What can I do if my English level is lower than the minimum requirements?

The higher up the requirements are imposed, the less flexibility there is for circumventing the policy.

The reason for having such policies may be related to satisfying needs for teaching assistants and for being able to handle the communication needed for taking coursework.

Your best recourse is probably to retake the test, rather than trying to get an exception that could cause problems later on if a new set of policies are put into place.


It is hard to give good advice on this without knowing the concrete dissertation and the expectations of your community. Hence, this is one of those famous questions where the right answer really is ask your advisor.

However, in the dark I am not sure why you would not just use Option 1 from your list - you had a (hopefully reasonable) hypothesis, you set up experiments and tested it, and found no evidence to support your hypothesis. Assuming that the hypothesis wasn't bad to begin with and the experiments were sound, why can't you just write it down like this?


Are you supposed to disclose all stimuli that your participants have been exposed to?

Psychology is not my field, but your concerns seem valid to me. As a reader of your work I'd want a fairly complete picture of the experiment that was done.

However, you don't need to discuss everything at the same level of detail. A synopsis of the parts you don't focus on is likely enough to satisfy your concerns without distracting readers from what may be more important to your purpose.

In other words, the overall description can be broad, but not deep. Then focus on what you want to say. Arguably, the fuller description could come in an appendix/annex to the paper. Or if a fuller description of the experiment has been published you could just cite that.

If I think that the "unexplained" parts are more important to the outcome then I, at least, have a basis for discussion, rather than having just been misled.

But, again, this is advice from an outsider.


What type of letter is Pierre Deligne talking about and why did he write a letter to other mathematicians?

I just did something like this last month...
Well, with modern technology available, I didn't write a letter; I wrote up some notes, scanned them in, and attached them to an e-mail.  Keep in mind, though, that Prof. Deligne started his career in the days before e-mail, and telephone calls (from rotary dial phones attached to landlines) were expensive (like a dollar a minute.)
I had an alternate approach to proving a theorem in a paper I had read and thought perhaps the approach could also generalize beyond their theorem.  I wrote up a sketch of the alternate proof (for which some details I have not actually proved) in 3 pages of notes.  I scanned them, and attached them to an email to the authors that read something like "Dear X and Y, I hope you are well.  We talked about this at Online Conference Z and I'm attaching some notes.  I'm happy to meet by Zoom and talk.  Best, -me"
I didn't write up a paper because it would take 10 pages and at least a couple weeks of work to give precise definitions of everything, and any paper would only be publishable in a fairly low-tier journal (since the result isn't new and the approach also isn't new, having been applied to other problems before), which at this point in my career doesn't count for anything.


What level of math does one usually require before being able to publish a paper of their own

This is something that varies with every individual. The best advice is to first get a broad mathematical education and then focus on some area of interest. But along the way to that broad education, seek insight into why things work as they do, not just the computational skill that you normally get in something like Calc 2.
Some people are able to publish as undergraduates, but it is fairly rare. However, an undergraduate math degree should get you to the point that you have actual insight into one or two areas (mine were analysis and topology) sufficient to dig deeply.
Research is normally very narrow, focusing on some tiny aspect of some small subfield if mathematics (or physics, or ...). But before you go narrow, first go broad, so that you have some sense of the possibilities. And also, some sense of the interconnections between things.
Working with a professor on some project of mutual interest will give you both a sense of what it is like to explore the unknown and also lets you take advantage of their insights. And letting them know now of your goals can help you attain them.
Solve a lot of problems. Get a lot of feedback. Look for the why, not just the how. Notice things. Keep notebooks. Ask questions.

This is, I know, more than you asked for, but you seem eager to learn and I appreciate that. Also note that whatever "research" I did as an undergraduate was, though attempted vigorously, laughably naive. Oh well. It came, eventually. And it was "hella fun".


What rules exist to get accommodation regarding coursework due to a depression?

There is a structure for dealing with this in the U.S.: a Section 504 Accommodation Plan.  If you get your health status established with the Office for Students with Disabilities (it might have a slightly different title in your school), you won't have to negotiate directly with an individual professor.  That office will do that for you.

Your school should have instructions posted online, and you can also email, phone or visit.  I will warn you that some of these offices are warm and fuzzy and supportive and some are not.  You might do well to start assembling some preliminary documentation before meeting with them.  If you could ask around in your university to find out what others' experience with that office has been, that could be helpful.

You will need medical documentation of your diagnosis, how it affects your ability to function academically, and recommendations for accommodations.  It is often helpful to brainstorm a list of accommodations you think could be helpful, and share it with the medical provider who is going to be your primary documenter.

In the long run, I think it will be helpful if you can build your identity as a student with a disability in a broader way than "student with major depression," and see yourself as part of a larger group of students with many different types of disabilities.  I love this article that documents the beginnings of 504: https://dredf.org/504-sit-in-20th-anniversary/short-history-of-the-504-sit-in/

I have to warn you that in some places it can take a while to get this set up.  Since you are almost done, it could be a frustrating process.  But if you have any interest in grad school, it would be worthwhile, in the long run.


I think two pages are fine unless otherwise specified. However, I would order its content so that more distinctive traits are more visable (at least on the first page). These would be publications, projects, awards and honors.


When to get a doctors note if I might have to miss an exam?

Check your course syllabus.  Often, policies for exam makeups are documented there.  It also might say here whether you need a doctor's note or not.
Contact your professor right away (by email or phone) to inform them that you are ill and may miss the exam.  As a professor, the further in advance I know about situations like this, the easier it is for me to make arrangements.  You could also ask at this time about whether you need a doctor's note (or confirm what you read in the syllabus), and/or explain the difficulties you would face in obtaining one.  The professor may be willing to make an exception.
Obviously, go to the doctor if you are in need of treatment.  Also go if the professor insists on having a note; this is probably not ideal if you don't otherwise need to see a doctor, but you really don't have much choice.
our i
Only you can make the decision as to whether you are "too sick" to take the midterm.  My feeling is that any of the following would be sufficient reasons to stay home:

you think you would significantly risk your health by attending
you have a contagious illness
your illness might disturb other students (coughing, running to restroom, etc)
you think your illness would significantly reduce your ability to do well on the exam (e.g. you are in pain, excessively fatigued, have distracting symptoms, etc)


Should I contact my advisor again about a meeting? If so, how?

If you have an "action item" that requires her okay then send an email (or other accepted communication). If you are just anxious and can proceed for now on your own then it might be better to show patience.

As comments to your question suggest, and even the question itself, the calendar may be inaccurate. Things might have come up. Perhaps she just trusts you to carry on while she is busy. While you are dealing with only one professor, she may be dealing with several students and other obligations.

But don't panic until it becomes necessary and don't be a pest. Half a week isn't a long time unless deadlines loom.

But don't get yourself blocked up for the lack of a meeting. There are plenty to things you can do speculatively to keep momentum.


Is it rude to ask a professor you do not know and in a different department to borrow equipment?

I don't think it is rude, exactly, but I also don't expect that many would be willing to accommodate you unless you can first establish some relationship with them that is mutually beneficial - exchange of ideas, for example.

