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11336 | How much vacation time is typical during a PhD in the United States?
What is the typical amount of vacation time, per year, during a PhD program in the United States. I am particularly interested in 1. PhD programs in the physical sciences, and 2. PhD programs at competitive, research-focused universities.
Not duplicate, but related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5002/taking-break-vacation-during-graduate-studies-phd
While we've seen a lot of anecdotal evidence in the current answers, I believe it would be good to get fact-based answers… there must be statistics somewhere out there.
For a bit of perspective (for comparison; or just to rub it in): I’m doing a PhD in Europe and I have 30 days of vacation a year. (That doesn’t mean I will actually take them all since I might be busy – but that’s what I’m entitled to).
I'm in Sweden, and as a PhD student, I am exempted from all laws regarding vacation. In practice we more or less follow the number of vacation days that a "proper" employee (teacher) the same age would have.
In the US, I've found confusing the distinction between vacation, and personal holidays. See this question at The Workplace.
@F'x while I agree with your sentiment, N-of-1 based answers are factual and potentially have their place.
@DanielE.Shub if so, then it becomes a poll question… which are discouraged by our policy
@F'x the lack of a "good" answer doesn't mean the question is a poll question it means the N-of-1 answers are bad. I said potentially N-of-1 answers have their place, although I am not convinced they do, especially for this question.
Well, this is dependent on a lot of factors:
Your advisor. He/she controls a good part of your life (and probably pays you out of a grant), so vacation time goes through him/her. I've seen advisors who begrudgingly let students take a couple of weeks off in the summer, to those who don't keep track and their students seem to be on vacation all the time. I've also seen advisors who mandate some vacation time to avoid burnout. (and all of the rest of the answers should be caveated with "and if your advisor allows")
Your workload and motivation. Get your work done (e.g., paper submitted, TA duties done, dissertation chapter written), and you can safely take a week or two off.
School schedule. While graduate students don't really stick by a strict semester/trimester/quarter/summer/etc. schedule, it more or less dictates when you can take vacation. I never took more than a day or two off during Spring Break, and my summers were strictly time to get more work done (or to teach a summer class).
School / department policy. Departments sometimes regulate time off, but I'd say that is rare, as vacation is, again, left up to the advisor.
Despite the low pay, you are an employee, and you need to abide by the rules set by your employer (either the school, your advisor, or, possibly, your fellowship rules). Sometimes students don't get paid during the summer, and it is easier to take vacation.
The bottom line is that if you are taking too much vacation, you are delaying getting your research done, and that can have ramifications on when you graduate, how your research progresses (and if you get scooped!), and what your advisor thinks of your work ethic. Should you take time off? Yes. Should you be greedy and think it will be like undergraduate school where you get three or four months off a year? No.
I'm pretty sure #1 is the overwhelmingly most significant factor in answering this question.
I'm not aware of explicit policies regarding vacation time during a Ph.D in the US. This is likely because in the US, the Ph.D is viewed as educational, and not as a job.
As a student, and now as a professor, vacation time was always an informal discussion between advisor and student. This is of course ripe for abuse. A job in the US usually grants 15 days of vacation (not counting weekends) per year, but in my experience that's MUCH less than what you might effectively get as a Ph.D student (in computer science) but might be comparable to what you get as a Ph.D student in the physical sciences.
Unfortunately, I don't have personal experience with physical science programs, but via my wife and other friends I've seen that physical science programs are fairly rough on vacation. This is partly because you need to be around to tend to long-running experiments ("the flies died!") and partly because of the nature of lab work and the much more intense style of lab-based science.
My recommendation would be, once you have some options, to ask students in the programs you're applying to, working with advisors you're interested in targeting.
Just to add to your comment, my vacation time is explicitly listed on my yearly funding letter. I am a PhD student in the US. But of course, in reality as you point out, its a discussion between the adviser and the advisee.
Short answer: around 4 weeks (20 days).
Okay, given the number of anecdotal answers given, let's try to do something different and find some hard data… It is rather easy, because most institutions have explicit vacation policies posted online.
Princeton graduate school (which I think fits your stated criteria) has Guidelines on Student Vacation Time, which say:
graduate student degree candidates may take up to (but no more than) four weeks of vacation, including any days taken during regular University holidays and scheduled recesses
Caltech Graduate Studies Office states:
The Institute policy is that graduate students are "entitled to two weeks' annual vacation (in addition to Institute holidays)." […] There are 11 Institute holidays this calendar year […] In total, graduate students are entitled to 21 vacation days per calendar year. These days do not accrue from year to year.
MIT's policy for Graduate Students is the following:
[…] observe normal Institute holidays and are entitled to two weeks of vacation with pay if their appointments are for the full calendar year. Their vacation schedule must be approved by their supervisors
GeorgiaTech's policy:
Two weeks vacation and all official Georgia Tech holidays are allowed during each calendar year. Advisors must be notified of all vacation time and absences. Mid-term and intermission breaks are not vacation days unless scheduled as such.
In summary, vacation/holiday time ranges from 4 to 5 weeks at the institutions listed. It should be noted that the above are the actual vacation policies, so real-life situation might be different: less strict, if your advisor is understanding and it doesn't impede your work; more strict, if there is a negative culture in your workplace.
I've understood that sometimes, holidays (christmas, new year, etc.) are icnluded in those days, so that 21 vacation days would include only 10 that can be freely chosen (such as in summer). Would that be how the Caltech statement should be interpreted? See also my question over at The Workplace.
The Caltech statement is quite explicit: two weeks is 10 days (5 days per week), which can be freely chosen; the 11 additional “Institute holidays” are not freely chosen. The link I gave lists them for the 2010–2011 year: Thanksgiving break (November 25-26); Winter break (December 24-27); New Year's Day (December 31); Martin Luther King Day (January 17); President's Day (February 21); Memorial Day (May 30); Independence Weekend (July 1-4); Labor Day (September 5)
@DanielE.Shub agreed, I failed to read the MIT policy correctly… corrected, thanks!
This of course only tells you about the number of days you are entitled to and not the number of days taken, which in the US are very different.
Having done a PhD in the United States and then come to Denmark to do a post-doc, I can say that this is going to depend on a huge number of factors. In the US, during my PhD, many of my colleagues seemed to be on vacation all of the time (many of them did not finish). But, my advisor never took vacation and I, accordingly, worked on his schedule. I never took vacation and was always "on email," etc. when I was away for whatever reason. We had no guarantee of vacation other, I guess, than national and university holidays, but most people work from home (or in the lab) during those times any way.
In Denmark, however, this is completely different. Everyone in Denmark is guaranteed five weeks of paid vacation every year and even in academia, people use it seriously. Because it is July, all faculty and graduate students in my department are gone. Literally all of them and they are not on email and claim to not work, most for a three week holiday abroad.
So, in short, this is going to depend on a lot on country, department norms, and your advisor's style/expectations.
I can add that it appears to be exactly the same in Sweden. All but the Germans vanish from midsummer onward for 4–8 weeks (vacation + parental leave).
This seems to be consistent across most of Europe. France is closed for the entire month of August.
To add some personal experience from two different systems to the other answers (Chris Gregg and Suresh; which I fully agree with).
The way this is handled clearly depends on where you are (I realize you are asking about US). In Sweden PhD students have a certain number of days (weeks). This is regulated by laws. However, a problem with trying to regulate vacation is that not all students or projects are alike and in the end you, as a PhD student, is responsible to complete your work in time (advisors obviously also have a role to facilitatet this). So in "my" system the stipulated vacation may be a blessing in disguise if taken very literally. The important point is that one must plan ones own time and that includes taking time off to reload batteries and rest. A difficulty is to balance these issues.
My own experience when I was a forreign graduate student in the US was that I really got a lot of work done during holidays and spring breaks when most people were away. I do not remember having any major vacation time but I always had days off for doing anything that could take my mind off graduate school (not that I was bored, I just felt rejuvenated by it). So managing time is more imprtant than having a long vacation. As I saw it grad school was my chance to get somewhere so it was worth working for.
They are two ways to answer/interpret the question.
The first is: how much time are you "legally" entitled/required to take
The answer to this question will vary across country, university, and even how you are "employed" within a university. Even if this could be answered in general or for you specific situation, I am not sure it is helpful given the second interpretation.
The second is: how much time do PhD students actually take
This seems to me a more relevant question and is similar, if not identical, to: How hard do early-career academics in the United States work, really?. I believe that N-of-1 type answers are meaningless since I know people who takes zero vacation days and I know people who take in excess of 60 vacation days. The Sigma Xi society surveyed post docs and found that they take 12 vacation days a year on average. I provided details about this study in this answer of mine. I am not sure to the extent to which the vacation habits of post docs and PhD students are similar, but this is the only population study I am aware of.
While I quite appreciate your linked answer on post-docs, the above is more a comment than an answer, isn't it?
@F'x I thought about making it a comment, but I think it answers the question. In fact, I think it is a better answer than the other N-of-1 based answers.
Then, for the record, I'll say that I think its premise (“vacation habits of post docs and phd students are similar”) is widely off-base…
@F'x I tried expanding the answer. The main premise still exists and since I don't know a study of PhD students, I cannot change it. I think the post doc study adds something so I am going to keep it.
Disclaimer: *n=1* at a research university
I can give you a reasonable estimate of the vacation hours as I am a current PhD student in the US, not in the physical sciences but in the computing sciences. At my institution (Cornell University), I can officially take 14 days off in the year when I am fully funded. This is what is typed on my funding letter which I receive at the beginning of every semester.
In practice, this depends upon your adviser. I have been fortunate enough to work with wonderful people who do not care how many days I take off as long as the work has been done according to their expectations. For instance, I took 2 months off in Dec-Jan last year but then I had finished my personal involvement in all the current projects and had submitted relevant papers for publication.
Interesting that your department mandates it explicitly. I wonder if this has as much to do with students trying to take too much time off as it does for professors who might never let their students leave ("my letter says I get 14 days off!")...
I don't really know. I have never heard of either extreme to be perfectly honest. Professors are very happy to work with, and accommodate the different priorities of students. As I said, I took 2 months off last winter. That, in certain, departments might be considered blasphemy. My adviser was really great about it since I had done all my required work by then.
I'm working at a very competitive research university in physical sciences this summer as an undergraduate research intern. I asked a few of the PhD students i'm working with, and they told me that they get a maximum of two weeks off per year, not including one week that everyone gets off for Christmas. Thus a lot of them take their two weeks in addition to Christmas (a lot of internationals here don't care about Christmas much) to get an effective 3 week vacation.
Like others have said, it will depend entirely on your advisor. The PhD students I've talked to have told horror stories about one advisor in particular who wouldn't grant a PhD student an extra two days off to get married, because it would have put him over two weeks for the year. Others generally don't care as much as long as you get your work done.
In addition to the other informative answers, I can't help but comment that (truly) one might ask oneself how/why this becomes a question at all. Of course it is a reasonable question, but it potentially hints at some aversion to one's "work".
I know others might disagree strenuously, but my own quite sincere and considered opinion is that academe is not a good career choice if the "job" is substantially oppressive or in any way "something to get away from". The reason is that quite a few people, your competitors, really love spending time at "the thing", and although of course "more hours" does not mean "more production", that kind of sustained engagement... and affection... does seem to enhance productivity and efficiency hugely.
That is, an academic job should be the kind of thing that one _does_not_need_ a vacation from, any more than one needs a vacation from eating or sleeping. Of course this is just one "ideal", but it is certainly the ground for my own life as a mathematician. That is (at the other end of one's career) when people ask me when I'll retire, regardless of exactly what I say, my thoughts are that it would be silly to stop accepting good pay for what I'd be doing anyway. :) :) (And, I add, for probably 12+ hours a day 6/7 days a week, and at least several hours every day of the year. I feel ill if I can't find a way to think about mathematics at least a few hours every day. If necessary, it seems that insomnia provides an opportunity...)
One may view this as a silly ideal, and my own experience as a bit of a caricature, but I think it is worthwhile for a potential academic to juxtapose such ranting with their own inclinations. E.g., if one can't feel an irrational affection for one's projects... it's time to consider other options.
So: vacation? I don't like the conventional notion of "vacation" (where you stop doing what you do ordinarily), any more than I'd like a vacation from eating or sleeping. Seriously. Yes, this creates some degree of conflict with family.
The worse conflict would be if one really does want to get away from one's (academic?) work. If so, then all the people who aren't necessarily as able as you, but who love it, will be zooming past you while you are on vacation. This is probably not just a "scare story", considering my personal observations over 40+ years.
Thus, conceivably, if you really think in terms of "vacation" from tasks that are not ... enchanting... then the real conclusion is that you should think about other possibilities.
(I thought that this ... arguably idealistic/extreme... viewpoint needed some representation.)
+1 for "I feel ill if I can't find a way to think about mathematics at least a few hours every day." Sleeping in the daytime really makes one feel void and even more tired...
It need not be an aversion to work at all. I love what I do (also mathematics PhD) but I also have other passions. I love seeing the world, experiencing different cultures, meeting people in different countries, and immersing myself in nature. The latter I find is really essential for my well-being. Being a grad student in a city from where I have to drive 3 hours to get to the closest forest/mountain/nature reserve etc means that escapes to nature aren't something I can do very often and it really is better to take dedicated vacation time for this.
I'm also a grad student in a different continent to where my family are, and I spend some vacation time with them. You are abslutely right that if you want vacation time to 'get away from work', then something is wrong in your attitude to work. If, however, you want vacation to have time for other things and people that you love; things which complete you in ways that work doesn't, then it's absolutely fine to want a decent vacation time. As passionate as I am about math, I would want at least 5 weeks of vacation each year - and yes I would still work while away. I get the 'sick' feeling too.
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10658 | How can a senior undergraduate find academic journals in math and computer science?
I am going to be a senior undergraduate and am looking to really find the area of research that I would like to be engaged in during graduate-school/senior year. I have submitted one conference paper as a collaborating author (currently waiting for the reviewers) in the area of Social Network Analysis (mathematical modeling) and am currently working on a conference paper in Graph Algorithms.
As you might guess, I am double majoring in Math and Computer Science and would like to pursue a graduate degree in applied math. So far (I haven't taken all the undergrad courses yet!) I have enjoyed Algorithms, Real Analysis, Graph Theory and Differential Equations. In the future I am curious to learn more about Stochastic Modeling, Mathematical Logic, Artificial Intelligence, Complex Analysis, Fractals and Abstract Algebra.
Where can I find current research journals about both the topics I have enjoyed and the topics I am curious to learn more about?
Do any journals have mobile apps (IOS, Android, or Windows) in which they can be viewed?
Where can I find unbiased information about the quality and related-data about journals?
EDIT: Do any journals "stream" (RSS feed) to GNU Emacs? or is there any type of package manager that will automatically download the latest publications? For example, I just found this "package/program" available in GNU Emacs. It is a list of AI publications from MIT up until 2005 (why would they stop then?)
Thanks for all the help! I am at least looking for a copy of a physical journal so I can take my eyes off the computer for a little bit! :)
Yes, many journals have RSS streams and/or can send you an e-mail on all new issues. Just look on their home pages.
For most of the computer science topics, you'd be better off ignoring journals entirely and focusing on conferences.
You can use Google Scholar to set up "alerts" that send you periodic digests of recently published papers.
Some answers from this one: http://mathoverflow.net/questions/38119/where-to-publish-a-paper-on-the-mafia-game are a related to this question.
@JeffE why is that? why journals are not the main venue for CS researchers?
@seteropere: That is a long story that deserves its own question.
@willwest has answered regarding CS. I will answer regarding math.
I would start with the journals of the AMS (pure math) and of SIAM (applied math). These are the pre-eminent professional societies in their fields and virtually all of their journals are top tier. In particular, you might start by browsing the Journal of the AMS and the SIAM Review, the most selective journals from each society.
The journal that a paper gets published in is becoming less and less important, since most researchers find articles through search engines or social media rather than by browsing journals. The best way to keep up with new research in a particular subfield of math or CS is to subscribe to the appropriate arXiv RSS feed; for instance, for numerical analysis this is http://arxiv.org/rss/math.NA. This is how I usually learn about relevant new research.
Note that few mathematical conferences have proceedings, and none that I know of are considered prestigious (in CS, the situation is roughly the opposite). If you want to know which journals are the most highly regarded, talk to faculty in the field.
Journal articles are PDFs, so you can view them with any mobile app that understands PDFs. If you want to read a hard copy, either print the paper or go to your campus library.
The problem with the arXiv feed is that if you don't know anything about the field, you can't separate the good stuff from the junk. As an undergraduate who isn't that knowledgeable about a subfield, I'd suggest you look in one of the pre-eminent journals for that subfield. There are usually a small number of these (I'd guess between one and five). How do you identify these? The most accurate way is to ask a mathematician who is familiar with the subfield, but googling (say) "Journal ranking numerical analysis" also seems to work pretty well.
@PeterShor: filtering out the junk isn't that hard (and, in my experience, just as necessary a skill when you read journals). One conservative way is to search for people cited in textbooks and explore their writings. Recursively build your "Web of trust" as you read their papers, and papers of others they cite. (I mean cite in a significant way, not as a bad example.) Sure, you'll miss the fresh blood and the hidden gems at first, but eventually you'll come to them too, and as an undergrad you shouldn't aim for 100% coverage of the field anyway.
I would agree that you should mostly be ignoring journals and focusing on conferences, as they publish the majority of new computer science research.
Microsoft Academic Search is a good place to go to get an approximate listing of the top conferences for each sub-field of computer science. Other fields other than Computer Science are listed there too.
Use your school's network to access the ACM Digital Library (this should be free through your school's library), and download the proceedings for the conferences in the past year or two. Find the papers that look interesting to you and then search for them on Google Scholar. You can print them out if you prefer hard copies.
Hope this helps!
No discussion of mathematics-based material would be complete without mentioning arXiv.
Don't assume that all CS conferences are available in, or even indexed by, the ACM Digital Library. See, for example: FOCS, SODA, CCC, COLT, VLDB, USENIX, ICALP, WAFR, ICRA, CVPR, ...
Let me put in a vote for Mathematical Reviews (online version). They're a few months behind the actual publication of the article, but someone who knows the field is giving you a two-paragraph (plus-or-minus) synopsis. Even low-quality papers get reviewed, and the authors-should-have-read-X comments of the reviewer are well worth it.
Your department can arrange a login for you. For that matter, just go join the American Mathematical Society; dues for grad students are trivial.
Here are some journals:
Journal of Combinatorial Theory
Discrete Mathematics
Discrete Applied Mathematics
Electronic Journal of Combinatorics
Advances in Applied Mathematics
Journal of the ACM
SIAM Journal on Discrete Mathematics
MAA Monthly
Computational Methods in Engineering
Computational Intelligence and Complexity
SIAM Journal on Optimization
SIAM Journal on Computing
But you can search the list yourself for a more relevant journal:
https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=top_venues
This sorts them by citations.
It's just my opinion but I didn't know how this could not be the top answer until I realized you answered a year later than the top answer. Anyway, I think it was a great idea putting these links here.
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37862 | How to show extreme gratitude in an email?
When contacting universities, in many cases, I find the replies to my emails extremely well detailed and helpful, therefore in such cases I find a simple "Thank you" to be just insufficient.
For example, when you have already applied to a program, and then you email the department to ask a simple question about supplementary documents, but they put SO MUCH effort in their response and even analyze your application before the application process has even started and they tell you that they are very certain that you will be accepted. How would you react? Is it rude to say something like: "I'm very glad to hear that."
In such situations, I do not really know how to best answer the person to show them that I really appreciate their email very much.
Are you really grateful for the explanation? Or are you just excited that you're going to get into the program?
Politeness never hurts. "Thank you for your very detailed and positive information" could be one option or something along those lines. I am sure most people providing this type of response do not expect much in return (not that they do not deserve it). But as with many other instances, keeping the thanks short and concise is necessary, do not overwork it because that just seems suspicious. Remember that the person is doing their work (well) and should be praised for just that.
If the school to which you are applying is large then it is not very likely you will be remembered and so the response will have little significance other than to show appreciation. In a smaller school, however, your politeness may be noticed and can help you build good relations with administration for the future so politeness never hurts.
One thing my English Language and Literature teacher taught me was, "if you want to say it then just say it".
I would suggest therefore you put your thanks into written form as I would like to express my most sincere gratitude and appreciation for ...
Actually, I find that sounds rather formulaic and insincere. Asserting that something is a sincere statement has something of the opposite effect: it introduces the idea that some things you say might not be sincere.
My advice is to examine your own feelings, and understand what exactly you want to express. Then words should come more naturally to you (at least if you're fluent in English). If you just say "I'm very glad to hear that" (I don't know if you meant you would write only this sentence) it sounds to me like you are at least reasonably happy you will likely be admitted, but you're not specific expressing gratitude for the effort they put into your inquiry.
In this case, I presume you want to do two things: show excitement/enthusiasm about the news and express appreciation for their effort. For example: "That's great/wonderful news! I really appreciate all of the effort you took to personally examine my application." Or: "I'm excited to hear that. Thank you very much for taking the time look at my application in detail."
Note: It appears Peter is Scandanavian, so he may be more reserved than a classless American like me. Anyway, I don't think you need to restrict yourself to 1 sentence. Two or three is fine, though I agree that you should be brief.
Consider saying thanks twice, not jsut for the information, but also for the time they spent putting it together for you.
Also, like most gifts, people appreciate it when they know you've actually used the product of their effort - it wasn't wasted.
So an enthusiastic, but still professional, thank you might be similar to the following:
Thank you for all this great information. I really appreciate the time and effort you've given me!
The article on [subject] was particularly enlightening, and is proving helpful as I make this decision. I will be careful to [x], [y], and [z], this advice has really clarified a few things for me.
Thanks again!
Rather than look for the most extreme adverbs and adjectives to heighten your thanks, another strategy would be to describe clearly and specifically what you found so helpful and why. Extreme expressions can be used insincerely but specific details show you have actually thought about it.
I'm going to start by not answering your question: you have no need to express extreme gratitude in this case. The staff at the university are simply exhibiting good customer service: remember that they want you to come to their university and not take your custom to a different university instead and, accordingly, they have taken the time to answer your query effectively. This is doing their job not going above and beyond as you seem to think.
Given this I think the appropriate response is simply a polite thank you rather than any effusive expression of extreme gratitude which I would think is likely to come across as a bit odd.
To answer the question you actually posed: it rather depends on the country the university is in. In the UK, for example, we tend to find overly exuberant displays of gratitude rather odd and even a bit uncomfortable so you'd want to adopt a relatively mild tone, whereas - judging from the students from that region that I interact with - in the Middle East it is normal to thank people much more effusively.
If you can, I would suggest sending a thank-you card through snail mail in addition to a thank-you e-mail. Both should be short and concise, but the paper card can be a little longer.
The key thing is, while it's very difficult to express the emotion of being especially thankful in words, sending a card is relatively rare these days and carries additional weight. It will not come off as unprofessional or awkward like a poorly-written thank you would, but it will convey your thanks more deeply.
Considering that you're sending this note as one professional to another, I would recommend either writing the letter on your current university or company's stationary or writing in a very simple thank-you card that does not have anything pre-printed on the inside.
If you would like some advice on what to include in your thank-you note, I recommend these websites. Again, your email response will likely be very short; I would recommend writing just the card like these sites suggest.
http://www.hallmark.com/thank-you/ideas/how-to-write-a-thank-you-note/
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/how-to-write-a-thank-you-note
A simple "Thank you" is definitely insufficient. It shows lack of understanding of how they may have spent significant time answering your questions.
On the other hand, responding with almost religious adoration is also ridiculous. Using words to suggest that their response was "the best thing that ever happened to you" is absurd.
Here is a general example that will point you in the right direction:
"Thank you very much for your response. I'm pleased to receive such a detailed and helpful answer. Your timely efforts are greatly appreciated."
This isn't complicated.
I really appreciate your help with this. Thank you!
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74967 | Should I list people who are in competition with me as reviewers to exclude for "conflict of interest"?
I am submitting a a paper to a top conference and I need to determine the reviewers with conflicts of interests.
There is a big competition in having papers accepted at this conference, among people working in this area. Also, it is very likely that my paper goes to people who are in the same area for judgement. Particularly, some of these people are not very honest and they blindly reject other people's works, in order to publish their own papers. To myself, it has been proven the dishonesty of them.
Is it OK to put these people in my list of reviewers to exclude because of conflicts of interests? There are other researchers who can judge the quality of my paper honestly, because I am not putting everybody on that list. But is it right to do so?
@CapeCode e.g. is right, and that's why it is making me confused; conflict of interests means to exclude those who benefit from the outcome of my research, or those who may intentionally accept/reject my research?
@dan1111 Good point, I actually emailed the PC Chair about "completely invalid" arguments of the reviewers, but there was no reply.
Many of the guidelines that I've seen have a clause along the lines of "anyone else who you feel may not review the work fairly due to your relationship with them", and some even cite "personal animosity" as a valid reason. Many of the answers cite being in competition as not being a valid reason, which is true, but I also see a lot of "assuming good faith", and my read of your question is that you are not comfortable making that assumption. In my view, it is OK to declare a conflict with folks you think (reasonably and in good faith) won't give you a good faith review.
In my experience, when a conference asks authors to identify reviewers that are conflicted, they want you to identify reviewers who fall into certain categories of people who should not review your work because they have a relationship with you personally that could bias their review. For example: your advisor, your colleagues, your current collaborators, your family members, etc. They are not asking you to list reviewers who you consider to be your competition.
For example, the instructions for POPL 2017 say:
As an author, you should list PC and ERC members (and any others, since others may be asked for outside reviewers) which you believe have a conflict with you. While particular criteria for making this determination may vary, please apply the following guidelines, identifying a potential reviewer Bob as conflicted if
Bob was your co-author or collaborator at some point within the last 2 years
Bob is an advisor or advisee of yours
Bob is a family member
Bob has a non-trivial financial stake in your work (e.g., invested in your startup company)
Also please identify institutions with which you are affiliated; all employees or affiliates of these institutions will also be considered conflicted.
If a possible reviewer does not meet the above criteria, please do not identify him/her as conflicted. Doing so could be viewed as an attempt to prevent a qualified, but possibly skeptical reviewer from reviewing your paper. If you nevertheless believe that a reviewer who does not meet the above criteria is conflicted, you may identify the person and send a note to the PC Chair.
This means that I need to email the PC Chair and hope they don't get offended by my note.
@emab The PC chair is unlikely to consider "competition" to be a valid reason to conflict a reviewer.
It's odd that they give the potential reviewer a gender-specific name when there's no need to give a name at all. (They could just say "they" or "he or she" instead of "Bob", or they could rephrase along the lines of "The following people are conflicted: your co-authors and collaborators from the last two years, your advisor and advisees, ...").
@DavidRicherby, I think Bob is a memorable name.
@DavidRicherby It is a programming language theory conference, they love their metasyntactic variables like 'foo', 'bar', and 'baz'. There are also metasyntactic names used for people that are not nonsense syllables but rather 'Alice' and 'Bob', who I think were selected for their convenient initials. Using 'Bob' above was not accidental, it is just shorthand for some arbitrary person.
@DavidRicherby Oh, Bob is definitely conflicted, no doubt about that.
@David don't let Eve hear you say that.
The answer is no.
Being in competition with you for acceptance is not a valid reason to exclude reviewers. That competition is implicit and you'd be excluding everyone then. Peer review assumes good faith on both authors and reviewers sides.
In your question you seem to imply that some reviewers are being dishonest, that is an entirely other issue.
You should read the guidelines carefully. Not every field/journal/conference will see things the same way. In particular it may depend heavily on whether you are asked for a reason for exclusion. Note that previous co-authors are easily spotted in bibliometric systems (including the journal's in-house system if you habitually publish there); competitors are harder to find.
According to AIP's ethics guidelines.
Privileged information or ideas obtained through peer review must be
kept confidential and not used for competitive gain. Reviewers must
disclose conflicts of interest resulting from direct competitive,
collaborative, or other relationships with any of the authors, and
avoid cases in which such conflicts preclude an objective evaluation.
Thus the onus is on the reviewers. However (from memory, if I'm wrong I'm thinking of another publisher) when you're asked for reviewers to avoid, you're also asked to provide a reason. By stating that you are competing with another group you can help the editor make a judgement call bearing in mind that in the editors' responsibilities section:
Situations that may lead to real or perceived conflicts of interest should be avoided.
The editor may think "perfect, someone who can review this really critically" and choose to ignore your suggestion (that's all it usually is) but then they have to be able to stand by this decision. It could affect how they choose the other reviewer(s). But you need to be specific and polite -- not "Prof X has it in for me" but "Prof X's group are working on very similar material and we feel it would be a conflict of interest if they were to see this work ahead of publication".
+1 For having the ba%%s to address the fact that, while it is nice to think that peer-review is always on the up-and-up, reality says otherwise, and we should not always have blind faith (nor should we always be expected to have concrete proof that someone is acting in a malicious manner; sometimes you gotta go with your gut that someone is going to try to get the upper hand anyway they can).
@MadJack thank you, though I'm mainly quoting, and put a little context on it.
Assuming good faith,
your competitors are the best peer reviewers
and you are one of the most appropriate reviewers for your competitors. You want a reviewer that is an expert on your field. Not some student of a different subdomain that gives you a "reject, I don't like Figure 5 and your result on data 3 could be better" kind of review.
Don't forget there (usually) is some senior pc/editor handling the reviews and doing the final decision. If a competitor is just giving a review "our method X is better, reject" then the handling PC may ignore his review.
It may help to treat competitors fair. Discuss their work, compare to their method. Show when and why your approach is better. Your competitors will like their work being read, understood, cited and improved. You can establish healthy competitions on the research direction along with respect for one another's work. Treat them as peers, not as enemies.
As you noted, this is the case when you assume that your competitor is fair enough to accept the competition. It is an interesting point, because the reviews that I got were like this: "You haven't compared your results with X" where X is the reviewers' work and I HAVE actually done the comparison in both experiments and related works. The same reviewer made many invalid criticizes.
If you get an outright incorrect review - always point this out to the editor. That reviewer should be blacklisted. Talk to the relevant people, solve conflicts.
But let me also point out that I have seen very bad discussion of related work, that I would also not accept. Often along the lines of "We cannot compare with X because they use green apples not yellow apples." - which an experienced reviewer will read as "we don't want to compare to X, but are afraid we will get rejected if this is not in our references list". In particular students tend to shed away from having to actually reproduce the work of others to compare to.
I actually did email the PC chair, but they did not bother a reply. I had compared both theoretical and experimental results with their method. The same person published 4-5 papers in that conference (which is strange, how could a researcher get this many papers in one round of such prestigious conference? ans: by kicking others out). I have total confidence in the work that was rejected there, as I immediately submitted it to another prestigious conference, which was double blind, and it got strong accept (all reviewers accepted it).
Some venues will allow you to set of conflict of interest with this reviewer then because of "personal conflicts". I consider unfair reviewing a "personal conflict". But in my opinion, such behavior should be eventually disclosed. Right now, this mostly happens by word of mouth...
There is no real reason though to assume good faith, is there?
Peer review has to assume good faith, and game theory tit-for-tat tells you that playing fair is a good strategy if most people behave that way. From my experience, few reviews are really hostile. More are incompetent or written in too much of a hurry; but that is a different problem.
If good faith can always be assumed, then why are there any conflict of interest need to be declared?
Not so much because of competitors, but rather because of allies. Such as former advisors or colleagues that would give too positive reviews without checking thorough enough... There is "good faith" there, maybe sometimes too much...
While I mainly agree with Chris H's answer, it seems that most people here are saying you shouldn't and it would be unethical, so I thought I should add that I have seem guidelines for reviewers that, in their section on declaring conflict of interest, it specifies people in direct competition as well as friends and family etc.
There would hopefully be enough people in your field working on related things that you can exclude a couple who are working on directly contradictory theories without running out of reviewers.
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102958 | Can I have ResearchGate organize peer review of my paper?
I've uploaded an article to ResearchGate, and ResearchGate asks me whether it has been peer reviewed. It hasn't, and I'm wondering whether ResearchGate can get it peer reviewed for me.
Is this possible and if yes how would I do it?
What do you mean by organizing the peer review on researchgate? You want to invite researcher and comment on your article or something else?
When you say publish, do you mean publish on ResearchGate, or publish in a journal (which ResearchGate isn't)? When you say uploading website, do you mean that of ResearchGate, or that of a journal?
No indeed I mean upload on Research Gate - Nonetheless Research Gate is no journal, by peer reviewing the quality of the publication would be increased
I think I understand your question now. You've uploaded your article to ResearchGate, and ResearchGate asks you whether it has been peer reviewed. It hasn't, and now you're wondering whether ResearchGate can get it peer reviewed for you.
The answer is: it can't. It just wants to mark articles shared on RG that have been peer reviewed elsewhere as such, but it won't have it reviewed for you. To get it reviewed, you would have to submit it to an actual journal.
Research gate is not a journal or other form of publication outlet. It's a sort of researcher's facebook with an option to upload papers or preprints of papers that were published elsewhere. These are not peer-reviewed (again) by research gate.
Sure, but nonetheless many people just load up articles on research gate without "publishing" it elsewhere. This might be the reason why they ask for a peer-review
@2Obe Such people perhaps should consider an epijournal, if a suitable one exists. However, that is still a form of getting the article published.
@2Obe Is that actually common?! Because as far as I know RG was never intended for that, and it’s a patently bad idea.
I think if there is not the intention that people upload articles (only) on RG (indipendent if the article has been published or not), the question if the paper has been peer-reviewed is obsolete since if users would only load up published articles they are all (normally) reviewed
@2Obe working papers, and in some disciplines, conference papers aren't. There are also journals without peer review. In law, these are the majority.
As far as I know, the answer is no.
Research gate is a site for displaying your work so people can find it. It is not part of the publishing process itself.
Peer-review is what happens after you submit the paper to a journal, before they accept it. I find it strange that the publisher would ask if the paper has been peer-reviewed. Possibly the intended question is whether it has previously been submitted to (and rejected by) another journal, so they can ask to see previous reviews before using up more community time on further ones.
Edit: I can't make up my mind whether the website you are uploading to is Research Gate itself or another journal website. If you mean Research Gate, then the 'is it peer reviewed?' question means 'Has it been accepted for publication?'
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43097 | How does publication month and number of citations to a paper correlate?
I am assuming that there is a correlation between a paper's publication month and the number of citations it attracts, based on the following premises (that may or may not be wrong, that's also open for discussion):
When people do literature research they tend to focus more on papers that have already attracted many citations, rather than uncited papers.
As a corollary of 1., people will be more willing to read and cite an uncited paper if it has been recently published (compared to an uncited older paper), assuming that it may have attracted few (or no) citations because there has not been enough time to do so since publication.
When looking at how recently a paper has been published -and therefore establishing its "age"-, people only look at the year, rather than the month, of publication.
As a consequence of 1., 2. and 3., a paper that has been published towards the end of the year becomes "old" (and less likely to attract citations, c.f. 2.) faster than a paper that has been published towards the beginning of the year. For instance, consider a paper published in December 2014, which becomes "one year old" (according to 3.) already in January 2015, after one month of existence. A paper published in January 2014 will stay "newborn" until January 2015, therefore it enjoys 11 extra months of "freshness" compared to the other paper, and will therefore be more affective at attracting citations.
My questions are: is my argumentation above flawed (and how)? And, if not, is there any data supporting a correlation between publication month and number of citations attracted by a paper?
Note that an effective data analysis would likely need to exclude very highly cited papers that might introduce a bias.
I hope number 1 isn't how people are doing literature searches.
There are many factors not related to the academic quality of a paper which influences the rate of citations. However I am, from the top of my head, not aware of research into the publication month. My best bet would be to check either Scientometrics or the Journal of Informetrics.
You can, of course, download alot of information from WoK and run your own analysis
@StrongBad: Indeed, I think (hope?) the process works the other way round - when papers have already attracted many citations, people may already know about and think of them before starting their literature research.
@StrongBad If one is looking for specific new findings, obviously new papers which closely match the search criteria are the ones to go for. However one can only read so many papers. If a search returns 1000 papers that match the search criteria at the same approximate level (either because there are too many papers on the subject or the criteria are too lax), one needs to settle for only some, ideally the highest quality ones. Citation count will make some of the papers stand out from the rest, and would be an obvious (but not necessarily the best) criterion to choose which papers to read.
It doesn't appear to be a major factor. On the subject of citation behavior, I recommend reading this very rich article:
Lutz Bornmann and Hans-Dieter Daniel What do citation counts measure? A review of studies on citing behavior Journal of Documentation Vol. 64 No. 1, 2008 pp. 45-80
Generally, it confirms your point 1. Previous citation count is a good predictor of future citation.
It seems to contradict your point 2. There are more citation to recent article mainly because there are much more recent articles, not because they are preferably cited over older articles.
I can only address your question and point 3 by default: the month of publication is not listed among the potential factors influencing citation in this study nor in several other quantitative studies (1) (2) (3), although it was not formally excluded.
Note that an effective data analysis would likely need to exclude very
highly cited papers that might introduce a bias.
Yes, most likely the effect of the publication month, if there is one, will be masked by a variety of other stronger factors.
Apologies, I realize that my point 2. was confusing as I had written it originally and didn't mean what I intended.
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23150 | Who should pursue a Ph.D degree?
I am asking myself the question "Should I do PhD or should I leave academia and go for an industrial career?"
My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research.
PhD is surely a bite that not everyone can chew.
But I wonder who can chew it?
I never was good at tests and exams. My BSc. GPA was 2.84/4.00 but finished my MSc. with 3.50/4.00
However, currently I am working on a conference paper and I feel like even that is too much for me. It has been nearly 3 months and still, the paper draft is to be improved (not the wording but the content).
I am surely a hard-worker but not always. Sometimes, I let go of my work and absorbed in other stuff (composing, amateur radio etc). If this period is too wide, I have to spend double effort to warm-up and remember where I left.
I don't know how things work in PhD. It usually is 5-6 years. It is the one of two most-challenging milestones in academic career (the other is getting the title Assoc. Prof).
Should I completely be a "nerd" and work on my thesis systematically (something I could never make in my entire life) or working periodically but with extra effort is still sufficient?
So, here's my question: If I say "I'm considering to do PhD" and ask your advice, what would you ask me? What kind of skills/characteristics do you look for a potential academician?
I know it is way too late for me to ask this kind of question, as a person who almost finished his master's degree. But better lose the saddle than the horse.
I love to do research. is inconsistent with I am working on a conference paper and I feel like even that is too much for me. Writing papers is an inseperable part of research!
@JeffE That's not quite fair. There are many people who enjoy reading publications, formulating hypotheses, performing experiments, analyzing data, but hate writing manuscripts.
@Superbest Those people enjoy parts of research.
Your question echoes mine! Thank you for asking this question.
I find the most tedious part of research is having to explain and justify in writing what I have done and why. Primarily because the standard scientific paper format is in many ways better suited to obscured rather than clarified communication. A specific annoyance that comes to mind is the enforced use of passive voice and extended prose when writing a method, when frankly, a numbered list would be easier for everyone to follow.
@JeffE "too much for me" is not like I hate to do it. The tempo of the work is too much. I enjoy doing it, but the throughput drops day by day.
@JeffE Put in other (graphical) words: http://explosm.net/comics/3557/
@Sam is there really a written rule that obligates you to use the passive voice? In my field there is no such thing, and only some old-fashioned researchers impose themselves this 'rule'.
@Davidmh This comic is hilarious! I love it! But this is not my case. I love to struggle with the parts that most of the people hate to work on. But loving something is not enough.
@cagirici Could you leave details and concentrate on one question? (There are a few important ones here :)!) Stack Exchange is not a forum for pieces of life-advice and collecting opinions. A question here should be answerable and generalizable.
@PiotrMigdal Thank you for your attention, but I could not understand which part did you find unnecessary?
@cagirici Concentrate only on low GPA (which may be field-dependent) OR who does your writing experience relate to PhD work OR that you want to be a professor (but here it's trivial: no other route) OR for general materials for people considering PhD... You ask to many questions so that answers are unlikely to be useful for others (which is one of primary rules of Stack Exchange). You are free (and invited!) to ask many questions but in separate question threads.
@PiotrMigdal I see what you're saying. I did collect all of my questions in one topic because writing one question after the other seemed like spamming to me. Sorry for inconvinience. I'll try to fix it.
@cagirici You can ask a general one, wait for a few hours, and ask another. Just SE is not a forum, so it has some peculiar rules that turn out to be fruitful, in a longer run. :)
If you like research but don't like writing conference papers, why not be a research scientist, lab technician, or other in-academia-but-not-an-academic staff-technical position?
@Jigg For chemical methods it is the 'rule' though a brief search seems to indicate that actually it is disfavoured formally, so that may just be habitual inertia on the part of the chemical community.
@cagirici with a low GPA, your best bet at getting into a good PhD program is to network at that conference you are writing a paper for and talk to professors. If you can get a professor interested in working with you on a PhD and willing to fight for you on an admissions committee its possible to get into their school with weak statistics.
So, here's my question: If I say "I'm considering to do PhD" and ask
your advice, what would you ask me? What kind of
skills/characteristics do you look for a potential academician?
The first questions I would ask is: are you really interested in the subject? Can you imagine spending the next 5+ years thinking about pretty much nothing else?
Why do you want to do a PhD in the first place?
However, currently I am working on a conference paper and I feel like
even that is too much for me. It has been nearly 3 months and still,
the paper draft is to be improved (not the wording but the content).
Now imagine the same thing but replace 3 month with 3 years.
Sometimes, I let go of my work and absorbed in other stuff.
This is also not very helpful for pursuing a PhD.
I think in most fields (that might be different for some fields of science) getting a PhD is only for people who want to do research. Apart from that it is only a waste of time and money. So the question you should ask yourself is not: Am I able to get a PhD? But rather: Do I want to get a PhD?
However, if you decided that you really want to give it a try: talk to someone from your university about it, maybe the supervisor of your thesis. Grades are not always a good indicator of the quality as a researcher.
EDIT:
My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research.
That answers most of the questions.
But I don't know if I'm capable of doing a Ph.D.
No one here can answer this question. You should try to talk to a professor at your university, the supervisor of your Master's Thesis, or someone who is doing research you are interested in. However, do not let your grades disencourage you, I know many students who had pretty bad grades but are great as PhD students and many excellent students who struggle with their research.
I do want to! My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research. But I don't know if I'm capable of doing a Ph.D.
We probably will not be able to answer that, you should probably talk to a professor at your university about that.
@cagirici please paste 'My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research' in your question as they are the most relevant piece of information about you that you are giving, in regard of the question.
+1 to this. The OP wants to become a professor, so he should seriously ask himself whether writing papers - which he does not seem to enjoy - is not only something he would want to do for the next three years, but for the rest of his life. It's basically the one thing any researcher will do. So I'd seriously recommend that the OP think long and hard about whether becoming a professor is really his life's dream.
Among the people who should pursue a PhD degree are the ones who can write:
My life-goal is being a professor. And I love to do research.
This is the number one reason to get into grad school. However, it's not clear at this point that you have an accurate idea of what it means, on a daily basis, to work in research.
Sure there are fun times fiddling with the knobs of expensive equipment, drawing equations on napkins until late in the night, traveling to exotic conference locations like Baltimore, etc. There are also these brief moments when you feel like an undergrad actually learned something from you, and those where you share inside jokes that you can tell for sure only your advisor and yourself can understand. I recall a quote from a senior researcher in my field saying "Can you believe that they pay us to do what we love?".
But there are other aspects that are less glamorous. Administrative work, data bookkeeping, actual bookkeeping, wondering what you will do with your life, filing grant applications, etc. There is the anguish about funding, the frustration of aborted projects, the time and energy wasted in dealing with department politics.
And there is teaching which can be both a joy and a pain in the neck.
My BSc. GPA was 2.84/4.00 but finished my MSc. with 3.50/4.00
I don't know what GPA is, nor how to interpret your grade, but the context tells me that you think they could be better. Passing exams and conducting research are different jobs, not being excellent at one does not mean you can't be good at the second one (a) although it often helps; b) the reverse is also true). It will make things harder for you when applying to grad school, but after that it becomes irrelevant. What matters more is what you actually learned, some people have ok grades but understood a great deal of the concepts.
I let go of my work and absorbed in other stuff
That you will have to work on. There is an infinite number of things that you can do but work on your research. Nobody will force you to do it since pretty much the only one who will suffer from your procrastination will be you. The good news (sort of) is that you are not alone...
What kind of skills/characteristics do you look for a potential
academician?
There are many, and most of them overlap with what it needs to achieve a successful career in the industry. But I don't know any successful researcher who is not thorough. Being creative sure is necessary, but it's the easiest part. What will make you stand out is when you can discipline yourself into rigorously testing them.
It also help if you know how to sell your ideas. Researchers hate to admit it but a significant factor in their success relates to how well they can convey a message. (Note that bad communication is an indicator of bad science, but it gives a lot of false positive).
GPA = "grade point average." In general, it's almost impossible to get into a grad school with an average below 3.00 (and many require averages substantially higher than that).
You sound a lot like me when I was thinking about doing a PhD, albeit you aim to be a professor, and while I like the idea I'm not so fussed about the administrative side of being in a university.
If you have a tendency to concentrate on whatever is the most interesting thing in front of you, then I would very strongly advise proceeding if and only if you find a good, hands-on supervisor. Ask their previous doctoral students how often they met with them in the first few years - some supervisors will see you once a month or so, others I have heard meet their students individually or collectively several times a week.
In the UK, PhDs are usually 3 years. And the rough schedule is that for the first year you look at one or more problems, trying to understand how you might make some progress. In the second year, you make some small advance on one project and try in vain to develop the project into a more concrete thesis. In the third year you accept that your small advance was all you are going to get, and write it up. The slow pace of progress in the second year commonly causes distress or apathy.
In order to complete such a project, you either need to be personally very disciplined or be part of a team (you, your supervisor, perhaps some peers) that can keep you honest - remember that rubber-ducking is a vital part of academic work; most academics in the UK will congregate in the department kitchen once or twice a day just to talk to other academics, because often just explaining yourself gets you closer to a solution. Similarly, you need people to ask you where you've got to so that you don't just disappear off for a month because you're faced with something annoying and your symphony suddenly seems fascinating.
I struggled with this; my supervisor was hands-off, my peers were in very different fields (I was a theorist among experimentalists for a start) and I didn't really understand my own character enough to see what was happening.
One of my peers had a supervisor who used to take students through rigorous textbooks, and expect them to grasp whole chapters to be quizzed on - the sound of it terrified me, but in retrospect the foundations are well worth laying. Instead I often disappeared down dead-ends because I was unaware of entire fields of research, and just didn't have the terminology or context to find them.
So, in sum, you have some well-placed concerns, but the answer is not just whether you are capable of a PhD but whether you are in the context of your supervisor, peers and department.
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24571 | Can post-doc inquiries be parallel?
I am a Computer Science PhD student in the US about to graduate this year and want to contact a few professors; say, A and B; in my field to know if they have a post-doc position available.
Should I wait until A replies before sending out inquiry to B?
My concern is that if I ask A and B at the same time and end up securing a post-doc with A, and B later says yes he has an open position, will B regard me as unprofessional since the inquiry is a waste of time for both him and me? If yes, I have to send out inquiries sequentially, which greatly reduces the efficiency of the hunt process.
Somewhat related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/16063/what-is-the-best-way-to-turn-down-a-postdoc-offer (at least it showed the practice of multiple inquiries is not a rarity)
You should apply all at once. Everyone else will be, and professors and labs know that you will apply to multiple jobs at the same time. Once you accept a postdoc somewhere, you should immediately withdraw your other applications that are still pending. You may find yourself needing to get an extension of time from one organization that has made you an offer while you wait on your pending offers. Hopefully, you will be able have several offers to consider at once in order to make the best choice, but you may have to decline an offer if better ones are probably coming down the line and an extension of time isn't available.
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33006 | How to prevent calluses from writing on chalkboard?
I just finished my first semester teaching (I lead two recitation sections for pre-calculus twice a week). It went well, but I've noticed a sizable callus has formed on my right middle finger on the left side between the nail and first knuckle. This is from how I hold the chalk, I believe. The callus is rubbing against my finger when I write now and causing a bit of pain.
How do I prevent this callus? I don't have much experience with writing on the chalkboard so I imagine this is from holding the chalk incorrectly. Maybe someone knows secrets to the chalkboard that I am not aware of?
Powerpoint cures calluses. (But can suck the life out of students and teachers alike.)
Eventually the callus's inflamation should subside and it will actually protect your finger from the pain of writing so much. That's actually it's purpose..
I didn't know they could write on chalkboards.
What's a chalkboard?
Whiteboards are better; with markers. You could suggest this to your administration. I'm surprised they aren't using them already. Among other things, chalk dust is bad for lungs.
Well, this condition depends on many factors:
Time. If you don't mind having a rougher skin on your hands, then give it some time. However, if it doesn't get better over time, then something has to be done.
Dry hands. IMHO a big issue for many people: chalk dries your hand skin. Seriously. You should have some good cream in your office and apply it before and after each lecture. This can significantly help with the skin condition, and together with the previous point, it may be enough.
Chalk holding. There are several ways how to hold a chalk. Some people prefer this or that. I suggest trying couple of them:
Hold it like a pen -- however, this presses the chalk against the nail base on your middle finger, not quite good.
Hold it like a dining knife in high society -- you get a long chalk and touch it by thumb tip from one side and by all fingertips from the other side. This requires a chalk that writes without much pressure
Take small piece and hold it between the tips of your thumb, point finger and middle finger. (My personal favourite)
With longer chalks, you can press it against the palm, and then do as above.
Type of chalk. I know three basic types of chalk: soft square-profile chalks that leave trace on everything they touch, hard rounded chalks that leave thinner traces and last forever; and something in between -- square profile but quite hard. There are surely others. You may try different types of chalk if you can, to see which one do you like.
As for the special chalk holders and stuff: I have never used them, which doesn't mean they are bad. Just a remark: With the softy things, remember to wash them well since chalk tends to accumulate in these.
"Hold it like a pen -- however, this presses the chalk against the nail base on your middle finger, not quite good." I think this is what I was doing--gripping too hard and writing with too much pressure. Seems to be easier to write with either a long piece of chalk pushed into my palm or a small one gripped lightly with the thump and forefinger.
@doppz One more reason for using small pieces of chalk: There's always plenty of them :) But as I say, try as well to actively care about the skin, it may be enough itself.
A couple ways. You may consider products called "chalk clip" or "chalk holder" like this one:
They make the girth larger and less likely to produce a small pressure point on your finger, which causes callus.
Another option is to get some "foam tubing" from general hardware stores. They are cheap and in different sizes, thicknesses, and even colors. Cut a 2 to 2.5 inches long segment and put it over your middle finger. To improve comfort when bending your finger you can make a small vertical incision on the tube (palm side) so that you can bend the finger more freely.
Volleyball players also have elastic finger guards like these:
You can get a set of them from sports stores. Just pull it down a bit to protect your last joint rather than the middle joint. My experience (as a volleyball player not chalk writer) is that the ones with nylon outside and a thin foam layer inside work are the most comfortable.
If technology permits, you can also consider projecting your hand writing using a projector, computer tablet, or even interactive screen. Those methods allow you to write with a lighter grip.
I like the idea but those sure do look goofy.
@doppz I don't think they look goofy. If they help, then why not use them :) Better that than have calluses.
Simple prevention would be to wrap a small bandage or piece of adhesive tape around your finger before each recitation session. (Or, as @Cape_Code suggested, use rock-climbing tape.)This will also help to mitigate the pain you are experiencing now, and may even hasten the disappearance of the callus.
As for your question on holding the chalk correctly/incorrectly, I can't help you there. This is the same spot in which I always develop a callus from writing, no matter which writing instrument I am using. AFAIK, I also am holding my chalk/pen/pencil correctly! I believe this is simply your skin's natural defense against friction, and the only remedy may be to find an alternative teaching method which does not rely so heavily on chalkboard use.
I don't use a chalkboard, but in another activity involving chalk I rely on this stuff to protect my fingers: https://www.google.com/search?q=rock+climbing+tape&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=rock+climbing+tape&tbm=shop
If you have board space, use larger diameter chalk and grip it with your whole hand as you would a flashlight. You don't generally need to make the tiny motions for which the pen-writing variant of the precision grip is good for. If you still want a precision grip, get larger diameter chalk and hold it between your first four fingertips (or three if you must use narrow pieces and you have wide fingers).
My method is to hold the chalk like a magic wand (or, less excitingly, like a drawing pencil). This keeping the chalk resting in my palm, where the skin is thicker, and allows me to grip with many different parts of my fingers. It's also helps me to think of board work as drawing, rather than writing, as a reminder to keep the letters large, neat, and readable.
Another thing you may want to try is using Hagomoro chalk, which has a wax coating on the grip part. It costs a little to have a box imported, but I thought it was worth it.
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59642 | What is the impact of a radical change of opinion for early-career academics?
I'm wondering what are the potential consequences of a change of mind in the social sciences and humanities. More specifically, what would happen concretely if I publish a peer-reviewed article in which I develop a fierce critique of, say, Rawls and then, change my mind and publish another peer-reviewed article in which I adopt a Rawlsian approach to politics?
Another example would be beginning an academic career as a liberal and then changing to a socialist perspective (or vice versa). John Stuart Mill changed his mind and, more recently, John Gray also did.
But what happens if a regular young academic like me does it? Would my peers consider this as a weakness?
So, are you tenured yet? Do you think your current department will support all political points of view? My guess: changing your mind on whether Shakespeare actually wrote the plays: no problem. Changing your mind on whether Alger Hiss was a spy: not so much.
@GEdgar: This is a deeper question than your comment suggests. This is more about asking what happens if someone who supported the Austrian school of economics suddenly became a Keynesian. It's not a minor change—it's a whole paradigm shift.
+1: When I first joined this site I imagined learning about how branches of academia very different from my own, like humanities and the social sciences, do business. Unfortunately there are very few questions here that really address this. Yours is one of them. I can only hope you get good answers.
This question could prove to be very useful for many young academics! As a result, I would just suggest that further discussion on this topic refrain from the focus on esoteric examples unless they are grounded in a thorough response demonstrating an answer to the larger issue at hand: what are the consequences, if any, of a young professor drastically flip-flopping within his/her publications?
I made some edit suggestions, you can further edit or rollback if you disagree. Great question by the way.
Are your peers pro Rawls? Contra? Something more complicated? Have you laid out your case for a change of position, or might it seem like a capricious or opportunistic change? How do you anticipate your future work being affected by this flip?
Echo to @PeteL.Clark. I am hoping you'll get good answers here. Vote to "Leave Open".
This is a very good question and one that I have given some thought to when my own opinions changed while I writing papers expressing particular positions.
While there are different ways I could see this playing out, I will focus what I see to be the most probable outcome - that totally changing your position on your core area of research (which for a young academic is probably your only area of research) would be a bad thing to do for your career in academia. I feel that it would be a bad thing to do as it would be detrimental for how you would be perceived, and in turn have implications for your ability to effectively befriend other academics and build networks - something which is very important for career development.
Just to be clear about my assumptions in saying that - I assume that academics are much like normal people, and therefore that success in an academic discipline will be influenced by many of the same factors that lead to success in other social systems. Additionally, I am assuming that what you are doing is contrasted against publishing a paper which builds on the prior paper - probably a more common approach. I am also assuming that what you are interested in here is the likely impact on your career.
Operating on these assumptions and my intuitions from my own experiences over the last 4 years, I think that it is likely that your act of inconsistency, i.e., changing your views 180 degrees, would alienate a lot of fellow academics. As you are clearly being inconsistent - in the sense that you once strongly advocated one position, but now advocate another, you will be seen as an inconsistent person, a personality characteristic that people generally dislike/disapprove of[1]. As fellow academics will perceive you as being inconsistent will it is more likely they will like you less and be less willing to work with you. For example, they will be more likely to think that in the midst of a positive professional relationship, you might suddenly going to decide that you no longer share their beliefs; that you might even turn on them and publish a critique on work that what you have done together. Thus they will percieve greater uncertainty and risk in forming relationships with you. This concern may also be shared by those who are considering hiring you. For instance, when applying for a job the review panel might look at your resume and be unsure if you are going to work well with the ongoing research within the faculty - you are not really
You might also end up slowing your reputation gains. People usually associate researchers with a particular position - i.e., "he/she researches x". The researchers who make it are those who become really well known for researching that area. People say "oh, you want to know about x? Have a look at Y". By being more inconsistent you may slow and weaken that association and become slower at building reputation. For instance, if your second paper extends your first paper rather than invalidating it, then it is probably more likely to build the link between that area of study and your expertise as it will involve you covering new content and further emphasizing that you know a lot about this area. In contrast, if your second paper is saying " you know that things I was sure of last time? Well I think I was wrong about it" then this doesn't really signal that you know what you are doing, or that have really figured the area out. It also begs the question; "if you changed your mind before, then might you not change it again?".
[1] Guadagno, R. E., et al. (2001). "When saying yes leads to saying no: Preference for consistency and the reverse foot-in-the-door effect." Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 27(7): 859-867.
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80276 | Is it usual that a master’s program refuses to reveal graduation percentage?
I’m preparing to apply for two master’s programs. For one of the programs, I asked an advisor how many people graduate each year.
I asked because of the 350 people who apply each year about 120 are admitted. (It’s an online master’s.) This is a very high number to me, especially when compared to the other program I’m considering. So it makes me curious how many people actually graduate, which also can give me insight into competition in the workforce.
She told me they don’t keep records of graduate numbers because it fluctuates from year to year.
This sounds extremely fishy to me. Is this a common practice for master’s programs?
