I personally don't think that neither "ethics" nor "fairness" are at stake here because if I understood your question correctly what you want to do is simply ask a question using an informal method of communication. I don't see how this can create an unfair advantage to you or even raise ethical issues since the question alone doesn't mean things will get done more quickly/unfairly. You simply want a status update on your paper.

However, I also don't see how such course of action can help you. You should also take into consideration that these things to take time and unless you have a pretty urgent reason, it might not be worth asking it again. Sometimes the EiC is having trouble finding a suitable reviewer for your paper or the reviewer itself isn't finding the time to read your paper (keep in mind that they're usually invited to do so, without any remuneration), sometimes older issues of the paper are delayed... my point is: whatever is going on, it isn't good for the EiC either and he's probably already taking the measures necessary.


Can intentionally omitting related work (citations) be considered as misconduct?

Yes. If they were indeed aware of the fact that a paper exists which proves that the problem was solved, then they clearly commited a scientific misconduct, though less so, I should think, by not citing your paper, and more so by claiming that a problem had no solution which they knew was solved already.
Even if they considered your proof wrong, they should absolutely make it clear why they disagree with you.

However, as commenters have pointed out, there is always a good chance that people don't realise what a paper is about, don't remember that there is that paper, or they wanted to discuss your paper and just forgot about it, which of course doesn't speak for their academic diligence, but means that no misconduct was commited (unless your paper is so high-profile that by not including it, they are neglecting their duty to read the literature before writing a paper.)

Edit: Note that I have answered the general question in your title, not the more precise question in your text, which I don't know how to answer without additional evidence.

Another edit: The formal rules for scientific integrity of my own university, for example, do not explicitly mention omitting a citation, but do (obviously) contain "intentional or grossly negligent misrepresentations in an academically relevant context" (my translaton) as an act of misconduct. This is exactly my point: If they knew, or really should have known, it's academic misconduct. If they didn't know and your paper is so obscure that they didn't act grossly negligent in not finding it, it isn't.


Should someone be an author if they helped understanding a concept?

To ensure that I explain my observation correctly, I want help from a professor. I will be basically asking him questions along the line of: ‘why does this happen?’.

Whether this merits coauthorship depends on whether the professor is making a significant intellectual contribution.  If you are just getting straightforward explanations of well-known theory (which you need because you are an experimentalist, not a theorist), then there's no need for more than an acknowledgment.  On the other hand, if nobody knows why these things happen and the theorist comes up with a novel explanation for your data, then coauthorship sounds appropriate.  There may also be intermediate cases, such as theory that is relatively well known but requires some calculation to apply to your case, in which case you would need to discuss whether coauthorship makes sense.

  Before asking such questions, shall I inform him that I’m writing a paper and need help in explaining something?

Yes, certainly.  If you get only quick answers that do not seem to involve much effort, then you should mention the paper but there's probably no need to discuss coauthorship.  If you get answers that seem to involve serious effort, then you should discuss coauthorship.  (Discussing it doesn't necessarily mean he will be a coauthor.  Rather, you just need to be careful to make sure there are no misunderstandings.)


What is the relative prestige conferred by an invited review article vs a research article?

What exactly is an "invited review article"?

It is an article that appears in one issue of a journal. The article goal is to review the recent development of a specific topic (sometimes it goes with a special journal issue in that topic).

  how this looks in comparison to research articles.

Research articles contain original ideas and contributions to the field done by the authors. In contrast, a review article usually has no absolute originality in a sense that the authors are not coming up with something totally new. They are nicely summarizing what is happening in the field and identifying possible challenges.

The benefits you get out of publishing a review article in your field (specially when you are at an early stage of your research career and with a reputable journal) are numerous

1. You get to know your topic.

This has the advantage of organizing your thoughts and identifying possible contributions into the field.

2. A Good Critical Review = High Citations.

Good review articles tend to have many many citations. This means many people going to know your name (and possibly look for your other publications).


France national research institutes hinder work by banning foreign online services

First and foremost: their lab, their rules.
As long as they is not illegal, immoral, or unethical, the lab or their funders (i.e., the government) can set standards and requirements that you must follow. If you don't like the rules, you can quit. If they catch you willfully breaking their rules, they can easily fire you for cause So I would be hesitant about circumventing their regulations if you like your job.

Second, their rules might have a rationale. Their country, their courts, their laws. European data privacy regulations are notably very strict. American companies not only operate under a looser regime -- but the companies themselves often have fictitious headquarters or locate their servers in regimes that are even looser about data privacy.  Dropbox and Google have cooperated with US courts and law enforcement to give up client data. Skype used to use clients as p2p supernodes, potentially opening up backdoors (or at minimum, using resources without permission) - this caused many agencies to forbid its use. Even leaving aside court orders and malware,  EU privacy laws are such that having something even as trivial as putting the lab's telephone directory (with personal phone numbers and addresses) on a Dropbox might mean that the data might leave the EU  -- and thus violate EU data privacy restrictions. As long as the data stays in France, it's protected by French courts and French laws.

Third, the rules might be designed to support local industry. Just as I am only permitted to "Fly America" when using USA-government funds, it is perfectly reasonable for the French government to encourage the use of their own national technologies. If enough national lab scientists are pissed off enough about not being able to use an American software tool, they might very well come up with a superior French tool. Or so they hope.

Fourth, see rule #1: their lab, their rules. You are new to the country and to the lab. Ask your other lab members what they do. Try to not be the "ugly American" who assumes that their way is always the best way. See which rules are to be strictly obeyed and which everyone largely ignores. Learn the culture and language.


Should I answer this question about diversity?

Leave it blank

You don't have to play along with the diversity people, but that doesn't mean there won't be any consequences.

Throughout my time in undergrad, the US military, and now grad school, I have steadfastly refused to answer questions about my race. And why should I? My father is from Mexico and is still a dual citizen. As far as I can tell, that gives me a pretty good claim to be Hispanic. I am born in Boston, I don't speak Spanish, and I don't particularly like anything Mexican. Am I hispanic? What is my hispanic blood quantum? Am I white? Who cares?

What ought to matter is the content of your character, or so I've heard.

Just don't be surprised when people don't want to let you go. I have been called into a senior officer's office (in the military) and forced to answer a question about my race. When I told him it was 'American', he filled out the forms in question for me as white. I haven't always got off easy, but I've done alright in life, and without participating in such racist activities as classifying people based on their skin color.

PS: The original form of your question was just fine. If you have sneering contempt for this kind of diversity question, then you do. Don't let people bully you into thinking your opinion isn't valid.


As a Head of Department, how can I make my faculty happier?

It might be uncommon, but just ask them.

You could use a basic questionaire if you want to do it anonymously, or you could talk to everyone in person.

Just showing some activity does not help as long as you are having no idea about the needs and desires of your faculty members.


Should expository papers (e.g., in American Math Monthly) be listed in CV under Publications?

I think that more than half of the articles and notes published in the Monthly contain original research.  ("Totally original" does not seem like a useful standard, as many well-written seminal papers contain substantial portions which are not original research.  I am currently translating Serre's 1972 paper on torsion points and am struck by the extent to which he was willing to be expository.)

I work at a large research university, I have two Monthly publications (and article and a note; the former appears in the December 2014 issue) and I happily -- indeed proudly -- list them alongside my other publications.  There is definitely original research in both of these publications.  (I apologize for the excessive horn-tooting, but it seems perhaps relevant to mention that Google Scholar finds a citation for each of these publications in a research paper written by people I have never met.)  It is not the same species of research that I would publish in the Journal of Number Theory or Crelle, but since they occur alongside publications in these journals, I think their existence reflects positively on my research profile.

If you clicked on my webpage, you may have seen that I do separately list expository documents.  These documents do not contain new results (though in some cases they contain proofs that I at least have not found in the literature).  But I think it is not a coincidence that none of these documents have been published, although three out of the four have been submitted.  I don't seem to have a good handle on the genre of "truly expository journal aritcles"; in fact, I find that it is as much work or more to get these published and I do think that the value to me would be smaller.  There are also surprisingly few avenues for the publication of mathematical exposition, so because I am less interested in the certification or credit that the formal publication process brings, I have for a while been content to "self-publish" these results on my own webpage and/or the arxiv.

One default way is to list as research publications those which are archived and reviewed by MathSciNet.  Alas I am not entirely clear on how these choices are made.  It seems that in recent years, most Monthly publications get archived and many get reviewed.  For the other MAA journals -- Math Magazine and the College Math Journal -- it seems to be rarer to have reviews.  For instance my recent Monthly publication references a 2012 note of Kantrowitz and Schramm, but MathSciNet has no record of this publication.  I just looked back at the last few years of CMJ, and I am a bit confused: I don't know why they don't list certain short articles (I think they should...) and how they choose to review the articles that they do.