But one researcher expressing a need to another isn't really rude, though perhaps a bit unusual and unexpected as you describe it.

But since you suggest you are in the same institution, it has a higher likelihood of success I would guess.


Are publications in IEEE and ACM journals and conference proceedings considered decent quality by prospective employers in academia?

Within many sub-disciplines of Computer Science, conference proceedings, rather than journals, are the main publishing venues for new research. In contrast to journals, which have an impact factor, there is no unified metric to quantify the quality of a conference proceeding. Although there are indeed a number of categorizations, I haven't seen them actively being used to decide which venue to submit to. I found that within these sub-disciplines of Computer Science, academics are very aware of which conferences and journals are competitive and what the impact is of publishing a paper there. These are indeed mostly ACM/IEEE, thus, giving them a certain status by name. Nevertheless, just because the conference is supported by ACM or IEEE, does not imply that it is a high quality conference.

However, when you apply for post-doc or faculty position, there might be people on the hiring committee that are not fully aware of this. To mitigate this issue and emphasize this difference to other fields, I have seen several resumes that explicitly explain how the publishing model in their respective subfield differs from the "classic" journal based system. You can achieve this with a simple note in your resume before listing your publications. An example:

  Note: Within the field of (subdiscipline of computer science), selective peer-reviewed conference proceedings are the main
  dissemination of novel research contributions. Conferences such as
  (conf x) and (conf y) are highly competitive publication venues with 2
  review rounds that include reviews from 3 external reviewers as well
  as at least 2 associate chairs. These conferences have an acceptance rate between 10 and 15 % and papers that are accepted and published are refereed as full length papers.


Common grade curving or scaling techniques

It's not perfect, but I often use a piecewise linear transformation.  Specifically, I fix some cutoffs (typically the cutoff between a B+ and an A-, between C+ and B-, between D+ and C-, and between F and D) and then scale all the A's linearly with their range, the B's linearly in their range, and so on.


Advice for teaching older "non-traditional" undergraduate students

In my experience, you will find four things happen to various degrees. One is, non-traditional students are less distracted by issues that we know overwhelm the minds of 18-22 year olds. This means, they can bring more focus to their studies. The second thing is, non-traditional students are less inclined to believe they are entitled to something easy from you with no responsibility from them. This means, they can bring a stronger sense of mutual respect to the class room. The third thing is, non-traditional students have some lag or lack of knowledge in pre-requisite information for the course. This means, you may have to spend time to help them remember the missing background information. Finally, non-traditional students are more involved in higher-level and higher-intensity demands in their lives. This means, they can have less time to study during your course as though that responsibility is supposed to be ingrained in their full-time career path for the coming semester.

You might plan in general how to balance these changes during your course presentation and curriculum development. Then, consider how, because you know these changes are coming, you will make specific changes in such things as the pace of your lecture presentations, the number of or time scales of your assignments, and the options you will offer for off-line tutoring.

Overall, teaching non-traditional students is a different experience that can end up being a far more rewarding one than teaching traditional students.

Best regards, and have fun!


What are common questions in an interview for a faculty position (W2/W3) in Germany and who is part of the panel?

(my experience is in Computer Science, but I assume the following to hold true at least for the sciences in general)

  Which questions are commonly asked in an interview for a faculty position (W2/W3 professor) in Germany (German "Berufungsverfahren")

Your milage my vary, but classics are the following:

Questions that target how your research will fit into the current research strategy. Who can you collaborate with? What strengths of the program will you foster, which holes will you fill? Your goal here is to convince the committee that you are both, related to existing professors enough that you won't be the odd (wo)man out, and different enough not to be redundant.
Questions that target your teaching, most importantly which courses you could take over, which new courses you would introduce, and how these would enrich the current specializations and programmes. It's possible that they already have a concrete (set of) courses that they need you to teach, and then they may outright ask you if you would do that, and if so how.
Questions that target your funding acquisition plans. Which grants would you apply for initially? How much funding do you expect to be able to acquire? Are there any funds that you would bring with you? What group size would you expect to be able to maintain?
Questions regarding your package. You won't need to say a concrete salary figure at this point, but the committee will likely ask how many research staff you will ask for, and whether you have any particularly expensive other needs (e.g., a compute cluster, other equipment). Note that W3 professorships in Germany tend to be large, asking for at least 3+ staff as package to start negotiations with should be seen as normal.
Questions regarding your intentions w.r.t. this position. Would you be moving fulltime? Can you see yourself living in this place for the foreseeable future? Why is this position even attractive to you? The main point here is to figure out whether you just want to negotiate with your home (or some other) institution, which is incredibly common in Germany ("Rufabwehrverfahren").

It's also possible that you get some "content" questions regarding your research, but I think it's rather rare. Most importantly, note that the interview is not an exam - typically nobody will assume that you don't know how to do your research, but they will want to know whether you and your research are the best fit for their needs. This includes doing a fair bit of background preparation to figure out what their needs actually are. In a way, during a "Berufungsverfahren" you are pitching your detailed area of research as much as your person.

  Who is usually in the panel (dean, student respresentative)

This varies, but both the dean and a student representative are at least likely members. Note that "being present" is not the same as "having impact on the decision". In my experience, the number of people who actually make the decision is usually 2 or 3.


Does applying for a patent first make it more difficult to publish (or vice versa)?

In the U.S., you may file a patent application up to one year after the invention is described in a publication, in public use, or on sale. So if you publish something on your invention and also wish to patent it, you only have one year from the date of publication to apply for the patent. Similar rules may apply in other countries; it's a good idea to consult a lawyer.

There is no conflict the other way around; you can publish after the patent application (or at the same time) without issues.


Asked to leave PhD program, is there any point in fighting to stay?

When doing your PhD you need the support of someone, so it is no use trying to finish your PhD if everybody in your department is against you. So if there is a conflict between your friend and his advisor that escalated to such an extent that the two cannot fix it themselves, than it is time to move up in the hierarchy. The graduate director can either try to mediate between your friend and his advisor, or try to find an another advisor.

If that fails, then that is a horrible situation for your friend, which in most (but not all) cases a professionally run department should be able to prevent. In that case there is pretty much no other option but to leave and try his luck at another department. However, beware that that department will in all likelihood be in the same field, and scientific fields are like small villages: they gossip a lot. So, your friend will most probably enter that new department with a "reputation". Also your friend should consider his own role in the conflict in order to prevent making the same mistakes again. Remember, he already has a reputation, so he probably won't be treated as leniently as a new PhD student.


Is it a good idea to put the logo of the university in my motivational letter?

No, you should not put the university logo in the letter. You are not representing your university in an official capacity in a statement of purpose, and therefore using the university's logo would be inappropriate, as you would be suggesting an official imprimatur for your work.


Group/lab guide for new students and post-docs: what should it contain?

You can find a lot of good examples on the web, written by professors with a lot more experience, but here is mine.  It includes guidelines and advice on:

How to approach group meetings and individual meetings with advisor (me)
Finding a thesis topic
Planning and recording research
Reading the literature
Writing papers
Publishing papers
Giving talks
Programming
Recommended software tools
General conduct


Publishing with Elsevier - Does the manuscript have the author info?