Is the official commencement program available online? For many schools in the US, it is. Then you can count yourself.
In the US, schools which offer federal student aid are required to make graduation rates available since 2010. (http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/department-education-establishes-new-student-aid-rules-protect-borrowers-and-tax)
"They don't keep records of graduate numbers because it fluctuates from year to year". That's a bunch of bull. This number must be known at several university levels. The bursar surely knows. The registrar surely knows. The dean probably knows, as does the chair of the department. They may have a high attrition rate, and are worried it will reflect poorly.
120 enrolled per year would be a high number. 120 admitted is not. It could be that only 10% of those admitted actually enrol and take the first class.
I have put aside such prevarication in the past and regretted it. Follow this rule of thumb? A professional is always willing to put things in writing. ---But you might be asking the wrong person. Academics rarely keep these numbers. The administrators watch them like hawks. The accountants need those numbers. So figure out the admin structure and ask the right person. In the end though, if they can't answer, don't waste money applying?
Thanks everyone for replying. To clarify, it's a Canadian, online university. It has a mixed reputation which seems to be getting better. It was an admission coordinator who is telling me they don't keep stats on this. I agree that it sounds like they're afraid their attrition rate will reflect poorly on them. I guess I'm also wondering.... does it reflect poorly on them? What does it mean if they have a low rate? Also, who else might I target to get the graduate percentage information?
Just now, I edited the title to "graduation" rather than "graduate", since for most English speakers this will be more faithful to the actual question. If this somehow misrepresents things, please do revert the edit...
The comments above are all correct that this information is available and you have every reason to want it. In reality, it may simply be that the person you are asking does not have ready access to this information, especially if you are contacting a grad director or some kind of advisor. She could manually do the calculation (or, better, should make a habit of compiling it each year so she can answer such questions). I have directed grad programs and can say that I have access to applications in our online system, so I could tell you how many applied and were admitted, but if I want to know graduation rates, I have to track down each student myself and find out. At the university level, this is probably more straightforward and you can get a rate, but it might not be broken down by program.
So, it may not be fishy. On the other hand, that adviser should know how it is perceived, and should compile the information each year. If it is a university with an entirely online curriculum, it would raise a red flag for me. Especially if it is a for-profit online university. But if it is a major on-campus university with an online offering, it may just be what I described in the first paragraph.
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208122 | NSF CAREER Proposal For PUI Faculty
I am currently a tenure-track faculty at a PUI ("Primarily Undergrad Institution"). I recently received a research grant from NSF to start the lab and research in a small scale. Now I am planning to submit a CAREER proposal. However, I am unsure if NSF would be interested in supporting the CAREER proposal from PUI. Has anyone had luck getting CAREER from PUI, especially for the Advanced Manufacturing Program? I appreciate any help you can provide.
Talk to your program officer.
What does PUI stan for?
In mathematics, many CAREER winners come from universities classified as PUIs by the NSF. Indeed, most US universities are PUIs by NSF standards. Use the "what have been funded" search tool, you should be able to do some calculation of the percentage of PUI PIs in your specific field. One thing to consider is the fact that panel reviewers typically do not know your university type unless you specify it. Ad hoc reviewers are probably similar.
In addition to your program officer, talk to the folks at your university's grants office. They see all of the grants that have been funded and will have a perspective.
Search the awards database to see what institutions are represented.
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202266 | How can I approve/corroborate/confirm my independent study?
I am an undergraduate engineering student in Azerbaijan, and I intend to pursue postgraduate prospects in mathematics. Unfortunately, the university I am studying at does not offer any advanced mathematics classes (e.g. Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, Topology, etc.); therefore, I had to self-study those branches of mathematics, and my independent study was approved by a distinguished professor. Can I convince graduate schools in the US that I studied those courses by a written statement by that professor? Thanks in advance.
I think/hope my edits in your title more accurately convey your issue. English usage, etc...
What does it mean that your independent study was "approved"? What did the professor actually do?
It would probably depend on how strongly the professor supports you in a letter of recommendation, what they say, and their knowledge of the US educational system. But, I would think that many, if not most, graduate schools would accept a strong statement from a known and respected mathematician. It might depend on the interpretation of "distinguished", of course.
But, you use what you have and if you aren't successful initially, try again, using any feedback you get from early tries.
You might also use something like the Math GRE to validate that you have learned the necessary topics, though the exam is (or was) very difficult.
This depends on what exactly you mean by:
convince graduate schools in the US that I studied those courses
I would bet that a letter from a respected mathematician would suffice as "proof" that you have some advanced math experience in general (this is essentially a letter of recommendation). But I'm not sure that it would be accepted in lieu of a mandatory prerequisite course though.
Universities can be pretty bureaucratic and if a program specifically requires "Course X" you usually need to show that you have taken "Course X" or equivalent. The only way to know if self-study counts as equivalent is to ask the universities you are interested in. Whether or not they consider it equivalent might be influenced by a few things:
Individual university policy i.e., how flexible they are with requirements
How much they like you as an applicant/how many other qualified applicants they have
How "approved" your self study was. There is a big difference between taking self-study credits (are they reflected on your transcripts?) and just reading a text book on your own (even if you have the support of a professor).
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103195 | Is it worthwhile writing about previous experience with courses, which will be taught in masters program, in motivation letter?
I am applying for a masters program. I have read about the courses, which will be taught at the program. In fact, I think that I have had a lot of such courses in my bachelors program. Does it help to specifically mention that I think that I will do great at the program, because I have taken similar courses before? Also, I have got Bs for some of the courses (actually, the most of my classmates have done similar or worse, the grading was really harsh).
(I changed "worse" to "worthwhile" in the title...)
Anecdotally: I did this when I applied for CSE masters programs coming from a background in engineering. I highlighted the graduate level and elective courses I had taken in numerical methods, optimization etc. to demonstrate that I had interest in, and aptitude for, the courses on offer in the masters program. I also chose the professors from these courses for my references.
I think it can be worthwhile to do this if it fits the narrative of your motivation letter as it shows that you have considered why you want to study these particular courses and why you would be a good fit for the program.
If you've done work at the graduate level, then that would be worth mentioning. However, in many cases, the graduate-level coursework are elaborations and expansions on similar courses from the undergraduate curriculum, in which case your undergraduate class might be an "introductory" version of the master's class.
Definitely, I have not studied graduate courses. However, at my university there is no way to study graduate courses when one is an undergrad.
Should I carefully compare syllabus of the courses? I mean, yeah, I expect master courses to be harder, but it looks like some of them are of a very similar level (let's say 90% of the material of the masters courses I have covered before)
If you have taken coursework at the master's level, you should mention it in your application. For my field, for example, a master's student might have to take "ChemE Thermodynamics" again, but the course is very different from the undergraduate course with the same name.
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188289 | What is the philosophy or purpose of applied mathematics?
The title might seem vague but please bear with me:
I always liked pure mathematics, I believe I understood the purpose of applied mathematics as well, but just until I am finishing up now my thesis. The thesis involves PDEs and numerical schemes. I spent almost now 1.5 year with the subject. I didn't read a lot of papers, but the ones that I consulted give me the impression that they are 'everywhere', and it doesn't seem like there is a purpose (a unique or many) to what is going on, I mean what are applied mathematicians doing anyway?
Are they taking problems from real life / i.e. physics and trying to solve them using the mathematical machinery? Or are they taking some mathematical machinery and looking for fields to apply it? Is there a historical or contextual explanation to the research going on?
More importantly, how do you decide if an idea is quite original and worth publishing in the field ?
I can argue that any 'application' of known results proven by other Mathematicians, is just an application and not an original solution?
I assume to believe that, for example, some biologists are doing some research on live creatures and they stumble upon a problem which will take them years to crack just because they didn't have enough background in ODEs or mathematical modeling, so when they solve it they will publish the results, but it is still known to mathematicians that this ODE problem has known solutions. Of course, their publication will contain other results not just the problem solved but the consequence of these results.
This is very understandable to me and I have no issue with it.
On the other hand, what I do not understand is how does an applied mathematician 'pick' his problems? say someone who doesn't come from any of 'real life' backgrounds, like physics, chemistry, biology, geology... One who is just doing applied mathematics.
I was looking at that question, partially I would say, but the answers were helpful. So will the conclusion be that : there is no main stream direction that applied mathematicians are following?
Is there a "main stream direction" that pure mathematicians are following? Physicists? Chemists? Biologists? Historians? Sociologists? Paleontologists? Anyone?
While I happen to use the terms "pure maths" and "applied maths" myself now and then, one may actually ask whether this distinction makes particularly much sense anyway.
I might bear with you, but I'm definitely not going to bare with you!
Oh, @JochenGlueck, as they used to say "don't be so uptight!" :) (I did take the liberty of altering that distracting homophone-typo...)
Thanks for correcting that word typo! So for the direction of pure mathematicians: there are many fields, but for each one, known results are known, we explore other parts of the three, try to solve more problems, at the end many problems and threes are connected, for example I can mention the langlands program. Can you maybe describe a possible structure for applied math?
A comment is not enough, for example we know that studying nuclear physics is not in the scope of pure mathematics, can you please describe the scope of applied mathematics?
Echoing and re-emphasizing some of @WolfgangBangerth's good points: "applied" (math) versus "pure" math is more about (self-)labelling than scientific/intellectual content.
That is, there is a common tradition in which numerical or heuristic solution of PDE's is "applied math". And, surprisingly often, conversely, "applied math" means (in many peoples' minds) numerical or heuristic solution of PDE's.
So, no, the label "applied math" cannot be relied upon to refer to math that is (genuinely) applied. In many peoples' minds, it cannot refer to cryptology, or big data, or ... lots of other things that are obviously math, and obviously fairly immediately relevant to tangible things.
And, currently, "persistent homology" seems to be relevant to Big Data analysis... but the traditional gate-keepers of "applied math" do not seem to be in any hurry to count algebraic topology as "applied math". :)
As some people will admit, there is a traditional attitude in which "pure" math means "irrelevant to nearly everything", while "applied" math means "relevant ... and fund-able".
Although it does seem necessary to know the appropriate code-switching to talk to "applied" versus "pure" mathematicians, I sincerely do not see scientific grounds on which to distinguish. At my univ, the basic grad-level "applied math and modeling" course introduces the same ideas (solving canonical PDE's on non-Euclidean spaces, Sobolev spaces, singular potentials, perturbation methods, semi-classical analysis, ...) that are essential in my own work in (what I call) number theory... related to zeros of zeta and such.
"Pure" and "applied mathematics" are maybe not quite the right terms because they are most commonly used to delineate fields within mathematics, not styles of work. For example, algebraic geometry => pure; PDEs => applied. Whether the person doing research in these areas is motivated by applications or not is an entirely separate dimension, and I (and others) like to make a distinction whether some research is "applicable" or not, where "applicable" means that the research is intended to address questions motivated outside mathematics.
In this sense, I am an "applicable mathematician", and my perspective is this:
People who do "applicable math" are using mathematics to solve problems that originate elsewhere. For example, I am a numerical analyst by training (i.e., my background is the analysis of schemes that can solve ordinary/partial differential equations -- numerical analysis being a part of what most people would call "applied mathematics"); I am using this background in collaborations with people from the geosciences/chemistry/physics/nuclear engineering/biomedical imaging to solve equations that they have come up with through the modeling process, but don't know how to solve (or solve sufficiently accurately, or sufficiently quickly). I have colleagues whose background is in algebraic geometry (what most people would call "pure mathematics") but who are solving problems that relate to identifying the location and speed of objects from the data obtained via radar (definitely a problem outside mathematics) and whose research is consequently "applicable".
Many of us in these roles see ourselves as "technology transfer agents". That is, we have the skills to talk to people outside mathematics and understand the language they use to describe what they want to but can't do. Then we use our mathematical background to solve these problems. In your question you suggest that this is simply an application of known stuff to a new area. But this is not generally true, one almost always has to adapt mathematical techniques to a new area. Moreover, the street is not one-way: We frequently learn that mathematical tools can be applied to a simplified problem, but that the real problem is more difficult, and then we take that back to our more mathematically oriented colleagues to look into, analyze, and prove something. Good technology transfer is definitely a two-way street.
Personally, I think that the line between abstract/pure and applied mathematics is a very thin one, because in order to be a "good" applied mathematician, you need to dig deeper into the theoretical background of your "applied problem".
what are applied mathematicians doing anyway?
An applied mathematician is one that tackles problem arising in real life using tools from mathematics. Personally, I think that the hardest step in the work of applied mathematicians and what gives value to their work is what they call mathematical modeling. Note that at the beginning, they are faced with a real life problem, which then must be converted into mathematical equations. Now, the question asked is how to construct the adequate mathematical equations and how to pick the right mathematical theory which can serve as a tool to model the real life problem. I emphasize here that they must also have a sufficient background on the subject of the problem they are modeling (biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, etc.)
I assume to believe that, for example, some biologists are doing some research on live creatures and they stumble upon a problem which will take them years to crack just because they didn't have enough background in ODEs or mathematical modeling, so when they solve it they will publish the results, but it is still known to mathematicians that this ODE problem has known solution.
I would like to mention here that most problems in pure mathematics were initially motivated by problems from applied mathematics. To illustrate this, for example, assume that you are trying to model the spread of a disease within a population, but you want to take into account different aspects such as the environmental noise, the incubation period, etc. Then, once you construct your model, you are faced with a stochastic delay differential equation (dde). Now, assume the the theory of dde has not yet been developed. Then, this gives rise to a pure mathematics problem which consists of developing the theory of ddes.
On the other hand, what I do not understand is how does an applied mathematician 'pick' his problems? say someone who doesn't come from any of 'real life' backgrounds, like physics, chemistry, biology, geology... One who is just doing applied mathematics.
By definition applied mathematics is the application of mathematics to real life problems. So, the problems addressed by applied mathematicians are by definition problems arising from real life in different fields such as biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, etc. Note that some applied mathematicians can also address pure mathematical problems if they have the necessary background.
Finally, I would like to mention that the existence of applied mathematics has always been a subject of debate, since initially some of the founders of applied mathematics (if not all) like Henri Poincaré, Daniel Bernoulli and John Von Neumann were actually pure mathematicians.
I can't resist mentioning that the notion of "real-life problems" is completely subjective. :) After all, the "problems" that corporations have, if solved, need not benefit any people except a few executives or stockholders. :)
Thank you for the answer, it certainly brings some clarity.
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14301 | Defining book co-author
Must a co-author of a book have written literally half? Or can her role refer to significant contributions that actually made the book publishable, such as extensive rewriting and editing, knowledge about publishing, navigating manuscript through the publishing process, writing queries, etc., etc. The book, though very steeped in science, is written for the general public. I am the author of many books and the author approached me to navigate her through this process. She is now exploring whether I shouldn't be co-author because of my contributions. I know this is common in scientific journals, but can't find answer re books. Thank you!
It sounds to me like your role has been closer to that of an editor than a coauthor.
A co-author is
An author who collaborates with another to write something.
There is nothing in the definition that states that each author must have written literally half of the book. Obviously, if there are more than two co-authors (perhaps more common for articles, your question seems to indicate that you realize this), they cannot all have written exactly half of the book, and it is rather unlikely that each will have written exactly one-third or one-fourth or...
In your situation, if the original/first author offers you co-authorship, accepting is a judgment call on your part. You have authored many books; is this one worthy of being added to your list? On the other hand, if you are not offered co-authorship, but will be acknowledged otherwise for your contribution, it is probably best to accept this with good grace. Next time--assuming that you might collaborate again--be sure to clarify potential authorship roles before beginning the actual work.
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11128 | University Test Bank Website- Potential Liability Issues?
I have an idea for a website, which I'm afraid may land me in trouble. I want to create a website where students from the university I attend can submit exams that they took (with scores of 90% or above), and they will be publicly posted on the site for other university students to utilize and study from. However, would this cause any violation of academic dishonesty rules? Would the professors try to hunt me down and get me suspended from the institution?
I think you should discuss this with the officials at your Uni. Even if it would break no rules, you don't want to step on too many toes. Personally, I'd be O.K. with the idea (I've published almost all the exams I've prepared, and most of them with the "official" solutions), but that's just me and my exams. When I published other people's exams, I always asked for a permission. Your Uni is yours, whit its people, customs, rules,... none of which we here know anything about.
Sounds like copyright infringement to me. The student may or may not "own" the rights to the answer but either I or the university own the rights to the exam.
Of course, we don't know what your university's academic dishonesty rules say. But in most cases they are pretty broad, and there is probably a clause that could be interpreted to include your website, if your university's authorities decide to do so. I think the odds are good that there will be at least one professor who is upset enough to push them to do something about it. They might just try to get you to take the site down, they might try something harsher. There's no way to know.
In general, I think most professors are aware that students may be informally sharing their exams with one another. For that reason, they usually change exams from term to term, and if they reuse questions, do so only after several years. However, some may be startled to see it done as systematically as you propose, and try to stop it.
I am not a lawyer, nor do I know your local laws, but posting an exam on your website would probably violate the copyright of the professor who wrote it (unless you have his or her permission). This would be another avenue someone could pursue if they wanted your website gone.
Finally, professors could try to prevent their students from posting their exams on your website. For example, they might stop letting students keep their graded exams. Or, they could add a line to their syllabus that "you may not share your graded exams with anyone", on penalty of failing the course or academic dishonesty sanctions. This could not only deprive your website of material, but also make it so that students can't even share their exams informally anymore, which I assume is contrary to your goals.
This depends greatly on your university policies. It could result in some serious formal problems for you which could haunt you for a long time.
Regardless of the policies, I think it is simply inappropriate to do this without the teachers' permission. While I do take extra care to never re-use questions on my exams, others do not and they could easily consider the exam their intellectual property. Whether or not there is any validity to their claim is not really the issue. The fact is that some will feel this way and because of those feelings they will be very unhappy with you.
I think a better solution would be to offer a prep site where previous questions are analyzed and then new questions are proposed which are similar but not identical - that is they would depend on the same knowledge base and thinking skills. There should be no reason a teacher would complain about this (in fact, I would think the teachers would be quite happy about this as it would help students to better prepare for the exams).
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44326 | If transitioning into academic position, should I buy my PhD graduation cap and gown?
My graduation ceremony is coming up in a few months,
and I have the option of buying or renting a graduation cap and gown.
I will be starting an assistant professor job this year, so I suspect (but am not sure) that I will need to wear the dress at graduation ceremonies at my new institution.
If I were to buy the graduation dress, would I ever need to wear it again?
Location: My new job will be in an Asian university.
What I did I asked a colleague at the institution where I will be working,
and he told me that indeed, I could rent a gown for free
if I were to attend a graduation ceremony.
How cool is your gown?
May depend on degree type: https://www.herffjones.com/college/capgown/gowndifferences
Different institutions have different policies on robes for faculty members at graduations, although most will arrange for robes for faculty who do not have their own. However, if you take advantage of this option, you might not get much choice in your regalia - so if the institution that you are graduating from has its own particular design for regalia that you love, it might be worth getting your own. I have heard that there are institutions who will require that all faculty members wear the same design of regalia for graduation ceremonies, in which case spending a lot of money on a non-traditional set - which you then cannot wear at commencements - would be less than optimal.
Since you have an assistant professor job lined up, you could just ask someone at your new institution what the policies are there.
As noted in the comment, the location might change our opinion of the problem, however I will make notes from my experience.
When I graduated with my first degree I hired a gown as I could not see the value of owning one and knew I would study for higher degrees, and perhaps I could buy one later in my career. I received my second degree in-absentia because I knew that I would graduate again with a third degree in due course.
Now I attend ceremonies on a regular basis my institution can provide my gown for any formalities. Someone really parsimonious might say that you never need to buy a gown.
However, I have great regret not getting the earlier gowns. Time has changed things in a way I could not predict when I was making the decisions. The gown from my first university was designed by the hippest fashion designer of the 1960s. It was real 1960s cool in colour, shape and cut. No black gowns and mortarboards for them. As the institution matured they felt hip fashion icons of the 1960s were no longer cool and switched to plain black gowns and mortarboards. Now, in present times, it is impossible to source the original gowns. They are collectors items that rarely come on eBay and go for huge prices. All the original graduates, like me, now realise what a fantastic item they missed and want to get them. (Because, today, they look quite fantastic again).
The Computer Science Class of 1976 - Note the curved Hats
The gowns from my second university, which some of my colleagues own, have changed in quality over the ages. When I graduated they were made by fine tailors from excellent cloth with fine silks and quality trimmings. Today they are polyester and so forth and mass produced identically to all the other university gowns.
My rented gown just does not impress half as much as the originals that others wear at these fine ceremonies.
Only you can know how fine are the gowns that you could buy. No one can know what the future brings.
Wow, fascinating. If it isn't too much trouble, could you perhaps provide a picture of such a cool 60s gown? We have no real tradition of gowns over here in my country, so I can't even imagine a cool gown.
@SáT I can't seem to find one on google images or eBay. Have to scan some old 35mm film - take a while. Will try.
@SáT - Found one on Picasa!
Don't bother. It's over 10 years since my ceremony, I've been in academia all that time, and I've never seen the need. I've also seen very few faculty with their own robes. For graduation most institutions I know of will organize robe hire (and pay for it), so there's not even that incentive.
You don't say where you are; the asker doesn't say where they are. How do we know that your experience is representative of what their experience will be?
My institution expects you to provide your own regalia for commencment ceremonies. As does my father-in-law's. Mind you, in both places you need only attend once a year, and it is common to borrow a robe from a colleague if your own is unavailable.
I bought my Harvard doctoral robes in 1973. And I have worn them a few times over the years. Probably fewer than 10 times. Deans and higher administrators probably attend many more of these events.
At Ohio State, a representative group of faculty attends each commencement ceremony. You can wear your own robe, or our department had a few generic robes for use by those do not have one. Of course I would always be noticeable in my crimson robe among all the black.
The robe is made of some synthetic fabric, and should be dry cleaned, not just stuffed in a washing machine. I only needed that once: we were in a procession walking through the rain.
I also bought my Harvard doctoral robes, and I've had occasion to wear them again three or four times. When my children were small, my doctoral hood served as their superhero cape (and it survived!).
I didn't attend my final graduation and didn't see the reason to buy a gown with so many other expenses adding up moving to my tenure track job. However, I quickly found out that at my new institution, I had to wear regalia for freshman convocation, 1-2 commencements, and now a few other special events, and at $60-$75 each for rentals, I paid the same amount renting as I ended up paying for my decent (but admittedly bargain basement) doctoral hood/gown. I also splurged for the cool soft hat because I hadn't seen the fancy flock of seagulls option of the poster above. Until today, I hadn't regretted that.
When I got my doctorate I bought the whole set - gown+hood+octagonal hat. The friendly people at the ND admin building overseeing the orders strongly advised me to also rent one for the commencement festivities. Their reasons: A) the fully tailored robe would not be done in time, B) there's the risk of getting champagne poured all over the robe at the commencement party. They exaggerated item B, but item A was compelling enough.
During the last 25 years I have needed to wear the set less than ten times at various academic festivities: At the defences of my own grad students (in these parts they are very formal occasions in comparison to US) when I've been presiding the event. And elsewhere in doctoral defences as an opponent / external examiner / whatever. This is not too often, so the argument that it's wasted money is not without merit. However, getting extensive use of it was not on top of my list of reasons for buying the doctoral outfit in the first place. It has always also been a souvenir / memorabilia and also a uniform / badge of rank.
And I still get sentimental every time I dig out the gown, dust it and put it on. Also, because it's different from our local norm academic white tie + top hat outfit, my robe always attracts some positive comments. I'm too vain to fully ignore those :-)
I actually wish I had. (At this particular stage in my life it seems no longer necessary, but fifteen, twenty years ago I seriously contemplated it --- and then promptly procrastinated.)
It probably does not make much sense to buy one just for your own graduation (I didn't even attend mine), but if you intend to make a career in academia, you will likely be expected to attend commencement ceremonies for your students. Sure, you can rent a gown once or twice a year, but the rentals are all so uniform, and your institution may not even offer the degree you were awarded, so the colors are all wrong, etc.
I think the biggest question will be whether or not you are required by your department head, dean, provost, or university head to attend some number of graduation ceremonies every year. There has been a push at my university to get faculty attendance up at these events, and they require a cap and gown. As such, and with the increased attendance, there probably aren't enough loaner robes to go around, so at least some faculty need to buy their own.
Now, since you're still a presumably poor student, why don't you rent your robe for your own graduation and then get the lay of the land when you get to your new university? There's some lost money, but in the long run it will seem small in comparison to the sunk cost of buying a robe that it turns out you don't need. You can always buy one next year at your new university (even in the style of the one you graduated from) once you get there and find out if it's worthwhile.
The best point at which to make the transition from renting to buying is when you get tenure, if you are in a tenure-track position: it means that you're likely in this for the long haul, and don't have to deal with the expensive and frustrating logistics of renting anymore. Before that point, there's always the possibility you'll leave and go to industry, or something of that sort.
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137659 | Is there a possibility of educational redirection for an IT student?
I am a student at an IT school, I study to become a computer engineer.
During my scholarship, what I did was:
6 month intership at the beginning of 2nd year.
6 month internship at the end of my third year (before the master began).
Both internship subject were about Java backend.
Today, I am at the first year of my master (I just finished my third year), but I actually decided to do a sabbatical year, because I have to do my 4th year at international university.
There are multiple reasons preventing me from continuing my studies for a year (financial, administratives, personal, etc...).
But that doesn't bother me, because I can work at the place of my internship for another year, and then go back to my studies, with more knowledge, money and confidence.
But here is the thing: This year also, I will work as a Java backend developer.
My question is:
I kept doing works and internship as a Java developer, is it possible for me to change my path, and work as security engineer? (My dream job)
P.S : I am sorry for the tags, I couldn't find great ones.
Universities do not form "Java developers", they form computer scientists/engineer.
Your experience does give you a specialisation with Java, but this is not everything. While it surely gives you an edge to get a more senior position in that particular area, many of the skills of a Java Developer are in fact Developers skills. And these are the same regardless of what language you are coding with.
Some of these skills are also transferable, being able to solve a problem, to prototype solutions etc. So it is entirely possible to still work in infosec (or even totally non related work for what matters). Focus on the high level competencies you've acquired from your experience.
I would not even call this an educational redirection. It is more of a specialisation, and most courses in computer security would anyway be starting as a master 1 or 2 level.
If your goal is to work in infosec, try to find a university that teaches it as part of their master courses. Getting a diploma from this specialised master would indeed be more valuable for finding a job in the field, though not necessarily a requirement.
Thank you for taking your time to answer. I think, what I may have forgot, is that the skills, I've acquired as Java backend developer, will very likely be useful, regardless of what I will do in the future.
Yes. You could start changing by getting expertise in java security problems.
After school you'll be considered a software engineer. It's up to you to get your specialization.
You could start tacking some online certificates regarding security and work on some security jobs. From here on is mostly certifications and experience, so school wont have much impact on your specific field as it already provided you with the broad basics.
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63452 | Is it alright not to include my previous supervisors as co-authors, when publishing PhD work, now that I graduated?
I completed my PhD almost a year ago. I had 3 advisers for my PhD research and I could say that all the three hardly had any idea what I was doing. During my PhD days, I used to write papers and include them as co-authors of the work. It was frustrating indeed. Much part of the work is still not published. I am looking forward to publish the same in reputed journals. I really do not want to include them as the co-authors of the work as they are no way involved in the work. Now that I am done with the PhD studies, will it be alright to send the papers with single author?
There's the obvious burning-bridges question: would this upset your old advisers in a way that might cause you problems in the future? If you don't list them as authors were you planning to acknowledge them at least? It may be simplest and most prudent to just make them co-authors this one last time, even if it is a higher-profile journal than before, but I understand your frustration.
The reputation of the journals is irrelevant to whether they should be named as co-authors or not. Why are you mentioning this?
@Cape Code. yes, by reputed journals, i meant international peer-reviewed journals. It can just be thought of as an adjective.
@Rup Yes that is the reason why I am asking this. I really do not know if it will offend them as I/they am no way communicating to each other and they hardly bother about this. Sure I do not look forward for any problems in the future. I would be glad to acknowledge them which I would highly appreciate. Adding them as co-authors looks unjustifiable based on my conscience. But I look forward for any advise.
I really do not know if it will offend them --- Have you tried actually talking to them?
If you'll ever need a reference letter from one of them (e.g. you apply for a postdoc/faculty position somewhere in the future), definitely talk to them.
Authorship standards vary a lot between disciplines, but generally the hierarchical relationship between you and the other authors should be irrelevant. In other words including them before only because they were your supervisors was wrong* so is excluding them now only because you feel they have no leverage anymore.
You mention the reputation of the journals, this is not a relevant factor. It's true that some more reputable journals describe authorship criteria explicitly, something that lower-tier journals rarely do, but the expectations is always that the listed authors contributed to the presented work according to the customs of the field.
It's impossible for anyone not closely related to your personal situation to tell you if they deserve authorship or not. What can be said is that quite often do graduate students underestimate the scientific contribution of their supervisors.
Your only option is to discuss the matter with them. Do they actively ask to be co-authors? Have you told them that you think their contribution is not significant enough?
*I know that this still happens, in some fields too often. That's why I wrote should be and not is.
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45453 | Why do editors sometimes reject manuscripts for being out of scope even though they cite references from the same journal?
I wonder why editors sometimes do reject submitted manuscripts for being out of the journal's scopes while the authors have utilized published papers from the same journals.
Is it just a polite way of rejection?
Journals can have all kinds of scopes, so there could be many reasons. A methods themed journal, for example, would not be suitable for most of the papers that cite the journal because they use the methods found in the journal but do not develop new methods.
Consider a recent paper I wrote about Ebola control - it cites a number of papers from computational chemistry journals. Is there a reason to think it's in scope for those journals?
Some answers to these closely related questions apply here: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/17942/19607 and http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/43012/19607
I'm not able to parse this question. What are "the same journals"?
I wonder why editors sometimes do reject submitted manuscripts for being out of the journal's scopes while the authors have utilized published papers from the same journals. — I'm going to take a wild guess here, but, possibly, because citing a million articles from the same journal doesn't guarantee in-scope-ness of a manuscript?
Cape Code has given a good answer, but it's not the only possibility for such a rejection. Suppose you publish a paper in, say, "Topology and Its Applications", in which you prove some topological result using (among other things) a set-theoretic lemma. And suppose I later prove some result in algebra using (among other things) your lemma. Of course, I would cite your paper, but that doesn't put my algebra paper into the scope of "Topology and Its Applications".
Citing articles form a given journal does not automatically mean your paper is in its scope.
Even if the subject and methodology of your work seem similar to the ones of the articles in a given journal, the scope can also include quality criteria. As an example, Nature Chemistry, in the description of its scope says:
Nature Chemistry is committed to publishing top-tier original research in all areas of chemistry [...]
Or, some journals decide to accept only papers based on their impact potential. If we look at the New England Journal of Medicine, the scope description states:
We are interested in original research that will change clinical practice or teach us something new about the biology of disease.
etc.
I do agree. However, we have faced it differently. I helped my colleague to prepare his paper according to the journal's scope and we found the objective of his work in some published papers from the same journal (the one we submitted our manuscript).
@user34526: Then you have other (much more important) reasons than the cited papers to argue that your paper is on scope. Those may all be very justified but that’s not what you have been asking about.
@user34526 What about the methods used to achieve the objective. Are they different enough to justify that the older papers are in the scope of the journal, but your new paper is not?
@ Wrzlprmft: Exactly
@ DCTLib: Well... The methodology was quite the same as practiced by previous researchers, however, the material used in his study was totally new and he got new results in his field of study.
I'm not saying his work was perfect but whatever it was, It wasn't out of the journal's scope for sure.
We would really appreciate it if the editor could directly tell us the problem. That's what I'm expecting
@user34526 It wasn't out of the journal's scope for sure Well apparently the editor disagrees. And it's her/his call. Editors are free to reject papers without giving specific reasons. While it is true that it is not particularly useful to you, there is not much you can do about it. Just submit somewhere else.
@Cape Code: The paper is published now. I'm trying to understand the policy which is practiced in different journals. BTW, thanks for sharing your opinion.
I wonder how "teach us something new about [the field of the journal]" differs from almost every journal's requirement that papers contain novel research...
@DavidRicherby the new trend in fashionable journals seems to answer your question: "The world’s first multidisciplinary Open Access journal, PLOS ONE accepts scientifically rigorous research, regardless of novelty."
I'll add another example to the several already given. There are a number of journals (e.g. some or many of the Letters on...) which have a somewhat fast review process, in order to publish results on "hot topics" in a relatively short time.
However, to publish in those kind of journals, not only does your work have to be on-topic, original, innovative, etc. (the usual stuff), but you should also justify the need for such a fast publication track.
Now, even if you produce an original high-quality work with the aim of publishing in such a journal, and even if your paper is apparently within its scope (and even citing references from that same journal), you might have worked on a topic which was hot ten years ago but now barely warm, and your paper would definitely fall out of scope.
One of the most common cases for being out of scope for the journal in such a case is that the paper is not at the right level of the theory-practice scale.
In particular, an application paper can make use of a lot of concepts of earlier theoretical work. Yet, that doesn't meant that the application paper is in scope. If the readership of the journal most likely does not understand the details of the application that are needed to understand the paper, then this is a good reason for rejection.
Likewise, for a theory paper, the problem studied may be well-motivated by practice. Yet, if the novel result builds on concepts that are out-of-scope for the rather practical journal, then the paper is also likely to be rejected.
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20834 | How can co-authors check the status of a submitted manuscript in Elsevier Editorial System?
I know that after submitting a paper through Elsevier Editorial System, the corresponding author can check the status of the submitted paper online. But how about co-authors? Can the corresponding author give a permission to the co-authors to enable them to check the status of the paper as well? If yes, how that can be done?
I guess you can ask the corresponding author for the reference number. Then you just register in the Ensevier webpage and add an accepted article to your webpage. Then you can track its status.
Ideally, you bug Elsevier to fix their system, and after a few years, you might see some improvement. This makes it better for everyone :-)
@artalexan The OP is asking about submitted papers, not accepted ones.
I found the answer myself here
@Stat: it would be useful if you summarise the answer you found and include the link as an answer to your own question. (Yes, on the SE network answering one's own question is quite allowed.)
The answer is No, he/she cannot cannot give any permission to the co-authors after submission to EES and before acceptance, as mentioned here:
I am a co-author on the paper, I would like to be able to see the
status of the manuscript. I have the manuscript number and I am
registered on the journal website.
After submission, you can only see the status of a submitted paper via
the corresponding author's EES homepage. You will not be able to
search for this submission via your own author's EES homepage.
So just the corresponding author can check the status before acceptance. But after acceptance, co-author can track the status as well:
After acceptance, the article is recorded in our tracking system, you
can use the production reference number along with the Corresponding
Author's name to track your paper status and add your paper to your
personal homepage on http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle.
You have received an email just after submission which gives you a link to check the current status of your manuscript. the text of the email is something like this:
"The link below takes you to a webpage where you can sign in to our submission system using your existing Elsevier profile credentials or register to create a new profile. You will then have the opportunity to tailor these updates and view reviewer and editor comments once they become available.
http://www.evise.com/profile/api/navigate/....."
Is "You" in your answer and link the corresponding author or all co-authors?
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35060 | Where can I find industry postdoc hiring statistics for Canada?
Could anyone help me with the data of hired postdocs in company and private sector in Canada? I want to find out the number and the rate of the industrial postdocs in Canada (including the postdocs in university, company, government, etc) in recent years, which is important to my research.
Mitacs provides information (data will need to be compiled) about number of fellowships, participating institutions, expenditures, and so forth on its reports page.
However, I do not believe that Mitacs has historically been the only source of grants. See this article in Science (2005) and this notice from the NSERC.
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34100 | How to make students learn prerequisites
Throughout this year (at least some of) my students found it hard to follow the theory part of a computational physics course I thought. This was mostly because they lacked the mathematical foundations they should have learned already years ago.
Since I did not want to lower the course level to that of an introductory course in mathematics, I adjusted it only insofar that I tried hard to simplify the presentation.
In addition, I offered my help in consultation hours and the possibility to discuss selected exercises in detail during the lectures if I get detailed questions (which I almost never got). Finally, I tried to design exercises in a way which should make them learn basics as well. I also announced very early that knowledge of basics will be a strict requirement for the exam. The students already have a Bachelor degree and should in principle know how to learn from books by themselves. However, many of them preferred to stay idle throughout the year and to wait for the sample solutions I slowly and reluctantly handed out. They then tried to learn those (more or less by heart) instead of learning the methods behind. This happened even though I had announced that this would not be useful, especially because they are allowed to use all written/printed resources.
Now a relatively large number (1/4-1/3) opted out (did not hand in a solution) and will repeat the exam in 2 month. This apparently means that they want to use more time to prepare themselves. Others will speculate that the next exam will be similar (since I thought the course for the first time they did not have any old sample solutions).
For at least the first group of people the declared goal of making them learn the basics might therefore be reached. However, I would like to achieve this in a less forceful way such that the lectures become more enjoyable for them. So, how can I make them start to learn the the prerequisites early? In a sense I would like to change their general strategy to wait until the end and to solve the problem of completing the exam by learning by heart.
The problem is complicated a bit by the fact that the audience is mixed from different fields with different degrees.
The obvious solution to improve the teaching of their early math courses is unfortunately not something I can provide without a general strategy change by the University. Obviously I will always try to improve the quality of my own teaching but I do not want to reduce the level of the course to zero. My course already included a brief repetition of required basics.
I think you can't make students learn anything, and it would be especially difficult to make them learn something other than what you are teaching at the moment. Still, I can think of some things to address the problem (many of which it sounds like you are already doing):
You can make sure that the unprepared students see early on that they are unprepared and liable to fail the course. This might not motivate them to learn, but it is still a nice thing to do.
You can give exercises that require them to learn prerequisite notions incrementally, giving them hints on where to find information not covered in the lecture. Just don't expect them to learn more than they need for each problem.
At the end of the term, you can make sure not to pass the students who didn't learn the things you said they would need to know in order to pass. (Otherwise you justify the very behavior that you complain about.)
You can pitch the course at a lower (but still nonzero) level. In my opinion the only reason not to spend more time on the basics would be if there were a significant number of students who would be bored by this. But maybe they would appreciate a review anyway.
Instead of changing the course, you could change the course description to try to deter more of the unprepared students.
If the students vary too widely in their backgrounds, you could try to create different versions of the course in future years.
The title question was of course not one for the Nuremberg Funnel. I.e. I don't expect to implement knowledge about a specific topic in no time. It might have been a bad choice in fact. An important aspect is that, for science/engineering students, math is also a meta-lesson. It is one of the most important things they learn as without it the will later be unable to read any advanced literature. Partly it is necessary to overcome the inner (and somewhat natural) resistance they have against dealing with formulas. This is what really prevents them from following the course.
I wanted to add that, if I become more basic, I risk of course to fail myself in providing the prerequisites for other courses. To some extent I suffer from the fact that they have apparently not been challenged sufficiently in their introductory math courses.
@highsciguy Although it is important to some extent that the students learn the prerequisites for later courses, I think it was is more important is that they learn something, which they might not do if the teacher "covers the material" in a way that goes over their heads. But of course if there are some students who are ready to learn everything in the course description and others who are not ready to learn anything in the course description, then problems are unavoidable.
Well, I think that, at least some of them are learning now something in their semester breaks, because they know now that they need in order to pass the exam. However, this has to me more a school character than that of a University. In addition they will always eventually learn math at home only, when they try it themselves. I think that the task of the lecture itself is rather to trigger the interest to do this.
+1. However, I disagree with your "only reason not to spend more time on the basics". One very good other reason is that there is a finite amount of time and a certain amount of content to be covered in this course. Every minute spent on the basics that students should already know is one minute less spent on the actual content.
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2558 | What to do when PhD is becoming hell due to non-cooperation from supervisor?
I have a nightmare adviser, who is also the head of the Department. The problems are:
he has too many students,
never reads my chapters,
he is trying his best to sabotage TA or RA opportunities that are my only source of funding,
he discourages me from attending conferences, and
refuses to introduce me to anyone in his network.
The worst thing is that I am an international student in the social sciences in Germany where professors have too much power, and there is no system of redress.
I have a second supervisor from another university, but he does not want to get involved as he is not the primary adviser.
I am three years into the program and have a nearly completed thesis. Without his comments on my chapters, I fear that I will end up with a lower grade (PhDs are graded here) which marks an end to my academic career. I was the top student in the Masters program and that is why I was offered a fully funded PhD. My adviser was very happy with me until I spoke to him about trying for a job in Germany or in Europe. Since then he is distant because I think he expected me to go back to my Third World country and create links for him.
What can I do?
Should I drop this PhD and apply for another one in the US or Canada? (I am not sure he will give me a recommendation)
Should I complete this PhD in a multi-disciplinary field (Global Studies/Global Integration) and start another one in a related discipline such as Political Science or Geography or another traditional discipline, in Canada or the US?
Should I apply for post docs and hope he will give me a recommendation?
Any other ideas. Please help. I am severely depressed.
While there are potentially a number of questions in there, it currently reads like a rant. It is clear that @rpsf is having a hard time, maybe if the question (and title) were cleaned up we could provide useful answers.
The OP does have a question about life as a graduate student which is very much on-topic - see faq. And he is asking advice as what to do. The title merely reflects his own feeling - a little emotional but understandable. I am wondering why he cannot approach the dean.
I never had to use it, but in Belgium there is a "Ph. D. committee" that meets annually with the advisor and the student to discuss progress and potential issues (of course, you shouldn't wait for the meeting if the issue is as serious as it is in your case). Isn't there something similar in Germany that you could rely on?
I don't understand how question 3 is related to the other questions? Where do the multi-disciplinary and traditional fields come in? Do you mean: should I complete this PhD and start another in a related discipline?
@user6298 What? How are you not allowed to submit a paper on your own?
My 2 cents :
Graduate as soon as possible, The fact that this is with high or low grades is not relevant here
Apply for a postdoc position in a place where PhDs are not graded (France for instance)
Publish the (very good) stuff that you intentionally kept hidden until your graduation
After step 3 your record will be clean, and all this "hell stuff" will be far from you. To obtain a position in academy, the only thing that matters is the quality of your research (that can be seen in the papers) and of your teaching (for that you requires references), nobody will care about what happen during your PhD.
"To obtain a position in academy, the only thing that matters is the quality of your research (that can be seen in the papers) and of your teaching " is utopian nonsense. Much more matters, including advisor rec letters. However, steps 1-3 might nonetheless be good advice.
@AJK A letter from the advisor is maybe useful to obtain a postdoc, but for a position it's no longer the case ; either the person and her (good) work are known, or she will not have the position. I'll add that if one applies at a place where the letter is more important than the results, then maybe one should think twice about applying at that place.
I am three years into the program and have a nearly completed thesis. Without his comments on my chapters, I fear that I will end up with a lower grade (PhDs are graded here) which marks an end to my academic career.
You won't miss anything. Trust me.
I was the top student in the Masters program and that is why I was offered a fully funded PhD. My adviser was very happy with me until I spoke to him about trying for a job in Germany or in Europe. Since then he is distant because I think he expected me to go back to my Third World country and create links for him.
Which third world country ?
What can I do? Should I drop this PhD and apply for another one in the US or Canada?
No. You are too far in the thing to pull out. Complete it, get the money and the title, and then reconsider your path. Career is not something you pursue, it's something that happens. There's nothing wrong with it, and academia is not that paradise so that you will miss it.
Any other ideas. Please help. I am severely depressed.
If you are depressed as in depression, seek medical help. If you are in a bad mood, just finish and look for something else. Life is more than that.
Do you only have a single supervisor? In Sweden, we always have at least a primary and a secondary supervisor. I know some people where the primary supervisor has little time, and the secondary supervisor(s) actually spend a lot more time in helping out. If it's for publishing a paper, you could offer co-authorship to other faculty if they can contribute to helping/advising on the paper.
I have another supervisor from a different university but he does not want to get involved as I am not his primary student. My supervisor is head of the Department and I fear that going above his head will mean that he will refuse to allow me to stay which would mean returning home with nothing.
If the primary supervisor has insufficient time, it should be the moment that the secondary supervisor can get involved. If neither can, I would discuss with relevant people if it's possible to get an additional secondary supervisor. I suppose your primary supervisor acknowledges not having enough time, so that should be a pretty strong rationale.
First, I have questions for you.
Your (1): "he has too many students."
Why would you be bothered? Is it because he is too busy to pay attention to you? If so, why (3) (sabotage)?
Your (4) and (5): "he discourages me from attending conferences", and
"refuses to introduce me to anyone in his network."
Can you talk to your secondary adviser to help you? Do you really need your primary adviser to introduce you to people? Do you need his approval to attend conferences?
Your (3) "he is trying his best to sabotage TA or RA opportunities that are my only source of funding" is a problem. You need funding to support your study. I am not familiar with German. Can you find a job somewhere to support yourself? Would it have to be TA or RA?
Your true problem is (2) "never reads my chapters." You need him to finish your dissertation. For that, you need to talk to him.
I do believe there are some serious misunderstandings between you and your adviser. Generally speaking, a student and his adviser are on the same side. Do you believe he would be proud of your failure? I would like to tell you this, if you fail, he fails, too.
I would urge you to have a sincere talk to him. Tell him what you want to achieve. Tell him what you'll do and where you will be after you get your PhD is really your own decision. Ask what he thinks of you and what kind of problems he thinks you are having so that you can improve yourself. Maybe he thinks you have not done research in depth enough so your chapters are not ready yet. So on and so forth. Once you two can have an open talk and clear up the misunderstandings, it will be a happy ending.
Someone with many students is successful at applying and getting grants, but that's not guaranteed that is a decent manager. It is certainly one of his business if this translates into poor training and management.
@StefanoBorini, indeed, this is one of my questions for OP. If the adviser has lot of grants, why OP is having trouble with funding? I think there is a problem between the two, not the issue of too many students.
First of all, thank you so much Artem for the excellent editing.
Thank you so much Artem for the excellent editing. Yes, my advisor has a lot of grants, and students, of which he favors some. I was in that group, including a prestigious exchange program that he proposed my name for. However, after I discussed my plans, he has turned distant and cold. Earlier, he would reply to my e mail the same day, and return my chapters within a week. After I told him my plans, the problems started. I cannot take a job beyond my field according to German laws if I want to stay on. I cannot go back I want to talk to him but he refuses appointments claiming lack of time.
@rpsf, I think the exchange program is the key. There might be some requirements that the participant will have to go back to his home country after he gets PhD. You'll have to think about it. Either withdraw from the program to save his reputation if you don't want to go back home after PhD. Or, fullfil the requirement so that he can maintain his creditability. It's your decision. Nobody else can help you about this.
@rpsf: If I was right about the exchange program, you really should withdraw from it if you change your mind about going home. Let somebody else have this opportunity if you don't want it.
No, the exchange program had nothing to do with it. It was in another European country, and is something I did not even apply for. This was in the first year. He suggested that I go and do research there though there were others who wanted the oppurtunity.
@rpsf, Sometimes student-adviser relationship is like marriage. Outsiders can only understand a little. Sorry about intrusion of your privacy. As you're well aware of, you might still need his recommendation if you want to go anywhere else. I will stop here and let others who know better help you. Good luck!
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60152 | Can college professors alter their grading scale to pass students? How often does this happen?
I have recently completed a Multivariable Calculus class. I struggle a lot with math, and failed the first and second midterms and I feel that I failed the final exam as well. The first midterm was worth 25% of my grade, the second was worth 30% and and the final was 35%. I am absolutely convinced that I failed the final, yet I passed the course with a C, although homework was worth 10% and I maintained a 96% on it.
My question is, how often do professors alter their grading scale such that they don't fail someone? My professor did mention that if we do very poorly on the final exam, he would just give us a 'C'. How often does this happen?
Many professors never intend for the grading to follow this scale. I certainly don't, in my classes - that scale has too much compression at the top for my taste, it makes it hard for "really outstanding" students to distinguish themselves from "very good" students.
When you say that you failed the first two exams - did you receive a letter grade on the exams, or just a numerical grade?
First, please consider removing the school's name. It contributes no extra information but provides enough information to identify the faculty member(s). Second, what is the mechanism of grade assignment? Was it based on absolute or relative scale? If it's relative, it's hard to judge if grading scheme has been changed.
Kramsiv1994, I think you should include the passing marks and grade equivalents. A C in your univ isn't necessarily the same as a C in mine
I've had professors in the US who were willing to bump you a half-letter grade if you prove that you're putting the effort in and are just having difficulty with the material. My own multivariable calc prof actually did this for me after I brought my grade from a D- to a B+. It was painful, but the prof appreciated the effort I put in for the rest of the course. TL;DR: sometimes profs are nice people too! ;)
I had a math class which followed a similar pattern to yours (most students failed or scored very low on most/all tests). I freaked out after getting a D on my first major test - as I had studied a lot for it. Speaking with the professor, she said I was actually doing quite well in her class, and that her tests were designed so that nobody passed them. At the end of the semester, she applied a large curve and I wound up with an A. Her tests were challenging to see how far students could apply the course material. Top students would set the curve, and the rest falls into place.
As a current graduate student (in Germany): grades get adjusted pretty much to satisfy whatever expectations the professor had in terms of passing rate/average grade.
@tonysdg That prof was not nice to you.
@JeffE: I'm confused - what do you mean?
@tonysdg Grades are supposed to reflect your mastery of the course material; in particular, they are supposed to signal your preparedness for later classes that use the material. If the prof gave you a high grade even though you did not understand the material, they lied to you and to anyone who might use your grade to predict your ability to do multivariate calculus. That's not "nice"; that's pandering.
@JeffE: Lemme put it this way - I had a 60 on the first midterm (D-). I had an 85 on the second midterm; I got a 90 on the final (aggregates to B+ when you include homeworks). That was after literally doing every odd-numbered problem in the first 6 chapters of the textbook over the course of spring break (and I mean literally). And seeing as it was a progressive course (i.e., you kept building on the previously-learned material), I'd like to believe that I had demonstrated my ability to do multivariate calculus by that point - it just required a bit more effort on my part.
@tonysdg In that case, the prof still wasn't being nice to you; he was giving you the grade you deserved!
@JeffE: Po-tat-o, Po-tot-o ;) Given that she and I didn't have the greatest of professional relationships, I like to imagine she was being nice in the end. Makes my memories of her class far more positive. But thank you nonetheless for the clarification :)
@JeffE Giving someone the grade they deserve may well be being nice, if it requires you to go through extra trouble finding out what grade the student deserves (as opposed to just using mu)
Teaching is hard, and writing exams is hard. Anyone who thinks they can set the exact criteria in advance is probably being arrogant. At Chicago (at least in the 1980s) every single course is graded on a curve so essentially every course had its criteria set by the performance of the students. On the one hand this compensates for mistakes in teaching or in writing an exam, on the other hand your performance is partly determined by how good your classmates happen to be.
One of the professors at MIT I tutored under was very angry that students had demanded (so the Institute regulated) that the percentages given to the various midterms and exams were set out in advance, because before that "innovation" he'd been able to adjust the percentages if he'd written an exam not up to his own standards, something you can often only find out after you've given it.
In the UK, these sorts of practices are banned. Every student is supposed to be marked to criteria set up when the course was approved. To make this work, UK universities require the exam to be written very early in the term, checked by a colleague, and then checked again by an external examiner. Then at the end of the year there is something called an exam board, where a panel decides if something went wrong in a course and moves all the marks for the whole course up or down in response. This is better than marking on a curve because the students can help each other learn without hurting themselves, but in other ways it's worse in that the professors cannot innovate and it can be very difficult to update material.
The Chicago style seems really bewildering to me (and never encountered it in my own academics); personally I don't find writing college math exams very hard, and I after one or two semesters I can usually predict within 5% what the course average will be. I have an acquaintance at a top school who used the Chicago method and the students figured out the following: if none of them took the final then everyone would get 100% by default, and they actually did follow through on this, much to my friend's embarrassment.
@DanielR.Collins All the times my classmates pointed out this "flaw" in a curved system, nobody actually enacted on it. It's very difficult to convince the class' top performers to not perform on their own level, just to help other, less advanced/more-lazy students slide by. Not to mention the professor can just state in their syllabus (and many do) that if you do not take the midterm and/or final, they will fail you regardless of your current standing in the class. This forces students to at least show up and put their name on the paper, and makes it less likely everyone will turn in nothing.
@SnakeDoc: Yes, that's exactly what my friend thought too, right up until his students called his bluff, and then he wound up in the national news for it. Magister cave.
@DanielR.Collins Well, that's a first for me! If I were the professor, I would have called their bluff back and failed everyone ;-P If it's in the syllabus, you can fall back to it (at least in principal). I suppose we can say "majority of the time" it works out as intended.
@DanielR.Collins I can't help but think that your friend could have claimed that one or a couple people had taken the test. And that everybody else is now failing. But, you know, he'll give everyone one more chance to take it, because he's a nice guy.
(1) My friend was asked about that implication in advance, and verbally confirmed the conclusion to the students, thinking it would be a non-issue. (2) The students stood as a block outside the exam room to monitor if anyone actually went in and were ready to all file in if anyone "broke the strike".
About M.I.T.s regulations: If you say the homework is worth 10% of your grade, students will skip assignments in weeks when they are overwhelmed by the workload in the rest of their classes. If you then decide at the end of the term to make the homework worth 40% of the grade, the students will be upset and complain to the administration. I don't see anything wrong with this regulation. (And I have been told that things like this have happened.)
@Peter Shor, I don't think whether students complain is as important as whether they learn, and not just whether this year's students learn, whether the following years' students learn too. Students shouldn't get good marks for finding loopholes, they should get good marks for demonstrating knowledge of the course materials, and they should know that's what their university cares about.
@Joanna: I don't see how M.I.T.'s regulations interfere with learning. Saying you are going to disregard an exam's scores after you've given it doesn't help the students learn (although it might help you assess the students' performance better if the results of the exam are uncorrelated with the students' abilities).
@PeterShor The point of exams is less to teach and more to rank students -- an unpleasant part of academia, but something society requires of us. If one exam is much poorer at assorting (e.g. if a significant question had a "gotcha") then it's nice to be able to decrease that one and increase the others to compensate. I can't believe one thing would ever be quadrupled in value.
@Joanna: So you agree that it would be unfair if the professor quadrupled the value of the homework? Why wouldn't it also be unfair if it was just increased by 50%? (And I said, this has happened at MIT – although it probably wasn't quadrupled. it is against the rules, and the students complained to the administration.)
I'm not willing to say without the full context what would be fair or unfair. The question is what would be most unfair given what is presumably already a messed up situation. But unfortunately, these days instead of optimising on fairness, we are often forced to ignore fairness and optimise on legal defensibility.
See this question.
WRT the MIT questions, that particular prof (who was a teaching legend) only wanted to be able to rebalance marks between the two midterms & the final, so the students got the most marks for the best exam he'd written. Maybe other profs were less considerate, or maybe some loud MIT students didn't like any indeterminacy about grades. I myself always valued learning more than grades & took a lot of grad classes. WRT setting math exams, OK, sounds easy but boring. The MIT course was programming not math.
The Predetermined Minimum Scale
In general, at least in the US and according to my experience with a few institutions, grading often goes like this:
The professor sets up a grading scale (generally percentage to letter grade conversion) and puts it in their course syllabus at the beginning of the semester. This commonly goes something like 94% >= A, 90% = A-, 87% = B+ ... < 60% = F.
The syllabus also includes an outline of weighting of grades - for instance 10% "attendance and participation", 40% assignments, 50% midterm + final.
These guidelines as noted in the syllabus reflect a "guaranteed minimum grade". This means that if you get 90% in this course you are guaranteed at least an A-. However, this also means that the professor generally reserves the right to adjust grades upwards, especially in borderline cases. If you got a 93.7% and participated actively in class, they might bump it up to an A solely at their discretion!
In this scheme, students are protected against wanton harshness, like a professor suddenly decides the final wasn't hard enough and so suddenly anyone with less than a 95% gets a B.
Please be aware this is not the only grading system!
Forced Curve Grading
Another system uses what is sometimes called a "forced curve", and is designed such that - for instance - only 10% of students can get an A of any kind. It doesn't matter what your score is - just that your relative ranking is compared to other classmates that semester. I'm told the Airforce Academy uses this system extensively (or at least use to), among other institutions and sometimes even individual professors choose this system.
So you can theoretically bomb the final and get a miserable score, and if everyone else did too then your grade might still be excellent.
Hybrid Grading Systems
Bespoke systems implemented by various professors abound across the USA, which is part of the reason most graduate schools take GPA with at least a few grains of salt (it is understood that a 4.0 in one program might be equivalent to a 3.5 in another, to say nothing of whether or not a 4.0 student in one program might be otherwise inferior to a 3.5 student in the same program due to different student focus).
One system I've found somewhat common is using the predetermined grading scale, setting the scale strict as shown above, but then giving very difficult exams where they note that even they themselves would not be able to score 100% if they didn't have their answer key at hand. In these classes getting even a 90% is truly difficult. The goal is perhaps to be more discriminating, and a score of 100% isn't very informative in this outlook. I found math professors much more likely to fall into this category!
So what the professors do is at the end of the semester they plot out all the grades (in a histogram, scatter plot, or sorted-by-grade spreadsheet), and then take a look. They find some sort of 'gap' in the actual grades, and decide anyone above that gap gets the maximum score of A. The next 'segment' gets the next highest grade, on down to the end. No one gets bumped down to a lower grade, but many students can/do get bumped up.
