder if the advisor is applying the same standards of rigor.
I think this might be avoided if the parent (or other relative) offered to serve on the committee, but not take on the role of primary advisor. If my daughter was in graduate school and asked me to be her advisor, that's probably what I would recommend: "I'll be on your committee, but you'll have to find someone else to be your main advisor."
That said, people are citing counterexamples; evidently, the practice is not universally verboten. So long as the research is quality reseach that withstands any scrutiny, I suppose it can be made to work. However, if the student is coasting along with research of marginal quality, this has potential to backfire.
Back to the hypothetical between me and my daughter: if I *were* to agree to such an arrangement, I'd want to be very sure she could do some outstanding research independently, to ward off any conflict-of-interest allegations.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Counterexamples notwithstanding, the practice certainly raises all sorts of questions about conflicts of interest: is the adviser providing unbiased advice, is the adviser unbiased in their assessment of the academic proficiency of the candidate, is the advisee independent to choose their research direction, etc.
In cases like this, nobody looks good -- people wonder about the judgment of the adviser, they wonder about the actual quality of the candidate if papers are jointly written, and they wonder about what's going on in the department to let such things happen. As a consequence, people and departments are generally well advised not to let this happen, simply because the *perception* of a conflict of interest is oftentimes just as bad as the *actuality* of something improper happening.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: *Fact just for fun*:
Actually, this question reminds me the story of the Curie family.
<NAME>, a Nobel laureate, supervised both of her children, who are also notable scientists.
Irène herself was supervised by <NAME>, grandfather-in-law of her daughter, former lover of her mother, and former Phd student of her father. What a complicated relationship.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: If someone's dad is the best in the field they like, and they were accepted *by the department* to the graduate program, what's the problem?
Could it lead to abuse? Sure. But why shouldn't this person be with the best? Matter of fact, this person probably knows more about the field than any other student, having being brought up in a certain environment.
Just to amuse readers: There's a book in optics written by: "<NAME>, and Pedrotti".
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently, I was working on implementing a new optimization approach to publish a paper. Additionally, I've also implemented the other famous existed methods in the area in order to demonstrate the efficacy of my approach.
It is worthwhile to note, I had a lot of difficulty in implementing the existed method as their `Matlab` code was not publicly available anywhere.
So, I thought it is useful to create a series of videos (4-5 video/ 15-20 min each) so that, other researcher can learn how to implement these famous methods in `Matlab`.
Thus, I need a good reason to do so. In other words, what is the outcome for me.
- Would they cite my youtube channel in their paper?
- Does it help my academic reputation?
- Does it help to get a better scholarship for Ph.D. program?
P.S.> I should note that, I have 3 published work in high-rank journals of my field. But if this idea (video broadcasting) doesn't have any significant outcome, I would stick to write another paper and save my time.<issue_comment>username_1: A publication will get you more than such a tutorial. It is unlikely that the video or the tutorial will be cited. I don't think it will help you in formal competitions. However, much competition is informal. Say you make your videos/manual and they are used. Next time you go to a conference you'll notice that will come to you just to see what Electricman looks like in real life. You'll be noticed and that can snowball. However, you need to make a trade-off. This is a rather "soft" benefit and there is no guarantee that it will happen.
My experience along these lines is the following: I have shared a lot of tips on another statistical package because I liked doing that (some people have weird hobbies). Only later I noticed that it also benefited me (the last two jobs I received were definitely helped by my presence in this community). So if you like making videos and explaining things and you would do this as a hobby, then by all means go ahead and use the idea that it might also benefit you later on as an excuse to spend a bit more time on it (but not too much!!!).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you want to be cited, put a number on your work!
Unless your work has an ISBN, ISSN, or DOI, you are making other people's lives difficult - both of the people citing you, and of the people trying to find your work. Finding your work can easily become tricky. There is also the risk of finding another work, since the form of a work which was uploaded can change. And people who want to check for the cited work could be confronted with a completely not related work.
Since the copyright of the videos is yours, you can still upload them. However, do that only after assigning it an ISBN number and registering it.
Citing youtube, twitter, or facebook is a no-no, unless your scientific work implies analyzing youtube, twitter, or facebook.
Publishing such educational material is less valuable than original peer-reviewed research, but at first glance people will see your work as valuable still.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I will be applying for a PhD this year. So, I would like to ask for recommendation letters soon. Should I ask for each recommendation letter separately, or may I group email all the letter writers? Is there any general benefits or caveats in either approach?
My primary supervisor would like me to stay for a PhD at my current university. So, the group email might make the case seem "more decided". I'd like to avoid any further discussion on staying, since I thought to do so earlier (kind of promised) but have changed my mind since. It might negatively affect the letter to some extent.<issue_comment>username_1: I would recommend that you do not send a group mail to professors you plan to ask for help. It will look somewhat lazy, and some may be offended that you were not willing to take the time to write a separate email (which should barely take any time). Another reason why this is bad is that hopefully each recommendation will not be saying the exact same thing, and you may want to reflect differences when you ask for the letters.
In fact, I would probably recommend approaching the professors (or others) that you plan to ask in person first. Of course, this depends on your relationship with the professor-- if they are very busy and have already previously agreed to write a letter then this step might not be necessary. However, when asking professors for letters it might seem a bit impersonal if you do not ask in person, and you also will not be able to gauge their reaction to be asked if the correspondence is online.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: One of the things professors want to know as recommenders is, "What makes *me* particularly qualified to write a letter for you? That is, why should the recipient of the letter value it over a letter from someone else?" You probably cannot answer that question adequately in a group email, and so you will diminish the quality of any letters you may get from such an email.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I have searched a lot and I am surprised that this topic hasn't been discussed yet. I am an M.Sc. Student in Computer Science. Our lab is actually a dry lab in which we need to do a lot of reading of heavy maths on a daily basis.
The problem is that some people (mostly senior students such as PhD candidates) sometimes speak loudly to discuss their new papers with lab mates, etc., which is totally a must-do activity but disrupts my mind and obviously some others that are not involved in their discussion.
I have tried many ways such as music, white noise, natural sound, etc., but all of them had drawbacks that forced me to abandon them.
I even think of studying in the library sometimes, but I think it is not a good idea because it may make me isolated and also it may cause people to think that I am not working as expected. I also don't like the idea of speaking with the Prof. about this, because: first, the prof himself doesn't pay attention to speak low in the lab and I think this would be strange to him and second, I am so new and it may harm me.
What I want to know is: is this situation actually normal? And if not, how can I cope with that?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Is this situation actually normal?
>
>
>
Yup, pretty normal. It's what is called "office life".
I am almost tempted to vote to close this as a [boat programming question](https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/14470/159034), as it is really no different to any other *"we-are-in-a-shared-office-but-my-office-mates-annoy-me"* situation in any job. Anyway, I think this is common enough in academia that it may make sense to answer here.
Essentially, there are really only three ways to fix this:
* **Change the office layout**. Either get smaller offices (very unlikely to be possible), or re-arrange the PhD student seating so that the quiet workers share offices as well as the enthusiastic discussers. Of course, if you have one big lab for all students, this solution is probably a no-starter (not common here in Europe, but I have learned that this is common in the US).
* **Home office**. Probably the easiest, most immediate, and most common solution to the problem of the annoying other students is to spend more time working from home or another suitable location, especially if some high-concentration tasks are in the queue. Of course this requires a modicum of trust that PhD students that are not in the lab are actually still working, and not sleeping or using their XBox. Given your concern that you may appear as "not working enough" when you are not in the lab, this may indeed be a problem.
* **Noise cancellation.** When we had this problem in our lab, the easiest fix was to buy a set of high-quality noise cancellation headphones from Bose. The ones we bought are massive enough that even just wearing them alone without any music already blocks out a lot of the regular room acoustics, and they are high-quality enough that you can wear them for hours without pain. Students that want to work now wear their noise cancellation gear, which incidentally also is a good "Do not disturb unless important" sign for other people that just want to chat.
I should mention that *"talk to the other students and make them stop"* isn't really a practical and permanent solution. There are just too many people with too many differing characters for too many hours a day in a typical PhD student office - if somebody is the chatty type, she or he *will* chat.
Btw., I feel for you. My productivity when I am alone in my office is twice of what it is when we are two persons, which is again twice of what it is when we are three. I was never in an office with more than three persons, but I presume I wouldn't even need to bother coming in. [This Dilbert comic strip](http://dilbert.com/strip/2013-08-03) is representing my feelings regarding the current trend of "open floor plan offices" pretty well.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is actually a pretty common problem for many people. The problem is that it is very difficult and possibly unadvised to try and change the behaviour/culture of the lab you are in, especially if you are the only getting annoyed by the talking. I would recommend that you ask the other people to try and speak a little bit softer, but if this does not work then I would not advise you to bring it up with the lab advisor / the other people much because it will create the impression that you are (a nag/annoying/hard to please).
I would personally use headphones or the like, but you said that there was a problem, so I guess you would know best.
If you are not actively participating in the discussions that are taking place, I would recommend that you go to study in the library instead if that is better for you. If you wish, you can tell your lab advisor that you are having some issues concentrating in the lab due to noise and that you will be available in the library. However, I would still show up to lab as often as before, though maybe not stay there as long before finding a more quiet place to study.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I sympathize with your situation---though at least the problem is only people! At one point when I was a graduate student, there was a building under construction right next to the lab, the noise was continuous for many months. The worst was the weeks when they were setting the foundation with pile-drivers and every few seconds a loud metallic "Ping!" would go right through your bones and make the building vibrate. The only thing to do to get focus was to abandon the building and work elsewhere.
Which is the same thing that I would suggest to you to do in your situation. Find a good quiet place where you can be highly productive (maybe the library, maybe somewhere else---there are usually lots of good hidey-holes around a campus) and use it strategically. If it were one or two people, then you might think of talking with them, but it sounds like the group has an established culture of interaction, and it's appropriate for you to adjust your behavior to work with that culture, rather than asking the whole rest of the group to cater to your needs. It would be different if there were bigger issues involved (e.g., a culture of offensive jokes), but this is just a value-neutral matter of preferred working style.
That then leaves the question of how to maintain connection and visibility. First of all, it's probably important that you spend only a minority of your time away in your quiet place. If you're there all the time, you most certainly will become isolated from your group, and will miss out on all of the benefits of interaction. As a relatively new graduate student, you may *think* you should spend all of your time reading, but that it very unlikely to be the case.
I think that you should have a conversation with your professor---not to ask for anything to change, but just to say that you intend to spend occasional time away from the lab doing your reading for better focus, and to express the same concern that you have expressed here, with making sure that this does not lead to bad impressions or less connection. Your professor may tell you not to worry, or may have suggestions for you. You can also use active means of communicating your location to lab-mates, e.g., putting a note at your desk to tell people where you are and making sure that you are available electronically (e.g., via IM) if somebody wants to find you. Finally, make sure that you do participate in laboratory informal social culture when you aren't trying to focus, e.g., eating lunch with people, joining some of those research conversations, etc.
In short: figure out what actions you need to do to be productive, then make sure you communicate actively with both your professor and labmates in order to keep those actions from interfering with other aspects of your participation in the lab.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Often, people aren't aware of how much noise they're making. Have a chat with the people who have the loud conversations and ask them if they could try to be a little quieter when they're talking. Don't interrupt one of their conversations because then it sounds like you're telling them to shut up. Just something short and simple like, "Hey, John. When you and Jane are talking about work, I find it kinda hard to concentrate. Could you try to be a little quieter?"
You'll probably find it gets quieter for a bit but gradually ramps up again.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: Earplugs are the best solution, you can buy earplugs that will damp the noise levels by 40 dB, the problem you then have is that you may not hear a phone ringing or an alarm go off. But, of course, you can then use earplugs with a lower noise damping level.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: Complain again and again to the people in charge and let them know that a better arrangement would be in their own interest.
Hundreds of studies have shown that open office spaces decrease productivity, increase sick time, and interestingly also decrease teamwork. Working with someone now bothers everyone else in the room, so is discouraged. People also tend to hide or work frome home.
Of course, this won't change anything alone, but if everyone complains, things might change.
Don't just be an unimportant cog happy to work his ass off for nothing in a laying battery. At least complain. And always remember, you can make twice as much in industry and have better working conditions.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_7: This is very normal situation. I would say that you're on the right track by, where possible, seeking non-confrontational strategies. There are of course advantages in sharing office space and indeed you might soon come across a situation where you'd like to have an open-office discussion about a certain topic or problem. These kinds of discussion have been advantageous to me throughout my time in shared research office spaces and make good use of the intellectual capital sitting within a paper plane's throw of your desk.
>
> I even think of studying in the library sometimes, but I think it is
> not a good idea because it may make me isolated and also it may cause
> people to think that I am not working as expected.
>
>
>
Personally I quite regularly make use of the silent study space in the library (through my PhD and now as research staff). I don't feel isolated and I'm free from interruptions there. You ought only to worry about your supervisor's opinion on whether you are working as expected.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_8: What you have experienced may be at least related to [Misophonia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misophonia), a rarely diagnosed but common auditory discomfort caused by irritating or distracting sounds. One of the only ways I have found to combat it in an office environment is to wear rubber in-ear headphones, and put some very familiar, repetitive music on.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: My solution as a PhD student was to work in the departmental reading room which was conveniently next to the common room. When I wanted to be social, I went next door, when I didn't I got on with work. If people talk in the library you are entitled to remind them where they are and get them to shut up.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_10: The problem with noise-canceling headphones is that they can only produce inverse sound waves for repetitive audio patterns--they don't block human conversation at all.
I tried a half-dozen high-end noise-isolating headphones a few years ago and found them to be uncomfortable and no better (actually worse, in most cases) at isolating noise than inexpensive shooting earmuffs.
After much experimentation, I found that doubling up was the only thing that even remotely worked. Foam earplugs+earmuffs work fairly well, but still aren't perfect. Earplugs+circumaural closed-back headphones, or noise-isolating in-ear headphones+earmuffs work great. You can turn up the headphones or earmuffs sound just barely enough to ear it, and that's usually enough to drown out any sound not attenuated by the double sound isolation.
When I have to use music to quietly out the extra little bit of noise, I always opt for something with no vocals. Classical and instrumental jazz are okay, but video game music works great.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: So this is pretty much it. My co-author, who is also the main author, has hired an assistant through Elance (an online work outsourcing platform) for doing statistical analysis and also to collect and annotate some relevant literature about connected topic X. I was aware of this and was OK with it, knowing that his or her work is not significant enough to claim authorship but will be acknowledged properly. Now it turned out that, for reasons not entirely clear to me, the RA does not want their name to be disclosed in the acknowledgement section. Even funnier, we do not even know their real name or email address, just the nickname and the profile they use on Elance.
We have the following options:
1. Do not acknowledge the contribution at all (at first, out of question; but see below why it should be considered)
2. acknowledge the contribution without naming the contributor. (Like "The authors would like to thank 's research assistant for their help in preparing this manuscript...") As far as I know this would be nonstandard.
3. acknowledge the contribution without naming the contributor but indicating that remaining anonymous was his explicit request.
4. acknowledge the contribution and identify them by their Elance nickname
(Like "The authors would like to thank to "FyI1978" from Elance for their help in preparing this manuscript...") This would make us seem unprofessional or laughable; if I have the right impression.
5. redo the statistics and clean the manuscript from any elements that might bear the mark of the RA's contribution (so that we would not have to acknowledge them at all).
What is your advice, how should we proceed?<issue_comment>username_1: There are several reasons for which that person might want to remain anonymous (e.g. s/he has been a victim of stalking).
I'd then write something like:
>
> The authors would like to thank an anonymous contributor from Elance for their help in statistical analysis and...
>
>
>
**Edit:** I amended the sentence above as suggested by <NAME> in a comment ('his help' -> 'their help') to reflect the fact that the gender of the contributor seems unknown to the OP.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Write nothing.
Acknowledgements aren't obligatory. Just thank the person in person (aka, via email).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Your suggestion #2 is the best, I think. I've got a paper on my desk just now that acknowledges me (and a few colleagues) in this way - we're referred to as the staff of X group. It doesn't particularly imply that you're doing it to keep them anonymous, and you don't have to make a point of saying so - it just happens that for whatever reason you've not given the name(s).
If the journal objects, you can discuss it with them further.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I see nothing wrong with your suggestion #4, if Fyl1978 agrees. As a reviewer or editor, I would think this is interesting and unusual, but certainly not unprofessional -- you thank someone who deserves your thanks, and they chose to not use their real name.
Heck, people put all sorts of thanks into acknowledgments. I've thanked jet lag, one of my friends has thanked a beer company for providing inspiration. Thanking someone who doesn't want their name published doesn't strike me as something particularly out of the ordinary. As I said, certainly not as something unprofessional.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: The first 4 options are all okay, option 5 is (in general) problematic from a procedural point of view, because you are then not going to declare that you have re-done the statistical analysis. The problem is then that there is typically some freedom in the methods used, to avoid bias in making any choice that could skew the results, you are supposed to declare (or it is a hidden assumption) that certain choices in the analysis were made a priori. Of course, in this case it is not relevant if you are going to forget about the first results and use whatever comes out of the second analysis. But it's still more of a problem compared to the first 4 options as far as the content of the article is concerned.
And option 4 isn't all that laughable, see [the second footnote on page 12 of this article](http://arxiv.org/pdf/math/0608592v1.pdf).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I had submitted a manuscript to a Journal in December 2012, which got rejected in February 2013 with some comments and advising to re-submit as a new manuscript along with reply to the comments. But I neither modified the manuscript nor submitted to same/other Journal. This is because, the work was not related to my original work. Truly speaking, I got this result accidentally in November 2012 and wrote a manuscript.
This August 2015 reminds me about this manuscript and I modified it as per the reviewers' comments. Now I can't decide whether to re-submit the manuscript in the same Journal? Or to submit in a new Journal? It is already 2 years and half. Can anybody kindly suggest me in this regard.<issue_comment>username_1: If the journal you had sent it to last time was the right venue for your result, then it is still the right venue for the revised paper. People often take long periods of time to revise papers if the paper no longer fits their current interest. I see no stigma in this, and I don't think it's a reason not to send the paper to the same journal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you were invited to resubmit, you can. Unless this invitation was conveyed to you with an explicit deadline, your waiting on it should not be problematic.
However, if you resubmit to the same journal after 31 months, then although you should call attention to the fact that you were invited to do so, you should not expect to get any advantage or economy from this. In my experience journals and editors keep papers "in mind" for a certain, smaller length of time, after which they can forget pretty thoroughly. (For that matter, 31 months is plenty long enough for the editor who handled your paper to no longer be working for the journal.) You cannot count on getting the same referee(s). On the other hand you might, which is something to keep in mind if there was something negative in the original referee report.
What I would advise is to reflect on whether this is the best journal to submit your paper. If you feel strongly that it is, then resubmit there. If you weren't sure whether that journal was such a great choice and/or submitted there more or less randomly, I would try again with a different journal. I have had the experience of submitting a paper to a journal, having it rejected, writing back later to the editor explaining that I was able to get the results the referee asked for, and the editor said, "OK, then why not resubmit?" The paper went back to the same referee, who forgot about it, and then when reminded decided it still wasn't good enough. Now I might have gotten the same referee at a different journal, but still: annoying! In general I feel that once a journal has rejected your paper, it's safest (even psychologically) to take future incarnations of the paper elsewhere.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently enrolled as a graduate student and am working towards my PhD. I need to update my CV and was wondering how others reported *ongoing graduate study when the completion date was uncertain*. That is, I know that I'll be graduating in, say, 2019 +/-3 years, and therefore can't honestly list my graduate work as, say,
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (Expected 2019)
>
>
>
Would something like:
>
> XYZ University, Graduate Study, (2014-).
>
>
>
be clear enough? I think that most people in my field will correctly assume that this is graduate study towards a PhD. However, it is probably not ideal to rely on assumptions. Another idea is:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (2014-).
>
>
>
But I think it could be read as though the degree is practically complete, which might come off as a bit presumptuous. What about replacing "PhD" with "PhD (in progress)". This seems to fix the "presumptuous" question but also seems less clean.
To be clear, I'm more concerned about the *phrasing* than the *formatting* of line. (Although I recognize that certain formatting styles may convey the proper message more effectively.) Any thoughts or additional ideas appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: I would recommend a slightly different phrasing, to explicitly stating the start and expected duration of your program:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, (2014 - 2019 [anticipated])
>
>
>
This conveys clearly the important information of how far along you are in your doctoral studies.
Most people know that there can be a great deal of variation in the completion of a Ph.D., and nobody expects that you can predict the future, so if you later shift the date forward or back, it should not be taken amiss by anyone reading the C.V.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> ...can't honestly list my graduate work as, say,
>
>
>
> >
> > XYZ University, PhD, (Expected 2019)
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
Sure you can. There's a certain typical length of a PhD program in your field; you take your starting date, add that length of time, and that's your expected completion date. Or if you have other information that allows you to refine your expectations about your own completion date, you can take that into account and list a different year.
It's given as "expected" precisely because you don't know if you'll actually be completed at that time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I would write something like:
>
> XYZ University, PhD, 2015 - present
>
>
>
I am not sure that the expected graduation date conveys any information since such plans are inherently subject to variations. Moreover the length of a PhD can be both country and institution dependent, hence to check of you're actually "on time" one would have to cross-reference your expected date with these two parameters. Franky I doubt that whoever reads your CV will actually compute this operation.
On the other hand the starting date is fundamental because it gives an exact measure of how long you've been enrolled in the program, and this calculation is quite trivial.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been wondering this for quite some time and decided to ask finally. What really is the role of math in computer science on higher levels like master's and PhD? Currently I am working on my BSc and hopefully get it done next summer. I have done like 5 math courses(linear algebra etc) + 5 statistics courses. I also did calculus in high school(integrals, derivatives etc) as I took the longer version of math which typically increases your chances to attend STEM programs here(EU country). Some of my professors have spoken how important they think math is in computer science, but is it really unless you go to some very specific fields like theoretic computer science? Because I haven't found it that useful outside of a few specific courses.
I am not sure whether I would like to pursue a PhD in the future but I've been leaning more towards it lately. Security research has gotten my interest and I've done some reverse engineering + vulnerability analysis and working on a small JIT assembler. Sadly not many undergrad courses teach these things so I've worked on them largely by myself. I haven't had any use for university level math on that, maybe I've just scratched the surface?
In some ways I feel bad for not taking more math courses and it's something that keeps annoying me but it's very hard to try to convince myself that some proofs about integrals are going to be useful in my future work/research. It would be nice if someone could elaborate what kind of role math plays in higher level of computer science studies. I have never honestly liked math that much but instead seen it as a something that you just need to know. What are some really useful math courses one should take?<issue_comment>username_1: As Galileo has said, ["[The universe] is written in the language of mathematics,"](https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Quotes) and it is no different for computer science. To be a strong computer science researcher, you need to at least be fluent in the forms of mathematics that describe the work you wish to be engaged with.
Mathematics, however, is not a single thing, but a broad domain, and what you need to know will depend on what sort of research you are engaged with. For example, if you go into computer vision, you'll probably need to know a lot of complex geometry, whereas if you go into cryptography, you'll probably need really deep understanding of number theory. In some particular paths of work, you might in practice need very little mathematical knowledge at all.
What you absolutely must have, whether for computer science or for any other scientific pursuit, is a comfort with mathematical and scientific thinking in general, enough general mathematical fluency to acquire new expertise at need, and a solid working knowledge of statistics and data analysis to aid in interpreting experimental results. In almost all computer science work, you will also be greatly aided by fluency in algebra, general discrete maths, Boolean logic, and asymptotic complexity theory. Beyond that, it all depends on what you're doing.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Linear algebra is quite helpful, but you already took that.
I think by far the most useful courses you could take would be
**graph theory**
**combinatorics and probability**
Optionally, you could also take
**stochastic methods**
But there's a simple way to figure this out. Look at the program of study at a strong computer science PhD department. Pick out one or two areas of specialization that appeal to you, and see what math courses are required and suggested.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: In the higher levels, especially the PhD, you are primarily working towards creating publications. Of course you will write software, but the idea expressed in your paper is your main result.
As a consequence, in most CS fields, **the math is more important than either the software you write or the machine you run it on**. A common quote is:
>
> Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes.
>
>
>
Ie. computer science is about the nature and possibilities of *computation*, not computers.
Of course, I don't mean to discourage you. I also didn't pay that much attention in the math classes in the early years. I'm now finishing a PhD in machine learning. I regret not paying more attention early on, but there is plenty of time in a master's and a PhD program to catch up. In fact, even the guys and girls who devoured the mathematics from day one will be faced with plenty of new material to digest once they hit their PhD. So long as you make a serious effort to work on it and really understand things deeply, you'll become comfortable with it in no time.
Finally, the type of math we use may be a little different from what you expect. I personally can't remember the last time I had to solve an integral, but I use probability theory, linear algebra, logic and combinatorics almost every day.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Let me add some of my own experience to the already excellent answer of username_1. If you go on to do anything with machine learning or predictive modelling, you will need the statistics. For bioinformatics but also more in general when modelling some multivariate system, you will need the linear algebra. For scientific programming, for modelling real world systems, you will need differential equations and understanding of complex systems.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD (stipend) student at a [Max Planck Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck_Society) (for a biological science) here in Germany. I came here to write software, but ended up spending practically all my time doing wet-lab work. As a consequence, the programming I wanted to do had to be done in the evenings outside of the institute (although what constitutes 'PhD time' and 'programming time' is a bit of a blur, since I use my programs to solve PhD problems...)
Coming to the end of the PhD, I am now finally ready to "publish" the first of the three programs I have written during my time here in Germany, but there are three stakeholders all with competing interests in my software which make it difficult for me to know how to proceed...
**The Max Planck** - they will want to claim ownership of the software, because I wrote it while doing a PhD with them. Over the course of the PhD, no one from the Max Plank or the University have had any input whatsoever on the software, however, certainly between 10-20% of the code was developed 'on PhD time'.
**The Journals** - publishing is not a requirement, but it would be nice. It forms a stamp of approval (in some people's minds) and acts as free advertising at the very least. But for this to happen, I suppose I cannot "publish" my code already, meaning open source it and share it so people can bug-check it *before* publication?
**The Users** - Arguably the most important stakeholder for me, because I wrote this software for them. I want to make the code's licence as permissive as legally possible, probably under Creative Commons Zero to aid with this, but I feel this will make publishing impossible, and it may not even be allowed if I am not the owner of the copyright in the first place.
How should I proceed?<issue_comment>username_1: **The Journals:** Generally, open sourcing a code should not be an obstacle for publication. To the contrary: there is a movement to make as much academic code as possible open - see for example [GitXiv](http://gitxiv.com). The only problem I see is that open sourcing the code prior to publication may impact the anonymity of blind review. I have however read and authored multiple CS papers where the code was open before publication and nobody complained. Sometimes it was kind of ridiculous - we wrote a paper reporting on an already released new version of a relatively known tool that our group develops for almost ten years, but with anonymized authors :-)
You may want to ask editorial board of the journal on their policy on open code and possible delay opening the code past publication.
**<NAME>:** Have you asked the institute on their opinion? Or is there a precedent where they refused to open source a code they developed? In my field, having other groups use your software is a bonus and thus the university supports open sourcing code.
**EDIT:** If the institute opposes open sourcing the code, you may still argue that the code is not owned by them. It depends whether you worked for them (had an employment contract) or if it was "school work". If you had an employment contract, open sourcing would probably be on the darker side of gray area, as at least part of the software was developed "on the clock".
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm the main developer of several open-source libraries, one published and one under review, so I can give you a pretty up-to-date overview on open-source in the machine learning community. This may differ for your field, but probably not much.
Whether or not your university will allow you to open-source and/or publish depends entirely on them. Based on my experience, open-sourcing can be sensitive depending on how old-fashioned your university/lab is. However, *if* they are fine with open-sourcing, they will certainly be OK with publishing too (after all, it's a free paper!). Only way to know is to ask your advisor.
The only move you have here is to ask your advisor. To my knowledge, at least some MPIs are very much in favor of open-source (e.g. <NAME>, head of MPI intelligent systems, is a co-author of [an important open-source mission statement within machine learning](http://kyb.tuebingen.mpg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/files/publications/attachments/JMLR-8-Sonnenburg_4768%5b0%5d.pdf)).
Releasing software before publication
=====================================
>
> I suppose I cannot "publish" my code already, meaning open source it and share it so people can bug-check it before publication?
>
>
>
Yes you can and in fact you should. Typically you need to show active user interest before you can publish your software formally (e.g. github stars, download, mentions on twitter, ...). See for instance [JMLR MLOSS guidelines](http://jmlr.org/mloss/mloss-info.html), which state "*Evidence of an active user community should be demonstrated ...*".
In any case, releasing software prior to submitting your paper is not a problem. Publications don't work like patents.
Publication venues
==================
Lately, there is a lot of journal interest in software. To name a few:
* [JMLR MLOSS](http://jmlr.org/mloss/)
* [Plos Computational Biology: Software](http://www.ploscollections.org/article/browseIssue.action?issue=info:doi/10.1371/issue.pcol.v03.i10)
* [The R Journal](http://journal.r-project.org/)
* [Journal of Statistical Software](http://www.jstatsoft.org/)
A more complete list is available at <http://www.software.ac.uk/resources/guides/which-journals-should-i-publish-my-software>
Next to journals, you have a lot of conferences/workshops specifically about software. For many projects, you are actually better off publishing there with the added benefit of shorter review times and far less drama.
License
-------
>
> I want to make the code's licence as permissive as legally possible, probably under Creative Commons Zero to aid with this ...
>
>
>
Creative Commons licenses aren't really suitable for software. Be aware that choosing an open-source license isn't entirely trivial, that is open-source licenses don't necessarily allow users to do whatever they want. Most commonly used permissive licenses include [BSD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses), [MIT](http://opensource.org/licenses/MIT), [Apache](http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0) and [WTF](http://www.wtfpl.net/) licenses as opposed to the [GPL](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html). I do recommend informing yourself about the main differences of highly permissive licenses vis-a-vis GPL-style licenses. Some questions you should ask yourself include
* Do you want your license to permit commercial use within closed-source projects for free? If not, slap a GPL on it and (optionally) dual license your software.
* Do you want to permit non-GPL open-source software to build upon your work? If so, then make sure your license isn't GPL (this is because of the [copyleft](http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/copyleft.html) nature of the GPL).
In my opinion, the best license types for relatively small (but useful) research software projects are usually highly permissive (BSD, Apache, ...). Your university's technology transfer office may disagree, if you even have to go through them (if MPI claims IP ownership of the software you developed you have to pass through the TTO).
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I was recently interested in this issue as well. Although I'm not a lawyer, there are 2 interesting paragraphs in the German law which are relevant.
Copyright law 69b (<http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/BJNR012730965.html>)
*§ 69b Urheber in Arbeits- und Dienstverhältnissen
(1) Wird ein Computerprogramm von einem Arbeitnehmer in Wahrnehmung seiner Aufgaben oder nach den Anweisungen seines Arbeitgebers geschaffen, so ist ausschließlich der Arbeitgeber zur Ausübung aller vermögensrechtlichen Befugnisse an dem Computerprogramm berechtigt, sofern nichts anderes vereinbart ist.
(2) Absatz 1 ist auf Dienstverhältnisse entsprechend anzuwenden.*
In my interpretation this essentially boils done to, although you retain the copyright, your employer has the exclusive right to do everything with the software you wrote (including prohibiting it from open source distribution), unless the employer explicitly refrains from this right.
That being said, there is another paragraph in the German constitution which is possibly in conflict:
German constitution Paragraph 5 (<http://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/gg/BJNR000010949.html>)
*(1) Jeder hat das Recht, seine Meinung in Wort, Schrift und Bild frei zu äußern und zu verbreiten und sich aus allgemein zugänglichen Quellen ungehindert zu unterrichten. Die Pressefreiheit und die Freiheit der Berichterstattung durch Rundfunk und Film werden gewährleistet. Eine Zensur findet nicht statt.
(2) Diese Rechte finden ihre Schranken in den Vorschriften der allgemeinen Gesetze, den gesetzlichen Bestimmungen zum Schutze der Jugend und in dem Recht der persönlichen Ehre.
(3) Kunst und Wissenschaft, Forschung und Lehre sind frei. Die Freiheit der Lehre entbindet nicht von der Treue zur Verfassung.*
Part (3) garantees that work produced in science (of course this includes the software written in the framework of a phd thesis) may be distributed freely and may not be censored.
In a nutshell, the law seems not to be entirely clear on this (although I guess that the constitution takes precedence), and your best bet is to discuss the possibility of opensourcing you software with your employer.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Whatever the legal situation, you *must* talk to your advisor and the people at MPI about what you want to do. If nothing else, just out of common courtesy. Getting into some squabble or even legal trouble with them is definiteley not in your best interest.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: My department is planning an event (2-3 hours) welcoming incoming PhD students and giving them a chance to meet the rest of the department.
So far, the proposed activities for this year's welcome event are: welcome from department head and graduate program director, happy hour, followed by dinner and more drinks. (The idea behind all the alcohol is to "lull them into a false sense of what a PhD program will really be like.")
Any ideas/suggestions for what to do at this kind of event?<issue_comment>username_1: I would suggest adding at least one piece of a more "organized" program to get people started and let even the introvert people have something to talk about. Maybe a short [Pecha Kucha](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PechaKucha)-style presentation of your recent projects?
Be sure to prepare name tags for everybody.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> The idea behind all the alcohol is to "lull them into a false sense of what a PhD program will really be like."
>
>
>
Well, I've never drunk as much alcohol as during my PhD, so it might not be far from the truth. Jokes apart, there's really no way to communicate what being a PhD student really is, because, apart from some rough generalizations, each student will live their PhD in their own personal way (e.g. I see my students getting stressed for things that, at the time, didn't stress me at all).
Now, a suggestion that we tried this year with the new bunch of PhD students. I don't know if it can work for you due to the different way of organizing the PhD programs.
We had 8 new PhD students (for our specific program) and we asked each of them to deliver a non-technical 15-min speech on their plans for the PhD, describing in which project(s) they were going to be involved, which courses they plan to attend, and if they planned to spend a period abroad. The speeches were delivered in front of the PhD program board and the advisors.
If the above is not applicable to your case, because maybe the students don't know yet what they are going to do, you may ask them to deliver a short(er) speech on their backgrounds and interests. I think it's important to let them present each other in front of the others.
In any case, make them speak before they get drunk.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: At the risk of making this event too serious, I would suggest that you have several speakers who talk about their personal experience concerning how they survived grad school, in this department/school or in others.
There is no more valuable information for incoming grad students than information about the *personal* side of grad school and how to avoid the pitfalls. And there no better way for them to feel connected to the professors and students in the department than through personal and meaningful stories -- both the highs and the lows.
---
I offer this suggestion because, personally, I find such meet-and-greet events to be dull, boring, and worthless, no matter how much alcohol is on offer. I realize that many academics have meager social skills and that standing around with drinks in hand can sometimes get conversation started. But I still find it a waste of time.
Likewise, "welcome" speeches are typically vapid and cosmetic. You will never here any new graduate student (or new employee of any kind) say:
>
> "I didn't feel comfortable starting at X, but ***then*** I heard that amazing welcome speech by the Department chair."
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: An alternative approach is to focus on the practical information a new grad student needs, combined with getting to know some people.
A good way to do this might be to split the new students into small groups, and add a professor and one or more existing students as guides to each group. The group can then go on a walking tour of the building(s) and immediate surroundings.
The guides can convey the practical information, both verbally and by showing the group around. Where are the restrooms? Showers, if available? Nearest good coffee cart? Eating places? Mail boxes? Printers? Who to contact if your office chair breaks? Where do you have the best chance of parking? ...
At the end of the tour, each new student will know a few others relatively well, and also know a professor and some more students. Then put them all together in a large room for a reception, which will be much less awkward with some prior contacts than if each student faces it alone.
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a postdoc (in mathematics) lasting for less than 8 months. In the UK, at the area of the university, I find it difficult to find accommodation since no one wants to let to me for such a short period of time, which is very annoying.
I was thinking I could live with my parents, and visit my adviser once a week or so. The journey would be about 3 hours each way. And we could Skype.
As a PhD student, this would have been acceptable, but I wonder if it is different since I am now a member of staff. Is it frowned upon? Will it cause problems for the department (eg. desk space) or for myself due to tax purposes? It's an EPSRC funded grant, so I wonder if that may also be an issue.<issue_comment>username_1: Only your school and your department and your group can tell you what their expectations are. Ask them.
But face-to-face networking with others is hugely valuable both for your current tasks and for being aware of new opportunities,, and think carefully before you give that up. I've been working from home for about 5 years now (commercial, not academic), and it has definitely cost me in terms of career progress despite my making deliberate efforts to stay in the loop.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: That seems more like a question about internal policy of your academic institution, and not about academia per se.
Telecommuting is seen as a lessen form of working for some people. "Real" work is performed only on-site. And Skype won't change this situation. The rationale behind this is not just a question of being used to other forms of work, but there are reasons to be against telecommuting, and this might be your department's policy. It's annoying not be able to talk in person, and you are forcing others to adapt to your schedule, since no one wants to re-schedule a meeting with you at the last minute, if you had to travel 3 hours to be there. It's also difficult to be sure the person is really working on the project, if he's far away. That can lead to disgusting surprises. So, do no wonder if your adviser is against this.
On the more practical side, I doubt you can't find any place to crash, no matter what part of the UK you are talking about. There is always Airbnb, or people who need to sublet their room. And this applies to London, and to university towns as well, where landlords might prefer a long-term student to have a tenant for the next years.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I did a certain amount of telecommuting between 2005 and 2012. That was possible because a non-trivial fraction of my work was strictly computer based.
Several notable problems needed to be addressed before it worked well:
1. You need the permissions and support of your boss (and hopefully high levels as well).
2. Sufficient bandwidth. I'm in Big Science (tm) and that involves some videoconferencing more weeks than not (and sometimes a lot) and occasional transfers of large data sets. Depending on where you live you may need to upgrade to business quality service to have sufficient bandwidth, and that wasn't cheep. You may also need to upgrade some kit on your computer.
3. I *needed* an office space with a door and the agreement of others present not to be coming in and out and asking me to help them out with "just one little thing". You have to be able to give it full attention just like you do at the office. And then you need to get *out* of that office space when you are off work.
4. You need to have arrangements to be able to go in off your usual schedule if something comes up. And your boss's agreement to think carefully about what things that come up actually justify that.
5. You need all your collaborators who might want to contact you to have the right contact information. I consider email the preferred means of communication, so that wasn't a big deal except when I was sitting remote shifts (and I just ended up giving people my personal mobile number).
6. You may need to adjust some of your computer based work-flow. Even with high bandwidth you'll probably experience more latency and more lost connections if working remotely on computers at the office. Using the wrong tools in that environment is tolerable for short spurts, but no good day in and day out. Switch to the right tools. Because I'm in a unix environment and use emacs that meant getting off my duff and learning screen and starting to use tramp for file access in the editor.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: In my experience, living 3hrs away from your post-doc institution is not that uncommon. It's often a result of a two-body problem. I know of someone who actually spent a large part of a post-doc on a different continent (but I don't advise that). If anything, I'd think the university have less reason to restrict you as a postdoc than as a student. If you want to live far away, you should be prepared to make the journey fairly frequently (of course at a minimum so as to fulfill any duties that are required of you, but preferably well above that).
However, I would agree with comments that others have made that it's not really clear that living at your parents' would be a good choice. It is unlikely you cannot find anywhere to rent for 8 months. It may be that the local policy is to take the lease for the year and find someone to pass it on to later, or possibly you've only been looking at places that are aimed at students.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: It can be very helpful to attend seminars and chat with people over lunch, coffee or a snack.
Rents are so much more affordable when you are sharing with one or more people.
In many cities, there are ways of advertising online that you are looking for a housemate or a house to share.
There's also the bulletin board approach.
You might want to consider doing some private tutoring to bring in some extra money.
If you end up renting something a bit run down, small or depressing, you can always take a few days or a week or two here and there to go work from your folks' place.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: In addition to other observations made in other answers, I'd add, based on my own experience commuting (pre-internet) from Boston to New Haven, CT, that this completely disconnected me from people at Yale... although many were sympathetic and offered various helps, in those times! ... but, mercifully, I had been "in-house" for a year previous, so it was not professionally tragic. In hindsight, it was anti-helpful commuting like that, but the established rapport saved me... though I certainly did not understand such dynamics at the time. It would have been *subtly* disastrous to try to commute from Boston all along... though they would have allowed it... which I'd imagine would be an institutionalized version of incomprehension of the human element... sigh...
One "subtle" (until one thinks about human beings) point is that even if you can "objectively" take care of prescribed business, and even if people think well of it, they won't *know* you, and will find it (even if only subliminally) difficult to say that they see that you have a good vision for the future. That is, "commuting" without prior rapport will (I'd worry) severely attenuate letters-of-recommendation toward The Next Job.
Again, in hindsight, I'd think it might be worth risking some net loss to be in very intense contact with one's postdoc institution, "for future gain". That is, unlike my own (and, I gather, many others' continuing) delusions that some dispassionate judgement of one's work is all that matters, in fact one's *affect* "in the moment" greatly conditions senior peoples' appraisal of one's potential. Note: at least in mathematics, although there is pretense of objectivity about publication record, the *real* issue is about "future contribution". Yes, a bit correlated with "past contribution", but very weakly so (duh) for youngish people, and when one examines the dynamics of introspection...
So, whatever one thinks about conventional status-gate-keeping, the odds are very high that one should "be in close touch" with one's postdoc environment, regardless of the wonderfulness of one's work.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: This *might* work in maths, but you should
1. Check university-provided accomodation for stretches of a week or 2 especially at the beginning. This is more likely when the undergrads are away but some universities do have rooms for visiting researchers (as @zibadawatimmy says). It would cost you but hopefully not stupid amounts.
2. If not, or availability is poor, you should bank on spending quite a bit of your money on hotels or similar while you get things up and running -- go for youth hostels/backpacker stuff and work on campus perhaps.
3. This will only work with your PI's enthusiastic support -- the school's support is probably required as well, though for 8 months you could probably do this unofficially; it can take months to find somewhere to live.
4. Most cities have cheaper places within a decent train ride and main-line stations are often quite near universities -- do you need always-on connections or could you work on a train?
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: This past year I taught two undergraduate freshman-level required religion courses (one in the Fall and one in the Spring) and the teaching evaluations from students were rather average-to-poor. These are the only two courses I have taught so far in my career.
Many academic jobs now request you to send proof of teaching excellence along with your application. Have these two courses ruined my chances of getting a full-time job? I don't want to be dishonest and only present a few positive student comments while ignoring the number of negative ones. At the same time I am committed to improving my teaching skills and want to learn from my mistakes.
What is the best way to present this information in a job application? Or should I just not send my evaluations at all?
One more thing I should mention: the student response rate was very low. In both classes less than half of the students filled out the evaluation at all. I don't know if this is relevant (I've read that students with negative opinions tend to be more motivated to fill out evaluations than positive students).<issue_comment>username_1: If you're asked to present information relative to your teaching, you need to do that, especially if teaching will be a significant part of your future job.
Not everyone is a superstar right out of the gate, as far as teaching is concerned, and everyone understands that it may take a while for you to hit your stride. The best way for you to finesse the negative responses is to include your own commentary on the teaching evaluations, showing that you can be reflective about your work. We all bomb out now and then; the question is whether you can look objectively at what the students have said and make some adjustments to your approach in the classroom that might address some of the issues. I want to see someone making improvements based on feedback. I don't want to see a faculty member getting the same kinds of comments, semester after semester, and just going on with the same old methods. Did you seek any kind of mentorship for your teaching?
A low response rate is not a positive thing, unfortunately.
Did you have a supervisor for your teaching? Was that person supportive and aware of your efforts in the classroom? Could that person write a teaching recommendation for you that might be in addition to the other expected letters?
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Such evaluations are intended for internal use and even if they were full of praise, you wouldn't submit those.