Upon further thought, here are two rules of thumb I like a little better:

"Rule 1: Do not mislead".  If your Nature publication is actually a letter to the editor correcting someone's birth and death dates [this is a totally hypothetical example; I have no idea whether this journal would ever publish such a letter] and you don't list this explanatory detail on your CV, I worry that you are trying to misrepresent yourself.
"Rule 2: Subject to Rule 1, make the publication list an accurate reflection of your own views."  Thus, notwithstanding what I wrote above, I might perhaps submit this tiny note for publication in something like the CMJ someday.  Unlike most other stuff I've written, it is wholly and sincerely aimed at actual intermediate-level undergraduate math majors, and I think that it might actually help some people if it were published.  But there is just no mathematical novelty here, and I think it would dilute my own record by listing it as a research publication.


Listing talks given at home institution on CV

First of all, it's great that this list is becoming long!  It's good to be taking every opportunity you can as a student to practice presentations, and many students try to avoid this rather than embrace it.

Now, as for what to include in the C.V.: while in principle you can include anything, in practice you want the C.V. to convey "here are all of the things I've done that I think are significant".  Thus, it's not the question of home institution per se, but the significance of the talk venue that matters.  For example: if you were invited to give a talk in a seminar series where most of the other speakers come from other institutions, that's nearly as significant as giving a talk elsewhere.  Giving a required talk in the internal graduate colloquium matters much less.

I would recommend keeping some evidence of the fact that you are giving many presentations on your C.V.  To keep it from feeling like filler, however, you can compress the "unimportant" talks into a single bullet point, like "NN presentations in internal meetings, seminars, and colloquiums."  That conveys the information without feeling spammy.  Once you've built up a significant record of giving talks at external venues like conferences and other institutions, then you can drop that bullet point as being assumed.


I am curious to understand if there is a tangible difference between a national degree (of an EU country) and the European degree.

As for the rules for qualifying for the European degree, I found these rules to apply:

The doctorate must, in part, have been prepared during a research internship period of at least three months in another European country.
Oral thesis presentation authorisation is granted on the basis of reports submitted by at least three professors comprising at least two from higher education institutions from two European countries other than the country in which the oral thesis presentation is to be held. The host laboratory representative cannot submit this report.
At least one member of the jury should belong to a European higher education institution from a different country to that in which the oral thesis presentation is held.
Part of the oral thesis presentation should be conducted in an official language of the European Community which is not the language of the country in which the presentation is held.

Edit (because I still cannot leave comments):

Some universities might require a 4 month stay abroad for acquiring this title.
As for the difference in the value between the two degrees, there seems to be none. The European Doctorate seems to be a label added to the normal doctoral degree of an EU academic institution as a proof that the abovementioned requirements are accomplished. This seems to be a way to promote cooperation among EU universities from different countries, PhD student mobility and the writing of the dissertations in English, as in many EU countries they can still be written in the official language of the country.


Categorizing relationships between research articles

CiTO is a "Citation Typing Ontology" which enables RDF-type assertions differentiating (just to name the Ps):

  parodies, plagiarizes, provides assertion for, provides conclusions for, provides data for, provides excerpt for, provides method for, provides quotation for


First off, take a deep breadth and relax.

It's hard for Random Internet People (tm) to really know what's in scope and what's out of scope for your work. You should bring up your concerns with you adviser. He exists to advise, direct, and guide you. He's not the enemy.

If you feel like the work your adviser is suggesting is too much or unrelated to your thesis, you should say so. He might not realize how much effort/time the experiments he's suggesting will take. Or maybe he knows some way to make then take up less effort.

If you're worried about talking to your adviser, you can try to approach a more senior student in his group or another professor. They probably know you, your adviser, and your work better than we do and can help suggest specif strategies to talk to you adviser about the situation and offer advice on how to accomplish your work.


Why do we put names first in bibliographies?

This Question makes sense in practical terms, but includes a misconception in the area of academic culture, when you say, 'if the primary goal of references is to provide support for the topic at hand [...]'.  That is not quite right.

Also, disciplined academic writing tends to take the form of a dialogue (or in simple cases a dialectic), where differing perspectives are chucked into an arena and required to fight it out.  None of them necessarily has to 'win':  finding them all to be wrong is a positive result.

It is very often useful to label a view primarily as emerging historically from the body of some identifiable person's work, rather than hovering it vaguely in conceptual space.

Referencing has two primary goals.

The first is to help interested readers to identify and follow-up the material that you have recruited for your argument, so that they can, if they wish, follow your evidence in detail and, perhaps, find the stuff that you left out.  The idea is (partly) that you have openly saved a reader time in either embracing or challenging your position.  Under present archival conventions, the tracking-down of sources for this purpose (or any other) is almost always most efficiently done by starting with author name.  Scrambling for titles on the web, although I now do it every day, does not (yet) count as an archival convention.

Second, referencing is part of the process of locating yourself in the critical discourse of whatever discipline you are working in.  Your writing is in some sense an act of positioning your view in relation to others', even (or perhaps especially) if some other person's view has shifted over time.

For example...  In film studies it would seem rather ignorant to talk about 'the male gaze' as a convention of camerawork and editing without (a) attributing the expression to Laura Mulvey and (b) noting that she changed her view over time (see Wikipedia, for shorthand).

Merely referring to ideas from published articles, blog posts or even comments by anyone is fine in its place (e.g. my doctoral thesis, here and there).  For the most part, however, it usually works best to say something like, 'Aristotle proposes [an impressive idea].  Hitler disagrees [here, because of this].
Colonel Sanders inadvertently resolves that conceptual conflict by suggesting [that surprising thing].

That is also why we use the present tense:  'Roland Barthes says [something].  Michel Foucault (while never identifying Barthes) responds by saying [something that works far better in the real world].'  You are taking part in a present debate, with points of view that are most efficiently located by identifying their authors.


How to say please erase\cutoff my lower gre score information from my application

Here's an answer assuming you have already sent them your scores.  If not, then you don't need to do anything.

There may well not be any mechanism set up for removing information from a submitted application, but it can't hurt to ask.  You should be able to find contact information for graduate admissions somewhere on the website (for example, here is where you'd find it for the Berkeley EECS department).  You can send a short e-mail saying something like "I applied to [name of program] this fall and accidentally submitted GRE scores that do not properly reflect my background and accomplishments.  I understand from [web page] that GRE scores are not required, so please remove them from my file.  Thank you!"

They might not actually do it: just because they don't require GRE scores, it doesn't follow that they must ignore them if you submit them and then change your mind.  But I don't think asking them to remove the scores will hurt your chances of admission.

I'm puzzled by the whole idea of having a strict cut-off for an optional test score.  It makes me think that either the department is doing something weird or they aren't communicating clearly.  In any case, though, submitting a very low score when it's optional looks weird and could hurt your application, so asking to remove the score from your application seems sensible.


Co-authors either dismiss my ideas or don't understand them... and then dismiss them anyway

(1) This question could only be answered by reading your drafts and discussion carefully.
(2) If they invite you, politely decline.  (If there's more going on here, for example, a debt of gratitude, complex relationships with a third party, funding ramifications, etc., please explain.)
Now I'll pose and answer the question I thought you were leading up to.
Question:

How can I deal with their stubborn refusal to read my comments carefully and give them fair consideration?

Answer:

When you are the low man on the totem pole, it is all too easy to fall into an unproductive communication game with such people.  The key is to use an authoritative but not disrespectful tone, write in a neutral tone with no emotions showing, repeat yourself as needed, and time your repetitions carefully.  Note about the timing:  don't reply right away.  You may draft an email response right away, but send it after an interval of time has gone by.
There are two ways to repeat yourself.  You can choose whichever one works better for you.
(a) The succinct approach: "I responded to these points in draft number.letter, submitted on date."  Or: "Please refer to comments submitted by email on date, time.  Notice "comments"(not "my comments"); "submitted" (not "which I submitted").  Depersonalizing the language you use with them helps your messages sound authoritative.)
(b) Copy and paste from the previous draft or email message.

There must be no hint of frustration or sarcasm in your messages.  You can be a broken record, as long as you don't show you're aware that you might sound like a broken record.  And you must not show you are annoyed, because with people like this, showing annoyance is paradoxically counter-productive.
It might be easier to adopt this tone if you pretend you are the right-hand man of an expert in the field, drafting a response for the Big Researcher.  (This is analogous to being a legal clerk to a big name judge.)  Write your comments and email messages as though they will be signed by that imaginary senior researcher (which might be you twenty years from now!).
These tips bring no guarantee of success.  But at least you'll have minimized the time and energy you've put in.


How to get a second Bachelor's degree in an unrelated field?