To expand on the comments: each journal sets his editorial policy, which is clearly stated on the journal's website and instructions to authors. For example, Journal of Accounting and Economics:

  This journal employs a single blind review, where the referee remains anonymous throughout the process (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-accounting-and-economics/policies/peer-review-policy-for-the-journal-of-accounting-and/)

and Computers and Education:

  This journal employs double blind reviewing, where both the referee and author remain anonymous throughout the process (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-and-education/policies/peer-review-policy-on-computers-education/)

If you want to submit to a journal with double-blind review, do not include authors' name (or any other incriminating information, for example in acknowledgments). If single blind, then include the author names in the manuscript.


Is it a bad idea to go from EE undergrad to CS(ML/AI) PhD?

I think yes, it is feasible. On a purely technical side, regulations vary across countries and universities. At my university they consider eligible all applicants with previous education in "computer science and engineering". The rest undergo "additional examination", which in practice means that they check whether their actual transcripts overlap enough with our CS curriculum to be considered equivalent.
Computer science is an umbrella term, so it is a really diverse area. Even if you narrow it down to "machine learning", it still doesn't help much to identify your stronger and weaker points. There is machine learning in natural language processing, in computer vision, in human behavior analysis, etc., with different requirements.
Since you mentioned computer vision, I think your math background is really handy. What many such candidates lack is coding skills and general experience in dealing with programming environments. Sometimes we have to glue together a bunch of "experimental" (buggy and poorly documented) libraries and make them work. When something goes wrong, people get startled with cryptic printouts and endless error messages, as they don't even know where to begin to untangle this mess. At least, this is what I feel sometimes as I have to take personal care of the tech issues...

Sorry no comments on the "best groups", but personally I think you should approach the question the other way round. Go to Google scholar and search for papers with keywords of your interest. Read the ones you like, see who cites them and which papers they cite. Just follow the links in both directions, gather enough papers to understand (a) who is cited more often and (b) what kind of research you personally like -- after all, your personal interest in a particular type of project should matter most. And this is how you approach people: by showing genuine interest in their projects and knowledge of their publications.


The first step when there is a discrepancy between the published work and attempts to reproduce the work is generally to email the authors. Let them know what is happening. Maybe there is a bug in the shared code or something about the initial conditions you are missing. Hopefully they will be able to help you resolve the issue. If not, you should probably publish both numbers and a statement that you could not reproduce their values.


What's a polite way of confirming if a position offered is official?

I was told by the PhD that if I'm to accept, she will have to seek permission from her PI / keep the PI in the loop - which makes me feel that it's probably official but I'm not sure.

The PhD student likely has no authority nor budget to hire you. They're trying to establish whether you'd take a position if formally offered. If you will, they'll go and get permission/money from their PI. Whether the PI will hire you depends on the PhD student's sway with the PI and on the PI's budget.

What's a polite way of asking for the necessary clarifications?

TL;DR: Say, I'm interested, how do we proceed?


Include websites in literature review section of paper?

I'm assuming you're just getting one or two facts from each of those sources. Just cite them briefly in the Introduction (or whatever part of the paper you introduce that information and definition). The reader will see that they are official government sources, a dictionary, etc., that you are citing for one fact, and so you do not need to spend time introducing the source in the text. The references to the websites should then go in the "References" section at the end so people can look them up.

If you were doing a literature review about how a word changed over time, then perhaps it would be appropriate to cite the dictionary entry there. That is, if there is a substantial chunk of content from that source, then it is an appropriate one to talk about in detail in the Literature Review section. Mainly, a Literature Review in a research article is there to set up: "Here's what other scholars have said about this topic," and you include some summary, critique, and synthesis. (Your assignment may have you spreading out the critique or synthesis into other sections.)


(UK, mathematics) Making the most of a teaching job as an aspiring researcher

First, I’ll describe what happens at my department (engineering, high ranking, UK). It might be useful to understand the mindset.

We were recently hiring for teaching only position at my school (teaching fellow). The idea behind it was to get someone to teach in a specific area. The job is open-ended, the same salary as other faculty (Lecturer/assist prof), and has excellent career progression (to full professor on a teaching track). We wanted someone that loves to do that, teaching. If we wanted someone to do both, then we would open a position for someone to do both.

As a panel, we tried to understand if the candidate really wanted to do research and was only using the position as a transition or as a way into the department. Then, we removed those candidates. Afterwards, there is a probation period of one year during which, if the person seems that is not interested in teaching (which was the job description), the school can decide to let them go.

The school only “allows” the teaching-only colleagues to research if it’s related to teaching. For instance, new teaching methods, methodologies, etc. With “allows”, I mean would shift timetable, include in workload, and pay for conferences. If the teaching staff wants to do anything not related to teaching, they need to do it at their own time and expense. PhD co-supervision is not possible.

To your questions

The more you stay in a teaching position, the more you’ll get trapped. Your peers in research or combined post will be encouraged and have more time to write grants and publish papers. Since these are the main characteristics looked for in research-track hiring and progression, you will gradually become unattractive for research-focused or combined positions.

Transitioning within the same department is indeed possible (but rare). We have a colleague that transitioned from a teaching to a combined position after three years. He is now transitioning back to a teaching post. He found that three years without publishing and without the skills that other research-track colleagues honed over the same three years (grant writing, networking, panels, etc.) it was impossible to attract funding (which is a requirement in our school to keep your position).

Edit based on OP comments

Our university offers two progression tracks. The research track has 80% research excellence, contribution to the field, and funding criteria and 20% teaching. The teaching track is the other way around.

The teaching-track research is on education in the area. One of the best journals for us as an example is IEEE Transactions on Education. Admittedly, most of the research is translational. That is, bringing modern educational concepts and ideas into the engineering teaching environment.

Other criteria involve participation to accreditation process, designing/updating teaching programs, achieving Fellow status at HEA, outreach activities at schools, etc.


Will rejecting more papers than I accept reflect negatively on me as a reviewer?

It is of course impossible to say if you are overly critical. But, some statistics might help. With prestigious journals the rejection rate might be 90% (very high in any case). I am Editor in Chief of a smaller journal and we have a steady 50% rejection rate. The extremely high rejection rates in some journals come from limited space, in my case we simply impose strict guidelines and the rejections come from reviewers assigned by associate editors. So the rate in our case is fairly certainly upheld by what the community sees as acceptable or not.

So if you end up finding you reject large numbers (at least around 50%) I would not say that it is out of the ordinary. I do not of course know what typical rejection rates are in the journals for which you do reviews, so the number may of course vary.

So getting to the question of how this affects you. I very much doubt that you get a negative effect by being a fair reviewer. If you do many reviewes over time and you are not considered fair, I am sure you would notice the numbers of appointments dropping. If you get re-invited by the same journals/editors, I think they appreciate your work and I would take that as a sign that you do fine.

Should you try to adapt to the journal? In general, no. You should apply your knowledge and understanding to provide a critical review of the submitted work. An editor should take your comments along with comments from one or more additional reviewers and provide a recommendation to the authors. You are not solely responsible in this process! If the journal is such that it publishes material with which you are familiar but where its audience is in a  different field, you may consider handling the paper differently, but obviously not ignoring errors and misconceptions.