The recommendation letter from the observer of the non-classroom setting is what you should submit. Yes, that is a bit thin for "proving teaching excellence" -- but don't despair. We don't know what sort of "proof" the other candidates will be submitting -- so it's worth a shot!
To improve your teaching, gain confidence, and collect more "proof," you could volunteer as a literacy teacher, English teacher for speakers of other languages, or grade school tutor. You could take a pedagogy ("Education") course. My impression is that a lot of what happens in those courses is that you go and observe a variety of classes and write a journal about your observations, in conjunction with some reading about different approaches and techniques. You could embark on a self-study project doing the observing, journaling and reading, without being enrolled in a class.
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<issue_start>username_0: My principal investigator (PI) got a grant from a company and wants me to work on this. However, this is not related to my thesis at all and we might not be able to publish anything on this.
My question is: am I obligated to work on this just because I'm part of the lab?
This is in no way related to my thesis and I'm not interested in the work simply because I'm the one who is going to have to stay late working on it and not get anything in return.<issue_comment>username_1: Short answer: no. Longer answer: Might this benefit you in some way? If the answer to that is no then you absolutely should politely decline with the excuse being that you want to work on your thesis and that's your priority. But consider whether you might somehow benefit in the long run from participation. You should not expect a better grade, nor should your grade be contingent on your accepting this project. It might, however, put you in a better spot in the lab, lead to employment, lead to compensation, help with a letter of recommendation, etc.
tl;dr: Don't do it if you think you can't get anything out of it. But first consider very carefully whether or not you really can't get anything out of it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I don't know the details of your situation, but you should keep in mind my personal rule #1 of academic research:
>
> ***Rule #1.*** You should *always* have a publication in mind for research you work on, unless there is some other very tangible benefit that makes it worth the time.
>
>
>
This rule is motivated by the fact that your vita showcases the publications you produce (and the grants you receive), but not the projects you work on. You want to make sure that you get due recognition for your efforts, which means turning them into publications. The more often you can employ rule #1, the better.
Are you certain that you cannot find a way to get a publication out of this project, perhaps by broadening it slightly?
The second thing to keep in mind is that, in a group research lab, it is very reasonable to do some work that is not related to your thesis. Of course, you must also work on your thesis, but it does not need to be the only thing you do. Having a more broad vita when you graduate is a real benefit if you are applying to postdocs and other positions.
Finally, are you getting paid out of the PIs grants? If so, that is perhaps a more tangible reason to work on the projects that fund those grants.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Dave's answer is great. To add a different perspective, you should definitely put more thought into what you want to get out of graduate school. [Grades don't matter once you leave graduate school](http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=469). However, your publication count definitely does, as does the people with whom you've collaborated, the technical and research skills you've gained, the understanding of how a research lab works, presentation skills, networking skills, and your ability to subsist on ramen noodles.
It's very easy for a graduate student to lose sight of what's important, particularly when it just looks like "work on this". At the very least, I would talk with your graduate advisor or another professor in the department to get their perspective on the task you're being asked to do. It may very well be something very useful for your career, even though at first blush it seems like busywork.
To bring this back to your immediate question, the only research you *need* to do is the research upon which your funding is based. If this does not fall into that category, you are under no obligation to do the requested project. However, I strongly recommend you consider the benefit that performing this research may provide in the long run; most likely, it's something that will in some way or other make you a more skilled (and marketable) researcher when you're done.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: The literal answer to your question is certainly **no**. In fact academics are surprisingly rarely *obligated* to do anything -- one might call this one of the perks of the profession. Or one might call it one of the pitfalls: failure to do things that other people strongly expect you to do may have negative consequences. These consequences can come with enough of a time delay so that some academics acquire the illusion of complete autonomy and freedom to do absolutely whatever they want...until they get a rude (sometimes fatal to their career) awakening.
Since you use the term PI, may we assume that you are a graduate student and that your advisor is the PI on a grant which is at least partially funding your schooling? In that case, if you give a "hard no" then depending on the circumstances you might be viewed as simply not doing the work upon which your funding was made conditional, and it is possible that you could lose your funding and/or your standing in the program.
So you almost certainly shouldn't "just say no". You sound unclear on your obligations, and that sounds very stressful. You should have a lengthy, non-confrontational conversation with your PI clarifying the nature of your funding, what he expects in return, and so forth. In fact it would be even better to do some research about this in advance, including talking to at least one other faculty member in your department (e.g. the director of graduate studies), as one faculty member's understanding of a student's responsiblities is not necessarily the standard one or even guaranteed to be correct. But if you have some kind of research assistantship, you should have a total number of hours per week that you are working in the lab. Asking you to work at night *in addition* to what you're already doing sounds so unreasonable that it is probably not even what your PI has in mind. If you find out that you have, say, 20 hours a week of work in the lab and are already filling that with preassigned projects including your own thesis work, then of course the PI is going to have to clarify how you are going to take on a new project: what is going to get dropped instead? I find it unlikely that your PI will look you in the eye and tell you to stop working on your thesis in order to do this new project.
Finally, from someone who obviously has no idea of the particulars of your situation, let me say that you sound perhaps overly negative about this. You say that "we might not be able to publish anything on this". To me at least that's an almost vacuous statement: publications are rarely *guaranteed*, and guaranteed publications are among the least valuable. If your PI is working on this and inviting you to work on it, then I find it more reasonable that this is a promising academic project from which you can benefit. Being involved in more than one academic project as a graduate student can be very valuable. So unless there is more to the story (which could certainly be the case), maybe this is actually an opportunity rather than a problem for you. Maybe.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: I've been out of academia for thirty years. So I'm sure it's completely different. But one thing I've learned in the office environment is to happily accept any opportunity to serve that's presented. It builds my resume and my visibility.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: I have a different perspective from the other answers on this. For what follows, I'm assuming that you are in the US and are employed as a graduate research assistant (GRA) with your professor as a your direct employment supervisor. Additionally, if the only money available to your professor to pay your salary is money from this grant, then they may ask you to work on this project since it is paying the bills. This is true regardless of whether or not it has anything to do with your interests, thesis, or anything else. It would be unethical for you to be paid by with this money and to not work on the funder's project.
Now your funding may be funneled through the department and university so that your checks have the university's name on them, but if your professor has designated this account to pay for part of your time, you should spend that part of your time working on this project. It might not be in your best interest to do so, since it might not lead to your thesis or any other publication, but if this is the source of the funds your professor has to pay your salary, you need to do that work. Otherwise he could fire you, and he could get into trouble with the funder if he pays you with their money but you don't do the work.
Now, your professor may have several other sources of money and may choose to pay you using this money rather than some other money. That's his right. They may have picked you to do this work because they think you will be better at it than other members of the lab. But that's pretty irrelevant. If this money is used to cover your salary, then you need to do the work, ask to be moved to other funding, quit, or be fired.
If you have your own funding, say a departmental, university, or government fellowship, then you wouldn't be obligated to do the work. But, in my experience, a professor who knew you had your own funding wouldn't ask you to work on an unrelated project and would hire someone else to work on the project instead.
It's not your status as a member of the lab that obligates you to work on particular things, but the source of the funds for your salary.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Some good (IMO) reasons to take on the work:
* Does it require a new technique (or a modification to one you already use)? If so it builds your skills, and your next recruitment will be based on skills rather than grades.
* Does it get you contacts outside your institution? This is more likely than you think if your data isn't as clear as they were expecting, and recruiters (postdoc or otherwise) will want to hear about external collaborations.
* Are you *sure* you won't get any thesis material out of it? Even a couple of pages about a more general use of something you're doing can be useful in some cases.
* You say "might not be able to publish". Alternatively that could be put as "I might get a paper out of this". That would be a good thing, *especially* if it's not in your core area, as it demonstrates flexibility and opens up more roles to apply for in the future.
However it might need some managing:
* Maybe along the lines of "yes, but I need to get [some data on your core project] first".
* If this is a piece of commercial work, it may bring some non-grant funding with it. Some of that may be available for you (I've seen this happen, extra cash is a good way to get a volunteer to work a Saturday). Of course this may be ruled out in your system.
* Find out about whether you would be allowed to publish worthwhile results. Often engineering/technology companies want to publish so long as they don't have to put too much effort in to writing the paper. If you get the data and write the paper, you should probably be first author (not always, e.g. your supewrvisor developed a clever technique which hasn't yet been published, you're just applying it).
I got a paper and a results chapter from a measurement that started like this. The sample arrived when I was bogged down in an experiment that wasn't going anywhere, and what I needed turned out to be a break from the core work to work on a problem that could be solved in a reasonable timescale.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: All of the above responses offer good advice. If any of your funding is coming from the project, then you should certainly feel some obligation to work on it. If not, then you are right to have reservations about it taking time away from your thesis work, though it still might be valuable experience.
However, if you are in the sciences there is something else to be considered - the politics of grad school. If your advisor is a reasonable and mature person, you should be able to talk to them about your concerns, and decide together whether it is something you should do. The trouble is that a very large percentage of academic scientists are NOT reasonable or mature people, even if they at first appear to be. Getting a PhD is often more about stroking the correct egos and being a good little minion than it is about your skills, abilities, or grades. With far too many advisors, if you don't follow orders or do everything they expect you to do FOR THEM, then there's a good chance that they will decide you don't deserve a PhD, and you will get unexpectedly screwed somewhere down the line. I've seen it happen time and time again over stupid stuff.
They may not do anything as obvious as firing you, but they can make sure you don't pass your comprehensives, don't get the funding to continue, or they can suddenly drop the project and you with it. They can also just make your life miserable until you quit. University rules are meaningless when it comes to grad students - professors can pretty much do whatever they want with you and change the rules at will, and there's nothing you can do about it. In one of my programs, a single professor with political clout changed the format, content, and committee of examiners for the comprehensive exams THE DAY BEFORE IT WAS GIVEN, to insure that only the people he personally felt were "worthy" would pass. The entire grad student population of the department complained to the department head and the university as a group, but were ignored. Unfortunately, this sort of thing is not uncommon. I've never been associated with a grad program that actually treated all students fairly and evaluated them strictly on ability or the quality of their work.
I'm not trying to make you paranoid - I don't know your advisor or program - I'm just saying that you should be aware that in most programs the biggest part of getting a PhD is making your advisor happy and satisfying their personal whims. And I can tell you from experience, that many of these people are immature and arrogant, do not take any kind of questioning or constructive criticism well, and have very specific ideas in their minds about what it means to "pay your dues" to get a PhD, which may be everything from extra academic work to sleeping in the lab to picking up their dry cleaning for them. Some will even nearly write you off on day one if you didn't go to the right undergrad institution. Most view your RA position as them doing you a favor, and expect you to do a sufficient amount of foot kissing in gratitude for it. Your advisor's main interest is advancing their own career, and they see you as a tool to get there. I know grad students who completed thesis work but were essentially held hostage by their advisors for additional years in order to work on projects that only helped the advisor. Unfortunately, they had no choice. Not only did they need to satisfy the advisor to get the degree, but they had no hope of landing a decent job without a glowing letter of recommendation. Hopefully, your advisor is not one of these people.
My advice is that if you want to get through grad school, the work that is the highest priority for you is whatever your advisor says it is - and that may not necessarily be what you or anyone else thinks it should be, or what you are technically "obligated" to do. I guarantee you that your department does not feel obligated to give you a degree, even if you do great work. That isn't fair, but it's the way things are in the academic world. If you want a PhD, you usually just have to suck it up, play whatever games your advisor says you have to, and then get the hell out.
So, by all means look out for your own interests, but just be very careful.
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<issue_start>username_0: In the last decade, more and more researchers read the scientific literature on electronic copies or on printed copies, but not anymore directly from the printed journal.
Nowadays, I think the most important role of journals is therefore only to offer a well-established editorial and refereeing platform.
Anyway, there is a sort of economic loophole. Let me explain.
Research institutions pay both researchers and journals (to have online access and for printed copies) where researchers publish. On the other hand, journals offer a refereeing platform which is based on the unpaid work of referees, which are, again, researchers. Therefore, research institutions pay for all, and journals earn money for the research published. I could be a little naive here, but I think not far from truth.
Therefore, why are journals useful, apart from refereeing?
For instance, imagine that arXiv, or another open-access archive will introduce refereeing and some sort of editorial filtering. In this scenario, will conventional journal publications still make sense?<issue_comment>username_1: I used to think in a way similar to the question, but I had a meaningful conversation with a prestigious scholar one time in graduate school, who pointed out that I was missing a key purpose of journals: ***permanent archival***.
The arXiv has been around for about 25 years. We have no idea whether the papers on it will be readable in 100 years. But we know that we can read documents on paper from ancient Egypt, and we have every reason to believe that journals printed on paper and stored in archival libraries can last just as long.
The scholar I spoke with was not particularly worried about refereeing. He was worried about whether his work would still be available in 1000 years. Of course, I didn't ask him if he thought anyone would still be interested in it :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If arXiv added peer review and editorial filtering, then it essentially would be [PLOS ONE](http://www.plosone.org/) with a $1,350 discount on the publication fee.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Like most human pursuits, research is not planned top to bottom. Things evolve in a historical context. The historical context here is that some journals have long histories and publishing in them is prestigious because important work has been published in those journals before (and consequently they can be very picky). Yes, this argument is a bit *cum hoc ergo propter hoc* to begin with, but still there is a whole host of consequences following from the reputation of journals. For example grants, jobs, publications in other journals, and in general evaluation of ones scientific output is measured in terms of which journals one publishes in.
As other people have noted, turning arXiv into a journal would not make journals obsolete, because that alone would not give it the filtering effect. In my field, mathematics, and maybe also other fields where arXiv usage is widespread, publication in a journal is a stamp of quality that is added to a paper. It is not publication in the sense that the paper is then public and was not before.
As I wrote in a comment, I don't trust the journals with permanental archiving. Libraries are probably better with that, but they can't afford the paper versions anymore... so there is a problem (independent of your question). Another thing is typesetting: If the authors care, then typesetting of the arXiv versions is usually much better than in the journal versions because Springer, Elsevier, etc. have all outsourced typesetting and cut down proofreading. Typically more errors and oddities are introduced than removed in the final typesetting process.
So to answer your question: If arXiv introduced refereeing, then it would turn into another online only journal with little to no impact to the remaining journal system. But, its production cost would substantially go up, potentially endangering it.
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<issue_start>username_0: Just curious is it crucial?
It's one of the reasons I like academia that I don't need to care too much the boring stuff like wearing suits.<issue_comment>username_1: Dressing in a fashion that expresses awareness of the context would be ... oh-so-wise. :) Whatever the local standards are, contravening them is not to be lightly undertaken. :) E.g., to communicate that you are an iconoclastic prophet, breaking all the iconic dress-codes is de rigeur, but if you want to convince people that you can help them in their previously-understood enterprises, ... try to show them that you "can be/are like them"... :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: If you feel the job is already yours, then it doesn't matter what you wear.
Otherwise, dress in a way that expresses your enthusiasm for the job -- including the ability to dress however you like once you're hired.
You needn't wear a suit, and you don't need a tie. But you need to wear (I'm assuming the masculine gender here) nice slacks and a tailored shirt (i.e. with buttons). No sandals or flip flops, but if you're not comfortable in dress shoes, then a pair of sports shoes that are fairly new looking. The shirt should not be loud or Hawaiian. Make sure the shirt and slacks don't clash.
There. Was that so hard?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Personally, I can't think of a single 'genuine' post-doc I've known over the years who had enough mental capacity left to even begin worrying about what to wear.
On a more serious note though, based on my experience within the field of computer science in The Netherlands (seeing as regional differences do matter), taking some care not to pick an indecent or dirty pair of clothes should be the minimum. Suits would be way overdressed.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Standard advice for any job interview, academic or not:
Unless you think quirky would definitely be to your advantage, dress fairly conservatively. It's easier for interviewers to think of you in terms of how you differ from a standard quantity, and you want them to focus on the differences that are in your favor. It may also be taken as an indication of serious interest, and of respect.
Of course, on a college campus, "conservatively" covers a broad range from business casual (with or without sport coat) to t-shirt and a clean pair of jeans (but avoid the shirts with political messages unless you know the interviewer's biases).
So the real answer is: If in doubt, call the department's office (or the professor's administrative assistant, if he has one) and ask them what's customary and appropriate. They'll know. Then consider going toward, or a half-step past, the well-groomed end of that scale.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_5: In a postdoc interview, you are presenting yourself as a professional, following the standards and conventions of your field. What exactly is that level of dress depends somewhat on country and on field.
A good metric to gauge yourself by, however, would be what the postdocs and pre-tenure faculty tend to wear at the conferences in your field. If you dress following the mode of that population, then you are sure to not have clothing be an issue.
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a mathematics professor in a small, good but non-elite department in the US. Several of my colleagues and I would like to work to improve our recruitment of strong prospective Ph.D. students.
We do not really know how to go about this most effectively. Obviously it is difficult, but -- what are some good ways to do this, in addition to
1. maintaining a useful and informative departmental webpage,
2. serving our present Ph.D. students as well as we can, making sure they are happy, and (hopefully!) helping them to land good jobs,
3. maintaining our own research programs, and
4. continuing to network and maintain professional connections with colleagues at other universities?
Edit: I see [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/44159) is related, although in my case recruiting is handled on a departmental rather than individual basis.<issue_comment>username_1: All of the ideas that you've written down so far seem quite useful and reasonable, but I think that there is something important missing. In particular, all of these are aimed at recruiting "generic" students rather than individual students.
Ph.D. recruitment is different than undergraduate recruitment because people choose their undergraduate institutions for so many random reasons, while they tend to be much more focused and "status-conscious" when looking for a doctoral program. As such, rank matters a lot more for students... *when they have no personal relationship.*
As such, if you want top students to come to your department, you don't want them to be thinking, "I wonder if Nice University's grad program would be good for me," you want them thinking, "I really hope that I can do my graduate work with Professor Neato!"
There are at least two really good sources that I can think of for recruiting such students:
* **Your undergraduates:** Because of the high variance in how people make their undergraduate choices, at least some really top students are likely to end up at pretty much any decent school. If you can get those students involved in research as undergraduates, then they will know you and your research personally, and may well be inclined to continue with a cool program that they are already invested in rather than taking a blind leap into a big and possibly unfriendly place far away.
* **Close colleagues at other schools:** Reaching beyond your own pool of students, your colleagues elsewhere are likely to have bright students that they may be looking for a good place for. If they've got a top student who's just interested in generic stuff, then packing them off to an elite institution and hoping they'll find their way may be the right thing. But if they think the person might be a good fit for your work on Frabjous Tulip Fractals, then they can refer them directly to you, and again a student may be much more interested in working with a specific professor who they can get to know and meet, particularly where that can improve their chances of admission.
I know of folks who are pursuing both these strategies with significant success. Other approaches may work as well, such as international exchange programs. The common theme, however, is to compete on the basis of your individual personal relationships, rather than as a generic institution.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Based on my experience investigating and applying to grad schools (2010), I believe that it is *easy* for nearly any grad school/department to significantly improve their recruitment success. Why? Because nearly every grad school and department does such a poor job today.
The "secret"? **Treat your potential grad students like customers** and apply basic marketing methods. (By this, I do ***not*** mean hype, exaggerated claims, gimmicks, hucksterism, or carpet-bombing all media with advertising.)
First, segment the marketplace of graduate students. "If you aren't thinking segments, you aren't thinking", said <NAME> in *The Marketing Imagination* (highly recommended book!) But your segmentation scheme requires imagination and insight into what differentiates some grad students from others in terms of their motives, behavior, and choices.
Second, decide on how you want to position your department and your offering. Read the book *Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind*. The essence: your "brand" needs to be "top-of-mind" for \*\*some\* meaningful segment. If you are 4th or below on everyone's list, then you are no where.
Third, differentiate your department and your offering in every way possible to fit your positioning and to satisfy the *unique* needs of your target segment. (The book *The Marketing Imagination* includes a chapter called "How to Differentiate Anything".) Your "offering" involves *every aspect* of the grad degree process, from investigation, to application, to selection/commitment, to funding/financing, to doing academic work, to work/life balance, graduating in a reasonable amount of time, to getting a job after graduation, and even connections among alumni. There are dozens of changes your department might make in each one of these. Here are a few simple examples, focused on the investigation/application process:
* Post on your web site the *specific qualifications* you are looking for in Research Assistants, not just generic statements. (This list would change as often as your requirements change.)
* Post statistics on the number of applications you receive, the number of students you accept, the % of accepted students who enroll, the demographics of applicants, and the demographics of accepted students, what % get funding and of what type, etc.
* Create a decision tree or maybe an interactive web page to help prospective students assess their chances of being accepted and their fit for your department.
* Assign an experienced grad student to each incoming first year student to serve as mentor, especially for the non-academic aspects to help avoid common pitfalls of grad student life.
Finally, put in place a handful of objectives and associated metrics so that everyone can see if your department is making progress or not, and also whether you are doing these things in a quality way.
Oh... one other thing. Read the book *How Economics Shapes Science*. It will give you plenty to think about regarding how graduate schools fit into a larger socio-economic system which frequently works to the disadvantage of PhD students and, especially, Postdocs. Find ways to go against this tide and you will really stand out!
---
If this sort of marketing thinking and action is uncomfortable for you and your colleagues, or it is beyond your skills and capabilities, then I strongly suggest that you hire a marketing consultant. You could also recruit some students or interns who know "Design Thinking" and use your department as a case study.
---
In addition to the two books above, you would greatly benefit by reading anything by <NAME>. To pick one: *Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices*. A few choice Drucker quotes, woven together: "The purpose of a business is to create a customer...to convert need into demand...Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs."
Why are academic departments so poorly managed? Because the people who run them don't think they need to know anything about management or have any management skills.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Good question. I am answering more to brainstorm along with you than anything else. I think that you have the broad bases covered, but the finer details of implementation are important.
It is tough for a PhD program in mathematics to directly network with undergraduates, because being an undergraduate math major is almost entirely about coursework and very little about research. This limits the usefulness of one of @username_1's suggestions in this field: most undergraduates do not understand the research that faculty members are working on -- I mean, do not understand *at all*, including not knowing what most of the nouns are -- and this makes it difficult to promote faculty research to undergraduates. For instance my most durable research interest over the years has been the period-index problem in Weil-Chatelet groups of abelian varieties. This is a plausible topic for PhD research for a UGA student -- in fact, a student just last month received a PhD at UGA on this topic under my supervision -- but the undergraduates who have any clue what this means are not coming to UGA. So what can you do?
* Adjust your research program so that some part of it makes sense to some undergraduates.
When I was a postdoc, this would have sounded unlikely to me. As a postdoc I did supervise two undergraduate students' summer research (at my institution), and that research was on a problem in real analysis...which I chose because they were the grader and one of the students in an undergraduate real analysis course I had taught. When I arrived at my current good but not-too-elite tenure track job, I made it a point in my early years to acquire a much broader, shallower knowledge of my own subject (number theory) than I had as a student. Then over the years I have led two different research projects whose main goal, honestly, was to be pitched lower to the ground than WC groups or Shimura curves or flat cohomology. These groups have resulted in several publications which an undergraduate has a much better chance of understanding...and in fact there was a (well, extremely bright) undergraduate coauthor on some of them. Even more recently (since December 2013) I have gotten involved in a research program at the border of number theory and combinatorics in which some of the important results are really at ground level. So nowadays if a prospective PhD student finds their way into my orbit, they can probably grab onto something they can understand.
* Have a web presence that is attractive to undergraduates.
To be honest, I feel that I do this rather well. I have an enormous quantity of lecture notes, *starting* at the advanced undergraduate level. I often get contacted from undergraduates about these notes. Unfortunately though I do not know that anyone has enrolled in our PhD program because of this. The closest I can think of is that a faculty member at a top school told me that *he* recommended UGA to his students because he thought I would be a good mentor based on my webpage (and indeed we got a couple of students from that school).
* Do REUs.
This is @ff524's suggestion, and it is a very good one. We have done REUs at UGA, and two of our current PhD students participated in them. If a student has a successful REU experience but does not have the profile to get into a very elite PhD program, it is very natural (and actually sensible) for them to want to continue working with the same faculty or at the same program. In fact it is kind of ideal because you are modelling the experience you want the student to have. Of course not everyone who wants to run an REU can, and if this brings one student per year into your program you are doing extremely well.
* Have a critical mass of happy, successful, sociable female and minority students.
Of course this is a bit of a Catch 22, but it's something to keep an eye on in the cultivation of your current students. If a prospective female student shows up and doesn't see enough other female faces, or if the female faces she sees do not model the kind of experience she wants to have, she is more likely to go elsewhere. Similarly for minorities. Encouraging female students to organize as a group may seem awkward at first but is probably a good idea (and one with a lot of precedent). Having such a group can make them more comfortable and productive, and when a prospective female student comes to town, they will naturally be welcoming.
* Cultivate and exploit regional pipelines.
The thing which is most frustrating to me about graduate recruitment is that so many students aren't considering my program because it is in the Southeastern US and they're only considering programs in their region. (To give an example, we get a fair number of students from Florida. When I ask them why they come to UGA, the most common answer is "Because I'm used to warm weather and it's the farthest north I felt comfortable going." These are people who are going to be happy to get a suitable job anywhere in the US upon graduation.) But sometimes two students from the same region or same institution enroll in your program in the same or consecutive years, and then all of a sudden *for a little while* people from that place are primed to come. My PhD program admitted two students from the same tiny Central American country in consecutive years. (Both students have since done strong thesis work and graduated.) And then the following year a third student from that country applied. We had an especially strong applicant pool that year and didn't accept him. I happen to know that he went to another, slightly more highly ranked, US PhD program and seems to be doing quite well there. I wish we had kept the lines open.
* Develop relationships with colleagues at liberal arts colleges.
Since you have a PhD program, you are almost certainly not at a liberal arts college, and in fact most good-but-not-elite PhD programs have little natural interaction with good-but-not-elite liberal arts colleges: we run in different circles. This makes it hard when students from such places apply: a student who gets perfect grades while taking only undergraduate courses, has letters saying they're the best student in the last few years *from faculty you don't know* and who has okay but not great GRE scores is kind of a black box: they could do excellently in your program, disastrously, or anywhere in between. If you can cultivate personal contacts at these places you can get much more information *and* maybe you can leverage the dynamic the other way: probably the faculty at a top 50 liberal arts college do not have many top 50 research university faculty on speed dial.
* Encourage -- and fund -- dynamic faculty to make recruitment visits.
When I get the chance to visit a new department I usually have a blast, and because I have a shallow knowledge of a lot of different parts of mathematics I have sometimes had the experience of going door to door, talking to each faculty member about their work: not super deeply, but enough to make a positive impression. (And you could send people in my department who would do much better than I would, in particular people who give amazing talks.) However I almost never travel to a place unless I have been invited by someone that I already know, who is willing to fund my visit. I have been to the majority of the top departments (at some point, anyway) but only a small minority of the departments whose undergraduates we could be best recruiting from. If my department had the funds to send multiple faculty members around for multiple recruiting visits, we could make much better connections that would reinforce a lot of the points above. Apparently we don't have funding for this, but maybe we're not trying hard enough.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: ### Summer Schools
Organising summer schools (and workshops) on interesting topics also helps boost visibility, and allows you to market your research and results. You could pick a topic in your particular area of expertise and organise a summer schools catering multidisciplinary students at all levels. Make sure to dedicate part of the training program to discussion and poster sessions where students can get to engage with and pitch their work to the speakers as well as their fellow students. Don't forget to tell your participants, explicitly or not, that you have graduate opportunities available and are looking for valuable candidates.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Well, the obvious thing to do is **advertise**, as evidenced by the inordinate sums of money spent on this each year. It's helpful to just get your name out there, and the more students see it, the more likely they will be to remember your school when it comes time to apply.
While the other answers make good points, I don't believe any of them explicitly mentioned the following:
* Send advertisement posters to other departments. I think ads may be particularly effective in certain foreign countries, where people want to come to the US to study, but many of the top schools aren't so well known. There are a lot of good foreign students who don't really know where is appropriate to apply. And as foreign students often follow their predecessor's footsteps, getting one good student from Nepal, say, may lead to many more in the future.
* The annual Joint Math Meetings has a Grad School Fair. I represented our department there last year, and it's hard to measure the direct impact, but as I recall we got a couple of applications that year from students we met there out of 30-40 names that we took down (and not all students were graduating that year). My feeling is it's a worthwhile way to get your name out there.
* Organize undergrad conferences or a regional competition at your school (or as ff524 mentioned in a comment, do REUs). Virginia Tech's competion became very successful. This option is of course significantly more work.
* Offer one or two nice fellowships (e.g., more money and/or less teaching, but mostly more money) to top applicants to be competitive. I've seen many students choose lower ranked grad schools for an extra $1000/year.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: The excellent suggestions already posted mainly target getting applications, and encouraging your selected applicants to accept places.
There is another piece to the puzzle. There are a lot of students who have a low GPA because of some problem or simple immaturity. Large, well-known programs tend to set hard cutoffs for any individual consideration, because they have so many applications.
Consider searching the reject pile for diamonds-in-the-rough, students who have a low GPA for reasons other than lack of ability, and who really want to do research. See [How does the admissions process work for US Ph.D. programs, particularly for weak or borderline students?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/38237/10220), and related questions. Check that any hard requirements that do not allow for exceptions are really essential, not just habit.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: You could use [Gradschoolmatch](https://www.gradschoolmatch.com).
It's an easy way to introduce your program to people who are thinking about a graduate degree. It solves pretty much the choke point problem that others have already mentioned.
It works somewhat like a dating site. Prospects have profiles providing information about their academic background and interests. Graduate programs have profiles, too. Since either side can make the first move you don't have to wait and hope.
So, for example, you can spot someone with a profile that you believe would be a good fit for your PhD program, click a button, and follow up with a short warm message.
Voila! They know about you. Will they engage with you further? Can you attract students? That's up to you and your value proposition.
Obviously, students have biases towards elite institutions. In most fields, those are unwarranted. But those biases come from a lack of insight, more than anything else. It just takes a little mentoring to help them understand your program is a good as any other.
Full disclosure: I'm a professor at Emory University and use Gradschoolmatch to recruit for our pharmacology PhD program. Pharmacology is the unknown step sister of the biomedical sciences--it's not taught at the undergrad level, so it's overlooked by people looking for biomed PhD programs whom we would like to attract.
That problem frustrated me so much that I went ahead and invented Gradschoolmatch.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently, I have a paper accepted at an IEEE conference, and I am supposed to present my paper orally at the conference. The programs have been released, and it is a four day conference.
I am supposed to present at the last day.
The question I want to ask, is that, should I also attend the first day (openning ceremony) as well?<issue_comment>username_1: A conference is so much more than just an arbitrary concatenation of presentations. It is a place you can meet researchers from different places who usually work in a similar field to yours. You can use the time to get to know new people, get to talk about new ideas, find out what others are currently doing in your field, and much more.
Therefore, if you have the opportunity to attend the conference more than just the day of your presentation you should.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Well, "should" is a thing, "have to" is another. Let's assume you ask the latter: the answer is **No**.
It's up to you how much time you want to spend at the conference. Your registration can usually be done every morning of the conference and you are free to decide to which session/presentation you want to go. The opening ceremony is always optional and it's very common for attendees to skip it to save a hotel night.
Now, if your institution is paying for the registration, they might expect you to attend the whole thing. Depending on the conference, you might not get discounted registration fee if you do not attend the whole conference. And from your point of view, your talk is the least interesting part of the conference: you already know what is in it. A lot of the value of attending a conference is in the informal parts where you can build your network and discuss ideas. If you can afford to attend more than the day of your talk, it will be more beneficial to you.
Beware of one thing: **the program can change** (I learned it the hard way once). Sometimes flights are cheap at a moment when the final program is not out. Take that into consideration when you plan your travel.
One point: if your presentation is part of a themed session, or a moderated panel, or a "round table"-type of session, decency and etiquette require you to attend *the whole session*. Of course nothing will happen to you if you don't, but it will be seen as rude and pretentious.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Well, there are situations when it is almost a "must."
In a country which must be nameless, all conference presenters are usually presented with a certificate each to prove that each of them really presents a paper. The reason? All academic jobs in that country have compulsory requirements of conference presentations to keep the job; as far as I remember, it is (3) local conferences and (1) international conference at least. But some academics abuse the chance to visit a distant place by spending the time as a tourist, rather than at the conference. Hence the requirement of such certificates!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I was recently invited to speak at a conference. The "invitation" included a one day registration to the conference - only the day on which I gave my talk (otherwise I would not have been able to get into the building, I suppose). As it happens, I needed to be elsewhere for the rest of the week, so I did not mind terribly. But it does suggest that *conference organizers* for one don't *expect* speakers to attend all week.
But if it's in your field, and you have the time - why wouldn't you? Academic advances happen most often at the intersection of minds and ideas - making conferences an ideal place for planting, nurturing or harvesting the ideas that will build the next advance in your field.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: It is commonly accepted that professorship is the final rank of promotion in universities. I would like to study the possibility for promoting professors further. Is there any grading or ranking system for professors in universities?<issue_comment>username_1: They can negotiate more income, a nicer office, more resources, less teaching, etc. However, the room for negotiation differs from country to country.
Sometimes moving on to dean or chancelor position is considered a promotion, but I would consider it a form of punishment. It just means you have to spent a lot more time on management, so less time (if any) is left for doing interesting stuff. On the other hand, promotion in other sectors often also involve such a switch towards more management tasks, so calling it a promotion is probably justified.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, there are some universities in the U.S. that have ways of promoting professors beyond the rank of "Professor". As you know, the U.S. system has a somewhat standard progression of Assistant Professor to Associate Professor to Professor.
Some universities add a fourth rank to this, often by the name Distinguished Professor. This rank is meant to apply to particularly special professors who continue to be highly productive and exceed job norms even after being promoted to Professor.
The other rank above Professor in the U.S. is related to named positions, often called named chairs. These are individual faculty positions that are funded by donations to the university (actually, funded by the interest). It takes a lot of money to create a named chair position, so they are relatively few in number. These positions are typically given permanently to one person, and then a new recipient is chosen when that person leaves the position. They are usually considered the most prestigious faculty positions in the U.S. You can tell someone has one of these because the position usually has a name attached to it, e.g. <NAME> might be the "<NAME> professor of chemistry". For example, see the [list of named positions](http://science.psu.edu/about/honors/endowed) in science at Penn State.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to the Distinguished/University/Institute professor positions and named chairs previously mentioned, some universities subdivide the individual ranks into steps. For example, at Berkeley the rank of Professor is subdivided into steps 1-9.5, and above that you have "above scale" professors.
<http://ofew.berkeley.edu/academic-ladder>
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I finished my PhD in 2013. I don't have any experience in supervision of research students. When I apply for teaching job uni. always ask me "Your experience in supervision of research students". How to answer those kind questions properly?<issue_comment>username_1: If the jobs you are applying to expect you to have experience teaching research students and you have none, there is really no *explaining away* of this problem. I see basically two fixes:
1. **Get this experience.** I am not sure how feasible this is wherever you work, but in my university in Europe, *everybody* who wants experience teaching students can get it. There are plenty of research master students or even undergrads that need supervision, and getting involved with teaching them is usually not more complicated than telling the lab head or responsible coordinator that you would be available. Of course, then you also need to be prepared to put in the hours - teaching research students is *definitely* not something that you can do with an hour on the side here and there, as these inexperienced researchers typically need some serious time commitment to get them started. Incidentally, the fact that it is so easy to get experience supervising students is also the reason why universities in my area consider it as a red flag if you have none - they interpret this as *"I actively tried to get out of supervising students"*.
2. **Find jobs to apply to that don't require teaching research students.** If you for some reason don't want to be involved with teaching research students, you shouldn't apply to positions that require this. What you could maybe still do is apply to positions that are very (undergrad) teaching-centered, such as liberal arts colleges in the US or Universities of Applied Sciences in the German-speaking areas. That being said, if you don't want to be involved with research at all, you *may* be drawing slim as nowadays most universities seem to expect their junior faculty to do some research on the side.
To anser your literal question:
>
> How to answer those kind questions properly?
>
>
>
**Truthfully**.
*"I currently do not have any experience in teaching research students, as [insert accurate reason]. Of course I will be more than willing to get this experience as soon as possible should my application be accepted."*
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Just say you don't have any yet. They may score the candidates, and one zero may affect your total score, but your strong scores in the other four aspects will bring up your total.
Also, please remember, there's a subjective factor which always comes in in hiring decisions.
If you are concerned about the total absence of experience in this one area, call them up and ask them if that puts you completely out of the running. (If they say yes, you can save yourself some work.) I doubt they will say yes, though.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: For question "Your experience in supervision of research students" ... if you have no such experience, answer "none".
There is no other way to answer it "properly".
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a comajor masters student who is experiencing difficulties in timely responses from my advisor. It has taken an average of almost 4 months for me to get feedback each time I have received feedback on my thesis since leaving campus.
As a result, I am trying to convert from a thesis to a non-thesis based MS, take an additional course this fall, and be done. I would need to modify my program of study to include some independent study credits (requiring my advisor approval), representing my non-published thesis work, and be done this fall. The additional work is well worth it to me to avoid the uncertainty of depending on an advisor who is unreliable for timely feedback.
Because of these delays which are likely going to make even a fall thesis defense impossible, I have been in contact with the Ombuds office at my University. At their suggestion I then talked with the faculty who is the director of my graduate program and both seem to think this is the best outcome. The graduate director thought my advisor might resist this idea because it causes him to lose face.
I need my advisor's permission to convert to the independent study.If I do not receive this, I will have to take some additional credits - which I am prepared to do, though this is non-optimal. Technically I need his permission to switch committees, too, though I have been told him refusing this is incredibly unlikely. Having suggested the idea to my advisor via email about a week ago, I have (unsurprisingly to me) not heard any response.
* What strategies should I use to work with my advisor to change my program of study and committee which help him save face, but simultaneously causing my issues to be resolved in a way which results in him signing the paperwork?
The **only** reason I care is I want him to approve my program of study change, so I have to take less credits. If I didn't need this approval I would just drop the paperwork off to change my committee and be done (and easily escalate if he refuses)...<issue_comment>username_1: Why are you worried about helping save face for this person? It sounds like they have been nothing but problematic.
If the department is OK with you switching to a non-degree program and graduating, just do it and get out of there. Based on what you have reported, there seems to be no benefit for you doing otherwise: you're just making a lot of excuses for what is very poor behavior. For example, it doesn't matter if supervising your thesis is "low priority" and your advisor is "very busy"---supervising your thesis is part of your advisor's *job*.
Given that you are have already engaged both the program director and the Ombuds office and gotten their encouragement to proceed on this path, just go ahead and finish your degree without the thesis. The only disadvantage you are likely to have is that you're not going to be able to get a good recommendation letter from your former advisor---but then, would you have been able to anyway?
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is a pretty difficult situation. Are you able to switch programs to ind. study without approval if you can show that the adviser was negligent? If not, I still don't see what the adviser will gain from refusing to allow you to switch unless he hopes that the extra credits will deter you from that path.
If you think that he will resist in order to save face, you could be clear that you plan to switch to the independent study program regardless of his response, which will make him choose between a) refusing you out of spite, or b) giving you a better choice which still costs him nothing as compared to choice a. I would like to think that the adviser would not be childish enough to stop you out of pure spite when he loses nothing by giving you the better option.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This line concerns me the most
>
> It has taken an average of almost 4 months for me to get feedback
>
>
>
You should likely talk to the Dean or Provost of your department. Be ready to show that you're being proactive, but your current advisor's lack of attention has shut you down. Go on ahead and start figuring out how to switch programs of study without your advisor's approval.
You will likely ruin whatever relationship you have left with your current advisor, but it sounds like you've done what you can to keep communication open, and your advisor hasn't reciprocated. After 4 months of in-attention, its time to figure out how to go around, not through.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I need my advisor's permission to convert to the independent study.
>
>
>
You sent the request once and waited a week. Since this is August, you should either wait a second week before proceeding with the next step, or try to find out from someone if your advisor is out of town.
The second step is to Reply to your email from a week ago, to your advisor, with a cc to the graduate director, saying
>
> I look forward to receiving your reply.
>
>
>
If there is still no response within a reasonable amount of time, then put the problem in the graduate director's lap.
If the graduate director does not feel sufficiently authorized to take action (such as signing in your advisor's place) then go to the head of the department, or higher still, if need be. That would probably be a dean. Watch out -- there are often large numbers of "assistant deans" who are sometimes ineffective. I would hesitate to work with one of those. On the other hand, it can be effective to work with the dean's secretary. Deans' secretaries are usually as smart as a button, and efficient. A good secretary will sometimes listen to your tale of woe, and then call you back a little while later to tell you the problem has been taken care of -- without you having to do anything.
Upvotes: 1
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| 1,122
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<issue_start>username_0: Pardon but I couldn't find a better title for my question.
I am one of the editors of an undergraduate journal, created alongside 2 other undergrads of the same school, in which we publish upper-undergraduate articles related to our school courses(mostly expository, sharing our love about our studies). We publish the journal both online and in print, with printing costs covered by the faculty.
Is it appropriate if I publish an article related to, for instance, fluid mechanics, to pass the journal volume in which my article is featured to the professor teaching fluid mechanics in my school?? Will this be considered as a 'showing off'? I
would like to mention that the professor knows me well from the first year of my studies in which I expressed to him my interest in his field and asked for extra references for self-study.<issue_comment>username_1: Why are you worried about helping save face for this person? It sounds like they have been nothing but problematic.
If the department is OK with you switching to a non-degree program and graduating, just do it and get out of there. Based on what you have reported, there seems to be no benefit for you doing otherwise: you're just making a lot of excuses for what is very poor behavior. For example, it doesn't matter if supervising your thesis is "low priority" and your advisor is "very busy"---supervising your thesis is part of your advisor's *job*.
Given that you are have already engaged both the program director and the Ombuds office and gotten their encouragement to proceed on this path, just go ahead and finish your degree without the thesis. The only disadvantage you are likely to have is that you're not going to be able to get a good recommendation letter from your former advisor---but then, would you have been able to anyway?
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This is a pretty difficult situation. Are you able to switch programs to ind. study without approval if you can show that the adviser was negligent? If not, I still don't see what the adviser will gain from refusing to allow you to switch unless he hopes that the extra credits will deter you from that path.
If you think that he will resist in order to save face, you could be clear that you plan to switch to the independent study program regardless of his response, which will make him choose between a) refusing you out of spite, or b) giving you a better choice which still costs him nothing as compared to choice a. I would like to think that the adviser would not be childish enough to stop you out of pure spite when he loses nothing by giving you the better option.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This line concerns me the most
>
> It has taken an average of almost 4 months for me to get feedback
>
>
>
You should likely talk to the Dean or Provost of your department. Be ready to show that you're being proactive, but your current advisor's lack of attention has shut you down. Go on ahead and start figuring out how to switch programs of study without your advisor's approval.
You will likely ruin whatever relationship you have left with your current advisor, but it sounds like you've done what you can to keep communication open, and your advisor hasn't reciprocated. After 4 months of in-attention, its time to figure out how to go around, not through.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I need my advisor's permission to convert to the independent study.
>
>
>
You sent the request once and waited a week. Since this is August, you should either wait a second week before proceeding with the next step, or try to find out from someone if your advisor is out of town.
The second step is to Reply to your email from a week ago, to your advisor, with a cc to the graduate director, saying
>
> I look forward to receiving your reply.
>
>
>
If there is still no response within a reasonable amount of time, then put the problem in the graduate director's lap.
If the graduate director does not feel sufficiently authorized to take action (such as signing in your advisor's place) then go to the head of the department, or higher still, if need be. That would probably be a dean. Watch out -- there are often large numbers of "assistant deans" who are sometimes ineffective. I would hesitate to work with one of those. On the other hand, it can be effective to work with the dean's secretary. Deans' secretaries are usually as smart as a button, and efficient. A good secretary will sometimes listen to your tale of woe, and then call you back a little while later to tell you the problem has been taken care of -- without you having to do anything.