Discounting Aberrant Grades
Many professors also compare the grades on a final exam to scores in the rest of the course, and adjust grades up in certain cases. One example is if you did well all semester long, then somehow did poorly on the final. If this seems like a weird aberration and you participated and clearly worked hard in class, sometimes a professor will think the grade is a poor reflection of your understanding of the material and will lower its weight - effectively giving you a better grade than your final would indicate.
Other professors look at the final as the most important/difficult test, and if you did significantly better on the final than in the rest of the class they will assume you must have learned the material (or you wouldn't have done so well on the hardest test!) and bump your grade up - effectively discounting your earlier less-spectacular grades.
Of course, some professors do none of this. Some give lots of extra credit, or "easy A" assignments so you just have to turn something in, etc. In the USA professors usually have a tremendous amount of independence in determining grades, and they often just have to have a sensible system they can defend if 'challenged'. But some don't really care and pretty much do what they want. YMMV.
Your Specific Case
In your specific case of wondering how you got a good grade even though you thought you bombed the final, it's possible you did not actually bomb the final - and it's also possible you did and got 'curved' up, or the professor discounted your grade on the final because you otherwise did so well in the course.
If you are really concerned or wondering, you can generally ask the professor or meet with them to share your concern that you bombed the final, etc. I personally wouldn't "look a gift horse in the mouth" (question someone who graded you kindly), but if you really feel uncomfortable with the grade then by all means you can politely ask to go over the final with the professor or discuss your grade more generally.
One final note- I have known a number of people exhibit a mentality I like to call "reverse paranoia": the belief that people are secretly out to help you even though you don't deserve it! It's very possible you did better than you think or even that you earned the grade you got (I know, crazy right?), and the professor just gave you the grade you deserved. This may or may not be related to the impostor syndrome, or just a past experiences that were negative. But this is just a pet theory/observation of mine!
My question is, how often do professors alter their grading scale such
that they don't fail someone?
I cannot easily answer this for the whole world as the frequency may differ wildly across universities as each may have different policies. However, based on studying in three different universities in three different countries, I can tell you that I think that this practice is very common as many professors (at least those in the institutions I attended) are required to have a certain pass rate for their classes. If, therefore, too many students fail, then they will find some way to ensure that a sufficient number pass.
Do you have a more specific follow up question that you would like to ask?
There are some very high reputation schools where they still will have very loose pass criteria, for a basic pass (i.e. a C). However, what is very hard to achieve there are the high marks.
Indeed; there are some high reputation schools where the average GPA is very high (e.g. http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21615616-not-what-it-used-be-grade-expectations ) and so a C, although "passing", may actually be a very poor grade.
I don't know if you're going to be able to get an answer for "how often". I would assume this varies heavily by country, university culture, department culture, and individual differences in teaching styles.
From my experience as a TA and other TA's I've worked with, it is fairly common in the department to modify the grading scale a little bit if necessary - a practice similar to curving. Whenever I've been involved in these discussions, there has always been a lot of very careful deliberation before the choice is made. Why? Because teaching and learning both have an element of subjectivity and imprecision. No question is absolutely perfect, no exam will perfectly represent the material, and sometimes it's difficult to know the problem is the students or the inability for some concepts to sink in.
Some other reasons:
Equalizing between two different classes. In theory, both classes should have the exact same grade averages for all exams and for the final course grade. This never happens in practice. Sometimes the grade cutoffs need to be equalized between both classes to make up for this.
Poor performance on the final exam. What if students are doing well the whole semester and they do poorly on the final? It's very difficult to know if this is because the exam was problematic or if the students were taught poorly or if they were lazy or a number of other reasons. Sometimes the exact same final will have totally different grades between two classes even if the material taught is the same.
Unforeseen issues. Five years ago, I taught a course in which the fire alarm went off during an exam. As a result, we had to postpone the exam and give the students a make-up one week later. But then the other class that didn't have the fire alarm, complained incessantly and became rabid in their attempts to grab free points by badgering the TAs and arguing answers on test regrades. They claimed that it was not fair that the other class got an extra week. The average for the exam between the two classes was unequal by a large margin so adjusting cutoffs seemed fair.
An alternative to curving. Many professors curve their exam in some way to alter the grade distributions. Some professors think this isn't necessary until the end of the semester and "curve" by altering cutoffs rather than adjusting final averages.
Sometimes you, as a student, deserve the grade you got. I am always asked by my professors if the students I TAed really deserve the grade they received. What if a student comes to my office hours every week, does well on all the homeworks, participates in discussions, clearly knows their stuff, but performs poorly on exams? [I was one such student for my early undergrad so I can sympathize] And what about the student who crams the night before but understands little of the material and makes a really good grade on the exam because they are good test takers? Sometimes you need to adjust cutoffs for students who are on the cusp that deserve to be one letter grade up.
The aim of Freshman courses is not to weed-out but to instruct. I find this is more common in Freshman courses. Freshman year is hard and just because you don't perform amazingly in your first semester doesn't mean you aren't cut out for your topic of study. Sophomore classes and beyond tend to be much more weed-out courses. If it's clear that that you understood the material then maybe you deserve to pass the class. The point of teaching is to encourage and not discourage. And if a student passes that shouldn't, it will catch up with them eventually. They will reach a course where a cutoff can't save them or they will find their upper-division courses are far harsher when it comes to passing students.
Summary: the overall aim for adjusting cutoffs is to strike a balance between creating a fair course for the students and ensuring the students learned the material. However, It is wholly unethical to only alter individual grades or cutoffs for specific students. The most important thing to ensure is that whatever changes you make apply to the entire class.
How often does this happen? I have a feeling this happens quite frequently based upon my one personal experience/data-point that I have. This took place at a very well known, high-rep, American university. Most of the students in the class were probably engineering students.
I was taking a junior/senior level probability class. The class averages on the exams we utterly horrendous. We're talking in the 25%, 35% range. The averages showed the entire class to be in a state of utter failure. The professor was almost universally considered to be terrible...with the exception of one student who kept obliterating the exam averages by getting in the 90s each time. I knew that student personally. She was superb.
According to the class averages, I was in the "C" range. If a student had an "A" going into the final exam, they weren't required to take the final. Unfortunately, I had to take the final exam. I bashed my brains in preparation for that final.
Would you believe I ended up with an "A" for my final grade? It is the most undeserved "A" I ever received. You should have seen the totally confused look on my face when I found out! That "A" still stands out on my transcript as a diamond amongst coal.
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119934 | Is it legit to change from one university to another?
Currently am doing my first year in bcom (accounting). I enrolled with a certain university earlier this year did my first semester and wrote my first semester examinations, but because of financial problems my faculty administrator did not register me for my second semester modules.
Therefore I would like to know if I could get funding next year will I be able to register with a different university?
This depends on where you are. It might be possible some places and not others. This is an international site, of course. Also, moving and funding are different issues, generally.
There is no way to be sure about this—but what is certain is that you would need to be apply for admission and be accepted at the second university if you want to enroll and attend classes at that university. Whether or not this is possible depends on the policies of the other university. Note that many universities will require you to provide transcripts from previously attended institutions as a condition of application and enrollment, while financial holds are often used to "block" the release of transcripts from universities. So you may find yourself in a bit of a catch-22 situation.
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137916 | How to not lose focus after each disruption in flow
I have observed that whenever I'm studying something, or solving an assignment, whenever I would hit a question which I am unable to solve or is taking too long for me to do, my mind wanders away from that task, no matter how urgent or important my current task is. I would maybe end up surfing the net, or thinking about a conversion ,etc. I end up wasting 15-20 minutes of my time . This is very frustrating. How can I curb this problem ??
Avoid reading Academia.SE and other SE sites for too long.... :-( If only it were so easy!
A very simple solution, that might work, and is worth a try. When you reach such a block, jot a note to yourself that captures the problem or the crux. Then get up from your desk and take a ten minute or so walk. Get your blood moving a bit and break the flow explicitly. Take the note and a pencil/pen, so that you can write ideas that might occur.
You may find that the solution will come to you, but at least, the break may help to clear your mind of the reason you may be pursuing the wrong solution.
This won't work for everyone, of course, but it is a painless way to experiment.
Oh, and don't be checking your phone on the walk or texting, or ... It might even be best to leave it behind since you will only be away for a few minutes.
Try to print out your assignment and the relevant notes. Keep all tech (laptop/phone) out of reach.
I'm sure you catch yourself visiting a website or checking your messages, not consciously remembering when you stopped working. Breaking this habit will require training your brain to focus for longer periods of time. Having physical copies of your work helps with that. If that's not possible, download a program called SelfControl, it allows you to blacklist websites for a set amount of time.
Also, remember to take breaks and get exercise. It will help with maintaining focus.
additionally also a very important aspect is, to get enough fresh air and to drink enough water to be more concentrated
This is quite common. There are few things to consider. Possibility of ADHD is one of them. More on that is left for medical proffesionals. Other things to consider,
almost every piece of digital content you consume is designed to catch your attention. Companies often use incredibly sophisticated deisgn choices to abuse the human element, very often in a similar fashion to what casinos do. Getting rid of all electronics would probably help. Getting paper copies, going to a corner of the library, with no (including a smartphones) electronics possibly can improve your concentration.
similar to Erik's comment about exercise, you should try to supply your body with its basic needs (if you weren't). A healthy dose of exercise, healthy diet or social interactions usually help me.
your mind is not your slave. You can't force it to work or concentrate. This is one of the reasons why cramming often does not work. You have to negotiate with yourself.
compartmentalizing also help some people. Obvious example would be to change the room when you want to study. Get to a desk different than the one you surf the web. It can be in a library, a university working hall or even some picnic table. I sometimes even go and work on the dining table in the kitchen.
Another tactic might be to "abuse" your sense of shame. For example, if you go to your library and start to procrastinate, you might feel being judged by the others. Hence it might be a good way to control yourself. Going to your department's communal areas might work better if you are more "afraid" of "judgement" from your proffesors / colleagues.
It is not likely that every single one of these will work for you. These are the tricks I use or see other people use. I hope it helps a bit.
Boaty McBoatface's suggestions are excellent, but I disagree with getting rid of all electronics. Struggling with distraction will not go away after university, and often your work will require that you are online. Here is what works for me:
Make yourself accountable to another person. This is a permutation of Boaty's "sense of shame" suggestion. You can have a study partner, or a significant other who asks you how focused you were during your study session. Working in the same room as someone else, with them able to see your screen, can be very helpful as long as this person is not a distraction in and of themselves.
From consulting: track your hours at the end of the day. It is incredibly depressing to have to stay late at work because you spent an hour on Wikipedia. If you were to be charging someone for your study time, could you reasonably charge them for 7.5 hours of work? Does the product (notes, knowledge, flashcards, etc.) reflect that? The simplest way to do this would be a spreadsheet.
Be honest with yourself. Can you focus with music playing? Can you focus with a 15-minute facebook break every two hours, or does this balloon into a 15-minute break every 30 minutes? No? Then set hard controls on your access to these distractions. Try removing access to music, or using a browser extension such as StayFocusd.
Others' suggestions that are vital: sleep, eat, exercise, make dedicated time for social engagement, and leave your phone out of reach if you don't need it.
Lastly, if this is a serious problem, ask a doctor about being tested for ADHD. I've been putting that off indefinitely... Mostly because of distractions like Stackexchange!
Good luck on that exam.
Your mind can only focus for so long before it needs a break. This is completely natural. Eliminating sources of distraction will only help so much, and if you can't eliminate them all the time, they will be even more distracting when they are available. If you notice it happening a lot, you may be burnt out and need a real break, or you may have an attention disorder that a doctor may be able to help with.
There is no "magic pill" or single solution to fixing this, and some options are harder than others to enact.
Others have already mentioned good options that work for me as well, so I don't repeat them. Some things that are miss are:
Simply realize you are off topic and get back to work. If you struggle to do so, you need a real break.
Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, maybe take a few sips from your drink, maybe a bite or two from a snack, and refocus. (This really is different than the suggestion above.)
Try to realize your mind staring to wander before it gets very far and refocus on your work.
Open floor plans in offices and libraries are full of distractions and we are finding people actually like cubicles at work. If you can, move to a location where physical/real life distractions are minimized. This includes getting away from the kids, laundry, dishes, dusting, mowing the lawn, etc.
If you work from home, take a walk or drive around the block when you "go to work" and "come home", which may include entering a different door than you left. This helps to disassociate your home life from your work life, even when it's in the same building and helps to remove the distractions of home life listed and hinted at in the previous bullet point.
Finish out the train of thought that distracted you so you don't rehash it again later, then refocus.
Take a note of the topic that got you distracted so you can consider looking at it later, when you aren't working or studying, and refocus.
Schedule regular, real breaks every 1-2 hours so that unscheduled breaks happen less frequently.
And last but not least:
Close StackExchange when you aren't actively using it.
FYI, even when you aren't actively working on something, your subconscious mind still is. That's why you can wake up in the middle of the night with "the answer" to a question you struggled all day and it'll be "so obvious". This can happen at any time. Sometimes I will purposely take a break from a tough project so that my subconscious can take over. This works especially well when you "hit a wall". When that obstacle seems insurmountable, sometimes you can beat your head against it until you overcome it, and sometimes you need to walk away and let it crumble away on it's own. Sometimes you can even just get a fresh perspective from leaving it for a while. Breaks definitely have their uses.
As a variation on Buffy's answer, set a timer for a maximum of about half an hour - say 25 minutes. When the time is up, STOP WORKING, physically get up and do something else for 5 minutes, then reset the timer for another 25 minute work session and repeat.
You will gradually condition yourself not to give up or get distracted before the timer "gives you permission."
If you can't keep working for a 25 minute period, even when you know the timer is going to "tell you to stop" at the end of the time interval, that would suggest there is some underlying cause that needs professional diagnosis.
Once this technique is working for you, you might want to increase the length of the work periods - but you may find that regular short breaks every half hour are more productive than one long session anyway, and you don't need to use the timer to maintain that working pattern.
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119920 | Which journals make peer review history documents publicly available?
Nature Communications has had a policy since 2016 that authors are given the option to publish the peer review history of their paper.
Are there other journals with the same initiative?
Authors can always do that. Personally, I started adding the "answer letter" to the reviewers as supplementary material to the paper itself.
Will that option for authors become compulsory?
The BMC Series journals publish an article's review history alongside the article.
In the biologies, I know of at least:
eLife
BMJ
PeerJ (Optional)
F1000 Research
as well as the BMC series mentioned in the comments. Thats just off the top of my head. I'm sure there are others.
The peer reviews for several highly regarded machine learning conferences (most notably the ICLR - International Conference on Learning Representations) can be found at https://openreview.net/. While these are not 'journals' in the strictest sense, they do have a peer-review process. The setup is however double-blind.
The website, e.g. for the ICLR allows you to do the following:
Read the reviews and the answers from the authors
See the revision history
Check withdrawn papers
Add your own (anonymous) comment to any review
The publisher Cooernicus has an open peer-review process, i.e. all peer-reviewer reports as well as the answers of the author(s) are published open access.
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143674 | What if clinical leadership refuses to protect research time?
I'm a physician-scientist currently on year 4 of a K23 (early career grant for physician scientists in the US), recently awarded first R01 (multi-year major research grant for biomedical science in the US) with 20% effort. Problem is that despite the 'protected' time from these awards, my division/section chief refuses to commit, and as the only non-full time clinician in the section I seem to to be the first one asked to cover the clinical scut work (calls, service, etc.). My division chief specifically said, "No one really holds to the protected time", so it doesn't matter if I get three more grants, it's not clear they'll ever actually protect my time.
It seems like the only option (other than leave) is to sacrifice myself by reporting to NIH, in which case I'd probably just lose the grants. Has anyone ever successfully managed this situation without leaving? Anyway brought in ombudsman, or other independent institutional resources?
Obviously, I'm posting this anonymously...
Is this question better at workplace? https://workplace.stackexchange.com/
And a lot of your terminology isn't universally known here. K23? R01? It might be useful to know your country.
@Buffy These are references to US NIH grant types; they'd be easily recognizable to anyone doing biomedical research in the US. Basically, if someone has gotten a K23 and then an R01, they are doing quite well in funding their research as a clinician-scientist. I've added some context for those outside the US. I definitely don't think this question would be better at workplace, this is about allocation of clinical and research time and is not the type of conflict a typical employee outside of academia would confront.
Take a look at the rules governing the ombudsperson before you go there. Good rules will ensure confidentiality and that the ombudsperson won't take any action unless you say so. That will allow you to freely discuss your problem. If your institution offers an ombudsperson with good rules, then talking to an ombudsperson would actually be very useful in your case. I would not start with the idea of taking action, but just as exploring what is possible.
Also don't take this personal. The leadership has to make sure that all tasks are performed with the resources at hand: if you do less, somebody else has to do more. If your grant compensated your department for that in full, then that should not be a problem. Though even then, if the departments resources are stretched already, then the leadership will still be faced with impossible choices. It should not be the case, and solving those impossible problems when they happen is not your problem, but understanding it can help not to take those choices personal. If your grant contains no or only partial compensation, then the "protection" from the granting agency is very cheap: basically the granting agency is not spending its own resources but your department's resources. Your department can be forgiven for saying that that is not going to work.
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137797 | ArXIV's Different Licenses
I am considering submitting a working paper to the ArXIV archive and was wondering what the different licenses entailed, and whether choosing one might have some future ramifications.
Thank you!
Thanks for the edit. I think this is a very good question now, which should perhaps become our "canonical" question on arXiv licenses if it gets good answers.
I suggest you post to the ArXiv only after you have an idea of a group of journals to which you will be submitting. For example, narrowed to economics, or narrowed to physics. Then you can investigate a few journals and be sure you have a few places where you can submit after posting to the ArXiv, and with a certain licence.
If I am writing a pure math paper, I just post with what the ArXiv calls the minimal licence, which I have never read. I have never had any pure math journal even ask what licence I picked for the ArXiv. I hear the New England Journal of Medicine does not publish anything that was on the ArXiv. The PNAS states "the license selected for a preprint will affect the sharing, adaptation, and reuse of material" so for that level of publication some forethought is warranted.
Perhaps I have bad information and am spreading a rumor. The point is that nobody can advise you on a licence that will work for every academic journal in the world. You need to have that narrowed down. For some journals no option works. For many, many journals, it probably does not matter. If you have decided on a basic type of journal you can post here again with a much more specific question.
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54029 | Is it legal in the US for a student to download a copy of a textbook, to study?
(this is coming out of a comment thread regarding this question.)
The USA has a Fair Use legal provision restricting its copyright law:
17 U.S.C. § 107
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. §
106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work,
including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any
other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism,
comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for
classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of
copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any
particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall
include:
the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
the nature of the copyrighted work;
the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole;
and the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
Obviously there might be other relevant statutes and legal precedents, but still,
Is it legal, considering the above, for a university/college student to download a copy of a textbook (say, in a course s/he is taking), for studying the course material?
Same question, for a student not enrolled in a class for which the downloaded book is a textbook?
Same question, for self-study outside of Academia?
Notes:
"Legal" in two senses: First, the sense of very small chance of being convicted of a criminal act or obligated to pay money; second, the sense of there being a solid argument for the legality of this act which is likely to hold up if you appeal and appeal and maybe get to the supreme court.
Assume it's been established that the downloader did not publish the copy elsewhere, did not cite from it extensively, etc. etc.
I'm not asking whether it's moral or ethical to download textbooks, only about the legality. I believe it is moral and ethical, but that discussion is not what this question is about; please don't start it.
This link has several examples of common copyright-related scenarios in universities and explains how to evaluate whether they are fair use or not.
The answer depends on what you mean by "legal". Law is the complex product of statutes, regulations, precedent, and subjective feeling of the case-deciders. If something is technically disallowed by statute, the statute could be an effective nullity if it is never enforced. I believe that no penalty has even been imposed on a student in the context you describe, so it is in that sense "legal". Also note that "fair use" is a defense, meaning you have to prove it if you are brought up on charges.
@TomDworzanski: I'm not ignoring ethics, I'm just not having that argument on this site. See my edit. As for the campus bookstore - your problem is the university body which lets them operate as they do... I would try to get the student union and academic staff union(s) to take collective action to change this situation.
The first sense of 'legal' is not a sense of the term 'legal' as used in standard English at all. That the chances of Jones getting caught for killing Davies in a particularly obscure way are vanishing small does not make Jones doing so 'legal' in any sense of the term. As Alice points out to Humpty Dumpty, the question is whether you can make a word mean so many things....
As I understand it, 'fair use' governs the use of copyrighted material. It is not about that material's acquisition. If I purchase an ebook, I might or might not be able to defend as 'fair use' sharing part or all of book with you for a certain purpose. I cannot, as I understand it, use it to defend my acquisition of the ebook if that's the issue which lands me in court.
When asking questions about what is "legal", appeal to common usage is the last thing you should rely on. 'It would be a narrow conception of jurisprudence to confine the notion of "laws" to what is found written on the statute books, and to disregard the gloss which life has written upon it' (310 U.S. 362). It is fundamentally unknowable whether such downloading is prohibited by the totality of the law, though reading only the statutory part would say that it is.
Just curious, setting aside the poorly named stipends you apply for that are common called "scholarships" (because stipend isn't very motivating to high schoolers) do you consider all education to be scholarship? I highly suspect the scholarship they refer to is not just any and all educational purposes, but rather the advancement of a field i.e. research.
@cfr If acquisition of the content involves reproducing it (as downloading material to your computer necessarily does) then it may be governed by fair use. It's actually explicit in copyright law: "...the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction..." The closest analogy is making photocopies of a library book for yourself, also a means of "acquiring" content involving reproduction; that, too, may be defensible under fair use in some circumstances.
Perhaps this would be a suitable question for the Law Stack Exchange? As far as I know, not many of us here study law, and this certainly seems like a legal question more than an academic one.
@chipbuster: I didn't realize there was a Law SX ... it might have been a valid question there, but I think it's also valid here - academia involves both law, sociology, anthropology, economics, philosophy, history...
@ff524 The cases are not analogous. In the case of the library book, you are starting with a legally acquired copy: the library buys a copy of the book (ebook, paper book, whatever). It then lends that copy to you, which is also legal. But the library is not relying on the defence of 'fair use'.
@cfr the issue (the copyright infringement that could potentially be defended with fair use) is the copy you make, the source you are copying from is not strictly relevant to this direct copyright infringement. (In fact, my university library used to have signs posted near the copy machines informing students that photocopying too much of a book is potentially copyright infringement.)
@ff524 That is exactly my point. Does US law not make that distinction?
@cfr I'm not aware of any jurisdiction where an unauthorized copy of an authorized copy is treated differently in the law from an unauthorized copy of an unauthorized copy. Are you? (Do you have a specific example?)
@ff524 But the question is surely whether the download would be an authorised copy of an unathorised copy.
@cfr No. This question is about whether making an unauthorized copy (which is generally copyright infringement) can be excused with a fair use defense. As long as you don't have permission from the rights holder to make a copy, it's an unauthorized copy, whether you make a photocopy of a library book, or download it from a website, or go to a bookstore and take photos of every single page with your phone when nobody is looking...
@ff524 OK. Yes. Fair enough. I misspoke. The question is whether the an unauthorised copy of an unauthorised copy could be defended as fair use, given that the latter could not be. At least, that's how I understood it.
The purpose of the Fair Use doctrine, especially with respect to academia is to allow published works to be reviewed and discussed, while still protecting the copyright holders rights to charge for full and/or effective use. In other words, a copyright holder cannot use their copyright to prevent public and/or scholarly review and criticism of their work (i.e., critics/reviewers can quote passages to support their points). At the same time, readers cannot use the doctrine to bypass paying for their copies when they are actually reading the whole thing (or a substantial portion).
@RBarryYoung: That's one/some of the purposes - research, commentary, criticism. There's also scholarship, mentioned separately.
@einpoklum I believe that scholarship refers to scholarly references and quotes (a form of review), and is not intended to mean "self-education by reading most of the work without paying for it". Note that scholarship and education are not necessarily the same thing.
@RBarryYoung: 1. Scholarship is pretty much self-education by studying something. Studying the text of a book seems like scholarship to me - although I'm not a native speaker of English, so you may be right. Still, research is mentioned separately. 2. Indeed, scholarship and education are not the same thing - education is something you (typically) apply to other people.
If your reasoning is correct it would apply to other copyrighted material other than textbook as well, if it is used for studying. Consider a student of cinematography. He should be allowed to download and freely watch all movies since when's watching then he's studying... What do you think would happen in this other instance if some Hollywood company sued you?
@Bakuriu: You're right, but how many people are students of cinematography? Now, anyone could claim he was downloading a copy of a work for self-study, but that's why I separated the 3 cases in my question. If I were to ask it about a film and film students, it seems to me like a student taking a class on Truffaut could better make a fair use argument about downloading a copy of Jules and Jim.
To point 2 of Fair Use, the copyright page of any textbook will either say "All Rights Reserved," or will have something to the effect of this "All rights reserved. No part of this book covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any format in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval systems—without permission of the publisher." So in that respect the nature of the copyright is that the copyright holder, unless expressly granted otherwise, expects that every copy be paid for.
The fair use doctrine comes more out of a desire to protect US Constitutional First Amendment rights without the risk of suppression of criticism by the threat of a law suit. The intention has never been to allow for use not authorized by the copyright holder. Fair use also can be applied to free expression in the production of derivative works, so even though Campbell's soup holds a copyright on its labels, Andy Warhol's work was substantively different enough from the original to be considered fairly used.
Publishers will often chose to provide professors with free instructor copies as an incentive for them to evaluate and adopt the book for their course, which as the copyright holder is their choice to do, but they have no intention to allow that professor to then copy that book and distribute to their class. Even if the professor were to purchase a PDF of the book, they would not have license to then post that PDF to their course resources site for students to use. There expectation is that the book will be purchase, at least by one generation of students.
Short answer: Nope.
Long answer: It's complicated.
The proportion of the work copied can actually be the whole of the work (i.e. 100%), if the other parts of the fair use test provide a strong enough justification:
The extent of permissible copying
varies with the purpose and character of the use. Taking more of the copyrighted work
than is necessary to accomplish the fair user’s salutary purpose will weigh against fair
use. In some cases, the fact that the entire work — for example, an image — was needed to
accomplish the fair use purpose has led the court to hold that the third factor was neutral,
favoring neither the copyright holder nor the putative fair user.
Copyright and Fair Use: A Guide for the Harvard Community, Harvard University Office of the General Counsel, Last Updated
November 23, 2009
Unfortunately, the courts haven't consistently viewed educational use as 'fair use' per se:
On its face, the text of the statute seems to favor educational uses of works as fair uses. It first lists a variety of educational purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, scholarship, and research as prototypical fair uses. It then identifies the use of content for “nonprofit educational purposes” as an explicit consideration in the first of the four enumerated factors for consideration in a fair use analysis.
In practice, however, courts have not consistently found that educational uses qualify as fair uses. Because the doctrine is applied on a case-by-case basis and resists reduction to a per-se rule, it provides limited assurance to scholars and teachers seeking bright-line guidance. ... even scholars well-read in precedent may be hard-pressed to find consistent analyses, across different federal courts, of educational copying and other scholarly uses.
Digital Learning Legal Background Paper:
Fair Use and Educational Uses of Content, Ashley Aull for the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School
So you need to look at how the other three parts of the test pertain in the particular case at issue.
Unfortunately, in regard to the first factor:
In determining whether a use is “commercial,” courts generally find that the “distinction is not whether the sole motive of the use is monetary gain but whether the user stands to profit from exploitation of the copyrighted material without paying the customary price.” Thus, despite the fact the statutory text contrasts commercial with nonprofit educational purposes, courts may exclude schools and universities from the protection of the fair use doctrine if they “benefit” from such uses.
Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. v. Nation Enterprises, 471 U.S. 539 (1984) as cited in Aull
And in regard to the fourth factor:
the Court has held that “a challenge [of a use]…requires proof either that the particular use is harmful, or that if it should become widespread, it would adversely affect the potential market for the copyrighted work.”
Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984) as cited in Aull.
We should therefore take account of a couple of facts that pertain in our hypothetical situation:
the student benefits from their use of the material,
if all students were to copy the material without paying for it then the market for the material would be destroyed, which would hurt the incentive system for the production of new works,
and those facts seem to me to imply that copying (or downloading a copy of) an entire textbook, where the alternative is paying to purchase the textbook, would usually not be 'fair use' under US law.
But exceptions to this are possible. If the whole work was vital for scholarship but not commercially available then a pretty strong argument for 100% copying as fair use could be made. For the full picture read Aull.
Update in response to comments:
@einpoklum, thanks for your insightful comments. I thought they deserved proper discussion, so I'm answering them here, where I've got more space to address them.
It seems that the complicated situation is more in the case of educational institutions using full cpies.
You're correct that the case law (at least as far as I'm aware) that's specifically about textbooks concerns organisations (such as businesses and educational institutions) rather than individuals.
That's likely to be because it's not worth suing an individual for a very small loss. If the textbook only costs $20 - or even if it costs $100 - the publisher would lose money by suing the student, because the non-recoverable costs of the case (such as the time of the publisher's staff) would cost more than that. This is the reason why lawsuits in P2P filesharing cases tend to be filed against the uploader rather than the downloader.
But has there ever been a conviction, or a ruling in a civil suit, against a student who downloaded a copy of a textbook?
Not that I'm aware of. The very small amount of damages that could be recovered would mean that this would be a loss-making lawsuit even if it were won, although it might have a certain deterrent effect.
"Can I get away with doing this without being sued?" (to which the answer is almost certainly 'Yup') is of course a different question from "Is it legal?".
Also, any copier of any work stands to benefit from it somehow, otherwise they wouldn't make the copy; it seems you're interpreting that sentence too widely.
It certainly is a very wide interpretation! Unfortunately this is the interpretation which the US courts seem to give it.
Aull makes this point as well:
of course, one might strain to find a situation in which educators would use content without benefiting from it somehow.
Aull, footnote 10, page 5.
The Guidelines for Classroom Copying have received the most scholarly and judicial attention. While recognizing that some photocopying of copyrighted material for classroom distribution is fair use, the Guidelines require that such copying, in addition to having clear copyright notice on each copy, fall within three specifically described limits: “brevity,” “spontaneity,” and “cumulative effect.” The American Association of University Professors and Association of American Law Schools vigorously opposed these Guidelines, stressing that they “restrict the doctrine of fair use so substantially as to make it almost useless for classroom teaching purposes.” Meanwhile, in a series of strategic lawsuits filed soon after the passage of the 1976 Act, publishing interests succeeded in persuading some courts to view those Guidelines as an authoritative gauge of fair use.
Aull, p.7
Also, your claim about market destruction is simply invalid - just like with the music industry, people continue to buy music, concert tickets etc. despite having downloaded copies off of the Internet.
This is a view with which I have much sympathy. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the US courts.
An example from the Napster case:
Effect of Use on Market ...
[31] Addressing this factor, the district court concluded that Napster harms the market in “at least” two ways: it reduces audio CD sales among college students and it “raises barriers to plaintiffs’ entry into the market for the digital downloading of music.” Napster, 114 F. Supp. 2d at 913. The district court relied on evidence plaintiffs submitted to show that Napster use harms the market for their copyrighted musical compositions and sound recordings. In a separate memorandum and order regarding the parties’ objections to the expert reports, the district court examined each report, finding some more appropriate and probative than others. A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., Nos. 99-5183 & 00-0074, 2000 WL 1170106 (N.D. Cal. August 10, 2000). Notably, plaintiffs’ expert, Dr. E. Deborah Jay, conducted a survey (the “Jay Report”) using a random sample of college and university students to track their reasons for using Napster and the impact Napster had on their music purchases. Id. at *2. The court recognized that the Jay Report focused on just one segment of the Napster user population and found “evidence of lost sales attributable to college use to be probative of irreparable harm for purposes of the preliminary injunction motion.” Id. at *3.
[32] Plaintiffs also offered a study conducted by Michael Fine, Chief Executive Officer of Soundscan, (the “Fine Report”) to determine the effect of online sharing of MP3 files in order to show irreparable harm. Fine found that online file sharing had resulted in a loss of “album” sales within college markets. After reviewing defendant’s objections to the Fine Report and expressing some concerns regarding the methodology and findings, the district court refused to exclude the Fine Report insofar as plaintiffs offered it to show irreparable harm. Id. at *6.
[33] Plaintiffs’ expert Dr. David J. Teece studied several issues (“Teece Report”), including whether plaintiffs had suffered or were likely to suffer harm in their existing and planned businesses due to Napster use. Id. Napster objected that the report had not undergone peer review. The district court noted that such reports generally are not subject to such scrutiny and overruled defendant’s objections. Id.
...
[36] We, therefore, conclude that the district court made sound findings related to Napster’s deleterious effect on the present and future digital download market. Moreover, lack of harm to an established market cannot deprive the copyright holder of the right to develop alternative markets for the works. See L.A. Times v. Free Republic, 54 U.S.P.Q.2d 1453, 1469-71 (C.D. Cal. 2000) (stating that online market for plaintiff newspapers’ articles was harmed because plaintiffs demonstrated that “[defendants] are attempting to exploit the market for viewing their articles online”); see also UMG Recordings, 92 F. Supp. 2d at 352 (“Any allegedly positive impact of defendant’s activities on plaintiffs’ prior market in no way frees defendant to usurp a further market that directly derives from reproduction of the plaintiffs’ copyrighted works.”). Here, similar to L.A. Times and UMG Recordings, the record supports the district court’s finding that the “record company plaintiffs have already expended considerable funds and effort to commence Internet sales and licensing for digital downloads.” 114 F. Supp. 2d at 915. Having digital downloads available for free on the Napster system necessarily harms the copyright holders’ attempts to charge for the same downloads.
[37] Judge Patel did not abuse her discretion in reaching the above fair use conclusions, nor were the findings of fact with respect to fair use considerations clearly erroneous.
A&M RECORDS, Inc. v. NAPSTER, INC., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)
I'm hearing speculative opinions on the prospective interpretation of the law.
Yes, that's entirely correct. In the absence of an existing case which exactly replicates the hypothetical situation you're proposing, that's all that anyone can give you. If you want a probably-more-accurate speculative opinion then consult a lawyer, but it'll still just be their opinion.
That doesn't mean, though, that the law doesn't apply until there's been a case which covers exactly these circumstances.
In the mean time, it seems perhaps nobody has even been sued or tried criminally for doing this, and it is a widespread practice. So...
So you'd probably not be sued. That's correct, but doesn't mean that the practise is necessarily legal.
A few notes:
You should also be aware that many US universities have their own rules which are more restrictive than copyright law:
more than 80 percent of American universities now adhere to internal policies derived from the Classroom Guidelines that university lobbying groups has rejected. Some enforce even stricter guidelines, all but prohibiting reliance upon fair use. At least one commentator has predicted that, in this environment, “current trends…will eventually eliminate fair use for schools, colleges and universities.”
Aull, p.8
I encourage you to continue to campaign in favour of a more liberal definition of 'fair use'. The EFF is an excellent place to start. Lawrence Lessig's book 'Free Culture' also makes for an interesting read on this topic.
It seems that the complicated situation is more in the case of educational institutions using full cpies. But has there ever been a conviction, or a ruling in a civil suit, against a student who downloaded a copy of a textbook?
Also, any copier of any work stands to benefit from it somehow, otherwise they wouldn't make the copy; it seems you're interpreting that sentence too widely. Also, your claim about market destruction is simply invalid - just like with the music industry, people continue to buy music, concert tickets etc. despite having downloaded copies off of the Internet.
Finally, based on your long answer, I would say the short answer is: "yup."
@einpoklum It seems to me you had an answer in mind when you asked the question.
@MattSamuel: 1. See my first note in the question , and 2. Yes, I did - reading the Fair Use description, to me it was pretty clear that the answer was "yes". I was kind of surprised anybody would claim differently.
@einpoklum AE's point on market destruction is perfectly valid. If everyone would illegaly download music the market would be destroyed. Copying of text books on a wide-spread scale would obviously mean a loss in profits for the publishers as those people would no longer (be forced to) buy the text. I'm not sure why you're still refusing to accept that the answer, in general, is a flat no. Dura lex sed lex.
@Lilienthal: Umm, I'm sorry to break this to you, but essentially everyone is downloading music. At any rate, I was talking about an individual; and an individual can't be tried in place of "everyone" and based on what "everyone" might do. I don't find this dura lex, harsh law, that you speak of. I'm hearing speculative opinions on the prospective interpretation of the law. In the mean time, it seems perhaps nobody has even been sued or tried criminally for doing this, and it is a widespread practice. So...
@einpoklum Given that the music industry generated a global revenue of 15 billion USD in 2013, I guess not everyone is downloading music. And if you had bother to read AE's answer you would see that your second point is equally invalid: "if it should become widespread, it would adversely affect the potential market ". In other words, the court ruled that even if one individual's behaviour would not be hugely problematic, the change that his behaviour would spread is.
@Lilienthal: You're assuming people who buy music don't download it, and that's not true. Also, about the court ruling - let's have a link to that. But not a ruling regarding the publication of copies or their sale, but about their download.
@einpoklum Instead of perverting the arguments made here, consider reading them. At this point I'm going to recommend that you put a lawyer on retainer or hire a yes man because I doubt you're going to get what you want on this site.
@einpoklum, I've added to my answer in response to your comments.
Since you cite so much case law: the ongoing case involving Georgia State is highly relevant here. Specifically with respect to (4), the decision there was that the excerpts shared by instructors were considered to be fair use partly because they "do not substitute for the full books". Also with respect to (3) the lower court suggested very specific quantitative guidelines; although the use of specific quantitative rules was overturned on appeal.
@ff524 Very interesting!
'Fair use' was understood in a way which made it virtually useless for instructional purposes even 10 years ago. Course readers in the US are typically combinations of materials from various sources e.g. a poem from a book, an article from a journal, a paper from a collection. Each item in such a reader typically has to have copyright clearance and publishers levy a charge for this. They also charge for some items placed on electronic reserve in libraries. (And all this is true even if the library owns copies of the material.) Only if you can claim that the use of material was unforeseeable...
... can you typically get away with distributing copies of it for free. Note that I realise the question is about individual use, but the 'fair use' defence is supposed to be available there, too. (At least for non-profit educational institutions.) These policies are, of course, defensive in nature. They are, unfortunately, both shaped by, and shape, interpretations of the 'fair use' clause in US courts, which have tended - though not without exceptions - to interpret what is defensible rather restrictively. This is unfortunate morally, socially & educationally, but sets the US legal context.
@ff524: Just wanted to emphasize that your Georgia State reference regards the act of distribution to others (within the framework of an educational program which students pay for, or the government pays for). In that context I obviously agree there is well-established illegality of distributing copies of books. The context of my question is different.
@einpoklum The relevant points of the Georgia State case here are not 1, the nature of the use (e.g. distribution vs personal use), or 2. The parts I brought up are 4 and 3, which both relate to the idea of using a copyrighted work in its entirety (vs a small part of it). (You seem determined to completely dismiss any relevant case law that isn't exactly the scenario you have in mind, but that's not how case law works. Courts use relevant parts of related but non-identical precedents to guide their decisions in new contexts that have not yet been decided in the courts.)
@ff524: But, again, it was found inappropriate to distribute an entire work. From reading the text it seems to me that it was intended to be limited in scope. And, yes, my question was kind of specific..
"That's likely to be because it's not worth suing an individual for a very small loss. If the textbook only costs $20 - or even if it costs $100 - the publisher would lose money by suing the student, because the non-recoverable costs of the case (such as the time of the publisher's staff) would cost more than that." As publishers register their works with the US Copyright Office, then "Registered works may be eligible for statutory damages and attorney's fees in successful litigation." That means a court could decide to force an individual violator to pay the expenses of the publisher....
... and while it isn't likely, and the courts may frown upon its docket being filled with a publisher bringing individual lawsuits against thousands of violators, you take on that risk if you download copyrighted work without license to do so. I fully support free access to information, but it is up to the creator of the work to decide to make that content freely available through Creative Commons licensing.
Where I actually have a problem is where work has been funded by public grants, such as NSF or NIH grants, and the work ends up getting published in Journals that have pay walls. The knowledge generated by those researchers was funded by the taxpayers and should be made available to the public that paid for it, and not be a source of profit for journals that place embargoes on the data's access and charge exorbitant amounts to access what should rightly be The People's knowledge. I do not see a textbook that was generated for the purpose of profit in the same light.
@AMR, agreed. Re costs, there's usually some that can't be recovered from the losing party. Eg I can claim for my lawyer's fees but probably not for my own time used in consulting the lawyer and dealing with the case - this is why I said "non-recoverable costs".
In general, it is not considered fair use to download the entirety of a textbook, regardless of whether or not you're a student or enrolled in a class using the textbook. Fair use normally is considered to extend to making copies of small excerpts of larger works. For instance, you could copy a particularly relevant figure from a book, or a quote from a textbook or reader for use in a class discussion.
I was asking about the specific case of scholarship - and I think you're giving an overly general answer, or referring to use in teaching, which is something done for pay/tuition.
My point is that fair use never extends to downloading an entire textbook when you do not formally have the rights to do so. There is no exception for scholarship purposes.
@einpoklum see point #3: "the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole"
@einpoklum The third factor "the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole" is the major factor here. Regardless of the other 3 points, it is pretty obvious that downloading an entire textbook is not fair use. And the fourth factor "the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work" is also clearly a problem in this usage. If every student could download the book without paying for it, it would seriously affect the value of the work.
@MJeffryes at the same time, I haven't seen any books that can be downloaded chapter-by-chapter or similar, what's a few kb when only 1% will be used?
@user2813274 Even if it would be fair use to obtain a single book chapter, its unavailability online doesn't make downloading the whole thing fair use. It's possible that if you were sued for infringing and you argued that you only used a single chapter, the judgement would be in your favour. There's no way of knowing.
@einpoklum I don't think the answerer has misunderstood or generalised. Its a bit of wishful thinking on your part. The scholor clause is obviously so that you can take excerpts from a full text you have legitimately and not for procuring the full text in the first place.
@user2813274. I believe the onus would be on you to prove that you only used 1% of the work if you did indeed download the entire book. You might be able to get away with it, but chances are, you won't.
"For instance, you could copy [X from Y]" -- ... which you legally obtained, right?
@MJeffryes: The opposite is clear. As a student, a scholar, you would obviously need to read the whole book. The "amount" consideration seems like it would regard, say, citation somewhere.
So, @aeismail, has there ever been a conviction, or a ruling in a lawsuit, according to your point?
@JamesRyan: How is that obvious? Have the courts specifically ruled according to that interpretation?
@einpoklum: I would imagine there has been, but copyright infringement suits don't normally make the news. However, you should see this page from the Stanford Libraries that discusses fair use in greater detail. (Note copyright infringement is normally a civil, not criminal, matter).
@einpoklum I cannot find any conviction for pirating textbooks. However, I suspect this is not because the courts have ruled it legal so much as it is because nobody has tried to prosecute individual downloaders yet. The RIAA abandoned the strategy of suing individual infringers in 2008, and copyright cases over ebooks has only recently started becoming heated. Between these two factors, I don't think there's a precedent for fair use of pirated books.
@einpoklum individual countries often give advice on how to interpret these laws and yes there are civil cases brought all the time against people and organisations misuse. You are naively questioning something which is established and widely accepted, you have not found a sneaky loophole.
@JamesRyan: It is not naivete, it's a different cultural (and legal) background - in Israel it's completely legal. It seems incredibly bizarre that something like this would be illegal. As chipbuster suggests, though, it seems this is not actually established (= no court ruling) and not actually accepted (= hundreds of millions of people download all sorts of media all the time, in the US specifically, including most probably academic textbooks)... and that's why I asked.
@aeismail: The page you linked to claims Fair Use is limited to criticism and commentary. So, it doesn't actually address the issue of use for scholarship at all ... oh, wait, it's worse! The guide claims that "a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose" - but scholarship does not have any inherent transformative aspect. So, I'd say that text misrepresents the law in this respect.
@einpoklum in the US it IS well established, there have been many rulings. Lots of people downloading media illegally does not make it legal, they are not doing it under any kind of fair use exemption, there are just too many to practically chase. It is an area that law is having trouble dealing with and may need to change, but at present what the law IS is very clear.
@einpoklum also this is NOT legal in Isreal. As party to the Berne convention copyright applies there too. In fact Isreal's copyright system is modelled on the US one and it's definition of fair use is very similar.
@JamesRyan: It is legal in Israel; could you indicate where/how the Berne convention forbids what I've described in the question?
@einpoklum Israel changed it's copyright law in 2007 from British style to US and the implications of this are widely analysed. So while you say is it legal I am afraid reality is that you are simply ignorant of the law.
@JamesRyan: The new law kept in effect the personal use article of the 1924 copyright ordinance (article 3-gimel). Your insistence on misrepresenting Israeli law makes me doubt your claims about what's "well-established" in US law even more.
@einpoklum that is absolutely not the case. Fair use was limited to study, that does not mean it exempts all study (eg some cars are green does not imply that all cars are green) http://www.tglaw.co.il/en/content.php?id=27
@JamesRyan: You, can ignore the law all you like, it's written, black on white: "It shall not be a violation of the rights of creators and performs to imprint or to copy a creation onto a tape for private and home use without commercial purposes." The source you linked to is a legal opinion column by a law office which needs to attract foreign clients, to represent in trying to sue for copyright infringement. So, my doubts regarding your claims about US law again deepen.
@einpoklum again YOU are misinterpreting. That clause is for people to make backups of media that they already have in their possesion it does NOT allow other people to freely distribute it to you
@einpoklum if you have a lot of confusion about your own laws then it will be hard for you to understand the laws of other regions. Do you have a legal advisor at your institute that you could discuss this topic with, maybe they can clear up some of your misconceptions?
@JamesRyan: That clause is crystal clear, and your interpretation is baseless - not to mention the fact that you've switched from your previous factually incorrect claim to a new one. There's no "confusion". By the way, how come you're so (baselessly) confident about Israeli law? Do you read Hebrew?
@einpoklum I have an Israeli aquaitance, he has confirmed that you are misinterpreting. If you are refusing to accept that then there is no point in continuing this conversation. I know 100% that you are wrong and I suggested the local advisor because you might be able to accept it easier from a source that you trust
@JamesRyan: With all due respect - we've established your acquaintance is feeding you claims which contradict the letter of the law. Let him argue here himself if he (or she) is so inclinded. Or rather, please don't, since the question is about US law.
@einpoklum you haven't established anything of the sort and if you arn't prepared to listen to what the answer IS when reality doesn't match your preconceived misconception then what was the point in asking at all? Just continue making up what you like.
@JamesRyan: You're not helping me get an answer to my question, you're trying to promote your anti-copying agenda. Please, just stop.
@einpoklum I don't have any agenda, I am a consumer and if anything in support of free-er laws, you however are simply refusing to acknowledge reality
@einpoklum: The reality is that the law is heavily biased against free distribution of copyrighted materials. As an example of this, consider the Petrucci Music Library, which, as a result of copyright law, is unable to offer scores from any composers alive after 1945 unless they've been specifically released into the public domain. It is a major problem, but the fact remains that the law is not on the side of allowing what you suggest.
@JamesRyan This is a useless argument as einpoklum has no intention of listening to reason and is basically a troll. In the post that he references, I provided an example of Israeli case law. ff524 chose to delete those comments, but never the less, even presented with Israeli case law, they rejected it and claimed they were still correct. http://www.iipa.com/rbc/2012/2012SPEC301ISRAEL.PDF "In June 2011, in the case of Hebrew University of Jerusalem vs. Yaakov Cohen, the Supreme Court of Israel clarified the doctrine of contributory copyright infringement under Israeli law..."
"... This case sets an important legal principle under which those who, while not directly infringing, can nevertheless be held contributorily liable for copyright infringement of others."
@JamesRyan, I also pointed out that Israeli is a party to most of the major International Copyright treaties of the latter half of the 20th Century, http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ38a.pdf including the 1995 WTO agreement that 160 nations are party to. "World Trade Organization (WTO), established ... The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) is one of the WTO agreements. It includes substantive obligations for the protection of copyright and other intellectual property rights as well as their enforcement."
It's my understanding is that "fair use" is about the reproduction of copyrighted materials.
I don't believe it has anything to do with how you obtained those materials.
If you stole the same textbook from Barnes & Noble, would you claim fair use?
It is true that the RIAA and others are suing on copyright grounds & not for plain theft.
How that works exactly, I'm not sure. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.
This excerpt is relevant to your question:
Where a defendant has admitted downloading and copying song files from
other users in the P2P network without permission of the copyright
holders, she cannot claim that such copying is a "fair use".
The analogy to stealing from Barnes & Noble is a false analogy that is not related to the issue at hand. If you steal from a bookstore, you are stealing from the retailer (who is not the copyright holder), and you are not making a new copy of the book, nor violating any other of the copyright holder's exclusive rights. Downloading a book in PDF form, in contrast, does not involve stealing from a retailer and does involve making a (digital) copy of the book, which is an exclusive right granted to the copyright holder. (It's similar to making a photocopy of an entire book from the library.)
The first two sentences would be worth upvoting. Unfortunately, the rest seems rather confused since the question is whether somebody could be sued for breach of copyright (legitimately) and not whether s/he could be prosecuted for theft. But, it is true that the idea of 'fair use' applies to use of copyrighted materials and not to their acquisition, as I understand it. (Or, at least, it should apply to use. But what it actually permits in practice is very little.)
I've read this "answer" five times now and I don't see an actual answer in it.
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15219 | Can two PhD students publish without involving their supervisors?
I am a theoretical computer science PhD student. My childhood friend (my present roommate) is in the 3rd year of his pure mathematics PhD program. Very recently we both worked on a problem on combinatorial geometry and got some interesting results to publish. However both of our dissertation topics are way different from this work, so we don't want to involve our advisors in this matter. This was kind of our joint fun project.
We don't know whether it's academically unethical to publish paper(s) as PhD students without including our advisor(s).
(Note: We have nothing to lose even if they reject our paper right away, but we don't want the editor of the journal to mail the chair about this matter. Maybe I'm thinking too much because I've never done this kind of thing before.)
This question makes me all kinds of sad. How do students become so afraid of their advisors that they don't want to brag to them about doing the one thing that PhD students are supposed to do—become independent researchers?
@JeffE, I wish all supervisors had that much positive attitude about their students that you imagine. I witnessed a supervisor (who NEVER EVER helped her RA) terminated her RA because he had published a very ordinary text in a paid non-ISI journal without supervisor name (not because he did not seek supervisor permission!, but because not put her name!!!). Can you imagine that? Your "Independent researchers" phrase is somehow strange to me. I am thinking, how many percent of the world PhD students have helpful supervisors not misleading students for their own experiment?
I witnessed a supervisor...terminated her RA — Good. She needed a new advisor.
Here is a related question that might help.
This question is especially sad coming from a theoretical computer scientist.
@JeffE The only grad. student I had officially was forced by me to publish his PhD thesis without my name (to avoid the "yeah, I guess that was ...'s work!" atitude, which was far from the truth though I do not claim that my contribution was zero). However, my attitudes are known to be non-orthodox and I know many people for whom it is more important how much and where to publish than what to publish. So, next time you are on FAC, try to fight the ubiquitous practice of giving points for publications (especially with taking journal into account) and linking the score to salary raises.
@fedja What is FAC?
@Faheem Mitha Faculty Advisory Committee (this is the most usual name for it in the USA though at some places it is called differently. It is in charge of establishing the main department policies, among other things. The usual "governing trinity" in the department is the chairman, the FAC, and the general department meeting. The exact portion of power held by each varies from place to place.
@JeffE OP says that they don't want to involve their advisors, not that they are afraid of them. It sounds to me that they are simply reluctant to share the credits.
You might want to be a little careful about this if you used resources provided by your advisor, then you should involve him.
@JeffE I have seen that in many of your comments you mention that the person may have to look for a new advisor. Is it normal that a PhD or MSc student change his advisor even in his 3rd year of study when PhD program seems to go to finish? In most of the universities of have seen, students have to talk and choose their advisor in the first month of their PhD program and they are not allowed to change their idea at all. Logically, it is not a good idea to change the thesis advisor at the middle of the way. (If it is not broad or subjective, I can post this question.)
Is it normal that a PhD or MSc student change his advisor even in his 3rd year of study — Yes, this is completely normal, although relatively rare. I personally know several former students who changed advisors in their 3rd or 4th year who finished their PhDs and now hold tenure-track faculty positions. For many of those students, I was the advisor they left.
There is nothing unethical about publishing something like what you suggest. Personally I would be happy and encourage a student of mine if that happened. So from a formal side you need not to worry. I can add that authorship, or contributorship, does not include adding names to a paper if they have not contributed anything (or enough; see posts on authorship on this, Academia.sx, site). I would, however, be open about it with your advisor. I assume you have a good working relationship with him/her? The only thing that could complicate things would be if you are in a bad working relationship with your advisor or if your system is very hierarchical and not open to initiatives. Clearly only you can assess this. But, I do not want you to over-emphasize these "risks". If you get stuff published on your own and in a field that is not directly within your topic, it will only be viewed as a positive in your resume when applying for, for example, post-doctoral positions.
As for risking rejection, I suggest you have someone whose views you trust to read and comment on the paper. Having someone independent look at the work is always good to work out details that can otherwise distract reviewers. This is always a good idea so it is not unique to your case.
@precision: "see posts on authorship on this, Academia.sx, site)". For example http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/644/285
@Peter Jansson, Thanks a lot for your suggestion. I have a good working relationship with my advisor and he is a nice guy. Recently we submitted our work in a peer reviewed journal. The only thing is, he wants me to think always on my dissertation and doesn't like to get distracted by other stuffs.
he wants me to think always on my dissertation and doesn't like to get distracted by other stuffs — This is a good sign that he thinks you're not making sufficient progress on your thesis to justify your working on other stuff. Listen to him. Independence is good, but you must also finish your thesis. (Ideally, these two goals reinforce each other rather than interfering.)
@jeffE, Thanks for your suggestion. I have experienced when I work with different groups on different problems,I make good progress on my dissertation . So I believe research students should have some academic freedom and this will help them to see a single problem from different perspectives.
The answer is "yes", but many advisors may respond differently to this. I think it depends much more on the advisor than on any established "academic norm":
Advisor might not be happy that you are using up your time for "trivial pursuits" on the advisor's grant money when you should be doing "real work toward your thesis". (For the record, I would consider this as a bad reason to be unhappy with your students). Often, if you can ensure that the side project doesn't take up that much time, you can mitigate this risk a little.
Advisor might be happy that you are independently pursuing projects.
Advisor might not want a part of this paper simply because of lack of time/energy but otherwise be happy that you're doing it. This is pretty common, for example, in the case of class projects in which you end up with something that's actually pretty significant and the class professor would like you to help publish it.
Advisor might not want you to "spread yourself out too thin" later in your PhD career. I've been advised to be careful about coming up and getting involved with too many "one-shot" ideas that will never get developed and don't help your overall image. So, for example, if you're in the area of "program analysis and testing" (for example), publishing a one-off paper in a venue (maybe "distributed computing") that you don't keep up with and won't be remembered in will result in a forgettable, low-impact paper. I think this is more of a risk when students are thinking "of things to work on" and aren't really focused or don't have a good idea of a research thread to develop. This is also more of a risk if your academic profile isn't very focused. For example, if you have a bunch of disconnected topics you're more in danger than if you have only one or two side projects in a whole field of papers on your main interest.
As a note beneath this one, I think most advisors are mostly concerned that their students are "too distracted". It's easy to do that as a Ph.D ("I can explore anything I want!") - so advisors by nature of their jobs need to make sure that the thesis ends up having focus. Having ideas is a good thing, but putting those ideas into papers is a lot of work. Just to help put a bit of perspective here.
I am generally in favor though of at least letting your advisor know of "side projects" that you're involved in, even class projects, because often they will want to find ways of integrating that into some research work that you can be doing. A good advisor might see a connection between your combinatorial geometry "side project" and your main thesis research, for instance. It's also a good idea, in general, to have a tiny amount of breadth across one or more areas as well. It not only generates good ideas, but helps you keep perspective.
The answer is Yes, because I did this, and was actively encouraged to do so.
Your supervisor does not own you. If you did some outside work, and you think it's publishable, and your supervisor wasn't involved, the work wasn't building off their lab's work or using their equipment, there's no reason they need to be involved.
Now, you might want to involve them, to get their input, keep them aware of other things you are doing so they can say nice things about the terribly clever projects their students are up to, etc.
Rather than repeat what others have mentioned in their answers, I'd rather touch upon another related issue:
In some cases not involving your supervisor also means not involving the institute that you are part of.
Apart from the issue of attribution, depending on the specifics this may have legal ramifications, especially if you are receiving funds from a grant. Theoretically, if you have used any resources supplied by your institute, including existing ideas, computing power or your own paid work hours, you may not have sole ownership of the resulting IP. Things may get even more complicated if your co-author is colaborating with a different entity.
You may not need to do anything, you may need to get a waiver of IP rights from your institute or you may have to add something along the lines of a "This work was supported by..." snippet. If I were you, I would discuss this with my supervisor, even if only to clarify any such issues...
I published a few papers in my area and outside this area, while doing my PhD - without my supervisor's name on them.
In the articles in my research area, one was done with some hints from my supervisor and I gave it to him for review (once it was written), with his name as a co-author. He stroke out his name from it and told me
Do not let your work be diluted by adding people because "this is expected". I have my share of papers and do not need one more. You will need this one, and it is your work - not mine.
As you can imagine, after that the "thank you" section sounded like I was announcing our engagement.
In other cases (whether in my field or not), when I was the one thinking it out (or working with otherwise unrelated friends), I/we published under our names without asking anyone.