There are many schools that do not have odd requirements that they only teach those whose virtue has not been smeared by another degree.

Apply to programs that accept candidates regardless of what degrees they currently posses.


Should I sign this letter or force them to fire me? What are the differences between my prospects with the two options?

If you can afford to do so, consult a lawyer. That way you will know all of your options, not just the most apparent ones. If you have no option other than to leave, then your decision should rest on whether you want to fight/contest your removal or not. If you don't contest it, then it is probably (subject to legal advice) better to sign the letter. But if you sign it, you are probably giving up options.

But advice like this should come from a lawyer.


My potential MSc supervisor doesn't visit his research lab ever, should I be concerned?

Do members of his lab have regular meetings with him, either one-on-one or as a group? Sometimes it's better to have time set aside specifically for your questions, rather than someone breathing down your neck in the lab as you try to formulate your proposal. In my experience PIs are super busy and neglectful in general. Also it's ok to ask anyone that can help you how to get where you need to go. They were probably in the same boat before you got there.


How can I show the admission board that I'm better than my academic record says

Abellán,

I grew up and attended college in Spain myself, then jumped to the US for a Ph.D. and been here for 20 years already. So I know the Spanish system well and have first-hard experience with the transition.

Your best bet is the recommendation letters. You really have to make sure that they come from people that know you well and that can speak at length and in depth about your qualities and potential. Letters from Spain don't always go to this level of depth; it would be best if your letter writers have had prior experience with this (of course not at the expense of their knowledge of you).

Letters are very important--the most consistently underrated component of an application by the students in my experience.

@lafemmecosmique's advice is very good. The best way to make your letters look outstanding is to do outstanding work with the people that will write them.

Good luck to you.


Is there something I need to do on arxiv if I lose academic affiliation

According to http://arxiv.org/help/endorsement :

  Existing submitters will not require endorsement to submit papers on topics that they've been active in.

Once you've submitted successfully, you're in for life. If you change fields (e.g. from physics to biology or something) you might have to be endorsed.

As I understand it, the endorsement system is mainly to keep cranks from uploading crankery. Leaving academia or changing affiliations won't turn a serious researcher into a crank, so I can't see any reason why arXiv would want to revoke your endorsement.


Should I submit one strong recommendation letter or one strong letter and one weaker letter?

It depends a lot on how you define "a weak LoR". Consider 5 levels:

+2: My best student in 10 years.
+1: DWIC (did well in class) + hard working, take initiative etc
0 : Simply DWIC, e.g. Kerkyra's LoR.
-1: He was in my class, he asked me to write LoR.
-2: Don't take him

Unless you make someone very upset, people will not write a -1 and -2 LoRs. If you believe the weak ones are still +1s, you can submit.

FYI, I fell out with my Master thesis advisor, and decided not to use his LoR (he still offered to write one). I managed to get 3 PhD admissions with full scholarship using three +1 LoRs (but I submitted more than 50 applications).

Good luck!


Is there any job security for tenured academics in Denmark?

I have recently been employed at University of Copenhagen in a temporary position. The current situation is definitely problematic.

Denmark has the general problem (shared with many other countries), that basic funding for universities has been cut over many years, and transferred to project specific funding for research centers or individual grants - more often than not provided by private companies and foundations, rather than the state.

This means that the extraordinary circumstances have become rather ordinary, and the case of prof. Thybo mentioned in the article, is not the only known case. Adding to this that many younger people are now being hired in assistant professor positions without tenure, although being at the age and reputation where they should really get tenure track positions or tenured positions, it certainly seems that University of Copenhagen is phasing out the concept of tenure.

To summarize: I think the conclusion that there is no job security at all in Denmark is rather harsh, but definitely not without reason. I would recommend anyone aiming for faculty positions in Denmark in general, and University of Copenhagen in particular, to do solid research into the financial situation of the department they are considering joining first.


Why do so many people apply to so few PhD programs?

Although, I like your way of analytical thinking, some ouf your assumptions do not hold:

Selection procedures of PhD programs are not random.
The selection procedure of one PhD program is not independent from other programs, as it is likely based on similar characteristics and markers in your CVs. (Maybe, there is conditional independence given 3, but that is problematic because the value of 3 is relative to the local distribution of 4.)
Your application profile does not change.
You do not know who your competitors are which may also vary between programs (and time).

Therefore, I would assume that people use their applications as measures to test the unknown distribution of the accessibility of PhD programs. Unfortunately, this accessibility changes every term/year because of different populations of applicants. Furthermore, information about the specific demands and requirements of PhD programs is limited because it is time-consuming to look them up and sometimes they are simply hidden. That makes it reasonable to concentrate only on few programs and draw convenient samples. If applicants fail, it is easier to adapt, as your application costs were moderate, and to finally accept that there were better competitors and go on with life.


Mentioning accepted conference papers that were not presented

If a paper is being withdrawn, then I would not give it any weight if I were reviewing a grad school application. The publications & presentations section of your CV is evidence of scholarly achievement, and so if the presentation didn't take place, there was no achievement -- I know of many conferences that have a nearly 100% acceptance rate, so having the paper accepted may simply be evidence of your ability to write coherently.


Can PhD Thesis be converted into Three IEEE Journal Papers (same as they are in Thesis)?

You are mixing up a bunch of things here:

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

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

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

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

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


Can applying for different but consecutive jobs at the same insitution be perceived as wrong?

Disclosure: I applied for two positions at the same time in the same department and it worked out fine for me.

Clearly, I think doing this is fine. And I wouldn't be particularly worried about being perceived as trying to work in a particular country/institution if you're appropriate for both positions. Make sure to write your cover letters appropriately - both of them should speak to your interest and qualifications for that particular job.

You might, however, consider informing the people involved that you have applied for both positions. This lets them discuss you in the context of which position might be best for you, etc. For example, if Option 3 is super-interested in you, then Option 4 can take that into consideration. Or if strategically one is having a harder time filling their position, etc.


How much does the impact factor vary from year to year?

For completeness, I will start by stating the underlying calculation for the impact factor (source):

total cites in year X
Year X cites to articles published in the two year prior to year X (this is a subset of (1.))
number of articles published in the two years prior to year X
= (2.)/(3.) = impact factor for year X

For most journals the number of papers published per year is relatively constant (item 3.). This means that what in most cases really changes the impact factor is item (2.), how many times papers in the years prior have been cited. This number will vary according to how successful the journal is to attract good papers that can accumulate citations. Under normal circumstances the influx of papers probably follows some form of distribution in terms of "quality" (whatever that is).

If we accept this as the model (deviations are likely to exist), then a journal with a small number of papers per year will likely be more sensitive to changes in citation rate of a few papers whereas a journal with a large publication rate will likely be less sensitive.

To change the citation rate of papers in a journal is not easy. The reputation of a journal takes time to build and can be destroyed in a minute. To increase the index is therefore likely more difficult than lowering. Being editor of a small to medium international journal, I have seen that introduction of thematic issues can significantly raise the index. This comes from the fact that such issues constitute a concentration of paper on the same topic which will strongly help each other to attract referenceing; as opposed to a single paper "hidden" in melee of other unrelated papers. So there are means (strategies) to change the index, but for business as usual it will vary but not fluctuate widely. If you find journals where the index varies strongly (more than on the decimal level) it might be interesting to take a closer look and see what factors have influenced the changes.


How Important is the GRE General / Subject compared to ACT / SAT?

Certain programs in Mathematics will heavily weight the GRE Subject test for mathematics programs. Many top programs will have a threshold that they expect students to pass for them to actually read the application. Usually, one should view the subject test more as something that can help you be considered, not something that can get you accepted to a program.

This being said, it is definitely something that should not be considered just as a formality when applying to top 25 universities.


Applying for job at same university as PhD application

First of all, apply for both. It is the best for you to be open to all the options.

However, if both applications goes through, I would recommend to choose the job; simply because you probably will get paid better on the top of learning about the research without the clock ticking. Also, you become a staff and not a student; and you will be treated more professionally.

You can always switch to the Ph.D. after working for sometime, knowing exactly what you want to work on; based on your research-based work experience.


What are some of the serious consequences that someone can suffer if they omit part of their academic record on their application for admission?

In addition to being denied admission or dismissed from the university, as noted in Bob Brown's answer, lying on an application can be grounds for revoking a degree after it was awarded. You may also be required to pay back any scholarships that were awarded to you under false pretenses.

For example, here's the policy of University of Arkansas at Little Rock:

  If the false, misrepresented, or misleading information on the application portfolio is discovered:

  Before the application process is completed, the application will not be processed and no admission offer will be forthcoming.
  After admission and prior to enrollment, the admission offer will be rescinded.
  After admission and enrollment, the student will be administratively withdrawn from all classes and dismissed from the Graduate School; institutional financial assistance will be terminated retroactively and all tuition and other awards made to the student must be repaid.
  After a degree or certificate has been earned, the degree or certificate will be revoked.