Upvotes: 1
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| 551
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<issue_start>username_0: I can't find any information about when NSF announces the recipients of their postdoctoral fellowship awards. I'm specifically interested in the one for mathematics. I'd like to use this information to get a rough schedule for rolling applications.<issue_comment>username_1: In 2014 I received an informal notice of rejection for an NSF postdoc in mathematics on January 14th, immediately prior to the Joint Meetings. Acceptance notifications were sent at the same time, though the formal decision was not posted for another eight days. I can't attest to whether this was typical.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In another answer, username_1 said that notifications for 2014 went out on January 14th.
In 2015, the date was January 26.
In general, the notifications are sent out a week or so before the coordinated postdoc deadline, the day before which most research universities agree not to require a decision on postdoc offers. <http://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/deadline-coordination/deadline-coordination> This deadline changes from year to year, but it is always toward the end of January/beginning of February.
The idea is that people should have an opportunity to find out whether they've received the NSF before making any other decisions on postdoc offers, and if they were not one of the lucky few getting the NSF, then they should have at least a week to mull over their decision.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In 2020, the informal notifications were sent out on January 26 (a Friday).
For 2021, the [AMS](http://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/deadline-coordination/deadline-coordination) says the NSF will try to complete the review by January 22. (Most departments will not require a response to their offer by February 1, also according to that page.)
For 2022, the [AMS](http://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/deadline-coordination/deadline-coordination) again says "the NSF's Division of Mathematical Sciences has agreed to complete its review of applications and electronically notify all applicants by Friday, January 21, 2022, at the latest."
Upvotes: 3
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| 648
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<issue_start>username_0: Sorry if this is an obvious question. I earned a MS in psych, went and worked a few years, and I'm thinking I want to go back and finish out the degree, earn a PhD. More than one of my professors at the time I was in school recommended I go on, but for personal reasons it wasn't the right time. I know they'd happily write a letter now, but is that appropriate given they're also program faculty? My current employers are willing to write letters as well (I work in MH) but I know there's usually at least one academic reference, and if I can't use the graduate school ones that's going to be a challenge.<issue_comment>username_1: In 2014 I received an informal notice of rejection for an NSF postdoc in mathematics on January 14th, immediately prior to the Joint Meetings. Acceptance notifications were sent at the same time, though the formal decision was not posted for another eight days. I can't attest to whether this was typical.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In another answer, username_1 said that notifications for 2014 went out on January 14th.
In 2015, the date was January 26.
In general, the notifications are sent out a week or so before the coordinated postdoc deadline, the day before which most research universities agree not to require a decision on postdoc offers. <http://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/deadline-coordination/deadline-coordination> This deadline changes from year to year, but it is always toward the end of January/beginning of February.
The idea is that people should have an opportunity to find out whether they've received the NSF before making any other decisions on postdoc offers, and if they were not one of the lucky few getting the NSF, then they should have at least a week to mull over their decision.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: In 2020, the informal notifications were sent out on January 26 (a Friday).
For 2021, the [AMS](http://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/deadline-coordination/deadline-coordination) says the NSF will try to complete the review by January 22. (Most departments will not require a response to their offer by February 1, also according to that page.)
For 2022, the [AMS](http://www.ams.org/profession/employment-services/deadline-coordination/deadline-coordination) again says "the NSF's Division of Mathematical Sciences has agreed to complete its review of applications and electronically notify all applicants by Friday, January 21, 2022, at the latest."
Upvotes: 3
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2015/08/14
| 955
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<issue_start>username_0: I am citing some papers with the same first author but different co-authors.
For example, `[1]` is a paper by X, Y and Z, and `[2]` is a paper by X, A and B. Would `X et al. [1,2]` be appropriate here? because essentially `et al.` in `[1]` refers to people other than those referred to by `et al.` in `[2]`.
There is [a similar question about Harvard references](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/661/how-should-multiple-harvard-references-with-same-first-author-but-different-coau). But I am interested in cases where only the reference number is shown in text.
**Update** in my field in computer science, it's common to refer to the first author and use et al. When there are multiple ones. Usually the first author is regarded as the one who did the majority of the work.<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience with engineering, I usually see `X and coworkers [1,2]` in these situations. I have no knowledge if it is grammatically incorrect to use *et alia* ("and others") to refer to multiple papers with different authors, but I haven't ever noticed it being used that way. Also, you may come across the convention that it is not necessarily the first author used with `X and coworkers`, for instance, if the works all come from the lab of a well known researcher, one might prefer `Smith and coworkers [1-3]`, where `Smith` is the PI of the lab.
See also [this answer from Strongbad to a related question.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/19986/7346)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I understand this "X and others" to mean one *specific* set of (unnamed) people, unless they are the same bunch I'd write them separately. Just like when I was citing two papers by Chen together, but they were different Chens.
Perhaps use "X, Y et al. [203] and X, Z et al. [205]"?
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It is customary to use "et al." in a context in which it refers to one source only. If one author is not enough, one should add names until the reference becomes clearly identifiable.
If the authors are A, B, C, D, E and A, B, X, Y, Z, you could put
A, B, C et al., but "et al." is not used to refer to several papers.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: If you need to mention X, *et al.* (*et alii*) would not be appropriate, these are not the same "others". And it should generally be used for three or more authors.
"In several works X coauthored [1,2], we see that" or "In [1,2] X and his coauthors say..."
But why would you need to mention X? You can use "From [1,2], we know that..."
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Remember that no matter what you write in the text, the really important thing is the bibliographic item. I would personally tend to **avoid** using `X et al. [1,2]` if `[1]` and `[2]` do not have the same list of authors. If I came to this point in writing, I would try to reword the sentence.
On the other hand, I would use sensible judgement. If it's clear that the articles come from the same group of investigators, just with one name missing or so, you are probably fine keeping the two things together.
Some other "out-of-the-box" options include:
* Using `[XYZ12]` citation style; then it's clear that `X et al. [XYZ12, XAB13]` do not have the same list of authors.
* Avoid putting people's names in front of the citations (not preferable in general I think)
* Use more than one name before `et al.`
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: So, when I did my undergrad degrees in computer science (BA) and creative writing (BFA), I spent the whole time thinking "I'm going to be going into industry. I should take business classes." But since I was doing 188+ credits in nine semesters I didn't have a ton of spare time, and I didn't.
Now, after 5+ years of being in the industry (I'm a software engineer), I've had the conclusion that in fact yes, I should have taken business classes.
So that's what I'm doing. Through the local community college, I've got about ten courses to go until I qualify for an associates in business administration. Now, in a few semesters I'll be the somewhat contemptuous owner of an ASBA.
My question is this: with two baccalaureate degrees in unrelated fields and an associates' in business, would I be able to jump right to an MBA program and expect to do well?<issue_comment>username_1: In my experience with engineering, I usually see `X and coworkers [1,2]` in these situations. I have no knowledge if it is grammatically incorrect to use *et alia* ("and others") to refer to multiple papers with different authors, but I haven't ever noticed it being used that way. Also, you may come across the convention that it is not necessarily the first author used with `X and coworkers`, for instance, if the works all come from the lab of a well known researcher, one might prefer `Smith and coworkers [1-3]`, where `Smith` is the PI of the lab.
See also [this answer from Strongbad to a related question.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/19986/7346)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I understand this "X and others" to mean one *specific* set of (unnamed) people, unless they are the same bunch I'd write them separately. Just like when I was citing two papers by Chen together, but they were different Chens.
Perhaps use "X, Y et al. [203] and X, Z et al. [205]"?
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It is customary to use "et al." in a context in which it refers to one source only. If one author is not enough, one should add names until the reference becomes clearly identifiable.
If the authors are A, B, C, D, E and A, B, X, Y, Z, you could put
A, B, C et al., but "et al." is not used to refer to several papers.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: If you need to mention X, *et al.* (*et alii*) would not be appropriate, these are not the same "others". And it should generally be used for three or more authors.
"In several works X coauthored [1,2], we see that" or "In [1,2] X and his coauthors say..."
But why would you need to mention X? You can use "From [1,2], we know that..."
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: Remember that no matter what you write in the text, the really important thing is the bibliographic item. I would personally tend to **avoid** using `X et al. [1,2]` if `[1]` and `[2]` do not have the same list of authors. If I came to this point in writing, I would try to reword the sentence.
On the other hand, I would use sensible judgement. If it's clear that the articles come from the same group of investigators, just with one name missing or so, you are probably fine keeping the two things together.
Some other "out-of-the-box" options include:
* Using `[XYZ12]` citation style; then it's clear that `X et al. [XYZ12, XAB13]` do not have the same list of authors.
* Avoid putting people's names in front of the citations (not preferable in general I think)
* Use more than one name before `et al.`
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/14
| 664
| 2,720
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<issue_start>username_0: Often, as soon as I submit a pre-submission paper on the arxiv, I receive a couple of emails from other researchers pointing out their previous relevant work, which in their words is connected with mine and deserve citations.
Sometimes, it happens that their work is *really* connected with my work, and perhaps even anticipating it. For some reason I was not aware of that, my fault. In these cases, I usually add the citation and even refer to the work in a more extensive way.
However, most of the emails just point to works that are indeed on the same topic, **perhaps also very important works in the field**, but which are not even similar nor related to my work. In this cases, I really don't know what to do.
I could inflate the reference of the paper, giving credits to papers which really did not contribute in any way to my work. Or I could just ignore it, with the hope that one of the authors of that papers will not end up to be one of my referees...
What is the common practice in this cases?
(see also this [question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28346/how-to-respond-to-intentional-lack-of-citation) for another point of view)<issue_comment>username_1: Opinions vary, but I think it is very important to acknowledge *prior* *art*, that is, priority. To leave important prior (strongly related) work out of a bibliography is to communicate the idea that there *was* no prior work. Indeed, one can "cultivate" lack of references to one's competitors by carefully not looking at their work, thus, seemingly having no obligation to cite them (or otherwise acknowledge their existence!?!) But this is inappropriate, as it would convey a false impression to your readers, as well as being unfair to your competitors or predecessors. That is, it's not only what you use or rely on, but works that came before yours.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If you get requests for citations to irrelevant publications, just ignore them. Seriously, that's all you need to do. I get suggestions/requests for citations all the time. Sometimes they are relevant things that I overlooked (in which case, I add them), but usually they are not.
I don't even usually bother writing back to the people sending the requests. It's rude of them to ask you to cite their irrelevant work, and so I feel I am under no obligation to write back with a polite demurral. The people grubbing around for these citations are extremely unlikely to be leaders in the field (the kind of people who might makes things difficult for you if they think you are being rude to them); the real leaders do not need to waste their time drumming up undeserved citations.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: This question [here](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51360/how-much-does-video-broadcasting-on-youtube-benefit-you-academic-life/51451#51451) left me thinking that maybe I am too old and intolerant towards those things young people are doing.
I always think that academic publishing is peer-reviewed articles, or material that goes through some other academic filter, like a publisher or a conference board.
Are youtube, twitter, or facebook acceptable venues of academical work? Are they sources that can be safely ignored? Excepting the case pointed out by the respondent, which is that the object of the study is youtube, twitter, or facebook, obviously. In this case, it must be cited.<issue_comment>username_1: We prefer sources of different sorts for different reasons. Journals and conference proceedings that are printed on high-quality paper and bound professionally are considered archival. They have lasted for hundreds of years at least and may be found (even with difficulty) for generations. Online publishing of traditional-style articles provides easy and quick access, and properly converted to text, annotated, or indexed is highly searchable. Both of these modes are typically bound up with peer review in order to also provide some measures of quality, correctness, and authority, though no system of peer review is perfect.
Blogs, online videos, and social media appear to lack basically all of these features, but that doesn't make them unciteable. Given the choice between citing a video lecture of a professor demonstrating the proof of a theorem or a journal article where the same theorem is proved, cite the journal. But given only the video, the culture of academic publishing and writing is that you must cite it. If <NAME> proves something new on his blog that relates to a paper you are working on, you should cite to it if your article is to be published before he can turn it into a traditional publication.
There's a hierarchy of sources with some disagreement to the ordering. But if there's something that you can point to which backs your point, proves your theorem, or demonstrates your idea, you have an obligation to consider it for citation. Different fields will have different standards for how compelling this obligation is. Pointing to a random blog to bolster your theory of the American Civil War probably won't pass muster in most History circles, but primary sources testifying to the fact you want to demonstrate usually will. In math or CS, the standards are probably a bit different.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: To give a slightly different perspective: In mathematics a proof is a proof. If you demonstrate a proof of an interesting and important Theorem in a youtube video, then the mathematics community would probably pick it up (and pick it apart). If it is a really important fact, experts will reproduce the results and it will appear in the "written history" of the subject in some form or the other, with credit to the original authors (if identifiable).
In other fields, I have doubt that youtube, etc. are the right media to document that gathered evidence supports claims.
An interesting discussion in this direction is the [debate about Susan Greenfield](http://mindhacks.com/2015/08/14/digital-tech-the-bmj-and-the-baroness/).
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/14
| 2,062
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently submitted my latest draft thesis to my advisor. I had been having problems with my advisor because I had found him unhelpful, he would not make it easy for me to ask him questions as he would raise his voice and cut me off, and I was confused by the goals/aims of the project and I feel he has misled me.
I had submitted a few draft theses before that the main advisor read, but the co-advisor did not read any of them. The co-advisor read the latest draft in detail and said I plagiarized. I admit that I didn't consider this constituted plagiarism and thought this was just a draft, I was mostly concerned about whether my ideas made sense and I was sure it would be changed because I knew the main advisor wouldn't like it. The parts they accused was plagiarism was in my previous drafts as well, so because the main advisor didn't mention those were plagiarized, I didn't change those parts. I was just hoping to keep the co-advisor. I also never intended to steal other people's work and claim it as my own.
Do you know if there's a good chance I'll get expelled, based on your experience with plagiarism in master's draft theses?<issue_comment>username_1: According to my own understanding of what a "draft" means, it sounds like you're getting a raw deal here. A "draft" is an informal document that is in the process of being changed and improved. Unless "submitting a thesis draft" is something formal in your program, to me this sounds like accusing someone of cheating for looking up the answers to a practice test. I also view the fact that you **included the citations** as a key one in your defense: that makes it quite clear that you are *not* in the middle of a larger plan to steal others' work; you just turned in a shoddy draft.
You do however sound very naive about what plagiarism means and how academic writing works. You don't write an academic document by taking others' words, modifying them slightly, and then planning later to modify them enough to make it not plagiarism. At no point in this are you actually doing the *independent thinking and writing* that's asked of you. If you want to indicate in a draft that you intend to include standard background material, you could include a section that is almost blank with "[Standard background to be filled in here as from SourceX]". The less generous way to look at your situation is "How did <NAME> manage to make it all the way to a master's thesis without understanding basic academic norms? If he hasn't understood these things by now, it's too late."
The other issue is that, sorry to say, the rest of your description of your academic experience sounds extremely (virtually entirely) negative. You have a bad relationship with your advisor -- very bad; he raises his voice at you when you ask questions, and he directly mocked you; both of these are really unacceptable -- you have a coadvisor who didn't read any of your previous drafts and gave you papers that you found "irrelevant" (which they might be, or you might be mistaken about it; either way is bad). Finally, someone who should be helping you out instead reported you to the Dean's office. This is really not good!
To answer your question: accepting everything you've said as an accurate account of the events, *I personally find it unlikely that you will be expelled for this*. However I am much less optimistic that you can move forward from this to successfully defend your thesis and complete your degree. The behavior exhibited by your advisor and coadvisor could well be gearing up not to accept your thesis. Someone who *accuses* you of plagiarism is surely pretty close to being done with you whether the accusation is affirmed or not. I'm sorry to say it, but I think you should be looking for exit strategies and considering other options. It is certainly worth a shot to go to your advisor and say "Look, this has been a bumpy road and I acknowledge that. I've been working on my degree for XX years, have spent YY months working on my thesis, and I would really like to finish it if at all possible, even if it is not perfect or what we originally hoped for. I would really appreciate your help in showing me what I can do to make that happen. I know that the primary responsibility is mine, and I'm willing to put in lots of hard work between now and ZZ, but so far I haven't met expectations, so getting more specific direction will really help me through this." Almost all advisors want their students to finish rather than not, so that is a good shot at salvaging a bad situation.
Good luck.
**Added**: [Here](http://ask.metafilter.com/41584/Can-you-plagiarize-in-a-draft-copy) is another site on the internet containing some discussion on the issue of plagiarism on a thesis draft. Note that the case in question concerns missing references, which is not exactly the same as yours and to me seems more serious. The overall consensus is that initiating formal plagiarism proceedings for this is so far over the top that there must be something else going on beneath it, which is my thought as well. However they point out that a ruling will depend on the precise plagiarism rules at your university, which (i) of course we can't know and (ii) of course it is your responsibility to know. But again, reading between the lines here, there is something profoundly wrong with your relationship with your coadvisor, so trying to fix that directly has got to be a good idea. The fact that it will not nullify the formal plagiarism inquiry is just an (unsurprising) formality: that's just saying that once something has been started, you can't unstart it, you can only end it. The only person who is accusing you of anything is your coadvisor, so if you can work things out with him, the inquiry will almost certainly work out in your favor. Hinting that you did this because of his bad advising seems like the *worst* possible strategy to me.
Finally, my talk of "exit strategies" does not mean that you should simply give up: in fact, as I immediately followed, you should have a frank discussion with both of these faculty to see whether the thesis and degree can be salvaged and if so how. But to be realistic, you sound like you are in an unusually bad situation: if you are at a university where master's students repeatedly get turned in by their advisors for what they write in their thesis *drafts*: yes, consider the prospect of going elsewhere if you can. Starting over is not the end of the world, and sometimes it is the best way to move forward.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: *To the mods: I find the details about the quarrel of the OP with his supervisor in the first revision of the post very informative.*
To the OP: from what you said, I'm afraid that your supervisor were right about you not understanding the project.
>
> I was confused by the goals/aims of the project
>
>
>
It's like somebody tried to run quickly, but didn't know where he needed to go. Therefore, I wasn't surprised when your supervisor said your results had not been sufficient, when you thought they were. Especially, I find this very problematic:
>
> It turns out that the prof thought I was using a code that performed A
> when it actually performed B.
>
>
>
Perhaps, the story from your supervisor might be: he wanted you to implement B, and it turned out you implemented A, and he was so frustrated for the time he had wasted for you.
So next time, if you get confused about anything, or you find the theory irrelevant etc, speak out and discuss with your supervisor until everything is clear, and an agreement is made. And this is a commitment that when you have agreed, you need to follow it strictly. You can also write meeting minutes to document that and avoid any misunderstandings.
---
However, now the damage has been made, and your goal is to fix it. IMHO, accidental plagiarism in an **informal document** is not a big deal, what to fix is your relationship with you supervisor and co-supervisor.
What you want is their agreement and sympathy so that you can have another chance with your thesis. You can't achieve that by telling them that they were wrong (and I don't think you can prove that in this case, since it is a clear plagiarism to me). Instead, you should sincerely accept your mistake due to your inexperience in doing research, and sincerely apology and ask for another chance. I think the last paragraph in Pete Clark's answer is excellent.
If it still doesn't work, sincerely thank them for their time and guidance, then look for another supervisor to re-do your thesis.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/15
| 2,389
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a physics student at a small North American university. As part of the requirements for my degree, the current policy dictates that all students must take 6 humanities courses before graduation.
I believe I understand the benefit of this requirement: it ensures that students are well-rounded. However, this requirement is making it difficult for me to take two extra math courses that are relevant to my future and my degree.
My goal is to continue my education further after graduating. I have asked two of my professors and they have told me that these two math courses would probably be relevant to my graduate studies. Moreover, I am very keen to take them because they are interesting and challenging. The reason these courses are not in the current curriculum is just due to the large number of physics courses required for the degree; they simply do not fit in the usual honours degree pattern.
*As a student, is it reasonable for me to ask for this exemption? If so, what should I say to the department chair to increase the likelihood of getting the exemption?*
For context: I am a physics major and the courses I want to take are Discrete Mathematics and Real Analysis.<issue_comment>username_1: Exemption from a humanities requirement generally needs a much better argument than "I have two additional classes I want to squeeze in" -- more like "I've published a novel; can we count that against the writing requirement?"
Greater depth is one of the things the Masters' degree is for. Or you can put yourself on an additional-year degree plan, if you can afford it
Summarizing from the comments: Focus on finding a way to both meet the humanities requirement and acquire the extra knowledge you want. That may mean doing independent/summer study for one or both, or letting the math slide until your Masters degree or later. There is essentially no way to avoid distribution requirements.
Everyone deals with this, even those who plan their schedules three terms in advance and overload their class schedules. If there weren't more classes you wanted to take than you could squeeze into four years, it'd be a pretty lousy school. One of the things you're learning is the art of tradeoffs and compromises.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As a former Humanities Professor and Dean, my answer is "nope." We heard so many times from the Engineering College that they wished their students would have more Humanities, that there's no way I can say okay, go ahead without it. So many students would rather give it a pass, but I can say (besides my being on the Humanities bandwagon just in general), that my father worked for a professional organization of engineers, and the thing they wanted most at their professional conferences was work on writing and communications. And that's what you learn in the Humanities.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I would say asking to get out of humanities is a battle not worth starting. Chances are you will lose.
The best course of action for you, in my opinion, if you are really determined to take those 2 math courses is: take them.
If your university offers summer courses try to take one, or both, of them then. If the courses aren't offered in the summer get into contact with the instructor(s) and talk to them about a DS ([Directed Study](http://www.unco.edu/regrec/Current%20Students/DirectedStudy.html)). I took a DS while obtaining my undergrad so that I wouldn't take a semester with just 1 course that I needed to graduate.
If your university doesn't offer summer courses then try to take on an extra course a semester. While you may be faced with a lot of courses at once - if you're really determined to take those 2 courses then taking 1 extra course a semester may be a lot better than trying to wave humanity courses.
All of this aside, the person who will be able to give you the best advice based on the university, grades, etc. Is your advisor
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I've been in this position in 2 undergraduate degrees. You can only ask, but be prepared to have a convincing argument.
Ask *yourself*, **is it actually reasonable?**
Unless you can answer that and convince yourself you're likely to fail.
Consider the fact that you're asking that question here, so you may have some thinking to do.
Also, keep in mind that some of the humanities courses you'd be missing would have trained you in developing convincing arguments :)
I'm not sure what the deal is with your university, but for most undergrad courses the class numbers are large, you can always sit in on lectures... (not ideal, but it is *something*)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: To answer a different aspect of your question, I would say that **yes**, it is generally reasonable to **request** an exemption.
In your specific circumstance, the answer would almost certainly be no, for the reasons described in the other answers. But faculty typically appreciate it when students take the initiative for their own education, and in general I think you won't burn your bridges by making such requests. Just be prepared to take no for an answer.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Yes, it is reasonable to ask for an exception.
If your motivation is to learn more and without this exception it wouldn't be possible - just ask. But be sure to argument it in a positive way, writing why do you want to take these two specific courses.
Of course, the decision is up to them. (I don't have experience with US system, but I know that in Europe attitudes vary with each department, or dean, or a dice roll.)
However, if your main motivation is to sneak out of the humanity classes - don't do that. Such requirements are *exactly* because an university wants to have well-rounded students and not everyone would take 6 humanities courses willingly.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: >
> As a student, is it reasonable for me to ask for this exemption?
>
>
>
The worst that could happen would be to get a 'no' for an answer.
>
> If so, what should I say to the department chair to increase the likelihood of getting the exemption?
>
>
>
* Show that you appreciate the reason for the requirement.
* Show that you are by nature a well-rounded person (you can cite classes and experiences in high school, college, school breaks -- and don't forget to mention volunteer work and community service; you need to show that you have spent significant time thinking about the world you live in and how to be a good citizen, that sort of thing).
* Present some programs of study at similar schools, for similar majors, where the number of required humanities courses is smaller. (Six courses strikes me as exceptionally high.)
* Present a letter of support from at least one authoritative person who knows you well -- preferably two or three; someone from a humanities course you took would be great; how about a supervisor at a volunteer position?
A few other thoughts:
* If your college has a Winter Session, that would be a good time to
squeeze one or two humanities courses in. If not, how about next
summer? Perhaps online courses would work out better for you.
* The two math classes you're interested in sound great. But before
you go to bat for them, find out more about the instructors, the
syllabi -- make sure they're as good as they sound.
* Check if there's a slightly different degree you could get that
doesn't require SIX humanities courses.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: It's a very reasonable request. You should get the education that'll better prepare you for the future, and it sounds like these Math courses would do just that.
Arguments in favor:
1. Additional technical competencies are usually worth more than additional writing or presenting skills. Sure it's great if you're a better writer/presenter, but it's usually not worth the loss of talent you'd have by diverting focus away from your core skill set.
2. Writing and presenting skills taught in the Humanities are not the same as those required in STEM environments. I'd go so far as to say that, in a significant number of cases, it'd have been better for undergrads to have *not* had Humanities classes that taught them bad habits.
3. Technical courses often do require writing. These writing assignments are better for technical students since they're the right kind of assignments. Why prepare to write Physics journal articles in a Creative Writing class when you could instead take a Physics class that includes writing assignments?
4. You're more likely to learn if you're enjoying the course work.
Personally I got exemptions from my Foreign Language requirements in undergrad to pursue my four Science and Engineering majors. This worked out very well for me. It's painfully absurd to think that some folks would've argued that I needed a few semesters of Spanish more than the extra Math major.
I would recommend being polite yet persistent in pursuing the course exemption. It took me a lot of office visits to get my forms signed, but in the end it was very much worth it.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_9: There's no reason you can't ask, but you should plan for a "No". I don't think you should ask, but rather figure out how to take all of the courses. As the OP says, the requirement makes it "difficult", but it's not impossible.
Personally, as a working engineer, I find as much application in my work for what I learned in the humanities courses I took as an undergrad as I do for my math and engineering classes. No matter how good you are technically, if you can't communicate your work effectively with non-technical people, you're going to be of limited use to an employer. The people with the money don't want to fund work they don't understand, the sales and marketing people won't know how to sell it and customers won't buy it and so on. The days of the mad scientist toiling away in his own world of inscrutable genius are over.
Like you, I wanted to take grad level math classes that I felt would be beneficial, but fell outside the requirements and options for my program. I wound up taking them during the compressed 8wk summer term immediately following my graduation while I was looking for work.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: As one with significant interest and some knowledge in the subfield of computer architecture, living reasonably close to a university, the idea of organizing and facilitating a discussion/reading group in this subject area came to mind.
Would a university be open to the use of its facilities for such an activity offered by someone with no official affiliation with the university?
(Holding such on-campus seems likely to be convenient for the most likely participants but such is not necessary.)
Also, what would be the best way to present such to faculty and students?
---
While I do not anticipate being ready to offer to organize such a group any time soon, such might be something to look forward to.<issue_comment>username_1: You'd probably want to find a contact on the campus to host you. They're going to want an employee or student organization to hold responsible if your reading group trashes their facilities.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Yeah for sure many universities allow, mainly if the subject is related and is helpful for both the students and university.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> What would be the best way to present such to faculty and students?
>
>
>
You can use physical bulletin boards and you can look around for one or more listserves.
You can attend some seminars and chat with some people afterwards over cookies. (If no one is bringing cookies to seminars -- bring some!)
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: Technically it may or may not be against the universities rules. You can almost certainly look these up online. The keywords may be *calendar* of regulations, and *governance*.
The rules/policies of a university, like many large organizations, can be very fragmented. For example, when researching around [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31655/pros-and-cons-of-enrolling-in-coursework-units-during-a-phd), I found that there were no rules at my university preventing members of the general public from attending lectures, so long as there were enough seats. Where as there is a rule forbidding any exercise or sports being carried out in any location on campus not specifically assigned for such activities by the vice-chancellor (or his direct delegate). While the rules might not formally exist though, they may come under a internal *"common law"*, where there is precedent for throwing randoms off campus etc.
With that said, on a practical basis there is likely little anyone can do about it, or even detect it, if you turned up in a common space (eg a collaborative study area in a library) and did what is practically collaborative study.
So long as you didn't disturb anyone, they almost certainly won't take note, or care.
If your group has any alumni, or current students or staff of the university or of a university this one has a relationship with, that would aslo decrease the chance of anyone having issue.
If you don't want access to any restricted resources (like private rooms or projectors), it is probably **easiest to ask forgiveness, than permission**.
If someone takes issue, they will most-likely just ask you to leave. Which of course you should do so quietly and politely.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Background: I just graduated from a US university. I have also received my diploma (both in paper form mailed to me and also in electronic form) certifying that I have received such-and-such a degree.
However, I have not paid the tuition fees for the very last semester in which I enrolled.
I do not plan to have any dealings with that university ever again. Nor do I intend to work in academia.
It appears that eventually they will put some sort of "financial hold" on my student account, but given that I already have what I need (namely the degree), I don't really care about that.
So my question is this: What consequences are there if I never pay those tuition fees? For example, can they (or will they) revoke my degree? Are they likely to pursue me for the money?
**New information added**: I originally requested that morality and ethics be left out of this question, but it seems clear that with some exceptions (notably NateEldredge), this request has been ignored. So I would like to elaborate a little more on my situation, in the hopes that the focus will be moved a little further away from calling me a thief and instead answering my above questions.
(1) I last took classes in the spring semester and was supposed to graduate then, but because of a mistake on my part, I missed the deadline to apply for graduation that semester. And so in order to graduate, I had to register for the summer semester as well. I did not take any classes in the summer semester. I did not take up any additional resources during the summer semester, unless you include whatever little manpower was required to process my graduation. Nonetheless I was fully billed for it, as if I took a full load of classes.
(2) This is perhaps controversial, but I personally view the US higher education system as being costly to the point of injustice. I have already paid >$200k in tuition and fees into the system and now I am being billed for another semester in which I took no classes.
The money is not the issue. If I go ahead with this plan, I will donate every penny of that semester's worth of tuition fees to some worthy charity instead. The issue is that I am disgusted with having to give away even more of my money to the bloated, inefficient, "not-for-profit" US higher education system.
Some here have called me a thief. But I prefer to see this as a small act of civil disobedience---akin to what <NAME> did, when he "stole" millions of articles from JSTOR and refused to compensate JSTOR for the "damages". (Note: By no means do I consider this potential act of mine as great and noble as Swartz's; I'm just trying to draw an analogy here.)
(3) BTW, I am an international student. So there is the option of me simply leaving and never returning to the US, in which case the concerns associated with bad credit are moot. Although I would also like to have the option of staying in the US, and so I do welcome and appreciate the answers given thus far regarding credit issues.<issue_comment>username_1: >
> For example, can they (or will they) revoke my degree?
>
>
>
I am surprised that you were issued a degree without having paid tuition for your last semester. In most cases I am familiar with, universities require students to be in good financial standing in order to receive a degree, for exactly this reason. If it was an intentional decision, not holding up your degree for nonpayment of tuition is unusually generous on their part. If it was a bureaucratic mistake: yes, it seems that in principle they could revoke -- or suspend pending payment, or whatever -- your degree. Given that you did not live up to your end of the bargain in a significant way, I would have to acknowledge their right to do so. Will they? I don't know: you could ask them.
>
> Are they likely to pursue me for the money?
>
>
>
It is likely that you will be hearing from them within the next year, yes. When they contact you, you'll learn how serious they are and what their terms are. The chance that they will ask about it presumably becomes smaller as time passes, but you never know. In terms of how long you are legally liable for the debt: a good long time; ask a lawyer. My PhD program wrote to tell me that I had overpaid a bill in my final semester and they wanted to send me a refund check. I received this letter from them about eight years after receiving my PhD! (There was something in there about their not having been able to track me down, which I thought was pretty weird, but bureaucracies work in strange ways.) If a university was so durably interested in squaring an old account in my favor, I would not at all discount the possibility that N years down the line they could discover the issue and start it up again. Not doing anything would risk having this hang over you indefinitely.
>
> Personally I have no moral qualms about not paying that last semester's fees, given that I've already paid upwards of $200k over the years.
>
>
>
Just because you have no moral qualms about something does not make your actions ethical. Many people, including future employers, upon learning about this would view it as a serious character flaw. If you plan on listing your degree on your resume then anyone who wants to can look into this at any time. Are you confident now that what you are doing five or ten or twenty years later is something so that having this information revealed would be no problem for you?
**Added**: The OP has modified his question. I will address those modifications.
First I want to address the point about the ethics. I read that carefully, and the claim that I ignored it is false. The OP's question was "What can happen to me if I do this?" and after addressing all of the specific questions he asked about that, I decided to address the part that there are practical consequences to behaving in a way that other people regard as unethical. Pointing out "If you do this, then you may -- or may not, depending upon the circles you run in -- get in trouble" is not an ethical argument in the slightest. It is quite the opposite. Only at the very end of my answer did I include two sentences which indicated that I viewed the actions as unethical. This point has been well made by many others by now, so I have removed those sentences. This leaves an answer which is 100% devoted to answering both the letter and spirit of the OP's question.
Now, on to the added points:
(1) This is an important detail, enough so that it probably should have been in the original question. Being charged for a full semester's tuition even though you didn't take any classes does seem unjust. In fact, it is so unjust that I think there is a good chance that it was a mistake of some sort, and the fact that you were allowed to graduate is nontrivial evidence of that (a circumstance which otherwise seems quite irregular). If you have received a bill for a full semester's worth of tuition, you should speak to some university official on the phone or in person and explain why that is not reasonable. Definitely mention that you've already received the degree.
(2) You are now explicitly making an ethical argument, so here we go. Referring to the nonpayment of a debt that you entered into voluntarily following a mistake on your part as "civil disobedience" is ridiculous almost to the point of being offensive. If you wanted to stand on principle, then you should not have agreed to pay the bill in the first place. You could then have asked them "Are you really going to deny me my degree after I've completed all the requirements and paid all the tuition just because of some missed graduation deadline? Because I refuse to pay another semester's tuition: that's outrageous. In exchange, I will tell the world that I do not have a degree from this institution but that I completed all the requirements and paid all the money for the semesters that I took." Instead you obtained your degree under a promise to pay and are now reneging on that promise. This is not a virtuous act.
(2 continued) You *chose* to pay more than $200,000 for your college education. (Statistically speaking, it is much more likely that your parents paid. But I'm taking you at your word.) Is that more than you should have paid? Well, that's for you to decide, but it's a hell of a lot more than I paid or would have been willing to pay. In fact I paid no tuition whatsoever, because I got a merit-based scholarship. My sister got into an Ivy League school but decided to attend an excellent state university instead and paid a fraction of the price. At my current institution, in-state residents who maintain a 3.0 GPA pay no tuition whatsoever. And so on. The flaw in your moral stance is that you willingly entered into this bargain. Arguably you shouldn't have. Not only would you have more moral high ground, you would probably have at least another $100,000.
(3) For an international student to come to the US and pay full tuition, it is likely that you come from a wealthy background and that you and/or your family have made a very conscious investment in getting a degree from an elite American institution. You could have attended a university in your native country, most likely for a small fraction of the cost. Since you did not do that, I am guessing that you want to be able to advertise your American degree. If that degree carries a lot of prestige in your home country, then it seems likely that they will not just take your word for it that you attended and graduated but will want to see official documents and/or transcripts coming from the university. Investing $200,000 and *not* having that to show for it would be a very poor outcome for you...practically speaking.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Some universities (perhaps most) will refuse to provide transcripts for students who owe money. [Example](http://www.washington.edu/students/reg/hold.html).
This can be a serious problem for you. Some employers insist upon an official transcript as a condition of employment. Your diploma or similar certificate will not suffice; the employer wants a document directly from the university, which has not passed through your hands (to avoid the risk of you falsifying it). If the university won't send a transcript because you didn't pay them, too bad, no job for you.
Also, you say you are done with academia, but if you should change your mind someday: US graduate programs generally require an official transcript from your undergraduate university as a condition of admission. So no grad school for you, either.
Academic matters aside, the university also has all the same options that would be available to any other creditor. This side of things is more on topic for our sibling site, <http://money.stackexchange.com>, but as a partial overview:
* They can report you to a credit agency, which will damage your credit score and make it difficult or impossible for you to get credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc. Bad credit can also keep you from getting a job in certain industries, especially defense and other work that requires a security clearance.
* They can refer your account to a collection agency, who will try pretty hard to bother you until you pay.
* In principle, they could sue you, and they'd almost certainly win, as they can easily prove you owe the money. This would enable them to get a court order to seize your assets (eg take money directly from your bank account) or garnish your wages (take money directly from your paycheck).
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: If I were a hiring manager verifying the degree for a recent graduate and the institution reported that they walked away without paying their bills, that candidate would be an automatic no-hire. Would you want to work with someone who had demonstrated they cannot be trusted?
Even ignoring the ethics of the situation, be careful with your reputation. You can earn money to pay off debt, but repairing your reputation is much more difficult. The world is smaller than you might imagine and consequences have a tendency of coming back around in surprising ways.
Others have already covered the more basic financial aspects of not making good on your debts. If you ever want to buy a home, in particular, pay careful attention to your credit record.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: **Any debt** you have can be eventually sold by the party you owe to (although for amount less than original) to agency which is collecting payments. If such an agency is unsuccessful to get the payment from you, they usually work with executor on collecting it. In my country, executor has powers guaranted by law which include blocking your bank account or seizing your property including house, appartment or car. And they do it. Even with smaller owed amounts, executor fees plus interest can cost you much. I know cases where people originally owing 10.000€ were expected to pay 45.000€ after few years.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: What consequences are there if I never pay those tuition fees?
They take you to court and sue you for their money. This puts a black mark on your credit rating. Then either 1) you pay, or 2) you don't pay.
1. You pay, have a lower credit rating, but this will gradually rise again if you make all your payments on time.
2. You don't pay. The court issues an unsatisfied judgement with the credit bureau. This NEVER goes away (until it is paid). Later you want to get married and buy a house, car, etc.... The bank looks at your credit report, sees UNSATISFIED JUDGEMENT and closes the file, that's it, you're done.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: another aspect that everyone else seems to have missed is that the school can go back and issue you an AF (administrative fail) for the semester's courses, thus invalidating your degree. The piece of paper they handed you as you walked across the commencement podium is not your degree...it's just a certificate.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: Another point not mentioned by others is this: College debts CANNOT be included in any subsequent bankruptcy actions on your part. In other words, if you owe your university for your last semester's tuition and figure you'll simply file for bankruptcy and "wipe the slate clean" your college debts will still be with you after you've filed for bankruptcy. And, with that bankruptcy action following you for at least seven years into any requests for credit that you might make - including mortgages - it seems a pointless exercise. In addition to credit worthiness, a bankruptcy affects your attempts to get a job, to obtain a security clearance, and even to obtain rental housing.
Pulling a fast one on your university is not something you first thought up. This idea is NOT original by you. Universities are plagued with a few shysters like you every year. That's why it's so surprising to many of us that the university allowed you to think that you've graduated and "got away with it." If I were you, I'd start looking over my shoulder at my credit report, waiting for collection agencies to start calling at all hours, and find either your bank account or paycheck docked the cost of your tuition - plus attorney's fees - all actions you will have no control over. You might think you've gotten away with something, but you'll learn the hard way that the real world (beyond academia) has a way of dealing with shysters and thieves.
The amount you've already paid for your education has no bearing on the matter.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Due to people getting caught lying on their resumes/CVs more and more employers are verifying with schools that candidates actually attended and received the degrees they have listed.
Your university could place a hold on your records and then refuse to confirm your attendance and/or graduation to a potential employer. Whose word do you think a potential employer will take more seriously? My money is on it being not yours.
As to your in-hand paper certificate and electronic file, in all honesty, they're worth the paper they're printed on.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a grad student in computer science. Having read many research papers and having worked with an adviser has made me much more aware about best practices concerning presentation and reporting of results in published research.
I have also published a paper when I was a junior in college. Looking back at it now (its been around 2-3 years), compared to the standards set by papers I have read, my work is very sloppy.
More specifically, I have typos in one or two places and an equation is incorrect (I maximize for x when I should be maximizing for x and y). Also, my evaluation is based on very little data (though I do point out that it is very preliminary and further evaluation is needed) and the metrics I have used to evaluate the described technique do not adequately demonstrate that my method is correct or better performing. The evaluation was added after the reviewer comments and therefore was not checked.
Typos aside, as an undergrad, I was ignorant about best practices when it came to reporting results in that specific area. This is partly because me and a friend of mine wrote the paper over the summer without any involvement from our university or professors (I am not making excuses and I do hold myself accountable for these mistakes).
The paper is rather embarrassing since it does not really represent a significant step forward and is presented very sloppily. I love research (I'm planning a career in research) and I feel that it does not accurately reflect my current research rigor. I don't like it showing up in search results associated with my name.
What would you suggest is the best way to deal with this situation? I'm most worried (been stressing about retractions and the like...) by my lack of sufficient data and invalid metrics, as well as the possibility of future employers seeing it.
Note: I just want to point out that I do not believe that the core idea of the paper is wrong, but the way it is presented along with its evaluation. It's also been cited a few times (I fully understand that this is no guarantee of validity).<issue_comment>username_1: Just don't worry about it, and keep doing your current good work.
It's pretty cool that you were able to publish a paper at all as an undergraduate. Anybody who notices your old paper will primarily notice that. The sloppiness will reflect much more on your senior co-authors (who should have been expected to know better, and educate you likewise) than yourself. And if you didn't have much more experienced co-authors, so much more cool and understandable.
Do good work now, and the sloppiness of your undergraduate paper will simply fade into insignificance.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: First of all, your situation is not so unusual: in fields where student-only publications are common (like mathematics and some branches of CS), a lot of academics have one or two publications from their undergraduate days. These publications are virtually guaranteed to be significantly worse than all of their other publications. If you don't believe it, consider the logically equivalent form: "It is virtually guaranteed that the time you spend in a graduate program will significantly improve the research you do and publish."
I think a lot of people are vaguely embarrassed by their undergraduate publications: e.g. in mathematics most undergrad-only publications are in unusually undergrad-accessible fields like graph theory. But then a majority of pure mathematicians go on to study and work in much fancier fields and even (unfortunately, to be sure) to look down upon these areas. But although undergraduate publications can be embarrassing compared to later publications, they are impressive when compared to other undergraduates: a student-only undergraduate publication puts you at the head of the class.
For your paper in particular you sound more embarrassed by some slipshod details than by the work as a whole. It also sounds like you received some subpar refereeing and editorial work: in particular, asking for extra content and then not looking at the extra content is lazy. It can be surprising sometimes what apparently (and even actually, most of the time) reputable journals can publish. (You might think that each paper published in a serious journal would at least have a flawlessly grammatical title. You'd be wrong. But I digress...) What's done is done, but there's a lesson here: assuming that whatever someone else lets you publish is going to make you proud is sometimes an oversimplification and sometimes an outright error.
I would say that for the most part you should just work on feeling good rather than bad about this. The one thing that may be worth actual action on your part is **making clear to interested parties that this was an undergraduate publication**. There are some obvious clues to this for those who look. In my field (mathematics), up until very recently a majority of *graduate students* did not publish papers, so it's rather common to see gaps of approximately five years between a mathematician's first publication and all later publications. Even a gap of a few years followed by a steady stream of publication creates that impression. You should certainly have a webpage, that webpage should certainly have a CV, and that CV should certainly clearly demarcate your undergraduate years. If you feel strongly enough about it, you could list that paper separately on your webpage / CV / publication list in a category called "Undergraduate Papers".
Afterthought: if you think the flaws in your paper will cause trouble to researchers in the field, perhaps fixing the paper in some way might be in order. You could post an edited version of the paper on your webpage, and if someone cites the paper you could refer them there. But ask a more experienced academic before you do this to get a sense of whether it's really necessary.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Write an erratum (it is mostly the wrong equation you have to worry about, the typos I am afraid you will have to live with except where the materially affect the meaning or intelligibility of the sentence). Email the erratum to the editor of the journal with a polite request that it be ran.
(These online days the erratum can be placed alongside your paper. There are some reasons to do with integrity of archival material that mean you will not be allowed to change the published online version, unless it is one of those hyper modern journals that explicitly countenances "versions".)