As a side note - one of the reasons I left the academic world (which is per se wonderful and I have fantastic memories) is the feudal relationship I witnessed, together with the idea that people are slave to "recommendation letters". This is certainly a specific case but do not let yourself, at that stage, become obsessed with political correctness.
Is your advisor supporting you, e.g. as an RA? If so, he might be perturbed that you are spending time and energy on something "way different" from what you are paid to do. Along the same lines, he may also be intent on your completion of your degree program in a timely manner so that he can free up resources, say for another student to enter the group after you graduate.
Yes, you can, by all means.
The thing you both need to discuss with respectively supervisors is the time you spent on this, and convince them that this will not adversely affect your "proper" work with them.
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125510 | accepting and online first publish date
Is there any difference between accepting date and First Online date? For example in the journal Acta Mathematicae Applicatae Sinica, English Series , I see this
Received, Revised, First Online
03 April 2014, 17 February 2015, 04 October 2018
from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10255-018-0786-2
and there is no information about accepting date. I would like to know what is the difference between them and when papers are accepted in this journal.
the journal Applications of Mathematics only shows the Received, First Online date and not the revised date.
thanks
Why do you want to know? The Accepted date would likely be close to the Revised date, but there is no way to know if it's not specified. All you know is that it's between the Received and First Online dates.
@Thomas I already sent a paper to this journal, if the accepting date is too long, I will withdraw the paper
Define "too long"...
@SolarMike it has been 4 months the paper is submitted. and I can't wait more than 8 months. The submission to accepting process not to be more than 1 year. But I saw in the journal that papers submitted in 2013 and published in 2017. 4 years is too much.
@MorganRodgers accepted date is before revise date or after revise date? Please explain a bit more
@MorganRodgers The journal has a good option which tells you when the paper is submitted to editor, when editor submitted to the reviewer, when reviewer resubmitted to editor and so on. My paper is currently under review by the third reviewer. The first two reviewers have done with reviewing. All these things took about 3-4 months
Manuscripts are received, possibly revised (several times), maybe accepted, then online, and finally published (for non online-only venues), venues may show some or all of the dates of those events.
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38975 | Source code plagiarism detection tool that checks against online content
I asked this question on Stackoverflow and was directed to ask it here. The question is:
I wanted to ask about plagiarism detection tools for source code written in C++. When I searched Google the ones I found compare between documents that you already have. What I'm looking for is a tool that compares against content on the internet (i.e Github).
I think it is unlikely to be of use except for the most blatant and poorly done plagiarism. After all, I can copy code, paste in my IDE, Edit -> Refactor -> Change variable names and get brand new code in no time.
@Davidmh: Surprising as it is, students keep trying to conduct such "most blatant and poorly done plagiarism".
While this isn't a real answer, what I use is Google. Take the code snippet and throw it into Google search. You'll quickly find if there are any exact copies. it doesn't easily find those that have been refactored but it does find those really lazy cheaters.
@O.R.Mapper They do indeed. There was an incident where someone copied handwritten homework word for word from another classmate. They even copied their classmate's name at the top of the paper. Then they both handed it in in class, one submission on top of the other (as if the TA never marks work sequentially). Stupid is as stupid does. If an intelligent plagiarizer substantially improves or obfuscates the code that they plagiarized, they probably actually managed to understand the program and you'll have a hard time proving they plagiarized.
@Davidmh: Modern plagiarism tools (such as Moss) are not fooled by changing variable names.
Not really meant for plagiarism, but there is Black Duck Software. It's a tool that checks against open source code, to allow companies to make sure that their employees didn't copy copy-left source code into their proprietary code base. https://www.blackducksoftware.com/ I assume it must also check for source code from the public domain or from the Apache/MIT licenses, since knowing that a piece of code has been legally copied is also useful information for companies to know.
We use the MOSS (Measure of Software Similarity) system provided by Stanford, at here.
I think MOSS just compares between the corpus that you submit, not against code in the web. I'm not aware of anything that indexes code on the web for comparison in this way.
@FarazAhmad, are you sure the email you sent is correct? I just used it and got a response within a minute.
Haven't used it, but I found this:
https://codequiry.com/
There are many general sites such as:
http://smallseotools.com/plagiarism-checker/
Sure, they will flag everything that "has to be copied" such as
int main
but everything that "has to be copied" should be common between your students. It should then be fairly easy to not take it into account using a simple script removing anything shared by more than 80% of your students, preferably before submitting it to the plagiarism checker.
It would probably be easier using a website with an API such as:
https://api.plagscan.com/guide
This doesn't answer the question, the OP was looking for a plagiarism detector for source code, not free-form text.
It is actually terribly bad for source code. It finds all the things that have to be copied, like int main and \"%s\"\n"
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16624 | "With editor" status for 2 months: is it normal?
I'm a bit worried because one of my papers have been more than 2 months "with editor" status. It's a science journal (field: drug residue, food), from a famous editorial and impact factor 3.3. I'm used to 48h desk reject and I was wondering about the options of being so long with this status 1) very busy editor 2) my paper was forgotten 3) there is a mistake on the website
Oh, normally we have the option to send an e-mail to the assigned editor, but in this case there is only "view your submission".
Edit:
At the end it took 2 months but... We are under review!
It's possible your paper got stuck in the system, or it's just not updating properly. Talk to others who have submitted to that specific journal. If this is an anomaly you should contact the journal.
The problem is that I have no others to ask ^_^U
Times vary a lot between journals and, I believe, disciplines. Two months seems like a relatively long period to me but not unheard of. Out of your three reasons I would not opt for 2 or three depending, of course on the form for submitting manuscripts. If it is digital I am sure 2 and 3 would not be high on the list, if it is manual, by post or e-mail, then the likelihood is higher.
I think a busy editor is one possibility. It is not clear from your question if this is "with the editor" after submission or "with the editor" after review. If we consider the former, the most likely reason, in my experience, is that it has proven hard for the editor to get reviewers to accept to review. This occasionally happens to me and I can say that it has no clear relationship to the possible quality of the paper. In the case of the former (after review), the busy editor becomes a more likely candidate since the editor should study the reviews, decide on the faith of the paper, and possibly provide guidelines for your revisions.
If you have any indication, from for example peers, what typical handling periods are in the journal where you submitted your manuscript, you should definitely contact the journal to ask about the status of your submission. Such requests are commonplace (too common in fact) so try to assess if the two months is long or normal in the case of this particular journal before contact.
Thank you very much for you quick answer, we are "after submission". Unluckily we don't have peers, it's first time in our department working in the field we submitted the paper my research is in the middle of 3 fields so, we just can wait and see how it goes! At least now I know that other people in other journals have been waiting for this period.
Perhaps you could state the general field(s) in your question so that someone familiar with it/them can provide more of inside experience?
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34436 | What is the strategy to identify natural experiment as a PhD student?
As social scientists become more concerned with causal inference, a good thesis these days needs some sort of quasi-experimental strategy. For example, an economist wants to know the effect of military service on income but faces the problem that people who enlist are different from those who don't. So he uses the random Vietnam War lottery as a quasi-experiment with a valid control (who won the lottery and did not serve) and treatment (who lost and did serve). (More examples of these natural experiments).
As a PhD student sitting in my cubicle, I'm lost on how to identify these opportunities. Reading published work does not really help since these experimental opportunities are quite idiosyncratic. I'm not averse to going out there to find my own opportunity, but unsure about how to do this effectively. Do I read history book? Or talk to policy makers?
Since experimental opportunities are not available to all (or most) topics, I'm already paralyzed at the stage of choosing a topic (and thus can't start reading history book / talking to policy makers).
The standard advice I've got is not to pick question based on method. However, I find this quite a double standard given the concurrent push for quasi-experimental design.
Suggestion: Look at examples of past natural experiment based papers to see what kinds of patterns they looked for, then think about whether your field has anything similar. (My canonical example of a natural experiment was the epidemiological study of cats falling from high-rise windows -- not an experiment you can deliberately try, but one which happens frequently enough that there was enough data to draw statistically valid insights from, telling us more about exactly how and in what order the typical cat responds to that emergency.)
@CapeCode My apology since my question is quite specific to social sciences. I included an example of what's a natural experiment I have in mind. Hopefully with that example, it's clear why I'm having difficulties coming up with similar design on my own.
What makes you believe such a strategy exists?
@Superbest Because there are scholars who specialize on using these quasi experiments in their research (eg Economist Angrist, Political Scientist Thad Dunning). I suppose there is a certain momentum factor involved since when an opportunity is spotted it's brought to these well known authors for collaboration. Of course I'm not attributing everything to fame (these guys need to get famous with independent work first) - hence I ask for things that a PhD student can do to spot these things by himself.
Don't sit in your cubicle!
Go to the library (a physical one assuming you have one still). Read the newspapers (physical ones are easier to browse but you can do this on line). Look at the controversies, the scandals, that are emerging daily on the news: political lies, child abuse, discriminative policies, public funding, privatization, quantitative easing, bank bail outs. Look at states with different parties in control. Get hold of the latest and previous census data. Get hold of the Enron emails. Get access to the data that companies are building up through loyalty cards and credit cards. Talk to you med school or a disability charity about mining their data. Have a look at the data mining literature - talk to the people at your university who do this and what contacts they have...
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21216 | How common is it for graduate schools to allow admission to be deferred for a year
I have a number of Arabic friends applying to graduate school and due to their situation, they tell me they intend to apply and then get a deferment for the next year. I am curious how common it is for grad schools to allow this.
I ask this because I am considering applying to PhD program in statistics and I'm starting a Master's program this fall. My GRE scores will expire at the end of the year and so I am considering applying to PhD programs this fall (with the expectation of deferring acceptance for the following year, which will be right after I get my Masters).
Most of the schools I look at seem to discourage deferment, and the only reason why I can think maybe the Arabic students don't run into difficulties is b/c they don't require any funding (they tend to be on the KSA scholarships).
Just curious if anyone can give me a realistic idea of how grad schools generally deal with deferments?
TIA,
Matt
I think the general trend for deferrals is to make them available, but not automatic—usually, you have to explain exactly why you want the deferral, and what you plan to do in the intervening time. For example, doing a volunteer year (for example, for a Peace Corps-like organization) or accepting a prestigious international fellowship are usually acceptable reasons for a deferral. On the other hand, accepting a job offer for a year would normally not be considered grounds for a deferral. However, I think this is a policy that differs from department to department and institution to institution, so definitely check with them first!
The reason for this is that deferrals impact two admission classes: the current one, as well as the following one. You can't admit extra students, because you have the deferring students from the present year, plus you're now "short" a student for the new incoming class.
Thank-you: that was pretty much my impression. I've been in academics for awhile and can't remember ever hearing a student granted a deferral. However b/c all of these students acted like it was commonplace, I naturally wondered if things might have changed.
@MattBrenneman: Immigration might be a different issue altogether—it's certainly a significant obstacle for students from many countries these days, and could also be an "acceptable" reason to defer. (Depends on the school.)
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53872 | Are there ranking for Master's programs (sciences, subject specific)
There are rankings of US universities and colleges:
overall,
for undergrad programs,
and for doctoral programs
But, I find nothing for rankings of Masters programs in specific subjects (like physics, math, etc).
Does my observation ring true with others, and if so, why is this? It would seem curious to me if undergrad and PhD programs were ranked but Masters were not.
Thank you,
Matt
I'd say, generally, rankings are often fickle beasts, so don't put too much faith in any specific one you come across. Depending on the publisher, ordering rules, etc, you may get very different rankings for each school. To your specific question though, it's a fair bet to lump Masters programs in with their respective doctoral program, at least if you're looking for some prestige comparison.
That being said, particular Masters programs can be better than others in certain aspects (like affordability, access to research, focus on industry, etc) that may run counter to the institution's prestige ranking. For those things, it's best to research institutions within your specific field rather than look for some published blanket rankings anyway.
As to why there is no blanket Masters ranking, it is likely related to what I mentioned above: Masters programs are often geared toward students with specific goals in mind. Undergrad and doctoral programs are each generally focused on well-defined tasks, providing a foundation and establishing research competency, respectively, and thus perhaps easier (more valid) to compare. In obtaining Masters degrees, students' goals can run the gamut of possibilities. Some people are looking for career advancement (e.g. MBA, MEng, etc), others are looking to make a pivot in their field, and still others are looking for something else. It's tough to compare these programs because, with all the variables, you're really comparing apples and oranges.
Actually (as I stated), I am looking for Master's rankings that are discipline specific (not a "blanket rating"). –
@MattBrenneman -- I realize that. By "blanket rating" I am referring to what I'd also called a "prestige comparison." That can be within a single discipline or across all offered.
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161037 | Citing a short story within a collection within another collection
Its collections all the way down today.
I am usually pretty sure about my works cited pages, but I just ran into something that has me stumped.
I am citing "Araby" from James Joyce's Dubliners. However, the only copy I have access to right now is the Barns & Nobel Classics edition, which contains both Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
So far, this is what I've come up with:
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Dubliners.
Barnes & Nobel Classics, 2004.
and
Joyce, James. "Araby." A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and
Dubliners. Barnes & Nobel Classics, 2004. pp. 249-254.
Ignoring my lack of hanging indent, are either of these correct?
What sort of document is this for? For many purposes, you are expected to track the proper source via inter-library loan. Waiting a week should not matter in most cases.
@TerryLoring It is for a writing sample needed for a graduate program.
How formal your citation must be depends on your audience. Course paper? Thesis? Article for a literary journal?
That citation will allow your reader to find and verify what you have to say.
If what you're writing is scholarly, you might want to find the original publication date, and put (reprinted) in the citation. If it's really scholarly you might have to look at the original somehow.
By the way, the text is available at Project Gutenberg. Adding that url will help your readers even if it's not an official source:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm
I'm using it in a writing sample required by my graduate program. My particular program asks that we follow the same guidelines as we would for any other course paper throughout undergrad. So it is as formal as, say, a final paper for an American Fiction class.
Your citation is fine for a course paper. I'd note the (reprinted in). But it will raise a red flag if you write "Barnes and Nobel" instead of "Barnes and Noble".
Good catch! Admittedly, I was not paying much attention to that at the time. I figured I would have to use a stand-alone copy of the book instead. Cheers!
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161291 | Total impact factor and average impact factor per publications
I have been asked to compute the total impact factor and the average impact factor per publication with respect to the year of publication. Does anybody know how to compute these metrics? Also, a website that explains it is ok. The best would be a website that already provides me these informations, but I do not think that it exists!
Thank you!
Publications don't have impact factors; journals have impact factors. You should ask the person who told you to do this for clarification.
Actually, it is written on a document and I cannot ask anyone. I suppose that, as you said, I have to compute these values considering the journal. The total impact factor is easy to find (I think I can find it on Web of Science, right?), but how can I compute the average?
I guess they mean total citations and total citations / citations. Something like that. But see above.
Ask the person who asked you. Our whoever is responsible for the document!
Total number of cites divided by the total number of publications? You basically treat your publications list as a journal, and then calculate your IF the same way.
I suppose that they are asking for the Impact Factors (IF) of the journals in which you published your papers. This, at least, is a widespread (but ethically doubtful) approach in research evaluation.
Anyway, to find the IFs per year, you need to have a subscription to Web of Science's Journal Citation Reports (JCR). (Usually, your university library provides an institutional subscription for you.)
Access JCR: https://jcr.clarivate.com
Enter the journal name and hit enter
Find the IF of the year of your publication
Here is an example of a journal which had an IF of 9.580 in the year 2018:
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166260 | Do certificates from accredited online courses play any role in applying for a graduate program?
I am very interested in an online course which can be enrolled either for free without a certificate or with money and a certificate.
The contents in both cases are absolutely the same. I wanted to know whether a certificate makes any difference in the grad application since as far as I know they don't ask to show certificates and I can mention the course even without a certificate in my CV.
So, is there any use at all of the certificate if the course content without the certificate is exactly the same?
Accredited by who, exactly? And a "course" is more than its content.
Well, generally speaking, it depends on the opinion of who reviews your CV. Some people don't care about these online courses at all, but some people might have attention to that. But in my experience, it's not something that could change someone's opinion from NO, to YES. It might be better instead of investing time on online courses, accredited or not, try add some research experiences to your CV.
@Buffy For instance I am doing a course in particle physics on Coursera made by University of Geneva. They have quizes, weighted grades etc and the quizes can be attempted onle by a valid name signature etc. Would certificate from such a course help at all while applying to graduate progams?
@Alone Programmer I will anyways do this course since I am doing it to educate myself but I wanted to know if getting a certificate along with the knowledge be useful?
The explicit answer is: Not really... if you put it on your CV it's better than nothing but, is it useful? That only depends on the opinion of the reviewer.
How would I put a certificate on my CV anyways? Wouldn't mentioning the course etc enough on a CV? If I am not wrong nobody attaches a certificate?
If you wanted to show your certificate, the best way would probably be to include it as a clickable link on your CV entry (similar to how accreditations can be added on your LinkedIn profile for those that are familiar with it). But I'm not sure if all of this is really necessary.
Potentially relevant: How do the completion of online courses impact a Master's application?
This is a personal view and I think that there would be a lot of variation in what people accept for a graduate program; especially for a doctoral program.
I would tend to discount almost all such courses for the simple reason that I have no real idea about what the student learned in the course, independent of whatever grade the received. I have no idea what they did and I have no idea how to evaluate a course that relies only on online quizzes and tests. To me, the value of a certificate is just that of a piece of paper. Probably virtual paper, actually.
I would think that such courses are fine for the person who simply wants to learn something and is willing to do a lot of work (exercises, projects,...) based on it, but not for any "accreditation" purposes.
The exception would be a reasonably scaled course with a professor and sufficient staff so that the student/staff ration is less than 30/1, preferably closer to 20/1. Most online courses don't have that characteristic (though Harvard's CS50 does, actually, as do courses run by Open University in UK).
A person learns through reinforcement and feedback. Massive online courses have no real way to judge whether such learning has happened. The reinforcement can't be enforced (so to speak) and the feedback to the student is minimal. An individual might be able to judge that they, themself, learned something, but an outsider would find it difficult to impossible.
I can't guarantee (or even guess) how many feel similarly, but the educational background of most of the people judging things now is very different from such massive "courses".
I don't think they are worthless, though it is impossible for me to make a judgement about their worth with enough confidence to predict the success of a student in a graduate program (especially, again) at the doctoral level. I would base my judgement on other factors, and especially those of recommenders.
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168134 | How usual/feasible is it for European universities to accept PhD candidates right after their bachelor's degree? (computer science field)
I am nearing the end of my bachelor's degree and wish to know what my options are for continuing. Optimally, I would be able to immediately pursue a PhD, but I get conflicting information on the matter by different professors, advisors, and online sources.
The institutions I am mainly interested in are: EPFL, ETH Zürich, University of Edinburgh, Technical University of Darmstadt (TU Darmstadt), UCL, and University of Warsaw, as this is where I could find advisors most relevant to my research interests.
I was told that, besides the advisor being interested, the university has to have a precedent or a way for the master's degree requirement to be bypassed, but I am having a hard time locating such information. Any and all insight on previous cases of the aforementioned universities accepting or explicitly denying a PhD candidate on the basis of not having a master's degree is very useful.
Personally, I will have four to eight publications to my name by the time I graduate, but probably six at the time of sending out applications, and a very very strong research thesis. If that is not enough regardless of universities accepting without a master's degree or not, that would also be some useful information to have.
I repeat; I do not care about the rest of the criteria, just whether or not not having a master's degree is an absolute deal breaker for a PhD in the aforementioned institutions.
Have you checked the official university websites? E.g. for EPFL, this page suggests that you can apply with a Bachelor's degree: https://www.epfl.ch/education/phd/edic-computer-and-communication-sciences/edic-computer-and-communication-sciences/edic-how-to-apply/
Have you asked these universities explicitly? You will probably get a more useful answer than our general speculation here.
You must ask the universities directly. We won't be able to help you. Even if the official rules are crystal clear and would technically disqualify you, you may qualify for a specific exception that isn't even published...
Btw 4-8 publications is absolutely incredible as an undergraduate. Well done! That should also give you plenty of contacts to push for you personally within their academic network.
Are the publications in first tier journals?
ETH has a direct doctorate program for exceptional students.
IIRC, some European universities have a strict time limit on doctoral studies. Beginning with only a bachelors might be a disadvantage for a student if they need time to "catch up" in some things. I've heard that 3 years is the maximum in some places. Maybe someone with direct knowledge can confirm or refute this.
When you apply to a PhD do they just look at your last MSc for example? or they also need to check the bachelor degree?
It's six schools. Why not ask them?
This has to depend on the field surely. More likely in engineering and computer science, much less likely in pure mathematics, although it does happen.
@Buffy You are correct. In France, for example, a doctorate is a fixed-time 3-year contract. The PhD candidate is employed by the lab, receiving a salary and paying tax and other standard contributions from it (actually, PhD candidate is a bit in limbo as they are also the student of the Uni and pay token tuition of some 100s eur/year). After 36 months, unless you find an extension to your funding (and those are rare and no longer than a few months), you are no longer employed by the lab, but are expected to keep up your enrolment as a student until you graduate.
In contrast to Stephen McMahon's answer, which holds absolutely true for the UK, the situation in most of continental Europe is the opposite.
On the continent, it would be very unusual to start a PhD directly after one's BSc, hence the suggestion to look for "precedent or a way for the Master's requirement to be bypassed" at your Unis of interest. This is in direct contrast with the UK, where this is not even a requirement.
(Source: PhD from France, professional network from all over the EU, followed by a postdoc and a permanent position in the UK.)
As a side-note, PhD programmes in the UK often offer different levels of funding for home and international students (it used to be home+EU, but, alas, Brexit) -- or worded alternatively, some/most PhD programmes in the UK are only fully funded for British students. In my anecdotal experience, the international students that do apply to a very limited number of available fully-funded positions tend to be finishing an MSc while applying (or already hold one), despite it not being a requirement. And given a choice between an applicant with an MSc and an applicant with a BSc only, the one with an MSc typically has more to offer simply because they have had more time to demonstrate their skills. (However, your specific situation of 6 publications at the time of application + 2 submitted is definitely "a lot to offer" from your side, and on par with MSc applicants.)
Why would you need an MSc to apply for a PhD in France? I only did my post-doc in France, so I am sure you know better, but I thought that the French DEA is often (usually?) part of the PhD and the DEA is equivalent to an MSc. Is that not correct?
@terdon From what I know, a DEA (or DESS) is a short post-Master degree which is equivalent to the non-research part requirements of a PhD. Not saying there is no way to apply without a MSc, but that's certainly highly unusual.
@terdon I don't know about the DEA (honestly I tried figuring out their education below university level and it just spinned my head around), but my PhD in France certainly expected a MSc qualification (most of my peers got their positions during a MSc internship), and didn't provide any sort of a MSc-equivalent as far as I remember. This was almost 8 years ago now, so stuff might have changed.
In Germany, it might be possible to start a PhD with only a bachelor's degree. Not all universities allow that, though (you will have to check their websites). To get accepted with only a bachelor's degree, you normally have to have very good grades, and it might be that you have to take additional courses.
Be aware though, that this is (still) quite uncommon and it might be hard to find a supervisor that will accept you with only a bachelor's degree, but it is possible.
You can find some general information (in German) here.
A relevant (apparently Germany-specific) keyword to look for is "fast track".
The general requirement (in Germany) is a university MSc in a closely related field, but exceptions/case-specific approval are possible. Such approvals are actually quite common, they are typically also needed by PhD students with MSc in a different field or from a university of applied sciences (FH) rather than a full university. The approval is typically conditional on the student passing certain exams (but less than a full MSc). I've met 1 such PhD student starting with a foreign BSc (so, yes, rare), but a whole lot with degrees in other fields or from FHs (not so rare).
It is quite usual that requirements at German universities are expressed as such-and-such or equivalent. So, I'd recommend to ask how to show equivalence in your case.
I believe some German universities have 'Fast-Track' programs which require a very good Bachelor degree, among other criteria.
At least in the UK, a Master's is not a typical requirement for PhD entry, with the minimum level usually being a good undergraduate degree. E.g. pulling a random CS PhD project from the University of Edinburgh website, it says under candidate profile:
A good Bachelors degree (2.1 or above or international equivalent)
and/or Masters degree in a relevant subject (computer science,
artificial intelligence, engineering, mathematics or related subject)
Similar language can be found in other PhD advertisements, indicating that while a Master's is desirable, it's not a requirement. And I imagine this phrasing is typical across the vast majority of PhD advertisements in the UK - I obviously can't exhaustively check, but I can't recall seeing any which explicitly require a Master's degree.
Mainly, what they're typically looking for is evidence of ability to conduct good-quality research in the field, so I think a good portfolio of papers would serve as evidence of that even moreso than a Master's (particularly given I imagine the median number of papers among UK PhD applicants is 0).
It's very common now for mathematics/science/CS first degrees in the UK to be an 'integrated masters': generally four years, sometimes but not necessarily any research, a degree name like MMath. This means there will be a lot of PhD applicants with one first degree as opposed to a bachelors+masters combination, which may influence the typical expectation. Also, in Scotland an MA is often a first degree equivalent to an English BA, which further confuses things...
You provided a long list of universities and I bothered to check two of them, which took me about 5 minutes each at most. The ETH Zürich, as a Swiss federal institute of technology, is governed by Swiss regulations. Specifically, for the doctorate it's SR 414.133.1, available in German and other languages that you can look up for yourself. In SR 414.133.1, Chapter 2, Section 1, Article 5, 2., f. you can read that
Kandidaten und Kandidatinnen mit herausragenden Qualifikationen.
can be admitted to do a doctorate at ETH Zürich. That is, you need "outstanding qualifications" and nothing else, not even a Bachelor's degree. It's up to you to prove that you are indeed outstanding enough.
For EPFL, the regulation is SR 414.133.2, available in French for example, where it says you must prove qualifications equivalent to a Master's degree from ETHZ or EPFL, but you aren't required to have any specific degree. There is an exam after the first year of doctoral studies which you can repeat once on failure and if you fail again you are expelled.
University of Warsaw has a list of PhD programs for international students, and having a master degree is one of the requirements to apply. This list is not exhaustive though, so if you're interested, please contact the responsible person and ask directly (there is an english webpage).
A frame challenge: Are you sure bypassing the masters is really the right thing to do? Depending on your underlying motivations, there may be more effective ways to achieve them.
On the one hand, the main good motivation I’ve heard for going directly to a PhD is to finish it sooner. But instead of skipping the masters, you can also achieve this by completing a masters and PhD more quickly than average — a 1-year masters and a 3-year PhD. Many (?most) institutions allow early completion, especially if (e.g.) you have existing high-level course credits that can be transferred forward, to reduce the course-load during the masters/PhD. Taking this route, you sound like you’d be a very strong applicant, so you should have opportunities at excellent institutions. By contrast, applying for PhD’s without a masters in continental Europe shouldn’t be impossible (as other answers say), but would certainly make the competition harder and reduce your options.
On the other hand, completing sooner has some disadvantages that many students overlook or underestimate. In many ways, working conditions as a grad student are excellent — you have more time and support for research than you probably ever will again. As you progress in an academic career, administrative and service duties soon take up more time and energy than most people foresee. And many jobs and grants are only available for a limited number of years after PhD completion — so cutting the time you take in graduate study will reduce the research track record you’ll have while eligible for such opportunities. (Of course, I do agree there are trade-offs too — I’m not suggesting that stretching graduate studies longer is always good.)
So going for the standard masters+PhD route, and aiming for early completion, seems to offer the same main benefit, but with several advantages, including being more competitive for your preferred institutions, and the possibility of falling back to the standard timeline either if you have difficulty completing quickly, or if (as you become more experienced) you reconsider and decide you don’t want to complete so quickly.
The main reason I am trying to avoid this is financial. I largely depend on a PhD salary to be able to live abroad, even a year would be really hard to cover.
@riverwastaken At ETHZ, one of the universities you mentioned, an outstanding masters student should be able to (easily) get a job as a teaching or research assistant, paid about 30CHF/hour for up to 15 hours per week. That could cover your living expenses and give you valuable experience too.
I'm an american who did this as part of a special program at a university following the Bologna accord (which is the standard throughout continental Europe for some time now). On my records with the university they would write I was in the PhD (bridge) program to explain why I was taking 2 years of masters classes.
My ten cents: In France, if your bachelor was 5 years long (some Latin-American countries have 5 year long bachelors) your advisor can fill a document asking the university to waive the Master on the basis that you already have 5 years of schooling, which can be considered equivalent to the French bach(3+2) system.
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10202 | What are the benefits for universities/professors to record online courses?
What are the benefits for the universities and particular professors in recording online courses (MOOC)? Do they get paid by Coursera and similar sites? Do they pursue publicity?
I know that they are providing a useful service by spreading education to everybody in the world, but what do they get in exchange? Do they hope to get more students enrolled, or more public exposure for the university? Or do they do it out of the kindness of their hearts, or for some other reasons?
Why the "enormous fees"? Running a university is very expensive, and the money has to come from somewhere. Most universities operate on a non-profit basis, so the fees (along with other funding sources) go to cover their costs.
+1 for "enormous fees".
@NateEldredge in a non-profit organisation people are still getting paid.
May be I shouldn't have used word "enormous", but I was just contrasting the free-for-all lectures and high fees for in-class students.
I record my lectures (when possible) for the following reasons:
Easier access for students who can't attend class. While I generally want students to come to class, there are valid reasons for being absent (e.g., I'm currently teaching classes to military members who often have duty that preempts class attendance). I can also point students to a video to review if they ask me questions explicitly covered in class (and also for general review).
Open access. I think it's pretty cool to live in a world where it is possible to get free access to videos that enhance knowledge. I feel like I'm playing my little part by putting my lectures online.
Introspective review. It can be extremely beneficial to review your own teaching methods, although I don't have time to do this for all of my classes. I have gone back to particular sections to review, and I almost always find something I could improve upon.
(minor) The America's Funniest Videos factor. I've had clips that have been unintentionally hilarious, either because of something I've said, or because of something students have said. :)
Universities have their own reasons for putting classes online, and you've already listed a number of them. I'd like to believe that most of the reasons are altruistic, with sites such as MIT's OpenCourseWare and Stanford's Online Courses providing no-strings-attached courses for free. I would also hope that someone is doing research on these types of course offerings, to see if they are really having benefits to the people that watch them. I don't believe the bottom line at extremely selective schools will ever be hurt by offering free course material, but if they do start feeling the pinch I imagine they will change their models.
Sites like Courseara are for profit and starting to make money by offering to verify certificates of completion for a cost.
Why, then, some [Universities] charge enormous fees for attending courses?
The question of college expense is a can of worms that has as many differing answers as there are people asking about it. Selective colleges charge what they do because (1) it is expensive to run a brick-and-mortar college, and (2) the applications keep rising and kids can still get loans, grants, and other aid. Obviously it is much more subtle than that, and it would take more than a few free economics courses to get to the bottom of it.
@DamienIgoe True, though there is something particularly romantic about the School of the Air!
Thanks for your reply, @ChrisGregg! Your personal reasons are very laudable, and I understand and support them.
But from the point of view of university: it spends additional money on professors to record videos/prepare material for online course (not necessary directly, but it still pays for professor's time), and then puts it online for free, it is a loss of money which is not offset by the students paying fees - unless you increase them. But in this case I guess students will start to think twice before paying fees, considering the option that they can watch the lectures online for free.
I don't believe the bottom line at extremely selective schools will ever be hurt.
Yes, I tend to agree, but then it can lead to situation that only "elite" places remain. Why would you go to a smaller school if you can watch videos from top institutions for free?
@Max -- I think most of the online courses from places like MIT are simply taped lectures from already scheduled classes. Some do incur other costs (and of course there are hosting and equipment costs), and some courses are explicitly produced to be online. There is also something to be said for being a ground-breaker in the arena. See, for example, Stanford's Class2Go initiative, which garnered a good bit of media attention when it was launched.
Why would you go to a smaller school if you can watch videos from top institutions for free? — Because nobody goes to college for the lectures.
@JeffE I guess I was nobody as an undergraduate.
In addition to the good non-financial reasons mentioned, there is also a more financial reason - promoting your own book. I am sure this is not the main reason to give online courses, and having the book is not an explicit requirement, but it does provide a way to benefit financially.
For example, Prof. Daphne Koller from Stanford and Prof. Yaser Abu Mostafa from CalTech both offer free online Machine Learning courses, and both have relatively recent books that are top best-sellers on Amazon.
I believe that the university and professor are promoted by showing their work, people can watch their courses and see how good they are, and spread the word, this will increase the prestige of the university. Another thought is that this shows the university cares about the lessons and gets into this trouble, thus the faculty seem more invovled. A more benevolent thought is that it might help students from other universities. I, personally, have gained a better opinion about MIT for example, or a different one anyway, having used it's online courses repeatedly to cover the gaps left by my professors.
I was under the impression that part of the reason courses are currently offered free is to gather data about how people use the material/how they study etc, and that's (partly) why they tend to have questionnaires about you at the start.
There's also a more cynical way of looking at it. Shortly after I first finished a course, I got an email saying lots of people had been asking about a course on a particular topic; there wasn't a free course available, but there was one you could do for $400.
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16352 | Licence that converts to GPL after publication but is copyrighted prior to publication
I would like to post an repository on github that includes data and analysis code in R. The analysis and data forms part of a journal article submission. I'm happy for people to view the code and data prior to publication (in particular, it might be an easy way for reviewers to examine the code). However, I do not want anyone publishing analyses of the data prior to acceptance and publication of the journal article. After publication, I want to encourage people to re-analyse, re-use, re-publish (e.g., with a GPL licence with an encouragement to attribute).
Obviously, I could just keep the data and analysis code a secret until after publication, but I thought an appropriately worded licence might be more appropriate. I thought about just writing in plain English that the work is copyrighted at this time, and will be converted to GPL at a later date following publication.
Is there a standard way of licensing data and code so that people cannot republish the data and code until the corresponding publication has been published?
Or is it better just to keep the data and code secret until after publication?
UPDATE: I suppose there is a legal perspective to this, but I know that academia has its own norms and conventions regarding attribution and respecting the wishes of authors. So I'd be particularly interested in answers framed in that context. I.e., My broader aim is to be the first to publish my own research, generally get attribution, but also allow others to build on that work. So I'd be interested also in what is considered good practice when you are in the situation of wanting to share data and code while an article is being peer reviewed, but not wanting to lose your right of first publication.
This doesn't directly answer the question, but one possible workaround (depending on your perspective) would be to publish a preprint when you release the code, thus establishing your priority and giving people something to cite if they use your code.
Also, it's not totally clear to me that the legal system is the best way to deal with the issues you bring up. Asking people not to scoop you might be just as effective as legal threats. Especially since it's unlikely you'd ever actually sue anyone for infringement. That said, I think it's an interesting question, so (+1)
Honestly, I doubt that copyright protection is of any use. The copyright on the code itself does not* extend to data produced using the code. Similarly, the copyright you would hold on the paper submission covers* that particular presentation of the data, but not the data itself. So as long as someone is physically able to view your data, I believe there is no legal avenue to prohibit them from doing their own analysis on their data.
However, for another researcher to take the output of your code and perform their own analysis in an attempt to scoop you, when they know you have your own paper doing the same analysis pending, is ethically very questionable. If it came to light that something like this happened, I think the academic community would strongly frown on it. That's a very strong incentive for any other researcher not to do this, and so I personally wouldn't worry about it.
Besides, if it does happen, the other researcher will have to cite your code anyway so you still get credit. This can actually be a good thing. I would recommend including in your code a notice of the form
Please cite the following reference if you use the results of this code in a publication:
[reference to paper or code]
(see this example from my own publication history) If you're worried about someone else abandoning all pretense of ethics and just using your results without citing them, rest assured that it is very difficult to pull that off, and it constitutes academic fraud, which is a career-ender if it's discovered.
And finally, as a practical matter, you have a very large head start on anyone else who might want to publish an analysis of the outcome of your code. Don't underestimate the time and effort it takes for someone else to go through your code in enough detail to learn what it does and figure out how to use it enough to generate original results, and then to write and submit a paper and have it reviewed, typeset, and published.
One more point worth mentioning:
So I'd be interested also in what is considered good practice when you are in the situation of wanting to share data and code while an article is being peer reviewed, but not wanting to lose your right of first publication.
You don't have a right of first publication. Not legally, anyway. If you want to ensure that you are the first one to have an opportunity to publish a paper based on some result, the standard practice is to keep the result private until you are close to publishing the paper yourself. But keep in mind that "publishing" in this context doesn't have to be peer reviewed. For instance, in physics it's very common to put a paper on arXiv before submitting it to a journal. That establishes the authors' claim to the result before it enters the peer review process.
*informed layperson speculation; see a lawyer for a definitive statement
The GPL FAQ item "Is there some way that I can GPL the output people get from use of my program?" agrees that license restrictions on a program cannot impact data produced by that program. (For what it's worth, that FAQ probably was drafted with the oversight of a lawyer.)
You write that you
do not want anyone publishing analyses of the data prior to acceptance and publication of the journal article.
I am not a lawyer, but I don't think there's any license to enforce that. Once you publish data, other people are free to work with that data, and publish their analyses (although they might not be able to republish the original data, at least not in the same format as you did). As Wikipedia writes, copyright does not cover information itself, it just protects the way that it is presented, or the verbatim description. If you want to prevent others from publishing analyses of your data, I think the safest way is to keep the data confidential until you publish your paper.
On the other hand, if you don't put a license on the data, you have whatever copyright protects there, so others will not be allowed to re-publish the data in the same format. Therefore, I think the risk that others publish an ernest journal based on your data is not that high, unless it's really spectacular data.
The code is a different issue of course. You hold copyright on that, and if you don't put a license on it, others won't be allowed to republish it.
A1 : The legal department at your university or company should be able to help you out with this type of request.
A2 : This depends on the journal to which you are submitting. Read their rules on copyright of submitted software and publication beforehand.
Other comments / ideas :
I have software freely available that I have submitted to a journal before publication (although, this may not have been the best idea) and software that is also ready and that I use that I could make freely available, but have not as of yet.
An alternative would be to say that interested parties may email you for access to the code before publication happens.
You could always publish the data (or paper explaining the data) on a pre-print server so that you cannot be scooped and then also publish the corresponding code. This will outline clear dates as to who published the research first.
I'd like to point out that some universities might not have a legal department (or might not care about these matters if they do).
@Trylks -- Very true! This is completely dependent on your institution.
To address your revised question:
My broader aim is to be the first to publish my own research, generally get attribution, but also allow others to build on that work. So I'd be interested also in what is considered good practice when you are in the situation of wanting to share data and code while an article is being peer reviewed, but not wanting to lose your right of first publication.
The usual practice in my field (mathematics) is that when the project is finished, you submit it to a journal, and simultaneously post it to arXiv, a public preprint server. This establishes your priority in two ways, and lets people start building on it immediately.
Who prevents you from releasing the code under GPL only after the article has been accepted for publication?
In such case, probably you cannot add GPL header to the files in advance but unless it is very large project, this should not be a really big problem (you may write some script to add headers if it is really a lot of files).
If you setup a public repository on GitHub, by doing so you allow to view and fork it. If this seems not acceptable for you, publish on the university server instead and only publish to GitHub when you open source it. You can add any restrictions you want as long as it is your fully owned code. Just I am not sure if it will be easy to enforce these restrictions if somebody does violate.
Your right as a owner of intellectual property, allows you to release and allow reuse of that "property" in any way you feel correct.
The use by a third party of your "property" is not allowed unless the party has a way to demostrate that you have somehow allowed it.
The way you allow it is up to you.
Obviously that creates an enormous exercise for the judge, that could be called to decide on the fact. Essentially there is a big legal hole, because I could decide for example to sell a book and to allow the purchaser to read it ONLY ON NIGHT from 8pm to 11:59pm.
That means that if you use the book in other times you are penaly responsible.
So that is the reason that the legislator should take some decisions because if not a lot of problems may arise.
The limitions that the author may impose, may be illegal etc.
Most important is that fact that licenses may be so long and articulated that no normal person may be able to understand them and so that person shouldn't be liable for the infringement of them.
Any way my opinion is that you may impose any rule you may like. That is a one paty action and the other party should demonstrate that she is legaly using your work.
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91183 | How to estimate standard error of journal impact factor based on impact factor and number of citable papers?
The impact factor (and other indicators of citations per document per year) is often used (controversially) to evaluate the research impact of a journal.
Critics of the impact factor often point out that it based on a skewed distribution with outliers. For example, many papers may have zero citations, another set may have a small number of citations, and finally a small set of papers may have a large number of citations (e.g., 50 or 100, etc.).
In general, I've read that this profile is typical of many mid-tier journals.
Thus, this is used to suggest that the impact factor may be influenced by outliers.
I agree that this distribution of citations does highlight that the impact factor overestimates the median citations per paper (as is the case with any positively skewed count distribution).
But another critique is that the impact factor is unreliable because of this distribution.
Thus, my question is:
What formula can be used to calculate standard error of the impact factor for a journal?
Presumably, this would help both critics and advocates of the impact factor to be able to quantify the uncertainty in estimating the impact factor. It would also assist in assessing whether it is appropriate to say that the differences in impact factor over time or between journals are a reliable difference.
Initial thoughts:
The standard error of the mean is commonly estimated as: s / sqrt(n), where s is the standard deviation of citations per article, and n is the number of citable articles. So presumably, the main factor that would reduce the standard error would be the number of citable articles published in the journal over the period. But unless we have the raw data, we wont have the standard deviation and the skewed distribution might lead this formula to underestimate the standard error.
Use existing literature to determine the distribution of citations over articles. Hopefully, its a distribution that can be approximate by knowing only the mean, or where the mean provides a good estimate of the standard deviation
Then apply a formula to get the standard error of the impact factor.
Why the down vote? Honestly, curious. Impact factors are relevant to academics. Presumably, being able to quantify the standard error of measurement would be beneficial both for people who like them and those that do not. For example, for those who are critical of impact factors, they could say "look, the difference between 1.7 and 2.2 is not reliable"; but that requires them to have some estimate of the standard error. Such information would presumably be useful in promotion, grant, and other contexts, where you are making an argument about research impact.
I wonder if journals provide their own raw data that will have a huge impact on their publicity policies.
@Mithun you could probably get raw data from scopus or web of science fairly easily for one journal. You'd just need to work out how to do the correct dates for publication and citation windows.
Oh, I forgot. Another issue will arise as: when we try to obtain the citation count for an individual article within a time frame, how the citations outside this time will reflect the std? I know there is overall citations count and last five years citations count.
Standard error is really only meaningful for normally distributed statistics. I doubt citation counts are normally distributed or even close.
@AlexanderWoo that is not true. Easiest counter example: the sampling distribution of regression coefficients in a linear regression model follows a t-distribution if the null hypothesis is true. More generally, the standard error is used to characterize the spread of the sampling distribution. You can use that for any sampling distribution. If you want to derive more from that (e.g. confidence intervals) you need to be careful to correctly apply the appropriate formula, but it is always good advise to be careful and do things correctly...
I think the standard error (of the mean, commonly estimated as s/sqrt(n) as stated in the OP) is a robust and good estimate for the uncertainty of the impact factor. It would certainly be interesting to know this together with the impact factors. Unfortunately, the standard error cannot be computed merely from the impact factor and the number of citable papers.
Note that the impact factor, being the average citation count, follows a normal distribution, even if the citation counts themselves don't (according to the central limit theorem).
A completely different question is whether, in view of skewed distributions of citation counts, the traditional impact factor (=average citation count) is a good measure for journal impact.
So I guess that just leaves the question of whether the standard deviation can be estimated from the mean (i.e., the impact factor). My guess is that a reasonable approximation would be possible, especially if someone did some research. For example, my rough guess would be that the SD might be around 1 to 2 times the mean (but that the ratio probably gets smaller as the impact factor increases); but I'd need to see more data to know exactly how it works.
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4938 | Is a PhD the highest degree?
I am curious to know whether PhD is the highest degree one can earn? Is there any other degree beyond that, if so what is it and what are the universities offering the same?
The degree you're looking for (at least in the sciences) is called "Doctor of Science" and you can read all about it on Wikipedia:
Doctor of Science
Edit: As aeismail noted: Sometimes this degree is considered equivalent to a PhD and sometimes it's considered beyond a PhD. This distinction typically varies by country (all this is listed on the Wikipedia page).
Be careful—a doctor of science is sometimes the equivalent of a PhD. In Germany, there is a special term given to this, known as a "Habilitation," when it's beyond the first doctorate. Perhaps the better term is "higher doctorate" or "second doctorate."
It depends highly on your university and national system. The Doctor of Science title has already been cited by Dan C, and several European countries have a higher diploma called habilitation.
@CharlesMorisset it's definitely not a diploma, but I think it qualifies as a degree (“an academic rank conferred by a college or university after examination or after completion of a course of study, or conferred as an honor on a distinguished person”)
It's not a degree, it's a hiring process. You usually go through the agrégation to become a teacher, and the state guarantees that you obtain the position if you obtain the agrégation.
@SylvainPeyronnet That's not true for "Habilitation" in Germany. It is threatened to die out; it used to be a necessary but not sufficient requirement for attaining a professor position.
@Raphael the answer has been edited, my comment is about the agrégation, not the habilitation.
Address and abbreviations depend on country. In Germany, you become a “Dr. habil.”. In France, it is abbreviated HDR (Habilitation à Diriger les Recherches), but it does not change the form of address.
At the risk of answering a question that the OP may not actually be asking....
One of the biggest myths to deprogram grad students of is the idea that the Ph.D is "the highest degree" or is in fact in a well-defined ordering relationship with other degrees. It is true that a Ph.D will typically require other degrees as a prerequisite, and it is also true that (as far as I know) no degree program requires a Ph.D for admission. However, there's no useful sense in which the Ph.D is "highest" in anything. It is a certification that you can do research, and is almost always a mandatory step before getting a research position in academia.
But by that logic, an MBA, a J.D or an MD are also "highest" degrees.
And this is why many statistics in the US do not count faculty with Ph.D.s but rather "faculty with terminal degrees for the field." I do carefully say many rather than most.
And then you get the MD/PhDs (or the JD/MD/PhD I once met...) and it all goes pear-shaped.
An M.Eng. is also one of the ``highest degrees'' one can attain. Perhaps the OP means to refer to terminal degrees?
This is true in my country (Vietnam). For most people, especially who aren't academian, a degree after a PhD is... professor :D
Many countries have higher degrees than the PhD.
In the UK, there's
Litt.D Doctor of Letters / Literature
DSc Doctor of Science
LL.d Doctor of Laws
D.D. Doctor of Divinity (the highest)
Each of these typically requires the submission of a body of work - a research portfolio - together with a critique of the work. Or they may be awarded as honorary degrees; see the links above for the requirements for the degrees from the University of East Anglia (Litt.D, DSc, LL.d), and the University of Oxford (D.D.), accordingly.
I thought the DD was more of an honourary degree - I don't know anyone personally that would consider it higher than the other degrees you mention?
Another concept of "next step after PhD", at least in some countries, is the notion of an 'academic', i.e., a member of the relevant national Academy of Sciences.
That membership is in essence an awarded/elected degree for continued contributions to science and demonstrated expertise.
I heard that in Russia they have an equivalent to the standard Ph.D and a sort of "second Ph.D" after that, that is way harder to get than the first. One of my Russian friends argued that it is harder and rarer than the European "habilitation", but I guess it is open to debate to see whether it is just a matter of opinion.
Here is the corresponding article in Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doktor_nauk
(On an unrelated topic, I think the name is quite cool.)
Yes, the classic USSR higher education process has a 'candidate of sciences' that is considered somewhat equivalent to PhD; and you'd get a full 'doctor of sciences' degree after multiple years of post-doc research&teaching. It might be considered somewhat analogous (but also different) to USA concept of tenure track.
Actually this system was used in the whole Eastern European block, but disappeared as most of those ex-communist countries joined the EU and coordinated their degree systems to the regular Western one.
And further after that one can become a correspondent member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, then a full member. There's (rough figures) simultaneously only 1500 correspondent and 700 full members at any given time.
In Finland, someone with a doctor's degree and additional body of scientific work equivalent to another thesis can apply for the title of docent (dosentti). The title gives the right to mentor PhD students. Docenture is a degree in the sense that it does not imply employment at the university which bestows the title.
At least some professors consider it kind of a vestige and it might be phased out at some point.
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44365 | What words to describe "revisions" and "resubmission" to distinguish revise and resubmit versus submission to new journal following rejection?
This question was motivated by a desire to have a clean set of terms to describe the life cycle of a manuscript from draft to publication from the perspective of the author.
I could say:
I am "revising" my paper and "resubmitting" it.
Obviously, this could apply to (a) the situation where you have submitted a paper and been given the option to submit an updated manuscript (i.e., a revise and resubmit); or (b) you received a rejection letter and you are improving the manuscript with the intention of resubmitting the manuscript to a new journal.
I was wondering what concise language can be used to distinguish these two types of revising and resubmitting?
One should note that "revise and resubmit" is essentially a shenanigan invented by journals to make it look like their article processing time is lower than the real one. The proper name would be "major revisions recommended".
@Federico From my experiences I have found reviewer requests for revisions to be an excellent way of improving a manuscript before publication. So I don't quite get your point. Perhaps also I haven't clearly articulated my motivation for this question. I like to conceptualise where each of my manuscripts is in the publication pipeline. And when I describe each stage of that pipeline, I like to have a simple one or perhaps two word phrase that captures the stage.
Some journals use the term "major revisions requested/recommended" to indicate essentially the same concept as "revise and resubmit". Essentially, this means that there are several nontrivial points to address and parts to improve, but you should submit an updated version of your manuscript (and it's likely to be accepted, since it will be probably handled by the same reviewers). So, why do some journals insist on calling this updated version a new submission? My understanding is that the only reason to do it is so that their statistic "time between submission and acceptance" looks better.
Links supporting this view: http://academia.stackexchange.com/a/40906/958 https://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/tell-me-again-what-major-revisions-are/.
@FedericoPoloni I see the point you are making. I'm seeing the problem more from the perspective of conceptualising the publication workflow. From this perspective "minor revisions", "major revisions", and "allowed to make new submission" are all conceptualised as the same step in the publication process (i.e., "revisions"). They just reflect a distinction in the amount of work to be done, the probability of ultimate acceptance, and perhaps whether new reviewers will be assigned. But in terms of conceptualising the process, they all mean "the publication is with me and I need to make changes".
My concept of a lifecyle. I've used a diagram to disambiguate the terms rather than using sentences.
Thanks (+1). I just had a few questions about this workflow: (a) Where is publication acceptance in this process? (b) does "resubmit" mean submit to a new journal or just submitting to the journal following a request for revisions? (c) does this workflow imply a distinction between "revise and submit" (i.e., following rejection) and "revise and resubmit" (i.e., following revisions)?
@Jeromy Anglim - I meant "submit" is always the first submission of a text to each journal. "resubmit" is sending it back to that same journal. You can revise and submit elsewhere as an alternative.
I personally tend to distinguish these words as follows:
"Revise" and "Resubmit" are reserved exclusively for updating a manuscript with the same journal.
Shifting to another journal is "Editing" and "Submitting again"
A submission to a new journal is considered a fresh start. So in that case, you would speak of 'a submission', regardless whether an earlier version of the manuscript was rejected at another journal.
A revision (of a manuscript) always refers to an earlier version, and is to be used exclusively in a context where the earlier version is known. So you can discuss a revision with your co-authors (even when that was submitted to a different venue), but towards a new journal you would not do that for an unpublished work, since they are unaware (and typically also not interested) that it might have been rejected elsewhere.
In case that you hand in a extended version of a conference article, then you might speak of a revision (but it would be better to just call it an 'extended version'), since the earlier version is publicly available.
Only when submitting a reworked version to the same journal, you would speak of a 'resubmission'.
Just to clarify, I understand your point that when corresponding with an editor you would not draw attention to the fact that the manuscript has been revised following a rejection from a different journal. However, I'm more interested in how researchers conceptualise the publication workflow. I.e., you have a bunch of papers that you are working on, and you want to say quickly what is the status of each paper.
I certainly think differently about the following three types of papers: (a) a paper that is in draft form but has never been submitted to any journal; (b) a paper that has been rejected and needs to be submitted elsewhere generally following some revisions; and (c) a paper that has received a request for revisions by a journal. I wonder how what you say above relates to that perspective.
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43358 | How to keep track of deliverables for supervised students when you supervise many students?
Background: In my area, academics often supervise a large number of students (e.g., 10, 15, 20 students). Many of these students are doing a small thesis as part of either their fourth year or coursework masters.
I am able to keep all these projects in my head, I do have documentation around each project, and I generally have a good understanding of what needs to be done next on each project. I can also see that one of the skills that a student learns whilst doing a thesis is project management and self-control.
However, I feel like I could develop a better system for recording and managing deadlines and deliverables on student projects. Such deliverables include concrete assessments (e.g., assessed literature reviews; the thesis; project proposals) and informal but required steps (e.g., finalising study materials; ethics applications; literature reviews; preliminary training; etc.). Such a system could let me know when a student has not provided an agreed deliverable by a given date. It would probably also have to accommodate some of the more fluid activities that unfold over time (e.g. data collection; data analysis; write-up; etc.).
A few features that would be good:
It shouldn't be too onerous too maintain
It should notify when deadlines are not met
It should highlight current tasks
It should integrate into the supervision process and make it easy to share deadlines with students
It should accommodate different kinds of deliverables (process; outcomes)
Question
What is a good system for helping a supervisor oversee deliverables and deadlines for a large number of research students?
Not sure if recommending software is what you are looking for, but as others have suggested as well, there is Jira, Trello, and (what our team uses) Microsoft Teams (for Teams you create a Planner). Using Teams was a major improvement for us.
You could probably get away with having a template in Google Sheets for students to fill out that could be uploaded to a central database, and then if you have an assistant, get the assistant to compile the notes in a tidy fashion.
When teaching undergraduates, before my retirement, I tracked/supervised student research/capstone projects with two methods.
1) I required the student to prepare an Excel document with their timeline for completion and the milestone dates. After a joint review (and revision(s)), I then had the document which I kept in a binder (later on a shared server) which I could track completions and keeping of suspense dates.
2) The other method which I usually used for team projects was a written ONE-PAGE weekly activity report. (And even up to 1 year ago, they were to be submitted in hard copy.) The report included a summary of work done in the last 7 days, what is planned for the next 7 days, what were the next 2 milestones and their due dates.
Additionally, some of my colleagues were in the last few years using a shared Google gdrive folder for a shared calender for each student and project. I did not do this because I actually wanted a record of how milestones were revised as the project processed. (Part of good research is being willing to revise the plan in an appropriate manner, keeping all parties informed, and accomplishing the task at hand in the time required)
As an aside - It might be helpful to know that Google docs has a 'history', so you can go back in time and view the documents at a previous time. I'm not sure about the calendar though.
I'm using google docs that each student creates and shares with me. I find that a very useful feature since I can review these documents whenever I want (and provide feedback in them, as appropriate). But it doesn't track deliverables.
In my department we use Trello and Kanban
We have two boards:
All Students board, their advisers and how far along they are in their thesis writing process. This is mainly used by the program director/dean.
Individual student one Board that shows how they are doing in each part of their thesis.
It includes Articles Read, Summary of those articles, etc.
The different Label Colors represent different kind of activities: Reading, Executing, and Writting.
There is a review Column. When something arrives to that column I get notified and start reviewing that activity.
Finally with Burndown for Trello we control time and schedule, so that we know if they will finish on time.
In fig. 4 yellow lines represents ideally what the student should have left every week, blue line represents what was actually left ( you can obsevre he was a little behind schedule in the middle)
And red line shows the accumulated effort.
You might ask your university if they can hook you up with some project management software. They probably have licenses sitting around. In the past I've used JIRA with a SCRUM add-on to track things like this, but there's a learning curve and it might be overkill for you. (However, it is quite reasonably priced.) There are LOTS of project management suites out there, some free and some commercial.
Get something that can draw Gantt charts. They're perfect for tracking progress vs. milestones. That makes it easier to see what's going on at a glance.
I've started using OmniFocus task management software for the Mac. It is very useful for supervising research students. I imagine other flexible task management software could also do the job (see here for list of alternatives), but OmniFocus has a number of helpful features (see screenshot at bottom of post). The following describes the workflow.
Actions: Actions are the unit in the task manager. Actions can be given a context, due date, and details.
One context per student: I have contexts for different categories of supervision (i.e., masters, fourth year, PhD). And within these contexts, I have a context for each student. OmniFocus makes it very easy to add actions to a context (e.g., keyboard shortcuts, auto-completion, automatically assign context when you are viewing within a context) and view the actions assigned to a specific context.
Monitoring completion: The interface (see below) has a colour coding system to easily flag actions that are approaching a due date (yellow) or are over due (red). There are numbers next to each context, so it is easy to see at a glance which students have an approaching or over due action.
Distinguish who needs to do action (student, supervisor, both): If I need to distinguish tasks based on whether it is something the student needs to do or whether it's something I need to do, I put the name in parentheses.
Typical actions that a student might need to do include sending me a draft of a literature review, thesis section, ethics application, confirmation document, presentation, experimental method protocol, funding application, etc. Such actions will include a mixture of interim tasks as well as submission dates for formal assessment. Typical actions that I might need to do include submitting paper work, reviewing drafts, submitting various forms (ethics, funding), finalising programming of tasks, etc.
Notes: I use action notes to record reasons why the action can not be completed. For example, we might be waiting on receiving a signature. It can also be used to store essential details, but mostly I avoid storing details about the task OmniFocus.
Setting deliverables with students: In supervision meetings, I record tangible due dates, and we agree on other deliverables with due dates. Thus, the student is clear on what needs to be done next and by when. In some cases, due dates need to be extended (especially more flexible due dates). Thus, this system encourages the setting of a new deadline rather than leaving things more open ended.