What happens if too many student withdraw from a course

Courses are sometimes cancelled due to low enrollment. Usually this happens during the first week to allow the students to transfer to a different course. Since this is before the "drop" deadline, the course does not appear on the student transcript and no tuition is charged.


I don't think your two questions can be answered in a very general way, different universities obviously practice this differently. What I can say is that I don't think these self-assessments have much of an impact on the graduation timeline, more that they're used to identify any problems as early as possible (when they can be more easily fixed).

I'll instead comment on this almost-question:

  What I found interesting is that sometimes the assigned faculty meet the student before submitting the self evaluation form where he/she often tells the student to change some of the self evaluation responses.

There's at least two categories of things where this makes sense:

1) PhD students (especially at around half to two-thirds in) will be overly-critical of their own performance. It's very easy to look at others and think they're doing much better than you are. Without being sexist, in my experience women in particular give themselves extremely harsh (informal) self-assesments even when they are very talented. In this case staff would correct this overly self-negative outlook.

2) These assesments are not the proper avenue for everything. In particular, at my university it is particularly stressed in the guidelines for filling out the assesment that this is not the correct avenue to initially notify the university if you're having trouble/disagreements with your supervisor. There's probably more examples of this.


Course development: can I pay someone to make slides for the course?

Theoretically you can, but practically I doubt you will find someone qualified who is willing to do it for a reasonable price. Designing a course is hard work and pretty individualized. Look at how many different ways there are to teach the same course. Everyone does it differently and I hate teaching to someone else's syllabus and cannot image using someone else's unaltered slides.

As for acknowledging the author, you probably need to let your department know that you have outsourced this aspect of your job. You will need to make sure that the material is appropriately licensed so that you and the department can use it as needed.

As for telling students, I believe there is a fair amount of leeway regarding the reuse of material. Specifically, for many courses, you are not presenting "original ideas" so it is not plagiarism in my opinion. That said, when possible, redirecting students to the original source can be helpful.


Is it okay to submit article to Journal B despite contacting editors of Journals A & C?

I see no reason to delay. Editors are busy and sometimes take a while to respond, but that shouldn't block the author as long as you don't submit to multiple places simultaneously. Of course, if it has been less than a week or so, the editor might be a bit grumpy.

However, consider which journal would be the best fit for the paper. This will help you determine whether it is worth it to you to delay.

Note that any response from an editor wouldn't be a commitment to publish, but only encouragement to do so. You would still be free at that point in any case.


MS in Physics after Bachelors in Mechanical engineering

Changing fields from Engineering to Physics should not be a problem. I have several colleagues who have done this at various universities. Although, you would need to check with the specific universities you are interested in. If you are applying to universities in the United States you will likely need to take the GRE exam (some non-US universities will also consider GRE exam scores in the application process). As you are applying from India you may also need to take the TOEFL test.

Your grades may hold you back since most high-ranked universities require an average over 75% for graduate studies. These are the University of Toronto minimum entrance grade equivalents from Indian universities:

  Bachelor's Degree Equivalent: Completion of BOTH a Bachelor's
  (three-year) degree and a Master's OR A Bachelor's degree requiring
  four years of study (e.g. BPharm, MBBS, BDS, BTech, BEng, or BArch)

  Mid-B Equivalent: 1st Class or 1st Div.; 7.5/10 from Indian Institutes
  of Technology; 8.0/10 from other institutions

However, good exam scores, relevant research experience, and good reference letters may help make up for the difference. It is worth discussing with a potential supervisor at your intended university who may be willing to support your application, as this can often help.


If an editor has "recommended acceptance", is that sufficient for me to list my article as "accepted" / "to appear"?

I recommend asking your question directly to the editor.  You can ethically list the paper as accepted precisely if they say that you can, so asking should clear it up entirely.

Perhaps you are worried that asking the question will come off as "pushy" or that it could possibly jeopardize the acceptance of the paper.  But that's not the way the process works -- even if an editor was unprofessional enough to have their decision swayed by an inquiry (and while I have seen lots of things go wrong in the publication process, I have never seen that), this is an especially implausible scenario: after recommending acceptance, the editor would then have a lot of work to do to justify reversing their recommendation, and this reversal would likely make them look bad to the rest of the editorial board.  So there is  no harm in asking.

By the way, I was in the same situation once: the language that I got was cloudy enough so that I really couldn't tell whether the paper had been accepted yet.  I had a grant application due, and I wanted to list the paper as accepted, so I wrote back to ask if I could do so.  They told me I could.


What database catalogues citations in the humanities?

Here are a couple of databases that may be of help.
The Arts & Humanities Citation Index by Thomson Reuters has access to over 1700 journals according to the following form their website.

  Arts & Humanities Citation Index®, accessed via Web of Science™ Core
  Collection, provides researchers, administrators, faculty, and
  students with quick, powerful access to the bibliographic and citation
  information for journal articles in the arts & humanities that they
  need to find research data, analyze trends, journals, and researchers,
  and share their findings.

  Overcome information overload and focus on essential data from over
  1,700 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals.

Also as mentioned in a comment there is scopus According to this blog scopus as of late 2012 has over 1 million articles from the arts and humanities.

  As of November 2012, the total number of Arts & Humanities articles in
  the database is a little over 1 million, just over 2% of the total
  database. All document types that are within the Scopus coverage
  policy are included in the article counts. From 2007 to 2011 the
  number of articles has grown from 42 thousand to 76 thousand articles
  per year, which comes down to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of
  16.2%

Both of them have fairly advanced search forms that should be able to do something like what you are looking for.


Citing a short story within a collection within another collection

How formal your citation must be depends on your audience. Course paper? Thesis? Article for a literary journal?
That citation will allow your reader to find and verify what you have to say.
If what you're writing is scholarly, you might want to find the original publication date, and put (reprinted) in the citation. If it's really scholarly you might have to look at the original somehow.
By the way, the text is available at Project Gutenberg. Adding that url will help your readers even if it's not an official source:
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2814/2814-h/2814-h.htm


How to tell if a paper is behind a paywall?

To answer your particular question: When trying to read it from home, it tells me "To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right)." (costs: 30 $US).

You can easily check this by logging in from home, some public WiFi, or even with your mobile device (as long as it is not using WiFi in your university network to connect).


Scientifically meaningful sources of bibliometrics

Although just a start, we had a "journal club" over at the stats.se site on such bibliometrics, and had a chat over this particular article;

  Arnold, Douglas N. & Kristine K. Fowler. 2011. Nefarious Numbers.
  Notices of the AMS 58(3): 434-437. PDF link from publisher

  Abstract from initial ArXiv print:

  We investigate the journal impact factor, focusing on the applied
  mathematics category. We discuss impact factor manipulation and
  demonstrate that the impact factor gives an inaccurate view of journal
  quality, which is poorly correlated with expert opinion.

As far as scientific assessments the authors in the above article are pretty negative of such rankings, and give a few examples of editors having citation practices that intentionally inflate their journals rankings.

I'm sure more literature on the topic exists than this though (so I look forward to any other suggestions).