I published a paper when I was an undergrad! And I discovered an error when it was in print. I came clean with the editor and the corrected version could be published as the first and only version. I am still quite happy with the paper.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I've finished my masters thesis and waiting for results. Meanwhile, I've started searching for PhD position. and I find out one of the requirement of one to three referee contacts, one of them preferably the masters supervisor.
I've 3.93/4.00 CGPA with coursework and My current masters supervisor is quite satisfied with my research performance so far. He wants me to continue my PhD with him and has offered me the position as well. Whereas, I don't want to continue with him and that's why I haven't told him about my PhD plans.
I'm confused and I'm not sure if I tell him that I don't want to my PhD with him, Will he write good remarks about me or he'll write bad remarks so that I don't get PhD position somewhere else.
Another problem is that if I tell him straight forward that I am not interested to continue my PhD with him I might lose this opportunity as well.
I've no one to discuss with about this issue and about my further PhD plans. Time is running and I'm becoming more and more stressful.<issue_comment>username_1: Just don't worry about it, and keep doing your current good work.
It's pretty cool that you were able to publish a paper at all as an undergraduate. Anybody who notices your old paper will primarily notice that. The sloppiness will reflect much more on your senior co-authors (who should have been expected to know better, and educate you likewise) than yourself. And if you didn't have much more experienced co-authors, so much more cool and understandable.
Do good work now, and the sloppiness of your undergraduate paper will simply fade into insignificance.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: First of all, your situation is not so unusual: in fields where student-only publications are common (like mathematics and some branches of CS), a lot of academics have one or two publications from their undergraduate days. These publications are virtually guaranteed to be significantly worse than all of their other publications. If you don't believe it, consider the logically equivalent form: "It is virtually guaranteed that the time you spend in a graduate program will significantly improve the research you do and publish."
I think a lot of people are vaguely embarrassed by their undergraduate publications: e.g. in mathematics most undergrad-only publications are in unusually undergrad-accessible fields like graph theory. But then a majority of pure mathematicians go on to study and work in much fancier fields and even (unfortunately, to be sure) to look down upon these areas. But although undergraduate publications can be embarrassing compared to later publications, they are impressive when compared to other undergraduates: a student-only undergraduate publication puts you at the head of the class.
For your paper in particular you sound more embarrassed by some slipshod details than by the work as a whole. It also sounds like you received some subpar refereeing and editorial work: in particular, asking for extra content and then not looking at the extra content is lazy. It can be surprising sometimes what apparently (and even actually, most of the time) reputable journals can publish. (You might think that each paper published in a serious journal would at least have a flawlessly grammatical title. You'd be wrong. But I digress...) What's done is done, but there's a lesson here: assuming that whatever someone else lets you publish is going to make you proud is sometimes an oversimplification and sometimes an outright error.
I would say that for the most part you should just work on feeling good rather than bad about this. The one thing that may be worth actual action on your part is **making clear to interested parties that this was an undergraduate publication**. There are some obvious clues to this for those who look. In my field (mathematics), up until very recently a majority of *graduate students* did not publish papers, so it's rather common to see gaps of approximately five years between a mathematician's first publication and all later publications. Even a gap of a few years followed by a steady stream of publication creates that impression. You should certainly have a webpage, that webpage should certainly have a CV, and that CV should certainly clearly demarcate your undergraduate years. If you feel strongly enough about it, you could list that paper separately on your webpage / CV / publication list in a category called "Undergraduate Papers".
Afterthought: if you think the flaws in your paper will cause trouble to researchers in the field, perhaps fixing the paper in some way might be in order. You could post an edited version of the paper on your webpage, and if someone cites the paper you could refer them there. But ask a more experienced academic before you do this to get a sense of whether it's really necessary.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Write an erratum (it is mostly the wrong equation you have to worry about, the typos I am afraid you will have to live with except where the materially affect the meaning or intelligibility of the sentence). Email the erratum to the editor of the journal with a polite request that it be ran.
(These online days the erratum can be placed alongside your paper. There are some reasons to do with integrity of archival material that mean you will not be allowed to change the published online version, unless it is one of those hyper modern journals that explicitly countenances "versions".)
I published a paper when I was an undergrad! And I discovered an error when it was in print. I came clean with the editor and the corrected version could be published as the first and only version. I am still quite happy with the paper.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/08/15
| 1,233
| 5,274
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<issue_start>username_0: Applying for research grants costs a lot of time and energy. Which would still be acceptable, if the success rates wouldn't be so depressingly low. Currently, it appears to be an incredible waste of time and energy of some of the most gifted people in our society.
So are there examples of systems, either currently in use, or in the past, that are more efficient (any country)? And how do/did they work?
Related question, but not the same:
[How economically efficient is the grant system?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/49087/how-economically-efficient-is-the-grant-system)<issue_comment>username_1: Grants may come from federal agencies, charitable and profitable organisations (e.g. B&M Gates Foundation, IBM), or universities (whole U, college, department). There can also be short-term research-funding entitlements, such as an annual amount for junior faculty, or a one-time gift again usually to junior faculty. One might, exceptionally, negotiate a permanent research fund as part of a job offer or gain such a perk as a consequence of recognition as an endowed chair or Excellent Professor. The latter types of gifts tend to be kind of on the nominal side. Generally speaking, though, there is no system of research funding that provides adequate funds and does not require writing a proposal which is evaluated for quality. There are, in addition, features of federal funding agencies in the US that makes grant-writing a particularly loathsome task.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Of course. Remember that in many countries, institutions get a lot of money based on solely being. As an example, in the Czech Republic, the Czech Academy of Sciences receives a lot of budget money for its operation, and some of the money is of course used "for research". Just as an example, until recently, almost all employment expenses (salaries, offices, building maintainance, etc.) was covered exclusively by budget money. Similar model exists in other countries, for instance in France with CNRS, but the difference is that most CNRS people are associated to particular universities, just without teaching duties.
It works well because you moreorless know what you get. Financial stability helps in establishing long-lasting projects etc. Of couse, some level of control is necessary so that good people get the money. In the Czech system, this is based on (AFAIK 5-year) audits which evaluate each person separately, and then whole departments, working groups and institutions.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: If you're not familiar with it, you should take a look at the "Research Excellence Framework" in the UK. This is a system of annual evaluations of academic departments that is used as part of the system of awarding research funding.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: First, the premise is a bit wrong, because applying for grants *does* generally involve a good deal of valuable work: careful review of what is known, careful consideration of what can be done, etc.. But that there is too much of that is probably true.
For alternatives, one can look to a variety of historical and current examples of low-effort funding *within a particular institution*.
Perhaps the classic example is Bell Labs. With a gargantuan research budget paid for out of Ma Bell's monopolistic phone rates, Bell Labs could assign resources to individual investigators with a minimum of fuss. The system there was relatively hierarchical, with people in higher tiers responsible for the scientific quality, and to a lesser extent the budgets, of those in lower tiers.
Another classic and current example is the U.K. Medical Research Council's Labs for Molecular Biology (MRC/LMB). Researchers at the MRC/LMB have to spend only a minimum of time justifying their budgets, and a maximum of time producing high-quality science that justifies their continued position at the MRC/LMB.
A new example is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Research Campus. Lab heads at HHMI/Janelia have to do little more than specify the budget that they wish and justify that any large expenditures are likely to yield equally large rewards. There are reviews every few years to ensure that researchers continue to do high-quality science.
These examples are not at all exclusive. Researchers in many industry positions need spend relatively little effort on grants. Likewise for various other research institutes (though many allow researchers to spend their time trying to get additional grants, if they wish).
So, in brief, the alternate model is: pick people, not projects, and trust that the best people will, on average, do the best work. Have some sort of periodic review process to ensure that the best work is, in fact, being done.
Note that this is not necessarily any more kind to people who are having trouble with their current line of research. In fact, it can be even harder--there is little mechanism other than having a high-productivity line of research that will keep one from being kicked out to make room for someone judged "better". But this possible disadvantage may be worth the advantage in letting so many people with so much talent spend more of their time directly using it.
Upvotes: 3
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2015/08/15
| 842
| 3,526
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<issue_start>username_0: I am starting to contact potential supervisors to do a PhD and I am wondering whether (and how) I should include my grades while contacting them. I am in the UK so there is no GPA standard (there is a GPA but it differs substantially between universities and can be very confusing). So far I have thought of including one of the following:
* "Expecting a first class honours degree"
* "... with an average of A"
* "in the top 5% of my class"
The first two are probably more common but they only place me in the top 20%, I am in the top 5% however, but I feel a bit pretentious to say the third - or is it okay to do so? Is there a more suitable way of including this information?
I am including all my advanced (3rd and 4th year) courses in my CV (and not sending transcripts etc as I feel it would be spamming their inboxes to send loads of documents upon first contact) is that also okay?
By the way, the potential supervisors I am contacting are all over the world and therefore would be impossible to arrange meetings, otherwise I would have done so instead of relying on emails, but in this case, emails are the essential way of communicating with them which is why I am sort of being an overly perfectionist.
Thanks very much,
(An active A.SE member that chose to write this one anonymously.)<issue_comment>username_1: I'm a little confused -- you're contacting faculty when you have not yet applied to or been accepted into the program? What is your purpose in contacting them? In my experience, at the very beginning stage before you apply, you might contact a faculty member to talk about their interests and what you'd like to work on, to see if you'd be a good fit, what the research possibilities might be, and so on. Including all your background information at this point would be inappropriate, in my opinion.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In your email, I imagine you will be including a succinct overall description of yourself. This would be a good place to include the information that you have strong grades. If you get a nibble, you could then include some specifics, or better yet, an informal transcript as an attachment.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: In my experience (computer science, top 10 US institution), there are some faculty members who just don't care about grades. I'm in that camp. I never even look at the transcript when evaluating applicants. Then there are others for whom grades are a filter. For example, if you want to go into graphics but got "only" an A- in an applied math class, I know some people who would never even consider you. However, either way, nobody is going to get excited that you are in the top 5% of your class. We probably get 100 applicants a year who are in the top 5% of their class.
So actually my first advice (and again, this depends on the field, area, and school you are applying to) would be not to contact potential supervisors at all. That's because in the US, Ph.D. admissions are department-wide. It probably does make sense to contact supervisors at places with per-faculty or per-group admissions. Where you do contact people, if you get them interested in you, they might just presume for the sake of the email exchange that you have reasonable grades. So maybe find a way to convey this information for people who want it but in a way that doesn't dilute whatever more interesting hook you use to get people interested (like have it on a resume that is accessible from your home page).
Upvotes: 1
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2015/08/15
| 612
| 2,441
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<issue_start>username_0: I have seen several programs and libraries partially named after a school, e.g.:
* [Berkeley Entity Resolution System](http://nlp.cs.berkeley.edu/software.shtml)
* [MIT Information Extraction](https://github.com/mit-nlp/MITIE)
* [Stanford CoreNLP](http://nlp.stanford.edu/software/corenlp.shtml)
To name a library or program partially after a school, what authorization(s) does one need, if any?
I am mostly interested in the United States but curious about other countries as well.<issue_comment>username_1: Berkeley and Stanford are places, not - institutes. So I guess no permission is needed (unless from the respective mayors). (However, my guess might be wildly wrong for the US law.)
See also <https://perso.uclouvain.be/vincent.blondel/research/louvain.html>:
>
> is now known as the "Louvain method" because [...] the method was devised when they all were at the Université catholique de Louvain.
>
>
>
When one wants to use an institute's name (e.g. "MIT", as in one of your examples) - at least an informal consent may be needed. (But in some places rules may be much stricter - and it is impossible to make a general answer.)
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: An university, like any other corporate entity, generally has both the inclination and legal authority to regulate the use of its name, particularly when somebody is implying that something is officially endorsed by that entity.
There is another usage, however, that is harder to regulate, which is when a name is used in a descriptive manner. For example, the [MIT Scheme](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT/GNU_Scheme) implementation of the Scheme programming language was not originally named MIT Scheme: it was just Scheme, and when other implementations were created, the community started using the prefix "MIT" to distinguish it, and that ended up getting imported into the official name. When something like this happens, it's hard (and generally pointless) to fight common usage.
So should something like the "Berkeley Entity Resolution System" be understood to be claiming the name "Berkeley," or should it be better understood as a short way of saying "the Entity Resolution System developed by Berkeley"? Lawyers might well tussle over this, depending on the particulars of a case, but academics in many cases simply seem to proceed assuming the second and often find no objection from their institutions.
Upvotes: 3
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2015/08/16
| 270
| 909
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<issue_start>username_0: I am using a quotation in my text which I am citing appropriately the first time. Do I need to cite again when using some text or, a concept, or even a word of the quotation later in the text?
For example:
>
> Smith (2015, p.15) states that: ‘the weather is going the be good today’.
>
> […]
>
> We do not need an umbrella today as the weather is going to be ‘good today’, so rain is not expected.
>
>
>
As you see, I am using punctuation, but I am not citing again. Is that appropriate?<issue_comment>username_1: You must cite every time you use the words or ideas of another.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: you have the right idea, that according to Smith ("Abbreviated Grammar" 2015, p15) "it's appropriate to abbreviate, as long as the intention remains clear." Further, (Smith) it's "ok to abbreviate citations as well, to increase readability."
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/16
| 754
| 3,245
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a third year student in a U.S. university and for the past two years I was funded by dept. TA-ship.
The new semester is coming but I have not got the TA-ship. I contacted my advisor for help and he sent a note to a professor who is taking charge of all TA stuff and he also told me to hope for the best(My advisor and dept. secretary told me there would be a second round assignment).
Here is my question: How many chances do I have to get a TA offer? And I also want to ask my dept. why this thing is going to happen (because my GPA is over 3.5 and meet all requirements). I feel very frustrated and eager to know why. Would you please give me any advise?<issue_comment>username_1: TA positions depend on availability of funding. A TA position is like a regular part-time job (albeit with low pay @). If the company falls short in budget, some employees can be laid off.
By being given a TA on your first day in grad school, there is no guarantee that you will have a TA for life. A TA can be taken away because of poor grades, low budget, or poor execution of TA responsibilities among others. The only issue I see here is that they must have warned you in advance about the possibility of your TA not being renewed for the third year. They also ought to have told you the reason for all this. All that said, you cannot build a case against them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Most graduate programs try to be more transparent and forthright about TA funding than seems to be the case for you. That is, at the outset there would be promises made about number of years of funding, conditional on reasonably good performance in coursework and teaching. Departments are very well aware that grad students will have difficulty surviving (much less paying tuition) without financial support, so do not usually cut support without considerable prior warning, explanation, explanation of terms for reinstatement, or explanation of economic conditions and prognosis for future funding. To do otherwise is irresponsible.
I do have to wonder whether you were paying attention to disclaimers about fragility of funding, though, too. For that matter, do you have a copy of the TA offer letter? It really should spell out what you can expect in terms of funding. For that matter, no one's advisor should be "the last to hear" that their student(s) didn't get TA funding renewed.
Of course, it might be that the central administration at your university "pulled the rug out from under" your department, and the budget changed abruptly and somewhat catastrophically. But, still, I'd think you would hear something about this, an explanation, rather than just a passive non-support situation arising.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: TA positions by their very nature are most often intended to give teaching experience to as many graduate students as possible. When, because of budgetary considerations, there aren't enough positions to cover three years of TAs, the third year students will go in favor of first-year students. That being said, the number of classes will sometimes change if students are clamoring to get in, and sections can be added at the last minute. My experience, anyway --
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/16
| 1,232
| 5,470
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<issue_start>username_0: I began an undergraduate program in subject A and because of circumstances outside of my control (receiving threats from someone with a history of violence against me), had to repeatedly withdraw from courses in that program.
I am considering going back to school in a totally different subject, and I very strongly feel that I have the ability to do well. If I do well in this subject and want to enter graduate school for it, would they be willing to only consider my grades in the relevant second program and overlook the earlier unrelated one, especially considering I had a legitimate reason for it and did well afterwards in the related program? Or would the withdrawals send up too many red flags?
(Edited in later) I think this question is rather different from the [How does the admissions process work for US Ph.D. programs](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/38237/how-does-the-admissions-process-work-for-us-ph-d-programs-particularly-for-wea) question because that's a more general question about making up for bad grades or things, but I am asking about special consideration for extenuating circumstances. There's a difference between getting a bad grade in a class because you weren't good at the material as opposed to having to withdraw from it because you are receiving violent threats from someone who has previously beaten you.<issue_comment>username_1: Having worked in an admissions department at a large university it can be hit or miss (depending on the officer that gets your application) in my experience.
This may only be the case at the institution I worked at, so take it with a grain of salt, but there was strict adherence to a minimum admissions average.
My best advice would be to retake the course if you can and try to get a better grade THEN explain in your letter your circumstances. If that isn't possible try to include documentation from a professional (depending on you issues) if you can.
I know it sounds pretty awful that is how a liberal minded university behaves behind closed doors but I wish I could tell you otherwise.
Best of luck
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: First of all, I'm sorry for your painful experiences. To answer your question:
Based on my extensive experience directing a graduate program at a leading public R1 university, your initial experience in the initial program will have very little bearing on your chances of admission. I say this for a number of reasons:
* We are concerned with trajectory even more than overall grade point. I am relatively unconcerned by someone who gets C grades during freshman year, so long as I'm seeing A and high B grades by junior and senior years.
* When a student goes to school for a couple of years, then does something else for a few years, and then returns to school, I consider the grades subsequent to return almost exclusively. In most cases, unlike yours, this is because the student needed time to grow up. But I'm happy to accept that he or she (frankly, it's usually a "he" that fits this pattern) has grown up and to accept the high marks after the return to school as ample proof. I don't care what somewhat was like as a 19-year-old, I care what that person will be like *in my program*.
* You can and should explain the switch of programs in a graduate application. Having a letter-of-reference writer explain it as well would be a wise move. Once an admissions committee sees the highly valid reasons, there is little chance that they would hold your record at the first institution against you.
* Everywhere I've been, if grade points are used to prune or order applicants, only the gradepoint at the final undergraduate institution is used. This may not be universal, but frankly I find it unlikely that most graduate admissions programs would go to the trouble to compute the proper weighted average across programs, even if they did care about your earlier performance.
I hope this is helpful and perhaps even encouraging.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I realize that from your point of view, including your specific reason for withdrawing seems like it would draw more sympathy, and help your case. But consider that those reading your application packet will be leery of admitting anyone they think could be more trouble than they are worth. So, unless you can include some paperwork to show some objective evidence of what you are talking about, it would be best **not to even hint at any specifics** regarding the causes for your poor showing in Subject A. Your accompanying statement should just say that the poor showing in Subject A is not an accurate reflection of your academic abilities, and draw their attention to your performance in Subject B.
I can assure you that academia recognizes that young people withdraw from courses frequently, for a variety of reasons that don't necessarily predict future results. By *withdrawing* instead of staying in a course and *failing*, you did a very sensible thing, and minimized the long-term ramifications. Even a string of W's in a transcript are not as bad as a couple of F's.
Here are some ideas for documentation -- items that you might have, that you might be able to get a copy of, or that you might be able to request after the fact:
* order of protection or other court document
* statement from a doctor or mental health professional
* statement from an administrator of the institution you were attending
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/17
| 3,987
| 16,557
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<issue_start>username_0: I am having trouble asking questions in seminars, conferences, and public talks.
As a graduate math student I often fail to keep up with speaker and more mature members of the audience at events like seminars and conferences. It is very frustrating to lose track of the talk simply because I am not familiar with one key theorem/definition referenced by the speaker.
On the one hand, many people encourage me to raise my hand whenever something is unclear, motivating it by "no such thing as a stupid question" quote.
On the other, very often I observe people being annoyed by a student asking an "obvious/elementary" question and wasting everyone else's time.
I have seen [several](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19295/should-i-answer-students-questions-immediately-or-teach-them-to-ask-better-ques) [related](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17231/how-to-deal-with-students-asking-very-incremental-questions) [posts](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17022/useful-strategies-for-answering-dumb-questions-in-a-talk) on this website, most of which are asked on behalf of the speaker.
However, my question comes for the opposite side of the barricades.
I want to know how to find balance between not annoying the speaker and the audience too much on the one hand, and catching up with the talk on the other hand.
More formally, **my questions are**:
1. Are there any (semi-, non-) official recommendations on *professional etiquette* for mathematicians?
2. I understand that every situation is unique and highly subjective. However, I would be glad if someone gave me advice on when to ask, how to ask, and what to ask at research talks.
3. How can I tell if my question is "dumb" (i.e. the answer is well-known or searchable), or if it addresses legitimate ambiguity?
* In particular, how can I quickly determine whether a definition/theorem/lemma mentioned by speaker is a part of common knowledge?
All relevant links or examples are appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Before asking a question, ask yourself the following:
>
> If I get a nice detailed and understandable answer to this question, will I be able to understand a significant part of the rest of the talk?
>
>
>
If the answer is "no", then you should probably not ask the question even if there really is some ambiguity that could be cleared up, because chances are that asking the question will not benefit anyone (i.e. that those who are able to understand the talk would also be able to answer the question themselves).
If the answer is "yes", then that is a good start. In that case you should probably ask the question unless it is something you really ought to know (if you don't know that it is something you should know, then that is usually good enough). Of course you don't want to become known as "that annoying grad student who keeps asking trivial questions", but you also don't want to miss out on learning something from the talk because you are missing some small detail, and usually the above will limit the number of questions you ask sufficiently that people should not be annoyed.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: I have recently finished a PhD in Particle Physics. Over my time as a student, particularly early on in my studies I frequently encountered this problem.
I would start by pointing out that, generally, you won't be the only student in the room and there will almost certainly be others thinking of the same 'stupid question' but not asking. Many times these questions arise due to the incompetence of the speaker and not the audience. Secondly, it is an academic environment, questions should be encouraged. Those academics who don't encourage bright young students are the problem, not you.
Saying that, the timing of the question could be considered. From my experience I found that in a seminar it was best to ask questions from the audience which were relevant to the topic, perhaps not so much for your personal understanding but to encourage discussion. More often than not there will be ample opportunity to ask the speaker personally in a coffee break or at dinner, maybe take these opportunities to understand the details you are missing. Often this approach will allow you to spend more time gaining an understanding and benefit you.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm not in your field, so I'm not sure if this'll be helpful or not.
When I was a grad student, I convinced myself that if there was a talk I didn't understand, then it wasn't my fault, but the speaker's, and that there would be other people in the room with the same questions and confusion as me. It might have been overconfident of me and I might have been wrong, but I nevertheless acted according to that belief.
So I was always "that guy" in the audience who asked at least one question after every talk I attended, and many of my questions were just asking for clarifications of things I didn't understand, and if the answer didn't help, I wasn't shy to say "I still don't understand".
And sure, I often wondered what all those big shot professors in the audience were thinking when they listened to me asking all these questions. I still don't know. But after a session at an annual meeting of our society, in which I had again asked a lot of questions, a Berkeley grad student came up to me and thanked me for daring to ask all my questions, which she said helped her a lot in understanding what the presenters were trying to tell us. And she was a pretty smart student to begin with.
It's possible that you don't understand things you should understand, but you should have a reasonably good estimate by now whether you are a normal, brilliant, or terrible grad student. If you're in the two former groups (which I'm sure you are), I can pretty much guarantee you that there will be others in the audience (professors and grad students alike) who will appreciate your questions.
As to what to ask: If you don't understand the presenter's talk, then there must've been a certain point where you got confused. Ask a question about that very thing that made you lose track. It may or may not help you in understanding the rest of the presentation, but ask anyway, because others will have been confused by the same thing.
And for the record, I'm a professor now, but I don't understand more of talks than I did as a grad student ...
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: Keep asking the dumb questions! It is better to look like a fool, than to be one.
You worry that many speakers are annoyed at the `elementary' questions. Some speakers do it because they are stressed about public talking, and any question upsets them. For some, communication of mathematics is not the aim of the talk; they give it because it is a condition of travelling to the venue, or simply because everyone else gives the talks. Instead of feeling joy at an opportunity to clear the confusion, they might get annoyed at having to do the extra work of explaining some of the background. The annoyance has no long-term effect --- nobody holds grudges for asking dumb questions. To give up actually understanding math for such a petty reason is just not worth it.
There is only one situation in which you should refrain from asking a question. That is when you are representative neither of the actual audience nor of the intended audience. So, if you are graduate student at your department's colloquium, it is OK to ask anything. If you are a graduate student at a seminar in your field, it is OK to ask anything. If you are at a seminar in another field, and there are several other students in your field in the room, again it is OK to ask anything. Only if you a lone outsider at a seminar or a conference that is not in your field, there is a reason not to ask questions.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_5: A good way to ask a dumb question is as follows:
>
> Sorry, this is probably a dumb question, but [ask question here]
>
>
>
for example
>
> Sorry, this is probably a dumb question, but isn't a differentiable function continuous?
>
>
>
This signals to the audience that you are just having a momentary lapse.
Another tactic amongst all the people who wish to appear intelligent is to use the word "surely", eg.
>
> Surely that theorem is not true if you don't have any regularity?
>
>
>
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: For the case you mention of being unsure of a definition or a named theorem, your phone is your friend. Look it up. It should be possible to gather whether the concept is well-known, for example if it is mentioned in a course, a survey, or on Wikipedia. If it is, and the mention is in the research seminar's area, that suggests the question would not be welcome, as the audience is reasonably expected to be familiar with it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: The literary technique known as [Lampshade Hanging](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/LampshadeHanging) may be useful here: specifically call attention to it yourself, acknowledge it, and then just move on.
>
> "So in the interests of making sure everyone's on the same page here, let's ask the obvious question first: are we talking about African or European swallows?"
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: First, it is important to identify whether you are the intended audience for the talk or not. If you're not the intended audience (you're going to a seminar well outside your subfield, you're a second-year graduate student at a conference that's mostly not graduate students), then you should be careful not to annoy the audience. However, if you are the intended audience, then you're doing everyone a favor by asking more questions.
Second, if you're generally good at reading social cues, then you should trust your instinct and feel free to ask questions until the speaker says something to shut you down ("we can talk about this afterwards", "that's standard material", etc.) or you notice the audience being annoyed. If you're not as good at reading social cues, then be a bit more careful and try to get honest feedback from a friend about whether your questions were out of line (e.g. "I'm not so great at reading social cues, so I was wondering whether you could honestly tell me whether some of my questions went too far.").
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_9: Usually, the in-depth questions come from people who are familiar with the topic. So, if your intent is to play an active part, you can read up on the work of the speakers who will give the most interesting talks. I would not worry too much about the speaker getting annoyed by questions. From the speaker's perspective, what is more annoying are all those famous professors who the speaker wanted to make an impression on, who are sleeping.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: Unfortunately most attendees at most pure maths seminars do not understand most of the talk. A good talk aims to make the first third comprehensible to phd students, second third to faculty, last third to experts. Most talks do not achieve this.
You are generally expected not to ask questions unless they are to the point which is very hard for a phd student.
I try just to get a few ideas across in mine recognizing that no one will follow details. However, I sometimes get sarcastic comments that my talks are too "philosophical." I also sometimes get great compliments.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_11: The balance should be struck in terms of usefulness. Let us assume that the question is genuinly dumb, it might still be useful, first to you if the answer will really allow you to make a significant breakthrough in your own understanding of the field. It might also be useful to other persons like you in the audience, who likewise lack some information to follow the talk properly; it might also be useful to the speaker, who has failed to realize a fraction of is audience is not aware of such and such premises (s)he relies on. In other words, any question is going to cost at least one minute of the speaker's time, but the gain might outweigh the penalty even if the question is dumb.
Typically, even a dumb question may enlighten someone in the audience because it gives them the opportunity to realize that the matter discussed opens itself to some level of misunderstanding when perceived from a different perspective than that intended by the speaker. In the end, exposing such different views is nowadays one of the main reason to attend talks in person.
Then there is always the possibility that the question is not dumb :-)
So the bring-home message is "Bite your tongue, and ask yourself, how useful will my question be?".
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_12: *There is no such thing as a dumb question* is a good adage for the classroom, where our mission is to teach students, and we have a number of weeks to accomplish the learning objectives. We use this maxim to encourage students to ask questions rather than fall behind.
However, *there **is** such a thing as an* annoying *question* can be an equally true corollary, particularly in a conference setting where someone is trying to cram months worth of research into a 45-minute talk in front of presumed experts in the field. In such cases, it might be preferable to not derail the speaker's presentation.
>
> How can I tell if my question is "dumb" (i.e. the answer is well-known or searchable), or if it addresses legitimate ambiguity?
>
>
>
Really, there's no way to tell for sure during the talk. However, if you venture to ask your question, you can preface it with something like:
*"I'm sorry if I'm asking something obvious here, but..."*
So far, my answer doesn't really differ from some of the other advice you've gotten in other answers. However, I want to address the *professional etiquette* part of your question. While you are asking your question, and in the immediate wake of getting the question out of your mouth, pay careful attention to the body language of the audience at large. If you see several heads nodding affirmatively, that might be a good indication that you were brave enough to ask something that was nagging in the minds of everyone else, and the speaker has made some erroneous assumptions about what was presumed to be fundamental or obvious. However, if you notice some sideways glances accompanied by grimaces or eye-rolls, then maybe you've touched on something that would be better left until the end of the session, or until the next break, in which case you can quickly add:
*"If you'd rather discuss that with me off-line, that's okay."*
In summary, be aware of your environment:
* What is the purpose of the talk?
* Who is the intended audience?
* What are the speaker's time constraints?
Moreover, be cognizant of non-verbal audience reaction to your initial question, and use that as a barometer before venturing to ask follow-on questions. In my experience, people are rather forgiving the first time a presentation is interrupted by an elementary question, but they begin feeling exasperated when that one question transforms into a hijacking of the presentation as a whole.
Upvotes: 8 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_13: There are a couple of factors I use:
* Have you asked a few questions already?
And if so were they well received?
If you have, and they were not, you get away with a lot less, and rightly so. Most of the etiquette is not hogging the speaker. You can avoid this by either asking questions that help everybody or by not using too much time. Either way you are safe.
* Did you give it long enough to know you are roughly at the right level?
If you followed the majority of the talk thus far, and that was a non-trivial fraction, then it's reasonable to assume the bit you're stuck on, others might be too. Even if this is not the case, other's will recognise that you have restrained yourself at least a little.
If you are 'clear' on both points, I think it would be hard to object to your questions.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_14: One simple heuristic I use is considering **how long it will take to answer the question.** For example, if I don't understand the notational conventions or assumptions in a talk and they seem important, I might ask -- even if it's an obvious question, it can be answered in a sentence and won't waste too much of everyone's time. If it's a deeper or more substantive question, then I might save it for the end of the talk or take it offline.
Upvotes: 2
|
2015/08/17
| 291
| 1,320
|
<issue_start>username_0: The arXiv version of my article has two citations. Now that my paper is published in a journal, I want to know if these citations will be transferred to the journal version? Should I withdraw my article from arXiv?<issue_comment>username_1: No, the citations will not change just because the paper is published in a journal (however, if the citations are themselves in preprints, then contacting the authors to make them aware of the publication would make sense, and would probably make them either update the citations in the preprint or at least change them for the final publication).
However, what you can do is update the arXiv paper to add a mention of where the paper has been published.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm guessing that your concern is whether the citations from the two versions will be combined in a citation database. The answer is that it depends on the citation database, and whether it considers the possibility of something like arXiv preprints, which cannot be taken for granted. Google Scholar certainly *does* handle this case: it will detect similarity between the two versions and attempt to merge them (or you can do it manually if it doesn't detect it on its own). I don't know whether other databases such as ISI or PubMed do, however.
Upvotes: 4
|
2015/08/17
| 1,112
| 4,393
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'd like to be able to submit a DoI or PubMed ID and find all the papers that cited that paper.
In other words, I need a publicly-available citation graph database that covers papers in PubMed.
The bottom comment on this question refers to a publicly-available citation graph: [How do I get a citation dataset with full text articles in PDF format?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/28947/how-do-i-get-a-citation-dataset-with-full-text-articles-in-pdf-format/28992) but does not give any details of where it can be found.
Does anyone know of any such citation databases?
UPDATE: To be clear, I really need a database - not a service like Google Scholar - because I want to do it programmatically for many hundreds of thousands of articles.<issue_comment>username_1: *Quick and dirty version: Google Scholar*
Type-in the DOI and read the citation count on the field "Cited by". Google Scholar does not filter for quality, so the citation count will include self-published papers, fake publications, etc. Expect some noise.
*Better version: Web of Science*
Ask your institution's librarian how you can access the Web of Science database and how to use it to retrieve the data that you need. That might require you to walk in daylight to the physical location of your library. Many survived that journey.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The graph you are looking for is not easy to get and therefore probably not publicly available for free. Certain firms have specialized in making this data available (e.g. <NAME> "Web of Science, Google Scholar). To protect their asset it seems likely that they will not let you download their databases or query it in such large quantities.
In a way, their business model depends on making this hard to access, for if you could download the whole database, you could offer the same service for a lower price.
Maybe even their terms of use forbid too unstructured or too large queries.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: As for doing this programmatically, there are two options. <NAME>lo has written an R-script (MedlineR) that will allow to download Web of Science (WoS) information from PMIDs, if your institution provides IP-access to WoS. See: <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15284107>
However, there are some issues with this program - it occassionally crashes after fetching ≈1,000 records.
The other (better) option requires your institution to subscribe to Thomson Reuters Web Services Expanded, which will allow you to use a SOAP API to search WoS and download relevant fields. This also includes cited reference searches. If you can confirm that your institution has such an access, I will be glad to share my own (simple) PHP SOAP call for matching PMID against WoS accession numbers (UT).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I know of two freely available datasets which might be interesting for you:
* the [Microsoft Academic Graph](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/microsoft-academic-graph/), a very broad dataset that should contain a decent proportion of PubMed
* the [CORE dataset](https://core.ac.uk/services#dataset), which should contain PubMed Central
For both of them, expect some noise in the extracted citations.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_5: Europe PMC provides a freely available citation graph for papers indexed in PubMed (I work for Europe PMC). You can access it programmatically using [citation module](https://europepmc.org/RestfulWebService#cites) of the Articles RESTful API.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: There are two services that you can use to get this information. The DataCite [GraphQL API](http://api.datacite.org/graphql) (if you are a tech person) or [DataCite Search](http://commons.datacite.org/). With the caveat that most of the citations come from an approach that uses persistent identifiers. That is the all the citations need to have been explicitly stated by the authors of the dataset or the publication.
Example: <https://commons.datacite.org/doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3731977>
One can also embed citations counter for a DOI in any webpage using the [Data Metrics Badge](https://support.datacite.org/docs/displaying-usage-and-citations-in-your-repository) (it includes usage metrics besides citations).
edit: Full disclosure, I work at DataCite as a developer.
Upvotes: 1
|
2015/08/17
| 379
| 1,505
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am using an image from a users’ manual of a piece of software, and I was wondering if I can put a citation in the caption of the image. For example:
>
> **Figure 1.3** Illustration of WonderSoft’s interface. Image taken from WonderSoft’s users’ manual (Bitsmith et al., 1821).
>
>
><issue_comment>username_1: Unless your journal, advisor or institution insist against this (which we cannot know), **yes**, you can.
I have done this myself in publications and nobody complained.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: While you haven't mentioned the context of the citation, AFAIK, reproducing someone's graphical artifacts usually requires not only proper *citation*, but, first and foremost, **permission** from the copyright holder (author or, likely, publisher) to reproduce the artifact with or without modifications.
What it practically means is that you will need to add the following (or similar) phrase to a caption: *"Copyright ... Reproduced with permission"* (alternatively, if the artifact has been modified, instead of *"reproduced"*, use word *"adapted"*). If a permission has not yet been received, but the request has been submitted, you should add *"[pending]"* after the word *"permission"* (this is sufficient most likely only for working papers or submissions like a revision of a thesis/dissertation). Please take a look at [my relevant answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/49803/12391) for full citation example and other details.
Upvotes: 3
|
2015/08/17
| 815
| 3,643
|
<issue_start>username_0: Sometimes it is mentioned in the US academic position announcement that "Applicants must address in their application their ability to work with culturally diverse populations and on interdisciplinary teams" where the following documents are asked from the applicants:
1) resume,
2) work-related references,
3) letter of application,
4) official employment application
I would like to know how to address one's ability to work with culturally diverse populations and on interdisciplinary teams in an efficient and effective way through these above-mentioned documents. No.3 (i.e cover letter, usually not more than 2-pages) could be the most probable one where the applicant may claim briefly that he or she has the ability ...... Is there anything else the candidates should be doing in this regard?<issue_comment>username_1: I'm going to answer the "culturally diverse populations" part of your question, and hope that someone else addresses the "interdisciplinary teams" part.
When I sit on a committee evaluating candidates, I look very carefully at this aspect. (Truth be told, not everyone does... but there are other people out there who share my interest in this aspect of hiring.) When I see a candidate who is strong in other respects, I pore over the application packet to try to find evidence that the candidate "gets" it, and that the candidate will support the institution's commitment to increasing racial and cultural diversity.
I look in all four places.
I'm not saying you have to cover all four.... I'm saying that if candidates have relevant real-life experience and and a thoughtful attitude regarding the challenges faced in academia by members of underrepresented groups, they may very well have things to include in any or all of those four parts of the application.
In case you are also wondering **But what should I do if I don't have any experience working with culturally diverse populations?** I would say, in the short term, be honest. In the long term, you might ask your institution's outreach department how you might support their efforts -- you could start with something as simple as showing people around your lab on an annual community visitation day.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Broadly, this can be addressed in (1) and (3) by specifically (re)writing portions of your resume and cover letter to highlight interdisciplinary work you've done and multicultural teams you've been a part of, and in (2) by asking your references to mention it in their conversations/letters.
More specifically:
While it's pretty obvious that most cover letters you send out will be at least somewhat specific to the each position, it may be less apparently that your resume can be the same. In this case, you'll want to modify your resume to highlight cross-disciplinary and multicultural work you've done at previous institutions. List bullet points that specifically call out researchers from other fields. Mention the nationalities of the colleagues with whom you've had a public collaboration. For both of these, it will look *waaay* better if you also list papers you've written or grants that were funded as a result of the collaboration; it will show that you can not only collaborate, but you can collaborate *effectively*.
For your references, you should mention that this position is something that the institution is asking to have called out, and request that they do so in their letters and conversations. This is as simple as it sounds; just speak to them and make sure they're aware of it. Hopefully they won't forget and all will be well.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 2
|
2015/08/17
| 675
| 2,956
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am a graduate Masters student from one of the top-tier universities in the US. I have been working closely with a Professor and two of his Ph.D students on a Research Project for the past two months. I approached the Professor out of my interest, hoping to gain some research experience. I have plans of pursuing a Ph.D. in the near future, and I am totally enjoying this research experience under his supervision. Quite recently he told me that he would add me as one of the co-authors if I completed an analysis for the work I have been working on.
It's a well-known fact in my university that usually Masters students are not funded. I expressed my interest to continue working with him right through the next few semesters, and he replied back saying he was glad to supervise me, adding that he has been enjoying my enthusiasm and productivity. On an average, I spend ~30 hours every week on Research and to my knowledge, my Professor has a lot of funding. I was just wondering if I could request him for any possible funding, such as a standard 20-hour student worker position, if not a tuition waiver because it's very expensive here. Doing other on-campus job besides all this to manage my monthly living expenses, might get too hectic (heavy coursework next semester+research+20 hours on-campus job). I am so hesitant to ask him this, fearing that he might start thinking I have been doing all this for the sake of getting funded, which has not been my intention.
Should I just refrain from asking him about funding as a Masters student to maintain this healthy student-supervisor relationship that I have with him, or is it ok to ask him about funding me?<issue_comment>username_1: You might be mistaken about your professor having funding in abundance. Even if he has managed to bring in a lot of funding, he might be spending it all on research and researchers.
One possible way to address this might be to approach your professor at an appropriate time and gently bring up the possibility of receiving funding for your work. I would even leave it up to him how many hours per week should be paid.
As a matter of fact, you might mention immediately that you also keep working if there is no pay. It might seem that you will not receive anything when you mention this, but your professor might feel that it is morally right to provide some funding, and it will make the conversation less awkward.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You are hesitating to bring this up directly with this professor. The relationship is going well, but is not completely consolidated yet. I can understand your feeling of uncertainty.
The solution *might* involve switching programs. It really depends on the institution and the department. I suggest starting by having a confidential conversation with an administrator or academic advisor in your department that you think is student-centered, positive and discreet.
Upvotes: 0
|
2015/08/17
| 546
| 2,240
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for a scholarship at the USA in order to study renewable energies.
For that I have to ask if it is considered as a subfield of electrical engineering or not in the US, because I can't find a major in energy engineering in the application form and the closest in my mind to renewable energy engineering is electrical engineering.<issue_comment>username_1: Based on recent *IEEE* taxonomy, the *renewable energy* domain belongs to the **Environmental Management** discipline (or area of study and practice). Please refer to the *2014 IEEE Taxonomy* document (v. 1.0, p. 33), available [here](https://www.ieee.org/documents/taxonomy_v101.pdf). However, note that the above-mentioned attribution may vary from institution to institution, as @MadJack and @NateEldredge indicated in the comments.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Renewable energy is an *application* of engineering, and requires expertise from various disciplines. For example, wind energy requires civil, mechanical and electrical engineering.
I don't know how things work in the US, but in the UK my advice would be to identify which discipline interests you the most and pursue that in a department that includes renewables on the syllabus. Then either look for a job in renewables, or do a masters to learn more about that industry. However, I don't know how applicable that advice is to your situation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: You are interested in a fairly young field that is quite interdisciplinary. There are two ways to start figuring this out.
1. Look around in google scholar for papers that appeal to you.
Not just any old papers that happen to mention *renewable energy* --
papers that make you itch to read more by that author.
Now look up the authors to see what type of departments they are
employed in.
Next, look up those departments to see what sort of programs of
study they guide students towards, when a student is interested in
renewable energy.
2. Alternatively, google *renewable energy phd* along with the name of a particular university. I did that just now with Cornell University and found instructions for that institution: <http://earthenergyigert.cornell.edu/apply/>
Upvotes: 0
|
2015/08/17
| 675
| 2,798
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am an assistant professor on a year-to-year contract in academic med (I'm a PhD biostatistician). I just signed a new contract in July. I have been 'head hunted' to join a private company, and I am seriously considering it. What do I 'owe' in terms of my contact? I get the feeling the contact is more to protect the faculty member from the university and not the other way around, right? I would not be leaving until the spring, so 4-5 months notice. I dont have any teaching duties. Can I just give notice?<issue_comment>username_1: It usually depends on which country and state you live in. However in the academic world we are almost always flexible, especially if you give plenty of notice where the department will be able to get someone in to cover for you. Really what you need to do is talk with HR. They are very discreet about this sort of thing and will tell you your options. If you're in a union then you can also talk to your rep who will be discreet.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The only real recourse that they would have is to sue you for breaking the contract. Although that's possible, chances are that they wouldn't be able to prove substantial damages and that even if they prevailed you wouldn't have enough assets to make the suit worth while. This is why academics who break their contracts are seldom sued for breach of contract.
However, depending on how you do this you might end up losing any chance at a positive reference from your former employer. This is probably the biggest risk that you face.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: You can leave your contract. Usually, there will be a notice period that you'll have to comply to, so you should see if you can find that information on the HR website if you have access.
There aren't (or shouldn't be) legal repercussions in leaving a contract, it's (generally) the same as leaving an on-going position. However, this is not a guarantee and will vary from place to place, country to country etc. Get familiar with your HR policies concerning what breaking a contract entails. It could be as simple as just complying to the notice period, which is what mine was.
I had a year contract that I'm leaving in two weeks after only being on it for 6 months, something better came along. My notice period was a month. No biggie.
I've shifted to a one-day a week to see out teaching while I start research at another institute. But I don't *have* to see out the teaching, I've chosen to do this so as not to leave my school in the lurch, and both employers were happy to accommodate the new arrangements.
The general consensus (at least in my experience in academia) is that you take the opportunities you are offered, even if it means breaking a current contract.
Upvotes: 0
|
2015/08/18
| 842
| 3,145
|
<issue_start>username_0: As a soon-to-graduate undergraduate student that is on his hunt for a M.Sc. program, I am making sure my CV is up to date.