General discussion of benefits: There are several benefits of the above system
Adding actions is efficient
It is easy to see what tasks are due and when for a given student. This makes it easy to follow-up.
It also makes it clear what I need to do as a supervisor to ensure the project is not held up by my inaction.
It encourages the setting SMART goals for students (specific, measurable, assignable, realistic, time-related), which is particularly important for something as potentially flexible and open-ended as a student thesis.
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14633 | arXiv is running out of IDs -- is their solution known?
I just noticed that arXiv.org is basically running out of monthly IDs, as can be seen in this graph (source [13-12-09]):
They have gone over 8000 monthly submissions 3 times in last 1.5 years. With the steady increase in the number of submissions, it can be expected that it gets over 10000 in cca 2 years. However, the current ID format is restricted to 4 digits, i.e., 10000 submissions.
I haven't found any information regarding this on the webpage. So: How will the submission IDs look like if they don't fit into the scheme? It interests me because in some helper applications, I tend to rely on the yyyy.xxxx format of the IDs.
Could please the two down-voters explain me what is wrong with the question? Thanks.
Interesting question. I see Prof. G around sometimes in the department. I will bring it up next time I have a chance to talk to him.
@tohecz the downvotes don't matter. You've got your answer. Voting is primarily to promote or demote a question on the board, not primarily to raise or lower your cred.
@JonathanLandrum I have 25k rep, so I know what voting is for. However, if someone downvotes a post, they should have a good reason for that. I just want to know that reason ;)
The format presumed in the question is incorrect. The format is YYMM.NNNN, rather than YYYY.NNNN. Shortening the year to YY and including the month as MM gives a factor of 12 increase in the number of available IDs. Version numbers are appended to the ID, as v1, v2, and so on. That said, it is still a problem, but arxiv have thought about it.
NNNN is a zero-padded sequence number starting at 0001 and permitting up to 9999 submissions per month. If current growth rates
continue, we expect to change the sequence number to 5-digits NNNNN in
10 to 15 years. We will do this in a uniform fashion so that, likely
starting on some year boundary, all subsequent identifiers are
zero-padded to 5-digits. We cannot currently anticipate extension
beyond that although extension to 6-digits would be possible.
This was posted in 2007 so we are 6 or so years into their 10-15 year window. Submissions of multiple versions might grant some extra headroom, however it does appear that we could run into problems in about two years. It looks like they underestimated their growth a little bit!
Status change in 2015. arXiv.org switched to 5-digit IDs in January 2015. The format is now YYMM.NNNNN or YYMM.NNNNNvV.
Thanks. Two comments: (1) I'm aware of vV and yes, I wrote yyyy instead of yymm, my fault. (2) The numbers over 8k are new sumbissions: the largest numbers for the last 2 months are 1310.8658 and 1311.7692, so the original prediction of 10-to-15 years seems to be too long.
@tohecz I am a little surprised they didn't future proof it at the "beginning". It seems like they were being pessimistic about their potential success since it doesn't look like the growth rate has changed that much since 2007.
Well, I think they didn't expect people to use arXiv as a repository for every publication, not mentioning having solely-arXiv-based e-journals, and not mentioning people publishing very short notes on arXiv so that others can cite them. However, in all honesty, +(put a large number here) for the changing attitude towards open-access!
another comment: they could use hex numbers, it's pretty standard and 4 digits (64k) would be enough for a very long while...
they could use hex numbers — Oh god, please no. ArXiv IDs are meant to be read by human beings.
@JeffE: But it's not clear to me that the numerical value of an arXiv ID is of any real significance to humans. Is 1312.1976 really more meaningful to you than 1312.07b8? Does the fact that the ID is 1976 and not, say, 1796, have any real significance?
Moreover, if your first NNNNN is a zero, you can delete the zero and the link works, per usual.
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210676 | Why would academics spend funds on an apparently unnecessary publishing fee?
I recently worked on a paper with some colleagues as second author, and suggested that we publish in an open-access journal with a decent impact factor. Our university also has an agreement with this journal so we would have been able to publish there for free. However, I was turned down in favour of another journal that my colleague suggested, which had a similar impact factor but wasn't free. The reason given was that 'we have some funds left over, so we may as well use them'. As I'm still a student I didn't have much say in the matter, but it seemed quite wasteful to me.
What are the reasons for academics choosing to 'waste' grant money (if this is indeed wasteful)? Is it to save their own university money, or to artificially inflate their expenses so they can apply for more money the next time they apply for grants? Or something else?
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Apologies if this answer sounds trivial but it might be helpful for a student.
It often depends on the funding conditions.
In some of my grants, I allocate some money for publishing. This 'looks good' when the grant is evaluated by external reviewers because it suggests detailed planning ahead with the available funding.
Money that is allocated for publishing can't be used otherwise without a big hassle. (The funding agency can request a detailed report of the used funds which basically forces me to use it the right way.) I often don't mind paying the publishing fees with this dedicated money since I can't pay anything else with it.
Could this money be used in a better way? Yes, definitely.
Would I risk submitting a grant without dedicating money for publications? Probably not since reviewers might criticise missing publication funds as happened to me in the past.
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What happens to unused money, especially money designated for a specific purpose, depends a lot on the source of the grant, the country, the university, and even the department. Sometimes, researchers can use it for other things. Sometimes, the university gets to take it. Sometimes, it has to be returned. Sometimes, it's something else even more complicated. And, as indicated in a comment by MisterMiyagi, unspent funds can have other effects.
That said, it could just be a strategic decision. It's possible that the open-access journal rejects the paper. It may take a long time to get that result, and by then, perhaps access to the grant funds for publishing will have expired. So, in that sense, it could be safer to go for the paid journal first and leave the free one as a backup.
Another possibility is that the agreement with the open-access journal has limitations. Maybe there is a limit to the number of articles accepted from the university, or maybe there is a per-individual limit. In either case, going for the paid option now with the grant money may leave the free option for a future paper where that type of funding isn't available.
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It's been mentioned in the comments, but not in an answer yet: impact factor is a terrible measure of both how good a journal is, and what it's reputation is. And also things like how fast the turn around is, how many editing services are supplied, what the space or figure limits are.
People in a field will have their own internal, subjective ranking of journals based on things like where the things they reading are published, the way people talk about a journal at conferences, the journals that they and their colleagues have table of contents alerts for etc. These rankings probably roughly correlate with impact factor, but won't be exactly the same.
Here's one aspect that hasn't been mentioned yet if I'm not mistaken. My university has agreements with some publishers to cover Open Access fees, however these agreements have limits, and money regularly runs out before the end of the year. If there is grant money available for publishing elsewhere, this will indeed allow somebody else from the university to publish one more paper under the agreement. The university also says, for this reason, that if grant money for publication is available, use it!
Furthermore, the publishers with whom there are agreements are big players such as Springer, Elsevier, Wiley, all of whom can be criticised for making lots of money from researchers working for them for free, or even paying them for publishing the researchers' own work. A non-profit like PLoS is not covered, and some people may take the ethical stance that if possible it's better to pay PLoS (or similar) than the ones named previously.
To add a perspective I haven't yet seen in the other answers: I do intend this respectfully, but you say it yourself, "I am just a student." I have definitely provided simplified answers to students over questions that I didn't feel like they'd have the context (or need, at the time) to understand the full answer. Importantly, the rationale for this choice may have a lot of different interdependent reasons, like the professors' opinions of or experiences with the other journal, or maybe even some (light) internalized biases against OA (I wouldn't assume so, but it's possible). Familiarity matters. And of course, the myriad grant-related issues mentioned here already. I can relate to having a similar complicated opinion on some choice and opting for a simpler explanation when asked by a student.
I can't know your relationship with those involved, but I imagine if you asked at the right time, politely, for more information out of genuine interest (and definitely not in a confrontational manner), it's possible you might learn more. It is a good thing to learn.
although not a direct answer to the question, this answer holds valuable advice +1
As the other answers pointed out, funding for publishing is sometimes not an issue. Having the same impact factor, other aspects remain:
Where does the topic of the article fit better?
Is the journal read and cited in your community?
Do you know the editor?
Where is the expected acceptance for this paper higher?
How long will the review process take until the paper is finished?
As a student, you might not know these factors or have missed them in the discussion.
In a majority of cases such as this, I am willing to bet this is "use it or lose it" money that has to be spent by/before a specifically-set date. As an academic, I have seen - and experienced - this numerous occasions myself. There are often other bounds/terms that limit how the money must be spent as well (in addition to strict timelines). I am certain this is why they chose the route they did; how would you have known what other routes/options were available?
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73604 | What is the "power" a PhD advisor has over their advisees?
I'm an undergraduate Physics and Mathematics student, who is planning to do a PhD. I have seen many PhD students on this website who are struggling to solve problems about their advisor in authorship, advising, relationship or in unethical manners, etc. and also many answers which are strongly suggesting that they shouldn't prolong the problem if it is possible and try to graduate once like they have the power to destroy the students all career, at least it was what I've perceived.
So, I am asking what is the power an advisor has legally or illegally over their own advisees?
Note: I couldn't find more appropriate word instead of power :).When I said power, I generally implied the rights the advisor have which can affect the student's PhD negatively.
I think those problems are relatively rare. There is a strong selection bias because a PhD student with a healthy relationship with their advisor and some other problem does not ask a question here - they discuss the problem with their advisor.
@Leth advisor basically has a huge impact. https://www.quora.com/What-happens-if-you-get-a-PhD-from-a-low-ranking-school/answer/Karl-Merkley?srid=3UuV&share=0797e36e My former HOD used to tell this story. Regardless of the rank of the uni, supervisor does matter alot when it comes to defensing your PhD.
Most PhD advisors are really good caring teachers and mentors, who want their students to do well and prosper. I suspect that on this site you see a disproportionate number of postings about power problems. You probably don't have to worry. Do try to ask current and former students of prospective advisors where you are applying to graduate school.
Your advisor can totally destroy your career, and there's not much you can do about it. It's also essentially random, with a low but nonzero probability.
@PatriciaShanahan: There's an assumption in your statement that advisors are reasonable people and that discussing problems with solve them without restoring to this site. Some problems are advisors' faults, and some are unsolvable.
@anomaly I am just pointing out that the distribution of questions here is strongly biassed in the direction of problems in which the advisor is part of the problem, rather part of the solution.
@anomaly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selection_bias
@Kimball: Sure. My objection was to the idea that a healthy relationship with one's advisor would necessarily solve the problem, or at least obviate the need to post any problems here. One can have, for example, a perfectly healthy relationship with a useless advisor.
In many programs, the advisor signs off on the PhD student's thesis. If the advisor doesn't approve the thesis, it is difficult to impossible for the student to graduate and earn the PhD.
In many programs, the advisor is responsible for securing funding for their PhD students. If the advisor withdraws funding that the student was expecting, the student might not have another source of financial support.
Advisors are responsible for training and mentoring their PhD students, which is a major part of the PhD. If an advisor withholds that training, their PhD student might not become a successful researcher without it.
In general, advisors interact closely with their PhD students. If these interactions are unpleasant or abusive, the workplace becomes very, very uncomfortable.
Faculty tend to have a lot more influence in an academic department than their PhD students do. An advisor can potentially make things difficult for their PhD student with other faculty in the department.
In many cases, on applying for jobs after a PhD, a student is expected to have a recommendation from their PhD advisor. Without it, it can be much more difficult to find a job. Also see: How to handle not having my PhD advisor as a reference? and What to do when a thesis adviser refuses to recommend me?
While the first points probably have a general validity, the last one might be typical only for the US. Luckily I've never had to write a rec letter for my PhD students and, afaik, nor have had my friends around Europe.
@MassimoOrtolano That being said, times are (unfortunately) changing. For literally every entry-level faculty job I applied to in Europe in the last 2 years I was asked to provide references - and this is a problem, because as you say neither my advisor nor other senior faculty I am in good contact with are particularly aware of the intricacies of this process.
@MassimoOrtolano, that is not my experience in Europe. Formal letters of recommendation may not be required when making an application, but the names and contacts of 2/3 referees is commonly (dare I say always) requested. My PhD supervisor was contacted via phone a few times to provide feedback on me when I was applying for a Posdoc. And just to be clear, he has also written letter of recommendation for me (UK), and in both Germany and Portugal that is also common. Those are are also part of Fellowship applications (Life Sciences).
@xLeitix If I understand it correctly (correct me if I'm wrong), in the US letter of recommendations are expected also when applying for jobs outside academia. In my experience this is really uncommon in Europe.
@MassimoOrtolano Not sure, but I would guess what ff524 means are also jobs inside academia. In the US, "seeking jobs" for PhD students almost always seems to mean faculty or postdoc jobs :D
To expand on oint 5: if you have a great relationship with your supervisor but they've annoyed half the dpeartment, things will be harder for you. This combination is rare though.
Point 7: Advisor can abuse any of the above points purely for their own benefit.
@MassimoOrtolano: In my experience in the U.S., letters of recommendation are actually very rare outside of academia.
So, I am asking what is the power an advisor has legally or illegally over their own advisees?
ff524's answer provides a lot of the positive impact an advisor has. I will elaborate a bit more on the... darker side of the advisor power relationship.
Because unfortunately, the most common situation for recognizing this imbalance is when a student has problems.
First, and most importantly, is the following: your advisor is your boss and ultimately who determines if you graduate (in concert with others, but normally your advisor has the significant impact). This is unique in the graduate world compared to normal jobs because oftentimes problems with your boss/advisor that in the working world would result in quitting and moving on cannot happen the same. A PhD student that is 2-3 years into their program is much prone to suffer through problems with an advisor than a person in a more normal workplace, because if they quit they generally will lose a fair bit of the last years. Whereas in the working world, if your boss is making life miserable it often is possible to go to a different company. You likely will even benefit career wise from this! But it's quite difficult to take 2-4 years worth of graduate work with 1 advisor and get another advisor to work with. This factor gets worse the further you are in your graduate study.
What this translates to is that as the PhD student gets further into their studies, the less they can "walk" and keep their academic efforts during their graduate work meaningful.
This doesn't generally cause problems because in theory, advisor and student work together well. But when it does, it makes PhD students feel completely powerless.
It really isn't that advisors have so much power, per se, but they effectively are a single-person gatekeeper to a person completing a multi-year project. Unfortunately, normally by the time you find out you have advisor problems you are often far enough along that you feel the need to finish anyways. And just slog through it.
Keep in mind your goals and your advisors goals may be different. For example, your goal of graduation may be counter your advisor's goal of finishing different research projects, publishing more papers, etc.
A few examples I know of firsthand from my graduate work and interactions with other graduate students:
Your advisor is unresponsive/slow to get back to you. Your timeline matters more to you than to your advisor, generally. In cases where you need timely responses from your advisor (whether for research guidance, paper review, dissertation approval, whatever) you may be delayed for weeks or even months.
Your advisor isn't engaged in your research. When you are first starting graduate work, having some direction and mentorship is fairly important. If you don't get this, you may flounder for months or years. When you recognize this, you likely are unable to get time with your advisor and be far enough in that you feel trapped.
Expectations to spend too much time doing non-graduation relevant work. The reality is most graduate students spend some time on non-graduation specific work - whether teaching, working on research for grants tangentially (or unrelated) related to dissertation work, etc. Good advisors help keep your time spent on things relevant to your graduation. But if you are in your 4th year and your advisor "needs" you to spend 40 hours a week teaching a class...
Unwilling to "approve" final defense without . Normally you need your advisor's buy-in or approval in order to make your final dissertation defense. An advisor expecting more work continually or otherwise not ever being satisfied can make this process hellish, particularly if it's combined with other factors here.
These are just a few potential problems that I have seen firsthand in different advisor/student relationships. I and others could list many more. Keep in mind that you are far more likely to hear of graduate school horror stories than "I had a totally normal PhD experience, my advisor was exactly what I needed, nothing more, nothing less" stories.
Notice that most of these are not really actionable short of working with your advisor, either. There is an entirely different set of issues that you can pursue more formal action against, but these are all "entirely permissible" problems that are nearly impossible to resolve should your advisor not desire that.
The non-actionableness makes it a double feeling of powerlessness. Not only can the student not really quit without sacrificing potentially years of work but there is nothing they can really do about it by staying, either. Combine this with entirely normal feelings of despair, meaninglessness, and futility that are present as part of graduate work? (I'm kidding about that. But only sort of,)
The key is to understand all the issues through the advisor/advisee relationship. When you do this, it becomes easy to see how a PhD student (and masters students, though to a lesser degree) can feel completely powerless.
I am quite surprised how accurate the points made here are. I am in my last year in PhD. I am required to submit my dissertation the following month. I have finished writting in May (with almost no supervision by the way), still haven't got response for any of my chapters. It really feels like you are in the cockpit of a B-52 falling in flames. But I think I'll manage it.
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80245 | Suggestions on how to find a valid thesis topic
I am in my third year of PhD in Finance program, and I still haven't found a topic yet. I almost got burned out searching for topics. Stuff that I can think of are either trivial or have been done by the others before. Recently, I start feeling overwhelmed and self-doubting.
Coming from an eingeering background, I used to solve problems, but not really good at asking problems. I am in need of some plan to overcome this, or else I will probably quit the problem for good.
Did you talk to your advisor about it? If so, what did he/she suggest?
Vote to close as "unclear what you're asking" because I don't see a question here.
Coming up with a proper, well-formed, sane, attackable research problem is challenging and part of the job of a researcher. It isn't always easy.
Elements of a plan for you:
Talk to your advisor/supervisor
As others have mentioned as comments, you haven't indicated what your advisor has said to you or what guidance he or she has offered in finding a topic. What has he or she said/done/advised?
Talk to your final class teachers
Presumably over the previous three years you have been taking classes in your subject field. If this is true, and since your institution is a PhD-granting one, the teaching at this level should be research-informed. This means that the people teaching the subject material at graduate level should know what the limits of knowledge are in the field, and where there may be interesting questions to ask. Note --- they may not know what the questions are themselves (that's part of your job) but they should have some ideas where interesting work might be done.
Talk to your peer group
Who is in the same or similar field as you and doing research? Bounce ideas off them.
Get to a conference/workshop/summer school
If there's little to be gained in asking people around you (which is unlikely), see what summer schools are offered in your subject area and proceed as above: ask lecturers there what are the interesting areas in which to work. Ditto conferences --- whose work is interesting to you? Go talk to them. Find where your interests or skill sets overlap with what they consider areas of interesting opportunity.
Read more articles! You must gather a critical mass of information.
You select some relevant topic to your field, then collect and critically analyze related background information. In other words, read tons of articles. Don't force an idea, instead you will eventually reach a critical mass of information. Things will fit together and it will look shimmery in your mind's eye. All of a sudden the critical mass becomes your idea.
The beautiful thing about this approach is that depends on the work of those around us/in our field. As well it should! Speaking for myself, before I learned this technique, I was quite arrogant to think I could just come up with a brilliant and fresh idea on my own. We're in graduate programs for a reason!
You got this! Discovery is hard because what you're looking for doesn't exist yet, self doubt is the totally appropriate reaction to that. ... go read a bunch of papers and good luck!
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162640 | How to calculate Hm-Index?
Michael Schreiber proposed the Hm-Index.
It is related to the h-index but it adjusts for the number of authors on a paper.
So, for instance, if you had two people with a h-index of 10, but one had all sole-author papers and the other had multi-author papers, the one with the sole-author papers would have a higher hm-index.
However, I can't find a concise statement of the formula on the internet.
While a close reading of the paper provides the answer, I think there should be a concise statement of the method quickly available on the interent.
Thus, how do you calculate the hm-index?
Schreiber, M. (2008). A modification of the h-index: The hm-index accounts for multi-authored manuscripts. Journal of Informetrics, 2(3), 211-216.
This appears to be the algorithm:
Order publications by decreasing number of citations
Assign a weight to each publication as the inverse of the number of authors (e.g., 1 author paper = 1; 2 author paper = 0.5; 3 author paper = 0.33, etc.)
Take the cumulative sum of weights while this cumulative sum remains less than or equal to the number of citations for a given paper. This is the hm-index.
So, in R code, it might look like this:
hmindex <- function(citations, authors) {
dat <- data.frame(citations = citations, authors = authors)
dat <- dat[order(dat$citations, decreasing = TRUE), ]
dat$weights <- 1/dat$authors
dat$cweights <- cumsum(dat$weights)
list(
citetab = dat,
hmindex = dat[sum(dat$cweights <= dat$citations), "cweights"])
}
And here's an example using the data from the paper of an academic with 8 papers each with a certain number of citations and a certain number of authors.
citetab <- data.frame(
citations = c(16,15,14,12, 10, 3,3,2),
authors = c(2,2,3,3,2,2,3,1))
hmindex(citetab$citations, citetab$authors)
It produces the following output:
> hmindex(citetab$citations, citetab$authors)
$citetab
citations authors weights cweights
1 16 2 0.5000000 0.500000
2 15 2 0.5000000 1.000000
3 14 3 0.3333333 1.333333
4 12 3 0.3333333 1.666667
5 10 2 0.5000000 2.166667
6 3 2 0.5000000 2.666667
7 3 3 0.3333333 3.000000
8 2 1 1.0000000 4.000000
$hmindex
[1] 3
I.e., the researcher's h-index is 5 (because they have 5 papers with at least 5 citations. But their hm-index is 3 (i.e., largest cumulative weight that is greater than or equal to paper citation count).
Some comments:
So it does not distinguish between different author positions (i.e., 1st or last author are weighted more in some metrics).
If a researcher only publishes sole author papers, h-index equals hm-index. In all other cases hm-index will be less than h-index.
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19783 | Funding of research by commercial companies, what is the sentiment in the USA?
I attended graduate school in Switzerland, where for engineering, it is not uncommon to have research projects that are funded, in part, by commercial companies. I'm not talking about consulting, but scientific research projects, more on the translational side, for which there is full academic freedom and that have scientific publications as primary output. I also received a conference travel grant from a company during my PhD (although my paper was critical of the performance of one of that company's products).
I am now a post-doc fellow in a reputable american* university and realized my mentioning of funding from companies stirs unease and awkwardness among my colleagues (I should mention that my field is somewhat related to medicine).
How would private funding look like on my CV when applying to an american academic position? Is it considered more prestigious to have received government/foundation funding? I'm looking for answers that are general or specific to health-related research.
*I use this term to describe the USA.
Speaking from epidemiology as a field, with some dabbling in clinical and translational research:
Commercially funded research should absolutely show up on your CV (it does on mine), and it probably won't hurt you, especially in the early stages of your career. There is however definitely more prestige behind having NIH/NSF etc. funding, or foundation funding - several departments I've talked to have all said they prefer to see that. NIH funding especially is something of the "brass ring". Commercial funding isn't bad per se, but a notably dependence on it might have people wondering what is it about your work that isn't passing muster in the traditionally peer-reviewed federal funding system.
There's also some uncomfortableness around conflict of interest - industry-funded science doesn't have the best track record in terms of creating unbiased medical research, but they're also the only people who fund some research, so it will depend very heavily on what specific area you're in. I've worked in some areas where it gives people an uncomfortableness, and in others where nearly everyone has industry funding of some sort.
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20532 | How should academics handle communication with the media?
I'm not famous enough of a scientist to be frequently solicited by the media* (plus my field has little political/social controversy around it), but I had a few encounters with local newspapers and one with a public national television. The results were not entirely bad, but the general sentiment given was significantly different than what I would have wanted it to be.
It seems like I'm not alone, I just got back from a conference in my field where more senior scientists discussed their relationship with the general media. It came out that more often than they would like, the relationship was bad.
Problems stated, among others†:
Misquotation, or words taken out of their context significantly changing their meaning (this is the most frequent).
A general difficulty for the media to understand, and convey, uncertainty ('we think, it might be so..' or 'we are rather confident that ...' becomes 'it is so')
Difficulty to apprehend results, applications, consequences that may or may not appear 10-20 years down the line.
Exaggeration of the conclusions
etc.
These are not without consequences, at the personal level, as it can give the impression that you don't know what you are talking about.
My first thought was to ignore the media attention and advocate that scientists should do the communication themselves to bypass the regular media (having a blog, entertaining a profile on social media, etc.), but it is extremely time consuming and would distract from the actual research work. I think there must be something to do, on our side, to help with that.
I understand that it is due to how media works, and I don't believe it will change by a lot. But the question is then: are there any strategies that would help reducing this effect, at least to protect oneself against the consequences?
*newspapers, television, magazines, etc. i.e. not scientific journals.
†anyone who has items to add to this list is welcome to do so.
I'm not savvy enough to give a full answer, but the advice I've heard most often is to prepare your own sound bites (i.e., minimal media-style statements), and be rigorous in only authorizing their use if they are not changed (and demand the last word!) If you don't boil it down, they will, and they are certain to get it wrong. For appearance on radio or television, rehearse (a lot), and if it happens often enough, get professional coaching (universities usually offer such things, since it's in their interest that you look good).
One important point to keep in mind is that the reporter talking to you likely knows nothing about your field. You need to explain it like they're five.
@Nit well, sometimes the issue seems to be that they know just enough to be annoying, and sometimes harmful.
Some universities offer training and advice to staff who might need to talk to the media.
Have the guys from phdcomics.com illustrate your 2min description and give that to the media.
@Raphael I'd put my money on the xkcd fellow.
@rubenvb With the small difference that phdcomics.com actually had that offer. They illustrated several 2min versions of theses.
@Raphael oh cool, didn't know about those. I'm sure Mr. Munroe could be coaxed to do something similar (albeit not a video).
I've had one paper I wrote garner significant media attention, so while I'm not a practiced hand at it, some things I learned along the way:
Be able to convey the idea behind your paper simply. A brief, non-technically "What happened", and why this matters. Don't oversell, but if you provide good information, you have some more control over how it gets conveyed, instead of forcing a non-expert journalist to translate your work into words.
Keep it short. It's harder to misquote or provide out-of-context soundbites if you keep things short and to the point. Don't pontificate.
Make the caveats of your work clear, but don't over-hedge.
If it's clear they're trying to get you to say something in particular, decide if you're okay with saying it. If you are, just do it. If you aren't don't go anywhere near it. Don't dance around, or try to add qualifiers - just don't approach.
Be prepared for rage-inducing discussion of your work online after it hits the air. Learn to have a thick skin, or purposefully ignore it.
Remember that, in the grand scheme of things, even a fair amount of media attention is a flash in the pan, and the odd story that makes you wince is just that - a single story.
While I think you can help mitigate some of the problems around media coverage of your work with an active social media presence and a blog, it's only by engaging the audience. It's not going to let you "stand aside" from the media - no website or news paper is going to go "Oh, Dr. X has a blog. On second thought, lets not bother with the story..." If anything, an active social media presence will probably raise your profile among science communication types, and increase the odds of getting a bit of media attention.
I'm more concerned about a hiring committee member saying "Dr. X, wait isn't it the one who said pigeons will cure cancer on the evening news? Do we really want our institution being associated with that?'
@Jigg See the 1st, 2nd and 4th points.
I should have mentioned that I found your answer helpful and up-voted it already. My comment was only about the blog part, I was thinking of it as a bypass to reach the public directly, than a way to fend off questions altogether.
Hiring committees are smarter than that. (Or if they're not, you don't want to be part of that department.)
@JeffE Hiring comities are human beings, and if they got a wrong impression, they will be affected by it, regardless of how smart they might be.
(At the request of the OP, I'm expanding my brief comment into an answer.)
The advice I've heard most often is
Prepare your own sound bites (i.e., minimal media-style statements). If you don't boil it down, they will, and they are certain to get it wrong. If they already made cuts you don't agree with, don't hesitate to send them a counter-proposal: something similarly short but more correct. (Reputable journalists usually are more concerned with meeting word-count restrictions than with increasing sensationalism.)
Be rigorous in demanding the last word on any change and in exercising that right. If they don't grant you that, do not agree to speak to them (it's a sign they are not up to professional standards). This especially applies to the uncertainties or caveats you mention; make it clear that they get either a quote with qualifications or no quote at all. Getting wrong exposure is worse than getting no exposure.
Repeating Fomite's excellent point: If you are worried they will distort something, do not mention it at all -- especially if they seem to insist on it.
For appearance on radio or television, rehearse (a lot). (Even for interviews in connection with a written piece, it pays off to spend some time beforehand to formulate and polish the key statements you want to make.)
If live appearances happen often enough, get professional coaching (universities usually offer such things, since it's in their own interest that you look good). They are probably also happy to look at any written communication you want to send to the media and to point out possible pitfalls or help boiling it down to make it media-ready.
Excellent, I think it's useful to document these tips for the community. It should be added that sometimes reporter grants you the 'last word' right although they don't have the authority to give it to you, the article gets edited further down the line and there's nothing you can do about it, so watch out!
Number 2 is not realistic at all. With something like 60 minutes, BBC Horizons, or whatever, you will have zero say over final cut. So I recommend you do not follow number 2 slavishly. It is not how things work with large professional media outlets. You will come off as an amateur.
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10458 | A comprehensive question about personal statement
I have some questions regarding my personal statement for graduate school (US/Canadian universities) in math. My question(s) are comprehensive and long, as the title suggests, thus I have numbered and sub-numbered the questions.
Note that these questions are targeted at schools that do not allow me to upload a CV otherwise I think half of these questions would go away.
Courses
1a) Is it silly or a waste of space to talk about your math background? Or should I assume the graduate committee already has this?
1b) Some schools I have checked out actually asked me to list out all my junior/senior courses along with their books, I guess for those schools I don’t need to? What about those who do not?
1c) Should I write or mention courses I have self-studied? Or is this completely irrelevant to them?
1d) Should I also bother explaining one W and one ‘bad’ mark that happened in the summer?
1e) Should I mention my math department is understaffed and I tried to take as many “hard” classes as possible? How understaffed? We have only at most four math classes at the senior level every year. We are so small that most junior/senior classes stop only at the introductory level.
For example, we only have: introductory PDE, introductory Number Theory, introductory Algebra, and Topology does not even exist at my university.
Very rarely do we get continuations to those courses. In comparison with all the other areas, we have quite a lot of Analysis courses, but all of them are focused in Optimization (excluding Real Analysis, we usually have one to two Analysis classes).
We have no Calculus of Variation, no Measure Theory, almost nothing.
I had to go out my way to bug a professor to request an extra Analysis course this year to the unit head and even then I am short on Math classes next year.
TA experience
2a) Should I talk about this? How will they even verify me? Because I have done some things that most TA don’t do at my university – writing exam solutions. The prof I TA’d for left everything for me to do, except the teaching and actually writing the midterms/finals. I never had a class with him, so I am not so sure about asking him to write a letter for me.
2b) I also TA’d for another prof at another campus during one summer term (same university, but different Math department), should I mention this?
I can provide a link of my exam solutions through the prof's site. I think he will give me permission, should I include this?
Research Experience
I have very very little experience, so much that I could probably only write one or two short sentences about it. I also have no publication, but I think the prof I worked for can
confirm that I did do research under him.
By the way, the “research experience” I had was a problem the prof had written by hand on a math paper and he asked me to answer the question he posed. It was not an analytic problem, it was coding, graphing, and writing a report.
Area of Interest.
4a) I already know my area of interest, I am wondering if it is a good idea to write why I got interested in the first place or is this completely irrelevant to the graduate committee?
My reasons are rather absurd, I am going into my desired area because of a textbook writer and the textbook I read by him isn’t even the area I was interested in, although the writer did write a book in the subject and I was simply in love with his style of writing.
I later found out the writer’s background and plus some neat stuff I read on the Internet sealed the deal for me. If people think this reason isn’t silly or “cliché” (e.g. “I liked puzzles when I was young”), then please tell me.
4b) Also one major problem is that I can’t talk too deeply about my area of interest. I can mention specific subfields, but that's about it. For instance, if I liked Number Theory, I could mention "Analytic Number Theory" and the "Riemann Zeta" or if I liked Differential Geometry/PDE, I could mention "Geometric Analysis".
So would it be better to omit the details if I can't comment too much on the details of the subject and simply write "Number Theory"?
Thesis Advisor
I can find people and mention their names easily on my personal statement. I am just curious if I should narrow it down to only ONE person? Does it look bad that I am just listing out the people whom I want to work with instead of writing down just one name?
Scholarships/Award
I have never liked the word 'Award', so I am going to use 'Scholarship'. Do I need to mention about a scholarship I got from a professor? Again, how can I be verified for this? I think I could ask the prof who gave it to me (whom I did research for) to mention/confirm this?
Skills
How much will it add to my application if I tell them I can use LaTeX (honor's thesis not required for honors degree at my university. I asked one of my profs why and even he doesn't know.), high proficiency with Mathematica, Maple, MATLAB, etc...? I was going to add Photoshop, but then I realize how pointless and irrelevant that is. I can also use Python, but since I am postponed my 1st year computer science requirements till my last year I do not think they will buy this. Also my school teaches Java.
Thank you very much for reading and taking this time to read this ridiculously long question(s)
I would hesitate to use the word "anti-social" for such behavior. Its quite common for many academics, especially the older generation to not have personal websites or even have too many interaction hours. I bet he will meet you if you ask him to. :)
Some ideas on your statements/questions:
(1a)-(1b)-(1c): It seems to be your undergraduate university is not a very well known one and/or even not considered strong in mathematics. Graduate schools may be wanting to be sure you covered what they consider necessary as undergraduate mathematics. Upon being asked I'd consider sending along a short syllabus of the courses you took. I'm almost sure your university must have these things.
(1d)-(1e) Don't even mess with this unless specifically asked, which I think it's unlikely to happen.
The lack of any topology/measure theory (and perhaps more) courses in your university (or college...?) is a rather serious one, imo, and it may point, again, at some lack of elementary basis most mathematics depts. are supposed to have.
in fact, I think it is likely some universities could require from you to complete several courses before they considere you as an actual candidate for graduate school in mathematics...are you sure that what you studied in that school of yours was "mathematics"? Perhaps it was something like "applied mathematics"?
I don't think serious graduate schools require TA from undergraduates. In fact, mentioning you TA'd some course before being a graduate could be considered as (another) sign of a low mathematics level in your school.
To require research? From an undergraduate? I don't think there's such a university. What could be required, imo, is good skills to "hunt" for books, papers, etc. in a mathematics library and, in our days, perhaps also in the web.
No need to dwell a lot with your area of interest. Perhaps mentioning some of the wide areas (analysis, topology, algebra) could be enough, though imo most decent graduate schools require from graduate students to take two or more rather hefty, year-long course in some of these areas, and only later you begin to drift towards your love...
The same applies, imo, for thesis advisor.
Please do mention any scholarship-award you got that's connected to your studies. This may be rather important.
About skills: I don't think anybody will really care about it. Most probably schools will be more interested in finding out about your seriousness, love for the subject, responsibility, etc.
Good luck!
My math department is renowned for the analysis group, but most of them are busy teaching general requirement classes like calculus/linear algebra. 2. So I shouldn't talk about TA? What about the one I did at another campus? It is bigger and more renowned.
I thought it usually score a lot of points mentioning the people you want to work with.
@sidht, perhaps it does though it could be so after the first year or second one, when you already studied some more advanced material. Anyway, that's how it was in my school.
@DonAntonio, I am having trouble understanding why you think it may be bad to mention about the TA thing
@sidht, because it could be seen as if university uses undergraduate students to do jobs that in other universities only do graduate and even postgraduate students. For example, in my university when you are graduate student you can not be a TA, but rather some that helps with grading exercises, exams and substitutes instructors and, very rarely, lecturers when needed. Only when one is a master student (PhD candidate) one can then be a TA and freely substitute lecturers and, even sometimes, be a lecturer. All this with scholarships, grants and stuff. This is why.
Isn't it also because the university wants to spend less money and thus use undergrad to do their work?
Also, you say mentioning "skills" aren't necessary. Does it 'add' anything to my statement if I do? because I am finding my personal statement somewhat short - only 253 words.
Also do you recommend me to talk about my math background? Or should I hide that until asked? Again, do I assume they know my background?
Well, your mathematical background certainly is relevant for you getting accepted in graduate school: they must know it, either from interviews with you, from your academic record, etc. I can't be completely sure about TA, but it might be something you feel during an interview: if you think it may help then mention it, otherwise don't. I think it's important to realize that graduate students are considered in many universities as worth investing in them for the future. OTOH, there are so few of them in general that, at least in my univ., we were the only ones getting automatic scholarship
About skills: anything related to studying mathematics is worth mentioning, imo.
They do interviews?
I suppose some may, I can't tell for sure.
I haven't come across any grad school would want an interview, maybe in undergrad.
Well, then perhaps easier: they shall base their assesment according to you undergraduate school, your grades, perhaps recommendation letter from professors there, from the Mathematics Dept. Head, etc.
As a general rule, math PhD programs in the US do not interview applicants.
@JeffE, that's what I thought and maybe I didn't make it clear (I will do it now), but I am applying to US/Canada
Responding to questions approximately in order:
It is not a waste of space to talk about your mathematics background. Mere course titles tell almost nothing, so it's good to explain more. Telling the authors of the texts used explain a lot to experienced mathematicians.
Especially if your school has a relatively weak program, and even if not, telling what self-study you've done is very important. It is all the more important as an indicator that you take initiative, are driven by curiosity about mathematics, independent of grades and structured programs.
Explaining briefly that you've had TA experience is a small plus, because almost all grad students in math are supported by TA work, so knowing in advance that you can communicate will ease the minds of admissions committee members.
Despite the contemporary pretense that undergrads "do research" between their junior and senior years, it is very rare that any sort of genuine research occurs. Sometimes, but rarely. After all, if research only takes 8-10 weeks in the summer, with almost no prior background, why does a PhD takes years? :) (There is a good purpose served by the summer programs, though, of giving undergrads the idea that mathematics is not confined to a classroom and textbooks, as well as creating social connections with other undergrads seriously interested in math. But these situations don't really produce cutting-edge research.)
About "specific interests": of course it is vastly better to have tentative, ill-formed, and inevitably ill-informed, "interests", rather than not. :) I'd encourage you to tell how these interests arose, giving the admissions committee some insight into your approach to mathematics.
It's good to mention scholarships. People will not be so skeptical that you need to document it.
Computing skills are a positive, and deserve a brief mention. Again, there is little need to offer "proof".
In summary, it is a mistake to think that one's transcript explains what the admissions committee wants to hear or needs to know to make a reasonable decision. An informative personal statement makes a huge difference, especially in communicating your motivations and learning outside classrooms. Also, letters of recommendation from mathematicians well-acquainted with you, from contexts of relatively advanced mathematics (rather than elementary) are very important to give an idea of how well you'd fare with more advanced/sophisticated work. (After all, many people do well-enough in undergrad material, but find that graduate-level mathematics has a slightly different nature... of less interest...)
+1 In addition summer research can be seen not as producing a novel independent result, but as a hands-on training for reading/searching the scientific literature and for an experience writing things up. Those are skills that will be useful for graduate school.
Just to get more opinion, do you find my reasons stated in the question cliche or even ridiculous?
@sidht, these questions are completely reasonable. I have heard them many times, yes, but how could anyone who hasn't been through the system guess how it works? It is hard to guess the working of a machine one has never seen, etc.
@paulgarrett, I just asked to get opinions from possibly former grad committees.
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57980 | PhD Student reapplying to other PhD program, what to indicate in CV?
My advisor decided to move to Industry and it is likely that he might not come back. I do not have an option of continuing with my current PhD program or finding a co-supervisor as suggested. I am in my second year at the moment, and I think it is best to reapply to other PhD programs.
I was enrolled as a full time PhD student and our department does not offer a Masters+PhD program, so officially I was enrolled just as a 'PhD student' and not as a 'MS/PhD Student'. I might likely be given a Masters, give that I have completed the course requirements.
However, for writing Statements of Purpose and CV for my applications, I am stuck with the following:
How should I describe my 'education' section? I did have a PhD topic assigned with a pending publication on the same. Should my current status be of a 'Masters' or a 'PhD' student?
Does it make sense to explain my situation in my CV or Statement of Purpose to describe what exactly made me reapply to PhD programs?
My advisor is less responsive these days and I am unsure if it is a good idea to give his name as my potential recommender. A fallback option is to ask my course instructors at Graduate school which would probably not guarantee a strong recommendation as compared to recommendations from people I have actually worked with during my undergraduate. If I do not have any recommenders from my current program, will that go against me?
Since every country/state/university has its own regulations on Ph.D. programs, my answer might carry little value to your concrete situation.
I dropped my first Ph.D. program last year due to some financial difficulties. It was the 4th year of my Ph.D. life. I am currently enrolled into another PhD program after a prolonged period of struggling. I think I can totally understand your situation.
Put your current PhD program into your CV, mark yourself as "Ph.D. student" because you are. And this actually helps since you already know (more or less) how academia works and how to proceed with your research. You are not a Masters student, don't put "Master" there.
Like in any CV or application letter, honesty is always appreciated. Explaining your situation would help them to understand you and your goal (which I assume is to continue with your research).
It's really subjective. Recommendation letters don't matter THAT much for Ph.D. students compared to Master or Bachelor students. What you really need is a quality list of publications and/or projects in which you have participated.
I agree with #1 and #2, but think that recommendation letters do matter.
Agreed with @jakebeal. I even think that not only do you need ideally strong letters documenting that you did well in your current program, but that a letter by your current adviser should be your goal. It depends on culture and their personality, but in the countries I studied and lived, almost every adviser would be appreciative of your difficult situation, and help you as their former charge. So be friendly, but insistent.
They do matter, I agree. What I mean in my reply is that the recommendation letters have relatively less value comparing to publications or awards.
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13763 | Is copyediting good for an academic career?
I have recently been involved in managing a special issue in a scientific journal. The chief-editor was somehow appreciative of my work and now wants me to join the journal's board as a copyeditor. I am puzzled by this request since I have no example of an academic being involved in such a task. Usually, being an editor (see Why become a journal editor?) involves more content evaluation.
Would my academic career take advantage of such a duty?
The only benefit you'll get as a copyeditor is clear: money (assuming he offered to pay you).
The downsides are numerous: it takes a lot of time, it will not be considered a plus to your CV (it's a technical job, not a scientific one)… none of the benefits from being a journal editor apply to a copyeditor.
Also, I don't know exactly what you did when you say “I have recently been involved in managing a special issue”, but if you were guest editor, offering you a copyeditor job is clearly not showing appreciation for your job as a scientist.
While I generally agree with your answer, isn't this a bit too harsh "...it will not be considered a plus to your CV (it's a technical job, not a scientific one)"? Writing skills are an important part of being a scientist, and being a (good) copy-editor shows that you have strong writing skills and can evaluate texts critically (logical consistency etc).
"Technical or scientific job" is a nice way of summarizing the question. The specificity of this journal is that it is both in French and English (usually, an English article with an additional French summary). A copy editor would therefore be involved in the consistency of wording (technical) and concepts/notions (scientific).
@fileunderwater I stand by my wording: a great way to show good writing skills is by writing good papers, good research projects and a good application/letters. Being copyeditor is negligible in applications…
@F'x Yes, but due to funding, job opportunities and interests people choose different paths, and I do not think that copyediting work for a scientific journal should be seen as completely irrelevant (if coupled to actual scientific work). But I agree that in a direct comparison of CVs more science > copyediting experience.
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28930 | Does significant editing of a paper with the possibility of minor contributions to its scientific content warrant co-authorship?
The question of whether writing/editing alone merits authorship is already addressed here. This question is about writing and editing with the possibility of minor scientific contributions.
I have been asked to review a draft paper written by a colleague (a more senior PhD student in the same research group), whose native language is not English. The main purpose is to improve the style and grammar of the paper, rather than make substantial comments to the scientific content.
It is possible that I will be able to contribute some science to the paper, however not likely of the "pedagogical oversight" variety that is normally the domain of the last several authors on a ten-author paper.
Should I approach my colleague with the request that I be placed on the author list, only if I can make a reasonable contribution to the science (by way of some substantial comments or extra data analysis)?
(closely related: Is it common to claim co-authorship by helping writing a paper without doing any research)
You may want to consider why you are being asked to edit a multi author paper. It sounds like the co-authors value their time more than yours, which seems rude unless they are going to offer you something in return (e.g., help with stats, data collection, etc.).
Can you explain why it the current question is not a duplicate of the question you say it is closely related to?
@StrongBad I am the only native English speaker besides the last author (who is, I think, a Master's or undergrad student). My colleague's office is just down the corridor, so perhaps I will ask a favour in return ("write me a bash script that argles my bargles automatically"). I think it's not a duplicate because I could offer and try to contribute some science to the paper, but my knowledge about its contents is well below the first author's.
I've edited the question to focus on the part that's different (per your comment), and remove the part that's already covered in the linked question.
@Moriarty: So one of the current coauthors is the only native English speaker and also scientifically junior to the other authors? I would think that would make that coauthor precisely the right person to do what you are being asked to do. If someone's scientific understanding of a paper is so minimal that they cannot be trusted to edit it for style and grammar, how can they be a coauthor? (What did they do?)
@PeteL.Clark I bit the bullet and wrote to my colleague, who has agreed to ask the last author (who did "similar work") to read the paper. By journal policy, every author must read the manuscript. As long as the paper is understandable and unambiguous, it's the policy of the journal to help with further language edits. Since it might feel a bit awkward to shoehorn in some substantial contribution of my own, unless I later get approached with a feasible opportunity I will refuse to edit the rest of the paper.
The short answer is: it should not. But the reality is some think it should. Since there is no law that dictates authorship the closest to an answer is to look at the Vancouver Protocol and derivatives here exemplified by the ICMJE (Internationa l Committee of Medical Journal Editors) which defines an author as follows:
Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
Final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
With these guidelines in mind many co-authorships would disappear but it becomes quite clear that help with language simply is not enough for co-authorship.
I would view a significant revision of the work as a substantial contribution the interpretation of the data. If I write the interpretation of the data, I certainly contributed to it.
@OswaldVeblen Note the emphasis: all 4 criteria should apply.
Yes, I am saying that significant editing would satisfy the first two. The third and fourth are trivial. @Lilienthal
I have the feeling this may be field dependent. In my field/experience (biological science/bioinformatics) people that are asked to help with English do not get co-authorship. Indeed, in many journals where the contribution to the manuscript has to be stated, editing of manuscripts is not considered as enough contribution to warrant co-authorship. Most of the time the person that edited the manuscript ends up in the acknowledgements. That being said, I know also of cases in this field where the person editing the English would get systematically a place in the list of authors.
Personally, if I ask someone to check the English, I would not feel comfortable if the changes are substantial. The manuscript writing is critical for the work to stand a chance of being published and in such case I would most likely offer co-authorship. If the changes are minor then I will just include him/her in the acknowledgements section. At any rate, it is an important thing to discuss with your colleague before accepting the task of editing the manuscript.
@shane it's a fool who offers to do such a task, but a known grammarian and pedant who gets asked ;). Perhaps I need to learn to say "no", but he is a close colleague so helping each other out is just what we do. We also share the same primary adviser.
@shane, not being native speaker myself, I saw colleagues being exploited with constant requests to the point that I was (almost) happy of not being native speaker myself. Only "almost" though.
@shane great advice! Indeed, is like asking for professional copyediting. With the advantage of direct interaction and possibly lower rates.
Why shouldn't it be field-dependent? To take extremes: in experimental medical research, one already has research products (e.g. research protocols, data, and numerical results of statistical analysis) independent of the final paper. In philosophy research, the only product is the paper itself, and it's not really possible to separate the idea of the research paper from the actual words of the research paper. In the first case, significant editing might not warrant authorship; in the second, it might indeed. I don't see any way to find a one-size-fits-all solution. @shane
You don't say (here) what field you're in. I suppose that by doing this you intend to invite answers from different fields.
In my own field of mathematics, it would be quite strange for someone to be added as a coauthor primarily for their editing work.
Nevertheless I had a situation recently where I did substantially edit and rewrite a paper in which I was not an author. (I think this is already a bit unusual, but it's hard to know for sure.) In addition to the writing I included a small amount of content: "minor scientific contributions" covers it rather well, actually. Towards the end of the process I was offered coauthorship on the paper. I appreciated the offer but turned it down immediately: though I had contributed to the writing of the paper and contributed some mathematical content, the amount of mathematical content I had contributed was much less than that of the named authors. My perspective was, honestly, that they had already done the work but were having trouble writing it up in a way that would make it publishable in a good journal in a reasonable amount of time. To me, a good rule of thumb is that if subtracting your contribution would result in a paper which (i) still exists and (ii) could -- with additional routine work -- be submitted to the same journal, then your contribution was not sufficiently substantial to warrant coauthorship. In the case at hand, a description my contributions to the paper appears in the acknowledgments...written by me!
There is another way to look at it that in my case made me even more convinced that I did the right thing. When contemplating adding an author, ask yourself what that person would gain by being added versus what the other authors would lose. In my case I would gain at most one more publication -- in fact, the third of a series in which I was a coauthor (the most senior one) on the first two. The two student coauthors would lose the prestige of having written a nice paper which does not have a faculty coauthor....as they deserve, because they did more than 95% of the mathematics of the paper on their own, without any guidance or direction from me. Adding myself as a coauthor would be undermining my own future plans, as I have and will again in the future talk about this work when recommending these students. But even if I was just a postdoc or a more senior grad student, fundamentally speaking how much credit can I get by being an author of a paper when as soon as anyone asks me about it I will feel honorbound to describe the minimal nature of my contributions?
I hope that by the end I have waded back into a point which is relevant to your question. Academics should not be in the business of maximizing the number of papers which appear with our name on them. I don't know of any academic field where this is really the route to substantial academic success: you get hired for the actual strength of your work, not the number of your papers. Adding yourself as an author to a paper that you mostly just copyedited and then made some minor comments from a position of lesser insight/expertise than some of the named authors: in so doing you're not actually adding strength to you research program, are you? Anyone who might have been impressed with the paper is going to be distinctly disappointed when they learn what you actually did, right? I know that in some fields (much more than mine...) the quantitative standards for publication are very high: in some branches of engineering and the sciences you most certainly want to ensure that you are writing a lot of papers rapidly. But then you want to really be involved in the work of those papers, right? We've seen on this site how easy it is to publish papers in the absence of actual academic content. It's too easy to be a plausible route to legitimate academic success in most parts of the world.
As I mentioned in a comment, you said that the one coauthor who is a native English speaker is the most junior author on the paper (a master's student). Well, that confluence of lightness of intellectual contribution and superior skill in this other domain makes that student the perfect person to do the copyediting, it seems to me. If their understanding is so limited that they can't even be trusted to edit the paper for non-content related issues, then I am worried about their being listed as an author at all: what could they have done?
Note that in some fields, "having written a nice paper which does not have a faculty coauthor" does not carry more prestige for students than co-authoring with faculty. And in some fields, depending on your reputation (current or future) in a particular area, adding your name to a paper can increase its reputation and reach, in which case the other authors would benefit from it. So weighing the relative gain to you/loss to other authors is not always a good way to make this kind of decision. (I agree with the rest of this answer, though.)
It seems the posture/attitude of mathematics with regards to authorship is admirably sane (I assume here you are to some extent speaking for prevailing practice in the mathematical community). This is also corroborated by discussions I've seen in places like Math Overflow. However, this is most definitely not the case in most academic areas. In most cases I'm aware of outside maths, the idea is indeed to get your name on as many publications as possible, by hook or by crook.
"Senior" academics consider they are entitled to co-authorship on papers authored by "subordinates" under any circumstances, and are outraged if anyone suggests otherwise.
Although discipline is relevant to the question, it (ideally!) shouldn't be. For that reason, the omission that I'm in astronomy is deliberate.
I think your "subtracting" guideline is too severe. If three authors each, independently, write one-third of a joint paper, but it would still be publishable with only two of the three parts, your idea might suggest that none of them should be an author! Of course, if two of them write 95%, and one only 5%, then the situation is more tricky. Students in particular should pay attention to the possibility of "impostor syndrome" (cf. Wikipedia) in which they downplay their achievements and feel they couldn't really have contributed to a paper in a significant way.
I do think the scenario here is an example of what I think is the best practice in math: based on your contributions, although they were somewhat minor, you were offered authorship. This allowed you to make the personal decision about whether to be an author, rather than having that decision made for you.
@Oswald: I agree: it is best for the contributor to decide whether the contributions were sufficient to merit coauthorship. About the rest: well yes, my rule of thumb is not perfect. But I did say submit to the same journal: if it is possible to remove 1/3 of a paper and not substantially decrease the overall quality, that's at least something to think about. But I think I should have included the proviso that if your contribution is not significantly less than any other author's, coauthorship is probably okay. Is it really a tricky situation if I contribute 5% of the content of a paper?
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179170 | Can a peer review be too positive?
I have recently been invited to peer review an article for the first time. I must admit I went into the process expecting to find at least a number of faults with the manuscript and the idea that I could rely at least somewhat on the number of reviews I have received on my own work to structure my own review.
However, it turns out that while this is in my field, this is a vastly different paper from the ones I ve been publishing. I tend to submit manuscripts that present some new kind of design or method, when the one I have been asked to review is an extraction and analysis of data, and it seems to me well done.
The target and the reason it was chosen is clear, they clearly present their methods and the reason they chose certain tools, the vast majority of references are recent and relevant, the topic current, and the results very clearly presented and formatted, accompanied by a great amount of figures and tables that either make it more comprehensive or condense data that would be tiring in-text. Even the level of english is good.
I find that I have no negative comments to make, but I am afraid I'll come off as unhelpful and too naive. However it seems to tick all the common boxes and even the fact that I have to search for something negative to write seems like it should be testimony enough that this is good work. The only thing that makes me less confident is that this is my first review. Is there such a thing as too positive? And what kind of impact would there be if, say, the view of the other reviewer was vastly different from mine?
Note: I am still a student but with significant research experience.
Related: I peer reviewed a paper and found it to be sound - technically and language-wise. How should I write the review report?
@Wrzlprmft thanks for the link, however most answers seem to say something along the lines of: its not just about the level of English which is neither the OPs or my point...
If there are N human beings who review papers, and each one reviews an average of n papers, and N is much bigger than n (which seems plausible), then for about N/n people (a lot of people) the first paper they review will be the best one they review!
It seems that the paper should be published as it is.
Maybe there are some other things you can comment on? Did the paper inspire you in any way, e.g., is there any additional analysis that would be nice (you don't need to suggest that the authors need to do it in this paper, just think about and discuss it)? Are there any additional connections to other work that you know that you could point out (maybe in your personal niche of expertise)? Those would be useful for the authors even if you start the review "I'm happy to recommend acceptance as is".
The purpose of a review isn't to praise or condemn a work, but to help the authors improve it as needed and to help the editor make a decision about publishing.
Your review should say what you think and if you don't find things to improve, you can say that. But for the editor's benefit, say what it is that makes you recommend publishing: correctness, utility, innovation,...
The only way you sound naive is if other reviewers disagree with you, which could happen, of course, if you are new to a field. You suggest that isn't the case, so you should be fine.
I know people who write things that are very difficult to improve. It is a combination of skill, insight, and experience that puts them in that position.
It is not that it is some kind of revolutionary work. But it was a simple, straightforward concept and the execution very good. There is not anything for me to judge but the methods and presentation. Should I only include such comments when addressing the editor and be more brief when addressing the authors?
That can work, but you have to judge it.
You can recommend accept from the first review. Something like:
The target and the reason it was chosen is clear, they clearly present their methods and the reason they chose certain tools, the vast majority of references are recent and relevant, the topic current, and the results very clearly presented and formatted, accompanied by a great amount of figures and tables that either make it more comprehensive or condense data that would be tiring in-text. Even the level of english is good. I am happy to recommend acceptance as-is.
is good. It wouldn't be too positive either, since accept recommendations (either at once or later in the review process) generally read like this.
What if the other reviewer thinks very differently from you? Then there'll be a problem for the editor to solve. Chances are they'll make a revise decision and the authors will concentrate on the other reviewers' comments. There's a chance you'll be invited to review the revision in this case, although the editor can also decide not to invite you since you've already recommended acceptance.
It's unlikely the editor thinks less of you even in this situation. After all, you clearly read the paper. Divergent reviews are also not that rare - as a very rough estimate there are a few per 100 manuscripts handled. The editor might get suspicious if the other review goes "this paper is so bad I'm outraged the other reviewer recommends acceptance", but given your assessment that seems very improbable.
Do you feel qualified to judge this paper? The journal believes you're qualified, since they asked you to review it. If you feel qualified, then don't hesitate to express your enthusiasm for the paper and don't worry about how you will appear to others. I think you could only appear naive if you don't really understand the paper and you think it's wonderful when it's not. Only you can be the judge that.
It's quite common for reviewers to disagree about a paper, sometimes rather strongly. That can be confusing for an author, so be thorough and clear in your feedback so the author understands your reasoning, especially if you request changes (which isn't the case here).
The purpose of your review is to help the author, the journal, the field, and readers by offering commentary that ensures that only high-quality papers get published and that the author has made the paper as good as it can be. If you can't think of even one way to improve the paper then say that. That would be unusual, but it's certainly possible.
Thank you for being conscientious. That will be appreciated by all concerned.
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161427 | History MA Thesis: Advisor wants my research sent to her
So, in my planning phase of my MA thesis in history, my advisor says I should have my research to her by X date. What does this mean? What does this look like? I asked her and she answered me with three more questions. That is what she does, she expects you to find the answer to most any question you pose.
So, I guess I am asking, what do I give her? Primary and secondary? Everything I have looked at or just the important things? I have like 10 or so pages of primary research that is mostly quotes or paraphrases for reference when I begin writing. Do I give her that?
Please explain what are Primary and secondary. You call "quotes or paraphrases for reference" primary, then what are the secondary stuff?