Unfortunately the transcript from the chat is currently not linked to in the applicable thread on meta stats. But I will update here if it becomes available.


Is it acceptable to have a research paper with no references?

Though I don't think there's any hard rule against having a paper with no reference, it seems pretty weird. Note that references are not only for citing other people's results (theorems, algorithms, etc.) which you have used, but more broadly to recognize other's scientific contribution. For example:

Has the problem never been discussed before? Who first realized it was a problem, stated it, formalized it?
You probably put the problem into the broader context of your field. And if you don't, you probably should. This sure requires citations on recent work on related problems, even if nothing was ever done on the one problem you're addressing.
For example, is your problem a specific case of another problem, or does it have generalization?
What are the consequences of your results/findings? They probably have some impact on other related problems, or practical consequences on real-life issues.
Didn't you or your co-authors ever do any prior work on this issue?

Finally, let's see it another way: you have solved a problem, that no one else has solved, worked on, or more generally discussed. And you did so using only elementary techniques, which have been known for so long that they do not require citation. Stated like that, it may sound like either you're a genius opening an entire field of mathematics, or you're working on a useless problem that nobody cares about. You probably don't want the reviewer to be thinking that way!


If there's no criticism to rebut, then waive the right to rebut.

If you've already received top marks with no criticisms, then you can only spoil things by saying something at this stage.

Just shut up. And enjoy the moment.


Do I report conference posters to researchfish?

My experience is with RCUK grant reporting - I've helped some of our PhD students with reporting but only informally so can't speak to exactly what's expected. That said, this is the advice I'd give them...

The general approach for grantholders is that simply attending/speaking at a conference is considered business as usual and not something you need to report unless you a) the paper was published (in which case, it's a "publication"), or b) you were specially invited to speak ("awards and recognition").

For students, the guidance (sec. 18) is a little less explicit - however, when they say you don't need to report conferences, they discuss it in the context of "instances where you communicated your research", which would seem to imply that they include giving a paper or a poster alongside conference attendance.

If in doubt, though, your institutional reporting contact should be able to advise - there's a list here. And congratulations for thinking about this now - most people won't give it any thought until early March!


Is it acceptable to postpone my admission in a PhD program for a year?

Postponing admission is likely to be approved, but it may depend on the finances of the program.  Usually this sort of decision would be made on a case-by-case basis.


Independent research post-PhD strategies

By an "independent researcher", do you mean that you are not associated to an institution, or that you have become independent from your advisor?

The first case, I am not certain what to say; it really seems that if you are not associated to an institution, you have to deal with a lot of stuff; prejudice from more traditional academics (if he is good enough to be doing research, why is he not associated to an institution? Hence, his research must be terrible), difficulty in accessing published materials (although this is becoming easier and easier, where many recently published papers are in public domain one way or another), etc.

In this case, I suggest that you have at least a few very close academic contacts who are well-respected. These people should be able to explain your situation (about why you are not following a more traditional route) and become your champion. They can also occasionally get you the research papers that you cannot access otherwise, and should you decide to return to school, they will vouch for you by writing you letters, etc. They can also invite you to give talks, participate in conferences, and in general make sure that you are not forgotten in academia.

I think staying in academia as an outsider is much harder if you cannot find people like this, and in all the cases that I have seen, these people sooner or later leave academia. So you need to plan ahead -- if you are still in school, cultivate these relationships. If you have already left, start by getting back in touch with your advisor and close friends who may still be in academia.

In the second case, I think everyone feels some nervousness (and hopefully some excitement) from becoming independent. I think the most crucial thing is to make sure that you have some low-hanging fruits as well as the ones that are just outside your reach as your research projects. Keep yourself busy, and you will find that you have become a pretty good researcher during your time as a graduate student!


What is the benefit of submitting to a special conference session instead of the regular track?

It depends on the conference. Sometimes, "Special Sessions" are organized by an individual to "fill the program" and the organizer will try to find people willing to submit to this session. In those cases, you might even be asked to submit your work for the session and review might not be overly tough.

In other cases, it might happen that the special session is overcrowded - in such cases you might have a hard time.

Nonetheless, a good paper chair will move your paper to the session which is most appropriate - so it might happen that you submit to the special session and end up in a common track, or vice versa.

One good thing about special sessions is, that they draw the audience interested in the field, and they are a good opportunity for networking and exchanging ideas. Therefore, I would recommend selecting the special session.


What are your criteria for evaluating potential PhD students?

I take a two-phase approach (US, computer science Ph.D program). First, I defer the initial judgement to our admissions committee (unless I have identified a specific prospective student I am trying to recruit).
I then look through the admitted students for potential candidates, and focus on research record, statement, and LORs. I'm looking for evidence of (potential for) critical thought and reflection, not just buzzwords.
Once I've identified a candidate or two, I arrange for an interview.  A few days in advance of the interview, I send them a recent paper either by my group or a group working on related topics to read.  I try to pick one with a low barrier to entry for understanding (feasible in my research area), and then in the interview ask them for (1) a summary of the paper's goals and (2) a question or two it raises for them. At this stage, I am not looking for perfect answers or good research questions, but the first steps of the ability to read something and think about it. I also ask some other things in the interview, such as why they want to do a Ph.D (even if this is in their statement - I want to hear it, and ask questions).
I'm still pretty junior, so I haven't had a lot of time to refine this yet. But so far it seems to be ok, and it lets me see whether we can start to talk about research, and can also surface fundamental incompatibilities in goals or research philosophy (although some of those come up in the LOR too).


Replying to a reviewer - should use (Anonymous) if citing paper by co-author?

Put yourself in the shoes of the reviewer, They may want to check that paper, having to search for it just by title (and finding out the author's name as a byproduct) just gives them a hard time. Or just say that the only work on the subject you are aware of is by the work group of the current authors.

Yes, "blind" review is often less than totally blind. It can't be, reviewers do work in the same (or nearby) area, and so know the say hundred or so researchers working on that topic, at least superficially.


Manuscript status changed from Review in progress to Ready for review

Just a guess, but a reviewer may have backed out so they are back to square 1. Probably no reflection on the paper. It may also been that the editor wasn't satisfied with the review he/she got so started over. Reviewers get busy just like authors.

Another possibility is that the editor got back inconsistent reviews.

Be advised that dealing with publishers can be very frustrating. Not the finest aspect of the academic life.


I just want to clarify that SciTechnol's Crossref membership was not terminated due to their failure to pay their subscription fees.  It was terminated because SciTechnol is a subsidiary of OMICS, and Crossref terminated all OMICS members after the FTC ruling against them.


What does it mean when APS editors ask us to "list first page" for some refferences?

I believe they mean that the complete citation in the back of the paper should include the page number of the reference in the journal/book where it was published.

For instance, in APA style:

Einstein, A. (1918). Prinzipielles zur allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie. Annalen der Physik, 360(4), 241-244.

Here 241-244 are the page numbers of the journal where the paper was published, and 241 is the first page.


Personal advantages of being a referee once you quit science?