I would like to highlight the fact that I have attended a nearby university as a "visiting student" and have successfully completed two courses at this institution while still holding a full time student (normal course load) status at my home institution. I had one of the courses credited at my home institution and did not bother with the second. This second course was simply for my own interest and would not have helped me achieve any graduation requirements at my home institution.
My question is two fold:
1. Is this fact worth highlighting in my CV, considering the limited (and precious) real-estate in the two page CV format?
2. If so, what would be the best way to present it?
Possible formats that I have considered (should I mention it):
1.
>
> Education
>
>
> XXXX - YYYY: University of Somewhere, B.Sc. (Major in interesting subject, minor in cool subject)
>
>
> Also completed heavy coursework in awesome subject. Visiting student to University of Elsewhere during academic year ZZZZ - ZZZZ + 1
>
>
>
2.
>
> Education
>
>
> XXXX - YYYY: University of Somewhere, B.Sc. (Major in interesting subject, minor in cool subject)
>
>
> Also completed heavy coursework in awesome subject.
>
>
> ZZZZ - ZZZZ + 1: University of Elsewhere, Visiting Student
>
>
> Completed N credits: SCI101 and ART102
>
>
>
In my (naive) opinion, I would believe that this sort of "academic diversity" would be favourably viewed by someone looking at my CV.
Some would also say that, in my case, University of Elsewhere has a better reputation and name recognition then my home institution. Should this be considered as a valid reason to give it more space on my CV?<issue_comment>username_1: I have my visiting student experiences listed individually as if they were education segments or professional appointments. I just make sure that my current appointment/school is listed first. I use the format:
```
XXXX - present: University of Somewhere, B.Sc. (Major in interesting subject, minor in cool subject)
Cool blabla I did here. Credits earned, etc.
ZZZZ - ZZZZ: University of Elsewhere, Visiting Student
Cool blabla I did there. Credits earned, etc.
```
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: If the two courses strengthen the picture of you in the target academic area, and they fit into your two-page format, then you can include them. In other words, if you're having space problems, or if they're not specifically relevant, just leave them out.
To answer the format question -- let the degrees, course names and institution names speak for themselves. Your CV will be more elegant that way, and you'll save space.
>
> **Education**
>
>
> (each item will be listed as follows -- and each item will be all on one line, wrapping if needed)
>
>
> month, year (of graduation with degree, or of course completion)
>
>
> name of degree and institution (optional level of distinction) OR name
> of individual course(s) and name of institution
>
>
>
Upvotes: 0
|
2015/08/18
| 460
| 1,975
|
<issue_start>username_0: What powers does a Department Chair have in a University setting? For instance, is a Dept. Chair the "boss" of a tenured full professor within the department?<issue_comment>username_1: In a way, yes. If you have an issue with a faculty member in a department, your first stop is the Department Chair. But a Chair is usually an elected, term-limited position, so the Chair's status as the "boss" of a full professor is a little questionable. The next stop is the college Dean (the Dean of Sciences or Business or Humanities. etc.), who may have more influence over a full professor, if that's what's needed. What is it that you need?
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This varies quite a bit between universities and colleges within the US and probably even more when you consider the academic systems in other countries.
In some cases (particularly in smaller departments) the department chairmanship is a rotating assignment and whoever is currently the chair won't be the chair in a few years. This means that they have to get along with all of the faculty in the department or risk retribution after they step down as chair. In this system, although the chair is formally the head of the department the chair often has little authority over the budget (the department might not have an independent budget), hiring, and other important decisions. The chair will typically consult with all of the senior faculty before taking any significant action. I've served as a department chair in this system and I can assure you that it is totally unlike being a manager in industry.
At the other extreme, there are places where the department chair is a permanently appointed full time administrator with substantial control over budgets, hiring, and all important decisions. These chairs have a lot more power, but even then senior faculty members may be largely independent of the chair's authority by virtue of their fame, grants, etc.
Upvotes: 2
|
2015/08/18
| 742
| 3,169
|
<issue_start>username_0: I was a philosophy major who took a bunch of graduate-level classes in linguistics and I wanted to apply to PhD programs in linguistics (in the United States). I had a writing sample in the philosophy of language, and I found out later from other professors that PhD programs in linguistics are mostly only interested in BAs and MAs in linguistics (unless they have a very strong linguistics writing sample), regardless of what courses they took. So I ended up getting waitlisted to a couple of schools (one top-ranked) and rejected everywhere else, and turned down at both places I got waitlisted. I informally applied to a bunch of MAs in linguistics in May, just by sending emails, and I got accepted to many but without any kind of funding, so I wasn't able to go anywhere this year.
I have no plans or anything whatsoever this year, and to be honest, it's depressing and boring. I'm also unable to get a job. I'm doing my best to do research and work on two new writing samples for linguistics, which I hope will make me seem like a more serious applicant.
I was just wondering: will this situation look bad on my application? Should I describe what I went through in my statement of purpose? I want to reapply to a school I got rejected from and another school I got waitlisted from. Would that be all right if I really improved my application?<issue_comment>username_1: In a way, yes. If you have an issue with a faculty member in a department, your first stop is the Department Chair. But a Chair is usually an elected, term-limited position, so the Chair's status as the "boss" of a full professor is a little questionable. The next stop is the college Dean (the Dean of Sciences or Business or Humanities. etc.), who may have more influence over a full professor, if that's what's needed. What is it that you need?
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: This varies quite a bit between universities and colleges within the US and probably even more when you consider the academic systems in other countries.
In some cases (particularly in smaller departments) the department chairmanship is a rotating assignment and whoever is currently the chair won't be the chair in a few years. This means that they have to get along with all of the faculty in the department or risk retribution after they step down as chair. In this system, although the chair is formally the head of the department the chair often has little authority over the budget (the department might not have an independent budget), hiring, and other important decisions. The chair will typically consult with all of the senior faculty before taking any significant action. I've served as a department chair in this system and I can assure you that it is totally unlike being a manager in industry.
At the other extreme, there are places where the department chair is a permanently appointed full time administrator with substantial control over budgets, hiring, and all important decisions. These chairs have a lot more power, but even then senior faculty members may be largely independent of the chair's authority by virtue of their fame, grants, etc.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm just about to finish my master's in law with only my dissertation left to handle. I'm being extremely cautious with the language that I'm using when writing as I've previously been told that my writing style is not academic enough for a UK institution. Although I agree with this criticism (and I've been working to improve my use of colloquial expressions) I do think that law papers tend to be dull and much too monotonous because of this constant pressure to make them sound as neutral as possible (while also capable of expressing your distinct opinions). This dullness must also be annoying for the person grading the paper, especially after reading multiple boring and similar dissertations.
I've previously experimented with structure when writing one of my course essays in order to build suspense before unraveling the finding of my research. Judging by the comments (and the grade that I got) the person grading it was really pleased with the final result. This gave me the confidence to be more imaginative when working on my dissertation, but at the same time I do not want to get too carried away.
It is not that I find calling a person *enfant terrible* to be particularly original, I just think it might lead to the person reading it to crack a smile. Apart from making it a more distinguishable paper it will also be beneficial for my argument, as I will have to spend less time debunking this particular person's theories by drawing the attention to the fact that although they are very popular and frequently quoted, they are widely considered to be too extreme by his peers.
What is your opinion? Where would you draw the line when trying to make a paper more interesting? (*note that this question is not about finding creative ways to hide a weak argument*)<issue_comment>username_1: **Short Answer:** Absolutely not!
Don't be a sarcastic writer for the first 20 years in academia, unless you want to leave academia and become a comedian! Many students, myself included when I did master/PhD, do like to reflect our egos and narcissistic behaviour on a paper/journal to be 'controversial' and 'cutting edge' in a field they are writing about. Obviously, there are some funny and insightful papers/journals around but if you look closer, you see a pioneer in a field wrote about something after 20+ years of research.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: If I understand correctly, you are supposed to be evaluating the work and/or ideas of some other academic or writer. You are wondering whether it will be funny and/or more efficient to, in lieu of a more careful explanation of the limitations of that person's work, dismiss them by calling them a (standard, even cliched) name.
This is not a good use of humor in an academic paper. I find it *juvenile*. And many academics would find this to be a *terrible* personal swipe.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: You would like to continue incorporating some features of the creative writing genre into your technical writing, because you find it inherently satisfying, and a healthy direction to try to nudge technical writing toward. You have had some positive results with this approach.
As I understand it, there is a colorful term you are tempted to include in your thesis, along with some analytical text.
My advice is to go ahead and include it in your draft, since including it will help you feel engaged with this big project. It will be a fun challenge for you to try to make it work within your text, without sounding blatantly offensive. But don't get *too* attached to it -- keep in mind that it may not make the final cut.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: You've got 2 "no"s and a cautious "yes" as I write this. Here's a "maybe", because it might help you decide.
In general, if you're going to use a term that's not to be taken completely at face value, you need to consider all possible interpretations -- you want to be sure you won't offend *or confuse* your reader. In this case you could start from [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfant_terrible). Coming from a very different background to you I suggest that this sort of phrase would be more suited to introduction and motivation chapters, and would be out of place in more technical parts of the dissertation.
In this case I'm inclined to side with the "no"s *unless* you can effectively cite the claim -- is this a reasonable description of a paradigm-changing historical figure. The downside of this is of course that it's not original.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Papers that are dull are not dull due to a lack of jokes. The difference between a dull paper and an exciting paper is that the exciting paper conveys useful information as clearly as possible.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> I've previously experimented with structure when writing one of my course essays in order to build suspense before unraveling the finding of my research.
>
>
>
This sounds like good writing.
>
> It is not that I find calling a person enfant terrible to be particularly original, I just think it might lead to the person reading it to crack a smile.
>
>
>
This sounds like bad writing.
They're very different examples. The latter is distracting and something someone resorts to when they don't have any good arguments anymore. You know, name-calling.
I'd encourage you to not lump all your writing into "neutral but dull" and "creative." Some of your "creative" stuff is very academic, and some is not. You need to learn to discern within your creative ideas.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a couple of code snippets, included in my thesis. What is the most convenient way to format code in a Word document, particularly, in regard to keeping the syntax highlighting, etc.? And the guidelines say that text should use double space. Does this apply to the embedded code as well?<issue_comment>username_1: The most common formatting I have seen is to use Courier (or Courier New) as font, and put keywords (such as `int` etc.) in **bold**. I am pretty sure the line spacing does not apply to embedded code (in this sense, the code can be similar to a figure, where you usually would not use double spacing as well).
This is however something you can and should discuss with your administration, who might be able to give you the exact layout and formatting requirements.
You can also you older theses as a baseline for these requirements.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: A couple of points. Firstly, I would suggest you to carefully consider whether you indeed want to retain *syntax highlighting* in a source code, embedded into a thesis document. While *using* some color styling is acceptable and, even, recommended (unless it is explicitly prohibited by your thesis/dissertation guide for certain elements or at all), *overusing* it can be damaging to the impression of your committee members due to potential issues of *readability* and *accessibility*.
Secondly, if you would want and be able to generate your thesis Word document from a *LaTeX* one (I do not recommend it, as it can be quite tricky, unless you have experience in that), then source code formatting transforms into a pretty trivial task, thanks to corresponding *LaTeX* packages and excellent free and open source `pandoc` software. *Markdown* (in combination with `pandoc`) can also be a feasible alternative to *LaTeX*, if your thesis is light on mathematics and your formatting needs are relatively modest. There are many detailed guides on the above-mentioned approaches, but, even ignoring some complexities (and, potentially, steep learning curve) reported results are mixed.
Thirdly, to find the optimal *Word-only solution*, try to review first several pages of more then 3M results of Google search `source code highlight word document`. I am pretty sure there are some decent methods out there. If you want a simplistic approach, consider using a [monospaced font](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monospaced_font). Some other simple solutions can be found in answers to [this popular question](https://stackoverflow.com/q/387453/2872891) on *StackOverflow*.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: You should create a paragraph style with the appropriate settings—a monospaced font for one thing, probably some indentation—and use that.
When using Microsoft Word you should resist the temptation to change any properties of the font at all manually. (Ideally remove the font bar from the ribbon altogether.) Instead you should create paragraph and character styles and apply them as you go along. Then they can easily be edited globally later.
If you really need syntax highlighting, the "best" way would probably be to write a macro that tagged the different parts of the code with a different character style for each code element, and then adjust the colours in the character style editor later. Then run the macro on each code block. I suspect such a macro probably exists somewhere.
The "quick" way would be to copy and paste from another program where the text is already coloured.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I think this is going to depend on the purpose. You should ask your thesis advisor(s) / department chairs. I needed to include some code snippets in my thesis. I was told by my chair members to post the code on Github and obtaining a DOI number associated with it.
Take a look at these two links: <https://guides.github.com/activities/citable-code/> and <http://figshare.org/> as they might help you in your process.
If you must include the code in the body of the thesis, instead of as a citation or link in the appendix, take a look at this stackoverflow response, as it seems like it would serve perfectly: <https://stackoverflow.com/a/2653406/4885396>
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: The best solution I found, (that works nicely for me) is coding in the languages' IDE which applies the highlight according to the languages' style. Then, I copy and paste in an embedded object (word document) in Word editor. The nice thing about that is Word treats it as a figure so I can place a caption, and Word won't try to spell-check. This is the [link](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/387453/how-do-you-display-code-snippets-in-ms-word-preserving-format-and-syntax-highlig) I got the solution that worked for me.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: If you're writing a document of any real size in Microsoft Word, your goal should be to typeset your document, or to have a set of predefined formatting rules for the whole thing. To enable this, you should never, ever set the look and feel of your text via the individual formatting options in the Home ribbon. It becomes really difficult and time consuming to tweak a small detail of a formatting style later if you do.
Microsoft Word has a hidden goldmine -- the Styles panel. Learn it and you'll discover a whole new world of simple productivity. In Word, in the Home ribbon, under the Styles section, you'll find a small "more" button (highlighted):
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Vx8D2.png)
When you click the button, you'll get the Styles panel:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2Kvu5.png)
This is where all of your text formatting needs should live. Two main types of styles exist: paragraph and text. The majority of your styling should be paragraph styles, which means you set formatting for an entire paragraph block (there will be a little paragraph symbol next to these), while the other just changes the look of the text (there will be a little "a" character next to these).
In order to see all of the existing styles, you can click on the Options button at the bottom of the Style panel, and change the settings as follows:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Ihfm4.png)
This will show you all of the styles. I recommend generally leaving to show Recommended, or once you learn which styles you like best, to leave it on In Current Document (it'll be a much shorter list and keep your document cleaner).
For code styling specifically, the HTML Preformatted paragraph style works really well. Before:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/TwbgM.png)
vs after (with Styles panel filtered to "In Current Document"):
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/cdfwa.png)
If you don't like something about the way the styled block looks, it's a simple effort to right-click on the style in the Style panel and use the style settings to tweak it how you'd like. This then updates every piece of text in your document that has the same formatting style applied (this is something you want, see typesetting above).
If you don't find a style you like, you can also create your own (the new style button at the bottom of the Style panel). If you get a set of styles set up that you like, you can export them or save them (Styles panel > Manage Styles button > Import/Export, then store the new styles in your default Normal.dotm, or save your styled document as a new dotm that you can import styles from).
If you continue to do academic writing or have reports or things to write for your job eventually, remembering this will make you a superhero of Word productivity (and help you make your documents look incredibly clean and polished).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: When I wrote my first paper, I experimented a bit with different colour styles until I found one that was both clear and aesthetically pleasing. I’ve since used it for all papers where I was first author. One of these submissions has been with a master’s student, who is now writing up his thesis.
He used the colour definitions from the paper for the figures in his thesis, which slightly irks me. Partly it is because this makes it harder to see which figures are cited from the paper and which are his own, partly because I put some effort into it. Is this so minor I should just let it go?
**Update:** As Wrzlprmft pointed out, using a consistent color scheme within a thesis is important for readability. Since recommending to use something and then requiring acknowledgement would be weird, I let it go.<issue_comment>username_1: Except in very unusual cases, a color scheme is not a meaningful scientific contribution. Just take it as a compliment and let it go.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Unless I totally misunderstand what kind of colours we are talking about, your student did what I would consider best practice. Using a consistent colour scheme for all figures in a publication or presentation is a good thing for the following reasons:
* It is aesthetically pleasing, in particular on posters and presentations.
* If two plots have colour axis for the same variable or measure, it facilitates comparing them.
* If colours encode the same things across plots (e.g., red is always species A, blue is always species B), it increases readability, as the reader does not always have to check the encoding for each figure.
This also holds across publications, if they are about the same topic.
---
>
> this makes it harder to see which figures are cited from the paper and which are his own
>
>
>
Citations should suffice to indicate this. You cannot rely on stylistic mismatches to detect images from other sources anyway.
>
> I put some effort into it
>
>
>
As [Jakebeal already noted](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/51716/7734), developing a colour scheme is rarely a scientific achievement. And even if you consider it to be one, your student can cite it and reuse it. After all, being reused is what scientific results are for. Remember that many scientists use plotting and typesetting programs developed by other scientists.
An acknowledgement does not hurt though, but I would probably not be very insistent on it.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Isn't science supposed to be all about sharing knowledge? I quite regularly get annoyed by colleagues who are unwilling to share lecture notes (or color schemes) because "they have put some time and effort into it". That's such a poor argument -- it's not like that time would be wasted by sharing it, rather the opposite: if you share with me, I'll share with you, and we're both better off for it.
So take the use of your color scheme as a compliment that you developed something that worked, and make sure your students spends her time doing something productive rather than having to develop her own color scheme.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: If you didn't want this student to use your color scheme, you shouldn't have let him look at your figures. Of course that applies not only to the student, but to everyone in the scientific community. If you really want to keep a color scheme to yourself, unfortunately you will have to keep to yourself the ideas which you would use that color scheme to express. If you do try to disseminate your ideas, and are especially unlucky, your color scheme will catch on and be used worldwide in very high profile publications (horror!).
As others have mentioned, a color scheme is rarely a scientific achievement. I would add that if you believe that it is, you may want to publish a technical note in a psychophysics journal or something. If this sounds ridiculously over the top, then perhaps you should reconsider whether your color scheme is so groundbreaking that you deserve acknowledgment. If you think something is worth acknowledging, you must give people something to acknowledge.
The best argument I can imagine for discouraging this student from using your color scheme is if he is misusing it in a way that obfuscates the intended content. Otherwise you might well be pleased that your efforts led to something so useful that others have adopted it.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I wonder why tenured professors still publish in pay-walled venues. I can understand that non-tenured professors are publication pressured, but once one gets tenured, why should one still place knowledge behind walls?<issue_comment>username_1: There are lots of reasons, but high among them are the prestige issues for their co-authors, especially their non-tenured, postdoc, and student co-authors. Everyone on the author list benefits from the typically higher prestige of the traditional (and paywalled) publishing venues.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: Many high-impact journals introduced a paywall to recover new costs when they began offering articles in electronic form in addition to the traditional print publications. Despite the growing consensus in the science community that journal impact factor (JIF) correlates poorly with the actual "impact" or quality of individual research articles1, having Science/Nature/Cell publications can make a huge difference in one's career development2. This doesn't stop at tenure either: the ability to get grants, acceptance into prestigious scientific societies, and so on depend on the impact of one's research.
---
1Just because you publish your paper in Science or Nature doesn't mean it's a good paper (due to variation in the review process, politics, etc). That said, a lot of really good science done by great scientists *does* get published in high-impact journals, and these journals by far have the widest readership.
2Academic science is very competitive, usually with tens or hundreds of applicants for each new professorship position. When there is no possible way to critically assess the quality and impact of every single publication of every single applicant, the journal in which it was published is a commonly (ab)used heuristic.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Even if a faculty member has settled into a tenured full professorship they still typically have annual evaluations for the purpose of determining pay raises, and having publications in highly ranked journals can get them a better evaluation.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I wonder why tenured professors still publish in pay-walled venues. I can understand that non-tenured professors are publication pressured, but once one gets tenured, why should one still place knowledge behind walls?
>
>
>
Who says they are placing knowledge behind walls? In many fields it's perfectly feasible to publish in pay-walled journals but still make the papers publicly available (through the arXiv, institutional repositories, etc.). If someone does this, then their knowledge is no less available for having been published in a non-free journal. Of course not everyone takes advantage of this opportunity, but that's generally because they don't care about the issue, not because they were constrained before getting tenure.
In the fields which have no such option, this question becomes much more relevant, but think about the psychological difficulties. You may have strong opinions about where it's reasonable to publish, but your coauthors may not share your opinions. Do you really want to spend the rest of your career debating this issue every time you publish a paper? Are you willing to give up on collaboration opportunities because you fear your collaborators might insist on publishing in venues you disapprove of? Are you willing to risk looking like a jerk by insisting that your principles are more important than your coauthors' careers? It might be the right thing to do in some abstract sense, but it's not an easy decision.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: A couple reasons come to mind:
1. Tenured professors still care about prestige. And they still have promotions to consider - for example, from Associate to Full Professor, or if they fancy going after a Chair or Deanship.
2. Open access publications are not (beyond perhaps their open status) inherently more virtuous as journals. It's possible that the *best* place to put a paper in terms of readership, audience, etc. is not an open access journal.
3. If they're funded by the NIH, they may be content with "It will be open access in two years anyway" and not be inclined to spend their group's resources on open access charges.
4. Linked to 1, just because you're tenured doesn't mean your funding is secured. Many tenured faculty can't necessarily sit back and make non-optimal solutions "for the good of knowledge" when they have postdocs, grad students and lab staff who still need to get paid.
5. The aforementioned grad students, postdocs, etc. who are *also on the paper* might benefit from a more prestigious publication.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_6: Since folks objected, let me simplify my answer to the key point:
Because the journals they want to publish in decided to paywall their websites.
To change this, you can create an equally (or more) respected journal (or equivalent) which isn't paywalled, and/or find a way to encourage parallel publication in non-paywalled form, and/or find a way to convince the journals that paywalling is not necessary.
I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of those eventually happens. I'm also not surprised it's taking a while for that to happen.
[In this form, I think I'm probably overlapping strongly with what others have said, and may kill this answer.]
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: Perhaps their particular niche has no open-source high-reputation venue. It still costs money to operate a publication site, and if it produces a print edition there might not be enough interest in the publication through advertising alone to cover its costs, and maybe only subscriptions are enough. I mean, how many people are going to want to read "Thumb Amputee Monthly," a (albeit fictitious) journal dealing with surgery techniques for restoring amputated thumbs and permanently interconnecting prosthetic thumbs?
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_8: I am a mathematician (full professor in a top ten US pure mathematics department).
In pure mathematics, the top four or five journals (in terms of prestige) are almost universally agreed upon; perhaps the least ambiguous three in the top five are *Annals*, *Inventiones*, and *JAMS*. None of these is open access: *Annals* is published by a university press, *JAMS* by a professional society, and *Inventiones* by a commercial publisher.
These journals have earned their prestige over a long time, as a combination of various factors: e.g. the quality of work they've published in the past, the make-up of the editorial board, the qualities of the referees they employ, and their current very high standards of acceptance. This last point is crucial: their standards for acceptance are very high --- papers they accept are not only correct (the minimal standard of acceptance in any journal, one hopes), but of fundamental importance for the field. If you are on a committee reviewing a candidate's CV and you see a paper published in one of these journals, you can be quite confident that it is top-level work.
For a post-doc, having one or two papers in one of these journals, together with one or two additional papers in journals that are almost as good, is basically enough to guarantee a tenure-track position in a (roughly) top twenty university.
But for a senior researcher, publishing in these journals also serves as strong signal about the quality of one's on-going research.
Many senior researchers are still ambitious! E.g., they might want to move institutions (for geographic reasons, or to move to a higher rep. department, or to raise their salary, or ...), or obtain competitive grants, or win prizes, or be awarded named chairs. Essentially any competitive award in academia is based on the quality of the candidate's research, and publishing in top journals is a strong signal for this. (It's not the only such signal, since peer review, through letters, or grant panels, or prize committees, is also very important; but publishing in top journals is still an excellent and efficient way to signal quality research: it's something that a committee member can easily discern just by skimming over a CV, and it's a concrete fact that a letter writer or other supporter of the candidate can draw attention to.)
Personally, I try not to publish in journals that belong to commercial publishers, because I agree with many others that (at this point in history) this publishing model is basically rent-seeking from the academic community. I am happy to publish in journals like *Annals* or *JAMS* though (if I should be so lucky as to write papers at that level), since they are published by non-commercial publishers (though not open access), and I have some interest in continuing to accrue the resulting prestige.
However, many of my co-authors are more vested in accruing prestige through publishing in top journals, for some of the reasons described above, and for them, if a paper is at the level that it could plausibly be published in one of these top journals, career-wise it doesn't make sense not to submit it to one of them. It's not reasonable to always submit to exactly the same one or two journals, and so for this reason I end up publishing in commercially-published journals from time to time.
---
As a side note, CUP recently established an open access mathematics journal whose goal is to be at the same level as *Annals* and *JAMS*. My impression, though, is that (even with a very prestigious editorial board) it's not taking off as quickly as one might like. One problem is that younger people who have top quality work are often reluctant to publish in a new journal; it's riskier than publishing in a journal whose reputation has been cemented as top quality for decades. And even senior people have the concern that the journal won't establish or maintain the reputation that it's aiming for, and so are reluctant to "waste" a top-level paper by publishing it there.
In this sense, trying to create a new, maybe open-access, journal that serves the same prestige-signaling function as the current top commercially published journals involves something of a prisoner's dilemma: if top-level researchers simultaneously agreed to grant the journal the desired level of prestige, and all submitted their best work their, it would indeed become a top level journal, and continue to attract good submissions.
Variations of this scenario have succeeded in mathematics. (Not with open access journals, as far as I know, but with very successful non-commercially published journals such as *Geom. Top.*.) But, as we all know, it is unfortunately somewhat exceptional for a real-life prisoner's dilemma to be resolved in a positive manner.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: (For the record, it is indeed about "status/prestige", if not for the senior person, for junior co-authors, who are invariably judged by the most conservative possible standards (the convenience of which is that more negative conclusions are allowed...), ...)
My slightly-new point here is that "tenure" does not promise good pay raises, a decent office, civil teaching assignments, or anything else. I don't know whether it ever did, but certainly in the current climate in academe in the U.S., every year we (=faculty, in my apparently highly-rated R1 university department) are required to write up a report on our activities of the most-recent five years. Sounds reasonable, until one learns that "good" or "very good" in all categories (research, mentoring/teaching, service) is only worth a 1.8 percent pay increase...?!? Sure, inflation in the U.S. has been low... but...
So, to fight for NSF funding (whose decision procedures have been "streamlined", which may operationally mean "degraded" to using second-hand metrics to judge things...) for that extra month or two summer salary: bang, ultra-traditional notions of publication (again, if only because there are too many obviously-qualified applicants, so the issue is looking for excuses to disqualify, rather than looking for reasons to "qualify").
At some point in one's life, in R1 situations in STEM fields, one might contemplate the very real issue of whether one wants to budget one's household, family, life on an extra 2/9 salary, or not. If "yes", then this game playing is obviously mandatory, because without it one can't compete for those very-limited bonus-resources.
(The glee with which for-profit publishers greet this tendency is surely limitless, ...)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Surprised none of the answers have mentioned this.
**It's free**.
If you publish open access, you have to find money to pay the article processing charge somewhere. It's not that you can't find the money - but if you publish in paywalled venues, you don't even have to find the money in the first place.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I've heard some compelling arguments from open science advocates for a system of reviewing scientific research outputs that focuses almost exclusively on post-publication peer review. The idea is that research would initially be published in free and open venues, with little to no lag time resulting from pre-publication review (pre-pub review, if any, is focused on weeding out large and obvious flaws and not on assessing perceived significance or impact). Once published, social tools similar to those in place at Amazon and StackOverflow (reviewing, commenting, reputation systems, etc.) would be used by the community for more in-depth assessment and critique of research outputs. Scientists could get credit for post-publication reviews, which (if openly accessible along with the article) are valuable scientific contributions themselves. On the other hand, junior scientists afraid of unjust retribution for being critical of a senior scientist's research could post reviews anonymously/pseudonymously, protecting their professional reputation but still making an important contribution to the scientific discourse.
I've seen two primary arguments *against* this kind of system: 1) that pre-publication review is an important quality control mechanism, and 2) that it ensures that the published scientific literature actually gets read. Regarding this second point, many raise the point that many research articles go uncited (and potentially unread by anyone other than the authors and reviewers). It could be tragic if a major scientific breakthrough existed in the literature, but was never widely acknowledged because the paper never got any attention and post-publication review.
Do these risks give real cause for concern? Is there some level of quality control that can only be done pre-publication? Do we risk missing out on important research by not requiring rigorous review of all published material? And are there other risks not mentioned here that would make a shift from primarily pre-pub review to primarily post-pub review problematic?<issue_comment>username_1: The function of the editor in a regular reviewed journal is to determine whether a submission meets the intellectual standards of that journal. The standards are in fact largely *established* by the editor, via explicit policy statements, choice of reviewers, and the editor's power to make final decisions that are contrary to the opinion of the majority of reviewers. If one were to replace carefully-focused criticism by a small number of well-chosen experts with a count of "likes" within an undefined "community" (e.g. Stackexchange / Reddit style voting), the valuable contribution of the few experts who write detailed comments would probably be nullified by the vast number of uninformed voters who are really in no position to render a professional opinion about the paper.
It is extremely difficult to persuade qualified experts to spend the time reviewing journal submissions, and such "credit" as is attached to reviewing comes in the form of a line in the "service" entry in your annual report, where you attest to having reviewed mss. for various journals; or, even worse, your skills as a reviewer may be recognized and you will be invited to be an editor or associate editor. One fact that motivates quite a number of reviewers is not the "credit" for reviewing, but the opportunity to significantly influence the course of the field. This comes about in the review system both by giving the reviewer a privileged opportunity to nudge the research in a certain direction (e.g. pointing out that the facts are compatible with multiple theories; pointing out that the logic of the argument doesn't support A, it supports B), and by putting them in the position of absolutely preventing the publication of a bad paper (recommending reject, and doing so persuasively). When rejection is a possible outcome, authors will take criticisms seriously.
In a post-publication review system, this reviewer incentive would be missing. What, then would be the motivation for an expert to write an after-the-fact review of a terrible paper, so that the world at large would know that the paper is terrible? And without some reason to think that a paper is worth reading, why would you bother reading *this* one when there are hundreds of others coming out every month?
Your suggested post-publication review essentially describes a blog. Perhaps it works in some fields, but in mine, nobody puts serious research in a blog.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: In my mind, there are three semi-related problems with post-publication peer review:
1. It's difficult for the lay press to distinguish between pre- and post-publication reviewed papers, and for many "breaking" articles, I'd be concerned about reports of spurious results becoming *more* common, not less. For example, if I publish a paper on a risk factor for X disease, how long does the press have to wait to report it? Do they have to let peer reviews build up? Pre-pub at least ensures that *someone* has looked it over.
2. Article readership is nowhere near uniform, and there's no reason to believe reviews would be different. At the moment, *every single paper* published by a journal is subjected to some form of review, whether anyone else cares about that paper or not. Relying on post-publication, it's possible some papers will get few/no reviews. What's a non-expert to make of those papers? Similarly, what's a non-expert to make of a post-pub vaccine study that's been flooded with anti-vaxx rhetoric dressed up in technical jargon?
3. Post-pub peer review is inherently non-anonymous. I'm pretty sure Big Deal Figure in the Field is not going to be judged as harshly as New Grad Student even for the same work - and this will also likely effect those with clearly female or minority "sounding" names. Prominent scientists may be more likely to get a pass under the assumption that they're right. In my mind, breaking review anonymity is a step in the wrong direction.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Regardless of whether the end-result would be better, one problematic part of a shift is always the *shift*. There are a lot of processes in place based around the current system, and it's very unlikely all stakeholders will simultaneously be in favour of change. Even if all academics agreed that moving to post-publication would be beneficial, there's a good chance that those allocating jobs, promotions, grants, league-table positions, student funding... would still only consider traditional journals. That could make the cost of change too high for those who, for example, need to support their families.
I would say that the UK open-access situation is an example of this. The government decided it liked the idea of open-access, but then realised that the cost of transition from reader-pays to author-pays was higher than it was prepared to pay right now.
As an aside, there have been historical examples (at least within maths of)
>
> a major scientific breakthrough existed in the literature, but was never widely acknowledged
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: [The dark side of post-publication peer review](http://physicsfocus.org/dark-side-post-publication-peer-review/)
The main issue raised here seems to be the problem of policing who gets to comment on an article, and how they are identified. Anonymity is important to allow good criticism to be made, but also opens the flood-gates for trouble.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I am in the process of notifying my PhD dissertation committee (already formed)on the proposal exam. I would like to send an email to all of them and now I am confused as to how to address them. Should I address them as committee members or Professors ABC, PQR, XYZ or Sirs, etc. What would be the best option to address them:
1. Dear Committee members
2. Dear Committee
3. Dear Professors ABC, PQR, XYZ
4. Respected Sirs
5. Sirs
6. Dear All<issue_comment>username_1: At my place, they are called SRC (Student Research Committee) members, so that makes the acronym more usable. I always started my emails by writing:
>
> Respected SRC members,
>
>
>
The SRC members part additionally makes the context clear (in addition to the subject of the mail). I prefer *Respected* to *Dear*, and while that may (or may not) be culture specific, it never hurts to shower respects on these people, unless of course, they explicitly ask you not to do that.
Additionally, I deliberately avoided *Professors*. Even though these committee members could generically be addressed as *professors*, one of my SRC members was technically still not a Professor, but an Associate Professor. While the distinction might be a bit over-strict in this context, I preferred being technically correct too. (*That might be a nerdy, personal choice*.)
Hope that helps :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: **Good morning,**
OR
**Good afternoon,**
are good choices for formal group email messages.
Upvotes: -1
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I am interested in applying course-based master program in electrical engineering. Most of them are self-funded, 1~1.5 years in length, and don't require a thesis .
I learnt that it is (usually) advantageous to contact the Prof of your interest in Phd application. Is this still true for application to course-based master degree？ Should I also try to contact Prof in order to "increase" my chance of admission? Is there any disadvantage of doing that?
As an undergrad, I think I have good research experience. (work in 3 different research lab, and produce 1 first-authored publication). Given that I have such experience, do you think it is advantageous for me to contact the Prof of my interested?<issue_comment>username_1: I think it will depend on the structure of the Master's program. I'm assuming you'll still have to do some kind of comprehensive "project" which will require some kind of advisor. In which case, I think it would be helpful to get a willing professor beforehand to strengthen your application. It shows that you already have a direction you're interesting in pursuing (which would be aligned with the professor's research interests).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: There will be instructions on the program's website.
In the U.S., generally one applies to the department for admission before contacting a professor.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm soon handing in my PhD thesis, and have funding for at least a one year Post Doc position at the same institute. In my post doc I'll be working on research related, but not directly associated, with my PhD field of work.
My phd has been funded by a huge 'umbrella' project involving both academic and industry institutions, and domain specific partners. My Phd supervisor is also the project leader on this big project. The project has quite a distinct profile and has attracted a fair amount of public attention.
So...moving on to my dilemma.
Yesterday my supervisor phoned me up, and asked me if I was interested in taking over a part time position as project coordinator for this big project as the current coordinator is moving on to another job. According to him, some of the administrative tasks would be transferred to other project members, but I was offered to manage a lot of the collaboration with project partners and, I'm guessing, play an important role in the final reporting when the project finishes.
I'm uncertain to what extent taking on such a role would affect a potential academic career. Would it be beneficial in the long run to acquire experience in managing projects, or would it look more like I was 'degraded' to a secretary-'like' role?
As far as I understand, both my supervisor, and our institute director, would like me to assume the role. I guess this both gives me some leverage...but also puts me in a potential pinned down situation if I decline.
Their estimate is that the project coordination tasks would take up roughly 25% of my time. So there would still be time to do research.<issue_comment>username_1: If you approach the coordinator role in a pro-active fashion (organizing meetings, collecting input from the various partners, making sure that everybody hands in their contribution on time), there is certainly value in the experience you will gain.
Maybe not so much related to hard-core research, but as you progress in your academic career, project management skills will be more and more important. And therefore, if you can get some experience early in your career, you might benefit from that later, and prospective employers might look at it in this way (or might be neutral in the worst case).
Just be sure that you manage your time well, and also reserve enough time to perform real research (unless you aspire to become a (scientific) project manager).
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: In the comments above, I asked whether OP had any experience performing project coordination tasks similar to that of the position under consideration. OP's reply:
>
> Yes, I have five years of experience from industry, not directly as a
> project manager, but as a product manager. So it would be within my
> current skillset.
>
>
>
You have obtained one answer here which emphasizes the benefits of gaining this sort of experience. However, it doesn't sound like that answer is applicable to you (though, you would probably know better than us whether this experience would truly be worth it, or if you would just end up doing stuff you already know how to do).
Let's review where you are, at this critical stage in your career:
* You are just now wrapping up your PhD.
* You are getting ready to start a transitional postdoc.
* You seem to be interested in pursuing an academic career.
* You have already gained project management/coordination experience from working in industry.
To my mind, all of the above points to one conclusion:
**You telling your PI/institute director "no, thanks."**
Instead of taking on the coordination tasks, I recommend that you use all of your time in "postdoc mode" working on the things that will strengthen your research profile: producing high-quality research output, finishing up manuscripts, defining your research agenda, growing your network of collaborators, etc.
When you begin to apply for academic jobs at the next level, or for other postdoc positions after the transitional one ends, you will already be able to play up your ability to coordinate complex projects. So, I don't really see the benefits of playing the project coordinator role right now. The downside of taking that coordinator role on, however, is the main concern: I think it would interfere too much with all of the other important things you should be focusing on at this critical stage of your career.
(And, let's face it, spending 25% of your time on project coordination tasks for a large project, with lots of moving parts, is probably a *very conservative* estimate.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I agree with @MadJack .
I think they are trying to save money and have one person pursue both a post doc and perform the administrative work. I wouldn't accept such a position if my final plan was an academic career.
Keep in mind that the administrator role is a full-time position, and a post doc is another full time position (where normally 24h/day do not feel enough). Trying to manage these two roles simultaneously will end up with you being overly stressed and focusing mainly on the administrative stuff that will have shorter deadlines than your post doc goals.
You can accept probably to help for a couple of months until they hire a proper administrator but not for your entire post doc.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: Chances are your PI and institute director are trying to solve their problem and selling it to you as a win-win. They may even do this with the best intentions, but it is up to you if it is indeed also a win for you - and only you can decide.
First, imagine you would say no.
You will get to carry out the work you planned as intended and not win any brownie points. What are the pros and cons of that?
Second, imagine you would say yes. Why would you say yes?
Would you LIKE to do it? Sometimes a decision may not even look like it's in your best interest on paper, but if you enjoy the work and it brings you happiness or satisfaction then that alone might be reason enough to do it.
How will the work benefit you in the near and distant future?
Is the network useful? Will these contacts be your close peers and future collaborators? In other words, is it worth it for you to invest in this task and topic and the people associated with it?
What's in it for you?
If you tell your PI and institute director that you are seriously considering it but you think you already have relevant experience, can they give you another argument that you somehow missed?
Can you negotiate that your contract is extended for the time you will spend as a coordinator? This may buy you a couple of months more reasearch/thinking time and could be a good trade off?
In other words, don't sell your skin too cheap! One thing is for sure, whoever needs work done will always underestimate the amount of time it will take someone to do the job, so you can bet that their 25% is a conservative estimate!
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently our group published a paper in an important open-access publication. During my work, I was subordinated to a person who left the research center six months before I finish the study, but during two and a half years this person evaluated the work, and suggested some analysis and modification in both pictures and graphs (I have all this personal communication). Specifically, this person had knowledge about the way how the data were generated and about local ethics statements, formally approved by a scientific committee. Since he left the research center, we did not talk about the manuscript with each other and I remained working in both figures and analysis to be incorporated in the submitted version; obviously it seemed clear to me that we had no obligation to show the final version to someone who was not part of the group anymore (this person was not listed as author in any time during the execution of the study because he asked this). In addition, our group performed some additional adjustments in the manuscript following indications of two experts during the process of review. The new boss was informed about the manuscript to be finalized, submitted and later, accepted. The contribution of the former one was properly acknowledged in the final version of the paper.
The former boss sent us a letter where he states he did not know about our work (i.e., that, supposedly, we made our study without his agreement and knowledge - misconduct, so). It seems that he had some kind of personal problem with someone in the research center before he left, so I believe he wants to prejudice the group, and myself in particular, since I am the first author of the study.
Some days ago I was surprised by a communication from the Editor-in-Chief of the journal where the paper was published, asking about the raw data of our work and if we have proofs concerning the ethic statements related to our study after a message sent by the former boss to the publisher.
While I have at least a dozen of emails attesting that the former boss knew about the study, I don't know if I can show them to the publisher. Thus, I would like to withdraw the manuscript in order to avoid any future trouble with this former boss. I am very, very disapointed with this (this is a serious questioning about my conduct), and I would like to withdraw the manuscript from this jornal. I would like to know how to do this. Any suggestion?
---
I deeply appreciated all replies, thank you all. I've contacted the Editor in chief of the journal where we published the paper and explained all the situations in a clear and open manner, and he understood the point. The paper remained published without further action since our arguments were truthful. Concerning the person who attacked us, I decided to just ignore him. Silence is the best answer for mediocre persons.<issue_comment>username_1: I believe you can show the emails you mentioned to the publisher as a proof regarding ethics statements etc., since they were sent by the same person that is accusing you of misconduct now.
If there was no actual misconduct, I see no reason why you should withdraw the paper. Withdrawing should be your last resort, such a retraction would probably taint your CV quite a lot.
It seems the previous coordinator has an axe to grind.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The publisher is unlikely to let you withdraw the paper unless you convince them there is an extremely serious problem with it (misconduct or an unfixable mistake). They have an ethical obligation to make the paper available to the research community, regardless of whether you regret publishing it, and it takes a powerful argument to overcome that obligation.
In particular, if you ask to withdraw the paper, then the publisher will assume that the accusations against you are true. If you succeed in withdrawing it, then the entire community will assume there was something terribly wrong with the paper (and, if you don't publicly identify errors in the paper, they will assume it was an ethical problem).
In other words, withdrawing the paper is tantamount to admitting guilt.
>
> I have at least a dozen of emails attesting he knew the study, but I don't know if I can show them to publisher.
>
>
>
Yes, you should certainly make use of any evidence you have that the accusations are not correct.
There should be no problem with the ethics statements. Presumably you have proof of approval by the appropriate review boards (or, in the worse case scenario, they can confirm their approval). If you don't have proof, then maybe there really is a problem.
As for the other accusations, hopefully the e-mails from your former boss will help clarify the situation for the editor.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I see no reason to withdraw the paper simply because you are "offended". Someone is checking on the appropriate records -- provide whatever records you have and that you think clearly demonstrate that the results shown are legitimate, then go on with life.
It makes no sense if everytime someone steps on your foot you tell the world that "this place clearly does not respect me; I'm going to leave this town right now and will never return".
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> It seems that he had some kind of personal problem with someone in the research center before he left, so I believe he wants to prejudice the group, and myself in particular, since I am the first author of the study.
>
>
>
Time to talk to a lawyer or two! There's the legal department for your institution (go through your department chair), and you may also need your own lawyer. Start with the institution lawyer.
Slander and defamation of character are immoral and illegal.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I was invited to give a research seminar in another department, and two professors kept looking at their mobile phones while I was talking. They were doing this at the start of my talk, and they kept looking at their mobiles for a fairly long amount of time, maybe 15 minutes, without interruption.
My personal view on this is to be tolerant. I accept that nowadays “technology is in our pockets” and the web offers infinite opportunities for distraction. Moreover, people may look at their smartphones for scholarly reasons, for example they may be doing a quick search for literature related to the topic being presented. I do not know for sure what people are doing on their mobiles, and it’s not up to me to discipline their behaviour.