Have you tried talking to other current or past students of your advisor? I've been a student in 4 different graduate programs, and in each one of them there was quite a bit of department gossip by students pertaining to all kinds of things about the faculty members. However, the culture and climate where you are might be very different from my experiences (U.S. math graduate programs, but graduate students I've known in other fields say the same, especially in the humanities fields), and thus perhaps more context about your situation would probably be helpful.
Unless you have some evidence that the professor engages in improper conduct (stealing the student's work), I suggest that you give her everything she asks for. There is no downside to this if the advisor is honest and helpful. The most likely explanation would be that she is trying hard to keep you on track and wants early warning if you seem to be wandering.
You may not think this is necessary, and it may not be, but some students do wander and lose focus.
So, assuming a good and fair advisor, sharing can shorten your path to success.
But, if you have evidence that she is not a good actor, you should find a way to work with someone who is. Bad actors are rare (I hope) but they do exist.
Upvoted, but I think the question isn't about whether to trust the adviser. It's "given that I"m not finished, just have some progress, what to send her?"
@gnometorule. Yes, I think you are correct, but wanted to cover the bases. Too many horror stories on this site.
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13357 | Does some degree of stubbornness help for a researcher?
Doing research requires exploring a tree of different ideas and then, upon failures, tracking back to some extent, up to giving up on the whole project and changing topics (or even quitting your PhD). You might err on both sides: change approach too much, give up too early, or too late. (See for instance this answer or Half good and some not good results in a research paper?). Most importantly, though, often you won't know that you'll actually succeed until you did, and things might look bleak until then.
Does some degree of stubbornness help being a researcher (I couldn't extract an answer so easily from 2)? Lacking that, do you know any metaheuristics to approach this decision?
EDIT: I read this idea off the mention of "stubbornness and self-delusion" in this rant - and I've observed this trait in at least some researchers.
EDIT 2: an answer suggested that I talk about persistence instead. And probably that's the right compromise and what you actually should have. But I prefer the more provocative phrasing, also because I've anecdotical experiences of stubbornness as a "professional risk" of the profession.
It certainly helps me.
Although I understand what you are getting at, I would like to say that stubbornness is perhaps not a good trait for a scientist. My dictionary provides the following: Stubborn: Having or showing dogged determination not to change one's attitude or position on something, esp. in spite of good arguments or reasons.
Clearly a scientist needs doggedness and stamina to endure long and hard experiments, field work, often monotonous work on data and theory, as well as other issues met in the workplace. To be able to change footing in light of new evidence is, however, an important trait. So being stubborn, in the sense of the definition, would be very counter productive in our effort to have science progress. Persistence and perseverance are perhaps synonyms that better reflect the traits you aim for.
So, yes it is important to be able to endure. Being a scientist is usually based on a deep appreciation for the subject and the research, which is why it is possible to endure the pressures that exist. It is a bit like being a top athlete, very few will excel without a deep love for what they do. As soon as you lose the drive it is difficult to continue because of the demands. Maintaining the drive is therefore a very important aspect of academia and the workplace in which you act.
You're right, "stubbornness" might be too provocative. That's why I emphasized that you can change tactics too early or too late.
I've revised a bit the question, though not exactly in the way you suggest (although I agree with your conclusion). Overall, stubbornness helps to avoid changing (too much) your position because of seemingly good arguments. But probably, it's enough to not lose confidence (whichever way you manage) and simply analyze the arguments.
✓ determination. ✓ skepticism. ✗ stubbornness.
Yes, you've got to be stubborn in order to get results, because everyone encounters failures and roadblocks. Giving up too early can withhold good results, but aimlessly slogging towards a dead end can be a waste of time.
I only give up on something when I can justify why I should give up.
Identify the cause of the difficulty.
Find out what you need to do to solve the roadblock.
Assess whether it is feasible to solve the problem with the available time and resources.
Most failures are still useful to you, because you can usually find out why those ideas did not work. Learn from your mistakes, and (if appropriate) publish why a method did not work as expected (as a prelude to a subsequent method that did) so that others can learn as well.
As @Peter Jansson makes clear in his answer, stubbornness may not be a good quality to have, but tenacity and perseverance certainly are. See this post by Matt Might for an insightful look at why PhD students need persistence and tenacity in order to survive and thrive in what can be an exercise in long-term frustration and failure before reaching success.
Thanks for the great link, I'm perusing Matt Might's blog now.
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104643 | What is purpose and meaning of "Propositions" in PhD thesis?
I found a weird and intuitively strange document that is submitted with the thesis. It is called
Propositions To accompanying a dissertation on the.....
and it is such a strange thing included, that maybe it is a cultural thing specific to Dutch academia? Its content is as follows:
To cycle up a steep hillside one needs to accumulate strength beforehand. This is a similar process to planning one’s work. Democracy is forbidden in science. Doing science is similar to the Chinese martial arts (Kungfu). Alongside learning and practice, both are capable of creating physiological or psychological disorder.
In the end, this proposition finishes with
The contention is that these propositions lend themselves to opposition and are defendable, and have been approved as such by promoter [promoter’s name] and co-promoter [co-promoter’s name].
for me, this is so strange and not understandable. Why would this be submitted with the thesis? Please, can someone explain me the meaning?
The formatting that you originally used is intended for reproducing exact formatting, such as if you want to discuss code or the layout of a document. Please use > this is how to format a quote to format quotes.
@StellaBiderman a wanted those quote in the way they wont be indexed in google
Apparently, your attempt to block the quote being indexed by Google failed since it's already indexed and placed near the mentioned paper.
This is indeed related to customs in Dutch academia. Precise practice and regulations vary between universities, but usually there is the opportunity (or even duty) to provide this list of propositions, usually distributed as an inserted leaflet with the thesis. The propositions themselves vary from serious scientific statements (typically related to the content of the thesis), to more "humorous" statements like the example you posted. These statements can be part of the defense, i.e. the committee can ask questions about them and the candidate has to defend this thesis. In practice (insofar they do not relate to the thesis itself), this only happens when the committee runs out of "real" questions. This can happen because for the defense in the Netherlands a fixed amount of time is prescribed, which cannot be shortened.
In my experience, some 25 years ago, the committee usually did not have enough time for each member to ask one question each, much less getting to the propositions. This was in physics/materials science, where a good technical answer might take a while.
@JonCuster: yes, I think I have only seen it happen once out of 10 or so defences I visited. Certainly not very common.
@JonCuster weird, this was part physics/materials science thesis
Hmmm. Actually, I think it is very cool.
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16767 | Definitions in Glossary?
While writing my thesis, I was putting down some definitions of terms as they are used in the scope of the work.
Does it make sense to move them to the glossary and write their definition as well?
Looks like the Glossary is used mostly for acronyms in the thesis/diss I have seen.
Yes, it makes sense.
Doing so will add value to your thesis, if you do it well, and help the readers. Most people don't do this because they think of it too late or do not have the energy. Start doing it early and do it well, or don't do it at all.
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11297 | Optimizing a thesis writing workflow for Bachelor and Master theses
We are at the moment designing a document which we can hand out to Bachelor and Master students to give them a general idea on how to efficiently write a thesis. We also do this to make correcting easier for us. We are working in the field of cell biology. A thesis in our field is usually structured like this:
Abstract
Introduction
Materals and Methods
Results
Discussion
Acknowledgements
What we've come up so far is the following list of best practices. This is based on our experiences with previous students and our own theses.
You can already start writing your materials and methods (M&M) section during your regular lab schedule. This will save you time later on.
You will have discussions with your supervisors on your results, in which you will decide on what to include in your thesis.
Start by making the figures for your results and a corresponding caption.
Lay out bullet points of your results. Afterwards, start writing the text around these bullet points. After finishing, send this part to your supervisor for proofreading.
Proceed with the discussion. Again, lay out bullet points, but this time, before writing, clarify each point with your supervisor. This will prevent you from having to rewrite large parts.
Continue with the introduction and, if you haven’t written it yet, M&M.
The introduction should contain everything the reader has to know in order to understand why you did what you did and what the results mean. Be brief and clear.
Finalize by writing an abstract (“Zusammenfassung”). This has to be written and edited very carefully because it will be the part most people read. Your thesis also needs to include an english abstract which is an exact translation of the german one.
Don’t forget the acknowledgements (“Danksagung”). This is the second part everyone will read, and it’s extremely unpolite if you don’t have one. It doesn’t have to be formal and can be personal.
My question: Is there something important missing and would you recommend things differently? Maybe you could elaborate how you handle this in your lab.
It is a very good set of advice. There are two very practical areas that seem unaddressed and that are, in my experience, somewhat… problematic with some students:
Proof-reading. Find someone, other than yourself, who will do a final proofreading of the thesis for language and clarity. Not necessarily someone from your field, but checking typos, missing figures, acronyms that are never defined, that sort of stuff… That person should not be you, because when you've spent so much time writing the thesis, you won't even see these details any more when you read it.
Also, check with your supervisor what are his expectations regarding proofreading/corrections. It depends on your university and the supervisor himself, but in many cases they will want to read it themselves, and possibly offer some remarks and corrections.
Scheduling. You are aware of the submission deadline, but mind that the final stuff takes time. In particular, if your supervisor has to read it, make sure to give him enough time to do so. So, start with a clear set of intermediate deadlines, and if you start to miss them, take action! Nothing's as bad as procrastinating ’til the last day thinking “I can still write that in 24 hours if I get to it”.
I think your list looks great, but I would suggest adding a couple of "soft" recommendations; e.g.,
If you are struggling with a certain topic, idea, or way forward, ask for assistance as early as possible after you have exhausted your ideas. Do try to solve problems on your own, but don't let that take too much time that you fall behind.
I don't know much about the cell biology field, but do your papers normally have "Related Work" sections? I assume they must also have a References (or Bibliography) section?
For me, the difficulty was that the research part was too interesting, so I ended up writing papers, trying new techniques etc., but neglected the thesis writing. If you have students like me, make them to write some parts of their theses before they are allowed to do more research in the lab.
Of course there are departments where a thesis basically consists of those papers stacked together plus some minimal elaboration. And hey, why not, DRY after all
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13921 | How to check citations and references match in a manually prepared document with APA author (year) citations?
I like to use bibliographic software (e.g., Endnote, BibTex, etc.) to manage my references. However, sometimes I am working on an existing article that has been written with APA citations and references written manually. For example, I might be working with a collaborator who has written the first draft or I'm adapting a student thesis for journal publication. As a result, citations get added and deleted, and there are reference errors: (1) citations present with no reference; reference needs to be added (2) references present with not citation; reference needs to be deleted.
So, a common task when such documents are being finalised is to go through the document and pull out all the citations and check them against the reference list and fix any errors. This is generally a frustrating task, because (1) unless you are careful errors can be made, and (2) if the document is edited further, the document may need to be rechecked.
Question
What is an efficient strategy for identifying citations without references and references without citations in a document with author (year) style citations (e.g., APA, Harvard)?
Are there any automated tools that perform this checking?
I would rewrite the document in LaTeX, using BiBTeX and apacite.
In the "old days" this was what had to be done manually. I simply printed the reference list (one-sided print) and went through the text and checked the references I passed in the text and checked the corresponding one in the reference list. This would take maybe 20-30 minutes(?). It is clear that this is easier to do on paper than on screen but it is a very safe way to do the checking. In the end you will (hopefully not) end up with references missing ticks in either the text or the list.
So considering, the time it takes, doing the manual check on paper copies, is perhaps boring but not a terrible loss. Sometimes you pick up on other errors as well. Although one should not rely on external help to solve ones own problems, many journals use copy-editors that check for inconsistencies so there may be a back-up for the stray miss.
As for software, I cannot point at one directly. It would have to be able to match first author name and the year between text and the reference list. I does not sound like an impossible task but I would probably just do the job the manual way in the few cases where this is necessary. You can also ask your collaborator to do a separate initial check (as "punishment" for not using bibliographic software). In addition, if you author in LaTeX then writing the bibliography directly with \bibitem and using \cite (or natbib cite commands) commands will at least do half the job.
Take a look at
www.keytectype.co.uk/keypreps.htm
KeyPreps contains tools for matching citation to references and vice versa for any Word doument.
It gives you a report such
"The citation Smith 2009 has no corresponding entry in the refernence list"
"The reference Bloggs and Layabout (2009) is not cited"
etc
30 day free trial available of the complete KeyPreps package
The following online solution is (currently) free: https://reciteworks.com/check
From the website:
Recite checks that your in text citations match the reference list at the end of your work.
Recite is optimised for those who use APA or Harvard referencing styles.
Recite may be of most use to those who don't use reference management software like Endnote or RefWorks.
Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.
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64886 | What is the backup strategy of online-only journals/repositories on the very long term?
Disseminating printed documents in many places on the planet is a very robust "backup" strategy for scientific literature. Printed documents (and other forms of ink-on-paper documents), or fragments of them, are known to last for millennia and with a high redundancy (many copies spread in many geographic locations), the chances of being able to reconstruct the original content is high.
All current electronic data storage require continuous catering (electrical power and servers maintenance) or frequent re-copying (i.e. of laser discs, magnetic hard drives, etc.) to last more than a few decades.
How do online-only journals and articles repositories intend to ensure very long-term archival of their content?
For interest see also: http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/28505/computer-that-lasts-for-centuries (Speculative)
@Oxinabox looks interesting, to clarify I'm interested in the actual policy that journals have nowadays. I understand that "They have none" is a possible answer.
I asked specifically about the arXiv policy here: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/47416/what-are-the-archiving-policies-of-arxiv
I'm seriously tempted to ask the symmetric question: "Disseminating online documents in many places on the planet is a very robust strategy for scientific literature... How do paper-only journals intend to ensure very long-term archival of their content?"
@JeffE wouldn't the answer to that be the same way they have been for decades?
@JeffE ... For paper archives: One change has been to used acid-free paper, so that it takes much longer to become brittle and disintegrate.
@JeffE the answer to that question is stated in my post.
Many modern libraries have developed a habit of discarding paper versions of documents because they have electronic versions that take much less storage space. Books go out of print and are damaged, destroyed, lost, or discarded, and publishers go out of business, sometimes before their content can be digitally preserved. My question stands.
@GEdgar: acid free paper is good, but what do we know about long-term preservation of laser printing? Most Springer or Elsevier journals are now printed with on-demand laser printing, and given their look (at least in math) I would bet it's not the top quality in that technology.
@JeffE it's true that if libraries start to burn their books, that will weaken the strategy. Although I'm sure not everyone everywhere is actively destroying printed content. But so the assumption is that there will be infinite monetary support to maintain the online repositories?
No, of course not. But neither do I assume that there will be infinite monetary support to maintain repositories containing megatons of cellulose.
@CapeCode: I haven't heard of any libraries burning their books, but many of them sell books that haven't been checked out for a certain number of years. Of course in that case the books still exist, somewhere, but the content is less effectively preserved for posterity if it's scattered all over the world.
@CapeCode Hosting physical books costs money https://leverpress.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CourantandNielsen.pdf suggests 0.86$ per year for the cheapest way to store books and 4.26$ for storage at a place where it's easily accessible by library users. The amount of money you need to maintain online repositories is orders of magnitude less.
Most publishers use a preservation network such as Portico or LOCKSS. The principle is that numerous electronic copies are saved, and released in case of certain events (e.g. the publisher stops permanently giving access to the works).
Open access journals and article repositories have a good option of ensuring very-long term access that is similar to how printed documents were handled in the past: Wide dissemination over several repositories.
In the life sciences, open access articles are often deposited in additional repositories by publishers themselves, for example at Pubmed Central or it's European equivalent Europe PMC. I think also additional repositories actively mirror some open access journals - at least I frequently seem to get results of such additional repositories through internet searches. That means even if the publisher goes bankrupt and shuts down its servers, the papers should still be easily accessible through these mirror repositories. See for example Biomed Central's statement on permanency of articles.
This strategy is only possible for open access journals, since only those typically allow redistribution of their articles and thus permit the mirror repositories to act as they do. I have no idea how commercial, non-open access publishers handle this problem.
This strategy is only possible for open access journals not really, subscription journals also post pre- or postprints on external repositories.
@CapeCode The key word in your sentence is allow. If they wanted to ensure long-term availability, journals would require wide dissemination over several repositories.
Besides, how is dissemination over several repositories better than having multiple replicates of a database on several commercial servers?
@CapeCode Because it's several institutions as well. If a publisher goes bankrupt, I'd expect all replicates to become inaccessible simultaneously, if no specific counter-measures are in place.
Currently lib.gen/sci-hub build an archive of all papers and textbooks. Publishers fight the legal battle to stop the project but it's highly unlikely that they will stop lib.gen/sci-hub and it's various mirrors in every country of the world. Elsevier might win the suit in the US but they probably know why they don't pick the fight in Russia where the lib.gen/sci-hub servers reside.
There are applications like IBM's Watson that work better if they have access to more data. That means that companies like IBM, Google, Baidu and Facebook have an interest to have all the data of all scientific papers.
Isn't it expensive to store all that data? No, it isn't. In 2014 Facebook added 4 petabyte of data per day to it's database. That's likely more data than all scientific papers together. All the arxiv PDF's together are 270 GB.
This doesn't seem to answer the question, either at a literal level (sci-hub is certainly not how most journals intend to do long-term archiving) or in spirit (sci-hub faces exactly the same long-term archiving challenges as publishers do, plus the added difficulty of not having all the content in the first place).
Note that the 270 GB figure is apparently as of February 2012, and likely is quite a bit larger by now.
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64840 | How can we fight junk science?
Fake science is hurting academia and society at large in many ways. Legitimate scientific literature is being drowned in an ocean of junk journals and articles. Almost everywhere in the world, there seems to be simulacrums of science where people wear pompous titles, pay to publish seemingly scholarly literature, go to conferences, etc. but produce 0 contribution to human knowledge. This might be still manageable now because legitimate scientists can easily weed out the junk, but if the amount continues to increase it could go out of control.
At stake are the trust from the general public, the appropriate use of public and private research funds and the advancement of science in general.
Who knows, we might be going towards a new Dark Age but where science is not hindered by powerful religious and aristocratic organizations but rather by an overdose of junk.
What can be done at the individual or institutional level to fight junk science?
Edit: by junk science I mean pseudo-science (i.e. work done with flawed or frivolous methodology), deliberately faked results, and generally very low quality research. I'm not interested in a debate about what is junk and what's not, I'm looking for tangible actions that an individual can take or advocate as an academic, member of a professional/scientific society, employee of a university, etc. very much like what Murphy or Thomas wrote in their comments.
Produce more good science.
First and foremost, you should clearly define the term "junk science".
I think it is important to distinguish between pseudo-science which is based on flawed methodology and deliberately faked scientific results which are produced/bought to support certain political/lobbyist agendas (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merchants_of_Doubt).
While this is an important question, I am not sure that this site is a good place for it: it's a topic for discussion and debate rather than clear answers.
"Produce more good science" is the one right answer. Don't bother with the other stuff pulling things down. Good science work as exemplar; it's the same with leading by example. It's slow, but it works best on the long run.
Ultimately the junk is like pop music; it's popular for the time, but in the long run no one will remember it. Be a Mozart, not a Justin Bieber; that's all one can really hope for.
I don't think this question is too unclear. It lays out the problem and asks for what measures individuals can take to improve things.
Simple ones would include pre-registering your experiments, call out bad science when you see it, publicly call out bad methods and bad data, encourage your colleges to follow best practices. Attempt to replicate what you can and always publish your results, positive or negative.
The edit doesn't match the question, in my opinion. Much of the work referred to in the question is likely correct; it's just trivial or irrelevant.
Teach critical thinking and the scientific method. Skip the junk science. That really is the only answer.
Also, never forget who the true enemy is.
@Wildcard I don't understand what this comic is trying to convey.
@CapeCode the mad scientis' true enemy is ignorance. The alt text says: "In order to destroy one's enemy, one must destroy its place to exist". If the robot educates the young, ignorance won't find a place in their heads.
@Devin unfortunately, homeopathy is as popular as Mendelssohn.
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4984 | Someone cited my paper in an irrelevant manner
I checking my google scholar page, when I noticed that one of my papers, of which I am a co-author, had been cited by an unknown academic. I read the article, which was on gene regulatory networks, and my paper is in computational neuroscience. The reference wording doesn't make any sense though. The only connection is the concept of an attractor network.
If I met this person at a conference, and he went about relating my paper to his work, I would call nonsense. This must happen to more well known academics all the time, so is it best just to let these things slide? I suppose if I was really famous and getting 200 citations a week it would be too hard to track every bad reference down, but I only have a few.
Don't take this the wrong way, but in the cut-throat world of academic papers, having only a few might make you want to leave it. If someone digs, they'll see "Wow, this person cited him/her for no reason; awkward" with the chance of negative impact on you being minimal. If you did have the citation removed for whatever reason, then that's one less citation you have. Like you said, you're not exactly getting 200 a week - a single citation might be important for crossing some threshold. Not that people should be putting such emphasis on a single number, but they seem to be more and more.
I would be glad someone in another field had read my paper and was citing it. It wouldn't bother me whether the reference was relevant or not. Maybe reading your paper inspired them in some unrelated way. Then again, I've just finished my PhD and every citation counts. But I don't see much point in being antagonistic.
@Phil, citations may be better overall, but this will confuse readers. If your thesis was 'Evidence shows that roses are red, violets are blue', and I wrote: "Flowers, see Phil(2013), are by pollinated by bees". You might say my citation totally missed the specific impact of your work. If I wanted a reference to flowers, I should be citing an authoritative field guide. My paper was on a special class of attractor networks, which have been around for decades. The author should have cited a seminal paper in the field instead of mine. Any reader would likely get confused about my work was about.
@Ksiresh Nice example. I once had someone cite one of my papers in support of the statement that plants need light :) Had I been asked to review the paper, I would have pointed out how silly that was (and I have done this when reviewing papers with similarly egregious citations to my own work), but since I wasn't asked to review it, I'm happy to have the citation. A couple more like that, and my h-index will increment.
Well, what can you do? Not much. I can confirm that it does indeed happen… sometime people even cite a paper of yours to justify a conclusion that you have not reached in the paper, and even one that you strongly disagree with.
One option is to let it slide. You are not responsible for the content of papers that refer to yours, or the accuracy of their citations for that matter. The paper author is responsible, and to some extent, the journal’s referees. (I tend to spend quite some time checking citations when I review papers, but that might just be me being overly sensitive to this particular issue.)
Another option is to contact the paper’s corresponding author, and ask him point blank. You have read his paper, and you are unclear as to the extent of the connection between his writing and yours. See what it gives.
Finally, in the current way academic research works, you do not really have any mean to call out their behaviour publicly. I do not believe you should, either.
Thanks for your pragmatic response. I do agree with your opinion that is not my business to call them out on it.
There is a huge gulf between what would happen in an ideal world and what the norms are in this case.
"Ideally", you'd get in touch with the author(s), explain that you don't see what their paper has to do with yours; they'd explain why they think it is relevant or agree that it's not, and modify the paper accordingly. (Almost everything is online, so modification after publication is a possibility.)
In the actual world, citations are of benefit to you, even if they are stupid. Journals are mostly not set up to remove citations easily. No one will check, and if they do check, the detriment will be to the citer, not the cited. So you "shouldn't" do anything about it, and the author would probably be quite surprised if you did (especially if you weren't discreet about it). If you really feel like re-calculating your h-index with that paper removed, go for it. But this sort of thing happens all the time (I think all of my papers with over about 50 citations have been cited stupidly at least once), so you're free to just consider it part of the measurement error inherent in looking at citations.
Incidentally, the ideal isn't necessarily the pragmatic ideal. Doing anything important on the basis of small differences in numbers of citations is fraught with error even if all citations are sensible ones. There's a reasonable argument to be made that you shouldn't bother unless the paper is in your field and is citing you in support of something that your paper showed the converse of. Getting your work exactly backwards to advance their own idea isn't doing you or them any favors, so you should try to work that out.
"Almost everything is online, so modification after publication is a possibility." - no, please don't introduce that aspect into the system. If I reference a paper now, I need to be sure that in a few years, readers will still find the same paper that I reference, not something modified. Almost everything is online, but that does by no means imply it could or should be modified. (Adding new revisions is another topic, but the unchanged original version would still be around then.)
@O.R.Mapper - I was assuming robust version control in our ideal world. Also, if you care that your reference actually mean anything, people who follow it should get any erratum up front, so they can immediately tell if your reference still supports whatever you wanted it to.
@O.R.Mapper I guess in the ideal world, papers would be published with version control and your reference would point to a particular version.
Let it go. There are probably many times you are inappropriately left out. A few times when you are improperly cited. And some times where they didn't understand what you were doing. As long as there is not some clear pattern--for example your former advisor pushing people to cite you (really him)--it's not worth dealing with it. There is just so, so, sooo much imprecision in the arena of citations. You will drive yourself crazy if you obsess on individual instances of citation. (Note, I'm not saying not to worry about general trends...they have validity...but don't obsess on individual data points.)
is it best just to let these things slide?
Possibly. It's certainly a reasonable thing to do. Also, if you have many citations of that paper, I'd definitely say let this slide.
The reference wording doesn't make any sense though. The only connection is the concept of an attractor network.
So, the references makes a bit of sense, but the wording doesn't. Unless that paper makes an invalid claim regarding the contents of your paper, that's not so bad. Certainly it doesn't reflect poorly on you.
I would call nonsense.
You're being much too harsh. Maybe the author typed in the wrong citation? Maybe they meant to reword the text near the citation and forgot to do it when submitting the final version? etc. Give people the benefit of the doubt.
If this really bugs you, email the authors of the citing paper, tell them you noticed the citation, and ask them if they could explain briefly in what context they used your results (i.e. not giving them your impression beforehand). If they don't respond - let it go. If they do explain, and get it wrong, then you can write back saying "Oh, but you wrote that XYZ while in fact my paper is ABC"; note you are not judging their abilities/skills/intelligence, just politely pointing out a discrepancy. If they at all care, this is the point they might consider a revision and/or an erratum, and/or a change in future uses of the same text/ideas (e.g. journal version of conference paper, placement in thesis or book chapter).
It's still quite likely that they'll tell you "Oh, well, maybe you're right, but what's done is done". You'll have to live with that, I'm afraid.
Additionally to what F'x suggested, I would suggest you to discuss the details of this situation in a personal website or blog.
I strongly advise against that. Don’t get drawn into a flamewar when the benefits are unclear (what would you gain that you cannot from sending an email to the citing author?) while the risk is very real (at the very least, being perceived as overly critical or rude).
I think it is useful to give other alternatives to the person asking the question. I just proposed one. For instance, you may approach the author of the paper citing your work, and then you can publish the dicussion on a personal website. You might tell to the other author what your intention is.
you most definitely need the other author’s permission to post an email exchange online
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8099 | Why do some reviewers mention their decision explicitly?
Recently, some of the reviews I received mentioned their decision at the end of the review (i.e. 'I recommend acceptance of the paper'), while others do not have such statements.
What is the point of adding the decision statement while the overall evaluation (i.e. on EasyChair system) explicitly says it? Is it just the reviewer's habit?
Why not include the recommendation in the report?
@JeffE I will preface this by saying that I am not an editor but through conversations I have had with editors in my field (biology - ecology), they seem to prefer that the specific recommendation (accept/reject) go only to the editor and not the authors. This is because the decision comes from the editor based on the recommendation of the reviewers. If the reviewers reveal their recommendation to the authors, then it potentially makes it harder for the editor (e.g, both reviewers say accept but after considering both reviews as a whole, the editor decides reject).
@KennyPeanuts: This is an argument for including the recommendation in the report, not against. If both reviewers recommend acceptance, the editor had better have a damn good reason to reject. Of course there are circumstances where rejection is the appropriate decision, but then the editor needs to own that decision.
@JeffE I agree that the editor should always own the decision. The editor should always reference evidence from the reviews that they used to make their decision regardless of whether the reviewers revealed their specific recommendation. In the end it is the content of the review that is most valuable to the author. The recommendation by the reviewer is made with incomplete information and should be taken as just a recommendation.
Typically I include an explicit recommendation in the report to be shared with the authors when I have a strong opinion, but not necessarily otherwise. In the former case, the editor can still decide either way (referees make recommendations, not decisions), but if they disagree with me at least the authors will know for sure what the referee thought.
what is the point of adding the decision statement while the overall evaluation (i.e. on EasyChair system) explicitly says it? is it just the reviewer habit?
It may be habit, and it may reflect uncertainty about what information from the web form will be available to the authors.
The only reason I can think of to include a outright recommendation the authors can see is if the "feel" of my comments and the decision don't necessarily align naturally. For example, if I've issued a lot of criticisms, but most of those are "With fine tuning, this would be an outstanding paper", or hoping to see what is an adequate treatment of really spectacular data turn into a great treatment, I might not that despite the page of suggestions, it could probably fly as is.
At the same time, I've reviewed a paper with a very small number of comments, but in those comments have been tempted to use words like 'fatally flawed'. So including a 'I would reject this paper' comment might help with "There are only three things you need to change, but you need to take them seriously."
As far as I can see there are two main reasons:
The editor usually isn't an expert in every area. Adding an explicit recommendation (accept, reject, ...) may help the editor.
An explicit recommendation (accept, reject, ...) is the reviewer's ultimate summary. The reviewer should only provide it if they can defend it and feel it's fair. In that sense adding the recommendation strengthens the review.
I am down-voting this because the question is asking about a recommendation that the authors can see. One always has to provide an explicit recommendation for the editor. But more importantly most of the editors that I know frown on writing the recommendation in the review for the authors because the editor should be the one communicating the decision to the authors not the reviewers.
@KennyPeanuts So you don't think that adding the recommendation of the reviewer adds more significance to the review? In my experience the reviewers' opinions are usually included.
This may be a difference in our disciplines but as I say in my comment above to JeffE, essentially all of the editors that I have talked to in my field (biology - ecology) have preferred that the reviewer only indicate the specific recommendation to the editor and not the authors. This is because the editor makes a decision based on a consideration of the content of all the reviews. It is not simply a vote by the reviewers. If the recommendation is included in the review it makes it harder for the editor to go against that recommendation if the other reviews warrant it.
@KennyPeanuts, I share JeffE's reaction. If that is the rationale for your field's practices, frankly, I find them bordering on dysfunctional. If the editor wants to go against the recommendation of the reviewers, maybe he/she should feel a little pressure to justify the decision; that seems only appropriate and reasonable to me. I find it hard to be sympathetic to the idea of "hiding the ball" from the author, to preserve the editor's power to hide the reasons for the decision. Perhaps I just care more about authors than about editors, and view editors as public servants.
@D.W. I guess I don't place as much value on the actual recommendation as I do on the content of the review. No one is advocating hiding the ball. A proper review should be comprehensive in its evaluation and provide an unambiguous picture of the paper's strengths and weaknesses. Nor should the editor hide his or her reasons for a decision. The editor should always include the evidence that was used to arrive at the decision. The rec. made by the reviewer is not made with all of the info available so it's not really that valuable to the author, regardless of who cares more about whom.
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87208 | Do we know what proportion of scientific reproducibility issues are fraud-related?
A few days ago there was an article on the LSE blog about scientific reproducibility which made little sense to me until I realised they were equating 'low reproducibility' with 'scientific fraud':
http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2016/07/21/could-blockchain-provide-the-technical-fix-to-solve-sciences-reproducibility-crisis/
I've tended to assume that most reproducibility issues are poor reporting of experiments, poor recording of external factors, poor statistical analysis inflating p-values etc but I realise that I don't have much evidence to back that up apart from personal experience. Are there any studies that report the relative proportion of irreproducible experimental results resulting from fraud versus poor experimental/statistical/reporting standards?
Could be very difficult to distinguish. For example, with statistical analysis, poor understanding, lazy implementation or genuine intent to deceive could all lead to exactly the same result.
Philosophically, the kind of study you have in mind seems nearly impossible to execute properly, since fraud is inherently hard to distinguish from mere lack of reproducibility. On top of poor experimenting/reporting, one aspect is that an irreproducible result can be always be an outcome of chance/randomness (p=0.05 means that it's randomness in 1 case out of 20).
"Are there any studies that report the relative proportion of irreproducible experimental results resulting from fraud versus poor experimental/statistical/reporting standards?" How would you establish the ground truth for such a study? The only people that know whether a certain result was fraud or just sloppy are the authors, and they won't tell.
Sometimes, mistakes can be told from deliberate fraud, as the Poincaré and the fraudulent baker anecdote illustrates.
In principle, one could compare (1) the rate of papers in field X where replication was attempted but failed to (2) the rate of papers in field X that were retracted due to discovered fraud. That would be a poor proxy for a comparison between unreproducible papers (most of which are untested) and fraudulent papers (most of which are undetected), but it might be interesting in its own right.
To go further than @lighthousekeeper's comment, you actually expect many unreproducible results to be published without any fraud---see publication bias.
While not an answer, this question is essentially about how one could carry out such a study.
@Kimball Even without publication bias, some studies conducted on null effects will show positive or negative effects because of randomness.
@lighthousekeeper I would assume that many fraudsters are trying to publish "valid results" but are simply too lazy to do the necessary work. If their intuitions happen to correct, then their fraudulent results would actually be reproducible.
Statically speaking, once you get a big enough sample, you will have false positives. How do you then deal with that? Obligatory XKCD comic
I very much doubt we "know' this in the empirical sense, as:
As a scientific problem, the "reproducibility crisis" is fairly new, and we're still developing the methods to really understand it.
It's very hard to distinguish fraud from error except in the most egregious cases. You can say, for example, that there's clearly some bias in a body of work in a field, but it's hard to say that any particular paper is clearly biased.
For example, is a convergence error that you chose to ignore because it was "pretty close" to the convergence criteria you set for a statistical model an error, or fraud? How about using Bayesian priors that turn out to be stronger than was probably justified? How do you distinguish fraud in the form of "nudging" a result over the line into significance from a largely insignificant effect being estimated with error that sometimes crosses the null.
Frankly, there's not even, IMO, a solid definition of "irreproducible". Is that "Finds a statistically significant result"? "Effect estimates are on the same side of the null"? "Our clinical/policy conclusions would be the same"?
Lacking even that, I'd assert it would be particularly difficult to attempt to assess fraud vs. error in any systematic fashion.
It would also be an exceedingly difficult study to run, as you'd need the cooperation of a bunch of people who comitted fraud.
If you are asking what percent of experiments are reported as reproducible, when in fact they are not, I would think it is very, very low. The scientific method defines reproducible as an experiment that can be recreated, or performed by others, using the exact method. If these scientists have any conflicts of interests, they must be reported. After any trials of an experiment/study it is reviewed by another group of scientist. If a experiment isn't peer reviewed, it isn't a legitimate study to begin with. It is unlikely that you would be able to find a few, let alone a large portion of the scientific community to be in coercion and conspire to fake a theory.
That's clearly not what OP is asking, for two reasons: firstly, because the question talks about irreproducible results rather than irreproducible experiments, and secondly because the contrast is not reproducible vs irreproducible but "fraud versus poor experimental/statistical/reporting standards". Also, FWIW, in fields where the standard is a p-value of 0.05 and negative results aren't published (which is a whole separate issue) we would expect 5% of published results to be irreproducible in the best case, assuming no statistical errors.
I consider advanced science as it's done today (a few separate teams tackling a particular issue with often very expensive equipment and/or materials) having great prospect for fraud by its very Nature. Consider, for example, science at the times of Copernicus and Galileo and science today. One can tell you it wasn't much of a cost to build a primitive telescope or laboratory then and anyone with more means could be scientist with a relatively low cost. Can you say the same for science today? How many people can spend the cash to build and equip (the costly part here) modern laboratory in anything compared to the same costs a century or two ago (or even a few decades ago)? (Exclude the millionaires-also consider some legal issues coming with modern and advanced laboratories.)
The more expensive and more profiled research gets the less people are actually available there to tell you the intentional fraud from the real sloppiness. As the research gets ever more profiled and more expensive to reproduce even the people who can argue the validness of a certain result are getting fewer and fewer, so how can anybody judge was it intentional or not? It's next to impossible. And it will probably get worse with time.
So, the study you suggest amounts to more than impossible. High research costs, lack of enough specialized personnel, greater abundance of claims to be falsified and not the least-doubtful interest in verifying them all amount to its impossibility with the advance of research efforts and costs. The more science is moving into an ever more profiled and costly activity, the more the very idea of falsifying every single claim someone makes into a paper is becoming implausible. And if you can't even spare the resources to clarify all mistakes how can you determine are they intentional or not? There may be some cases here and there where enough resources may be spent to clarify certain issues but you can't make a serious study out of those, right? Consider the amount of cases you are actually studying to the amount of possible cases of fraud. How can you get any statistically meaningful results if you are just picking up cases where you can determine the fraud was a real issue versus cases there may have been fraud? What standards will you use to discern this group from the group where you put errors made by sloppy research methods? What about a control of "impeccable research" (Is there even such a thing in any modern science?)? How can anybody devise "firm" criteria for putting anything in any of these categories when the effort to discern a false claim versus the number of possible claims is overwhelming. Just like nobody can pursue the validity of any claim due to the high costs and the lack of experienced enough personnel, so one can't make any "statistic" (except highly cease-sensitive and "narrow" field one) of the number of claims versus the number of fraud cases which could has any chances of being reliable?
P.S.As far as the issue of reproducibility is concerned I like to give one particular example. It's a bit hilarious but nevertheless I believe is on the right spot here :)
Consider the possibility there was some "large scale scientific conspiracy (e.g. a case of fraud)" concerning the results from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Now, let's say that every single participant in the experiments done there was part of some "grand scientific kabal" designed to mislead humanity about the very nature of our Universe. (I met people on the Internet who actually believe in this claim. :) Then, how can one be certain there is no fraud in the claims made by the scientists participating in the LHC experiments if there isn't any other such devices in the whole world? I tried to actually argue with "scientific kabal believers" such thing is impossible because there are simply too many people from too many countries doing research there and too many are watching the facility to serve as some "fraud facility" to lie to the poor people, but then I go back the argument that until one can build an LHC identical to the one at CERN in their backyard no one could be certain its results aren't fraud! Hilarious, isn't it? But, then I was dismayed how can one actually argue with someone putting up arguments like that? The funny thing is I couldn't. How can you convince a skeptic like that? And if you can't convince someone for such a big and visible experiment like the LHC how can you convince him other much less prominent experiments aren't fraud, too? But, then, if you can see fraud everywhere how can you discern it from mere sloppiness? What if you have doubts at the status of the very experts that have to do the discerning in itself? Then, what are you options?
The way I see it one can doubt endlessly in anything and everyone, then how can such an extreme skeptic ever achieve firm standards for anything which s/he can't get his/her hands on? And with the state current science is in this is practically impossible. Then, one should never be able to tell when there is a legitimate case of fraud and when things just weren't thought out well enough.
If you so much hate my answer and you're voting it down why don't YOU people write down one yourselves? At least, I made the effort to write an answer to the question-good or bad as it is!
Something is not always better than nothing. While we appreciate the effort, we don't necessarily appreciate the result. Downvotes are strictly an assessment of quality of the answer. They are not an assessment of the person posting the answer, nor of that person's effort.
Most particularly, your answer is lacking in any references or hard numbers that the question is calling for specifically ("Are there any studies ...").
I think it answers the point why such studies are practically impossible to do-it's impossible to get good statistics of the numbers of actual fraud-related cases versus the number of possible cases, therefore the question the OP is asking can't be answered in the context of the modern state of organization of scientific research. This is the message I want to convey. If I don't-please, tell me why? May be I can learn something from this experience. I would also like to see an alternative answer to the question so I can compare it with mine, but in its absence what can I really tell?
therefore the question the OP is asking can't be answered — This is a good reason to downvote the question.
-1 for...a number of reasons. Among them that the research I do requires only the device that currently sits in the pocket of most people in the developed world. Also for ignoring that science in the past was mostly conducted by the idle rich, or those with patrons, and that is perhaps indicative that things weren't so cheap.
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95209 | Is the conference "ICCTCEEC" a scam?
I submitted a paper about 20-25 days ago in this conference http://ctceec.org/ knowing about IEEE involvement here.
Today I have got an acceptance email for my paper, The astonishing thing to me is, I knew at least 1-2 month is required to review this type of conference paper.
The conference date is 8 September, 2017 which is very near. Is there anyone who can assure me that this conference is not scam?
The relatively short review period would worry me less than the exceedingly unprofessional website and the fact that the seem to accept papers on everything relating to EE or IT. I am not sure if the conference is strictly "spam", but I would bet good money that it is not worth going to.
If you have to ask, it probably is.
Have you ever cited, or even read, a paper from this conference? Do you recognize anyone on the program committee (who is not at your institution)? If you can't answer yes to both questions, you shouldn't send your paper there.
My guess would be: not a complete scam (i.e. there really will be a conference, accommodation will be booked, the talks will happen, etc), but very low scientific quality, since the range of topics covered is so implausibly vast. The sort of conference where most participants are not really going to disseminate their research or learn about other people’s, but just so that they can list the talk on their CV and tell their department that they are travelling to international conferences.
Anyway, they are probably going to compete for the conference with the longest unpronounceable abbreviation.
What were they thinking when they designed that website?...
@MCMastery At least they refrained from making the marquee text blink ..
Also not in favour: numerous unsolicited e-mails (I have received more than 10!) with ads for this conference have been sent out from different accounts, all on an anonymously registered, now suspended domain (which happens to share the exact name servers with the official ICCTCEEC website), containing dubious shortened links.
The website has a button that says "IEEE proof", whatever that is supposed to mean, which seems like the equivalent of a folder on your computer named "definitely not porn". Understand: they're trying suspiciously hard to use their (alleged) IEEE affiliation as a marker of legitimacy and quality.
Follow that link and enjoy that delightful prose:
"We believe education is our motherhood and research is our motto. Our intention is to collaborate innovative brains at one place. So, here we are with "International Conference on Current Trends in Computer, Electrical, Electronics and Communication" (ICCTCEEC) platform to share, learn and discuss. We guarantee your pleasure because our city itself mean you what are we."
Let's say the intentions of the people who committed that website are not fraudulent that's still incredibly sloppy and careless not to have it proofread. Seeing this, I would doubt that anything else about that conference can be worth your time and money.
By the way, IEEE affiliation, even if legit, doesn't mean the conference is good or not spam.
The usual advice in these cases: consult with your supervisor and colleagues. There is typically a rather small number (~5) of conferences worthy of attending per field and any half-serious researcher knows which these are.
The IEEE proof shows that this conference has somehow been registered with IEEE, whatever that means, but for example, the deadlines given on the IEEE website for it are not the same than the ones the OP mentioned or the conference website does. So I would say, while it is not strictly a scam, it's probably not good.
The link goes to the official IEEE site, so I think the connection to IEEE is legitimate. On the other hand, the IEEE page about conferences says: "IEEE sponsors more than 1,800 annual conferences and events worldwide". So I wouldn't be surprised if some of those are indeed low quality.
Yeah the IEEE link makes it unlikely it's an outright scam, but I think we can all be pretty sure that the quality of the conference will be on par with their short description of the conference.. "We guarantee your pleasure because our city itself mean you what are we."
"We believe education is our motherhood and research is our motto. " They believe research is their motto. They can't confirm that though. Awesome.
Registration of the conference with IEEE (i.e., 2017 International Conference on Current Trends in Computer, Electrical, Electronics and Communication (CTCEEC)) is a good sign that it is not an outright scam. However, I note that the conference is sponsored by the Bangalore Section but I couldn't find it on their website which is troubling. Within the IEEE community this tends to imply that the section is treating the conference as a very low priority so quality control may also be quite low. Thus, while I doubt the conference is an outright scam, it likely will not stand out much more than a research colloquium for graduate students at a given university on a CV.
To elaborate a bit more on sponsorship, generally high profile conferences are sponsored by international societies (e.g., IEEE Computational Intelligence Society sponsors the Symposium Series on Computational Intelligence) and the conferences tend to have competitive peer review take place. Generally you will want to know what major societies in your field are and limit attendance to their conferences.
Scam = ripping your money off: Probably not.
Scientifically worthwhile to attend: Probably neither. Just check the submission format, which is M$ Word 07 instead of LaTeX/PDF; that usually answers the question.
Touristically cool: Decide for yourself.
List of accepted papers consists of Indian authors, afai can see 100% (which is not necessarily bad, they invented zero and got Primes is in P, amongst a lot more).
-1 Whether or not there are Indian authors is kind of moot given it's a conference in India sponsored by the Bangalore Section.
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138528 | Can someone interview their sibling?
I just had a job interview (permanent lecturer position not connected to a grant) and, immediately afterwards, I found out that the person who is the group leader and responsible for recruiting is the sibling of one of the candidates.
I made sure that this is actually the case. It is not a suspicion; it is a fact.
Could this be justified under some circumstances? This seems ridiculous. Should I raise a complaint?
This in the UK.
Did this other candidate also get a post?
@DmitrySavostyanov I do not know at the moment, however I know a couple of more things that I didn't write and it seems that it was decided beforehand that they get the position.
The only fact stated in the question is that the group leader and the candidate are related. The title asks about something not asserted in the question itself. Should the leader interview the sibling? No. Should the sibling be prohibited from applying for the job? Probably not, but I think that's the real question here (and the answer should discuss the limits placed on the group leader's role in that application process).
If a decision really was made beforehand, that raises a flag on the entire process, not just the group leader.
Typically, the sibling(/relative/partner) has to excuse themselves from interviewing/discussing that candidate (not the others). Which doesn't make that much difference, as the others know. And if you think about it, ethically not much different from interviewing your ex-students (MA, PhD, PostDoc), which specialization makes rather inevitable. [*I've worked a 0.1FTE finite-term position for my partner at a UK uni... only one other candidate applied.]
Interviewing a family member is not permitted. Yes, you should raise a complaint. Do it politely, of course. But in the end, you have to ask yourself whether or not a work group that would even try to get away with this is one you want to get involved with.
I strongly agree with this answer. For what it is worth, when I applied for graduate school, my cousin-in-law was a professor in the department at one school, and he explicitly stayed away from any admissions decisions connected to me. He later sort of implied that he had wanted to stay away from admissions decisions for the entire year's cohort, but he was persuaded not to by the others in the department who apparently had enough trouble finding people to do the committee work already. The idea that someone would take this active a role with a sibling is absurd.
Now I understand more about how things are being done there and I do not wish to join them However, I find it deeply annoying and I believe that someone has to speak up to those cases, then they learn to at least try to pretend to follow the rules.
@JoshuaZ I know, there was an opening in my current department and I sent this ad to someone that I knew through a closed friend. I disclosed that and I was told that I couldn't be part of the recruiting process (which I completely understand)
For what it's worth, I have chaired and served on academic hiring committees in my research institution. Rules vary from country to country, but in the US academy, this conflict of interest in hiring is not permitted.
Were you not asked (on the application) if you know any people at the Institution you are applying to ? I thought this was common at UK universities. In which case, the sibling would have had to indicate the relationship. Which might mean that the group leader might have been banned from the actual recruiting decision. You can ask for clarification, but do not go in alleging mis-conduct. For example, I sit on a panel with my partner of 20 years, this is recorded, and there is a procedure in place for any conflict of interest that may arise.
@Marianne013 No, this question is almost never asked during the application stage in the UK universities. It may be asked from a candidate during the interview. It must be asked from all panel members.
+1. Additionally, their internal auditors may be very interested in knowing about this activity.
@DmitrySavostyanov Imperial College asks for it.
@DmitrySavostyanov I've applied to work to several UK universities recently and quite a few of them asked if I was related to any current employee and, if so, to give details.
@DavidRicherby So did I, but I never saw this question. I always see "have you ever worked before with us?" question, but nothing about relation to current employees. I take back my "almost never" statement with apologies, but I personally never encounter this question.
@DmitrySavostyanov No need to apologise for having had a different experience.
@Marianne013: here in Germany, I'd expect that it is up to the people in the hiring committee to disclose possible conflicts of interest. A candidate applying will often not know who is in the hiring committee. Someone in the institution who is not on the hiring committee wouldn't have a conflict of interest, would they? (And I don't see how knowing someone in the institution is a sensible filter: working in my field for years, I know someone in pretty much every relevant institution in my country, plus in many [most?] in the surrounding countries)
@cbeleites: That's why it's a free form field, it gets accessed for relevance. Knowing someone at the place you are applying at and/or working there (for internal applications) is not a reason for rejection.
From my personal experience, very unsubstantiated and anecdotal, family hire and similar conflicts of interests do still happen in UK universities. It is very frustrating and demotivating for other candidates, particularly when your skills match the job description well and you've put a lot of time and effort to prepare the application and the interview presentation.
Such conflict of interests are of course unethical and potentially illegal, but it is not easy to prove a case, particularly if HR are inclined to turn a blind eye towards the problem. If you want to raise a complaint, take care not to reveal your identity to your immediate line manager (Head of School) and explicitly request form HR to maintain your anonymity, particularly if you are still on the probation period. It may be a good idea to talk to your local unions. Good luck.
Thanks for the advice. Luckily my line manager has nothing to do with this group and it is easy to keep this confidential. What do you mean exactly that is is not easy to prove a case? I guess you mean it is not easy to prove that hiring was not objective. Does it mean that the universities have a tendency to turn a blind eye to such cases?
I can't draw meaningful conclusions based on my limited personal experience, so I can't say what is a "tendency". But proving anything is not easy, if the other side is reluctant to collaborate. People may say that the head of the recruitment panel stepped out and did not interfere with the assessment of their sibling, and the case collapses from severe conflict of interests to slight procedural mistake, bearing little consequence to anyone but yourself. But you never know which side HR will take.
Background
Some countries, and I don't know about the UK specifically, have requirements at state-funded universities when it comes to hiring.
One such requirement is that someone cannot be hired directly. The position needs to be opened and announced in some public medium, and kept open for at least X time so everyone has time to apply. Then interviews, etc., are carried and the best candidate is hired, if one is found.
Another requirement is that those with a conflict of interest with any of the candidates should state so. And hopefully excuse themselves from the hiring committee in order to not influence the result, independently of whether this is mandatory.
In practice, sometimes a candidate has already been chosen in which case the position requirements are tightened, if possible, to ensure their champion is the right fit for the position. This leads to positions, which have already been filled, being opened with the sole purpose of meeting hiring regulations.
Consequences
This is the most important part. I'd like to speak of consequences.
Raising a complaint brings you little or no benefit, but might gain you an enemy:
The end result may or may not change, but complaining will ensure you're not hired. The group leader is the accused here, sounds unlikely he'll hire you to his group after your complaint.
The group leader might affect others' impression of you, not only on this particular group but on other locations as well where he might know someone. If he didn't bother excusing himself from interviewing his sibling (which is morally reprehensible, if not illegal) then this seems a possibility.
Between two prospective candidates of equal competence, I'd guess the one most likely to be hired is the one not known to be a troublemaker.
There might be some degree of privacy when presenting a complaint, but I don't know how these are processed. Meaning there's a chance the accused party would not know who presented the complaint. In this case in particular, you're simply pointing out something that is easily proven. You don't have to present a lengthy justification.
Complaint without complaining
A simple email to the right person asking whether such behavior is allowed by the institution's regulations might be all is needed for someone to look into it. You could add a note stating you'd like your identity to be kept private for fear of reprisals. But without an official complaint it's possible they'll ignore it.
Thanks Daniel, your answer is very informative. I have considered your points and I decided it's a safe bet. There are certain things I cannot really comment on. I did consider the points you raised and I decided that on one hand I don't want this job any more and on the other hand they cannot really affect me beyond that (as I said, there is more background I cannot tell). Things are already in motion, I will update my post next week when I know more.
By the way, the position specs were rather broad because everyone else that was invited for an interview was more qualified than than the sibling. So narrowing down the position would have excluded the sibling.
You describe a situation as you see it, but you have no way of knowing or understanding what's going on behind the scenes. My own assumption would be that if you know about this, than others know about this, including members of the home department that work with the group leader in question every day.
There is an obvious appearance of a conflict of interest, but there are ways of managing conflicts. My own assumption, which can certainly be wrong, is that this is so obvious that they must be managing the conflict.
So, should you complain? I don't know laws or procedures in the UK, but I'd first ask, who do you plan on complaining to?? Next, keep in mind that you don't know the whole situation, a complaint might be impugning the integrity of a person when the whole conflict might be handled behind the scenes already. This is a fairly serious accusation. You'd also be impugning the standards of the department, questioning whether they'd let such a conflict stand unchecked.
Next, lets say the conflict is unmanaged. Would you really want to work in an environment where such obvious conflicts are left to stand? Not getting the job may be a blessing.
With all this in mind, and the possible harm to your own reputation this may cause, I wouldn't recommend complaining. There may be nothing improper going on, and if there is, it just doesn't seem like you have any options that can improve your situation. I'd move on, and see if you get the job offer.
I have talked with the person from HR that was present during the interviews and I was told that the conflict of interest was declared and managed because independent people were on the panel. Subsequently I spoke with an HR manager who was shocked to hear what happened and said that no matter what paperwork was submitted this is never ok. I'll see what happens next week
Regardless of what the outcome will be, I do not plan to try to get a job there. I prefer to work somewhere where there is no bad blood with existing members of staff
Is it ridiculous, maybe. Is it justified, yes. Should you raise a complaint, no.
It is ridiculous when HR gets in the way of a group leader not being able to hire the person that the group leader thinks is most qualified. HR would probably prefer the group leader to not be involved, but then you lose a key person, possibly the only person, who can evaluate the technical competency of the candidates. Realistically HR will probably be happy with an independent observer of the interview and might even be happy with documentation that the selected candidate is the best candidate.
Either the process has been approved by someone, in which case you are not going to get anywhere and just come off as a complainer. If it hasn't been approved, then you just made an enemy of the group leader, which is not helpful either.
I'm curious, how can this be justified? It was a rather broad position, not highly specialised.
"It is ridiculous when HR gets in the way of a group leader not being able to hire the person that the group leader thinks is most qualified." Is it always ridiculous, then, for HR to get in the way of any decision, as long as the group leader thinks that choice is best? Besides, OP is not claiming that the hire should be stopped, only that leaving the decision to someone with such an obvious conflict of interest is improper.
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68051 | Unsure of Convention for In-Text Citations
I'm writing a longer paper for a course as part of a final project. The paper is on a topic we didn't cover in class and is obviously intended as a way to let me teach myself something we didn't have time for. As such, I'm using other people's ideas for my paper nearly every single sentence. I'm unsure of the convention for determining exactly what bits I need to cite and how often I should cite it, but I'm pretty sure it's not that I need to cite something every sentence. Is there some sort of convention for this sort of thing?
Generally, you cite a paper in the first occurrence of its matter and in occurrences where the matter is significant.
For instance, suppose you are explaining about a method that is proposed in a paper. You cite it when you first state the method. After which it is understood that whenever you use the term, it refers to the one cited initially. If you are discussing two are more methods, explain each one separately by citing them and you also ought to cite at a tabulation during result comparison. Same goes for citing concepts; cite only when the concept is first introduced.
Other than that, citing for every sentence would be only be redundant and doesn't make the manuscript look neat either. If you do feel that you are in a position to have to cite nearly every sentence, then your content is probably largely of matter covered in your reference and not of your own. You ought to make appropriate edits in that case.
In every sentence where you present other people's ideas, you must cite those people. If several sentences stem from the same source, then begin with 'According to Jones(1992)..' or similar.
In an Introduction you cite a lot. Use your own words to structure the Introduction, e.g. to motivate and frame the topic. In a Discussion, citations will also be prevalent where you reflect upon existing ideas.
How you stand out as a person in the text, is in your disposition of the topic. You must learn how to use references dynamically. You must convey ideas of the past as an interesting story while adding your own little share of original thoughts.
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102242 | Is it okay to typeset someone’s to-be-graded assignment for them?
I have a friend who’s an undergraduate at university. I believe myself to be fairly proficient in TeX/LaTeX; I’ve seen some of the assignments that he’s received back, and we both agree they could look more professional.
Is it ethical for me to typeset his work to look more like a paper before it's submitted for grading? I would not be adding any new information to the assignment and I would not correct any mistakes that I think I see, but it still seems to me that perhaps it could be against the rules.
You say the assignment has already been graded? Is it going to be handed back in for regrading, or submitted for some other academic purpose? If not, I don't see how there could possibly be any problem.
No, I mean the assignment is to be graded (it will directly impact his grade).
I would have them ask the instructor if its ok, he is the ultimate authority in this case. If this was a class on how to use LaTeX its clearly not ok. However, in other cases it might be ok.
If it affects his grade, it is clearly a violation
Back in the old days (pre-ominipresent computers, my experience is early 1980's) a fair number of students made good money typing other people's essays (the alternative was handing in a hand-written essay or typing it slowly oneself if you weren't a good typist). And there were a good number of people in the community who advertised as well. If you are not editing as you go, I really do not see the problem. If the professor is swayed by how it looks, that is a different problem.
You're so innocent! How would you typeset this? :-) (exaggerating obviously, but hopefully you can see the point underneath)
Different idea: write a pandoc latex template for your friend and teach him how to use markdown + pandoc. Won't cover all cases where latex code is necessary, but hopefully most.
There was a very good student in my department, a couple years ahead of me, who had trouble with handwriting growing up. He coped by training himself to write big. His submissions were twice as many pages as the average, because he wrote so big. It takes practice to write that big! Alternatively, it would be a big asset for your friend if he knew how to use math word processing or typesetting or speech to text software. You could teach him.
Tell your friend to buy a copy of Grind EQ if his professor objects. Back in the day (as Jon Custer mentioned) these services were widely used and advertised.
Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth it was commonplace to employ a typist for theses and papers. I don't see any problem with simply typesetting an assignment.
"Student... look professional." This is a category error.