To me, refereeing papers in subject X is a non-negligible part of being a professional academic in subject X.  So the premise that you want to referee a physics paper having "quit science" seems moderately self-contradictory: using your expert level qualifications to evaluate a scientific work is being a scientist, isn't it?  I'm almost sure it is. :)

So I guess you haven't "quit science" completely, or -- and this may come to the same thing -- the physics community is not fully aware of this fact.  One thing I might do if I were you is to make sure that the editor who asked you to review the paper knows that you are no longer employed as a physicist.  If I were an editor, that would be useful information, and unless I knew you rather well and knew that you retained a special expertise in this particular area, I would probably select someone else.

I think it's clear that you no longer have any kind of ethical obligation or professional expectation of reviewing papers.  I also suspect that once the community understands that you really are doing something else now your referee requests will come rarely or cease altogether.  So this is probably a decision that you need to make more for any particular paper than as a general life decision.  I would say: if you feel just as qualified to referee the paper as before and if you want to referee the paper, then do it.  For instance, if you see something valuable in the paper that you think that some other qualified person might miss, then it might be a nice parting gift "to science" to speak out for the worth of this research.  On the other hand, if it's just business as usual (or worse, motivated by "the need to continuously publish"): well, you don't have to clean the bathrooms in the apartment that you're not renting anymore, do you?

If you have thoughts of breaking back into science later on, then I think you need to think seriously about how to keep your connections and your intellectual life, um, alive.  There are many aspects to this, and making sure that you continue to referee papers is not, so far as I can see, especially close to the top of the list.  If I'm looking at the CV of someone who left academia for a while and is trying to come back (and it does happen), I will look to the work they have done recently and their plans for work in the near future.  I don't really care whether they've refereed some papers in the meantime.


My concern is that smarter students will overrun me in the top university

Well, the good news is that the smarter students will be concerned about you overrunning them.  It's called impostor syndrome, and virtually everyone at a top institution has it.  (And I don't just mean the students...)

Also: being around people who are (much) smarter than you is a good thing, because it means you will learn more.  (That's why you're hanging around a university, right?)  The other good news is that in grad school, you will no longer be competing against your peers.  The bad news is that you will now be competing against the entire academic community in your chosen area of study.  So, it's probably good to have some other smart students around to talk to.  Right?

My experience as a student at a Extremely Well-Ranked School is that other students are very supportive, and empathetic to the experience of getting through a tough program.  In short: don't worry.  It will be ok.

  should I choose the university that fits me better or the university which is more selective

Isn't this a tautology?  The university that fits you better will fit you better.

A less sarcastic reply is: there is nothing that matters more in grad school (or in life in general...) than your relationships with the people immediately around you, namely, your advisor and the other members of your research group / lab.  Even brilliant students who do not have a good working environment or a supportive advisor will flounder—I have seen it time and time and time again.  In contrast, students who are not exceptionally brilliant but have a good relationship with their advisor / group tend to do well, at least well enough to move on to a satisfying career after grad school.  Prestige, fame, money, and beauty are all higher-order terms.  Pick the place where you will be happy.


Referencing someone else's Appendix with news articles URLs, or putting the links in my own appendix?

What if the reference work is unavailable to your future readers? You should always cite the primary source if you have it.


How much will a poor first semester affect my grad school chances?

If a student did poorly in their first semester of college, but did well afterwards, admissions committees will conclude that the student learned from what ever problems they had the first semester, and will be unlikely to perform poorly again.  However, if they can choose a student with a perfect record, they will.  On the whole, first semester grades are of little importance except at the most selective institutions.

If you explain in your application what went wrong, why it will never happen again, and how it made you a better applicant, it may strengthen your application.

(us perspective)


Finding google scholar page of a journal

The basic principle is that Google Scholar pages are for authors; it is not for journals. This is not always the case that a journal will create a Google Scholar page. If it does, it is posing itself as an author (as commented by @Anonymous Physicist). So, the example that you have given is very unusual.
However, if you are interested in articles from a specific journal, you could use the advanced search option in Google Scholar and enter the journal name in "Return articles published in" textbox (in my example: I am interested in articles published in the Machine Learning Journal).


How to identify the publications that cite two specific papers?

My procedure was simple but worked for me. It is similar but different to that suggested by tripartio.

Look up article A in Google Scholar.
Click the link for articles that cite that article A.
Check "Search within citing articles"
Type the details of article B in the search bar (e.g. authors or title)
Explore the results

This is not as systematic as would be ideal, but should help to give a first-cut idea.


What's the right time to transition from postdoc to PI?

If you do get a job offer, then yes, I think you’d be slightly crazy not to take it - more precisely, to not take it based on the concerns in your question would be a somewhat irrational decision. However, one thing you could do in that situation is negotiate a late start date that would give you time to continue your postdoc for X more years (assuming that is an option that’s available to you). I have seen this done and think this has a reasonable chance of success with X=1. For higher values of X I have never heard of anyone doing it, so I suspect the chances are not high, nor do I think it’s particularly advisable, but if it’s important to you you can still look into whether that’s a possibility.

In general, while you are somewhat correct in thinking that when you start a tenure-track position you become less “free” than a postdoc, and have more responsibilities and duties and therefore a bit less free time than a postdoc to explore and learn new areas, I think that’s beside the point. All the things you can do as a postdoc, you still can do, and in fact are still expected to do, as a PI. You also start acquiring important new skills and abilities that enable you to take your research and career to the next step. If you don’t feel ready for it, that’s probably because a lot of people don’t feel ready for it, so that’s completely normal. But regardless, the best time to do it is whenever people judge you are good enough to offer you a job that appeals to you. Good luck!


Do I have to write GRE to apply to physics PhD programs in the US?

Every university in the US has its own policies. There is no national educational system in the US.

If you want to apply to a place for which it is mandatory then it is mandatory. Otherwise not. However, for those places for which it is optional it might be a way to bolster your application, so consider that, at least.

Every graduate school is looking at your application materials for evidence of success. If you can show that and also meet the rules then you have a chance to be admitted. But the rules aren't normally optional.


Can I publish a paper with a group that is different than the one I start with?

There would be no reason why it would be considered plagiarism—you've done nothing wrong. Getting another group somewhere else to help you get this work published would also not be considered unethical, so long as they actually make meaningful contributions to the paper.

However, if you've done the work all by yourself, why not consider publishing the paper by yourself? Many disciplines have undergraduate journals that would allow you to publish papers without being "sponsored" by a research group.


How does one choose the panel to present at a conference?

I think each choice has its pros and cons. But having said that, depending on how long your conference is, it's possible you will get the most attention, energy, and enthusiasm if you present on the first day of the conference. From my experience, often people leave early (esp. for long conferences, like those that last a week). On the other hand, it's also possible that people arrive late and stay for the rest of the conference. But from my experience it's usually the former. So I think you may be better off presenting on the first day.

In terms of scouting for post doc positions, you can approach the professors/researchers you are interested at other times during the conference, esp. if they are also giving presentations. In that case, attend their presentations, raise your hand and ask good questions, and/or approach them after the session.