That being said, I think that the basic rules of politeness and consideration for each other’s’ feelings still have a role and place. For example, if I know that I am going to be distracted during a talk, then I sit at the back of the room and try to get unnoticed. If I can’t resist the lure of the smartphone, then I keep it under the table and I try to look at it only for a short time. And maybe add an apologetic smile.
But on that occasion, both professors were sitting in front of me on the first row, with their mobiles in full view, and acted as if my talk didn’t matter. I must add that both professors are much higher in status than me, also the university where I gave the talk is of much higher rank than my university.
I didn’t want a confrontation so I pushed all the unpleasant feelings aside, and I concentrated on my talk. However, I recently thought about this episode, and it occurred to me that maybe I needed to show more assertiveness. Not for the sake of my ego (I don’t care about these two and what they do in seminars), but because assertiveness shows that we care about our research and our value as scholars, regardless of our status.
How would you deal with people overtly and persistently looking at their mobile device (phone, laptop, etc.) during your talk?<issue_comment>username_1: I agree that their behavior was very rude, and it is best keep looking at smart phones or laptops during a talk to the absolute minimum.
Having said that, I think that anything else than what you have done (trying to ignore their behavior) will be very unlikely to have any positive outcome for you. If you would address their behavior, even in the politest way, they probably feel annoyed at you (or worse). I fail to see how you could benefit from this.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: If you are presenting a topic and the audience do not take advantage of your experience and knowledge, it is their loss and not yours. However, two things came to my mind about this topic:
1. **Make Your Presentation More Interactive**: I'm not saying to bring big amplifiers and blast music and throw free t-shirts at the crowd, however you can engage the audience with the topic you are working on. You can ask them questions, about their prior knowledge about the topic, and build the presentation around that. If the presenter is looking at the ground, not paying attention to the audience, or not asking any questions, then they won't get the respect they deserve.
2. **Don't be Judgmental About the Audience Behavior**: Don't be an insecure presenter, and think negatively right away why the audience do this or that. Maybe they were tweeting how good your presentation is. You don't know what they are doing, so don't waste energy on why the audience is doing this or that, you are the captain in that room, and you should take control of your presentation and audience at the same time.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I'll offer a dissenting point of view.
I often use my mobile device (smartphone, laptop, whatever) during a talk - because I'm taking notes on it!
I used to write my notes on paper, then transcribe them to my giant brain dump TXT file (very easy to search through, which is why scanning is not a solution)... until I noticed that I always put off the transcribing part until I had lost my paper notes. Since then, *especially if a talk is relevant*, I have been taking notes on my phone, so I can copy & paste the notes directly into my TXT.
Don't immediately jump to the conclusion that people fiddling with their electronics are not paying attention.
(If I'm using my laptop, I'll sit in the back, since I know that my keyboard can be distracting.)
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: You probably can't do much about them, unless their behaviour is so gross that you can get away with a "reverse heckle" from you to the audience. (E.g. "The next lemma is so obvious that you should be able prove it while playing a game on your iPad, so I'll press on...") Best to practice that at your local stand-up comedy club first, though ;)
I guess you were making some eye contact with the audience, otherwise you might not have noticed what was going on at all. A good strategy is to search out a few listeners who *are* paying attention, and concentrate your eye contact on them to maximize the amount of feedback you get. If you can pick out three or four people in different parts of the room, most of the rest of the audience will subconsciously assume you are "looking at them" as well.
The worst instance of this that has happened to me wasn't an academic seminar, but a musical concert where I was a soloist. A teenage daughter of one of the concert organizers was sitting on the front row and ignoring the concert completely while doing her school homework, with intermittent shuffling of paper, dropping of books and pens, etc. I remarked to the organizer afterwards that his daughter seemed to have enjoyed the music. The only response was a rather pained look.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: My attitude to life is to spare my mental capacities to things I can affect and change. Yes, it is annoying to see people at a workshop not paying attention. No, there is nothing I can do in the moment that would (i) change their behavior, while (ii) not make me look petty.
So, disengage from these feelings. Focus on those members of your audience who pay attention and interact with you. Make a resolution to have a great first slide for your next talk that may sway one of the two (or maybe both!) to get pulled into the talk. These are the things I can affect.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_6: To echo some of the other answers and comments that suggest just trying to "get over it": the pre-cell-phone/internet version of this was senior faculty reading their mail: noisily ripping open envelopes, sometimes large manila envelopes with preprints sent (by physical mail), but invariably dozens of envelopes ripped open. Much noisier than looking at cell phones. Yes, you'd think that if they were away from their home campuses they'd not have piles of mail to go through... but in those days delaying looking at all the importuning physical mail was the analogue of today's delaying figuring out what to do with an inundation of email.
And then there was/is the style of "bringing a pad" to any talk: get some thinking done, and annotation of it, while allocating a little attention to the speaker. This does make sense if one is fairly expert, fairly experienced at "listening to talks", and so on. The remarks about "successful multitasking" are on the mark for experienced professionals: they often know fairly precisely how much attention is needed for a given task... and can control allocation... and thus get much more done each day.
The point is that it's not about cell-phone manner, it's about the culture of "listening to talks". Truly, from a fairly expert viewpoint, most of these talks have a very low (relative!) information rate. True, a person interested in making the speaker "feel good" would act the part... but if one is doing an awful lot of attendance-at-dubious-talks, the goal of "making the speaker feel better about themself" becomes less-clearly a high priority.
(Certainly being not-so-obvious about one's multi-tasking is a "grace", but/and it appears to be unrealistic to uniformly expect academics to aim for this...)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_7: The vast majority of the people attending a seminar that is held regularly (e.g. every week on a fixed time) will do so on a routine basis. They may sometimes be very interested in the subject and on some other occasions they may be less interested. For some older professors this is their regular nap time.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: For me, the main problem would be the distraction.
There is a technique used by some really good high school teachers. Move around a bit while you are lecturing, spending just a little extra time in the zone near the distracting individual. The additional proximity for a few moments will probably make the offending character(s) a little self-conscious and therefore less distracting. You don't need to be blatant about it. The more subtle the better this works.
The other thing you can do is pick up a manila folder or a couple of pieces of paper or something, and hold it in as discreet position as possible, that will block out the front-row in-use phone from your view. This will help your concentration.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: It is somewhat rude and distracting to sit in the front row and obviously not pay attention. But tough luck. You're not a school teacher so you don't have the right to demand your audience's attention. Focus on the audience members who are paying attention to what you have to say: that will help you avoid the distractions, at the same time as directing your focus to the people who will benefit the most from it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: It's a rough matter, in my opinion. And I have plenty of opinion; see [Technonomicon](http://tinyurl.com/technonomicon) for one tiny slice.
One way-heavy-handed thing you should not say (perhaps a commenter may have a better idea) is to say:
"*I've worked hard on all this presentation to give you my best, and I can't give you my best if your attention is split between me and a smartphone. So why don't we have a few minutes' silence to post off those last emails, or whatever will be distracting if we jump in, and then we'll all be in a position for the lecture to go well.*"
In a non-academic setting, there is a famous (blue-collar) restaurant where they ring an obnoxiously loud buzzer if someone is using the cell phone. The wall has a wall plaque saying, "We don't allow cell phones in this restaurant. If you are someone so important that you have to be on a cell phone, you should be eating someplace much more upscale."
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_11: <NAME> makes good point in a [comment](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/980/paul-garrett) that I think deserves its own answer.
If it is a regular thing, some ground rules may make sense: do not talk too long, take open-ended questions offline, do not take calls while attending, and -- maybe -- do not use electronic devices while somebody gives a talk.
Assuming there is a host for this seminar, i.e. the person who sends the invite, talk to them. Ask them to establish a set of rules *and enforce them*. You can propose a rule regarding your wishes.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_12: As a speaker, your job is to *speak*.
-------------------------------------
It's the hosts (or moderator's) job to make the environment welcoming for the speaker. If you want the audience to behave a certain way, talk to the host/moderator and ask them to mention and enforce it. Nobody has the job of demanding an audience's attention or respect.
It's pretty normal for people to sit through a talk because they were at the one before and the one after. To them, the present talk is a bit of a break. Is it distracting? It can be, especially to the presenter. Is it rude? Often, but not always, and it almost never is intended to be.
Think of your opportunity to talk—and your audience's attention—as a *privilege*, not a *right*. Be thankful for those who give you their attention, and ignore the rest. If you give a good presentation, it will be their loss.
Is there a breakdown of respect? *Yes.* Should we do our best to reverse it? *Yes*, but it begins with ourselves and with the youth. Teach your kids (if you have any) and your students (if you have any) and those who look up to you to be respectful.
**You can *earn* respect, but anyone who *demands* it looks bad.**
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_13: The mindset I have while teaching: if my students are bored during the class, it is **me** who is boring. It is my fault, so there is no point in getting upset with them. The same applies if people are sleeping: either I am boring them, or they are taking medication that makes them drowsy: either way, it is not their fault, and it is probably mine.
The same applies to a talk, it is *my responsibility* to be engaging, clear, and overall, make an useful presentation. With an extra catch: a research talk is something very specific, and cannot always be fully conveyed in the abstract. I have attended many talks that sounded interesting, but realised after five minutes that they were talking on a completely different level, or taking a radically different approach than what I am interested in. As an example, I would attend a talk about machine learning applied to biology interested in the machine learning bit, but it may turn out to be heavier on the biological part, and loose me quickly.
If I can't follow a talk, there is no point in me looking at the slides; so I better do something better than just wasting my time. We are all consenting adults, I don't have to go around policing people on what to do. Furthermore, if many people have chosen not to listen to me, it is a bad sign I should pick up and fix before my next talk.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_14: *"How to deal with people looking at their mobile phone during my presentation?"*
You don't. As long as they don't make noise you should be happy they took the time to be there. If it helps, pretend they're telling all their friends about the awesome presentation they're attending. Now this one is culture dependent, but in case you feel your senior colleagues are being overly rude, or have offended your honor, you can always challenge them to a [duel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duel); just be careful before you slap them in the face with your glove since dueling is nowadays illegal in some countries and you don't want to go to jail just because someone didn't pay attention to your presentation.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_15: One more useful tactic to add to those already discussed: focus on the people who are enjoying your talk.
This trick was taught to me by a professor whose lecturing style I find excellent. In every audience, there will be a range of reactions. Some people will like the talk more than others, and if you let yourself notice *those* people, then their smiling and nodding will have a positive feedback effect on your emotions regarding the talk. That in turn leads to a better talk, which leads to more smiles, etc.
The same happens in reverse: if you pay attention to the people ignoring or disliking your talk, then the negative emotional impact will tend to degrade your quality of delivery, feeding back in the opposite direction.
The wonderful final corollary: if you are in the audience for a friend and you want their talk to go well, [the best thing that you can do is to smile](http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/kline-listen/b10ch5.htm).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_16: I agree with <NAME>'s answer
**The top thing that you can do is to keep the talk interesting.** That way people will be staring at your power point even if they have no idea what is on it. What I have noticed from my own experience both as an audience member and a speaker is that people drift off when there is something/anything at all that they do not understand.
So a lot of pictures, a lot of summary, a lot of predictability in your talk (like reusing slides but with different words), a lot of prompt words "When, Why, What, How..." but also make sure that all of them are satisfactorily explained.
For example:
1. A lot of people put a single picture/figure on a slide and then ramble on for 5 minutes. Remember your audience has to digest everything you say, which can be very difficult to follow the more technical the material. What I would do is to put just enough information underneath the figure on the power point slide so it is self-explained. So audience never feel like they have lost track of everything and my talk is like supplementary material.
2. Also the more technical the material, the more motivation it needs. For example, when some speakers are explaining a method or an algorithm, they quickly jump to the blackboard and start setting up the entire problem. My approach is always go for the simplest example imaginable to show the big idea, then lead the audience into more involved examples. I rarely use the black board by the way because audience tends to do their own little thing when you are showing your back to them, I use the blackboard to draw pictures, nothing more.
3. You can always bring your audience back when they drift off. You can adjust the tone of your voice, sound more excited "Look at this result, isn't this wonderful". I saw one very experienced presenter who inserts images of his children (along with other random stuff like animals) into the slides and let them do the talking. People are interested in kids. Do that.
**All in all there is a lot a presenter can do to make the talk interesting, and that is the KEY to keep your audience focused.** The more interesting it is, the less likely they will do something else like looking down at their phone or iPad or their Laptop. This works especially well for your front row audience.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_17: Someone is listening carefully to what you saying and will get something from your talk. Give the presentation to the best of your ability for that person. I have found this issue of short attention spans is getting increasingly worse because people are used to instant gratification with Youtube and things like this, so this is basically never going to stop, so just make the talk as engaging as you can. Also, don't make the talk ''interactive'' and start picking on people to hold their attention, as that will just make people uncomfortable.
Like <NAME> says in ''The Dresser'', when you go out on stage to perform a play someone understands what you are doing, so you do it for that person, even if everyone else in the audience doesn't care and is not paying attention.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I am an international student in one of the top universities in Canada.
The graduate admission in Canadian university is a little bit different from other countries; if you want to pursue Phd, you have to have a Master first, and Msc program here is usually admitted with funding (everything paid by supervisor). Currently I am second year of a Computer Science program and going to get my Msc degree within the next six months.
The problem is that before I came here, I told my supervisor I will do a PhD with him. After I came here and dig more into the area, I found out that I am not very interested in his current research. Additionally, my supervisor is not really giving me much support, the funding for the project is actually paid by another PI not in CS. My supervisor is a full professor and does not care much about what research his students are doing, he really enjoy his life a lot (often leaving the office very early). I think what he wants is just to produce some phd students to show he is still active (I can see this because every meeting he seems to talk about phd stuff, and he is kind of really pushing me into phd because he only has one phd student right now, two student in total including me).
Because of this, I want to leave with only a Master degree. The process is that before you finish your Master, you have to fill a form to indicate whether you want to continue Phd with current supervisor or not. This form has to be signed by the supervisor before you graduate with Masters. I think if I directly tell my supervisor I am not doing phd, he will be mad at me and prevent my getting Master degree.
So, should I get admitted in the phd program first and then quit later, or just leave now? If I do the former, I can search for a job first and then tell him I am not interested in academia career anymore. How can I leave with Master degree peacefully?<issue_comment>username_1: Some thoughts:
1. Don't decide what you want to do with your life on the basis of not annoying your current supervisor. If you really want to stop at an MSc then do that, but if you really want to do a PhD with a different supervisor then see if you can do that. Or you might decide you prefer the freedom of a supervisor that doesn't much mind what you do.
2. Your supervisor is a professional. There's a chance they'll be really nasty, but it's more likely they will behave properly and sign the form, even if that isn't what they personally want.
3. Lying is not a good path in Canada (well, not for most people at least).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Have a conversation with your superviser. Having an unfounded fear that "he will be mad at me and prevent my getting Master degree" is not a good basis to make decisions.
I'm saying this because:
* Faculty are people too. We know that students' interests and plans in life change.
* What would your faculty adviser stand to gain by preventing you from getting a Master's degree? In all likelihood, this would simply yield a lot of follow-up work for your adviser, without any extra gain.
* You use the implicit assumption that faculty members are vengeful and mean ill. I think that there is little empirical evidence for that to be true, but it is also generally a poor strategy in life to expect negative attitudes from anyone unless you have concrete evidence to the contrary. If you treat people as if they were evil, they will treat you negatively. If you treat them as if they are partners in your journey through life, they will treat you as a partner.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: This is a question for the director of graduate studies in your department, or your department chair.
Administration might advise you to wait with the form, or put a white lie on the form. They will probably appreciate your letting them know your plans in advance.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I am going to submit a paper to the journal of *ACM Transactions on web*, there is an option for attached files named "*File for reviewers*". I guess it is the option I should choose, but I don't know in which format the file should be. As I searched the site there are a word and a latex templates for articles, but they might be for the final version of the paper?
Can I submit it as a unformatted word document, but enhanced for reading? or a pdf but not based on the template on the site? by the way, I found their template awful for the reviewing purpose.<issue_comment>username_1: Submit in the format they ask for, otherwise paper is likely to be rejected without being read. You won't be reviewing the paper, so don't worry about how awful you think it is.
It's all here: tweb.acm.org/author.html including
>
> Articles must follow the "Small Standard Format" described in the ACM formatting guidelines.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The answer seems to be field-dependent. In fields such as mathematics, it's common practice not to worry about fitting the original submission to the journal's specific style. See [Should you conform to journal formatting requirements for the initial submission?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/36677/should-you-conform-to-journal-formatting-requirements-for-the-initial-submission/36696).
Having said that, the OP concerns ACM Transactions, and I have to go along with username_1: this journal's Author Guidelines quoted in his answer continue to state that
>
> Submissions that do not conform to these guidelines will be returned to the authors for correction.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 1
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2015/08/19
| 363
| 1,521
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<issue_start>username_0: In the current technical report that I write, I have used graphic from an online-source where their policy requires that the author of the drawing has to be acknowledged in case that the drawing is to be used.
This policy applies to electronic and printed formats of the given work.
Where do I place the acknowledgement for this drawings? Probably the proper way would be to use footnote in the page where the drawing is shown but, the policy requires that the name of the author is written. I would like to avoid such content in the footnotes where I discuss important information.
Is it OK if I do the acknowledgement in an appendix in the end of the report?<issue_comment>username_1: What I did on my papers is under the image (often needed to use an image editor) is put in a caption such as "Title of image (if applicable), author of image, year created" Similar to @mkennedy's comment but I prefer adding the citation into the image. I DO NOT alter the original I add extra pixels to the bottom of the image size.
Then in my works cited I would say "Title of image, author name, year, Retrieved from..."
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: You want the reference close to the actual picture. You could go with @username_1's suggestion in the other comment. Or simply put it in the caption:
```
Fig. 19: Measured relationship between galaxy distance and
red shift. (Figure reproduced with permission from http://abc.org,
copyright <NAME>, 2015.)
```
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/19
| 710
| 3,080
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<issue_start>username_0: After publishing an article, assuming that the publisher doesn't prevent you from sharing an article online in a public place, the authors might want to receive additional feedback.
Are there good online methods for attracting and receiving comments on one's article, in addition to collaborators, reviewers, and emails? If possible the comments should be public so that other people could reply to comments.<issue_comment>username_1: You should see if the publisher allows other publications of your work. For example you could publish the same article to a reputable and high traffic blog within the industry. Most blogs allow comments and if it's an industry specific blog then you should only get people within that industry commenting.
If you don't want to republish the same article then you could ask the blog itself to comment on your article and link it to the original publication. This could get comments via email from your publication or comments about the article on the blog that talks about it.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'm aware of three general approaches that seem to be currently effective for seeding such discussion. Listed in order from most direct to least direct:
* Comments hosted by the journal itself: a number of journals that are embracing open science principles are embracing commentary directly. With this, you don't need to take your article anywhere else for people to comment on it: they can do so right there at the article. Examples of this approach include [PLOS ONE](http://www.plosone.org/) and the [Frontiers series](http://www.frontiersin.org/).
* Some sites, most notably [PubPeer](https://pubpeer.com/), are explicitly intended to support discussion of articles.
* If you've got a blog or other social media site, you can also host discussion there. For [some people](https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/), this can be very effective, but you generally must already have a significant audience in order for this to be an effective strategy.
In all case, however, it still tends to be difficult to get meaningful discussion going of most articles, since academics don't seem very interested in comments sections unless there's a fight going on...
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In addition to @username_2's points, I think the more “traditional” ways should be mentioned:
* E-mail. Usually, an author can be marked as “corresponding author” and associated with an e-mail address. Sure, it is not public, but I suspect it is one of the more common ways that comments and discussions actually happen.
* Talks. When you present your work at a conference, discussions may ensue, and this is semi-public.
* Formally published comments. Many journals accept *Comments* on existing articles as a separate category of paper. Most often, this will be to point out some (real/perceived/alleged) problem in the original paper, and there will be replies and rebuttals, which can continue to [several levels](http://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.44.567.2) of commentary.
Upvotes: 1
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| 504
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<issue_start>username_0: I just finished a research-based Masters program, where nearly my entire degree was funded through sponsored research from a particular lab. In the normal schedule of events I should have had time between my final thesis submission and the end of my final's month funding to clean up my files/database work on a shared server. But the week of my thesis being due the criteria for completion was suddenly moved, such that I was no longer able to graduate on time. I ended up having to work unpaid past my graduation in order to complete my thesis. Several months after successfully submitting my thesis I am being nagged to clean up my section on the shared server. I have no intention of attempting a PhD with the lab after. What should I do?
I should add that this has been a recurring problem in our lab, that Masters students are under a lot of pressure to do more in their thesis, but not given time to organize their work so that it can be useful to future students. Once they graduate they get jobs and don't clean up after themselves.<issue_comment>username_1: Here's a way of approaching the ethical aspect of this: how important would it be for you, if you were in the middle of your degree, that a recent grad's files were left in a big mess? Would that affect the finances of the group, because of the files eating up a lot of storage space? Would your work be more difficult or time consuming, with needed files being hard to find? Would you have to take some time away from studies and research in order to try to put the recent grad's files in order, for the good of the group? Would it be difficult for another member of the group to figure out what was what, in the recent grad's absence?
I wonder if you could ask for payment for at least part of the extra time you'd be putting in.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: This kind of thing is common in all workplaces, not just grad school. People move on to a new position either in a new organization or with the same company and their work gets left in a shambles. The key is to have a transition plan. I suggest making a rough plan of what should be done considering how much you're willing to do.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/08/19
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<issue_start>username_0: I will be applying to start graduate school in the U.S. next year during the Fall. Currently I am an undergraduate senior student and most programs require three letters of recommendation with the application. I know professors are busy people and many programs have different requirements for the format of the recommendation. Hence, it might take some time for a professor to do the different recommendations. How early should I send the initial email requesting for a letter?<issue_comment>username_1: The earliest deadlines are often Dec 1, ... so you'd want to be requesting letters at least two months prior. Further, *do* be sure to make such requests \_in\_person\_, not by email (even if you arrange an appointment by email). As you can imagine, it is a bit of extra work to generate such letters and do the (often ridiculous) on-line stuff to register them at several places... so you are asking a favor. Not a huge sacrifice, but *something*. So don't just do it by email, I think: go, in person, smile, and use affect and body language to express your appreciation. :)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Contact the professors now! There's no reason to wait. You can just tell them you are interested in having them write letters for you, if they are willing; they can at least start thinking about what to write. Then as soon as you have decided which schools to apply to, send them the details on how to submit the letters and the deadlines. I would say this should be a bare minimum of 2 weeks before the deadline, preferably much sooner.
After that, don't hesitate to remind them periodically of the deadline, until they tell you the letters have been submitted.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: * How well do you know the people you will be asking for letters of recommendations from?
* Have you consistently gone to office hours?
* Have you shown an interest in the material of the course above and beyond what was required for a grade?
* Have you assisted any of them in their research efforts, and if so, what contribution have you made?
* Does your department have a formal policy on how letters of recommendation are handled? Some programs of study (Pre-Health, Pre-Law, etc.) have offices dedicated to the coordination of the application process for advanced degrees and will have their own criteria on deadlines and how applications are handled.
If you have done your part as a student and been actively engaged with the people you will be asking for letters of recommendation from, then you should already have an idea of who your references will be and what their styles are as to how approachable and willing they will be to give you the recommendation and what the demands on their time are. If you haven't been engaged with them, then
1. Don't expect much more than a form letter or a flat out refusal
2. Expect to ask as soon as possible as you will go to the bottom of their list of people to write recommendations for as they will prioritize those students whom they know on a more personal basis and have engaged them.
3. Unless you need to remain a student to fulfill the requirements of a visa, then consider a gap year and work on the third and fourth bullets above so that you gain the experience and build the relationships you need this year to get more than just the perfunctory letter of recommendation from three disinterested faculty who will only have as much time for you as you had for them.
You are obviously asking them to do you a favor, even though it is one that is an expect part of their chosen profession, so the more time that you give the person you are asking for a recommendation is not only the courteous thing to do, it also shows that you are organized, committed, respect their time and effort in your success, and are deserving of more than just a Lucas was in my X course and he got a grade of Y answer to a boilerplate letter of recommendation. Participation in a course and doing the work to earn a respectable grade is part of your job description of being a student. Asking for a reference comes from the things that you did that went above and beyond those requirements.
Also prepare a highlights sheet of your life and academic career to this point for your reviewers, in writing, and invest the time in it that you hope that they will invest in you, so no grammar, spelling, or punctuation mistakes. Give your pertinent autobiographical information including the grades and instructors for course work related to the field you are applying to. List out awards you have received, accolades such as making the Dean's list, etc. Tell them about why you are applying to the field you are applying to, what went into the choices that you have made to get you there. Give them an outline of the things that you hope that they will say about you in your letter. And personalize it. Let them know how they influence your choice in the direction that you will be taking with the rest of your life. If you can articulate the difference that they made in your academic career in order to want to pursue it further with an advanced degree, then they will likely put more effort into your request.
Oh and don't forget an old-fashioned, hand written, Thank You note, in a card or on stationary if they do agree to be your reviewer. It will show that you value their time and your future.
Upvotes: 1
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2015/08/19
| 488
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<issue_start>username_0: I recently reviewed a paper for a Math/Comp-Sci conference. The author's response came back with responses to 12 referees.
Am I wrong in thinking it absurd that there are this many referees on a paper?
For one, I, like many researchers, expect a paper to have about 2-3 referees, so make a rule of refereeing about this many papers for every paper I publish. I will cannot referee 12 papers for ever paper I publish. What does this do to the referee pool?
Secondly, having so many referees seems to make the decision of any single referee as insignificant. If I spend 2 days on a paper, as is not uncommon in math, I would like to think my opinion counts for more than one vote in 12.
Finally, responding to 12 referees is quite a burden for the author; especially if referees make suggestions about style or presentation, which could be contradictory.
I am not just ranting. Is there another side to this that I am missing?<issue_comment>username_1: I fully agree that 12 referees is too many. 2 to max 4 referees is fine. More referees will indeed leave the authors with conflicting comments, and does not contribute to the quality of the review.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Having 12 referees is both unusual and a ridiculous amount to have. The most I have ever seen is 5 on a single paper and even then I thought that was pushing it. As @username_1 mentioned having 2-4 referees is a good number.
I don't see a reason why there would be a need for 12 referees and, if possible, it may be interesting to talk to the author about their opinion with 12 referees is.
Having that may referees will dilute the opinion of any one of them. Like you said having a 1 in 12 vote isn't the same as a 1 in 2 or 1 in 4.
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/20
| 172
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a student of physics at graduation level.I want to Masters and PHD in CSE in USA.
can it possible?<issue_comment>username_1: Assuming, that CSE means Computational Science & Engineering, you can get a good overview of CSE graduate programs at the [SIAM webpage.](https://www.siam.org/students/resources/cse_programs.php)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: While it's not to sound rude @virmaior has a point. While you can pursue a PhD in CSE in the US, with the level of English skill you used in your questions - you need to work on your language skills before considering a PhD in the US.
Upvotes: 0
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2015/08/20
| 1,910
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<issue_start>username_0: This question has been bothering me for some time as I had to fail a student as you'll see later on. I am hoping that another SE member has seen a student or may have even been a student like this.
During my course - a business course, not a writing course - I had a student in my class. Every week I assign a paper based on the reading students should have done, but not based on questions they can answer directly from the text book. The questions pertain to current or recent events within the business world involving their studies.
Most students say it takes them anywhere from 2-5 hours working on the assignment that is due each week. I've never had an issue with a student not being able to finish the paper in time and I am more lenient in grading a paper that has less than the assigned pages than most.
Now, this student, I will refer to her as "A", seemed to be falling behind around the third week of the course. I quickly noticed that all of her citations for her research on the weekly assignment were books and textbooks but not excerpts taken and cited from online sources.
After a class I sat down with A and asked her why she prefers citing so many books and not looking online for the sources. I also asked if that's how her old school had required students to do most of their research.
My question was followed by that she doesn't really understand how the internet works and the only thing she really knows how to do is use a Word processor. I don't care what platform my students find their sources on from but I was now concerned because she, like I said, seemed to be falling behind.
When asked how long she spends on the assignment each week she said it takes her 3 days of going through books in the university library and the local public library. I advised her to seek out a librarian that works at my university and ask for a tutor there that I personally knew and would be willing to help her.
In the end this student kept falling more and more behind as the semester went on. An assignment that shouldn't take more than a couple hours was taking A days to complete, and with a final research project worth 30% of the grade she would have no chance of completing it on time using just books as resources without the help of the internet to at least guide her to the correct books.
Is this a common thing to happen with some students and could I have done more without giving the student "special treatment"?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a very interesting observation. Before suggesting anything, I would tell you to avoid the words like country. Because it seems your student "A" represents that whole country. Now come to your question. This is very natural to have some typical students who are not interested to update themselves. They just love to be in their old fashions. I have seen many such people e.g. instead of using a calculator for big multiplications, they use pen and papers to waste time unnecessarily.
As per your queries, following minimum computer skills should be expected from any University students:
```
1- Knowledge of Word processing, Spreadsheet and Presentation (e.g. MS office, OpenOffice etc.)
2- Web browser basics
3- Email and ability to use an online learning forum
4- Computer security (Skills to keep secure the personal information and computer data)
5- Understanding the software and hardware
6- Skills to make good presentation
```
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: To answer your question I believe the following should be the basic knowledge for students
```
1. Word processing application
2. Ability to use an internet browser
```
The thought process for this list was thinking of a student who does not own a laptop/computer. The closet technological resource for the student on campus is library computers or a computer lab. Most library computers will have IE and MS Suite products. All the student has to do now is learn how to use them by teaching themselves or asking someone and the rest should follow.
For the latter part of the question, it isn't common for this to happen but every student comes from a different background. What is most important is that this student wants to learn and doing her best do to so the way she knows. Why don't you teach her the basics? I wouldn't call this "special treatment" since you are an educator and you're helping her learn a skill that is necessary in this day and age, and you're not doing her assignment.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Certainly it is reasonable to expect your students to be comfortable with a word processor and with basic internet research.
However, once in a while you will have a student who doesn't meet one of these, or some other basic skill expectation.
When this happens, you want the student to get up to speed ASAP. You offered a helpful, practical suggestion for this -- gold star!
If your first suggestion doesn't work, then you may want to go to someone in your teaching infrastructure, such as a dean of undergraduate studies in your department, and let them know about the problem. That person may take it from there, or give you another suggestion, or advise you that you've done all you can to get the student to remedy the deficiency, and remind you that sometimes the best motivation for change is failure.
Separate from the above, there is something you can do to help the student be more successful, in terms of your own teaching. I'll give you an analogy. Suppose a middle school social studies teacher assigns a project, with the instructions that to accompany the text, five hand-drawn illustrations are required. (This example is taken from recent real life -- incredible but true!) Suppose a student in the class has some sort of difficulty (physical or otherwise) with hand-drawn illustrations. Would it be fair to reduce this student's grade if the project is missing the five hand-drawn illustrations? Of course not. This student needs an **educational accommodation**, so that he can demonstrate *his knowledge*, without getting hung up on the *form of demonstration*.
Your internet-challenged student needed an educational accommodation too. We don't want the student to get evaluated on her internet research skill if that in itself is not the primary (or even secondary) academic goal of your course. (Please correct me if I'm wrong -- I'm assuming that internet research skills are a means to an end, not the end itself.)
You can do some brainstorming on your own when you see that a student needs an educational accommodation, and you can ask colleagues, friends and the disability office. (Not because this student had a disability, but because the folks in the disability office are used to thinking outside the box.) Once you've got a few ideas as a starting point, it's time to run them past the student to see if she has a preference, or any additional ideas.
I'll do a little quick brainstorming myself, just to get the ball rolling:
* Ask for the student's email address, and send her three specific internet links you would like her to read in preparation for each assignment.
* Once a week, print out three specific articles you would like her to read, understand and synthesize for that week's topic.
* Mix it up. Sometimes make a small group weekly assignment that requires collaboration. Make sure everyone has gotten into a small group, and ask the students to let you or the TA know if their group isn't working out, so regrouping can take place.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: The ability to use the internet (web search, email, etc.) and use word processing tools are usually considered assumed skills at university level. So yes, you can reasonably assume that students should have these skills, and it is reasonable to set tasks that require these skills. (It is not necessary to specify these as explicit prerequisites for courses to do so.)
As to your teaching, there is no need for you to worry about giving a student "special treatment" by helping them to bridge a gap in prerequisite knowledge. That is a legitimate part of teaching, and there is no disadvantage to other students by providing this student with some assistance for developing basic study skills. Most universities have some kind of Skills Centre where students can go if they need help with basic study abilities like this, so it is usually not something that course lecturers need to do themselves. I would recommend you look up the learning resources at your university (sometimes these are run through the university library) and see if you can refer this student to some teaching on these areas.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: This semester I need to take a course that is offered in two sections, one of which will be taught by my M.Sc. thesis advisor.
The problem is that I personally prefer to take the course with the other professor instead of my advisor because:
* The teaching quality of my advisor is not as good as the other professor.
* If I take the course with my current advisor, the TAs would be my labmates, and it makes me a little nervous that my grades and activities be exposed to them (and also to the professor).
I want to know generally: is it OK to ***not*** take a course with your advisor, especially if that course is the main focus of your lab and your work.<issue_comment>username_1: While it may be permitted, it's not advisable to graduate without ever having taken a class with your advisor. Remember that one of the things that you will want to do is ask your advisor for a letter of recommendation (either for a job or for graduate school). So if you have never taken a class with your advisor, do so.
The reason is that when writing the letter, they will want to say that they had you in class and that you were brilliant. If they've never had you in class, it's hard for them to make that type of evaluative statement. A much shorter and weaker letter may result.
The most important thing, though, is to talk to your advisor. I have actively advised my students to take a class that isn't mine (and that meets at the same time as mine) because it is better for their scholarly development. At the same time, I had supervised their work closely and felt that I knew them fairly well.
Note: While this is not part of the question, if you are somehow giving the impression that you think lowly of the professor and of your lab mates, then you may have bigger problems than a course or two.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: You may learn more going with the other professor. By working with your supervisor, you are learning his style and focus in great detail. The other professor will likely take a different approach, that can enrich your views on the topic.
I disagree with username_1 about the letter. He knows you best from working with him, and taking a course would actually add very little to his knowledge of your performance that cannot be seen by looking at your transcript. His letter would be mostly based on what you have done with him, and he hopefully wants to write that you are a brilliant and resourceful researcher.
Now, how is *your* supervisor going to take it? Impossible to know without talking to him! When I was considering taking a course partially taught by my former MSc supervisor, he told me that I already knew almost everything he was going to say, and would consider waving his part of the course for a report. But professors are human beings, and come in all varieties.
Lastly, I think that your "grades and activities being exposed [to your labmates]" is not a good reason to not take a course; but avoiding conflict of interest is a better one.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Expanding my comments from earlier...
Most importantly, talk to your advisor. Either you should be able to convince him/her that the other course will benefit you more or he/she should be able to convince you that his/her course will benefit you more.
I disagree with username_1's answer. Working *with* your advisor is far more important than taking a class with him/her for a letter of rec. You may have other opportunities to take a course with him/her anyway.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I was going through my supervisors corrections and comments on a particular section of my thesis and I realised that he consistently removed words like "*recently*" when referring to literature, i.e.
>
> "In a ***recently*** published study, monkeys were taught discrete algebra when listening to Beethoven through one ear, and Beyonce through the other"
>
>
>
I haven't had the opportunity to talk to him about it, so I figured I might get a reason as to why words/phrases like that are not desired in literature. Besides it might be helpful for others as well.
Question(s): Is there something wrong with using phrases like "recent study"? If so, is it specific to a field (biomedical science in my case) or to a particular type of publication (thesis vs a regular article, for example)?<issue_comment>username_1: I find that there are some places where temporal context (e.g., "recently") is appropriate in discussing the literature, and others where it is not:
* When I'm justifying the "Why now? Why is this interesting?" nature of the work, typically in the introduction, timeliness is often important, and I'll use words like "recently." This helps show that researchers are currently interested in the work in the paper, and can help motivate the work by showing how it's filling in a newly recognized gap.
* When I'm surveying a landscape of work, on the other hand, it doesn't matter when work was done, just how it relates. Then I would not note the time of publication.
Your colleague might have been over-zealous (some people have notions or phrases that they just *hate*), or you might have been giving information that wasn't actually useful in context, and thus should be deleted as distracting. It's impossible to know without looking at the context in detail, but hopefully these principles can help guide how you think about it.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I'm not sure there is anything particularly *wrong*, but rather that it would become outdated. If someone reads your thesis 5 years from now, is what you called "recent", still "recent"? On the other hand, if you say:
>
> These other authors (year) taught monkeys discrete algebra ...
>
>
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Simply providing the year allows the reader to know how recent the other paper is, no matter when someone reads it. I don't know if there are any field-specific conventions, I would assume that it's a personal style.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Is there any research/study that looked at the impact of the percentage of links posted in published articles are dead? I am trying to know to what extent dead links are an issue. E.g. [on Stack Overflow, it looks like 10% of the links posted here are dead](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/300916/395857).<issue_comment>username_1: *Reposting my answer from the original thread*
There have been multiple studies about this over the years and in different fields, indicating a link rot on the order of a few percent per year. Here are some, in chronological order:
* <NAME>, <NAME>, The life and death of URLs in five biomedical informatics journals, International Journal of Medical Informatics, Volume 76, Issue 4, April 2007, Pages 269-273, doi:[10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2005.12.001](http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2005.12.001).
states
>
> Of the 19,108 references extracted from 606 printed and 86 in-press articles, 1112 (5.8%) references contained a URL. Of the 1049 unique URLs, 726 (69.2%) were alive, 230 (21.9%) were dead, and 93 (8.9%) were comatose. URLs from in-press articles included 212 URLs, of which 169 (79.7%) were alive, 21 (9.9%) were dead, and 22 (10.4%) were comatose. The average annual decay, or link rot, rate was 5.4%.
>
>
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* <NAME>, <NAME> (2008). The Missing Link: Assessing the Reliability of Internet Citations in History Journals. Technology and Culture, Volume 49, Number 2, pp. 420-429. doi:[10.1353/tech.0.0028](http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/tech.0.0028)
states
>
> We examined the reliability of worldwide web citations in two leading history journals (Journal of American History and American Historical Review) over seven years and found that 18 percent of web links cited over that period were inactive. The problem increased over time. In articles published seven years earlier, 38 percent of web citations were dead.
>
>
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* <NAME> and <NAME> (2013): A cross disciplinary study of link decay and the effectiveness of mitigation techniques. BMC Bioinformatics 14(Suppl 14):S5. doi:[10.1186/1471-2105-14-S14-S5](http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-14-S14-S5)
states
>
> we downloaded 18,231 Web of Science (WOS) abstracts containing "http" in the title or abstract from the years under study (1996-2010), out of which 17,110 URLs (14,489 unique) were extracted and used. We developed Python scripts to access these URLs over a 30-day period. For the period studied, 69% of the published URLs (67% of the unique) were available on the live Internet, the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine had archived 62% (59% unique) of the total and WebCite had 21% (16% unique). Overall, 65% of all URLs (62% unique) were available from one of the two surveyed archival engines.
>
>
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* <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, et al. (2014) Scholarly Context Not Found: One in Five Articles Suffers from Reference Rot. PLoS ONE 9(12): e115253. doi:[10.1371/journal.pone.0115253](http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0115253).
looked at link rot in article corpora from arXiv, Elsevier, and PMC:
>
> All three corpora show a moderate, yet alarming, link rot ratio for references made in recent articles, published in 2012: 13% for arXiv, 22% for Elsevier, and 14% for PMC. Not surprisingly when considering the dynamic nature of the web, for older articles the link rot ratio increases in all corpora. For publication year 2005, the link rot ratio stands at 18%, 41%, 36% for arXiv, Elsevier, and PMC, respectively. Going back to the earliest publication year in our corpora, 1997, the ratios become 34%, 66%, and 80%, respectively.
>
>
>
* <NAME>, <NAME> and <NAME> . (2014). Perma: scoping and addressing the problem of link and reference rot in legal citations. Harvard Law Review 127: 176–196.
surveyed law journals and court decisions, with the following observations
>
> We documented a serious problem of reference rot: more than 70% of the URLs within the above mentioned journals, and 50% of the URLs within U.S. Supreme Court opinions suffer reference rot — meaning, again, that they do not produce the information originally cited.
>
>
>
I also think I had seen a study somewhere that indicated that even "early online" articles start out at about 5-10% link rot, i.e. they start rotting well before official publication. Could not find that right now, though.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: <NAME>, <NAME>, Heilig LF, <NAME>, <NAME>, <NAME>, et al. Information science. Going, going, gone: lost Internet references. Science 2003 Oct 31;302(5646):787-788. DOI:10.1126/science.1088234; <http://science.sciencemag.org/content/302/5646/787> ; <https://web.archive.org/web/20170813145731/http://science.sciencemag.org/content/302/5646/787>
>
> The use of Internet references in academic literature is common, and Internet references are frequently inaccessible. The extent of Internet referencing and Internet reference activity in medical or scientific publications was systematically examined in more than 1000 articles published between 2000 and 2003 in the New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and Science. **Internet references accounted for 2.6% of all references (672/25548) and in articles 27 months old, 13% of Internet references were inactive.** Publishers, librarians, and readers need to reassess policies, archiving systems, and other resources for addressing Internet reference attrition to prevent further information loss.
>
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>
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I studied physics and computer science as an undergrad, got a master's in computer science, and now am applying for a second master's in engineering physics. So, I have emailed one of my old physics professors for a recommendation letter. He agreed to write one, but has requested more information to do so seeing as though I haven't been in touch since I went to grad school. He didn't specify any particular items, but another letter writer has requested my statement of purpose draft, coursework/research highlights, resume, and unofficial transcripts, so I'm assuming he'd appreciate the same. Because he is from a different school and department and hence unfamiliar with their curriculum, I was planning to send a list of my grad school classes and grades with descriptions included rather than the unofficial transcript which only includes the course number and a brief, generic title.
I'm happy to oblige, except for one thing: I failed a class in grad school. This is explained by a medical situation at the time; I took the next semester off, it is since resolved, I did well in all my classes afterwards, etc. - it is a non-issue now.
My question is, should I include this black mark when I send him materials? It is not something that affected any of my work in undergrad and will not affect anything in the future, so I'd think it's not really relevant. I'd rather not tell yet another person about how I failed a class, especially someone who I haven't talked to in a while and have asked to write good things about me.<issue_comment>username_1: I would err on the side of being honest, as you have a legitimate reason for why one specific class was an issue. Whereas that is explainable, it would be a mark against your character if he discovers that you did not give him a complete list of a classes after he requested it.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> My question is, should I include this black mark when I send him materials?
>
>
>
Yes, you should definitely include it or, at the very least, make it clear to him if you aren't providing a complete list of courses from grad school. The danger is if he thinks it's complete and makes statements based on that in his letter, for example that you never received a grade less than an A-. Then he looks clueless (which is bad for him) and the admissions committee assumes he doesn't know what he's talking about and discounts any other good things he says (which is bad for you).
You can just give him the same explanation you're planning to give the admissions committee, and it shouldn't be a problem.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes. No professor in the world expects a student to have had stellar grades in every class. If he asked for your transcripts, he wants to see it all... not just the highlights.
You already know this... or you wouldn't be struggling with it.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: If your full transcript will be available to the *recipients* of the letter, you should certainly send it to the *author* of the letter. At best, "inconsistent messages" in the letter and the transcript might cause delays and/or confusion. At worst, they would be a straightforward and objective reason not to consider your application at all, especially if there are plenty of other well-qualified applicants.
It would be sensible to add a note stating the medical circumstances to both sets of documentation, of course.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: You aren't applying to the professor. You're using a letter from the professor to help where you are applying. He's writing the letter to help you. Expect him to have some consideration for what to say about the grade (or even whether to bring it up).