Show him how. It's obviously something he could stand to learn.
Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/81082/should-formatting-affect-grades-of-student-essays
Publishing? Absolutely! Classwork? Where are your priorities for what matters in the world?
I think this is probably not appropriate. You could ask the professor, but if it were me I would say no.
An important part of learning math at the undergraduate level is being able to write math clearly, and this includes the low-level yet essential skill of being able to handwrite or typeset math notation. If you're typesetting the assignments for your friend, the professor is not getting an accurate view of their proficiency at this skill, which could factor into the grade.
There could be an exception if your friend has a disability that makes it unusually difficult for him to write clearly by hand. But again, you would need the consent of the professor (and possibly also of some university disability service office).
(If your friend doesn't have a disability but just has particularly atrocious handwriting, the professor might agree to this, simply out of self-preservation; reading bad handwriting can be really frustrating.)
I agree with Massimo Ortolano that in the long run, the best thing would be to help your friend learn to typeset the assignments himself. You could of course typeset some of his previous assignments for him as an example.
i was once asked to submit a handwritten math assignment.from that teacher's point of view, atrocious is an underreaction.
Furthermore even if the person doing the typesetting honestly intends it to be "just typesetting" it is difficult to rule out them either adding (because they made a typo) tor removing (because their brain read what it thought should be there rather than what was actually there) errors.
I think that the best favour you can do to your friend is to teach him how to use LaTeX, so that he can improve the look of his work by himself.
In this way, you won't go against any rule and you'll teach your friend a new skill.
Excellent advice, which otherwise doesn't answer the question.
Rather than teaching LaTeX, you could suggest LyX (or similar), which is easier. (Whether it is worth learning LaTeX depends on a person's career plan.)
@Orion - from the help center: What, specifically, is the question asking for? Make sure your answer provides that – or a viable alternative. The answer can be “don’t do that”, but it should also include “try this instead”. Any answer that gets the asker going in the right direction is helpful
@Kimball I personally like and encourage such useful "alternative" answers. I simple noted that it doesn't answer the question about whether x is ethical.
In my department, any homework/assignment etc. ends with a declaration which includes the claim that the author(s) did all of the work themselves unless mentioned otherwise.
My opinion is that typesetting is a process that is included in the assignment and while not explicitly stated is work you should do yourself.
I do agree with Massimo Ortolano that showing someone the ropes with a typesetting system is a good way to handle the situation though.
I did not notice this answer until I saw there was a Low Quality Post flag raised against it. After I read the answer, I decided to give it an upvote because it's a good answer.
I agree with a lot of the other answers and comments: I think ultimately it should be the professor who makes this decision.
That said, I've occasionally had students ask me if it was acceptable to do similar things. Many times – assuming I didn't feel it was a matter of academic integrity – I've answered by saying it would be okay if the student got formatting help, but I wanted them to acknowledge the help openly in the assignment.
In other words, an assignment such as the one you are describing could include footnote with an acknowledgement, something to the effect of:
This assignment was typeset in LaTeX by J. Smith
That way, everything is above board, and the student isn't passing off someone else's work as their own.
One other idea that might be considered or proposed is handing in a copy of original work along with the LaTeX document, so the professor can get an idea of what the original work looked like before the improvements.
How much the look of the assignment/paper affects the result?
If the key value is the content (proof, research results, etc.) and the look is just the icing on a cake I dare to say your help is acceptable. At least your friend realized that the outcome he produced can be improved and you showed them how it can be improved.
If the graphic outcome is the key value, your friend's topic is graphics, for example, then your help - typesetting it for them - is unethical. Teaching them to use (XxLa)TeX is, on the other hand, completely different case.
As pointed out in the comments, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, students (and others) routinely hired typists to type their papers. There was nothing wrong with this then, and there's nothing wrong with it now, although I haven't heard of anyone hiring a typist in decades (except in the case of disability).
LaTeX, unfortunately, tends to occupy a different place in many professors' minds than typing does. In principle, having someone else TeX your work is no different from hiring a typist, and in fact in the early days of TeX the only people using it were professional technical typists. However, many professors, especially in mathematics, believe that "learning TeX" is an integral part of the course if they specify that assignments need to be LaTeXed. So it is probably not acceptable to typeset your friend's assignment if the professor requires LaTeX.
I just think the OP will have trouble copying the document without also doing some formatting...especially since they say that the students work looks unprofessional, and they want to make it look more professional.
Why do you want to do this work for him?
Is it because he is your friend and you want to help him? Why don't you help him learn LaTeX then instead of doing all the work of typesetting yourself? (Give a man a fish...) You can help him learn by guiding him through typesetting a non-graded homework assignment.
Is it because you believe that he is likely to get a better grade if the typesetting is better? If your work directly influences his grade, the answer is clear: it's inappropriate. He should be graded solely on his own work.
From personal experience in the UK, both the Undergraduate course (completed in 2013) and my current Masters programme have had various stipulations on submission presentation.
I can recall a particular assignment in the final year of my undergraduate degree where the marking scheme required submission in IEEE format with appropriate referencing. It was constructed such that if you followed the format and referenced correctly you would attain 30% of the marks, regardless of content.
The module leader allowed us to peer review the submissions as it was his (rather clever) way of teaching us to critique. You would be amazed how many failed to read the marking scheme and didn't submit in a format that you can download from the internet.
Your friend needs to learn that in the real world presentation, together with spelling and grammar are often as important as said content. If you can proficiently enable him and have the time and patience, he can go away and do it for a lifetime.
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103855 | How to politely respond to a PhD offer follow-up email from potential supervisor?
I received an official PhD offer from University A on Jan 30 (15 days ago).
In an interview with the faculty from University A, they asked me where A stands among my applications. I honestly replied that A was among the top 3 universities and said that I need to hear from the other two schools before making any decision. I also expressed that it would be hard for me to make the decision before hearing from the other two schools from my top 3 shortlist. The offer from A arrived soon after the interview (obviously).
Today a professor from University A sent me a very short email asking if I had questions or I was close to making decisions.
Is he implying that I should hurry up?
I have not sent them any email since the offer as I had nothing to update. The offer follows the rule of April 15, but the school would offer me a small amount of fellowship (which I don't care) if I accept before late February. The other two schools just interviewed me several days ago and I would expect to hear from them soon.
How should I politely respond?
Thanks!
the school would offer me a small amount of fellowship (which I don't care) if I accept before late February - Uh, this is certainly against the spirit of the April 15 Resolution, though I don't know enough about the specifics of the agreement to definitively say it's disallowed. The whole point of the resolution is to not make financial offers of any sort contingent on making a hasty decision, to keep a level playing field across institutions and in the best interest of the students.
@BryanKrause Ironically I just found A on the list of the April 15 Resolution.
I have a hard time coming up with a US university that is not; it's quite a sensible resolution.
I don't think the professor is necessarily implying that you should hurry up, they are simply putting pressure on you and hoping that you accept their offer, keeping open a channel for communication if you have questions (like a salesperson asking if you need any help as you are browsing a store), and trying to politely test whether you may have accepted another offer.
If you choose to go elsewhere, they likely want to know as soon as possible so they can extend an offer to another candidate.
I would say it is sufficient to respond with a brief, polite note that you decided before applying to wait for all offers before making a decision, and that you promise to inform them immediately once you have made a decision.
Dr. Professor,
I appreciate the email, I will certainly ask you if any questions come up. My plan when applying was to wait until I hear back from all institutions I interviewed at before making a decision.
I will inform Impatient University immediately once I have made a decision, either way.
Best,
Prospective Student
Your responsibility is to inform them as quickly as is reasonable once you have made a decision, but you shouldn't be pressured to respond more quickly than you are ready.
You mention "the school would offer me a small amount of fellowship (which I don't care) if I accept before late February" - this is certainly against the spirit of the April 15 Resolution, though I don't know enough about the specifics of the agreement to definitively say it's disallowed. The whole point of the resolution is to not make financial offers of any sort contingent on making a hasty decision, to keep a level playing field across institutions and in the best interest of the students. That said, I wouldn't suggest bringing this up at all or making an issue of it, unless it makes you uncomfortable in which case you could certainly consider it in your decision-making process.
I think that the only thing this professor is doing is "cultivating" you. And I mean that in a nice way. He's just showing that University A remains interested in you and keeping communication open. I would just thank him and maybe take advantage of his offer. The way I would take advantage of the offer is to ask if there were current grad students in program whom he could put me in contact with, so that I could chat with someone on the inside.
I would say you are right about your guess and he is indeed implying that you should hurry up.
If you still wait for the other responses, something like below may be a proper answer:
Dear Professor Smith,
Thank you for your kind reminder. However, as I have mentioned, I can
only inform you about my decision after I have answers from other
universities.
I do apologize if this situation gives you inconvenience. Please feel
free to proceed further with your other applicants in case you need an
answer from me immideately.
Best, John.
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104186 | Is it right to cite a retracted research article?
I was doing literature review and I came across a paper which is in the area of my interest but has been retracted because of duplicating the figures (technical drawings) of other papers.
Can I cite this paper in my literature review?
Also, is it ethical to work on the topic of this retracted paper?
Related: How to correctly cite a retracted paper?
According to your description, the retraction might be more about copyright violation than about research misconduct. A journal would be legally liable if it let an article remain that violates the copyright of other journals, so of course they could not leave it in their journal. My point is that, going on nothing more than the details you've given here, the article might have been retracted mainly for copyright violation, rather than for plagiarism of the text contents. (Of course, it seems that perhaps they plagiarized the figures that you mention.)
You Absolutely Can Cite a Retracted Paper
Research is about telling the truth about facts of reality. You can cite any fact of reality you want if it is relevant to your research; if someone says something, you can report that they said it. You can cite a published academic paper; you can cite a newspaper article; you can cite a letter; you can cite a Post-It note or a tweet; you can cite that thing your neighbour said to you over the back fence when he got really drunk that time.
Generally researchers cite claims/information from academic papers as a source of authoritative information that has been through the process of peer review. However, there is certainly no rule that confines academics from citing information from other sources, including sources that have not been through peer review, or have been through it, but have later been retracted. There are many cases where it might be useful to cite a paper that has been retracted. There may be cases where you want to cite something from a retracted paper, where the part you are citing is undisputed, and the cause of the retraction had nothing to do with the part you are citing. There may be cases where you want to cite a claim that has been retracted, but you still think the claim is relevant despite its retraction. There may even be cases where you want to cite a retracted paper because you want to talk specifically about it having been retracted (e.g., if you are doing research on how often and why academic papers in some field are retracted).
Now, if you cite a retracted paper, it is proper practice to disclose to your reader that it is a retracted paper, and this should be done in your bibliography where you list the citation details, and should probably also be done in your main body text (e.g., Johnson 2011 - retracted). If you are citing something from the paper that is a reason for the retraction, you should make it clear to your reader that you are citing a claim that has been retracted (and hence has not passed peer review).
The notion that retraction of a paper precludes you from citing it has several obvious absurdities. First, it would make research on retracted publications extremely awkward, if not impossible. Secondly, it would implicitly require that other sources of material that have not passed peer-review could also not be cited. Thirdly, it is tantamount to claiming that writers/editors have the prerogative to preclude you from reporting what they have written. If a politician says something scandalous, and then says "retracted!" does that mean you're not allowed to report it in your research?
Absolutely correct. It sounds like in the OP's case he'll want to avoid it most likely (although using it to find other citations could prove fruitful nonetheless), but papers get cited for more than just their conclusions. Heck, if you cite important paper A from Dr. X, but you know that papers B and C also by Dr. X have been retracted for some reason, it may be a good idea (if not necessary) to evaluate A in light of B and C, which requires citing them.
Absolutely - add this to the many reasons you might have to cite a retracted paper.
I see at least two aspects to your question: can a retracted article, in general, be cited in other research; and can a literature review include a retracted article in its review?
Can a retracted article, in general, be cited in other research? YES. On this point, I have little to add beyond Ben's excellent answer. I disagree with those that think that only scholarly or only peer-reviewed articles should be cited in scholarly work. Anything can be cited, but especially if what is cited is not peer-reviewed, then the citing author is responsible to verify the validity of what they cite. (We should even be responsible to verify the validity of the peer-reviewed work that we cite, but because there is so much research out there, it is understandable that we generally trust the peer-review process to do this validation for us.)
Can a literature review include a retracted article in its review? YES. I want to be very clear that such an article is NOT part of the scholarly body of peer-reviewed literature--it has been retracted, so does not have that quality stamp. However, I strongly believe that a literature review should include grey literature--the body of scholarly research that is not peer-reviewed, and even when meaningful, high-quality practitioner articles or books. However, you need to be clear that if you cite grey literature (including retracted articles, in your case), you should bear the responsibility to appraise and validate the quality of such work that has not been peer-reviewed. For your readers, it would be irresponsible of you not to verify that the work you cite is valid, particularly if other scholars have not already done so (that is, through peer-review). In particular for a retracted article, you should definitely explicitly mention to your readers that it was retracted and that you are knowingly citing it anyways.
Finally, you asked, "is it ethical to work on the topic of this retracted paper"? You are free to work on the topic of any article, whether published or not, retracted or not. As long as you cite and acknowledge the source of original ideas, then you are fulfilling your ethical responsibility. If your concern is that the retracted article no longer has a standard scholarly citation, well there is a good question and answer on how to correctly cite a retracted article.
You should not cite a retracted paper
Retracted papers are no longer part of the scientific record. Their original publication was in error. If there was a small fix required, a correction could be issued, but in this case it seems that the journal editors deemed it necessary to retract it. You don't know for sure the details behind their decision, but if you trust their judgement in deciding which papers ought to be published (which you implicitly do, in citing published papers), then you have no rational reason not to trust their judgement in deciding which papers ought to be retracted.
You can work on the topic of a retracted paper
Assuming here you mean the same general area, I don't see a problem with this ethically. For example, a paper on learning in cotton-top tamarin monkeys was retracted due to mistakes (or possibly misconduct?) in data coding. It is in no way unethical for other scientists to continue to work on how cotton-top tamarin monkeys learn things.
"Retracted papers are no longer part of the scientific record." I would contest this. Retracted papers remain on record, and usually (unless due to double publication/copyright issues) downloadable and consultable; any pre-retraction citations still exist. It's more that it's had a massive red flag attached to its record. Granted, you don't want to trust/cite like a regular paper, but I can envisage times when it would be appropriate to mention/cite either the paper or the retraction notice. (e.g. if a high-profile retraction provided impetus/context for a piece of work)
Science is no religion. If you can give a reasoning, or reference to it, you can write it. Stealing ideas from a (possible) thief is just as contemptible and illegal as any other theft.
@WanderingChemist The example in the question sounds like it is a copyright violation, actually, so that particular paper might no longer be available. But I agree with your point in general.
Why not cite the paper it was retracted for duplicating?
The retraction isn't a reason not to work on the same topic as that paper, but if it's retracted for plagiarism, then there are likely better papers that will fit its functional need.
It was retracted for duplicating the figures (sketches) only and not the entire work. Rest of the paper is of good quality.
The fact that the authors demonstrated misconduct (whether willfully or through carelessness) casts doubt on whether the rest of the paper is indeed good quality. The safe answer is no, it isn't.
@phimac If you think the rest of the paper is original, and trustworthy, you cite it. If you think otherwise, why would you even think about it? And if there are numerous papers available to cite for sth., you take the oldest, and the best one. The latter is again at your conception.
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91719 | Intellectual Property Rights When Moving University
I am considering moving institutions (from a one UK University to another), but I am concerned about what Intellectual Property (IP) rights my current institution may retain. Some of my PhD students, one of whom has been funded by my university directly, would move with me, or at least I would like them to. I am also unclear about the rights they/I would have to the research they have already done. Their projects would naturally remain similar, but I see no obvious commercial potential, and have no intention of trying to find some.
My questions are:
The University's policy is clear that they own all Intellectual Property I produce during my employment. I assume this can't apply to projects that have not got to the point of being protectable/tradeable but where one project begins and another ends is not always clear. Many of these projects naturally build on work I have published, or is in the process of being published. How can I tell/establish what exactly they have rights to?
How do I 'leave' them with what they own so that I can make a clean break.
There is a policy, which states that all IP created whilst employed is owned by the University. However, the policy also makes it clear that I am expected to make them aware of anything that potentially commercializable. Given I don't think I have anything, and haven't made them aware of it, it's not clear where that leaves me. The policy is also very clear about my responsibilities as an employee, but not what happens if I am not. I will edit to clarify.
This sounds like the sort of thing that should be discussed with the department. You don't want problems years down the road when it turns out that research you have already started does have commercial value.
There are two reasons why asking these questions from eg your uni is much better idea than here: 1) details always depend on university AND often on negotiation, 2) details may depend on very specifics of your research - if you are an engineer you most probably have other problems than a mathematician.
My issue is that I would not want to alert my department to the fact that I am considering leaving and so was hoping to obtain some general advice.
Go consult a lawyer who does IP law. This is going to be very fact specific and contract specific.
In general you should be fine:
Your research is published, so everyone (including you) can build upon it.
You do not have any patents (which would remain at the university)
The only thing might be software written at your institution or hardware built during your work. Those remain at the university as long as you do not agree on otherwise. But usually, one becomes smarter over time so this might be a good point in time to re-implement some stuff...
On the other hand, your work might be worthless for your university when you are not there - e.g. no one will digg into foreign research code... So you should have a good position for negotiations.
You seem to be giving a legal opinion. I don't think that is proper here. Are you a qualified UK lawyer?
@Buffy: There is nothing definite in the answer (everything has shoulds, mights, and similar). Also, the entire concept of giving opinion on legal questions being illegal is limited to the US, as far as I know, and even there this is probably far from problematic. (If not, please cite a respective law that says otherwise.)
@Wrzlprmft, I don't claim it is illegal, just unwise. If the advice is taken and turns out to be wrong, the OP will be the one that suffers, not the person giving the bad advice.
@Buffy: Can you tell me one statement of which you think it might be unvalid? And as Wrzlprmft already noted: There are enough should in the text to indicate that the real situation might be different since we do not know the specifics of this university and the work involved. I'm sure the OP can put the answer in the right context and will ask a lawyer if needed.
You leave the impression that there are few issues. I disagree. The OP says the university claims rights. Depending on the level of insistence they have it could be a serious issue. Work in progress? Courseware? Lab procedures? There are a lot of things potentially other than already published papers, patents, and software. My first line would be "In general, you need to know more, both from the university and their lawyers." and NOT, "you should be fine."
I think the point Buffy is making is that if you wish to offer an opinion that a particular course of action "should be fine" then it would be useful to know if you are a lawyer yourself, and what is the legal basis for the asserted opinion. I don't think it's incumbent on Buffy to point out errors in the assertion --- he just wants to know if there is any legal training/experience/reasoning behind those assertions.
Read the contracts and policies. If the existing contracts and policies are not answering your questions, then this is something you cannot resolve. It is up to the universities to work out between them how to divide intellectual property.
If the intellectual property is very valuable, the lawyers of the two universities will negotiate a deal. Nobody will want to license something if the owner of the rights is uncertain. As a result, the universities will be motivated to cooperate. Arranging this is not the author/inventor's responsibility.
If the intellectual property is not valuable, then so long as you are honest and open about what is going on I doubt you will have any problems.
Beware that the contracts and policies may contridict each other and in the case of the policies, themselves. It may need a lawyer to work out what the actual grant is in that case if you are unwilling to talk to the university.
I think regarding publications, as soon as you include the affiliation of the old uni on publications whose work has started during your employment there it should be fine.
If there are patents involved things might get more complicated.
What other issues were you thinking about?
I wonder, can the people who voted negative in this answer please explain what is wrong with what is stated here?
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9592 | On the definition of research - are 'what' and 'how' questions also considered as research?
In Philips and Pugh's How to get a PhD, the authors describe the general philosophical concept of research 'in all disciplines'. I have two questions in this context.
A. They said that an activity that tries to answer a question like
'What are the age, sex and subject distributions of doctoral students in
British higher education?'
is considered descriptive, intelligence-gathering activity, but not research. This is pretty clear and agreed upon. However, they attribute that to the 'what' nature of the question.
Later, they said:
Research goes beyond description and requires analysis. It looks for explanations,
relationships, comparisons, predictions, generalizations and theories. These are the ‘why’ questions. Why are there so many fewer women doctoral students in physics than in biology? ...
All these questions require good intelligence-gathering, just as decisionmaking and policy formulation do. But the information is used for the purpose of developing understanding – by comparison, by relating to other factors, by theorizing and testing the theories.
Is it sound to consider only 'why' questions as research? How about some 'what' and 'how' questions?
B. In the same text:
All research questions have comparisons in them, as the words ‘fewer’, ‘different’ and ‘less’ in the examples above illustrate.
Should all real research questions really contain comparison (explicitly or implicitly)?
This definitely seems overly restrictive to me. I don't think that "all research questions have comparisons in them" is at all true. In my area (pure mathematics), probably quite a few research questions are phrased as 'what' questions, although answering these questions will also involve explaining 'why'.
the general philosophical concept of research in all disciplines — All disciplines? Oh, please.
@JeffE: This is what the authors of that book said, not me. Please.
@Orion: I'm pretty sure JeffE understood that.
Language side note: every why-question is a what-quesion as well: what is the reason for ...
It's important to keep in mind that nobody is in charge of what is or isn't research, and nobody has universal perspective or expertise across all disciplines. (Not just no person, but also no organization.) In my experience, the term "research" is used incredibly broadly: for any topic you can imagine might be considered research, there are communities of thousands of people who think it's obviously research and who would be offended if anyone questioned this.
According to the Belmont Report (1979): "the term 'research' designates an activity designed to test an hypothesis, permit conclusions to be drawn, and thereby to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge (expressed, for example, in theories, principles, and statements of relationships). Research is usually described in a formal protocol that sets forth an objective and a set of procedures designed to reach that objective." I think the idea that its aim is to contribute to generalizable knowledge is central to the question of what does or does not constitute research.
In biology, what questions are extremely popular, even though they can be largely descriptive. The point is, that knowing descriptive details of a system is the first step in understanding how it works, and can often raise many interesting hypotheses. In fact, this trend of questions is increasing as high-throughput experimental methods are used to collect more and more data (which by itself is only descriptive).
Some famous examples of such what questions are "what is the structure of DNA?" and "what is the sequence of the human genome?".
There are lots of different types of research. Some research is hypothesis driven other research is not. What questions generally are not hypothesis driven while why questions usually have a related hypothesis. Comparison words are useful to indicate both sides of the hypothesis (i.e., the null hypothesis which you are often attempting to reject and the alternative hypothesis which you are often attempting to provide support for). Hypothesis testing is the basis of the scientific method. Typically doctoral research leads to a thesis/dissertation which historically has been about hypothesis driven research. Things like design based research in the sciences and performance based research in the arts, however, are now often being submitted as dissertations. Whether this is a bastardization of the term dissertation is not clear to me.
Within the wider realm of research, the quoted material is wrong. Within the realm of getting a PhD the quoted material may be historically and technically/etymologically correct, but it is clearly a dated view.
The Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection specification (2012)[1] (ie: HERDC) defines research as
the creation of new knowledge and/or the use of existing
knowledge in a new and creative way so as to generate new concepts,
methodologies and understandings. This could include synthesis and analysis of
previous research to the extent that it leads to new and creative outcomes.
and uses the OECD Frascati Manual[2][3] to support that definition as:
consistent with a broad notion of research and
experimental development (R&D) as comprising of creative work undertaken on a
systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of
humanity, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new
applications
HERDC and the Frascati Manual focus on the generation of new understandings, of new knowledges. There's a commonly agreed purposive utility to knowledge that is lacking in the generation of data and information.[4] I would suggest that as knowledge lies in a network of other knowledges, that any production of knowledge is implicitly or explicitly comparative to the existing body of literature. HERDC goes on to suggest that apart from "increasing the stock of knowledge" and being in a form suitable for the dissemination of knowledge, that research publications must "evidenced by discussion of the relevant literature,
an awareness of the history and antecedents of work described, and provided in a
format which allows a reader to trace sources of the work, including through
citations and footnotes." This explicit comparison between the production of understandings as knowledge and the past production of understandings as knowledge would be the basic comparison at the heart of scholarship and research.
While the HERDC specifications are normative, and punative (they're about divvying up a pot of government research money), there has at least been an attempt to cover them with a fig leaf of collegiality, and for them to reflect academic practices. The absence of protest over their unfairness is an indication that they "work" as a punative practice.
[1]: HERDC (2012) http://www.innovation.gov.au/Research/ResearchBlockGrants/Documents/2012HERDCSpecifications.pdf at page 7-8, 1.3.10
[2]: OECD (2002), Frascati Manual: Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development, OECD: Paris.
[3]: Cited in HERDC (2012)
[4]: DIKW models, Zins, Chaim (2007). "Conceptual Approaches for Defining Data, Information, and Knowledge" Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 58 (4): 479–493. doi:10.1002/asi.20508 cited in Wiki.
I agree with the other responders and commenters that it's silly to generalize over all disciplines like this. What makes it particularly funny to me as someone in physics, is that it is often said that physics is concerned with the 'how', not the 'why'. I guess we, along with people in other hard sciences, don't do research at all then... At least philosophically, we're in the business of describing how nature behaves, how a particle moves and interacts, but can't really tell you why our models work, only that they more or less "fit the data". (Then there's the problem of model-dependent realism - do our models actually reflect what's going on in nature, or just happen to predict the same outcomes?)
For example, in the words of Feynman
While I am describing to you how Nature works, you won't understand why Nature works that way. But you see, nobody understands that.
Sometimes you can ask 'why' questions that lead to unifying principles, with better explanatory power. For example, "why do these properties share property X?" rather than "what properties do these materials have?", but generally, you don't get one without the other, and both are considered research. Even if you manage to answer this 'why' question, however, you'll be left with a more fundamental 'why' question that we don't know how to begin to answer. And many levels of the more accessible 'why' questions are beyond the scope and time frame of most PhD studies.
As for the statement that all research questions should have comparisons in them, I don't even know where to begin. Consider e.g. the 2017 Nobel prize in physics for the observation of gravitational waves. The LIGO project attempted to answer questions like "do gravitational waves exist?", "can we see them?", and "can we use them for new kinds of astronomy?". If you really want to twist things, I guess they could be rephrased "are there more than zero gravitational waves in the universe?" and so on. It still wouldn't be a 'why' question as described above though.
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75063 | How do traveller academics get reimbursed for accommodation shared with families?
I will travel to a conference at which I will present my work. My funder usually reimburses me for fees of conference registration, travel, and accommodation.
However, since my wife and kids will accompany me, I will book separate travel tickets for them, and a family room, which is usually more expensive than a single one.
I will ask the funder whether/how they would reimburse me for the accommodation.
I guess many other academics around the world travel for work with their partners, friends, or families, and I am wondering how they usually/ideally get fair reimbursement for accommodation shared with other non-funded travellers.
Usually, you will explain the specifics of your travel and provide some documentation about
the actual expenses for travelling with your family
the expenses you would have had, had you travelled alone
You should then be able to make a case for getting reimbursed for the (lower) expenses listed in item #2, even though all your bills show the (higher) expenses from item #1.
If there was anything that cost the same, or even less, for the whole family compared to what you would have paid alone, make sure to provide good proof of the hypothetical 1-person-price and you might even get reimbursed some of what was used by the entire family :)
@dan1111: This may work, but it may also be that the funder will say that you'll only get the part of the expenses that would have been necessary to fund you at this particular place, i.e. if you book a double room you only get what a single room would have been and sometimes you even get 50% of the price of a double room.
Dirk: That is true, although I'd probably try and protest in the case of getting only 50% of a double room (if that is less than the cost of a single room). I consider the requirement to not have a single room questionable to begin with (in particular if I already picked a place where a single room rate is lower than 50% of a double room in the official conference hotel), and when I don't know anyone else who will attend, I consider it inacceptable to be put into a room with a total stranger.
I have always eaten these cost differences. My family is small (me and wife), and I always get a room with a king bed anyway. We pay the cost for my wife's flights, the university (maybe through grants) pays for my flights, per diem, and hotel. If there is a rental car required, it doesn't change size, so the university pays that as well.
I don't think that the university would pay the difference for anything I chose to make different for my work travel (extra stops, room for children, etc.), because I think there are either university rules or granting agency rules that prevent it. These are my choices to travel with family, I must make up the differences.
It's simpler if you can claim on a per diem basis, but that's often not possible and you have to submit receipts (this has tax implications for example). At that stage you could technically claim only for your own share of the bill. Recognising the absurdity of this, many places will pay for the bigger room on the understanding that you don't claim for food etc.
@ChrisH, many places, in what countries? My university pays a per diem without receipts based on a table of median/average costs for every city or region. Hotels/rental cars/taxis require receipts. Each country/region/nation has different practices. Some are more or less flexible than you suggest. Mine university doesn't really look at room size unless you book something outrageous.
In both industry and academia I've never come across more than rumours of per diem arrangements in the UK. They used to happen but were clamped down on as taxable income. In industry the maximum daily amount claimable for certain categories of whoever claim with receipts was set on a per-country basis.
@ChrisH, the US IRS (PDF) has a method for this. Either the per diem is for lodging, meals, and incidentals, or it excludes lodging. They set acceptable rates for each locale. That per diem is not taxable income if what is paid is less than or equal to the posted rate.
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117000 | Can co-authors disagree in their own paper?
Co-authors are increasingly required to report their individual contributions to a research paper. But can they report their (internal) disagreement?
Co-authors may disagree on parts of a final draft. Each may have own interpretation of (parts of) the results or view of their implications.
The different views can be of course expressed in the publication without attribution, e.g.:
Our results may mean x, but they may also mean y.
But some co-authors may find others' interpretations/views controversial, or they may wish to get "exclusive" credit for their own ideas.
In such cases, is it appropriate for co-authors to explicitly attribute certain interpretations/views in a paper to their owners? Should they do that?
Co-author A thinks results mean x, whereas co-author B thinks they mean y but not x.
Is this a hypothetical question or do you have a real reason for asking? If you have a serious need, at least say which field you are working in.
It's hypothetical, but it applies to many fields.
Maybe this is something you can add to a "discussion" section of the paper.
If it's a fundamental disagreement, you might consider splitting the paper or splitting a companion paper (Part I and Part II, with separate authors). I've seen it done albeit rarely. If it's a minor matter of interpretation, I've often seen authors write "One of us is inclined to believe that...", without actually naming who thinks what.
Do you mean: agree on the methodology but disagree on the (numerical) results? or agree on the numbers but disagree on their statistical interpretation? Or agree on both of those but disagree on the implications? It seriously helps if you can give a specific example. (Is this economics?)
I'm hoping for someone to post an example of a single-author paper in which they disagree with themselves.
It is rather unusual, but it has occurred before. In the paper
Piccione, Michele, and Ariel Rubinstein. "Equilibrium in the Jungle." The Economic Journal 117.522 (2007): 883-896.
each of the authors has their own conclusions, marked "4.1. Concluding Comments by MP" and "4.2. Concluding Comments by AR." It should be noted though that the writing in economics tends to be less structured (no such thing as a "method section") and this is a somewhat unconventional paper to begin with.
I, too, have seen it on occasion.
@GEdgar - Could you possibly bring any references to where you've seen it? Feel free to post as your own answer.
Very interesting! I hadn't see this before. I would like to be able to read different interpretations of work in my field using an approach like this.
And Ariel Rubinstein is not your conventional genius...
This might not perfectly fit your bill, but the paper Trialogue on the number of fundamental constants
by Michael J. Duff, Lev B. Okun, and Gabriele Veneziano
basically consists of three co-authors disagreeing.
Abstract:
This paper consists of three separate articles on the number of fundamental dimensionful constants in physics. We started our debate in summer 1992 on the terrace of the famous CERN cafeteria. In the summer of 2001 we returned to the subject to find that our views still diverged and decided to explain our current positions. LBO develops the traditional approach with three constants, GV argues in favor of at most two (within superstring theory), while MJD advocates zero.
In theoretical cryptography, we have a major paper by Canetti, Goldreich, and Halevi, showing that in general cryptographic systems which are proven secure in the so-called random oracle model are not necessarily secure in the real world. At the end, they each offer different opinions about what this means regarding the usefulness of ROM proofs. (Basically, Goldreich says they offer no evidence whatsoever of real-world security, while the other two say they're not ideal but better than nothing.)
Yes, but I guess that this would usually set the tone of the paper, i.e. the paper would focus on a debate between the co-authors. For instance:
https://www.nature.com/news/does-evolutionary-theory-need-a-rethink-1.16080
But that is something different.
I don't think mentioning author names in the manuscript is a solution. All authors should take responsibility for everything that is written in the manuscript. So I would say present both interpretations as possibilities without committing to either.
An alternative solution (and one which I try to use) is to avoid views/interpretations that your co-authors don't agree with, and instead write your interpretations in a follow-up opinion paper. This looks much better than the authors disagreeing with each other, I believe, especially if this is a basic research paper.
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64980 | Risk to academic reputation by publicly requesting pay-walled articles
The Twitter hashtag #ICanHazPDF has been popular among academics as a method for peer-to-peer exchange of pay-walled articles. Some people call this practice "piracy", and it could be illegal depending on the publisher policies.
Apparently, many users use it with real names and real profile pictures.
What are real risks to academic reputation and career of people by publicly requesting pay-walled articles?
I'm looking for an objective assessment.
It will be news to me the first time someone points to a case of a hashtag, or anything on Twitter, having an impact on academic reputation.
@LaurentDuval Risk to reputation of individuals and organizations can be objectively assessed and managed. #UseGoogleBeforePostingNiceComments
@DanielR.Collins I edited the question to make it clearer that it's about requesting PDFs on Twitter, which is a "dubious" practice, rather than merely using the hashtag.
Risk to reputation of individuals and organizations can be objectively assessed and managed — [citation needed]
@JeffE Here we go:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09513570810863932
http://dx.doi.org/10.1258/cr.2009.090045
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.1050.0127
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-04008-9_2
https://books.google.com/books?id=rjuBTqZPS_EC
https://books.google.com/books?id=aaeLF_3VPJEC
https://books.google.com/books?id=TWqUAgAAQBAJ
http://www.criticaleye.com/insights-servfile.cfm?id=409
@Orion I agree that your citations support assessed and managed, but they do not support your claim of objectivity.
@JeffE They do. Reputation management implicitly involves objective assessment! Objective measures of corporate reputation may include client satisfaction.
@DanielR.Collins Here's something on twitter having effect on reputation! https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/07/fat-shaming-professor-faces-censure-university
Probably very little unless they're very pro-copyright or lawsuits start to happen. In the former case, they'd look hypocritical. In the latter, a University might be less likely to hire the academic to protect themselves from future liability issues.
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123957 | Using well-established abbreviations for new concepts in the same field
Should a researcher try her best to avoid using existing abbreviations (such as IEEE, WHO, DNA, ANOVA, BMI, CERN, NASA, UNESCO, OPCW, NHS, CDC ...) that are (well-)known in her fields, when creating abbreviations for new concepts (methods, substances, studies ...) in the same field?
Or is it OK if the abbreviation for the new concept is just defined where it is used (e.g., in a publication)?
This is not good practice : global search algorithms will find "results" that are not relevant... engineers have to use letters for things and use an upper case letter with descriptive subscripts to focus the meaning ie Cf (coefficient of friction), Cd (coefficient of drag), Cl (coefficient of lift, could be confused with the symbol for chlorine, but these are subscripts not lower case...
You should avoid using abbreviations entirely. Give your new concept a mnemonic name.
"You should avoid using abbreviations entirely." "– JeffE". *cough*
@DavidRicherby I'm going to assume Jeff has taken his own advice, and from now on will pronounce that name in my head as "jeffy" rather than Jeff E. There's also a mod over at Biology and Psych/Neuro AliceD, who is indeed not Alice D. but intended to be read as an entire phrase.
Yes, you should avoid using well-established acronyms to mean something else. I would especially avoid those like the ones you present as examples that are likely more recognizable as the acronym than what the acronym stands for: they are effectively words by themselves with a specific meaning.
Yes. But then again, no. Depends.
If you can easily avoid it, sure - avoid it. It will only cause confusion in the long run. But this confusion is dependent of the previous acronym being relevant (as opposed to known) in that specific field. So if you are creating a new modular iterating algorithm (stupid example, but you catch my drift), and your last name is Brown, it is OK to call it the Brown Modular Iterator (BMI). No one, in context, will think this is the Body Mass Index.
A slightly different example of when it is OK (not, mind you, optimal) to use an existing acronym which can actually cause confusion, is when there are specific naming conventions. This is how we have the American Sociological Association (ASA), the American Statistical Association (ASA), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) - with most societies holding the convention of country_societyname_association, and medical societies to the country_societyof_societyname.
On the other hand, it's going to be really hard to Google for BMI because Google will be convinced you mean body mass index. So, really, re-using existing common abbreviations seems like a pretty bad idea.
@DavidRicherby To be fair, Google tends to do well if you add context clues, at least when there's little overlap between the fields. E.g. "BMI airport" finds the airport just fine, but "BMI burger" probably won't find the Big Mac Index.
@Anyon Actually, “BMI burger” (without the quotes) in a Google search gave me the Big Mac Index as the third search result. (The first link was to a burger event at Broadcast Music Inc. in Nashville, and the second link was about the Body Mass Index. YMMV since Google’s results are personalized, but it seems to do a decent job, even with overloaded abbreviations.)
OP specified that are (well-)known in their fields which I suppose is a bit grammatically ambiguous but I took to mean "their" field to relate to the researcher, rather than the acronyms. The Brown Modular Iterator would probably not be used in the same field as the Body Mass Index, but perhaps should be avoided since BMI is used as such a popularly known acronym, alongside others like NASA. I think the ASA examples are a better counter example. Working as a statistician in an anesthesiology department has me in a bit of a bind personally, however...
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122927 | Rights of authors who withdraw peer reviewed manuscript due to refusal to transfer copyright
Many (traditional) journals request copyright transfer upon acceptance.
A group of librarians suggested that authors negotiate the copyright transfer and prepare to walk away if the journal insists on full copyright transfer.
Suppose the authors refused but the journal insisted on the transfer, and therefore the authors decided to publish elsewhere.
Generally, what are authors' and journals rights in such a case?
What happens to the peer review the authors received from the first journal? Can or should they present it when submitting to another journal?
Surely, authors can access journal's copyright transfer form and study it thoroughly before they submit to this journal.
Surely. But they can also negotiate after acceptance.
What would be the benefits of doing it after?
If the editor/journal finds the article important, e.g., of potentially high impact, they may ask for less restrictive terms or even allow authors to retain ownership.
For some journals, submitting the manuscript entails transferring copyright, see for instance http://www.ma.huji.ac.il/~ijmath/instructions.html
The authors should check when the journal transfers copyright. As mentioned by Andrés E. Caicedo in the comments, some journals assume the authors transfer copyright once a paper is submitted, not after acceptance.
If the authors withdraw a paper because they do not want to transfer the copyright, the journal's likely reaction would be to remind the author about the possibility of publishing open access. If the authors decline that too, then the journal will probably think, "why did you submit it to us then?" Getting the paper reviewed involves a nontrivial amount of effort. If the journal decides the authors submitted the paper knowing that they will withdraw it if it's accepted, effectively wasting the journal's time, they might blacklist the authors.
As for what happens to the peer reviews, from the journal's perspective, nothing. The reviews are left on the manuscript's record, of course, but nothing beyond that. The authors will still have access to them, and they can do whatever they want with them (such as use it to improve their manuscript). They should not, however, present them to another journal. As I wrote in an answer to another question, these reviews don't help the new journal:
We can't use the original journal's reviewer comments & your responses. We don't know who the reviewers are. We can't tell if the reports are legitimate. We can't see if confidential comments were submitted.
If you do not transfer copyright to the journal (or in some way provide them permission), the journal has no rights to reproduce the manuscript. If you do not transfer copyright to the journal, your rights are not limited.
What happens to the peer review the authors received from the first journal? Can or should they present it when submitting to another journal?
I am not sure if this has anything to do with why you withdraw the manuscript from the first journal. You clearly do not hold copyright on the reviews (e.g., the reveiwer probably does, but maybe not), so forwarding them on is probably a no-no. That said, there are likely no damages, so if you did, it probably is not a big deal. More importantly, if the new journal wants the reviews they would probably go through a portable peer review system (although that does not seem to be very popular).
Transferring copyright is not necessary for a journal to print an article. All the journal needs is a license. My impression is that they ask for full copyright for their convenience. My experience suggests that not all journals are willing to merely license articles, unfortunately.
@BenTrettel yes it is possible the OP gave the journal a license but not copyright, but I think this is splitting hairs based on the question.
I was just commenting on your first sentence, not saying that the OP gave the journal a license. Your first sentence reads to me that journals can only publish a paper if they own copyright.
@StrongBad "I am not sure if this has anything to do with why you withdraw the manuscript from the first journal." The withdrawal is purely due to disagreement with the journal on copyright.
I doubt you should ever forward the reviews. Irrespective of this copyright gambit. You can summarize that reviews were done and the general positive/negative and evolution of the paper (in succinct fashion). But the reviews themselves were in confidence.
I would also mention your copyright issue with the second journal. Otherwise you are wasting everyone's time. Probably wasting people's time at first journal too. If you want the rights, find a journal that does this or just self publish.
Academic journals are different than paid authored content (stories, novels, freelance articles and photos) where some negotiation dance is tolerated.
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112005 | Does examiner's own PhD outcome influence decision?
PhD examination outcomes, depending on country/university, may include unconditional pass, pass subject to minor or major corrections, and resubmission among others.
Is there any evidence or analysis (in any country) on whether an examiner's decision can in some way be influenced by their own PhD outcomes?
For instance, is an academic who himself/herself got a lower PhD outcome, e.g., major correction or resubmission, more likely to give lower outcomes when acting as an examiner?
I doubt that there is any significant data to show one way or the other...
I'm curious to know where you think this might be an issue. In my experience, if a candidate didn't do well in the defense, they were just given some ideas about what they needed to do to improve the work or presentation. There was no record left until success was obtained or the candidate gave up. Minor corrections, especially were treated as more of a clerical issue than substantial. Moreover, we treated it as the advisors responsibility not to let bad things happen.
@Buffy I'm curious to know how your comment relates to the question. Could you please clarify?
@Orion, the first sentence is my puzzlement. The rest is why it is a puzzlement. With clarification, an answer might be provided, but I wouldn't know how to approach it without more from the OP.
@Buffy I think you misunderstood the question. It is about factors related to examiners rather than the student or the student's work.
Which question are you asking? Limit it to one clear question...
@SolarMike There is one clear question: Is there any evidence or analysis (in any country) on whether an examiner's decision can in some way be influenced by their own PhD outcomes?
What about the last para then...
@SolarMike This is an explanation of the question, I guess.
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114006 | Grad school and pregnancy
I 'm planning to apply for Masters in Computer Science (Non-thesis). I 'm wondering if both, pregnancy and school, can be managed at the same time. Or is better to wait until I get my baby and then apply for the school. I 'm trying to learn from others experiences.
Are you asking only about being pregnant while studying (i.e., you would time it so that you give birth after graduating), or also about giving birth mid-course?
One of my professors gave birth to her daughter during her PhD. She's pretty successful now. Not that much to worry I guess.
Since I'm not female, I can't give direct evidence. However, there are a couple of things you might think about.
The first is your general health. If it is good, then the stress of pregnancy will most likely be manageable. Then your studies will also be manageable. Note that the stress can be both physical and mental.
The second, is stress itself. Both a pregnancy and a graduate education can add to your stress. If you have other stresses in your life (financial, ...) it can get pretty high. That isn't a recommendation against it, however, but a recommendation that you will need ways to manage stress. If you do this well already, then there is likely no problem, otherwise, find active stress reducing activities.
In fact, having something to think about other than your studies can actually be a help because of the way the mind works. If you do nothing but try to force your mind to action it can stall.
Also, it is probably a mistake to delay your dreams unnecessarily, either for a child or an education.
It can absolutely be done but you should be realistic up front with yourself regarding the challenges. You know yourself best.
Anecdotally, in my graduate school there was a PhD student who ended up pregnant and gave birth at the end of her second year. She had to make some adjustments such as working from home more, video and voice conferencing with her advisors, but she made it work. One of the strongest students in the program.
I think this is a question that you decide the answer to.
I think that anyone is capable of going to school even while having a kid. All the more power to you and pride you would have! It could be hard but any person knows what they're capable of and if you think you are, why wait on having a kid or getting the degree/why choose between school and parenthood?
You should / could check in advance how open your university actually is. We are very supportive and try to help wherever possible, since many of our professors are young(er) parents as well, and sometimes we are stretching rules a bit which makes it much easier and reduces stress.
In general, having a kid during grad school might be wise, because when it comes o employment questions afterwards, you can always declare that you already have a kid ;-). (yes, I know that you should not be asked about it, but I know of several companies which are not employing younger women because of the risk of them becoming pregnant).
So in short: Do whatever feels good to you!
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111923 | How to deal with unnecessary stress introduced by the supervisor?
I am doing my PhD in a high prestige UK university.
I am finishing my second year and I have funding for three years in total.
I have already two papers finished (pending to be published) and working on two more.
I like research and I like being pushed to achieve the best I can. What I don't like however is introducing unnecessary stress into my daily life. With this I mean the following:
I think that it is totally acceptable and expected of me to work overtime when nearing a deadline. Usually the month before a deadline I work 12 hours per day, 6-7 days a week. This is totally fine and to some extent I enjoy it.
My supervisor is a brilliant researcher. Young and successful in his field with many publications in high prestige venues. However, he's also the classic stereotype of the super-workaholic academic who works 7 days a week, from early in the morning until late at night.
It's common for him to send messages or emails at 23.00 or during weekends asking for something. This could range from asking to complete a certain task or a simple "What is the status of X?".
I find this exhausting. To work hard during the week I need to have a "safe space" where I know that I can relax without worrying about work. Otherwise I feel demotivated to work hard. Due to this behavior I have anxiety issues. Recently, after a very stressful period mostly due to work, my hair started falling. This was identified by my GP as "Telogen effluvium". It can happen after very stressful periods. Thankfully it stopped but it's a clear sign that I've been stressing too much.
Ignoring my emails and messages is not an option for me. The reason is that I know that he genuinely cares about my PhD and many times his messages may be about the changes he has done on my paper. Ignoring this makes me feel ungrateful.
My most important problem is that, looking back, 70% of the stress introduced by supervisor could have been totally avoided if he could relax a bit. He's micromanaging me and wants to know everything. And many times we could have taken a month more on a project instead of rushing things.
Moreover, because he's always pressuring me to do as many things as possible as fast as possible, I feel that I cannot do any quality work. I prefer quality for quantity. He's the opposite.
I have tried to convey my feelings to him multiple times already. He does not seem to get it. Or he may back off for 2-3 weeks and then resumes his previous behavior. In a recent confrontation I mentioned the words "unnecessary stress" and he didn't take it very well.
Many colleagues have told me that I should be thankful because he's actively working on my PhD while other supervisors are totally absent. I find this unfair. None of the two should be OK.
Overall I feel burned-out and demotivated. This saddens me because I really like my PhD and research in general.
However, I don't think I can take this for one more year.
Question: How to deal with a workaholic supervisor who is introducing unnecessary stress into my daily life?
p.s. It's important to mention that my supervisor probably suffers from anxiety as well. This is somewhat known by his PhD students and he has implied it one or two times.
Have you tried not answering an email until the morning? Was he mad? If yes, he has unreasonable expectations and this should be addressed. If no, you need to work on your own mindset (i.e., you are stressing yourself first and foremost - your supervisor is at best the trigger) and let your supervisor work whenever he feels productive.
@xLeitix He isn't mad but if I repeat this behavior he gets passive aggressive. Other than that, I totally agree I must work on my own mindset.
Answer emails only once, perhaps twice a day. The rest of your working time is for actual work. If he asks why you have not responded earlier, just say "I was busy working on X, so I could only check my emails so often".
I think the primary problem here is conflating leaving a reply until the next working hour, and ignoring that email. They're not the same thing.
How do you receive emails at 11 PM at night? Are you at a desktop with an email client open? Did they come through your smartphone with an alert? Something else?
If the supervisor asks why you didn't respond to the 11 PM email, the answer should be "I was asleep". Likewise, most weekend emails can be answered by "I was out hiking (or whatever) where there's no service".
"I think that it is totally acceptable and expected of me to work overtime when nearing a deadline."
I disagree. Routinely expecting overtime near a deadline (rather than occasionally when something has gone wrong) - whether in academia or anywhere else - indicates either too much work, or poor planning.
In academia the first will almost certainly apply, and the second may too, but that doesn't mean that academics should be inflicting this on PhD students, for whom the workload does not have to be more than a full-time job.
@Flyto I wish things were like that.
I know people who will send me a little quickie question at odd hours. Then after suckering me into outing myself with a quick and easy reply, they follow up immediately with a big hassle email requiring a lot of my focus and time. And it would now be clear I'm knowingly ignoring their email. Luckily I take joy in doing so, rather than stressing about it.
Learning to deal with stress is kind of part of the education. The more prestigeous it is, the more so.
It is not unreasonable for a supervisor to write emails in the middle of the night. I do it myself, and frequently at that (sometimes because I am honestly just working late, sometimes because I am in a different time zone). However, it is unreasonable to expect immediate response when you do so (more accurately, it is unreasonable to expect immediate response for basically any email, as the medium is fundamentally asynchronous and nobody should expect you to have your email open all the time).
That said, a significant part of the problem also appears to be your own mindset. You can't realistically change when your supervisor sends you work, but you can definitely change when you read it, and when and how you react to it. Just not reading emails in the night is a big start. Many people do it, and you do not need to have a bad conscience when you do it as well. A second part of this is also to not interpret every email as implicitly highest-priority. Try to assess what a realistic timeline for any given work task is - if your supervisor does not specify you don't need to assume it needs to be done next thing in the morning.
One problem that you may face is that you have by now trained your supervisor that you read and react to every email at any point in time. Even if it's unreasonable, it is somewhat understandable that this is by now how your supervisor thinks you work. The most pragmatic way is to change things gradually over time, combined with a non-accusory one-on-one talk with your supervisor that you are unable to deal with your current work mode. Don't use the words "you are stressing me out" or anything else that puts the token and blame on him. Say that you are stressed out and need to change how you work. The goal is not to elicit a different behavior from him (although this may also come out of the meeting as a sideeffect), but to communicate to him how you plan to address your stress-related issues going forward.
+1 though it’s not uncommon in academia for managers to expect fairly immediate replies. Pushing back against this can itself be draining.
You had my +1 already at " it is unreasonable to expect immediate response for basically any email, as the medium is fundamentally asynchronous" and I'm sad I can't add a couple +1 for the other paragraphs.
Excellent answer. OP says "Ignoring my emails and messages is not an option for me," but needs to see and use the wide range of possibilities in between ignoring and replying immediately.
The focus on email in most of the answers is a little odd to me. I agree that the email situation is a problem to be addressed, but I think there is a broader problem of a stressful, controlling supervisor. You say to not put blame on the supervisor in talks with him (good advice), but we should seriously acknowledge that the blame is majorly on the supervisor. This is a motivated, extremely hardworking student, who produces good output, and the supervisor is micromanaging them and always expecting more, and even acts passive-aggressively if the student does not respond to email immediately.
Overall, I feel this answer is a bit optimistic. This approach may not work. It is possible that the supervisor is a bad apple. Such a stressful environment may have no other solution than either (i) finding a way to endure the stress or (ii) finding a new supervisor.
@6005 We are focussing on the email thing because that is what OP wrote concretely. The rest (micromanagement, passive-agressive) are just side remarks, which I have learned to not take much stock in.
And, if you are that supervisor who sends emails at any hour, it would be "enlightened" of you to make it clear at the beginning of your relationship that you don't expect immediate response to every email unless you add some particular signal to an individual mail. And, any email from my (former) employer that was flagged as high priority went to the bottom of the stack since it rarely was.
As someone who has had to handle some significant health-related issues, let me begin by saying
Your health is more important than any project!
If your health is being impacted negatively by the stress you feel and by other concerns, then this is something that you have to deal with, and you need to make it clear to your supervisor that this is starting to become an issue. Phrase it as a health issue, not a stress issue, and you should see a change in behavior.
That said, one of the things that you can do is to make time for yourself to decompress. Even if your boss is a workaholic, that does not obligate you to be one as well. You should schedule time for yourself to do whatever it is that allows you to “unwind”: maybe it’s work out, or do something artistic, or maybe it’s just cooking dinner for yourself. But whatever it is that you do should be added into your schedule, just as if it were a group meeting or a class: it’s time that you don’t let others infringe upon.
Also, you need not answer an email as soon as the professor sends it—indeed, in many ways, there are studies showing that you’re more productive only dealing with email a few times a day rather than all day long because you’ll spend less time on “task switching,” which costs you the focus and attention you need to do well. A few hours’ or a day’s delay in answering an email is perfectly acceptable if it leads to a more thoughtful and fruitful discussion.
But the most important thing is to keep an open line of communication with your advisor. Clearly he’s interested in your work and in your success, and you should try to use that to your advantage. Keep working with him, but do it in a way that doesn’t assign blame to either of you. Make it a collaborative rather than adversarial conversation.
+1 for Your health is more important than any project! It's ok if sometimes project things don't get done as fast as they might because you're spending time looking after yourself by resting or doing something fun. Don't let that little guilty voice in your head force you to work all the time....
You will have to differentiate between the stress put on you by your supervisor and the stress you are accepting. E.g. even noticing that you received an e-mail around midnight is unnecessary. Just switch off your phone (seriously!) or stop message transmission during sleep times. If you feel better, you can offer an "emergency channel" for important tasks (e.g. allow for chat messages in urgent cases), so you can rest assured that the world will still be rotating after you woke up ;-).
It is part of a PhD process o learn about your own working style and preferences, and how to interact with other people who are not doing it the same way you prefer things to be done. I assume your mindset is close to the one of your supervisor, so you don't want to disappoint him, but you still have to draw your borderlines. And you can only draw your borderlines, you can not change your supervisor.
This answer will be orthogonal to the question and might help or not.
In some ways you have an ideal situation with an advisor invested in you, your work, and your future. He also seems to trust you greatly. Be glad of that. Contrast that with the situation of many others asking questions here who have advisors too busy or disinterested to help them at all.
But stress can kill you.
While this will take time, I suggest that you find some activity that you can do for an hour or less each day that is know to be a stress reducer. Yoga comes to mind. My solution is Tai Chi, which is a mind-body melding exercise. It is very difficult to be stressed when doing Tai Chi.
However, you must, then find a way to compensate for the time spent. But this is not a good way to think about it. Your mind will work without you consciously "pushing" it. Many people wake up from a period of rest knowing the solution to a difficult problem that eluded them before they let it "gestate". An hour of calming exercise can have this effect also.
Far better this, IMO, than trying to change your supervisor, especially if he treats it as criticism and separates from you and your work. You could even get him to join you in Tai Chi. (Pipe dream, I know.)
Exactly the same situation with you...
Sometimes I received 10 more emails one day with shouting...
But I survived because I tried to think like he was not trying to destroy me but help me. I hope you can cooperate with this, try to reduce the times reading emails late at night, or simply don't reply to it until next morning.
What can be done tomorrow should be done tomorrow.
Hope you the best.
This sounds like a pretty typical problem in many workplaces. Regardless of when your supervisor sends his emails, the stress is generated by you reading them in the middle of the night or over the weekend. If the supervisor explicitly follows up during office hours to state that he is unhappy with your lack of response then that's something that needs to be addressed with him since it's unreasonable. But to begin with I suggest you stop checking emails outside of office hours. Most email clients can be set to only update during business hours. Failing that just switch it off.
To add to the excellent existing answers, you may be able to induce a change in your supervisor's behaviour by being more proactive in your communication. One reason that supervisors may feel the need to micromanage is if they feel out of touch with what you are up to. So, if your supervisor regularly sends you messages asking "What is the status of X?", perhaps this is a sign that you need to be updating him more frequently. If you take the initiative and send the first email, it has several advantages.
You feel less nagged.
Your supervisor may start to feel more confident in your ability to manage yourself, as they can clearly see that you are making progress
without the need for constant prodding.
If you are the one sending the email, you can do it at a time that suits you.
I don't think the existing answers have sufficiently dealt with HOW you should approach your supervisor about this.
I suggest framing the change in your work habits as a positive for something he cares about - which is (apparently, frustratingly) not your stress level. I would say that you are making a change either because you are trying to work more efficiently or because you are trying to do more high-quality work. Or choose another goal he cares about (more creatively, etc.)
You could frame this as: One of my goals is to work more [efficiently]. I have noticed that when I do work past X pm, it tends to have a lot more errors than work I am doing earlier in the day. Then I have to redo this later. So I am trying a new work pattern where I only do analyses before X.
The goal is to frame the change as being in service of something that the supervisor values so it is not seen as a change in your work ethic. Likely the supervisor views hours worked as an indicator of dedication etc. so you want to make it clear you value these things, too.
You might begin the conversation as a discussion of work strategies, how to be the most efficient, what work habits your supervisor has experimented with, etc. to get him into the mindset that each person needs to find their own best work style. You may also want to drop into the conversation that you admire his work style, and you are hoping you can mesh your two work styles well.
This is not much different from industry.
I have taken the habit to consciously disconnect and make sure I cannot connect.
The "cannot connect" part is important : I leave my laptop at the office and I use a separate app for work emails. When on vacation I even change the password so that it does not fire up by mistake.
This way my brain knows that even if this is the end of the world and président Macron is trying to mail me, he will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday.
Set a vacation message that says you will respond at certain times.