How to handle supervisor not giving appropriate credit

I wouldn't particularly expect the thesis to be mentioned in a presentation, and I certainly wouldn't find its omission "alarming".    In academic research, a thesis, especially an undergraduate thesis, is a sort of "second class citizen" and is usually considered a much less important type of writing than a peer-reviewed publication.  (This is why you normally try to "publish your thesis" by writing papers with the same content as your thesis.)  Natalie did the work that's contained in the paper, and she's getting credit by being an author of that paper (ignoring issues about author ordering); whether the work was part of a thesis isn't seen as especially relevant.

Now, if the thesis contains additional information that is directly relevant to the paper, then the paper certainly ought to cite the thesis, but one should keep in mind that people may take it less seriously because it hasn't been peer reviewed.  However, if the thesis only contains basically the same content as the paper (or a subset), then in my experience, the usual practice would be to not mention the thesis.

Natalie is certainly free to mention, in her part of the talk, that the work being presented was part of her thesis, but this isn't really relevant information to the audience.  If there are places where the thesis contains discussion of relevant topics that are not in the paper, it could make sense to mention it ("see my thesis for further details").  But it's not inherently necessary.

Added: You say Natalie is worried that Betty will be angry if Natalie mentions the thesis in the talk.  I don't see why she would be angry, but if Natalie is worried, she can discuss it with Betty beforehand.  It sounds like she's observing that "Betty didn't plan to mention the thesis" and inferring that "Betty strongly objects to having the thesis mentioned at all", but I don't think that inference is justified.  I think it more likely that Betty simply didn't plan to mention the thesis just because she didn't think it was important or relevant (for the reasons I stated above).  But if Natalie does think that it would be relevant to mention the thesis, and if she can articulate her reasons (beyond "self-promotion"), then I wouldn't think Betty would object to having it mentioned.  At the very least, I wouldn't think she would object to discussing the possibility of mentioning it.


When to assume the submitted paper has been withdrawn formally (Springer)?

Your question does not contain information necessary to give you the best advice.

One possible interpretation is that you submitted the paper in Sept '16, waited a month and then started sending emails at the rate of about two a month asking about the process of its evaluation. Then not getting an answer, you got impatient and decided just before the winter holidays to withdraw your paper and try for a quicker response elsewhere. Whether or not that is a fair interpretation, I will try to make some comments about the submission and review process that you may find helpful.

First, from an author's point of view, the editorial process of reviewing a paper works at a regrettably slow pace. Often the paper is assigned to an associate editor for a preliminary review, and then sent to several reviewers for their opinion. Typically, associate editors and referees are donating their time and are juggling
several projects at once. Time delays vary widely by field, by individual journal, and by submissions to any one journal,
but several months is certainly not an unusual delay.

Second, withdrawing a paper after submission is unusual and should not be
done without compelling reasons, such as discovery of fatal errors in the
paper. As mentioned in @Kimball's link, withdrawal means wasted time by
editors and reviewers. It should be done rarely, for compelling reasons, and with abject apologies. Withdrawal because you think the review process
is too slow might be OK after very many months without any communication or signs of progress,
but not after the relatively short time you describe.

If this is mainly on target, I suggest you stop emailing the publication manager and wait for several months before submitting your paper elsewhere. Meanwhile,
spend your energy working on your next paper.

A couple of personal anecdotes may be helpful to understand the time scale. (a)
I have served several times on the publications board of a large professional society that publishes several well-known journals in my field.
Trying to speed the review process was always a major topic of discussion.
We used a high 'clearance rate' by six months as a sign of progress.
(b) Recently, by request, I submitted an article for an encyclopedia organized
by a major scientific publisher. I received periodic reminders from the
publisher's staff and the editor of the due date, which I barely met. Then I
heard nothing for four months until referees reports came in, along with
requests to make a few changes and additions within a week. None of this surprised me
because this was my third invited article for this publisher, and the first two had proceeded on a similar time scale.


Handling Disruptive Student on the Autism Spectrum

"they're not done with ill intent"

Although disruptive behaviours by people with autism/autistic people are not done with ill intent, they do usually respond well to clear boundaries and feedback. A useful concept to consider here is Theory of Mind (ToM), something that is almost always impaired in this group.

  Individuals with autism are impaired in ToM; the ability to understand mental states such as thoughts, intentions and beliefs that influence human behavior. ToM is about the mind and how it is needed for all human interactions, such as understanding, explaining, predicting, and manipulating the behavior of others (Adibsereshki et al., 2015)

As the result, firm communication about the impact on others is worthwhile, "I am not sure whether you are aware that I (or X) was speaking, I would like to finish my point please". You should offer explicit, clear boundaries around disruptive behaviours, so consider emailing the appropriate policies and refer to the code of conduct and describe clear behaviours that will result in an escalation process. Avoid irony and sarcasm as concrete and literal thinking is common; ironic/sarcastic negativity may be misinterpreted causing damage to the relationship. Consider asking whether he would like to contact anyone else when you email, which may be a good way to get his parents involved if they are preventing support.

Having said that, praising seems to be effective with people with autism. Praising has been shown to decrease disruptive behaviour in a study of 73 self-contained autism support classrooms (Piotrowski et al). Try to squeeze in as much positive reinforcement on non-disruptive behavior as you can, without being too awkward. Piotroski's study (unpublished) found the minimal increase from 1.3 to 1.7 praises (on average) produced a significant change in disruptive behaviour (p<0.01).

Gelbar, Smith & Reichow (2014) did a systematic review of college support for students with autism. They found 20 articles that had first-hand description of services or experiences of the individuals. "Non-academic" interventions were found in 45%, 9 out of 20 studies examined -

Peer mentorship programs (5 of 9, 56 %)
Assigned  counselors,  aides,  or  liaisons  (5  of  9,  56 %)
Parental involvement (3 of 9, 33 %)
Single instances using  Social  Stories, disability teams, support groups, video modeling and cognitive behavioral interventions were also described.

A study from Belgium which examined over 23 student by Van Hees, Moyson & Roeyers (2015) recommended "more extensive and effective coaching of students with ASD". That the usual "academic" support structures are not sufficient for ASD students, so if coaching is available at your institution, it may be worth making sure that your student and any decision-makers are aware of that useful option.

References:

Adibsereshki, N., Nesayan, A., Asadi Gandomani, R., & Karimlou, M. (2015). The Effectiveness of Theory of Mind Training On the Social Skills of Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. Iranian Journal of Child Neurology, 9(3), 40–49.

Gelbar, N. W., Smith, I., & Reichow, B. (2014). Systematic Review of Articles Describing Experience and Supports of Individuals with Autism Enrolled in College and University Programs. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(10), 2593–2601.

Piotrowski, Z., Erhart, A., Cidav, Z., Reisinger, E., Locke, J., Downey, M., & Mandell, D. S. (n.d.). The Effects of Increasing Teachers’ Praise-to-Behavior Correction Ratios on Disruptive Behaviors Among Students with Autism. Conference poster.

Van Hees, V., Moyson, T., & Roeyers, H. (2015). Higher Education Experiences of Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Challenges, Benefits and Support Needs. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(6), 1673–1688.


At least in my field, NIST special publications and technical notes are cited as handbooks or reports. In particular, I'd cite that as follows:

  A. Rukhin et al., "A Statistical Test Suite for Random and
  Pseudorandom Number Generators for Cryptographic Applications", NIST
  Special Publication 800-22, US Department of Commerce, National
  Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, April 2010.