  Under no circumstances will the applicant receive a refund of his/her application fee or tuition and fees.

Finally, from the rest of the Internet, some anecdotes (I cannot vouch for their accuracy).

Via Powers v. St. John's Univ. Sch. of Law:

  After David Powers had completed three semesters as a part-time law school student at St. John’s University School of Law, the law school discovered that Powers had made material misrepresentations and omissions in his law school application regarding his criminal history. St. John’s subsequently rescinded Powers’s admission based on the application’s material omissions and misrepresentations.

Via Poets and Quants: "Stanford Takes Away An MBA Degree":

  For the first time ever, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business today (March 5) confirmed that a 2003 graduate of the most selective MBA program in the U.S. no longer has a degree because he was admitted under “false pretenses.”

Via Yale Daily News:

  He is Akash Maharaj, once a junior in Morse College, now a convicted felon. Kicked out of Yale College in the summer of 2007 for forging his application, he now faces five years of probation during which he must pay Yale over $31,000, for scholarships he stole — or else serve three years in jail.

Via The Right of Educational Institutions to Withhold or Revoke Academic Degrees:

  The Supreme Court of New Jersey revoked the license of John Benstock to practice law in the State of New Jersey after New York Law School revoked his Juris Doctor degree for failing to reveal material information on his application to law school and admission to the bar.

Via hermitosis on MetaFilter:

  I tried this once. I got accepted to the university and had forgotten to include a transcript from a summer community college course that I'd taken as a freshman in high school. I genuinely forgot to include it.

  Anyhow I got a call saying that my acceptance was revoked, and when I visited the administrative office to try and explain, they accused me outright of deliberately covering it up in order to improve my chances of getting into their university (the grade had been a C, which lowered my overall GPA by just a smidge).

  I was allowed to appeal their decision, but my appeal was rejected. And that's the story of how I was kicked out of university before I ever got to attend a single class (but not, I'm happy to say, before I'd already gotten my school ID, so I did wind up being able to draw upon some benefits).

Via happymomof1 on College Confidential:

  I was almost thrown out of a graduate program that I was halfway through when the university realized that one (yes 1) transcript was missing from my file. In fact, even after it was delivered to them, and recorded as arriving, they managed to lose it again and I had to have it sent again. We are talking about a 30 year old transcript for 8 undergraduate credits taken in summer school! When I asked why they cared, the registrar (not a filing clerk) himself told me that missing transcripts can mean lost accreditation. No college or university wants to lose accreditation, they'd rather lose a student (or potential student).

Via airborne911 on College Confidential:

  I attended two schools in spring 2006, but I forgot all about the second school (I only took one class there, and the rest of my classes were taken at the first school). I did not list the school on my application. USC sent me a request for transcripts from the second school in April. I called the admissions office to inform them that I simply forgot about the second school I attended. The lady on the other end of the phone said, "That's okay. That's what the National Student Clearinghouse is for." She then told me to send a detailed letter explaining why I didn't list the second school on my application, because omitting information is grounds for automatic rejection.


What steps can faculty and staff take to promote excellence in, and importance of, teaching?

Putting in place a better system for evaluating teaching than today's student evaluation forms would be a good start.  Getting serious about the assessment of student learning outcomes (rather than simply assigning grades) would also be extremely helpful.


Professor ignoring emails and not attending office hours

If you are feeling desperate, go to the department office and tell them you need to contact the professor over a grading issue that you are afraid will slip through the cracks at end of term. Ask to have them have the professor contact you, leaving contact information. You could even write a note for the office to pass to the professor detailing your concerns. The office is likely to see the professor before you do.

The prof may still not respond, but you have left a marker that establishes your timely concern.

Don't be overly concerned about lack of response at end of term. There may be a lot on the professor's plate also. There are also ways to work things out that don't require immediate action, as long as you leave a trail of effort to contact and resolve the issue.

But don't increase the "noise" going directly to the professor. It probably won't help and might hurt.


Do international students have a lower chance of getting accepted in STEM-fields PhD programs at US universities?

Since you can't change the situation and suddenly discover your US citizen parents, you can only apply for positions and make your best case. As I mentioned in comments, the quotes are from an individual who is clearly expressing an opinion, not the results of research.
Yes, you will find people who will mark you down a bit or a lot based on your circumstances, but you will also find people who take a broader (and IMO, wiser) view that applicants are individuals who should be evaluated on a relatively fair basis.
But, you will find that competition in some fields and in some universities is intense and you have to make the case that you are an excellent candidate with many expectations of success.
Note, that some parts of the article that you didn't quote are more general. The writer is correct that funding in the US for doctoral study is normally not a problem as nearly everyone has a position as either a TA (most common) or an RA. This provides sufficient funds to live (if a bit humbly) and pays all tuition and fees. While the funding may not come from the professor, it is almost always available to anyone who is admitted and who requests it.
Visa problems may be intense at the moment as is the difficulty of travel, but those are outside what can be advised here.
What matters, much more than trends, however, is what it means for you as an individual. If you present an excellent application, showing hard work and past success and people are willing to write you good (great) letters of recommendation, you will have a chance.
But don't apply to too narrow a range of institutions. Give yourself flexibility and backup.


When should a professor recommend a student drop out of college?

The career goals of an undergraduate change on a regular basis. How many of us are doing exactly what we thought we would do at that point in time?
If the student is doing well, grade-wise, and is on track to graduate, in most scenarios it is much better for them to finish an undergraduate degree. It opens up more doors both initially as well as for some time afterwards. If the work is too easy, suggest harder classes.
If a professor were to suggest to one of my children that they drop out of college even though they are doing well, I would have an in person visit with them to discuss their complete abuse of power. My daughter had a professor suggest she was not suited for her major - that was inappropriate enough (and totally wrong as time has told). For better or worse, your attitude towards those students is condescending at best.


Can co-first authors’ positions be swapped in a CV?

No.  The reference is the reference, changing it to move yourself higher could be misinterpreted as willful deceit.

Add a parenthetical statement at the end of the references saying "first n authors are co-first authors, listed in this order because..."

On my "internal" CV I have parentheticals after many papers, for example, listing contributions, nominations for best paper, etc.


Adding to @Kostia's answer, a negative letter from the undergraduate thesis advisor will tank your application.

He is giving all the signs of not being able to write a positive letter. He disagreed when you first asked him, then he agreed to only writing a few, now he is avoiding you.

I would absolutely not use him for any letters if at all possible. Again, a bad letter from your advisor is worse than a missing letter. Try to find a third person and have them write to as many schools as will let you change the letter writers.


Hiring a PhD student who left another PhD position

I would contact the students directly for answers before contacting the supervisors. This way, you can get some feedback and further information before deciding if you want to contact the supervisors.

However, I would in any case not take a student from the lab of an acquaintance without the "blessing" of the acquaintance. Otherwise you risk setting up an unnecessarily antagonistic relationship between you and the other advisor.


You can find a pretty good summary at: Scribbr
But note that some universities will have a required "style guide" as do many journals. Your advisor can probably point you in the right direction, as could any of the office staff in the department.
But doing it inconsistently is a problem. Stop doing that.


Are there academic institution-specific equivalents to attorneys (a professional who assists in navigating conduct and justice systems)?

I’m not aware of what you are asking about existing as a type of professional that one can retain (as per your question) — I suspect that would be a rather poor way to make a living — but at my university there are people who are available to consult on matters such as Mary’s expulsion case.
Since Mary sounds like a graduate student, the relevant place to go would be the university ombuds office. In some cases the student union or an employee union of some sort may offer some help.
If Mary were a faculty member, she would go to a committee of our academic senate where advisers would be able to advise her if the thing she wants to complain about is a violation of her rights as a faculty member, and about the procedure for challenging the administration’s decisions.
These advisers are themselves regular faculty members like me and only do this as a “side gig” for a few hours a month, but they will have received specialized training that gives them the knowledge to offer this sort of advice (in fact I am currently on a sister subcommittee of this committee so I received a lot of the same training myself), and will also have auxiliary staff they can turn to who specialize in the relevant policy matters and can offer further information if the need arises.
These advisers won’t be available for an unlimited time. Likely they will be able to meet with Mary 2-3 times and discuss her questions, but it’s not quite the same as having your own lawyer or other professional that you retain on an hourly basis.
Since through my involvement in the sister subcommittee I am privy to faculty grievances a bit like Mary’s, I can tell you that faculty members who really need professional help with their grievance process will often hire a lawyer (I have also seen cases of students hiring lawyers for help with a disciplinary matter), and this can make a big difference - it’s far from easy for someone without experience in these administrative processes to navigate the system. A lawyer may not be intimately familiar with the specific institution’s policies, but broadly speaking they have the right training and skill set to help in such challenging situations. They don’t come cheap, however...