Before you do this, tell your advisor you need to normalize your sleep patterns, on the orders of your doctor, in order to work more effectively (you did see the doctor about this, yes?).
I disagree with your premise that the stress is introduced by the supervisor, let me explain:
There are two types of communication: synchronous and asychronous.
Syncronous communication relies on everyone participating at the same, for example a meeting or a telephone call. It is unreasonable to do these outside of normal working hours except in emergencies, that is urgent but very rare occasions.
Asynchronous communication, like email, does not rely on everyone participating at the same time, so people understand that you don't need to answer those immediately but only when you have time. It is not even productive to do so because getting back to a concentrated state takes a long time. I propose that you check and answer your email only once a day at a set time.
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119129 | Applying for job while 3/4 done with MS program
I am currently a MS student finishing my last (2nd) year. I have just applied to a top company of my field in my city (perhaps the nation as well). I did a video, phone, and on-site interview. They understand that I have just 1 class left next semester, but also need to finish my thesis (which is maybe 25% done?). I have informed them that I can work a full 40hrs a week (I am actually currently working about 35 hrs on top of 2 classes, TAing, thesis work). I have received an offer to start in January that is generally quite high for a new MS grad in my field. To be honest, I am much more interested in the work I would be doing at this company.
Should I take the offer and start working while taking the class/work on thesis? Or don't take it ?
Usually a masters thesis is a full time job, especially closer to the end of the thesis. Honestly, I would not recommend working 40h/week on top of working on a masters thesis, as long as the fields are not closely related. But of course this depends on individual factors which we can not appraise without knowing you and your thesis / course work.
Some questions which might help:
How much of your thesis can be finished before January?
Will it be possible to reduce the working hours to complete your studies if necessary (without being paid during that time)?
How well can you handle stress?
Would it be possible to start with 20-30h/week whilst you have to study?
In the long run, it is not a good idea to screw your thesis for a job. It is the most important grade! When people apply for a position at my lab, I am mainly looking at their thesis topic and grade - the rest is less important.
Maybe you can twist it another way: At our university it is common that students are doing their thesis in cooperation with a company - maybe you could switch your thesis topic and combine job and thesis.
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102956 | Postdoc overwhelmed by incomplete work
I take on more than I can handle and everything is left incomplete. Constant reminders from my previous supervisor, my current advisor, and colleagues, increases my anxiety level and sometimes I end up entirely avoiding work. I haven’t completed a paper as first author in the last two years, although I have two papers ready for submission for the last two months and two more I could complete with a week of uninterrupted work on each paper. These papers have been dragged so much that now I am losing interest in making any more changes. I will appreciate any suggestion for dealing with anxiety regarding works that I should have completed more than a year ago.
This sounds very familiar. But here's an important question. Are you working on these papers all by yourself? Because that clearly makes things much more difficult.
I hope you find a great solution. This isn't just an Academia problem, this is a personal demon that you, and millions of others (myself included,) face on a daily basis. Many will say "just buckle down and do it" but that isn't how the brain works. You're doing the right thing, though - admitting you need help and seeking it! With a good support network you'll get through this =)
I am worried because this anonymous person who posted this s question hasn’t interacted in anyway ever since. I can only hope all is fine and things clearing out.
Maybe you are too perfectionist. You don't want to release stuff which you arent 100% satisfied with. The problem is stuff can almost always be improved no matter how awesome they get...
This is a well known problem - and depending on your personal situation you should consider getting professional help by a psychologist. It's not a shame and it might prevent further harm. They could assist as well in creating a step-by-step program.
If you are willing to handle the situation by yourself, you'll have to do "a few" things (which are a lot to do!):
Learn to say "no" to specific tasks. Do not accept any new assignments unless your papers are done.
Figure out, why you are procrastinating - your mind has a reason for it and you should figure out what it is.
If the overall workload is too high, cancel some things forever. Eg. decide not to submit one of the "old" papers. How does this thought feel? Better or worse then the actual situation?
Go on step-by-step. Focus on finishing one of the old papers. Submit it. Take a break! Choose the next step of work.
If needed, be disruptive.
Take a longer break (e.g. 4 weeks of vacation)
Move your whole inbox to a subfolder "old" and never ever look at it - important mails will be re-sent.
...
If you are having a good relation with your supervisor(s), involve them in the process.
I think Point 3 is a very important one - I used to think it seemed obvious but only recently realised that (a) I wasn't following that point (b) by following it, some things actually improved
Good advice. Learning to say no and establishing priorities is a valuable learned skill.
professional psychologist: $$$ For that, you need a decent job with benefits.
@Kaz - depends on your health insurance system - e.g. in Germany, it is covered by the common health insurance (at least to a certain extend). But of course a coach could do, too (but may be even more expensive). But a burn out or lifelong depression: $$$$$$$
@Kaz many schools in the United States have counseling departments for exactly this reason. It would be a good idea to visit one of these if one is present
#5 move your whole inbox to a subfolder "old" is definitely good advice. Personally I compulsively answer my emails immediately if I am free when I see them (probably not such a great thing), but an old colleague of mine had over 30,000 unread emails. Getting that crap out of your inbox, I can imagine, could be huge relief. And as you mentioned, if it was important, it will be resent.
Indeed, item #5B on email is huge. I just cleared mine out yesterday for the first time in 1.5 years, and yes, it was a huge relief! (Not exactly that technique, but I wrote it down in case I fall behind in the future.)
I have a pending folder. When I have emails sitting on my inbox for too long I just move them to pending. The oldest one I have there to "take care of maybe later this week" is from 2015.
I am trying to overcome the exact same situation. I am a 3rd timer postdoc. I believe the major cause behind postdocs quitting science relates with exactly what you describe. I am adding my general recommendations below, based on what I have been doing.
The root of the issue is at not being able to publish results between starting new projects. This is surely due to taking on more projects that one can handle, but I see this as also not getting enough support from collaborators. Thus I suggest you to concentrate on these two main problems. My advice as below:
Stop acquiring new data. I am sure you're are right worrying about some exciting new idea and results that could be scooped at just any minute by your peers. That you're itching to look into the details of something apparently groundbreaking you came across a few weeks ago. That you have 'supervisors' (people you grew to call 'bosses') trying to squeeze out more data and analyses out of your expertise. Just don't.
Take your time to list your unfinished projects, organise your files accordingly, backup all the raw data, and get notes in order in your computer. Back everything up as if you're ready to hand all of it to someone else to finish. This will help you line things up in your head and establish priorities.
Do not overwork yourself, and that is mainly mentally. Take at least one day completely off work, every week. Take vacations. During rest you must not think about any of this (have fun, hobbies, relationships). You must be able to forget in order to return to a task in any productive way.
Commit to a routine of exercise, stretching, meditation. Fulfilling tasks depend on good health, and a sane body. Understand you're making yourself sick. Whenever you feel heavy, go for a jog, take 30-60mins in some empty room for intense stretching, go trekking, swimming, whatever makes you feel empty again. This will help you sleep and heal.
Cold showers and waking up very early will wire your instincts back to physical awareness and make you feel stronger. This is too physiological to explain logically: just do it as if you're camping, and within few days you'll feel a big difference.
Focus on self-improvement and (implicitly and politely, but only if possible) tell your peers to bloody sod off. Too many professors nowadays will suck postdocs and PhD students dry, while sitting comfortably on a fixed income, pretending to be busy around empty/ghost meetings, random signatures, staring at some computer screen. They are just waiting. They are vultures waiting over you to offer papers and data for them to claim as their own. Do not dance for them. Almost any parasitic professor and collaborator is actually deadly scared of losing hosts, so as soon as you seem like dropping out, they'll give you space.
ONLY AFTER ALL OF THE ABOVE (should take few months):
Think of your savings, family situation, and alternative careers you could take up with your skills to decide on what to do next. Are you really sure you want to finish any of the projects you listed? Why do you want to finish them, objectively? Make a career choice here. My main advice at this point: make yourself ready to quit anytime. Having nothing to lose makes you ruthless.
(a) You want to finish some project(s). Focus on that one while following a strategy to finish it. Be selfish. Take your time, work only on this until it's finished. Do one single small step at a time, do not stop to look at the whole picture. This project must be personal, not for pleasing anyone or showing off. Contact your peers and demand help. If they are your co-authors they must help you with something according with your strategy. Should they refuse do get angry make it clear they are not legitimate partners on this. If you feel no-one is really helping and you're just dragging, kill this project and move on to the next one, or (b).
(b) You decided there is a better life for you elsewhere. Contact other postdocs and ask what they have in mind. Contact your friends and enlarge your interests network. Read a lot of books. Take a look into transitioning to other careers with your expertise, e.g. Industry, Coaching, Private Consulting, Teaching, Start-ups. Tell your peers you're moving out, and start negotiating whether they are interested in finishing projects using the data you organised. Wish them good luck.
You must keep in mind that you live for yourself. You do what you want. As a PhD you have skills which are highly sought for. The best way out of inertia and depression is through bold action. Do not worry about being gentle: take what you want and screw the rest.
You might appreciate reading this:
http://www.benchfly.com/blog/lessons-from-a-recovering-postdoc/
+1 for "make yourself ready to quit anytime. Having nothing to lose makes you ruthless." The importance of this is often underestimated in various endeavors.
I've seen "commit to a routine" suggested in a few answers and I wonder if other post-docs have experienced this: If I relax my productivity grinds to a halt. If I become regimented I can actually get work done (barely, and not healthily) but then I can't relax and stress out family/friends, particularly if normal life events disrupt my perfect schedule. So I opt for the latter because at least it means I'll be productive. I am also offered very few days for vacations so it's mostly out of the question. The rest of your points are spot on and very helpful.
"but I see this as also not getting enough support from collaborators". No kidding. But would "not enough" perhaps translate to "almost none"?
@syntonicC With me the exercise and breaks routine works well. Because it means I will be fresh when I’m back to work. Sometimes I get really locked ‘in the productivity zone’ for long hours, and get a lot done but also feel like crap after and unwilling to work the next day. One could flip from the backlash. I think sustaining doing less for longer will get you to the end of project, instead of the end of willpower.
@FaheemMitha That's hard to infer from this case. Sometimes collaborators are helping or willing to help (i.e. technically) but the first author won't ask or accept it, or is just psychologically stuck. Still, asking for more help won't hurt them -- what are co-authors for? If they are really not helping, be ruthless and tell in their face they are out of this project.
@Scientist: "If they are really not helping, be ruthless and tell in their face they are out of this project". I like that idea in theory. In practice, implementation might be difficult.
And my limited experience with "collaborators" is that they want to do as little as possible. It's possible I have not had the best collaborators, though.
@FaheemMitha It is only hard to implement when you're still trying to save it. Once you decide you're ready to quit, it's easier. 'Collaborators' are nobodies, unheard of out of the academia. And trust me: being bold creates silent allies & fans. Most people quit problems without making ruthless moves: that's leaving like a loser. A 1st step for reaching the best collaborators is getting rid of the bad ones. I for instance wouldn't want to collaborate with someone who has been publishing with scumbags -- you see? And in the end we know who are the scumbags. Do it and you'll feel great at least
Quick question, "Do not overwork yourself, and that is mainly mentally. Take at least one day completely off work, every week.", I am wondering if this means not doing cognitive demanding tasks or not doing tasks related to your work? For example, in my spare time I like to learn or relearn mathematics. Is it best to stay away from that on the "day off" in order to perform optimally on the other six days?
@ThomasKing Hi, I am no specialist on this but from my experience the time-off period restores your focus by distracting your mind to other tasks, and by releasing endorphins which keep stress at bay. So I believe that will depend on how much effort and endorphins you take in studying maths. For most people exercise, contact with nature and intimate relationships are the most intensely de-stressing activities -- if you can somehow couple maths into those I believe you'd hit the best results.
Get help. Speak to a psychologist, it will never get better on its own.
I have ADHD and Asperger's and I identify with your problem. I get the usual rush that you get starting something new or trying a new sport or activity as your body responds to the new and exciting activity but my body just does not generate the same response that other people have after the rush period is over and the satisfaction response starts.
As a result I start loads of things but never finish as my motivation goes. My average life of a hobby is just under 6 months and my attic is full of gear from abandoned sports and games.
After getting help I now have a rigid structure that allows me to complete my tasks. My personal structure is a half hour work period, 10 minute break and another half hour on a different project. The switching helps me to avoid boredom and finish tasks. I also have rigid planning and defined goals to stop me meandering off topic.
This is tailored to me, you will need to find out what works for you but you WILL find something that works with the help of an expert.
See an expert now and things will improve.
Is there a specific type of psychologist which helps with this sort of thing?
I can very much relate to your problem. However, I have learned to handle this problem (although it took me some time), and I believe that you can learn that too. Now, I don't know how much you avoid the work. I took it to the extreme, and avoided work for long periods of time. So my advice/comments focus a lot on that.
I saw a psychologist once a week, which really did help.
For me, the most important part was to learn how to accept the presence of anxiety and not respond to it by avoiding whatever it is was that made my anxiety levels rise. Anxiety is a feeling, but avoiding something is an action, i.e. they belong to two completely different categories. It is possible to learn to immediately respond to increasing anxiety levels by acting and confronting rather than avoiding. The old way of responding for me was to try and distract myself by doing or thinking about something else. My new way of responding is to ask myself: What will happen to my anxiety levels if I sit down and work for four hours with a ten minute break each hour? Then I "experiment" by doing just that, and I always write down the results (that is, what actually did happen to my anxiety levels). Sometimes the anxiety persists, but often I forget about it once an hour or so has passed.
I noticed that things started to change when I started to open up to people. For me, avoiding work made me feel ashamed of myself. And unfortunately, I had a person in my life who told me that I was avoiding work because I was lazy, which made me feel even more ashamed, and I didn't trust that there could be people in my life that would understand and support me. But eventually I did open up to my parents and to my supervisor, and they were very supportive. Not everyone will be, but some people will be, and those are the people you should talk and listen to.
Take the evenings off. Because I was worried that I was in fact simply a lazy and worthless person, I didn't think I deserved evenings off. I was behind on my schedule, and it seemed strange to me to allow myself to relax in the evenings while that was the case. But I know now that if I want to function normally, I must take care of myself.
This point is related to the previous point. I don't know about you, but I had a tendency to think that I had to "catch up" with the time I had waisted on avoiding work. So I would make plans that were impossible for me to follow and finish. The thing is, if you haven't been able to work 8 hour days lately, you won't suddenly be able to work 13 hour days starting tomorrow.
Write a list (or several) of what needs to be done. Don't give yourself deadlines, instead give yourself hours that you should be working. Start at the top of the list, and move on to the next point once the previous has been completed. Giving yourself a deadline puts pressure on you, but I don't think that more pressure is what you need. Sometimes you might feel the need to move on to the next point on the list even though you aren't finished with the previous one. Sometimes, that is necessary and justified, other times you are just avoiding something that gives you anxiety, or are simply too unfocused to stay with the task that you've given yourself. You need to be honest with yourself: Why do I want to move on to the next point despite not having completed the point I am currently on? If the reason is anxiety, then fight that urge.
Lastly, good luck. It might seem impossible right now, but these things can change quickly. Once you have managed to complete some of the work that is currently incomplete, you will already notice a big change in motivation and how you approach your work.
Very insightful advice!
In most lines of non-menial work no-one can realistically take advantage of the full 8 work hours; you will be happier once you realize that is normal.
There are many great answers above, mine is just an addition and not an alternative answer.
I face similar problems and what helps sometimes is to classify work to:
----------------------------------------------------------
| | Important | Not Important |
----------------------------------------------------------
| Urgent | A | B |
----------------------------------------------------------
| Not Urgent | C | D |
----------------------------------------------------------
Classify your tasks into A,B,C, and D.
Priority is given to tasks under A, there are no disputes about this.
But then actually we are often tempted to look into the tasks under B. But what you want to do after you are done with A tasks, is to focus on the tasks under C before they find their way to A.
For example, as a final year PhD student, conference deadlines fall under B, while a PhD dissertation falls under C.
If you don't work on C most of the time, everything will become A at some point. Thus, priority should actually be on C.
@henning eh? There are two points to this approach: the first is to recognise that Cs become As, the second is that if you don't work on Bs or Ds, they eventually go away without anything particularly bad happening. (This is often called the Eisenhower method, by the way, after a quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower: "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.")
Given that OP says they are a postdoc, I think their PhD dissertation definitely falls under "A" by now :)
@arboviral I meant it as an example. For a post doc, it could be a professorship application, a grant, etc..
I like the quote. Ideally we would never allow ourselves to have A tasks i.e., we get done with them while they are still in C, before they move to A.
The second comment was meant in jest, of course. Although technically I didn't submit my thesis until four months after I started my 'postdoc' - they paid me as a research assistant until the viva then backdated the pay difference, which was nice.
I suggest using Scrum and Agile techniques to plan and organize your work before actually tackling it. If you can setup a kanban board of tasks for each project, and try to break down tasks into something you can accomplish in less than a day, then it will visually show you progress toward your goal. For me visual progress is one of the keys to motivation.
I have two papers ready for submission for the last two months and two
more I could complete with a week of uninterrupted work on each paper.
Pareto rule: The last 20 percent take 80 percent of the time. Leave some work for the reviewers! If you can't let go, you can still polish and edit after you've submitted your draft. It will be a draft, because there is no such thing as "finished" in academic writing. In the words of Tara Gray:
Kick it out the door and make them say "No"
Feel the relief. Then move on to the next project. Only look back once you've gotten the reviews; then work them into the draft and submit to the next journal.
At this point, you don't have to target A+ venues. A finished B publication is better than a non-finished A publication.
A few comments on the the fly, hoping they help. Hope and help are key words, indeed.
Take care of yourself: by the way, try make a conscious, but not stubborn, effort of defining to your mind who the 'yourself' needing care is;
For many organizational problems, a commutative rule applies: the order in which you solve them does not matter. It doesn't matter if you publish the second paper first, or the third paper second, and so forth. Go for the most ready or inviting ones: low-hanging fruits first. These tips break the analysis-paralysis situation;
You are already asking for help in this forum. I see valid and compassionate answers here. You are already being helped out, it's on you to weight those reactions and proceed (at your own risk, naturally, but in no solitude);
Pause, revise, reverse where needed. You are already able to describe your distress, which is key. You did pause. If you don't know whether the bottle is half-empty or half-full, turn the question into what you should do with that bottle: staring at it, filling it, drinking it, emptying it, throwing it away, changing focus of attention altogether, collect more bottles, ...
Be accepting of your weakness. Strength is most frequently developed in steps and through training (at least, leaning on what physical exercise teaches us). You might have been lazy on the first signs, map back what happened this far. The tale of Little Thumb is profound there: he's smart because he keeps tracks of his path into the dark wood using breadcrumbs (a term now also used with the most confusing of experiences: Internet surfing);
Unless it is organization what you deeply hate and hurts your true self, consider evaluating your intents according to the SMART criteria (many others may be a better fit to your personal situations).
Although a psychologist should help you with the emotional part of the problem, I think you should get a coach to help you create a plan and stick to it until you objectives are accomplished. It is a more pragmatic way to solve the productivity part of the problem.
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11023 | Is it a good idea to link your LinkedIn profile in the CV section of your dissertation?
I've passed the disputation and am now preparing the document for the printing press and final submission. We're required to have a CV in the back matter of the dissertation, and I was wondering if it is a good idea to link to my LinkedIn profile in addition (perhaps with a QR code) because it'll be far more up to date than the CV in my dissertation.
Do you think this is a good idea? Are there any things I should consider when doing this?
which will only be printed once — What is this "printed" of which you speak, earthling?
The dissertation will only be printed once. Updated for clarity. ;)
Your question indicates that you want to use a link to your LinkedIn profile in your CV because "it'll be far more up to date than the CV in my dissertation." Are you suggesting that (a) you are going to include a CV that is not up to date, or that (b) your LinkedIn profile will be updated over time and that you won't be able to go back and edit your dissertation?
If you mean (a), then no, you need to keep your CV up to date and a link to an online profile will not work. Your academic CV should always be kept as up to date as possible and it should absolutely be updated before you submit it in an application or include it in a dissertation. If you are doing your CV correctly, it will include different information than a LinkedIn profile and there is a strong expectation that every academic will have one.
If you mean (b) and are just worried that an archival copy of your CV will be out of date, sure, add a link to LinkedIn or similar. My CV links prominently to my academic homepage on at a permanent (i.e., non-university) URL, which is kept up to date, and which includes a link to the latest version of my CV at all point. I include a date in the footer of my CV although folks will have a date in your dissertation. Personally, I think this is better than relying on a for-profit company and its URLs for posterity.
In terms of the QR code, I'd skip it. These days, almost everybody who reads the dissertation will read a soft copy. A hyperlink will be much more useful. I suspect that a QR code will just end up make the document look dated at some point in the rather near future.
And a LinkedIn profile won't look dated in near future? Just 10 years ago someone might have asked the same question about adding a link to their GeoCities page...
I agree completely. That's why I recommended against using it int he sentence before I recommended against QR codes. I could have done it more strongly.
I decidede to add a link to my personal website which at the moment forwards to my LinkedIn profile.
This is a good idea, so long as it is not instead of a proper CV.
Just remember that links go out of date and QR codes will become outdated technology. So when LinkedIn goes out of business, the link and QR codes will be just be remnants of a time gone by.
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4903 | What tools make it easy to maintain (or avoid!) the N versions of your CV?
Academics need various forms of their CV, depending on what purpose it's being used for. In my case, here are reasons I've had to re-format or have a different version of my CV:
promotion and tenure,
research proposals (each grant program requires a different format),
program accreditation for engineering universities,
my official web page at my university (with a French and English version).
It's a lot of busy work to maintain these CVs, especially as they evolve.
In Canada, there's a program in government-funded research to have a common format for CVs, called the Canadian Common CV. It's a great idea, but doesn't really solve the global problems. Not all funding organizations support it (or the same version of it).
Can anyone recommend tools that help in preparing academic CVs in various formats? Probably this means centralizing the information in one place and having it output in customizable formats. Obviously, there needs to be some understanding of the elements of an academic CV: publications, students supervised, grants awarded, community service, courses taught, distinguished awards, etc.
I see two questions here - your title refers to maintaining various versions, but your question seems to referring to wanting a tool that makes it easy to prepare. I'm guessing you're really looking for something that lets you input all the info once, and then select which elements/order you want them in, w/o doing a lot of manual work/formatting?
@ernie Thanks - The title is probably the state of how things are done by most folks (not ideal). Yes, it should ideally only be entered once. Editing the question now.
I've never found a good solution for this, and wound up writing my own LaTeX class to do it.
@David, would you post a link to your custom class?
@J.C.Salomon I actually don't have access to it now because I'm traveling, but I will happily post it when I get back.
@J.C.Salomon The class is here: https://gist.github.com/4024555 I'm not posting it as an answer just yet because I don't have time to document it right now.
In addition to using LaTeX with a makefile, I find that using the LaTeX package splitbib is very useful. It allows you to format your publications with different subtitles for different category of publications, and you can pick and choose which entries from your publications (which I maintain as a BiBTeX file) should be included.
Since LaTeX allows you to include files, it's relatively easy to create separate files that contain the base material and then include them as needed in different formats.
You probably don't need a makefile, but I'd prefer doing the distinction in a (forest of) LaTeX file(s), too.
I'm curious to know if you use this approach for multi-lingual versions of your CV? In my case, I have to have French/English versions, and some things could be translated in a template (e.g., major headings of the CV, formats of dates, months, etc.) but other things are content variants (e.g., job titles, explanations of responsibilities, etc.) requiring 2 copies of the data.
I don't have multilingual versions of my CV :). But I have different bibilographic formats for different purposes, and different content that is included for different settings.
I maintain CV of various lengths (with more or less details) and in two languages. For a long time, I have used LaTeX for that task, along with a Makefile that can do conditional compilation of my argument: basically, the LaTeX code was set up so that, depending on the job name of the compilation, different bits of the CV would be included or not (this is not TeX.SE, so I won't go into the full details).
I used it for some years, but as time passed I progressed along the career track, and now I need more and more types of CV, customized in different ways. Basically, I end up having to manually select the bits and pieces I want to include for each specific use of my CV. Thus, I now maintain:
a very brief CV (for which I use the NSF “biographical sketch” as a template)
a full CV in English
a full CV in French
a list of publications, because these pretty much don't need translation apart from the section titles
I use my word processor (MS Word or Apple’s Pages) for the first three, as it allows me to customize a specific CV from each template, and it also allows then pasting the CV into a larger Word document (often a requirement for grants).
I still use a custom-made LaTeX processing of my publication list, from which I produce either PDF (if used on its own) or a HTML file, which I then copy into my MS Word CV.
There's also the idea of using a version control (or management) system such as Git, Subversion, or Mercurial. These tools will allow you to keep track of changes to your CV over time. If you use text-based files, it's a much lower overhead than keeping multiple versions of the different files floating all over the place, especially having different filenames for different dates of creation and editing, and so on.
You mean a revision control system. Content management systems are something else (e.g. Drupal, Wordpress and Joomla).
If you're unfamiliar with any of these tools, many would recommend Git. Subversion is a much older and less capable tool, and Mercurial—while practically equivalent to Git functionally—is much less popular than Git.
I'm very familiar with version control systems, and unless your CV is already structured carefully to take advantage of this, I don't believe they will help. You will still end up having to make a given change in all versions.
Git and systems like it allow for flexible merging and even "changing of the past". While it would be somewhat of an abuse of the system to use it for this purpose, it can be done.
This is completely wrongheaded. These tools will allow you to fork different versions of your CV, among which you will then have to migrate patches to keep them in sync. A CV that is tailored is more similar to a program that can be built in different configurations. You would generally not branch a program just for different build configurations. (Unless, say, you're developing an experimental new configuration that could break the others and needs to be developed in isolation. But then you have the other configurations available in your branch; you're not using branching to do the switch.)
+1 @Kaz VCS is important to use... but this isn't really the place for that. Keeping 4 branches of a project isn't the same as keeping 4 versions of a CV. If I update my work history in CV1, I doubt VCS would update the work history in CV2-4 easily.
Git can quite easily handle the problems you mention @Kaz: You keep a "Main CV" which contains the content (the program), and then have "wrapper" branches (the build config stuff). Only make changes to the content in the Main branch, and then rebase the other branches onto it, or merge the Main branch changes into the wrapper branch. If you're using LaTeX, and you use include/input sensibly, then this can be fairly easy to handle.
What you describe is a version control labyrinth. It is not easy. Preprocessing your LaTeX with the C preprocessor and #ifdef directives would be easier. git itself is extremely difficult to use for the average codger, even one who has used half a dozen other version control systems. It's a tool for people (and by people) who debug device drivers with printk, and dumps of register values and stack memory.
-1 Branches are for various versions of a software. The word "version" in my question was referring to a negative side-effect of not having a better tool. I have to agree with @Kaz. As a professor I have one set of experiences (with multiple representations). Because the representations are not generated from the same source (easily), we end up with versions (copies). I would agree that a VCS is useful to manage the main source as it evolves, but the branches idea seems misguided to me.
Fair enough. It depends on your workflow, I guess. I was just trying to throw the idea out there. I'm still in the intermediate stages of learning, but I figured it was at least worth mentioning the options.
Exactly. Look, you want to be able to load a text file into your editor, and see all of the variants in one place. One problem with using branches is that there is a combinatorial explosion. Suppose that your document is customized by by six boolean feature flags. This means it can be generated in 64 combinations. Are you going to branch for each one of those? git comes from the Linux kernel community, yet Linux is configured by CONFIG_* flags, not by branching. And if you're targetting MIPS, the x86 code is still in the tree.
All that said, there is no good reason not to use Git (or another VCS) to manage whatever good (LaTeX?) solution you come up with.
In 2003 or so, I had a senior-project student try to influence the XMLRésuméLibrary project to support academic CV types, but the project didn't move forward.
There's a related project called HR-XSL, designed to convert XML-formatted CVs into various formats using command-line tools. But I have not used it. The examples (HTML, PDF) are for a university professor, implying it might be useful to academics. It's customizable, according to the and has pretty decent documentation.
Edit: I gave HR-XSL a shot and it works easily in Eclipse (you need Ant and Java). The CV data is stored in an XML file that can easily be edited using a text (or more interestingly) an XML editor (Eclipse has a built-in one that is spiffy). Customizing the output is pretty easy, even though it's DOCBOOK and I've never used it before. I didn't carry out the exercise to the end (creating multiple formats), but feel it is going to pay off.
Some limitations of the XML schema are that there are no data types for things like "Research interests" or "Grants and Contracts". However, there's a ResumeAdditionalItem that supports a user-defined type, e.g., "Grants and Contracts" and all entries there get grouped under that heading.
There is also an internationalization dimension, but I don't think it will work to prevent duplicate XML sources for different languages (e.g., English and French). The reason is that the internationalization works to customize headings, such as "Table of contents" and "Table des matières". I haven't yet found a way to specify a Job Title in English vs. French, for example.
I have never tried it, but yst was created to do this. There was a nice statement of the problem here:
Using yst, I can maintain a database of my articles, talks, service, academic positions, etc. as a set of YAML text files. I can edit these in any editor. yst then produces my website and various versions of my CV from this data, using a set of customized templates.
A similar statement by someone else can be found here
I can have, say, my list of publications or my list of conference talks
as yaml data. I can then use yst to build a CV page for my website. I
can also use yst to generate a .tex file for a pdf version of my CV.
This way, I don't need to make the same edits in two different places
when I give another talk.
Second link is broken.
@AriB.Friedman That is exactly why I included the key quote from the site. I found another person who says almost exactly the same thing. As I said, I don't use yst, and I have not found a yst template for making a CV, but it sounds like it is possible.
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65201 | How effective is ResearchGate as an academic selection and recruitment tool?
I've informally noticed that ResearchGate seems to have increased in popularity over the last year or so. I also noticed that, while I'm not on the job market, ResearchGate was able to successfully identify an available academic job in my area and in my country and bring it to my attention (for more info see here).
Thus, I ask the following question as a potential recruiter or as a member of my department who is keen to see the hiring of good applicants.
What was the experience of anyone who has used ResearchGate to recruit for an academic position?
Did you get many people applying because they saw the position through ResearchGate?
How do you think this medium of academic job advertising compares to other options? Do you think it was value for money?
I didn't even know ResearchGate had job ads. I think this is effectively unknown in math.
Some mathematicians I know (me included) appear in Research Gate. Many many others don't. As such, in the areas I'm related to, RG is not a significant source of information. It might be significant with respect to a single person who worked on her/his profile, but not representative of the market. When I click on "related researchers" on RG, the omissions in the list are way more significant than the inclusions.
More specifically to your question, I didn't know that RG had any relation with recruitment. We wouldn't use it because it is not obvious that our target audience is well represented in it.
I guess my impression is that most well-published psychology academics have some kind of profile on there now. My impression is that this wasn't the case a year ago. I guess such sites would grow based on discipline specific co-authoring and network effects. A site like researchgate might sit less well with the academic culture in mathematics.
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11841 | What affiliation to put on an academic paper for alumni authors?
I finished my B.Sc in CS about 6 month ago and now I am writing a paper for a conference. before when I was a student I put my university and department name below my name as an author. but now I am not a student. I saw somebody put their IEEE membership on the paper something like "member of IEEE Computer society" or something similar, but I am not a member in any society yet!
What I used before:
Sajjad Gerami
Department of Math and Computer Science,
Shahid Bahonar University, Kerman, Iran
Email: [email protected]
What I may use now:
Sajjad Gerami
Email: [email protected]
Can I do that? Can I publish a paper just by my name and email (which is a Gmail one) without any institutional affiliation?
Update: For information about email address check these questions:
What should a proper email signature look like for graduate students?
E-mail address to use in publications
yes you can. academic papers are not restricted to only those folks having an academic affiliation.
@Shion thanks. Is there any restriction on using the last faculty name?
You should contact your old department and ask if they consent. That is the only way to know.
Why not just list yourself as the only author? Did your professor help you?
@JonathanLandrum Yes she has helped me a lot. She did most of the work for this paper.
Then I would do something like "Sajjad Gerami, Professor's Name (Institution)", or alternatively use a superscript 1 after her name and below list the institution.
@Shion What exactly are affiliations used for by the journals other than of course finding the author's current status. Are they used by journals in any way to contact/inform the affiliation to confirm affiliate's claim or whatever? If so, at what stage of the submission process?
The standard practice is to list the affiliations under which the work was performed. If you performed the work as an undergraduate at your undergraduate institution, then you should continue to list it in work related to that effort. However, you can "update" your address by listing a "current address" along with the old affiliations.
Alternatively, you can list yourself without affiliation (since you currently don't have one) but include a footnote/acknowledgment, "Portions of this research were done while the author was a student at Unseen University and a visitor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." What's important is that you acknowledge any institution at which you did work relevant to the paper.
@aeismail what do you mean by update to current address ? you mean to add two affiliations beside each other? I worked on this paper with a teacher of another University who was a guest teacher for just a semester in our university. We started working on the paper after she left our university! It was not something related to my university and I did it for my own interest. It seems a little complicated to me...should I mention my last university or NOT!? I am pretty sure that my university does not have any problem and won't sue me if I use its name :) but I want to do the right thing.
@sajjadG: You would list the university as the primary affiliation, and then as a footnote list "Present Address: Street W, Town X, State Y, Country Z."
Yes, you must list your former university, either as an affiliation (as aeismail suggests) or as an acknowledgement (as my previous comment suggests). Which alternative is more acceptable/appropriate obviously depends on the standards in your field and how much of the work (not just the writing) you did while you were still a student. What does your coauthor suggest?
@JeffE I am not aware of the standard in my field (Computer Science). We wrote the paper in Farsi when I was student and then made the translation and modifications after I graduated. I think the main works and ideas is from where I was student. My coauthor is not familiar with this situation. Here in Iran people just do research when they are force to and that is when they are a student or faculty.
We wrote the paper when I was a student — Then I think @aeismail is right; you should list the university as your affiliation. (I'm a computer scientist.)
Unless the university provided funding you owe them no recognition. Of course, they would like their name attached to a good paper but you don’t owe them this.
I have published together with authors that only used their personal home address + email address as contact information, so your second option should not be a problem. You can publish in scientific journals without a formal affiliation.
However, if the work was performed at a previous location (e.g. as a student) where you are not currently working, you should include both the previous affiliation along with the current address (as others have also suggested).
Give your former university (where you did the work), and add "now Companyname Inc., Newtown)".
It's only fair to tell the reader (instead of hiding it, which might be suspicous), and your boss will likely love the company name to appear, too. Of course you should ask beforehand.
And your email address doesn't matter, because your professor will be the "corresponding author". Right?
Corresponding author not always, if ever, is the professor. Anyway I've published papers with my Gmail mail address and that's OK, not prestigious but OK. And also sometimes you're not working anywhere and doing the research as a freelancer or a graduated student. That was my situation when I asked this question.
I guess it differs between subjects. Often there are e.g. experimental records to be kept, in case someone questioned your work. A professor is best suited to securely store those records, crucial samples, etc. and also have some followup work done to defend the article (with a new one).
Yes, you're right. for papers with long lifetime that's an absolute necessity.
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11317 | What is a “capstone track” in a Master’s program?
I've read in this other question:
The Master's program (Software Engineering) I'm enrolled in offers both a thesis track and capstone track.
I'm somewhat familiar with the overall US academic system, but I've never heard of a “capstone track” before. I web-searched it, and found quite a few institutions that offer it, it seems a sort of more practice-oriented or business-oriented way of completing a given degree. It does not appear to be universal.
So: what is a “capstone track” in general, and how is it different from a Master of Engineering degree?
I believe it means that, in lieu of a thesis, you will complete a capstone project. That capstone would be less research-oriented than a thesis, and more like a significantly-sized project.
@J.R. sorry if I am slow witted, but defining “capstone track” by “capstone project” doesn't help me much… I imagine it is some sort of “achievement”, a figurative use of the archaeologic vocabulary, but other than that I don't see how it differs from a thesis
A thesis solves an unsolved problem. It requires extensive background research to determine the current state of knowledge, a well-defined problem that will expand that knowledge, and a plan of attack for how to go about that expansion. On the other hand, a capstone is more hands-on; in a software engineering program, it would probably revolve around building some software system. Capstones are less theoretical than a thesis, and more likely to result in a system people might actually use. Both can involve a lot of time and effort, but the capstone is more applied, the thesis more theoretical.
Put another way, a thesis might offer hard evidence that one approach to solving a problem is better than another, substantiated with hard data and a lot of testing. A capstone project simply solves a problem with little regard to the "bigger picture" – it is less abstract. At the end of a thesis, the author might conclude, "Our research shows that Methodology X is a good way to test embedded systems." At the end of a capstone, the author might write, "We successfully used Method X to test Embedded System Y." The end goals are different.
Many software engineering programs offer the option of a "capstone" software project instead of a thesis to complete the degree. This is typically a project that stretches over a full semester, or year, or even longer. In my department, these projects are designed in cooperation with local industry, so there are real "customers". The intention is that the project will force the student to synthesize all the skills and knowledge acquired in other classes in the program, and will give them something closer to real-world experience that a typical class project.
As for "how is this different from a Master of Engineering", I have no idea. Everybody gives their degrees different names; there is no standard. (My department offers a capstone project only for undergrads; the degree is a Bachelor of Science whether you do the project or not.)
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11989 | How to write an academic paper for the first time?
While writing an answer to that question, I realized I don't really have a good list of resources that could be useful to first-time authors, like MSc or PhD students who write their first paper. I often direct my own students to these two papers:
G. M. Whitesides, “Whiteside's group: writing a paper”, Adv. Mater. 2004, 16, 1375–1377 (PDF).
P. E. Bourne, “Ten simple rules for getting published”, PLOS Computational Biology 2005, 1, 0341.
I also make sure that they read the journal's editorial policy and authors guidelines.
What are other sources of good information for students and first-time academic authors?
Some non-tangible resources are the student's advisor's feedback, and feedback and collaboration with other authors. Certainly, reading lots and lots of papers in his/her field will expose a student to the structure, tone, level of detail, and quality that he or she should be striving for.
A book or paper on writing is a good introduction but can usually not solve everything. Reading a book does not mean you can reproduce what it teaches, particularly with writing since it is something that needs lots of practise. One problem is that writing is a question of both knowing how to structure the science but also a question of building and formulating the text, the latter being a language issue. So it is usually relatively easy to teach students how the technical side works and provide explanations for why. Teaching students how to be concise and precise is another question and without lots of practise it is quite difficult to get anywhere. During a thesis much of the language issues are ironed out by constant revisions sugested by the advisor. I also point out to all my students that writing is a life-long learning process and thatit is never to late to develop and change your writing.
However, I have some sources I fall back to:
Katz, M.J. From research to manuscript. A guide to scientific writing. Springer
Day, R.A. and Gastel, B., How to write and publish a scientific paper. Cambridge
The Purdue Online Writing Laboratory OWL is also very useful.
For language (English) I have (aside of Strunk & White) found
Glasman-Deal, H. Science research writing for non-native speakers of English
of use.
There are of course lots of books around but all are definitely not good.
A final gem is a short paper on abstracts
Landes, K., A scrutiny of the abstract. Bulletin Of The American Association Of Petroleum Geologists. 50 (9), 1992-1999.
Which provides an excellent description of the abstract.
The paper by Landes that you cite is from 1966. The original 1951 paper can be found here: http://www.ece.utep.edu/courses/ee3329/ee3329/abstract.html
"but all are definitely not good" should perhaps be "but definitely not all are good"
Specifically for mathematics, good resources are N. Higham's very comprehensive Handbook of writing for the mathematical sciences and (for non-native speakers) a nice booklet by J. Trzeciak, Writing mathematical papers in English.
A nice article for writing your first mathematics paper is How to Write Your First Paper by Steven G. Krantz in the December 2007 Notices of the AMS.
Unfortunately, Krantz fails to separate the things dictated by common sense from the things dictated by the market forces and bureaucracy, which creates such an ugly impression of the publication process that one may prefer not to publish anything at all. I'm, probably, even more cynical than he but at least I distinguish between what comes from the God and what from the Devil...
I wish I read this book before writing my first paper: The Minto Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving. It explains how to better organize and articulate ideas.
Also it is always worth re-reading On Writing Well.
+1 for On Writing Well! Although I've read every writing guide I could get my hands on, Zinnser's excellent book remains my favorite for inspiration and guidance.
A blog entry, written by Terence Tao, specific for mathematics but with some points that can be used in other scientific branches:
On writing
Another reference, by Paul Halmos,
How to write mathematics
Computer Science
For CS, there's a pretty well-written book that addresses the art of writing for a CS conference/journal.
Writing For Computer Science
Justin Zobel
I'm reading through it now, and its really an eye-opener for me - as it quotes examples from actual published papers to illustrate its points, which are quite succinct and easy to incorporate once you've read the book! I would enthusiastically recommend it to any CS grad student!
Your link is offline. It looks like the book can now be found here:
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4471-6639-9
Daryl Bem has a short, accessible piece on writing articles (in psychology). He gives concrete examples of good and bad choices in writing, often using the paper itself to illustrate his points.
Writing the Empirical Journal Article
Daryl Bem
The link is now broken.
A resource for writing a paper in natural sciences can be
Scientific Writing: My Approach and Irreverent Opinions
Mark Yeager
It has several good resources listed in the bibliography, which I haven't gone through but looks promising!
Your best start is probably either A Manual for Writers or The Elements of Style.
I regularly look into those books. Either to refresh my knowledge or just for the pleasure of reading The Elements of Style.
I forgot to mention Clarity in Technical Reporting, which is freely available. Although it is already quite old and was written for a different research area, it is worth reading. I tend to give a copy of it to all my students before they start writing their theses.
How to write an academic paper for the first time?
By reading different papers in your field. Pick one good paper which you know very well, Look how the authors organised their ideas into set of pages. How the contribution flows from one section to another in the paper.
Once you are about to write your first paper, try to list the key messages (i.e. contribution) you want to deliver. Start by writing the key messages as sections in your paper. Fill-in these sections. Read it over and over and ask yourself: is this easily understandable to the reader? should I add additional sections/subsections? can I better organize the paper?
Give yourself one or two days break and then ask yourself the same questions. Hand it to your supervisor. Let him/her comment on it and start again the cycle.
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123961 | Can a professor force you to buy a book, for use in his exam?
I'm a first year law student in the UK. For our EU Law class, our professor declared that we must bring an unannotated physical copy of Blackstone's EU Treaties & Legislation 2018-2019 to our exam and use it. Thus we must buy it.
Our Prof admitted that these laws are free online. But we obviously can't bring our own printouts to the exam, as the invigilators can't check each student's printout.
The professors for my three other classes don't require us to buy any book for the exam, as they'll provide us with the legislation for the exam.
Thus why don't the EU Law professors do the same? I wonder...laziness?
Our professor ought to provide the legislation, because the book
is a waste of money. Statues and legislations change yearly, and this book's going to be outdated. In fact, scroll down the Amazon page, and you'll see that the book has a new edition published yearly.
is too eco-unfriendly! 1 sheet/2 pages x 696 pages x 200 students = 69,600 sheets! And the professor has been requiring this book for many years.
may be unaffordable. It's £14.99 + £3 VAT, which is under the poverty threshold.
I emailed our professor many times, but he never replied. I prefer to stay confidential, and not to confront him or the administration face-to-face. I emailed the administration, but they just keep repeating the professor's order to buy the book.
Professors can't force you to do anything, including buying books, so -- disingenuously -- the answer is no. But, that's probably the wrong question to answer. What question would you like answered? I can speculate: Is it fair? No. Will the exam be harder if you don't? Possibly. But speculation doesn't help. Perhaps you can rephrase your question?
It’s only about 3 beers, buy it...
@SolarMike Nearer to ten, on a student budget, https://www.standard.co.uk/go/london/bars/cheapest-pint-beer-london-pubs-a4004121.html
@user2768 but how far do you have to travel to get that cheapest pint? Mind you I used to go for the CAMRA beers and would travel to certain establishments for the privilege...
What do you mean with "which is under the poverty threshold"? From what I understand, the Wikipedia page that you link gives an indication of a minimum daily income that defines poverty, to be valid internationally (as an average, I assume?). It's completely unclear to me how one should compare this number with the one-time cost of a book for a student living in the London area.
as the invigilators can't check each student's printout --- How do the investigators know whether the books have been annotated without checking each page of each student's book? How are students bringing their own books addressing the concerns raised regarding bringing printouts? I also don't understand why the obvious solution to both necessity of the information and security of the exam isn't used --- the books would be incorporated into the cost of the course and then books, previously purchased by the school and kept locked up until the exam, are handed out to students during the exam.
@FedericoPoloni I read it as "it's what an officially poor person can afford to buy in a day if she buys nothing else".
Agreed that the cost of a book and the poverty threshold are incommensurable. One is in units of currency, the other is units of currency per time unit.
Also, let me point out that the fees to attend KCL are higher than the income of 17 adults living at the international poverty line, according to that Wikipedia reference.
Isn't that over the poverty threshold, anyway?
As user2768 already pointed out in a comment, the question is not whether the prof can force you (no, they can not), but if it is reasonable / fair to require a specific book for an exam.
The answer can depend on many factors:
Is the professor the author of the book? If yes, I would see an issue because this would boost their personal income. This does not seem to be the case in your situation.
Can the exam be completed without the book? E.g. in technical fields, it might be helpful to have a formulary, in languages a dictionary, etc. In most cases, it it just reasonable to use such a book because otherwise you would have to memorize too many facts / formulas, etc.
Is the book a pre-requisite for doing the exam? I did not study law, but from my understanding, one of the natures of law is to derive conclusions based on written text (especially laws). Therefore, it is impossible to do the exam without access to the original law text. So in your specific case, I would say the professor has to require the book, otherwise it would be impossible to do a proper exam.
Is the price / effort unseasonably high? In your case the short answer is "no". In fact it is extremely cheap.
Are there reasonable alternatives to a printed book? Electronic versions of the text would provide an unfair advantage over students using he paper version since they are searchable, in addition it is difficult to guarantee the sanity of the device. One solution might be to provide each student with a computer holding a local copy of the law text and having the internet connection disabled during the exam. The university would need a tremendous infrastructure for that.
To make a long story short: Buy the book. And don't throw it away after one year ;-). Maybe you can hand it over to a student next year.
One additional idea: If you are having some sort of students association: Ask them to organize a bookshelf for such kind of literature.
Re purchase by the students assoc... How many students 20? 30 or 400?
Let me change the situation a bit. I am another law professor (hypothetical) and I'm about to give you an exam in which you will be asked very specific questions about very specific laws to which you must respond.
I say to the class that "You will be permitted to bring a fresh, un-annotated, version of Blackstone to the exam, but no other materials".
How would you then respond?
My guess is that the prof has actually done the above, but in a particularly clumsy way. He gains nothing from the requirement other than the opportunity to ask you more detailed questions than you would be expected to answer from only your remembered knowledge.
But perhaps he also wants to "force" you to spend some time with Blackstone and to be able to use it effectively under pressure, as a lawyer or barrister might be required to do.
A lit prof might also want students to bring a fresh, un-annotated version of, say, a particular edition of The Iliad to an exam. Pain in the tookus, of course, but not unethical, as long as s/he isn't the translator of the edition.
It may be possible for you to take the exam unaided, of course, but that would be your risk and, I think, a fairly high risk.
In general, it's probably not acceptable for a lecturer to assume all his or her students can buy a specific book. It may be acceptable to expect them to obtain a copy though, especially if they make arrangements with a University or departmental library.
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:55:50.353291 | 2019-01-29T07:10:28 | {
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122524 | What are the benefits of attending international conferences at student level
Is it beneficial to attend international conferences at student level, and what are tips to follow when attending such international conferences?
Your questions in the title and body don't match. What would you like to know? Be specific.
I hope I did not destroy your initial intention behind the question with my edit.
It is hard to tell - it depends on the conference!
Possible benefits (amongst others) can be:
Learning more about your field and getting more motivation for your studies
Learning about different countries and cultures
Learning how scientific conferences work
Preparing your own scientific contribution for a conference
Networking with well-known people in your field (usually there are some invited speakers)
I would strongly recommend to submit your own contribution to such a conference in order to participate fully.
For the "tips"-section:
Hang out with people you did not know before
Find a good mixture of new / unknown topics and things which are close to your fioeld of interest
Attend every social event
Don't hesitate to talk to foreign people.
But do watch out: Not all conferences with "International" in their name are legit. There are many predatory conferences out there that are only interested in your money, not science. Ask a faculty member, your mentor, or your advisor. That's what we are here for, training and guiding young people! That being said, I started attending national conferences as a student and presented my (diploma = master's) thesis work at an international conference.
In addition to the suggestions above, try and formulate one question for every presentation you attend. And then get up the courage to ask at least one a day!
| Stack Exchange | 2025-03-21T12:55:50.353839 | 2019-01-04T05:30:58 | {
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117833 | how to represent implemented software in thesis
During my master thesis I implemented a software in c programming language. My thesis is in the Earth Science (Geodesy) field and this software is just GNSS data processing software.
Is a Call graph suitable for explaining different parts of my software within my thesis document?
It seems likely that the answer would depend on what subject/field/department you're in, so I suggest that you edit to add that information.
The answer to your question is specific to you, which likely makes your question off topic for this site. Your advisor, your department, and your university may have specific preferences or policies for how describe the software.
@Peter Taylor, sorry for that. I edited question, is it again off-topic?
Whatever method you use to explain the algorithm, do also include a link to where your code can be downloaded from.
I assume this question might be regarded as off-topic for this SE, but here are some thoughts:
First of all, ask your advisor. There might be local preferences which should be followed.
Take a look at the different UML diagrams. Some are helpful even if you are not using an object oriented language. I would check Activity Diagrams.
For some crucial parts of the software it might even be appropriate to include the code as is - but this should be done only if the specific C implementation is relevant. If it's more then a half page, I would think about moving it to an appendix.
Often, pseudocode is helpful because implementation details can be hidden.
thanks for your answer, BUT I want to allow interested reader knows details and be able to make this implementation by themselves. Does Call graph is suitable?
It is impossible to tell without knowing your program. A call diagram can be helpful or not friending on the software structure. Imagine you would have to re-implement your code without prior knowledge: would it help or not?
What might be more useful than a call graph is to present one or more of the important algorithms in pseudocode. I don't know much about Earth Science, but I would guess that your readers won't be interested in how you wrote the user interface, or how you parsed the inputs, or how you formatted the output. But if, for example, you came up with a refinement to make GPS more accurate, or used an interesting method for partitioning geographical regions, those are probably worth explaining in more detail, perhaps with pseudocode.
Also, if there is something you think might be useful to some readers but you don't want to disrupt the flow of your thesis, you could put it in an appendix.
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16190 | Should I stay in my uni for four years even though I already have 50 credits?
Since University of Alabama offers me full-ride scholarship, I will probably go to this school rather than more competitive schools, not because I'm poor but because it seems silly to me to pay $200,000 for merely an undergrad education, even though I can buy a house by that money. I'm going to get PhD, and the name of undergrad school doesn't matter in my career. I'm worried about research opportunity in the school since I want to excel in admission of PhD program, but I think I can make up for it with my enthusiasm and knowledge. I'm going to major in Biology, and I want to study about regenerative medicine and stem cell in grad school.
Until I will graduate from my high school, I will certainly have about 12 AP scores (mostly 5's) and be able to get about 50 credits, even though the school's graduation requirement is 120. It seems easy to graduate within 3 years (or even possible to do within 2 years), but graduating early seems to put me in a disadvantageous position in grad school admission. I can probably get 70 credits in two years, and then what should I do for the next two years? Can I concentrate on research for this period, or should I take classes to get about 30 credits per year? Should I apply for grad program in the third year and try again in the next year if the admission won't be successful?
If you have some opinion not only related to the topics about college credit but also my choice of school, please tell me that, since I still can change my choice of university. Other schools of my choice are such as Reed, Carleton, U of Michigan, U of Wisconsin, and U of Manchester. I'm an international student.
should I take classes to get about 30 credits per year? You need to contact the school to find out the answer. Different schools/departments have different policies.
Yes, exactly. The website says that I have to get at least 24 credits per year. Do you think double-majoring using the available time gives me a significant advantage in my admission? Or should I just concentrate on the area which I will study in grad school?
I'm going to get PhD, and the name of undergrad school doesn't matter in my career. — This is simply false.
For an academically talented student likely to complete a Ph.D., the most important life decision will be where you go to graduate school. An undergraduate degree from Alabama, whether in 4 years or 2, is unlikely to lead to a good graduate school for you. I don't know your field, but in mathematics (my field) Alabama is among the worst places.
You should go to Michigan, which is the best choice academically of the ones you've listed. And wherever you are, you need to:
Get high grades, and take some graduate classes.
Get to know several faculty in your area very well.
Engage in research, and publish if possible.
Find some way to distinguish yourself, such as teaching experience or academic clubs.
A second major can be an insurance policy, and can open doors to graduate programs straddling the two areas, so is a good idea.
Followup: You should go to a Tier I institution, such as what Carnegie classifies as "very high research activity" RU/VH. Alabama is not on that list.
So are you saying that undergraduate pedigree is important for admissions (to the tune of 6 figure equivalency)? Or are you saying that there are resources at Michigan accessible to undergraduates that other very large research universities would not have?
Both things are true. I'm also saying that Alabama is not a "very large research university" (at least not in math). Neither are Reed or Carleton, which are small private colleges.
I only meant (very large)(x)^(research university)(x), which is true of Alabama at least by official standards.
Alabama is large, but in terms of research is mediocre. Size is actually less important than research; for example Rice or Princeton would be a good choice for OP if they were available.
So are you saying that undergraduate pedigree is important for admissions... Or are you saying that there are [extra] resources at Michigan — YES!
After reading your post, I could realize that UMich and U of W are the most suitable for me among my choice. If U of Alabama is so poor in research, then studying there is the same thing as studying in my native country. So, my current choice is competitive research universities. But I'm still considering LACs, even though grad-level classes aren't available in them.
I went to a small undergraduate institution because I received scholarships (full-ride) to go there. I did not think my undergraduate choice affected admissions into the grad schools I applied to (10, accepted to 5, 4 with teaching assistantships). I ended up at a fairly decent research institution (top 50-75).
Honestly, it depends on the type of undergraduate education you want. If you want the smaller class sizes and more intimate settings of a liberal arts school, go that route. Otherwise, go to the 'better' undergrad school. Note that I still managed to do research as an undergrad.
First of all, I know nothing about Biology at all. I can't comment on specifics. Instead, I rather say something about the comment:
Do you think double-majoring using the available time gives me a significant advantage in my admission? Or should I just concentrate on the area which I will study in grad school?
You are far away from grad school yet. Undergrad education is for you to build the foundation of your academic career. You need to use it to broaden your knowledge base. Many courses can be benefit for you. You should consider taking the courses about humanities, fine arts, other sciences (math, chemstry, physics, computer science, etc.) and writing, etc.etc. Just don't limit yourself to a specific field. You won't know you're interested in something until you learn it.
The above is from the bottom of my heart. I wish someone would have told me this when I was an undergrad student.
I like natural science and math, so I will take as many these classes as possible. From your opinion, I feel that I'm not yet in the point that I can conclude whether or not I should double-major. But I agree with you that the diversity of classes is really important.
As a friend of mine once said: "Why you want to finish college early, man? The sooner you finish college, the sooner you face life!" (And he lived this philosophy, spending four years at the community college followed by two at a university.)
Don't worry about grad school just as you begin your undergraduate education. Take classes in things that interest you or that you think might interest you. If you have units from AP classes, great; treat that as opportunity to take a broader range of things that strike your fancy, instead of intro classes that you might have otherwise had to take for general ed requirements.
If by your third year you find you still want to go to grad school doing the same thing you mentioned, you can explore undergraduate research opportunities, etc.
Basically, my advice would be, if you have extra units coming in, use that flexibility to improve your undergradate education, not shorten it. If you decide you want to shorten it when the time comes, okay, but don't lock yourself into that plan now.
Your story sounds so interesting to me, since I've never heard about a person who stayed in a community college for 4 years! I think natural science and math are subjects which will interest me, so I'm most likely to study them emphatically as well as Biology.
@AranKomatsuzaki: I agree with scaaahu that you should also take some totally different stuff (literature, psychology, history, languages, whatever) just to try it out.
OK. I will probably try Chinese language, economics or something like them.
I think, for admissions purposes, unless you are a prodigy, staying 4 years will be beneficial. Of course, you could get in somewhere after 2 years but the competition for jobs is such that you want to be able to compete with other people in your situation (they do exist, I had a somewhat similar situation in that I came into my undergrad with almost a year of credits). You could take the opportunity to (when you are confident you are ready) take many graduate level courses in and around your field. I think a lot of people are overblown about anti-specialization. I took my upper division math and lower division math at the same time, often taking 3 math courses at the same time and I loved it, miss it now. I think you should pursue your current goal wholeheartedly but take 1, maybe 2 courses a semester outside of it (if your APs don't satisfy all your GENED or your department has weird requirements, this will happen accidentally) at least in the early going. If you decide to switch plans at some point, you will have engrossed yourself in hard material (coursework, labs), the skills of which will transfer to WHATEVER OTHER ACADEMIC PLAN. Of course, because you are in biology not math, your field is not self-contained but this can be adjusted for in course selection to that end. Also, you might consider taking only 4 classes a semester early on (or forever) but make sure they are hard-hitting, if you might have problems with time management incongruous with your intellectual aptitude (depending on financial aid requirements!).
As a lover of specialization, I felt your comment captured my interest the best. Now that I gave up going to Alabama and decided to stay in a competitive research university for 4 years, I'm perfectly confident about grad school admission.
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