If the people who are going to judge your application are going to see that grade, then it's incredibly useful if someone who is on your side can say something about it. So yes - of course send it to the professor and give a brief explanation. What do you think would be worse as someone reviewing applications: seeing that the student had failed a course and reading a letter of recommendation that says: "I know this student is hard working and talented, but struggled during a serious illness that is now resolved", or seeing a letter that says "without exception this student has always performed well."
You should also think about sending a doctor's note along with your application. Have a quick note saying, "Please disregard my performance in semester X. I became ill (see attached doctor's note). I took time off to recover. The illness has been dealt with. As you can see from my later grades my performance since then has been much improved."
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: Two years ago, <NAME> [discussed](https://web.archive.org/web/20150809222539/http://simplystatistics.org/2013/04/30/reproducibility-and-reciprocity/) in his blog the ramifications of requiring [reproducibility](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reproducibility) for the first producers of research objects, but not for reusers. He then proposed
>
> What I think a good reproducibility policy should have is a type of "viral" clause. For example, the GNU General Public License (GPL) is an open source software license that requires, among other things, that anyone who writes their own software, but links to or integrates software covered under the GPL, must publish their software under the GPL too. This "viral" requirement ensures that people cannot make use of the efforts of the open source community without also giving back to that community.
>
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I agree that having such a perpetuating policy element is very desirable, but would try to establish community norms around that, i.e. to get community organs like funders, publishers, institutions or learned societies to express support for the idea that reproducibility should trigger reproducibility. How best to phrase the core elements of such statements?
*This question was originally [posted](http://openscience.stackexchange.com/questions/154/how-can-we-perpetuate-reproducibility) at the Open Science SE private beta, due to be closed tomorrow.*<issue_comment>username_1: ### A few ways to perpetuate reproducibility:
1. As a stipulation to publication, publishers could require the software and data used for a research paper to be made publicly available so that others could reproduce the results.
2. Academic institutions could provide repositories to allow its members to publish their code or data, to encourage making the code or data publicly available.
### Difficulties regarding reproducibility requirements:
A major downside--perhaps a dealbreaker--is that there are significant issues with intellectual property. Large numerical models often take years to develop, benchmark and test, but once they are completed, they can often be used several times for several publications with minimal modification. Sharing the code they spent years developing in many cases would allow others to use the code to make discoveries before the original developers had a chance to do so. Allowing the original developers to protect their code gives them incentive to develop it.
Many data sets (especially in the social sciences) are protected/restricted because they contain classified, confidential, or personally-identifiable information. Moreover, many data sets that contain no personally identifiable information can actually be de-anonymized though careful computer analysis, so even protected data sets that have been "anonymized" are not necessarily safe to be released to the public.
Another difficulty is that some codes/scripts/routines may use commercial software (e.g. MATLAB, SPSS, etc.), so while the code themselves may be freely available, they might not necessarily be usable without paid software. This would exclude certain people from being able to reproduce results.
Some data sets are so large as to be an unreasonable burden on repositories. For example, I collaborated on a simulation that produced over 50 TB of data -- and there are other data sets that make 50 TB look tiny! It could cost a lot to maintain repositories on the order of hundreds of TB or several PB.
### Summary
*There are a few things that could be done to strongly encourage reproducibility, but they come at a cost. Releasing code, exact methodology, data sets, and other intellectual property would impact different fields in different ways and may not always be possible from a legal perspective. **My guess is that data reproducibility will need to be treated on a field-by-field basis.***
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: It's an economic problem, not a legal problem. Make the experiment cheap to do, and it will be widely copied. Provide funding or career advancement for reproduction, and people will do it. An unfunded legal mandate will just cause scientists to go elsewhere.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a GPA from a single school and I want to add it into my cumulative GPA.<issue_comment>username_1: A cumulative GPA is the final GPA from a single university, college, or school, not from all of them.
While it may be tempting to "raise" the GPA from a particular university by incorporating better results from another school, you will also be lowering the GPA from the school where you did better.
Admissions officers or committees are interested in how you did at each separate school, particularly if you can show increasing cumulative GPAs over time.
>
> Generally, students' computation or renormalization of their own GPAs
> is viewed as at-best-irrelevant by most interested parties, or, worse,
> as deception or manipulation. Let your transcripts speak for
> themselves. - <NAME>
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> When I apply at universities, they want me to give them "All transferable undergraduate college work: GPA".
>
>
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So, you want to know how they expect you to calculate an overall GPA, taking into account courses taken at more than one institution, right?
Ask them!
That being said, I can tell you how to do a homemade calculation, for your own purposes. (If you already know how to do this, please ignore the following.) For each course you've taken, multiple the credit hours by the numeric grade (4 for A, 3 for B, and so on). Add up these "weighted" numeric grades for *all* the schools you've attended to get the grand total. Now to calculate the *average*, you'll divide that grand total by the total number of credit hours.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: Some mathematicians said that general topology in general and theory of proximity spaces in particular are dead (meaning that no new discoveries appear in this field of mathematics).
I have discovered a theory which generalizes general topology in general and theory of proximity spaces in particular, opening a new major area of research.
It is described in [this draft book](http://www.mathematics21.org/algebraic-general-topology.html).
So general topology "resurrected".
Where are the celebration and fireworks proclaiming: "General topology is alive!"?
I am an amateur mathematician and my speaking English (and also my purse to buy air tickets) is still not good enough to participate in scientific conferences.
I am not allowed to submit to either arXiv or nLab.
Something is wrong: There should be a celebration of general topology being alive, but this does not happen. What is wrong?
Well, one thing because which this does not happen is that I have not (yet) solved any specific open problem (not counting open problems which I myself formulated). But what else keeps the world off celebration?
---
My question is not a duplicate of [Publishing vs. putting work online under a free license](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/44055) because at that question I ask about how citing (not acceptance in general) of my work may be influenced by its license and method of publication. Here I however ask about acceptance (not citing) of my work independently on its method of publication.
It is surely not a duplicate of [I believe I have solved a famous open problem. How do I convince people in the field that I am not a crank?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18491/i-believe-i-have-solved-a-famous-open-problem-how-do-i-convince-people-in-the-f), because in this situation I have not solved a famous open problem.
It is not a duplicate of [Creating a community around my research book](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14189/creating-a-community-around-my-research-book), because in that question I ask what to do but in this question why does it happen. These are entirely different questions.<issue_comment>username_1: A good and fair question.
I took a brief look at your materials, and it seems like you introduce a host of new terminology and notation. It would take a tremendous effort for anyone to learn it. What is the payoff? Why should anyone take the trouble? I don't mean to cause offense, but these are questions that you must anticipate and be prepared to convincingly answer.
The classical way to motivate people to learn a new theory is to use it to solve an existing open problem, whose formulation does not require the new language you develop. Failing that, you could give sleek, elegant solutions of problems (again, whose formulation does not require your language) whose only known solutions are complicated and kludgy.
I recommend to you that you learn about the history of <NAME>, his mathematics, and of the development of modern algebraic geometry (i.e., of scheme theory). Nowadays it is common for advanced graduate students to spend a lot of time learning his intricate language for describing what are, essentially, the solution sets to algebraic equations.
*Why*? If you refuse to take it for granted that this material is worthwhile, and instead learn the history of its development and its applications, I would guess that you would learn a lot about what it takes to get a new mathematical theory accepted.
Best of luck.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: First, echoing @username_1 ' answer: people need motivation to learn something that is outside their usual world. Why should they? How will it *help* them?
Second, "acceptance" is in some ways a very weak thing. People may "accept it" but ignore it. It is not clear what reaction you expect. This reminds me of my contact with an angry amateur mathematician who expected to somehow be paid a stipend by the nearby university due to the theorems he'd proven... He was angry that I merely gave him advice about what journals to submit the article to (this was pre-internet), and didn't care at all that I told him he could mention that he was referred to them by *me* (as opposed to cold-call submission), and didn't care at all about my advice about the style of his write-up.
Stylistically, academic mathematics is very conservative, and any element of non-conformity in language is viewed as evidence of crack-pottery... although, obviously, it is only evidence of disconnection from the forces of orthodoxy. But/and if one's goal is acceptance by the (mostly orthodox... if only from fear of ostracism) majority, essential-conformity in style is very important. In particular, don't say that you "have a new theory" or that anything is "resurrected", and so on. Minimize new terminology, minimize new notation.
That is, yes, give the (possibly misleading) impression that what you propose is as-little-different from the status quo as possible... thereby getting peoples' confidence.
For that matter, building off established technology is vastly more sensible than trashing everything and starting over. It's really tough to give a convincing argument that everything we (=professional mathematicians) have is misguided and we should all change something...
In short: be persuasive to the human beings you want to persuade. They are both "human" and "expert"...
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> There should be a celebration of general topology being alive, but this does not happen. What is wrong?
>
>
>
The people who say general topology is dead are generally not unhappy about this conclusion: they feel it died a well-deserved death due to a lack of important connections with the rest of mathematics. (They are wrong, both about whether it in fact died and about its lack of connections, but these beliefs persist.) Your work does not challenge these beliefs, because it appears to be almost entirely self-contained, with minimal connections to other topics in mathematics. If someone considers the field dead, then they will view your book as a zombie, rather than a sign of life.
This doesn't mean you have to try to change their minds. It's perfectly reasonable to ignore them and focus on the mathematicians who do care about general topology. But those mathematicians won't be surprised to hear that the field they work in is still alive.
>
> Well, one thing because which this does not happen is that I have not (yet) solved any specific open problem (not counting open problems which I myself formulated).
>
>
>
This is a major issue. There are two ways you can attract researchers to a new research area. You can show them how this area is connected to things they already care about, or you can convince them the new area is outstandingly interesting and important in its own right (more so than what they are currently working on). The former is far easier, while the latter ranges from difficult to impossible. If you can't build connections, then the chances of ever attracting much interest are low.
>
> But what else keeps the world off celebration?
>
>
>
Celebration is not the default state. Every day, several hundred new mathematics papers are posted to the arXiv, some of them rather important. On a typical day, none of them will get a reaction that could reasonably be described as celebration. You should not expect it to happen here.
As a general rule, it can be difficult for authors to predict how their papers will be received. Your book is exactly the sort of thing you like. Maybe it's your favorite topic in the world, but that doesn't mean it will be everyone else's favorite too. This can be really frustrating. Some of my papers are much more popular and influential than others, and they aren't always the ones I'm most excited about or proud of. I sometimes wish I could say to people "Hey, if you think X is so great, why aren't you twice as excited about Y?" But ultimately people's tastes and preferences differ, and you need to make a case for your work in terms that other people understand and value. This is not easy, but it's the only way forward.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: Even famous establishment mathematicians run into trouble when their work starts to become inbred, creating lots of new concepts and terminology that is not connected to anything anyone else is doing. Mochizuki's work on the ABC conjecture and Poenaru's work on the Poincare conjecture are both good examples. Both have constructed intricate theories with very little connection to mathematics that other people are working on, and as a result, the mathematical community is largely ignoring them. It simply takes too much time and mental effort to slog through their work, without any guarantee of a payoff. It could be that after several months of study, you find a mistake. Then that's basically several months down the drain!
So if establishment researchers working on big important problems run into this issue, a relatively unknown researcher with an elaborate theory that doesn't actually solve any open problems is not going to have much of a chance!
My best advice is to begin more modestly by writing up some part of your work in a short research article with plenty of motivation in the introduction. "This is a new theory that resurrects general topology" is not sufficient motivation! Instead "We provide a simplified conceptual framework for understanding phenomenon X" would be better. Avoid making grandiose-sounding claims or sounding like you are bragging. After getting a short article on your ideas published you can start building from there.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: Here is a brand new mathematical theory I have invented just now (in the last 30 seconds):
A Gobleflump is a set together with a ternary operation Star(a,b,c), and a binary operation Spade(a,b) satisfying Star(Spade(a,b),Spade(c,d),Spade(e,f)) = Spade(Star(a,b,c),Star(d,e,f)).
I could now devote my life to the study of Gobleflumps. I could publish papers about extremely regular gobleflumps, and the equivalence between hyperconvex gobleflumps and hypoconvex grendleflops. This might all be legitimate, correct mathematics.
No one will ever care about my lifes work, or probably even read it, unless it makes some connection to existing mathematical theory, illuminates why something disconnected from the theory works the way it does, or solves some existing problem.
The reason is just that mathematics is a social activity. People work on things which are important to the group, and the things which are important to the group are determined (basically) by fads. There is no objective reason that human mathematics should be so concerned with polynomial equations over finite fields, except that some people found it interesting, and they convinced other people to find it interesting. Eventually people found these tools could be useful for solving their other problem in algebraic topology or data encryption.
My own work as a Ph.d. student was probably only really interesting to about 50 people on the planet, but might possibly be interesting to some more people in connected fields if I did the hard work of convincing them that it is useful to them.
If you care about the impact of your work, then I suggest working on mathematics which arises naturally in connection with the mathematics of other people. If you do not care about other people, then work on something which is not connected to what other people care about.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_6: **You need a reality check.**
Is this really a breakthrough? Are your assumptions and development of your theory solid? Are the consequences far-reaching?
Reading posts of yours like [Is a university that grants me a PhD for $1000 and a copy of my unpublished book fake?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23406/is-a-university-that-grants-me-a-phd-for-1000-and-a-copy-of-my-unpublished-book) or <http://www.mathematics21.org/algebraic-general-topology.html> makes me believe that the need is real.
Also go through [this list](http://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=304) or [this one](http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/crackpot.html). Both are valuable checklists.
Upvotes: 5
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<issue_start>username_0: I'll be simple and direct, since the situation I'm asking after is pretty general, and hardly requires an anecdotal context.
Would it be ethical of a student for him/her to act as a proofreader/editor for other students' essays and works?
For example, students unfamiliar with English seek out this student for proofreading - this student corrects all the grammar and spelling errors in their papers, and fixes cases of terrible vocabulary (e.g. using "mail" instead of "male," or replacing instances of "spinning plane" with "helicopter" when it is clearly meant to be so).
And to further push the boundaries, this student gives critiques and advice of sorts. If Paragraph A doesn't make sense, they will advise them to rewrite it. If Paragraph B fits better as a conclusion, they will advise them to move it. If the essay suddenly dives into ill-fitting rambling for a page or two or goes off-topic, they will advise them to cut it.
Is this ethical?<issue_comment>username_1: I believe it is good practice for students to proofread and edit each other's work. I also believe it is ethical, provided that
1. it is consistent with the professor's instructions,
2. the final product is still substantially the work of the student submitting it, and
3. it is properly attributed.
See, for example, [my university's honor code](http://honorcode.nd.edu/the-honor-code/#student%20responsibilities) (paragraph IV.C).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends on the situation. This is very essential when we talk about journals. Because such unfamiliar proofreader's understanding/suggestions greatly help to make simple/clear the content of the topic/essay, especially to the newcomers in that topic. Switching to your case, it is also necessary but not always. Because some students have a bad tendency to depend on others during their homework instead increasing their skills in it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: It's frustrating for those who are teaching writing, those papers that "my cousin" helped me with. I'm talking about non-native students in a native-student class -- in a class for second-language students, it should never happen. I'd like to teach them those things, rather than having someone else just do it for them, and see their grade based on what they can actually do, rather than on what someone else can do for them. A trained tutor won't simply change things but will take the student through the process, so that they understand why they are making the changes. Once they start having someone else just correct their work, they have to keep doing it. And then when they get out in the real world, they haven't learned how to do it for themselves.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I would say that it is not (unless explicitly permitted), since essay answers are graded in part based on writing -- writing instruction takes place implicitly not just in English classes. In my classes, well-constructed arguments and sentences are as much a part of the grade as knowing the factual answer. However, in some classes, instructors don't care about expression and they are only grading based on knowledge of content (but for some reason cannot reduce the exercise to check-boxes). If the instructor explicitly allows writing assistance, then okay. Otherwise, you have to consider that the instructor considers content and expression to both be valid bases for evaluating a paper.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I think the answer depends on the course and here's why:
I, personally, teach business courses which require a lot of research and writing. My best friend teaches a creative writing course both of us teach at a mid-large university.
In my class I would not allow peer editing because of the nature of my assignments. Students often find similar resources for their answers so editing another student's paper will give the editor all the information (even if it's links alone) to complete the assignment.
In my friends creative writing course it's required that students do peer-evlauaiton because it will improve the writers skill by seeing how someone else views their work, style, and even catch grammar mistakes that the writer often uses. Additionally, each individual paper will be vastly different in a creative writing course.
In my course writing skills such as knowing the difference between "male" and "mail" are annoying to deal with but it's not something I will take off points for because I do not teach spelling, grammar, or anything to do with the English language. However, if the paper is unreadable or lacks the effort of using English to the best of the students ability then points will be removed.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: As an student instructor, I would consider it ethical if certain conditions are met:
1. The proofreader isn't taking unfair advantage of the student, especially when paid for his services. There are plenty who call themselves 'tutors' who will use dishonest tactics; for instance, deliberately being unclear as to his editing methods in order to encourage continuing dependence on his services, making false criticisms of edits the student's friend made for free, or emotionally manipulating students who are from abroad.
2. The student isn't taking unfair advantage of the instructor. It's important that the student respects classroom policy on external assistance and observes the relevant boundaries when working with his editor.
3. The editor isn't taking unfair advantage of the instructor. It's not clear from your question whether the editor is in the same course as the writer, or merely at the same school. If the editor is enrolled in the same course, I'd consider it unethical for him to read through other students' work before his own is handed in.
4. The instructor isn't taking unfair advantage of the editor. There should be reasonable office hours to work with students, because that work is the responsibility of the instructor, not the classmates.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_7: I'm going to offer a CS perspective from Germany, which may apply to other engineering fields, as well:
While there is quite some writing in CS, within my circle of academic contacts, we usually go by the rule: **A few minor mistakes are sloppy and irritating, but are to be expected in long documents and therefore excusable. What is *not* excusable is failing to have someone else proofread the document.** This is particularly (but not exclusively) true when writing in a foreign language, such as (for us) English.
So, in other words, having someone else proofread each of your more significant documents (theses, seminar papers, ...) is considered a part of due diligence. This is, of course, not limited to student assignments, but will continue during one's professional life - authors of a paper should *always* give the camera-ready version of a research paper to someone so far uninvolved to do some proofreading, for instance.
In the student context, *preferrably*, this proofreading should be done by a fellow student:
* They are likely to be savvy about the topic. This reduces the chance of false positives, where they consider something incorrectly written or expressed, which is actually correct in the terminology of the subject at hand.
* It is a good practice for them; like that, they will not just train writing, but also proofreading/correcting, which they will have to do efficiently also later on.
* As all students have to do the assignments, and all students need proofreaders, this allows for inherent compensation to some extent, as students can simply thank each other by returning the favour of proofreading.
As other answers remarked, it is important that proofreading is really that - identify mistakes, point out unclear or confusing statements and document structure, possibly suggest how to improve the text on an abstract level, but do not change anything other than the simplest of mistakes (straightforward typos that leave only one option for correction).
Concerning the attribution, I am undecided on whether it is obligatory:
* It is certainly the polite thing to do.
* In longer documents that feature acknowledgments (such as graduation theses), those acknowledgments provide a good opportunity for mentioning that the author received help by proofreaders. (Of course, not everyone puts acknowledgments in graduation theses; especially when the deadline is closing in, there are more essential parts of the document to work on.)
* Given that proofreading is, as explained above, an indispensable part of writing a document, and a rather "technical" one (just like, e.g., using a text editor), it is debatable whether it should be mentioned. Maybe it should, but in that case, the producers of one's text editing software, or the manufacturer of one's computer, should probably be mentioned just as well, which is rarely done.
* In shorter documents (especially papers with a page restriction), there is most probably simply no space to mention mere operational details of the paper writing process such as proofreading.
To summarize, I have rarely seen mentions of proofreading in documents, even though they occasionally do occur. Especially in student documents, when I do not find any mention of proofreading and I ask the student whether they have had someone else proofread their document, I am definitely much more dissatisfied with the answer "No, that's why I didn't mention it." than with the answer "Yes, of course; having someone else proofread my document before I hand it in is so self-evident that I do not see a point in specifically mentioning it."
EDIT: Whether or not to add an attribution may also depend on cultural customs. I recently brought up the topic concerning one of our papers in my department in Germany, when we had handed out that paper to a few colleagues from other departments for checking comprehensibility and clarity of the text (i.e. not restricted to spellchecking, but actual contents of the paper). My tentative suggestion to add a note in the acknowledgments thanking them for their suggestions was rejected as "silly" by my co-authors, because the colleagues from the other department "have just read the paper and suggested a few minor changes", and because "everyone always gives other people one's papers for external suggestions and those external people are normally never mentioned". People from other cultures might agree on different courses of action that are "normally" followed.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: The question of morality might be able to be circumvented entirely if the school offers any sort of writing services. I know my college (and I've heard many colleges) have a writing center which employs and trains students to proofread writing. It's their college endorsed job to help the students who might have trouble with this kind of thing, and since they have been trained, they're much less likely to overstep their boundaries. Classes might also have a TA/TAs that would also be able to help.
That being said--if that option not available at this university (which I'd find strange) or if students choose not to use it--I would still be ok with students reading each other's work, as long as they're transparent about what they've done. Peer reviews are used in lower levels of education to build student's writing skills. When I was a TA in a Freshman level college course, we encouraged students to go to each other as a resource--as long as they followed the school's honor code. It's better for the students to be able to learn before they send the paper in, rather than be punished for it after it and, let's be honest, professors don't have time to proofread every paper before it comes to them.
The same goes for critiques. As long as the second student doesn't rewrite the paragraph for them, they're doing a service to the first student and everyone who has to teach them later on. The idea that instructors are the only people who should be allowed to help students improve their writing is absurdly limiting.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: At least one university in the UK provides this type of service free to all non-native English users at undergraduate level and upwards, via bookable "office hours" type consultations as well as by running regular courses, English language workshops, etc. <http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/academic-english>
That avoids any blurred boundaries between "improving the quality of language use", "unauthorized collaborative work" or "plagiarism" caused by informal arrangements between students.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: Unless there is a prohibition of this activity by the instructor, there is nothing unethical about this, because the students have specifically requested your help, and because your help consists of editing something they have already written by themselves. You are providing assistance in how to best render their composition in the English language; as long as your function remains that of an editor, not a composer, no ethical problem should arise.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: There's a way to handle this that prevents this situation from turning into something it shouldn't.
Let's refer to the non-native speaker requesting assistance as Student A. We'll refer to the tutor/proofreader as Student B.
If Student A enlists help from Student B, Student A should turn in ***two*** copies of the paper. The first copy is the original draft with red-pen annotations from Student B. The second copy is the revised copy, typed by Student A, after receiving the feedback from Student B.
This way, there is some traceability. You can see exactly how much of the ideas belong to Student A, and you can see how much assistance was provided by Student B. Hopefully, the changes are largely cosmetic (*there* to *their*, e.g.), and the grader doesn't have to wade through all these problems and provide feedback during grading. It's a win-win.
If Student B is willing to assist Student A in this capacity, I don't think it needs to be prohibited, it just needs to be acknowledged and attributed. In fact, Student A wouldn't necessarily need to be a non-native speaker. Two students could proofread each other's papers with the aim of turning in higher quality work, so long as the instructor accepts this step as an acceptable form of help.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I am replicating a model to report on how well it does on a new evaluation metric I am proposing. The method/hyperparameters of the model are given in a paper about it, where it breaks all benchmarks on the tasks on which it is being evaluated.
After that paper came out, several people tried to replicate the results, and found that they could not. Their questions of “Am I doing this right?” can be found on a online message board for the project. They got several responses from the second author of the paper (very well-known and respected in the field), saying that he didn’t carry out the experiments and that they would have to wait for a response from the first author.
Eventually the first author responded with just a few lines saying: “The hyperparameters to use are ....” People ran with those parameters and replicated the results.
However, the parameters he gave disagree with those reported in the paper.
Quite likely this is through no malicious intent: possibly the model was rerun and the changes were not re-incorporated into the draft.
Now, I would like my model when I am evaluating to be as similar as possible to the one in their paper. That way, people can compare my new proposed metric to the metric that that paper uses and see that this model is good at X, but less good at Y, without having to correct for the fact that the models are different.
---
I have three options:
1. Use what I think are good hyperparameters for their model (this is what I am currently doing).
2. Use the hyperparameters given in their paper.
3. Use the hyperparameters given in the online message board post, which actually achieve the results given in the paper.
Which of these three options is best?<issue_comment>username_1: I would propose that you include all three parameter sets and their respective results in your paper. In that way it will be more insightful for your readers to understand the influence of the parameters, and it will be easier for others to replicate the results that have been reported by the previous authors.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Given that you don't have space enough to present all three sets of results, I would suggest that you choose the parameters that best illustrate the scientific point that you are aiming to make.
When you state the parameters, however, you should add a parenthetical note or footnote that says something along the lines of:
>
> Note that we have chosen these parameters because [REASON]. Alternative parameters given [in the original paper / by the author] produce results that are [better / worse].
>
>
>
This balances the openness of making sure the reader is aware of the choice you have made and its consequences, while at the same time restricting your presentation space budget to only the most relevant set of results.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm not planning on requiring my students to use Twitter, but it popped up on someone else's syllabus and got me thinking as to whether it's appropriate with respect to student privacy.
I don't think it's right since Twitter allows public viewing of messages and their sender, exposing the enrollment of the course to the wider world and the [CMS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system) the professor uses has sufficiently similar technology baked in that's [FERPA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Educational_Rights_and_Privacy_Act) safe.
I'm curious if anyone else sees it differently.
Per comments, I should note that this is not just a marketing-type class. The syllabus I saw intended to have students comment, converse, and critique work on-line.<issue_comment>username_1: To elaborate on @Danny Ruijters comment:
The acceptableness of using Twitter as a course requirement greatly depends on the course itself and how Twitter will be used. Courses which could easily integrate Twitter are business courses focusing on topics such as:
* Marketing
* SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
* SMO (Social Media Optimization)
* SMM (Social Media Management)
If a course wanted to use Twitter as a form of communication (could be an argument to make with a business communications course depending on the syllabus) then there's no reason to use Twitter. I don't know a single school that doesn't have a student email system and more and more schools have online learning centers used by both virtual and ground (in class) courses.
In a case where Twitter was acceptable students should NOT be forced to use their own personal accounts or even release the name of their personal account.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If the purpose of using twitter is simply as a platform, you should consider various methods of restricting viewership and comment source. I don't know if Twitter has that, not ever having logged in. But you want to restrict access and comments to certain selected people, not the entire portion of humanity connected to Twitter. There are mail lists, free wiki servers, blogs, etc., that all have different versions of this idea.
Then you can make it only the class and the prof, and any other invited person, who can see it and comment. Then you can keep the reviews down to people who have been pre-vetted to be expected to be able to give useful reviews. The reviews you are likely to get from the general public are likely to be deliberately unhelpful.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: It can be fine if done well.
**Ways to do it well:**
1. **Foster anonymity.** You could permit pseudonymous accounts (perhaps by having them registered with the instructor or the class), permit private accounts (i.e. those whose tweets can only be viewed by an approved list of followers), or have studentd use Twitter by only reading tweets and not publishing them, thereby eliminating the need for logging in altogether.
2. **Make it clear what should and should not be discussed on Twitter.** Course content, dialogue, conversations, etc. are probably fine. Grades, assignment submissions, personal information, etc. are not.
3. **Have an honest conversation up front about FERPA.** Explain on the first day what it is, what it requires, why it's important, and how it intersects with Twitter.
4. **When in doubt, get preclearance from your chair or supervisor.** Personally, I think this is overkill, but to each their own.
I think it's not hard to thoughtfully integrate Twitter in a way that respects FERPA. Compare it to, for instance, discussion-based classes or classes that meet in public / semi-public spaces. There are of course ways to misuse it and run afoul of regulations, but if you keep in mind what FERPA says and why it says it, things should be fine.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: I think that the existing answers have a good handle on giving advice about how to do it. In particular, it seems Twitter for a specific purpose within a course is a much better idea than using it for general communication. If nothing else, it seems unprofessional to me to communicate via twitter unless something about the course is specifically twitter or social media centric.
To add a personal anecdote, as a student at Georgia Tech I was told that a student-created Slack wasn’t an official channel for communication but that a professor-created Slack could be. The concern was about potential FERPA violations, though no specifics were given.
**I am not a lawyer**. That said, it doesn’t seem to be an issue with FERPA to me. The status of digital communications doesn’t seem to have been addressed much in US case law, with two relevant cases that I could find.
*Owasso Independent School Dist. No. I-011 v. Falvo* (argued before SCOTUS) seems to imply that there is reason to believe that electronic communications aren’t “student records” as defined by FERPA, for the same reason that the records in that case aren’t: they aren’t maintained or kept by the teacher or the school. The one court case on this specific issue seems to take this same approach. \* S.A. v. Tulare County Office of Education, 2009\*, found that
>
> Emails, like assignments passed through the hands of students, have a fleeting nature. An email may be sent, received, read, and deleted within moments. As such, Student’s assertion – that all emails that identify Student, whether in individual inboxes or the retrievable electronic database, are maintained ‘in the same way the registrar maintains a student’s folder in a permanent file’ – is ‘fanciful.’ Like individual assignments that are handled by many student graders, emails may appear in the inboxes of many individuals at the educational institution. FERPA does not contemplate that education records are maintained in numerous places. As [SCOTUS] set forth . . . ‘Congress contemplated that education records would be kept in one place with a single record of access.’”
>
>
>
So, I’m inclined to think that digital records aren’t intrinsically problematic. That said, there are many issues at play including institutional policies and you shouldn’t do this without talking to your university lawyers first.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I've developed a package for R and it is added to CRAN. Should I add it to my work published, although it isn't peer reviewed for content, or should I just add a single line that mentions the package?<issue_comment>username_1: I would definitely consider including this in your CV. It's scientific work, and you [expect people to cite your package](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/27921/4140).
---
It would make sense to put this under a separate heading, so your publication list contains "Peer-reviewed publications" and "Non-peer-reviewed publications" - this way, you don't give the impression of trying to inflate your publication list by sneaking in some non-reviewed stuff.
If at a later date you have authored multiple R (or other) packages and perhaps published other non-reviewed material, you could subdivide the "Non-peer-reviewed publications" by splitting off software into its own section.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Yes, definitely out this in your published works. I also agree with @username_1 but instead of "Non-Peer-Reviewed", depending on your field of study you could probably list is as a technical publication.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I’ve discovered that website like ResearchGate offer the possibility to ask the paper editor to provide his paper for free. Many are collaborating.
Are there any other ways for researchers to obtain free access to papers?<issue_comment>username_1: I always use the following methods to get many inaccessible papers.
1. Open Google Scholar.
2. Search the title of the paper.
3. Click *see all versions* (you can see many places where the same paper is available)
4. Check one by one whether they are downloadable
Another method, I always use when I really need an inaccessible paper, is just to write an e-mail to the corresponding author to send that paper. My experience is that I have always received the paper in a return email.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It turns out that a related survey was posted last year in [this PLOS blog post on how paleontologists access the (non-open access) literature](http://blogs.plos.org/paleo/2014/09/18/paleontologists-access-non-open-access-literature/):
>
> I put together an informal, non-scientific survey. The survey asked
> questions about how people access the literature, the kinds of
> journals they can access most easily, and basic demographics. I
> advertised the survey via Twitter and Facebook. I wouldn’t count it as
> a scientific sample by any means, but I do feel that I got reasonably
> good coverage of various types of paleontologists at various types of
> institutions (as well as non-paleontologists who follow the
> literature). 115 individuals responded, during the course of about a
> week.
>
>
>
Note that it doesn't indicate the legality.
FYI: [Bulk download Sci-Hub papers](https://opendata.stackexchange.com/q/7084/1652)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Ask your public library (maybe not a local branch, but a large city's one). In some places, libraries are able to help citizens access journals. Another option might be national libraries - eg the British Library.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: The website mentioned [here](http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2016/02/16/thoughts-on-sci-hub) is obviously and blatantly illegal, but gives access to almost all journals ever published. It's very easy to use and more complete than our direct subscriptions. I might almost use it for stuff I have legal but slow access to.
Use or do not use depending on your views on the "illegal" consumption of research.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: During a collaborative experimental project in my PhD, I developed a rather intricate simulation + data processing tool. The work was published with myself as the lead author. One of the collaborators, who is located in a different country, was keen on extending that work and, based on ideas and inputs during the course of the project, she got one of her students to prepare the experiment at their end. (Meanwhile, I finished my PhD and am now working as a Postdoc at a different group).
Recently, they got their first results and now to bring this study to a conclusion, the collaborator requested me to process their experimental data through that tool I had developed. I haven't been offered an authorship yet but chances are fair that I would be if the tool gives publication-worthy results (As also mentioned above: I have already contributed a bit in this study through ideas). My question ***however*** is, in the event I am offered a co-authorship, **am I obliged to also share the entire code with them**?
While I am certainly open to giving them a gist of how the tool works (or to even get it lightly reviewed) via code snippets, screenshots etc., I am wary of simply handing them all the files. This is due to the fact that we had had some authorship issues with the collaborator in the past (though I wasn't directly involved at that time). *If they have the files, there is a good probability that they would obtain the results themselves, publish them, with my name -- **at the very best** -- being in the acknowledgements section*.
**Additional info in response to some answers**: Certain parts of the code are generic and could be useful to the broad community. Being pro open source myself, I intend to release those parts publicly soon. The other part of the code is very specific to the current work and would be of use to only a handful of people, including the collaborator's group.<issue_comment>username_1: They can't really check your/their work without the code, can they.
Besides, check carefully who the code really belongs to. Here in Chile, by law whatever a student writes (homework, thesis, or programs) belongs to the school, not the author (it is considered "work for hire", essentially). So this might not even be your call to make.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: From scientific point of view, the right thing to do is to release the code publicly. That allows for the code to be reviewed for possible errors, and makes it possible for other people to use it in their work, or build upon it. You will save many people lots of work.
For your personal benefit, this action might also be close to optimal. By giving away free useful tools you buy people's goodwill. As you are working on something else entirely, you lose no competitive advantage by doing so. By publicly showing off your work, you in fact demonstrate your main competitive advantage --- ability to create good, useful tools.
Last, but not least: People are likely to act towards you similarly to how you treat them. If you do not share your tools or ideas, they are likely to do likewise with their tools and ideas. *Do unto others as you would have them do unto you* :-)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I will give the answer I have given a million times already on this forum: *Communicate*.
If you're unsure whether or not you processing the data will yield a co-authorship, write an email asking exactly this before you do the data processing. If the other side is an experienced researcher, then they will understand that as a postdoc you have many obligations to juggle and that you need to spend your time on things that will yield publications.
If you're unsure whether or not you will be expected to share your code, write an email asking exactly this before you start working with them. They may ask for it, and in that case you will have to discuss with them under what conditions you would be willing to do that. Or they may not even want your code and simply be happy to rely on you this time and in future times to do the data analysis in return for co-authorship.
In both cases, you can spend your day worrying and speculating, but you will never know the answer unless you simply ask what's on your mind. *Communicate!*
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm giving a handout out at an upcoming lecture. It contains unpublished data that will soon (within the next year anyway, if accepted) be published. I trust the people at the conference to respect my wishes. What's a polite footer to include at the bottom of the handout to these ends?<issue_comment>username_1: A footer is likely to be overlooked.
Put the statement that this is unpublished, preliminary results, in your abstract or so.
You might also mark it by overprinting with "Preliminary" by using e.g. LaTeX' draftwatermark package.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: This is not a situation that calls for subtlety. I recommend adding large bold capital letters across the *top* of the first page:
>
> PRELIMINARY VERSION — DO NOT CITE OR DISTRIBUTE
> -----------------------------------------------
>
>
>
I would also include a footnote at the bottom of the title page indicating where the final version will be made available.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I fully support the Elsevier boycott, and came from mathematics (BS and MS) into my current PhD program in an engineering subdiscipline. I'm finishing up my PhD now and starting a post-doc soon.
I've already refused to review an article a few years ago for an Elsevier journal, and the editor seemed quite angry about it.
Once again I have been asked to review an article for an Elsevier journal, only this time the journal editorial board has a prominent researcher who I have had personal contact with, is a recently retired Emeritus Professor from my department, and if he became angry about my refusal he could potentially harm my career.
**Does anyone have any specific examples of, or even better statistical data showing that boycotts of Elsevier journals had negative career impacts on early career/junior scientists?**<issue_comment>username_1: There's [a song I like](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpNgSaYWts) from a famous French songwriter called <NAME>. The title is (roughly translated): "To die for your ideas". He argues that he's alright with it, as long as it's from a slow death. One of his concerns is that these ideas might become obsolete the day after he'd die.
To your question: if the most prestigious journals in your field are published by Elsevier and, say, you produce work worthy of these journals but yet you choose to publish in less reputable journals for political reasons you're obviously taking the risk to diminish your chances at future employment applications, grant money attribution, etc.
I'll give a practical example: say your field is inner-ear physiology and you refuse to review and publish in [Hearing Research](http://www.journals.elsevier.com/hearing-research/), [JARO](http://www.springer.com/medicine/otorhinolaryngology/journal/10162) or [Nature Medicine](http://www.nature.com/nm/index.html), because these are commercial publishers, you will not be part of the community who publishes in the field, your papers will be unnoticed and your chances of getting an academic position will tend towards zero.
Now, if the good journals are not published by that commercial publisher you dislike (which I think is the case in many mathematics fields), then it's pretty much irrelevant. If anything, you're annoying editors who have to find other (maybe less capable) reviewers. In your specific case, it might be perceived negatively by your senior colleague that you let politics go in the way of your "duty" to the scientific community as a reviewer, but I doubt that this would ruin your career by itself.
Publish in the reputable journals that your colleagues respect and read, upload preprints for subscription journals.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: well it depends on your situation. Consider the following, suppose journals are
categorized into A\*, A, B, C. Your prospects for pay and promotion are directly affected by how many papers you publish in A\* and to a lesser extent A.
Now suppose the only journal sympathetic to work in your field that is A\* is published by Elsevier. If you refuse to have anything to do with the journal you are harming your career prospects.
This situation is real in Australia.
As regards not refereeing a paper, lots of people refuse refereeing requests all the time for all sorts of reasons. You can just say "no" without giving a reason or you say you are overworked at the moment which is almost certainly true given that you are a maths postdoc.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: People decline to serve as editors or reviewers for all sorts of reasons. "Too busy" and "conflict of interest" are two common ones that are easily applicable to your case.
All junior faculty have too much on their plate and no one knows what your chair or mentor has told you that you need to focus on. So "unavailable/too busy to take this on" is an unprovable and thus good excuse. It's also impossible to know who you've had a fling or a spat with and so "conflict of interest" (and you don't have to give the reason for a CoI or for why you're unavailable) is perhaps less apt in this situation but also a valid excuse.
>
> **Example:** These are the three options I was given when I received my last reviewer assignment email. If I clicked on decline due to COI or unavailable, I'd be taken
> to a webform that asked me for alternate reviewer names, but that was
> entirely optional on my part. I would not be asked for a reason or justification for my response.
>
>
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/D1FNJ.jpg)
> [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/qfLXF.jpg)
>
>
>
As to negative effects, I think it's fine to have principles, but when you're junior faculty, you're also vulnerable. You can choose not to buy products made in China (for example) or to decline to provide free work to Elsevier, but you also don't have to tell any and everyone that you've made that decision for yourself. It's fine to decline with a vague reason if that will protect you from the possibility of retribution.
When you are in a position where you can speak your mind without fear of retribution(which is what tenure is designed to ensure), then do so.
As an aside: Especially in well-established journals, editors and editorial boards tend be composed of people known for their expertise as well as their dedication to the field of study. These people also tend to be very, very busy. Your response to the 'board' will likely be entered by a junior editorial assistant and it's highly unlikely that the editorial board will even get involved -- except perhaps to solicit names of other reviewers. Quite simply, it's too small of an issue and people are far too busy to get worked up over this. While I've heard of editors being angry at junior scholars for not publishing in their venues, I've never heard of anyone being angry because someone didn't serve as an article reviewer. A declination then is risk-free. But going out of your way to declare "I'm not reviewing because of my political position against \_\_\_\_" is making a statement (which is what you want, right?) and thus carries the risk that that statement is offensive to some.
Upvotes: 4
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2015/08/21
| 928
| 4,038
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<issue_start>username_0: As I'm starting to look to put together my plan of study, a question popped into my mind: are there, generally speaking, rules against taking additional courses beyond what is required for a Ph.D., or is it simply frowned up by most advisers (in the interest of creating more time for research endeavors)? I ask because I've found several graduate certificates offered at my university that seem relevant to my interests (in teaching), and I'd like to take an additional 2 or 3 courses to fulfill their requirements. I've heard from other grad students in my lab, however, that there is frequently push back from our adviser on such matters.<issue_comment>username_1: If your have enough time and you are keen to take additional courses apart from your coursework subjects, then you can take them. I took two additional courses during my PhD. It helped me in many ways, e.g., I could sharpen my knowledge in my field, I could mention these subjects along with my coursework in my application for Post-Doc positions, etc.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: As an adviser, I encourage my graduate students to take classes they find interesting and/or that broaden their knowledge and therefore are useful to later finding jobs. Ultimately, my goal in this is to help my students become well rounded and broadly educated graduates who will be successful in life. The only caveat I place on this is that they need to make sure they have enough time to do the research that will ultimately lead to their thesis and their defense.
I don't know whether I'm typical in this, but would imagine that most advisers will agree to let their students take other classes if a student asks and gives a reasonable justification. I think most will even agree to this if the student is paid from a grant.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I'd be in favour of taking extra classes. But be careful not to spread too widely, in the end, you'll have to select a line to specialize in. There are many, many subjects that intrigue me; most I have to let pass with regrets.
Whatever you do, check with your advisor if that is how the environment there works. Perhaps talk it over with people in the group, or some other person you trust. For me, the fact that you are troubled enough to ask here is a sign that you should think it over with some help.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Taking extra classes is a great idea, but be sure to check the financial aspects of your plan. As far as I know, teaching assistantships in my department come with a tuition waiver that covers only a certain number of classes (especially after you've passed your preliminary exams and are supposed to be working on your thesis); if you sign up for more classes, you might have to pay tuition that you weren't expecting to pay.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: It's quite common to take courses beyond the requirements just because the material is interesting to your or because you think it will be useful in your future career. However, at a certain point, it will become clear that it is time to focus on finishing your dissertation which after all should be your top priority. You should discuss this with your academic advisor.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: It's ok to take extra courses to support your PhD or just out of personal interest. I took a graduate certificate myself which lasted a year (as a part time course) whilst doing my PhD which I found very helpful. This was more relevant for me because my research is very interdisciplinary requiring skills from multiple fields. However, a note of warning: it must not get in the way of your PhD-this is after all your primary focus. It's a good idea to do any course that will require some commitment from you in your first year of PhD because you're likely to get very busy towards the end of it. Generally speaking, you won't be able to take too many due to financial implications and in order not to get too distracted from your PhD.
Upvotes: 1
|
2015/08/04
| 506
| 2,153
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<issue_start>username_0: In other words, can anybody publish an open science project, or does the author need to have some specific title or at least study the subject in order to receive some positive feedback from the community?
Or is it simply evaluated based on the quality of the published data and its positive feedback/output?<issue_comment>username_1: **Yes.**
I'm not a scientist. However, let's say that for a project I do research on the genome of a fruit fly. I upload my data to [GenBank](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genbank/), submit my pre-print to [arXiv](http://arxiv.org/), and make sure that my pre-print, data, and overall project satisfy the criteria for an open science project, as given in [What criteria does a research project need to match to be called open science?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/51967/what-criteria-does-a-research-project-need-to-match-to-be-called-open-science).
While I am not a scientist, I have still performed open science.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, of course anyone can publish an open science project. As many of us in the scientific community wish would happen, the project should be judged on merit, not who initiated it, where they studied, or what their background or education is.
These principles are enshrined in the [San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment](http://ascb.org/dora/) (DORA), which have been widely circulated and many (unfortunately not a majority, yet) organisations quick to sign up to.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: No specific training or credential is required to make a meaningful intellectual or technical contribution to an open science project. Training, credentials, where/how research outputs are published, how much those outputs get cited, and so on are primarily concerns of **career economics**—that is, how does one get, keep, and advance in a scientific career. For those interested in a scientific career, these considerations are important. But ideally there should be nothing stopping someone without scientific career aspirations from contributing to an open science project.