What to do when a professor gives an undeserved D to a PhD Student?

I would advise her to discuss this with her advisor. Do not push the "unethical behavior" idea. Instead, focus on two points:

She does not understand the reasons for the D.
She is concerned about the consequences for her funding etc.

All the better if the advisor is close to the professor who gave the D. It makes the advisor a better potential advocate. No professor likes to have a PhD student fail - it makes them look bad.


What are some typical questions one might be asked in a Computer Science PhD Viva?

There is one critical question that is asked in every Phd viva, be it either directly or indirectly, that is "what is the original contribution of your thesis to knowledge". To be awarded a Phd the result of the research must be to contribute something new to the planetary or disciplines store of knowledge. You must have done something new and know what that thing is.

It is the very purpose of a viva to discover if you know that. Saying "I do not know" to this question can result in a Phd failure.

Other questions will seek to discover if you really understand the works you are citing in your bibliography; have you actually read and understood them and do you know how they relate to your work.

The third aspect of a viva is to resolve any ambiguity that the examiners read into your writing. Which of the possible interpretations of the words and conclusions did you actually mean. You might not have realised that your thesis contained ambiguity but the examiners will certainly find it. They will also seek to expand on or explore elements that are not clearly explained and get you to clarify them.

The answers to all these questions will determine if you have to make corrections to the thesis to resolve these ambiguities or make clarification, or even conduct more research to resolve those matters.

This is written from the perspective of a Phd examiner, both internal and external and experience as an independent chair of such vivas.


Harvard referencing bibliography - must the year be in brackets?

As far as I know, the term Harvard referencing is usually a synonym for the author–date parenthetical referencing in general, similar to how Vancouver refer to numerical style of reference. I am not aware of an authoritative manual for Harvard style that is analogous to Chicago or APA. It is possible that different organisations use the term Harvard for their own author–date styles.
Different author–date styles differs on how citations and the reference list are formatted. For example, according to the Chicago Manual of Style, the reference entry for a book look like this:

Lastname, Firstname, and Lastname, Firstname. 2020. Title of book. Place: Publisher.

while in the 7th edition of APA it looks like this:

Lastname, I., & Lastname, I. (2020). Title of the book. Publisher.

These two are perhaps the better known author–date styles, but there are many different variations used by different publications or organisations. The Zotero Style Repository currently lists over 4,000 different author–date styles. (Maybe your institution style is already listed there.)
If you are required to precisely follow your university style, then the only "correct" format is what the style prescribes. (For a university coursework, many instructors might be satisfied with a close approximation. You might want to check whether the (possibly 6th edition) APA format suffices for your need; it should be included in any reference generation tools.)


List of Research Institutes (excluding universities)!

After some further search I found exactly what I was looking for:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Research_institutes

or by country:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Research_institutes_by_country

This comprehensive list includes the majority of all existing research institutes and definitely all notable one's. However, there is of course no ranking provided (which is not a problem for me but may be for other people that visit this question).


What contents should I put on my academic website?

At the very least, you should have your name, contact information, and a bio of what you do. That's the minimal advertising necessary to serve as a useful "see my site for more details on what I do".

Given that almost everyone who visits your site will either be looking for someone's name or a paper you've previously published, the next most useful information to include would be:
- Lab members contact info & bios
- Publications with downloadable links

I would definitely recommend putting pictures up as well, so people will recognize your face when they see you at conferences. Same for lab members.

Links to other affiliations is nice, but almost certainly not important. Practically no one will follow them. Whether to list your CV is up to you; people who need it will often ask you, but it won't hurt to have it live. Depending on your research, you can have a "recent news" section where you advertise any particularly notable publication or mention in the popular press.

Finally, if you teach, I recommend putting links to the course website (which may or may not be part of your academic website), as many students will find your page by googling and will be looking for course info.


How to communicate with the co-authors regarding the work (paper)

Co-authors should be involved in every step of the scientific progress. Some might be more involved in some steps than others, due to differences in expertise or involvement, but generally:

you should meet and discuss ideas and plans
you should meet and discuss results/interpretations
you should both contribute to writing

"meet and discuss" can be via email or in person, or a combination of both. These can be scheduled meetings or meetings at the coffee machine. Discussions can be more or less deep, depending on your needs and expertise (e.g. whether you need to share code or not is a specific question for your case, hard to answer in general - however, do ask for their input in case you want to). Writing usually loads heavily on one person (probably you), with the other(s) giving comments and feedback at major milestones.

You should definitely share and discuss progress before writing the paper, and before having written the paper. If you collaborator (as it seems) is not your supervisor, it is probably going to be your role to keep the project running. At the same time, if this person is not your supervisor, or you are already a bit more senior, you might not want to share every minor step of your work. Even if you can work quite independently, it could be good to give a status report every few weeks to keep them informed of the progress, and keep them on board. And, most importantly, to give them an opportunity to contribute.


Citing a popular science magazine article

My question : Is it acceptable to cite this kind of article in a paper to be sent to a peer-review journal ?

I have cited a popular science article (specifically, an article in Scientific American) as well as a citation to a fan-maintained video game Wiki in one of the best medical journals in the world.

If it's the most appropriate source, it is acceptable - and essentially - that it be cited.


How difficult is it to get PhD funding for the Humanities (UK)?

To be blunt and clear, if your PhD topic is neither particularly novel nor of exceptional value, you are almost certainly not going to be awarded PhD funding in the Humanities in the UK: not at Oxbridge, not anywhere. It simply will not happen. PhD funding in UK humanities is limited at best, cutthroat in reality, and non-existent at worst. We have to turn down scores of projects that are truly important and valuable due to lack of funding for students: a mediocre topic has no chance. This is the same at Oxbridge as it is the same for everywhere else in the UK.

If a prospective student has everything else in line (e.g. they have a first, they have UK/EU student status so they can go in for UKRI funding), they need to work on coming up with an exceptional project. Even if they are spectacular otherwise, an exceptional project is needed.


How to differentiate long paraphrasing and original ideas with APA in-text citations?

Use a conditional construction to indicate distance from the cited claim.  E.g.,

  Smith (2011) contends that blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. If Smith's contention were true, it would follow that monkeys are actually fish.


Asking for PhD admission in a different faculty than potential supervisor

There is no general answer. You should check the university's regulations. Additionally, you should talk with your potential supervisor about the issue. Even if it's not allowed, he might know a way to circumvent it.

Moreover, I think that the title itself is secondary. The most important part is what you did during your PhD. (To illustrate the point: after that PhD-project, nobody will hire you to design a car engine just because you have a PhD in mechanical engineering.)

If employers have a job opening, they are looking for somebody with the skills necessary for the job. Typical job offers usually include the phrase "desired qualifications: a PhD in computer science or something equivalent." This translates to "we think that somebody with the necessary skills will have a degree in computer science but if you possess these skills and a different PhD, we still want you to apply."

The place to present your software development skills is your cover letter and your CV/resume once you apply for positions. Make there very clear why you are the perfect fit for the position. For instance, in the CV, you should list the software you developed and the languages you programmed in (with number of years you are using them); and in the cover letter, you explain how these things qualify you for the position.


What should I let students do when they finish exams early?

Why were the students leaving early disruptive? Under the rules of every institution that I've been at you are under exam conditions until you leave the room. They should be utterly silent and respectful to other students or face the usual penalties for breaking the rules of exam conditions.

If you're not happy with them leaving early I'm not sure why you would do anything to occupy them. Make them sit in silence and wait for the the exam to finish. Boredom never killed anyone.


Getting PhD in an adjacent field I plan to pursue

Would getting a PhD in operational research immediately preclude me from tenure track position in Math, CS and Philosophy Departments? Even if I have a solid amount of publications?

It would not preclude you from applying, but your success would depend on whether your research profile matches the position as you would be competing with many candidates who might be a better match. The number of publications is important but it's not the most important criterion.

  If so, would already having a PhD hurt me if I applied for admission to a PhD program in Math, CS or philosophy?

I can't see any reason why already having a PhD in OR would decrease your chances to get admitted for another PhD program later. But will you still be motivated for that after getting your first PhD?

An alternative option would be to progressively switch topics after the PhD through one or two postdoc contracts.


How important is the Statement of Contributions to Diversity in applications for faculty positions?

If you submit a strong statement of contribution to diversity, it will help your application in the sense that if you are clearly qualified for the job, this statement would be a plus and would get people excited about your application.  On the other hand, if there are reservations as to whether you are really qualified for the job, in terms of academic merit, teaching experience -- basic stuff -- then a strong diversity stance will not help you.

If you have no previous or well thought out contributions to diversity to speak of, then submitting an anemic diversity statement might hurt you more than not submitting one at all would.

If you are someone who has never given it much thought, then I would advise you not to submit a statement for this particular application; but at the same time, I would encourage you to start doing some thinking about the special challenges diverse students can face getting started, continuing with, and finishing their studies, and what you could contribute to lessening the difficulties.


Does conference presentation of preliminary findings conflict with publication?

To codify the comments: These policies say nothing about presentations, only publications.  As conferences are not journals, it's highly unlikely that this is double-dipping.


Cannot reproduce what I have learned or memorised

Your question reminds me of the old joke "How do I get to Carnegie Hall?" To which the response is the same, "Practice, man, practice."

You will be expected to know this stuff when you graduate. When studying any subject, there will be a wide variety of rules and formulae you must learn. Normally, when a teacher is trying to get the students to learn them, the students are given exercises to practice them, or scenarios to apply them.

Learning best works in groups, so if you can find someone with whom to study that should help. You can practice with each other reading your answers to see if you understood correctly.

If you do not have an exercises or scenarios to use, ask your teacher. But in the end, it is all about practice.


Sharing articles with your department colleagues

I'm all for collaboration and sharing, but please be aware that you might be breaching specific laws in your country and you may be inadvertently dragging the lab (unit, group, Department) into a complicated situation.

I've found this site helpful: http://www.howcanishareit.com/. It provides advice about sharing permissions and options based on DOI.

To answer your question, my group uses EndNote Web for this, mainly because the university has a corporate subscription to the software. One of the post-grads curates the database and undergraduate students are assigned to summarising the paper, with comments provided by one PhD, one post-doc or one academic staff member. We circulate a condensed summary every week. It took a while to set up, but it now works rather smoothly.

Good luck.

PS. I just remembered that one of the post-docs presented Mendeley as an alternative, too. If we hadn't already had access to EndNote through the institutional subscription, we thought that it was a great system.


What laws exist in India to protect students from harassment by teachers/professors?

From the discussion above, it seems like you are an engineering/technical student. Technical education in India falls under the concurrent list -- i.e. both state and union laws apply.

The relevant national body is the AICTE, which does have a mechanism for grievance redressal, this is often used as the primary source of complaints against ragging.

You can submit a grievance here. The 2004 Guidelines for Grievance Processes require a sub-30-day resolution of complaints. In fact, all accredited technical institutions in India are required to have a local Grievance Redressal Cell and Ombudsman as per this 2012 notification. Finally, you could contact AICTE directly

Students may also file grievances at the UGC (University Grants Commission). The UGC is a statutory body in charge of "coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education". In 1987, they released "Guidelines for Student Entitlement". See sections 2.5, 2.6 regarding fairness in evaluation and section 5 which deals with discriminatory treatment.

At a state-level, you could try Rajasthan Sampark, which only applies to government institutions.

As others have stated, you need to ensure that you have documented and clear proof to support your accusation, and that you should not back down in fear of reprisal. The process of collecting evidence may help you determine if you truly have a valid complaint, or are perceiving bias that does not exist.

To the best of my knowledge, in answer to your second question, no, Indian jurisprudence does not have a similar concept of student rights as the United  States and some of Europe.

While reading the links for the other answers and searching for policies for this post, the one thing that becomes clear is a worrying lack of depth in policies and transparently available policies and data. If you choose to take this forward, I hope that you will document and publish your efforts.


There's no point in disguising the reason for you moving to Australia. If you give some kind of prevaricating answer to the question of why you're moving, then this will look unprofessional at best. The people with whom you're going to chat about possible postdoc positions for yourself will of course know about the academic two-body problem.

The fact that there are two institutions where you might be able to find work is in your favour. Cultivate your contacts and opportunities with both institutions, at the same time. Don't be coy about the fact you're shopping around for positions.


How do you assess programming related topics and avoid student cheating?

In general, it sounds like your problem is not to find out how to assess whether plagiarism occurred, but rather how to make tests that are harder to plagiarize. I will try to answer to both:

Plagiarism reduction can be achieved  building a database of questions to be leveraged to create "individualised" tests. To elaborate further, you could:

build a database with a number of questions larger than the one you intend to submit to students (as suggested in a previous answer)
build personalised tests by pulling questions randomly from the database above.
randomise the input values of the questions (making up a trivial SQL example: "what is the n_th most likely value in m_th column of table k?" where n,m and k are randomly exctracted).

Existing e-learning platforms (Moodle for example) contain all three features abobe, and allow you to collect the student responses in a centralised manner -
 so you don't need to reinvent the wheel.

Plagiarism detection becomes easier if you receive the test answers digitally. For humanities, text analytics would be needed, and I would recommend using off-the-shelf tools. For quantitative subjects, you can cluster students according to the submission time and score received in each test, and see whether some groups of students cluster too closely together (in small classes, no actual clustering algorithm is needed). This will not suffice to trigger punishment, but you can use it to focus on scrutinizing the student's thought process that led to the solution in a face-to-face exam.


Does some degree of stubbornness help for a researcher?

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.


Do graduate admissions simply see the 'letter grades' for a course, or can they see the numeric grade and/or exam scores, too?

The information we get about grades comes from the official transcript that you arrange for the registrar to send to us.  Whatever information is recorded there is what we see.  At the vast majority of US institutions I'm familiar with, this means letter grades only, converted to a numerical GPA using the four point scale.

Based on what you write, perhaps "plus minus grading" does not exist at your institution (as it does at most, but not all, American institutions: apparently it was introduced at my university only just before I arrived, and there are occasional weird -- though minor -- holdovers from the former state of affairs).  If it does exist, then it goes on the transcript and is used to calculate GPA.

More information about course grading could come from individual faculty members in the form of their recommendation letters.  It is fairly common for such letters to include additional information about performance, including performance on individual exams.  In general if you got a good grade in a course but feel that your actual performance in that course was outstanding in a way that the grade does not reflect, then the instructor for the course is a good candidate for a recommendation letter.  In your case you might want to consider getting a letter from the instructor of the course in which you did better and better, culminating in 100% on the final exam.  This is exactly the kind of academic trajectory that admissions committees want to see.


Approach the professors about making the course more "relevant"

There is always some tension between teaching considerations in computer science and other fast-moving technology fields, and modern practice.

Since the field itself moves so fast, it is not necessarily desirable for a computer science course to really be up-to-date. Even if you taught students up-to-the-minute programming libraries and paradigms in their freshman CS101 course, by the time they graduate, many of these libraries will be outdated anyways. Furthermore, developing new course materials (or updating existing materials) takes a considerable amount of time and effort.

Also, modern programming paradigms are often too complicated to introduce to complete beginners. A deliberate decision is often made to miss out on "up-to-date" in favor of "simple for newbies."

The usual goal, therefore, is to teach students fundamental ideas and concepts that are timeless. The context in which these ideas are taught will probably become outdated pretty quickly. It's understood that students won't use this specific context again, because it'll be obsolete by the time they graduate; the hope is that the ideas stick, so that the students can understand the new programming paradigms they will be expected to learn on their own in the workforce.

For example:

  ASCII is dying, replaced mostly by its vastly more complicated superset, UTF-8. But UTF-8 would be crazy to teach in full, with all its byte-stuffing practices that mean different characters take different numbers of bytes, and all the combining characters and normalisation and so on. ASCII has the fundamental idea of characters-as-numbers, which is a useful (and timeless) principle, even if the exact encoding itself is getting more complicated.

Source: Teaching programming: Modern or Educational?

Having said that,

This seems "stupid" and is demotivating to students who are aware of current practices
In practice, teaching ideas and concepts is more difficult than teaching specific technologies and syntax. So often students miss out on learning the "timeless" ideas - which were really the whole point of the lesson.

In answer to What can you do about it?

You can certainly tell the professor, "I did XYZ as part of my project, and I think it would be interesting to share with the rest of the class." I often supplement my "fundamental" courses with "modern" concepts, and I love when these supplements come from the students themselves!

You can always ask the professor, "How is concept ABC used in practice, today?" I love getting this question from students - it gives me an opening to talk about fun stuff :)

But understand that teaching outdated material is the norm in many cases. There are good reasons for this; there are also good reasons not to do this. It's a difficult balance to strike.


How to cite the same reference in a paragraph twice in APA style?

Yes, you can. Check out an example from the invaluable APA Style Blog:

  Morin (1988) described two separate but linked epidemics. . . . Morin
  distinguished the HIV (viral) epidemic from the subsequent AIDS
  (disease) epidemic, foreseeing the ultimate convergence of preventing
  the spread of the virus and managing the disease it causes. . . .
  Morin also discussed a third epidemic . . . . This third epidemic is
  as much a part of the pathology of AIDS as the virus itself (Morin,
  1988).