Upvotes: 3
|
2015/08/04
| 903
| 3,630
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<issue_start>username_0: Since open research is about publishing data which are accessible to all, what kind of actions should I take to prevent open research from unauthorised copying or its data being plagiarised without referring to its sources?
What kind of policy, terms or copyright statements should the open project have to make it clear in order to prevent any abuse?<issue_comment>username_1: **Use a license.**
Different open science journals/repositories/etc. allow you to license your publication(s)/data/etc. Some allow you to choose a license; others do not. Others may have different repositories.
For example, [arXiv](http://arxiv.org/) gives submitters [a licensing choice](http://arxiv.org/help/license):
>
> arXiv does not ask that copyright be transferred. However, we require sufficient rights to allow us to distribute submitted articles in perpetuity. In order to submit an article to arXiv, the submitter must either:
>
>
> * grant arXiv.org a non-exclusive and irrevocable license to distribute the article, and certify that he/she has the right to grant this license;
> * certify that the work is available under one of the following Creative Commons licenses and that he/she has the right to assign this license:
>
>
> + Creative Commons Attribution license (CC BY 4.0)
> + Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license (CC BY-SA 4.0)
> + Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0);
> * or dedicate the work to the public domain by associating the Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0 1.0) with the submission.
>
>
>
The [*Royal Society Open Science*](http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/) journal has [a different policy](http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/about):
>
> All papers are made freely available under an open access model immediately on publication at the Royal Society Open Science website and are deposited in PubMed Central on behalf of the author. Under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), authors retain copyright for their article but allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles provided the original authors and source are cited.
>
>
>
Once a license is chosen, all that remains is to enforce the license, which is simple enough. License enforcement is up to the holder of the license. If you choose the first of arXiv's options, then the responsibility is arXiv's; if you license the work under one of the Creative Commons licenses, then the responsibility is yours.
The enforcer of the license general is not required to enforce it if he/she/it so desires (see [Are you obliged to enforce your license?](https://opensource.stackexchange.com/questions/1227/are-you-obliged-to-enforce-your-license) on Open Source for more information, although that covers the GPL license, which is not applicable here). It's typically in the best interests of the license holder to enforce the license, but there is no requirement. If you want to make sure that the license is enforced, then you would be best off keeping the license yourself.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Post it fast, publicly (obviously; it's open, right?), and with clear and obvious timestamps. Make sure the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine crawls it (you can add a page [from its homepage](https://archive.org/web/)), so that you have a third-party witness to the date of posting.
If a plagiarism dispute arises, you then have evidence of priority. Smart plagiarists will see the timestamps and run away, making a dispute less likely to begin with.
Upvotes: 3
|
2015/08/04
| 334
| 1,468
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<issue_start>username_0: Are there any organisations/foundations/hubs which manages/approve independent open science projects which are accepted and well recognised within mainstream scientific circles?
For instance, what if [the published project doesn't make any sense](http://thatsmathematics.com/blog/archives/102) and its calling it-self the open science project?
In other words, what kind of organisations/community ensure quality of the published data so it's accepted as reliable 'open science' project or anybody can publish anything and call it 'open science project' (for instance publishing open data of [correlation of the number of pirates with global temperature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster))?<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, try looking at the [Center for Open Science](http://centerforopenscience.org/) and their study management website, the [Open Science Framework](https://osf.io/). They primarily deal in psychology and cancer biology studies right now, but I'm sure other areas of science are welcome or will be soon.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: [**numFocus**](http://numfocus.org/) supports projects producing open source code for science. For example, they provide support to the rOpenSci project in the form of a financial agreement. This allows the project to receive donations and spend monies on project activities etc without having to manage bank accounts and taxes etc.
Upvotes: 2
|
2015/08/04
| 1,380
| 5,430
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<issue_start>username_0: What kind of formal or non-written rules/requirements does our project need to match and follow so we can say that our project is open science?
Is it only about research data which should be accessible to all?
What if the project [doesn't make sense](http://thatsmathematics.com/blog/archives/102) and it's publishing [correlation data of the number of pirates with global temperature](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster)? Does it still match the criteria of 'open science' project?<issue_comment>username_1: To answer the first question:
I asked a similar question on twitter a while back and got a range of responses. Those are summarized in a [storify](https://storify.com/jhollist/what-is-the-definition-of-open-science). To paraphrase that summary ...
* open access to data
* open access to code
* open access to publications
* open source
* work must be reproducible
* needs to be web enabled
The last bit, and I think this is an important component, is that open science is not binary. It occurs along a gradient.
As for you second question, I would use reproducibility as a guide. The minimum data that needs to be accessible is that which allows for an anlalysis/project to be reproduced. Following the gradient theme, you could open up more than this, but that it isn't necessarily required.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The [Panton Principles](http://pantonprinciples.org/) are a good guide - the reported research and everything it relies on (data, code/methods, analysis software, publication) should be made [open](http://opendefinition.org/) and put in the public domain.
I don't know that it has to be reproduced, but it should be possible for someone to try to reproduce!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: On his site [opencontent.org](http://opencontent.org/), [<NAME>iley](http://davidwiley.org/) maintains [a document describing what "open" means](http://opencontent.org/definition/) with respect to open content. Admittedly, this site and Wiley's work focuses on education and OER (open educational resources), but he (and others) have put a lot of work and thought into this and I think the points he makes here are relevant to open science.
Here, "open content" is described as works licensed to enable users free access to:
1. retain (store, own, control)
2. reuse
3. revise
4. remix (aggregate, mashup)
5. redistribute
Replicability and reproducibility are crucial to science, and I think these "5R activities" describe a necessary and sufficient set of conditions enabling a scientist to replicate and build on the work of another.
Of course, the extent to which others can reuse, revise, and remix your research depends on a lot of practical factors. You may have licensed your incomprehensible Matlab research scripts using a permissive open license, but if nobody can decipher them, their "revise"-ability and "remix"-ability are limited. On the other hand, writing production-quality research software takes time and training that many academic researchers frankly don't have.
So I think at a minimum, open science projects must be licensed in such a way as to facilitate these 5R activities. Ideally, research software, data, and other scientific outputs would be also break down practical and technical barriers to be easily consumable by others, but exactly what is reasonable for a particular researcher in a particular context is hard to say.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_1: A specific example of formal criteria is the [Badges to Acknowledge Open Practices Project](https://osf.io/tvyxz/).
At the moment there are 3 main badges:
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/LhkWIm.jpg)
They are awarded by participating journals to articles that adhere to that particular open practice. For example, if an article shares its data on a public third party repository then the editor can award it an Open Data Badge that usually appears in the article header.
There are currently few participating journals but one example is [Psychological Science](http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/publications/journals/psychological_science/badges).
Another project you might be interested in is [The Peer Reviewers' Openness Initiative](https://opennessinitiative.org/the-initiative/) (previously 'The Agenda for Open Research'). Signatories of the initiative are proposing to withdraw peer reviewer services if articles do not adhere to a series of open practices, such as sharing data and code.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: [Open Source Research](http://openwetware.org/wiki/Open_Source_Research) (OSR) adopts the following basic criteria/rules/laws for open science:
1. All data are open and all ideas are shared.
2. Anyone can take part at any level.
3. There will be no patents.
4. Suggestions are the best form of criticism.
5. Public discussion is much more valuable than private email.
6. An open project is bigger than, and is not owned by, any given lab.
in can be summed as:
>
> All data and ideas are freely shared between participants and anyone may take part.
>
>
>
Initially they were written as part of [Open Source Drug Discovery for Malaria](http://www.thesynapticleap.org/node/343). They're also available at [Wikiversity](https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Open_science/Laws).
Upvotes: 0
|
2015/08/15
| 851
| 3,150
|
<issue_start>username_0: Does engaging in open science practices (e.g., reproducibility, data sharing, study preregistration, open access publication) affect tenure and promotion decisions for academic scientists? One can imagine that these would be viewed favorability and scientists would be rewarded for being open. At the same time, however, open science seems to be a movement driven by younger scientists and openness may have no bearing on promotions or even be seen as a distraction from the core production of research. Is there any evidence of the effect of open science on individual career success?<issue_comment>username_1: Clearly more your discipline/industry, not mine, but so far the success stories are few and far between. One that made the rounds is by <NAME>: [webcast](http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/2015-opencon-talk-notes.html), [blog post](http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/2014-open-and-tenured.html).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_1: Based on my limited experience, I am not confident that open science practices affect tenure decisions *directly*, at least at the moment. However, there are many *indirect* benefits.
1. **Making the paper publicly available increases the citations.** See this [article](https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~kurtz/kurtz-effect.pdf) by Kurtz et al. from 2005. This [blog post](http://www.researchtrends.com/issue28-may-2012/does-open-access-publishing-increase-citation-or-download-rates/) provides a nice summary and critique of this literature.
2. **Making the data publicly available increases the citations.** See this [article](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1817752/) by Piwowar, Day, and Fridsma from 2007. This [blog post](http://theconversation.com/scientists-must-share-early-and-share-often-to-boost-citations-18699) provides a nice overview.
3. I am confident based on my own experience that **a reproducible workflow is a much more efficient workflow** (e.g., much easier to pick up and make progress after an invitation to revise and resubmit). Efficiency should then lead to higher quality output, higher quantity output, or both. And both quality and quantity contribute positively to tenure and promotion. Further, one important step in encouraging other researchers to use your data is allowing them to *easily* reproduce the original findings. This step is automatic for reproducible research.
4. I'm less optimistic about the incentives for pre-registration (at least in my field of political science). In my view, there are still strong incentives to *not* pre-register studies. The culture is changing, but somewhat slowly. Here's is a [blog post](http://blog.oup.com/2014/09/pro-con-research-preregistration/) discussing some of these pros and cons.
Indeed, this [article](http://eprints.rclis.org/20496/1/30366-105857-1-PB.pdf) from 2013 by Ebrahim et al. titled "Effective Strategies for Increasing Citation Frequency" lists many practices that are also open science practices, such as self-archiving papers, publishing in open-access journals, placing papers in open-access repositories, and making the data publicly available.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
|
2015/08/04
| 438
| 2,025
|
<issue_start>username_0: Distributing articles that are not freely available can get you into trouble. However, it is important to share and distribute knowledge.
If you are not sure about whether or not you are allowed to distribute scientific work (be it yours or from others), what are the main criteria that need to be met so to be sure that you have the right to share an article?<issue_comment>username_1: If you are not sure whether you are allowed to distribute scientific work, and not willing to take any risk, you should either ask the authors or the publication venue about their distribution policy.
E.g. for ACM, the rights are stated on their website: <http://cacm.acm.org/help/copyrights-permissions/>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Under what conditions you are allowed to distribute a scientific work are governed by the licence terms under which that work is made available. Most often journals or repositories of other research outputs will have clear indications regarding reuse, redistribution, etc. Often, all rights will be reserved by default and only certain rights for reuse/redistribution, *if any*, will be explicitly stated. If no specific rights are stated then you have no rights to reuse/redistribute.
In order to distribute a scientific work where no rights are automatically granted you are required to contact the copyright holder to request those rights.
This is one reason why Creative Commons licences were developed; so that authors of works can be explicit about what reuse rights they allow so users are not forced to individually contact creators to request rights.
Even when a work such as a dataset may not have copyright protection in the strict sense (e.g. facts), it may well have [database rights](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sui_generis_database_right) protecting the specific *compilation* of the data into a whole. It is important to request permission, especially where you are unsure of the restrictions that might be in place.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2015/08/05
| 1,255
| 5,492
|
<issue_start>username_0: Virtual machines (VMs) provide a way for scientists to package not only scientific software, but also data, external dependences, and even entire operating system configurations, facilitating a faithful and exact reproduction of a particular computing environment used to derive a particular result.
Are VMs and other container systems used in this way actually a net positive for open science? If the scientific software used to compute a result can only be replicated in a very particular computing environment, is it useful and reliable?<issue_comment>username_1: CERN have been [running](https://vmm.cern.ch/vmm/) such VM-based reproducibility infrastructure for a decade ([overview](http://indico.cern.ch/event/332370/session/3/contribution/32)) and found it useful enough that they recently [scaled it up in the cloud](http://indico.cern.ch/event/388437/contribution/9/2/attachments/776666/1065066/HelixNebula_Production_giordano_15_06_26.pdf), so that may be a good place to start digging deeper.
In the biomedical field, systems like [Docker](https://docs.docker.com/introduction/understanding-docker/) have been found useful and reliable enough that they got some [traction](https://biocaddie.org/events/webinars/research-object-initiative-frameworks-and-use-cases).
Given the complexity of preserving executability in the long run, I think the focus should be on ensuring that relevant code has been independently run in a somewhat contemporary manner, with results documented in a way that is suitable for long-term preservation. This is the approach chosen at places like [Research Compendia](http://labs.researchcompendia.org/), and getting this to work at scale would seem to me like a great net positive for open science.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I like to think of VMs, containers, and the like as allowing *repeatable research*. I don't consider it *reproducible* if the results can only be repeated by having exactly the specified VM/container used by the original researcher.
That doesn't mean VMs or containers are not useful for open science; they do provide a means for people to rapidly disseminate the computing environment within which the results were produced. They also provide a point of reference should software used change at a later date which causes repeatability issues. If open source software is used it would be possible to track down what changed and why this affected the particular results.
At the very least, VMs and containers provide a good means with which to document the computing environment used to generate the published results.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: Virtual machines are good for dissemination, and irrelevant for reproducibility.
What virtual machines facilitate is running the original researcher's software and dataset.
In terms of open science, virtual machines make it easier for others to understand the original result and derive other results. To derive other results, the full methodology used to derive the software package needs to be made available, including software sources and configuartion parameters. Virtual machines are useful in this respect because they provide a reference configuration: often the exact sequences of steps to install the system are not tracked as the system undergoes maintenance, but configuration files can be extracted from the VM image.
For reproducibility, rebuilding the original researcher's software in a different environment is not enough. There is no assurance that the original software implements what the research article claims. Reproducing the result entails writing independent software to verify the claims. Having a virtual machine available doesn't hurt the ability or desirability of writing independent software.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Well, Yes, but I would say that wouldn't I, since I wrote the [Recomputation Manifesto.](http://arxiv.org/abs/1304.3674) about this.
While the recomputation manifesto focussed on reproducibility, I think if anything it's *more* important for Open Science than for raw reproducibility. Because you can see inside the experiments behind some claim, and see if they are valid experiments or not. Also - and this is a point not emphasised enough - making available experiments and code etc behind a paper in a VM (i.e. in working form) enables people to build on them and stand on the shoulders of giants.
Reproducibility by VM has been criticised as a very limited form of reproducibility, see e.g. [Titus Brown's blog post](http://ivory.idyll.org/blog/vms-considered-harmful.html). That is indeed true, but I would also respond: "Sure, but if we can't even bother to reproduce the exact experiment done, what hope is there for richer reproducibility?"
Also I would argue that even this relatively poor form of reproducibility could be critically important. For example, if we could do the physical equivalent of recomputing the exact original Cold Fusion experiments, we might know what happened to cause those results.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: If nothing else I find building a Docker image of your project a good way to track all your dependencies. Otherwise, it is easy to forget e.g about that little R function that assumes you have a particular unix tool like "imagemagick" installed on your system, or forgetting to include your latex bibliography... here's an example: <https://hub.docker.com/r/sje30/waverepo/>
Upvotes: 1
|
2015/08/18
| 571
| 2,387
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<issue_start>username_0: I would like to publish an article open access, but I cannot afford the [article processing charge (APC)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_processing_charge). I am based in the UK, so I do not qualify for some of the available fee reductions or waivers. I also do not have grant funding to coverage the fee. How can I obtain funding to cover the publication fee to make my research open access?<issue_comment>username_1: Where are you based? If you're at an institution, I'd get in contact with your library. They usually have funds of some sort to cover APCs these days.
Depending on where you're submitting, it is still possible to get a fee waiver if you can provide financial justification (which it seems like you should be able to do). I don't know how well this works at most journals, but those like PLOS ONE and PeerJ are well known for providing fee waivers for researchers with OA support (apart from a couple of incidents).
Alternatively, you could pursue the 'green' route of OA. Submit your paper, but don't make it OA (via the 'gold' route), and self archive the pre-print, post-print, or whatever the options available for your journal are. You can check policies here: <http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/>
Try playing with these options a bit, and then report back if there are further complications or details to add.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: When preparing your manuscript, you could also approach the journal editors and ask for their policy on waivers. I would do it before finalising the manuscript according to the journal's style. Even if the journal does not offer waivers, journal editors should be interested in finding out how often APCs are preventing people from submitting to their journal.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: 1. Publish in a reputable, subscription-based journal.
2. Self-archive the preprint on your institution's website or public repository.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: You could co-author the article. Authorship will be shared so does cost. Perhaps co-author could have such cost free options. That will not only minimize your cost but will open you to collaboration. Of course there is a trade off in such a scenario but better than delaying the publishing or even not being able to publish.
Please look at my comment below. I did not mean it something unethical.
Upvotes: -1
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2015/08/16
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<issue_start>username_0: What is the difference between Green Open Access and Gold Open Access? Are there other "flavors" of Open Access?<issue_comment>username_1: The term "Open Access" has been used in numerous ways (see [How Open Is It](https://www.plos.org/open-access/howopenisit/)?), but in this context, *Gold* stands for publications available directly from the publisher, where as *Green* means that a version is available somewhere else (e.g. on an author's institutional website, or in a repository), a practice commonly referred to as "self-archiving". Note that neither of these two terms imply anything about reuse rights or about who shoulders the costs of publishing.
That colour spectrum has been expanded a bit to include [*Platinum*, *Titanium*, *White* and *Copper*](http://chem-bla-ics.blogspot.de/2013/10/forget-green-and-gold-open-access-i.html) as well as [*Diamond*](http://triplec.at/index.php/tripleC/article/view/502), but these terms are used neither widely nor consistently. For instance, both platinum and diamond have been used to describe models where OA is provided by the journal and neither readers nor authors have to pay.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Expanding a bit Daniel's answer.
Gold and Green are traditional terms used by the OA community, focused on the *[how open access is implemented](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_access#Implementation_practices)*, how the research is provided to the final users.
It's a single dimension of OA, and these terms do not say anything about others dimensions.
PLOS *[How open is it?](https://www.plos.org/open-access/howopenisit/)* leaflet does a great job in splitting the term "open" in several dimensions:
* **reader rights** (there is an *embargo*?)
* **reuse rights** (what is the *license* of the research? CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, or CC-BY-NC-ND?)
* **copyrights** (does the author retain copyright, or it's the publisher?)
* **author posting rights** (can the author archive the research in other repositories or websites?)
* **machine readability** (is it a PDF or a structure XML file with research data attached in proper formats?)
Moreover, you could add
* **costs of publishing** (who pays for publishing the article? the author or the institution?)
* **peer review** (is the article peer reviewed or not?)
The *peer review* factor has been probably the single biggest difference between Green and Gold OA, there are many exceptions.
Traditionally, if you uploaded a pre-print on an institutional or disciplinary archive, that was *green OA*; but if you wanted published in a proper journal (thus, with peer review), that was called *gold OA*.
But very often you are allowed to take the published article and upload *that* on an repository: that it's still green OA, but the article is peer reviewed.
So, in the end: ***open access is complex***, because there are many dimensions in how research is written, published, payed, accessed. Gold and green are traditional terms that focus on peer review and where the research is published.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: We have a section on the 'types' of open access in the [Open Research Glossary](http://figshare.com/articles/Open_Research_Glossary/1482094). Daniel's answer is how I think most in the open access community (a much better term than 'activists') would describe green and gold OA. However, they have been largely 'hi-jacked' by publishers to mean different things. Gold OA is often equated with an 'author pays' model of access, whereby an article-processing charge (APC) is levied to conform to the definition provided by Daniel. Green OA, on the other hand, is often used to describe an item in a repository subject to an embargo period, enforced by the publisher (this can all be checked on a journal-by-journal basis using the [Sherpa/Romeo](http://www.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/) tool).
Upvotes: 2
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2015/08/15
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<issue_start>username_0: In my experience with publishing in some journals, those journals require a signature on a copyright transfer agreement before an article can be published online or in print. Do I have to sign this agreement in order to publish or are there alternatives to this? What do I gain and/or lose by signing (or not signing) such an agreement?<issue_comment>username_1: It depends of what you mean by “an alternative”. If you mean an alternative to publish your article, you can certainly find other journals that don’t require that you grant them exclusive rights. Generally, that would mean an open-acess journal using the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). Prime examples are the major OA publishers: PLOS, BioMed Central, and Hindawi.
If you mean publishing in a particular journal that requires coypright transfer, the answer is that granting them exclusive publishing rights is a publication condition, so that you can’t avoid it.
So what you gain in signing is... to have your article published by that journal. What you loose is highly variable among publishers. Often, they (who are now the copyright owners by virtue of the agreement) allow you (the authors) to keep some “rights” (I prefer to speak of “permissions”). Some publishers are quite generous, others not at all; you must carefully read the copyright agreement to know exactly what you will be able to do with your article.
Note also that some publishers ask (or propose as an option) an *exclusive* license instead of copyright transfer. Sometimes, they describe it as an advantage for authors, who keep the copyright on their work. But the truth is that some of these licenses give the publishers about the same rights as a complete copyright transfer, so that copyright ownership becomes an almost empty concept. See, for instance, Wiley, [offering both](http://exchanges.wiley.com/authors/copyright-and-permissions_333.html) without any difference in the actual rights transferred. Again, one has to carefully read the publication agreement.
Finally, in theory, one can always suggest changes in a copyright agreement, for instance deleting part of the text or adding some. There is also the [SPARC Author Addendum](http://www.sparc.arl.org/resources/authors/addendum), that you can attach to the copyright agreement, asking the publisher that you want to keep non-commercial use rights. The publisher may then accept these changes (usually by not responding, and publishing the article anyway), or refuse them. From what I read, there are both success and failure stories in that regard.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you're feeling cheeky you can try editing the stock copyright transfer agreement they send out, to a wording that is more agreeable to you. [I tried this for a book chapter once](http://rossmounce.co.uk/2013/12/03/edit-your-copyright-transfer-agreement-contract/) and I think I got away with it. Few returned CTA forms are actually read in detail by anyone.
Upvotes: 3
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2015/08/05
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<issue_start>username_0: I am interested to know the cost of publishing an academic article. I do not mean in the simple sense of "what does a given journal charge an author to publish?" or "what does an association or publisher charge a library for access to the journal?"
Instead, I want to know the actual costs of translating a manuscript into a final publication (for web or print). This matters for open science - and open access specifically - because there is an enormous amount of debate about the financing models for open access journals. The two dominant models are one where the end-user pays (library, reader, etc.), which is often seen as antithetical to open science, and one where the author pays a fee after manuscript acceptance. Neither the charges paid by libraries nor the charges paid by authors necessarily illustrate the true cost of publishing an article (due to "prestige", between-publisher variation, profit margins, journal bundling, discounts, etc.).
So, what is the actual cost? And what are components of that cost (e.g., copyediting, typesetting, server space and internet bandwidth, etc.)? In short, if an author (or someone else) were to express academic publishing costs on a per-article basis, what would that number be?<issue_comment>username_1: The closest thing that I was aware of (before reading the other answers - thanks for these) was a [report](http://web.archive.org/web/20150503114643/http://ojs.library.ubc.ca:80/index.php/cjhe/article/download/479/504) about SciELO. It states that, for Brazilian journals within their portfolio, it costs about USD 200-600 per article from submission via peer review and publication to dissemination and archiving.
It also gives a more detailed breakdown:
>
> Considering the overall operation of the SciELO Brazilian collection,
> including the costs related to technical co-operation for the
> development and interoperation of the other national and thematic
> collections, the online up-to-date publication of the entire
> collection averages about US$90 per each new article. This estimate
> includes the actual publishing of the new article ($56 per article,
> or 62% of the total cost); the operation of the SciELO network portal
> ($4.20, or 5%), which provides access and retrieval to all of the
> collections, journals, and articles; SciELO governance, management,
> and technical co-operation ($2.90, or 3%); the development and
> maintenance of the technological platform ($22.70, or 25%); and the
> marketing, dissemination, and expansion of the network ($4.20, or 5%).
> Alternatively, if the complete editorial flow, from the reception of
> manuscripts, the peer-review process, editing, and the online SciELO
> publication, is taken into account, the total cost for each new SciELO
> Brazilian collection article is estimated to be between US$200 and
> $600.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: [Ubiquity Press](http://www.ubiquitypress.com) breaks down their [£300 ($500) APC as follows](http://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/publish/#article-processing-charges):
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DWxjc.jpg)
* 38% indirect costs for things not related to the publishing of a single paper but which are needed for the business (£114 or $190)
* 34% covers editorial and production aspects, which appears to be the costs associated with producing the paper, managing submissions, responding to authors, preparing proofs, typesetting, XML etc. (£102 or $170)
* 16% is a waiver premium charged so they can offer 0 or low APCs to people who genuinely cannot pay (£48 or $80)
* 8% is used to pay for indexing, archival (in case they go bust), DOI etc (£24 or $40)
* 4% goes towards costs of billing you and taking payment (£12 or $20)
Depending on what you consider to be the actual publishing costs (here probably the 34% editorial & production costs + 8% Indexing & Archiving) you would be looking at ~ £126 or $210.
Ubiquity don't break their indirect costs down into server/platform costs; this all goes into the 38% indirect cost column.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: ["The Cost of Publishing an Electronic Journal"](http://www.dlib.org/dlib/november98/11roes.html) is an old article, but it is still worth a read.
In short: with 5 papers per issue, the cost per paper is around 1000$, for a law journal.
By comment: the price is probably lower for fields where authors are using latex or similar text processing tools.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends to an extent on how technically-savvy the author community is, and thus what services they need or do not need to be done for them.
For computer science journals, the cost of production is extremely low because authors can typically be expected to do their own typesetting.
An efficient, peer-reviewed, top quality journal can thus be run at a cost of just $6.50 per paper. There is an excellent, detailed breakdown of this figure given by <NAME> about the Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR) [here](http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/pamphlet/2012/03/06/an-efficient-journal/).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: I know this doesn't refer strictly to the final version of a paper, but the arXiv pre-print server provides a useful bit of information to contribute to this discussion. According to [its website](https://web.archive.org/web/20150813221521/http://arxiv.org/help/support/faq), it receives around 76,000 publications per year. Its operating costs are on the order of $826,000 per year.
You do the maths, and it comes to just over $10/article/year. This is without any of the bells and whistles that come with traditional publishing, but provides a nice baseline estimate of what it takes to publish a research article online.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: The cheapest journals are typically those controlled directly by academics themselves, although they're not necessarily the most efficient.
There is now (2019) a more comprehensive [study of the costs by <NAME> and <NAME>](https://peerj.com/preprints/27809/):
>
> Here we provide a granular, step-by-step calculation of the costs associated with publishing primary research articles, from submission, through peer-review, to publication, indexing and archiving. We find that these costs range from less than US$200 per article in modern, large scale publishing platforms using post-publication peer-review, to about US$1,000 per article in prestigious journals with rejection rates exceeding 90%. The publication costs for a representative scholarly article today come to lie at around US$400. We discuss the additional non-publication items that make up the difference between publication costs and final price.
>
>
>
Another article from a while ago, [<NAME> (2007)](https://web.archive.org/web/20100410114343/https://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2048), finds that for-profit publishers spend thousands of dollars per article on functions which a fully open access and non-profit journal doesn't need or want:
>
> For–profit publishers have higher cost [...] much greater investment in branding, customer relationship management and content protection. [...] a computed per–article cost of US$3,400 compared with US$730 [for non-profit electronic journal].
>
>
>
However, prominent open science advocate <NAME> warns about [The Problems of Unit Costs Per Article](https://eve.gd/2019/09/19/the-problems-of-unit-costs-per-article/).
The problems are well illustrated by the very transparent article by eLife (2020), [eLife Latest: The costs of publishing](https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/719e655d/elife-latest-the-costs-of-publishing), which shows the differences between fixed and variable costs and the relationship with acceptance rate. Mind you, eLife is a very particular case because of its high selectivity and expensive ways of functioning, for instance it shells out hundreds of dollars to editors and reviewers (on average by published article, so less than half that for each reviewed article).
My own older summary follows.
Some universities run their own OJS instances, either in house or with some external contractors. Hosting often relies on existing infrastructure and staff time is often borrowed from employees the institution already has, so the costs are rarely easy to calculate, but we can figure out the order of magnitude.
For example, take the [University of Bologna](https://journals.unibo.it/) and the [University of Milano](https://riviste.unimi.it/): they publish [28](https://doaj.org/search?source=%7B%22query%22%3A%7B%22filtered%22%3A%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22bool%22%3A%7B%22must%22%3A%5B%7B%22term%22%3A%7B%22_type%22%3A%22journal%22%7D%7D%5D%7D%7D%2C%22query%22%3A%7B%22query_string%22%3A%7B%22query%22%3A%22University%20of%20bologna%22%2C%22default_field%22%3A%22index.publisher%22%2C%22default_operator%22%3A%22AND%22%7D%7D%7D%7D%2C%22from%22%3A0%2C%22size%22%3A10%7D) and [23](https://doaj.org/search?source=%7B%22query%22%3A%7B%22filtered%22%3A%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22bool%22%3A%7B%22must%22%3A%5B%7B%22term%22%3A%7B%22_type%22%3A%22journal%22%7D%7D%5D%7D%7D%2C%22query%22%3A%7B%22query_string%22%3A%7B%22query%22%3A%22Milano%22%2C%22default_field%22%3A%22index.publisher%22%2C%22default_operator%22%3A%22AND%22%7D%7D%7D%7D%2C%22from%22%3A0%2C%22size%22%3A10%7D) journals respectively (mostly in humanities), for a total of [over 400](https://doaj.org/search?source=%7B%22query%22%3A%7B%22filtered%22%3A%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22bool%22%3A%7B%22must%22%3A%5B%7B%22term%22%3A%7B%22_type%22%3A%22article%22%7D%7D%5D%7D%7D%2C%22query%22%3A%7B%22query_string%22%3A%7B%22query%22%3A%22University%20of%20Bologna%22%2C%22default_field%22%3A%22index.publisher%22%2C%22default_operator%22%3A%22AND%22%7D%7D%7D%7D%2C%22from%22%3A0%2C%22size%22%3A10%7D) and [over 600](https://doaj.org/search?source=%7B%22query%22%3A%7B%22filtered%22%3A%7B%22filter%22%3A%7B%22bool%22%3A%7B%22must%22%3A%5B%7B%22term%22%3A%7B%22_type%22%3A%22article%22%7D%7D%5D%7D%7D%2C%22query%22%3A%7B%22query_string%22%3A%7B%22query%22%3A%22Milano%22%2C%22default_field%22%3A%22index.publisher%22%2C%22default_operator%22%3A%22AND%22%7D%7D%7D%7D%2C%22from%22%3A0%2C%22size%22%3A10%7D) articles per year respectively (according to DOAJ). For context, this size is comparable to [top 15 publishers of OA Italian publications](https://www.wizdom.ai/country/italy/open-access/3175395), where the biggest pure OA publisher has around 600 articles per year and the others vary between 500 and 2000.
They're both run with approximately 1 FTE "reserved" employee or less, as far as I know, which costs around 30 k€/year considering the national contract and pension contributions. Additionally they spend a few thousands euro/year on technical support. Even if you triple that amount to account for inefficiencies and unstated costs, that gives you less than 200 €/article in costs. Of course it's just an example for their case.
Some other publishers (typically public research entities or consortia) are transparent enough that we know their costs to provide certain services. See for instance:
* [main fixed and variable costs](https://www.martineve.com/2017/02/13/how-much-does-it-cost-to-run-a-small-scholarly-publisher/) and [costs for a marketing campaign](https://blogs.openaire.eu/?p=2940) in Open Library of Humanities (OLH), UK;
* [costs to implement various features](https://blogs.openaire.eu/?p=2209) in 11 publishers, like OpenAIRE OAI harvesting, ORCID integration, HTML-JATS-XML, article-level metadata ingested in DOAJ, funder information in metadata.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: As one might expect, the price of publishing depends on how good a job the publisher wants to do.
The absolute minimum is around a few tens of dollars. This means the publisher passes copyediting and typesetting to the author, they don't do marketing, they don't attend conferences, they use Open Journal Systems (a free editorial management system that's rather less powerful and difficult to use compared to commercial ones), they don't do plagiarism checks, they leave running the journal entirely up to the editorial board, and so on. By "leave running the journal entirely up to the editorial board", I mean that they passively wait for instructions from the board and don't do anything on their own initiative. If you see a journal whose website looks like it hasn't been updated in years, that's an example. The publisher's staff-to-journal ratio is very low (or they simply don't have as motivated/confident/educated journal staff).
Including all of the above, the minimum increases to ~$500, still with wide uncertainties because a lot depends on human costs. If a publisher is based in a country like India for example, they can have significantly lower production costs than if they're based in the UK. The UK publisher can still outsource production to India, but they also have to pay their employees in the UK which is usually significantly more expensive than if they had been located in India. Acquisition costs is another big question mark, since again it depends on how good a job you want to do. Having PhD scientists as editorial staff (e.g. *Physical Review Letters*) makes things a lot more expensive.
I can't easily provide a source for this since it's based on my experience working in publishing. Still, you can get an indirect indication from article processing charges in open access journals. The absolute lowest non-zero APCs are a few tens of dollars (mostly coming from predatory OA publishers). Among non-predatory publishers the lowest APCs are a few hundred dollars. Ubiquity Press is such a publisher. When I visited them a few years ago they seemed to be taking the middle road, doing all the basic stuff but not doing the more expensive top end.
Note this excludes journals with $0 APCs. Journals that charge nothing generally have external funding. Depending on how much funding that is, they might be able to perform any or all of the activities described above.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: Most of these answers deal with small jounrals. Most "glam" journals are much more tight-lipped about where all your money goes.
However, eLife (which aims to be glam publication) has had a go at this [here](https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/b6365b76/setting-a-fee-for-publication) and [here](https://elifesciences.org/inside-elife/a058ec77/what-it-costs-to-publish).
They divide their costs into "technology and innovation" (22%) and "publishing costs" (78%). They further divide "publishing costs" into fixed and marginal (i.e. per article), and claim that per-article costs are £1,798. They claim that their APC covers only the per-article part of their costs, with the rest coming from the institutional funders (Wellcome Trust, <NAME>, <NAME>).
Of this about they say about 50% goes on paying editors. eLife is unusual in that not only do they pay their full time editorial staff, but they also pay 39 senior academic editors and 300 reviewing editors for their time (or actually I suspect they buy that time off their employers). This is about 18hrs per article of a professor level editors time I reckon. Seems generous even if that's 1 hour of a full time editor, 2 hours of a senior academic editor and 15hrs of a reviewing editor.
Then there is "Staff and outsourcing" being non-editorial staff "involved in handling submissions and published articles, and outsourced service providers" at about £350. If they publish 1,400 articles a year, I reckon this works out at about 10 full time staff on a postdoc type salary.
Finally there is "online platforms" and "fee collection and waivers". Each at just over £300.
These numbers are all approximate because I'm putting together stuff from two different articles, dealing with two different years and in some cases estimating from graphs.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: [Schloss Dagstuhl Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik](https://www.dagstuhl.de/) publishes several open-access computer science conference proceedings, mostly through their [LIPIcs](https://www.dagstuhl.de/en/publications/lipics/) imprint. [LIPIcs charges a publication fee of **60 (sixty) EUR per published paper**](https://www.dagstuhl.de/en/publications/lipics/article-processing-charge/), all of which is used to defray Dagstuhl's direct costs. (Other Dagstuhl imprints charge similar publication fees.)
By far the most significant cost is the human labor of copy-editing and assembling complete proceedings. (*Most* of the actual typesetting is done by authors using Dagstuhl's latex templates; however, Dagstuhl staff do edit each paper to enforce their strict formatting guidelines. Similarly, the work of assembling proceedings is split between Dagstuhl and the conference organization.) Smaller costs include DOI acquisition, metadata extraction/maintenance, archiving, and server maintenance. Dagstuhl's publications are also permanently archived by the German National Library.
In reference to @username_7's rather dismissive answer, Dagstuhl does not publish anything on paper; they do significant marketing (compared to competing conference publishers like ACM, IEEE, or Springer); they "attend conferences" only in the sense that its scientific members are themselves active researchers; they use their own document management system (which was developed over many years with the support of European research grants); they do not do plagiarism checks (in part because program committees and reviewers already do that themselves); and they leave the actual content of proceedings (but not the formatting) entirely up to the conference organization. As usual in computer science, all substantive editorial work is done by volunteers.
Notably, LIPIcs does not charge their small publication fee to *authors*, but rather to *conferences*, where they are typically covered by registration fees. Conferences have to apply to publish their proceedings through LIPIcs, and their acceptance is decided by the volunteer [editorial board](https://www.dagstuhl.de/en/publications/lipics/editorial-board/), based primarily on the likely quality, impact, and longevity of the conference.
Dagstuhl's primary activity of [hosting research workshops](https://www.dagstuhl.de/programm/) (again, largely organized by volunteers) makes significant/expensive marketing unnecessary. Dagstuhl doesn't have to advertise to the research community, because the research community already comes to them.
When LIPIcs was established, these publication costs were heavily subsidised by Dagstuhl's general fund, which primarily comes from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research. In 2015, Dagstuhl was informed by their primary funding agency that [their general fund could no longer be used to support publishing activities](https://www.dagstuhl.de/fileadmin/dagpub/apc/seidel-apc-increase-letter-march2016.pdf), because EU regulations forbid government interference in the private publishing market. So I believe the 60EUR fee is an accurate reflection of Dagstuhl's *actual* per-paper publication costs.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_10: [SciPost](https://scipost.org/) publishes several entirely free journals (free for authors and readers) in the sciences and mathematics with open refereeing. (See also [this question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/111902/17254).) In their own words, the [business model](https://scipost.org/finances/business_model/) is
>
> We don't charge authors, we don't charge readers, we don't send bills to anybody for our services, and we certainly don't make any profit; we are an academic community service surviving on donations coming primarily from Organizations which benefit from our activities.
>
>
>
They also take an entirely transparent approach, and provide statistics about the [average publication expenditure per article](https://scipost.org/finances/apex). The current expenditure per publication in their largest journal (SciPost Physics) is currently around €600-€640 (up from €440 in 2019).
They don't quite provide the breakdown of what that expenditure entails. But, as can be seen from e.g. the [2018 Annual Report](https://scipost.org/finances/#reports), the main operation costs are salaries paying for editorial administration (supervising refereeing and production processes) and the production of paper proofs.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: I'm adding another answer because it's fundamentally different from the one I wrote above. All numbers sourced from [this article](https://www.nature.com/news/open-access-the-true-cost-of-science-publishing-1.12676). Note it dates from 2013; the absolute numbers are likely to have changed since.
tl; dr: it is a complex question. Here are some of the most relevant quotes.
First paragraph:
>
> Data from the consulting firm Outsell in Burlingame, California, suggest that the science-publishing industry generated $9.4 billion in revenue in 2011 and published around 1.8 million English-language articles — an average revenue per article of roughly $5,000. Analysts estimate profit margins at 20–30% for the industry, so the average cost to the publisher of producing an article is likely to be around $3,500–4,000.
>
>
>
Second paragraph:
>
> Neither PLoS nor BioMed Central [Ed: these were the largest OA publishers at the time the article was written] would discuss actual costs (although both organizations are profitable as a whole), but some emerging players who did reveal them for this article say that their real internal costs are extremely low. <NAME>, president of the Open Access Scholarly Publishing Association and chief strategy officer at the open-access publisher Hindawi in Cairo, says that last year, his group published 22,000 articles at a cost of $290 per article. <NAME>, founder and director of the researcher-led Ubiquity Press in London, says that average costs are £200 (US$300). And Binfield says that PeerJ's costs are in the “low hundreds of dollars” per article.
>
>
>
Third paragraph:
>
> The few numbers that are available show that costs vary widely in this sector, too. For example, <NAME>, executive editor for *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* in Washington DC, says that the journal would need to charge about $3,700 per paper to cover costs if it went open-access. But <NAME>, editor-in-chief of *Nature*, estimates his journal's internal costs at £20,000–30,000 ($30,000–40,000) per paper. Many publishers say they cannot estimate what their per-paper costs are because article publishing is entangled with other activities. (*Science*, for example, says that it cannot break down its per-paper costs; and that subscriptions also pay for activities of the journal's society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington DC.)
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The article gives some details as to why the numbers are so different (two orders of magnitude between Hindawi/Ubiquity and Nature), but that's beyond the scope of the question. For the interested, I suggest reading the article.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_11: In June 2019, the editorial team at the *Journal of Open Source Software* [calculated](https://blog.joss.theoj.org/2019/06/cost-models-for-running-an-online-open-journal) that their total costs were just $2.75 per published article. However, they acknowledged that they'd got certain services, and certain items of fixed capital for free, for which most journals have to pay. They went on to construct an estimate of what their total costs would be if they had to pay the typical rate for those items, and came up with $140 per published article.
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<issue_start>username_0: I work with governmental register data, which includes sensitive information about individuals, and therefore cannot make datasets available to the public lest I risk violating the privacy of my subjects. Even though the data are anonymised, it contains information such as addresses and dates of medical prescriptions that should not be made public. I myself need to work inside a secure computer lab and don't have free access to these data. What are the possibilities for open science in this case?
Edit: My terms of use prohibit any sharing of the dataset with others not authorised to use the data. I am not allowed, in addition, to transfer the data from the computer where they are supposed to be analysed.<issue_comment>username_1: Great question! Unfortunately, I think there are not going to be great answers. Three ideas have come up in my discussions with users of registry data:
**Describe data access procedures completely**: Be as transparent as you possibly can be about how you acquired the data, how others can acquire them, and what the policies and costs associated with acquisition would be.
**Show everything that you can**: While you cannot share the raw data, you can likely share a considerable amount of information from the data. For example, you can include descriptive statistics and graphics that convey the univariate and multivariate patterns in the data. You may also be able to share certain aggregated statistics (e.g., data aggregated at a block or city level).
**Offer to collaborate**: You may have privileged access to data (i.e., other simply will not be able to access it). In that case, to the extent allowed by data access rules, you should offer the ability to run analyses for others and collaborate with them using the data. This would mean that even your critics can use the data in a meaningful public exchange of ideas, even if the data themselves cannot be made public.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: While you can't share the *data* or the *sensitive* bits, you can share your results for whatever analyses you're doing.
For each analysis you make of the data, check your results. Remove any identifying or sensitive information, and then publish what you've got.
If others contact you about your results, and ask what your data was, you just have to make very clear that you have the data as part of your job, which gives you access to some sensitive material. If put nicely, no reasonable person will complain about the fact that you *can't* share it with them.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I will agree that sensitive HIPPA data can't be published, even if anonymized. However, many institutions have groups to provide assistance in this area. One possibility is to produce a reporting database that aggregates the entries according to a set of criteria. Look at the U.S. Census data. They produce a large number of datasets that are aggregated according to various criteria. The criteria for the "group by" (This is a keyword in SQL used to explain data.) There have to be guidelines out there for aggregating data for release.
As I said, look at how the U.S. Census publishes reports. I have seen a few and they contained all of the rules used for aggregation.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: One other solution for this problem is for the data owner to produce and release a synthetic data set, based on the original, which adequately replicates the properties of that original (e.g. joint distributions of variables) but does not disclose information about real individuals. A literature search on "synthetic data" should find plenty of discussion of methods.
It's a fair bit of work, and as you're not the data owner all you could do here is ask the relevant agency to consider producing a synthetic data set, but if there's enough demand they might consider it. I know quite a few government agencies are looking at synthetic data for this purpose, because sometimes the hassle of producing synthetic data is less than the hassle of running things like secure data labs.
Upvotes: 0
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