  Socioeconomic status (SES) and chronic diseases rather consistently
  fall on a gradient, where those of relatively lower SES have poorer
  health and are more often afflicted by multiple diseases than those
  above them on the SES ladder (Adler & Stewart, 2010). . . . Adler and
  Stewart (2010) offered a framework to explain the major pathways by
  which SES can influence health outcomes. . . . The model is
  developmental, illustrating individual, social, and structural
  influences on disease over the lifespan (Adler & Stewart, 2010).


Asking a Professor for a review of a university application research supplement

It is definitely not inappropriate. But professors are busy people, and you are likely to be put in the "crank" bin without a detailed reading. Be careful crafting your email, and ask some of the staff at your school to review it to minimise it.

If after a reasonable time you don't get a response, you could try to find a student's association at the university related to your research. They could probably be able to judge it, and take it to the professor in person with their "seal of approval", that is more likely to get his attention.


Does Turnitin match my paper against sources found after I submitted by paper?

The Turnitin settings allow for checking either when submitted or on the due date. It depends on which of these options were selected by whoever is administrating the submissions


This website from the library system at the University of Tasmania provides guidelines for citing works of art in the MLA style. Briefly:

  Citing the original work (you went and saw the Bayeux Tapestry)

Artist (Last, First). Title of Work. Date. Medium. Location of the work.

Bayeux Tapestry. ca. 1070. Tapestry. Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux, Bayeux, France. (Since the artist is unknown, leave this field out.)

  Citing a reproduction of the work (in another source)

Artist. Title of Work. Date. Medium. Location (if appropriate). Source reference. Plate/page # (if appropriate)

Bayeux Tapestry. ca. 1070. Tapestry. Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux, Bayeux, France. Everything You Want to Know About the Bayeux Tapestry. Ed. B. Ayeux. Bayeux, France: Bayuex Publishers, 2014. Plate 3. Print.


Should I inform the journal that I'm the actual first author?

I think you've misunderstood the situation.  It appears to me that this is being handled properly by your co-authors, and any action on your part would be inappropriate.

As you've clarified, you and your co-authors are following the usual authorship convention for pure math, which is that authors are listed alphabetically, with the corresponding assumption that all authors contributed equally to the paper.  (Of course, this is often a polite fiction, but you're on board with it now and so it doesn't behoove you to denigrate their contributions.)  You say the alphabetical order here is Postdoc, RecentStudent (that's you), Supervisor.

From the journal's point of view, "first author" just means literally that: whose name should be printed first on the title page?  And since you've decided to use alphabetical order, Postdoc is indeed the "first author" in that sense.  So it is absolutely correct that he's identified as "first author" in the journal's paperwork.  Nobody is playing any funny games here.

Any significance attached to the ordering of the authors, or who comes first, is in the minds of the authors and the readers.  The journal doesn't want to get involved in the question of who is the "primary" author, or who did the most work, and they really don't care.  They just want all the authors to agree on what should go on the title page, and which name should be printed first, second, third, etc.  Any way is fine with them so long as the authors all approve.

If it helps, the submission form for JFA has a section that looks like this:

You click the little arrows to change the order.  Note that "First Author" is automatically attached to whoever is first on the list.

You definitely should not tell the journal that you're the "actual" first author.  They'll interpret this as a sign that you want to be listed first, and thus the authors are not in agreement about what should appear on the title page.  They'll put the whole submission on hold until they can be assured that the three of you have worked it out.  This will greatly annoy your co-authors, especially since it seems to have already been understood that alphabetical order was to be used.

If you really wanted to be listed first (i.e. out of alphabetical order), in principle you could open that discussion with your co-authors, but I think it would reflect poorly on you, especially at this late date.  I don't advise that.  In any case they'd have to agree.  The journal won't settle such disputes for you.

As a side remark, your co-authors really should have asked you before submitting to a new journal.  It sounds like it's not worth making a fuss about it now, but you might ask them politely to involve you in the journal selection process in case it needs to be done again (which is not unlikely; JFA is pretty selective).  They may have assumed that, since you're no longer in academia, you wouldn't really care and would rather not be bothered - not really a valid assumption, but perhaps understandable.  As for the boycott, it's a fine point to bring up in a discussion, but I think most people feel it would be poor form to insist if your co-authors don't feel the same - especially if, as in the Postdoc's case, they're at a career stage where "getting published in the best journal" has to take precedence over idealistic considerations.


How to deal with a research internship manager with very bad English?

It is the professor's responsibility to make sure that the instructions you are given are clear and understandable, and besides it's in their interest to make sure that you are able to do your job. So you should definitely talk to the professor about this issue, preferably giving a few examples and explaining clearly and objectively why it's a problem for your work. As you are clearly aware, it's not a matter of criticizing the person, it's matter of finding a way to work efficiently.

On a more diplomatic note, I assume that this PhD student has to write papers and will certainly have to write their PhD in English, right? So it's also crucial for them to improve their English level. Maybe you could suggest helping them at the same time: when their instructions or explanations are unclear, you would propose a better phrasing or point out why something is a mistake. The idea is to avoid that the PhD student feels bad about the whole thing, and this way they can appreciate that you're also doing some effort to make things work.


How do I referee a paper when the authors may be behaving dishonestly?

It is hard to tell from just your description alone (and without knowing the actual paper and revisions), but honestly this does not really sound like unethical behavior to me. Basically, what seemed to have happened was the following:

Authors hand the paper in. You review and claim that one of two important aspects is missing.
The authors disagree and, in an attempt to calm you over, write a short token paragraph about the second aspect (that they, in all honesty, don't believe to be very important).
You insist that the second aspect is super-important and needs to be covered more explicitly.
The authors give up and describe what the may think to be a minor aspect in much more detail than what they originally planned to do. Note that it is well possible that the authors were fully aware of this and had the data to do this all the time, but just did not think about it as something important. That they now agree that this is super-important sounds more like an attempt to win you over than anything else.

I have seen these kinds of exchanges play out in many, many journal submissions. Whether this actually improves the paper or not depends primarily on whether the second aspect was actually important or not. You say it is, but I have definitely seen reviewers get hung up on absolute sidenotes as well (which I am sure they honestly thought were essential), ultimately to the detriment of the manuscript.

More generally, it sounds a bit like you were a bit the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" kind of reviewer in this process. What kind of change did you expect after the second review round? You wanted this additional behavior covered, and they did - and now that they did, you wonder why they did not do so from the beginning and presume that something unethical is happening. If they wouldn't have addressed this point, you would have been unhappy because the authors did not fix your major comments.

What I generally try to teach my students is that when you review for journals, you need to recommend fixes that can actually be done. That is, there needs to be a reasonable and doable change that would actually make you happy to accept the manuscript. If you think that a paper can in no reasonable way be fixed, recommend rejection (and don't accept another review if the editor decides for revision). Never recommend revision if you won't like any outcome.

Edit based on Lohoris' comment to aismail's answer:

  I've no clue why is the other answer who got all the upvotes, this one seems reasonable and to the point, while the other one basically says "you suspect something, don't bother, go on, everything's nice" which is a wtf for me.

Accusing authors of fabricating the data is a serious suspicion and should not be raised lightly if there are other plausible explanations. It's not that you "shouldn't bother", it's that it simply does not sound like the data has been fabricated to me (or, at least, it does not sound significantly more likely than in any journal submission where the code etc. is not public, which is a systemic problem). There are any number of (good or at least less bad) reasons why the authors may now have data that they did not report on in the first version, including:

The authors generated this data in the many months between revisions
The authors had the data all along but did not consider it very important
The authors wanted to save up this data for another paper (either to salami-slice, or because they truly thought that those should logically be two separate papers)

It is widely accepted that even major changes to the data and analysis can happen in between major revisions, and indeed it is common-place at least in my community to add more data to the paper based on reviewer request. This is basically the reason why we do peer review in the first place - if we always remain suspicious when the authors do more than cosmetic changes, why do we recommend revisions in the first place?

I understand that the authors were talking about a "miscommunication" in the response letter, but frankly, after two revisions (especially with a very critical reviewer in the loop), most authors tend to write in the response letter whatever they think gives them the best chance to calm the reviewer over. I would not give too much weight to whatever people write in this non-public document.


Electrical Engineering Master of Science: Taking Letters of Recommendations from different departments or fields

1) Are old professors regarded more important or less important compared to younger professors ?

  I cannot speak to this, but in general, a well known researcher in the
  field you are applying to is more valuable than a not as well known
  researcher. For example, Terence Tao is only 41
  (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terence_Tao), and Manjul Bhragava is only 42, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manjul_Bhargava). Their age is considered decades younger
  than many profs in math, but I would wager any mathematician would do
  anything to get a recommendation letter from the profs I have mentioned above.

2) Is it OK to take letter of recommendation from a professor in another discipline or even different faculty, knowing that he will write a very good letter ?

  I can speak to this. I am an electrical engineer who has done a MASc. and two of my
  recommendation letter were from mathematicians, one pure and one
  applied. But then again I applied for a very mathy branch of EE.

  I would not consider semiconductor research to be an extremely mathy branch of EE, (compared to research in signal processing, or control theory)
  and this is coming from another EE. In semiconductor research they
  need people with good simulation skills and will be able to write
  softwares of which the theories are grounded in PDE. You can find an
  applied mathematician who works in PDE (preferably computational PDE)
  or a physicist who will provide you a letter.

3) Is a letter of recommendation from a famous faculty member that does not know me very well is better than a letter of recommendation from a less well-known professor that knows me very well ?

  The best case scenario is that you receive a letter from someone who
  knows you very well and who have written a good letter. Otherwise, you
  need someone who knows you a little but will write a good letter. The
  last you want is someone who knows you very little and will probably
  write an average letter.

4) Is a professor that did his/her Masters or doctorate in USA regarded as more important compared to ones who did not ?

  This is an important question and I think it is highly dependent on
  the tier of school you are applying to. I can't imagine the top 5
  engineering universities will ever perceive a letter from a reputable
  researcher from overseas (outside of US or even Canada) to be less
  valuable.


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.


Made an arXiv submission too early; How to minimize the damage?

The answer to your question depends on the exact details of the journal's policy (and it would be good for you to quote them exactly, or give us a link). More precisely, it depends not only on the journal's policy regarding self-archiving, but more importantly on the journal's policy on prior publication.

I know that might sound weird, but these are actually two separate questions. Self-archiving is a question of copyright, a legal issue: it's a question of what rights you retain (and what rights you transfer) according to the agreement you have with the journal's publisher. This copyright agreement is not something that influences the peer review process, it only governs what you agree with the publisher should they actually accept to publish your paper. (The agreement is void if the paper will not be published, obviously.)

Now, the journal's policy on prior publication is not a legal issue, it is a question of scientific (or editorial) policy. It is decided by the journal's editorial board, and should be explicitly spelt out in its guidelines for authors, journal policies or another similarly titled document. Some journals, like those of the American Chemical Society, have a very strict policy on prior publication:

  The Journal of the American Chemical Society considers for publication only original work that has not been previously published and is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. When submitting a manuscript, an author should inform the editor of any prior dissemination of the content in print or electronic format. This includes electronic posting of conference presentations, posters, and preprints on institutional repositories and any other Web sites. Any content that has been made publicly available, either in print or electronic format, and that contains a significant amount of new information, if made part of a submitted manuscript, may jeopardize the originality of the submission and may preclude consideration for publication.

Thus, this journal would reject any manuscript that was posted on arXiv (or anywhere else), because it is not considered original material.

Now, what about you? Well, you have to find out what your journal's policy is, and act accordingly. If the journal policy forbids prior publication, then accept that you made a mistake, find a journal that doesn't have such requirements (it depends on fields, but it should not be too difficult), and submit it there.

On the other hand, if the journal policy does not forbid such prior publication, then you only made a smaller mistake: not informing the editor. Thus, if you want to appeal the rejection, you may want to write an apologetic letter to the editor with that information (along with answering the other comments of the reviewers). As you say that this was not the main reason for the rejection, I wouldn't advise appealing though (chances of success are very slim).


How can I do better research when the experimental design is lacking?

Though I am not familiar with the specific field you are referring to (neuroscience &c.) one big question presents itself:

Did you actually talk to your adviser/other students about the "problems" you perceive in the experimental setup? Are these actually "problems" or maybe (just maybe) an insufficient understanding on your part?

If it is indeed a problem of experimental design I would propose to contact the ones responsible for the design and try to work something out - i.e., additional experiments or (if possible) looking for external data.


APA citation of two articles with no author, no date, and the same title?

("Title of the page", n.d.a) and ("Title of the page", n.d.b) would combine:

naming the title in quotation marks "Article Title" due to the unavailability of an author; and
the n.d. (no date) due to the unavailable date; and
the letter that is added to the date because of multiple same-titles and same-dates (a, b ...).

However, your case is special as the first link is a Wiki. As Geoffrey Brent wrote in a comment, in case of a Wiki, you can click on "View history" and find a permalink to an article's current version with a date attribution. You can then link to that versioned permalink with the date. Here is an example of a version history page pertaining to your first link; the permalink to the most recent version (Feb. 2019) is this one: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Institute_for_Free_Speech&oldid=745869 (you can find this link by clicking on the most recent date listed in the version history page).


Pure math field for PhD when planning to go into industry

It's hard to say much without more concrete info about which fields you are talking about.

I switched from geometric analysis as academic to quantitative finance in industry pretty easily. But it was probably easier at the time in that they didn't expect you to know much, just be smart.

Being an analyst meant that the distance to applications was much shorter than from many fields. However, the PhD badge does help whatever your original field; I have helped people with topology PhDs make the switch.

My general advice to people planning to switch is to do something related to probability or statistics. There are plenty of pure problems but it leaves you well placed for applications.

(see my guide on www.markjoshi.com for more discussion.)


Master's Thesis unexpectedly going south but admitted into PhD program next fall

I don't know the details of your situation, but the conventional advice would probably be:

Pound out a thesis that's good enough for your advisor to let you graduate. It doesn't need to be outstanding or publishable, or include every idea you've considered. It just has to get you the masters.
Start your PhD program on time.
If the project still interests you, continue working on it in your spare time. Stay in contact with your masters advisor. When it's far enough along to publish, do so (perhaps with your masters advisor as a co-author).


Masters Degree vs Masters Certificate / Diploma in Canada

Master's Certificates and Diplomas are typically offered from programs that aren't accredited yet. This does not mean that the institution isnt accredited, just not that particular degree. They also typically take less time than a Master's Degree.


Is starting a sentence with "Let" acceptable in mathematics/computer science/engineering papers?

These are all acceptable. My personal preference would be to reserve "let" for statements that are (essentially) assignments, like the second one in the question. The other two establish notation conventions. I might say something like

We use lower case letters for scalar variables.

or

Lower case letters represent scalar variables.

and

We write R for the set of real numbers.


Strategies to avoid burn out due to systemic lack of time

I find myself on the brink of burnout. What are effective strategies to avoid burnout and optimize time management in academia, having as a premise that it is literally impossible to wholly fulfill all of one's commitments?

Find a therapist. Really. There is no shame in getting help when dealing with a difficult life situation. This won't reduce your workload, but a therapist should be able to give you custom tips for better managing it.
Learn to say no. Fundamentally, if your workload has been ever increasing, this is a good sign that you are bad at saying "no" to tasks. This is an extremely important skill to learn, and a therapist may be able to help you learn it if you can't do it on your own.
Start delegating. In addition to saying "no" to tasks, start delegating (parts of) the tasks that you still agree to carry out. Remember how you as a PhD student sometimes needed to help the senior people in your team with organisational varia, reviews, literature searches, etc.? You are now one of those senior people. Don't be shy to ask the students you help supervise to lend a hand with your tasks.
Accept that sometimes there is too little time to get everything done (or: accept that sometimes some things can't be done well in the time that is available). Many of us have this little perfectionist in us that requires us to (a) come through on everything we promised at some point, and (b) do everything in the best possible quality. In real life, there is usually just enough time to do some things well, and the rest either not at all or in mediocre quality. This is not your fault, and it is best to accept that sometimes you will give a presentation that's not very well prepared, or be unable to submit to this workshop even though you promised the chair a month ago.
Be aware of your priorities. Relatedly, be aware of what you personally really value and want to do right. For me, being badly prepared for teaching is a no-no. For you, it may be skipping a major paper or grant deadline. Note that I specifically said your priorities, not necessarily the priorities of your postdoc advisor or students. While in an ideal world you want to take their preferences and needs into account as well, if push comes to shove you can't consistently ignore your own priorities over the needs of others. Four years into your postdoc you should easily be senior and independent enough that you can push back if your mentor wants to force her/his own agenda onto you (if this is not the case, I suggest getting the heck out of there).


Should I apologize to my coauthors for being slow to finish a paper draft?

Delays on this sort of thing are extremely common.  So, unless there is some specific reason that this work is time sensitive, it's unlikely that anybody is going to be surprised or upset by this: don't worry too much about it.  Certainly, don't beat yourself up about it, especially when you had legitimate reasons for the delay.

That said, a brief apology is a good idea.  All you need is something like:

  Sorry for the delay with this; the last few months have been really hectic.

Don't make too much of it; just acknowledge the delay and move on.