Is it possible to apply to a PhD program, then transfer a year later to a higher-ranked program?

It might be possible, but I would not recommend it unless there are very special circumstances. For example, if your advisor is moving institutions, it might be appropriate to follow them if you have their backing.

The higher ranking program is going to wonder why you were unable to complete your studies at the original institution, and will question your ability to play well with others. They will have many, many applicants that are as qualified or more qualified than you that lack the uncertainties you will bring ("will they stay?" "why did they leave?" "are they being totally honest?"). Further, there is almost nothing you will be able to accomplish in your first year of graduate school that will distinguish you to the point that a school that originally rejected you will suddenly want to drop everything to have you.

Two more pieces of advice: first, the ranking of the school you do your graduate work at matters less than your choice of advisor and ability to thrive in the lab you join.

Second, if you feel like you need more experience or to improve your resume to get into the school you want, you will be much better off getting a research job for a year that is not part of a graduate program - this is very common, and will not be looked upon as strange by an admissions committee. Changing universities after a year will.


Accepting European math postdoc offers and leaving after a year

Going for one year would fulfill your obligations as I understand them, but I can't guarantee the PI will see things the same way.  You should discuss it as soon as possible, to settle the issue and so the PI can at least make realistic plans.  (I'd be a little offended if I discovered that someone visiting to work with me had dramatically changed their plans without telling me until much later, even if I thought the change was otherwise reasonable.)

There are several plausible outcomes:

The PI might insist that you have made a commitment to stay for more than a year.  I don't think this is reasonable or likely, but it's better to find out now than later, so you can figure out what to do about it.
The PI might be fine with one year.  Then you won't have to worry about this issue any further.
The PI might accept one year but seem unhappy about it.  In that case, you could explain that you would really like to come for a year if possible, but you would be willing to withdraw if the PI would prefer to hire someone else for the full three years.


Will taking no courses from physical sciences as an undergrad affect my chances of going to grad school for mathematics in the US?

If you're applying to a pure math program, then it's unlikely that graduate admissions boards will be expecting courses in a particular outside discipline. If you're doing applied math, however, it would be much more logical to expect to see some coursework in an outside discipline.

However, economics may be suitable as an "outside" discipline if you're taking advanced coursework with a mathematical bent to it.

But overall, demonstrating that you are a strong candidate will make a much bigger impact than the specific training you have. Research experience, a strong statement of purpose, and great letters of recommendation will increase your chances of admission much more than if your "off-subject" courses are in economics or physics.


In my observation, there are some advantages and disadvantages in academia for faculty who come from an industrial background and have research interests relating to industry.  The main benefit I have seen is that this often gives useful applied research ideas, and it also often gives scope for some research projects that are of benefit to industry, and therefore gives the opportunity to secure industry funding for research.  Attracting "external funding" is one of the most sought after abilities for academics, and if you are able to develop a research project that attracts industry funding then your university will love you and you have a high chance of academic promotion.  Moreover, if you can secure industry funding for a project, this may make it easier to secure supplementary funding from traditional grant-funding bodies, since they don't have to fund the whole project.
The difficulty you will encounter, highlighted in the comments to your answer, is that there will be a need to negotiate ownership and IP issues in a way that satisfies all funding bodies and the university.  Companies and industry bodies will sometimes fund "general" research that they perceive to be of benefit to them, but they may want the research to lead to some new development or product where they can claim IP ownership.  Contrarily, public universities and public grant-funding bodies will want research projects that give some "public benefit" and not just a private benefit to a company or industry body claiming IP rights.  Consequently, if you want to create a successful research project that spans both these institutions, you will need to negotiate an appropriate compromise that satisfies all parties.  Usually this will entail a guarantee by the industry funders that you can publish some or all of your research in academic journals, but possibly with some extra private knowledge that they may lay claim to (e.g., ownership of a particular dataset, etc.).  I have not had experience with this, but I have seen some successful academics who manage to produce research projects that span industry.  Regardless of whether you can achieve this, I would say that it is often very valuable to have some industry experience coming in to academia.  At worst, it will give you some useful research ideas that have arisen from your industrial practice, and networking connections with industry figures to come up with new research ideas and methods.
In terms of pursuing a "hybrid" career, this may also be possible.  Universities usually allow (or even encourage) their academics to pursue some "service to the profession" that may consist of outside consulting work, or engagement with commercial/industrial projects.  As a rule of thumb, most universities allow an academic to spend up to 20% of their time on this, subject to faculty approval.  (But it varies, so check the rules at the particular university you are thinking of applying to.)  It might also be possible to supplement this with your recreational leave if you don't mind using this for outside work.  To have a successful "hybrid" career, you will have to adapt to the imperatives of university environment, in particular the necessity to "publish or perish".  Nevertheless, having an industrial background can sometimes help with this, insofar as it assists in creating useful research ideas.


Is it appropriate to contact a journal about grammatically erroneous editing?

I can't give you a yes / no answer, but I can say what's likely to happen if you choose to complain.

If you choose to complain to the publisher: chances are they'll ask for some examples of poor copyediting and form their own opinion. If they agree with you, they might change the copyeditor (if it's outsourced) or provide him or her with the negative review and pointers (if it's an in-house employee). If they don't agree with you then probably nothing will happen other than giving you a vague "we are aware of the issue" response.

If you choose to complain to a member of the editorial board then:

It's possible the editor will say "this is none of my business, approach the publisher", or forward to the publisher "I received this complaint, what do you think" (in which case, see the second paragraph).
It's also possible (but in my opinion less likely) that the editor will take things seriously, in which case he or she will contact the publisher. Again, see second paragraph, except this time the publisher is also dealing with an unhappy editorial board member and so would be more inclined to make changes.

Finally if you choose to just make your corrections then your corrections get implemented and everyone just moves on to the next paper.

Having said all that, I gotta say, I don't see any difference between "This can be proved via the method of Gauss, see [1]" and "This can be proved via the method of Gauss; see [1]". Both simply say that the reader can find the proof in reference 1. It looks to me like an unnecessary correction, but it isn't per se wrong. I checked with another editor and he found both OK too. If you can confidently say that one of them is wrong, you have a level of English mastery that most other native speakers aren't even aware of.


Going for an Erasmus, an EU student exchange progamme, may be a plus, not only "the obvious cultural advantages" (like learning a language better than in the lab / during holidays) if you watch out for similarities and differences in your field, comparing your home and your hosting institution.  Hopefully you will recognize both the odds and the benefits of different teaching / learning cultures and mint benefit for you.  Use it as a chance to learn differently, including different topics than at home.

If possible, look for integrated programmes (like the ones by the French-German University, for example), where two institutions are partners who mutally agreed on the curricula. Otherwise upon your return, if there is no recognized equivalent of what you did at your host institution at your home institution, you may have to attend lectures and lab classes a twice and hence, delay completion of your studies.

Going for an Erasmus is a potential obstacle, be prepared some won't understand you this well anymore, as your horizon of experiences may diverge from theirs.  At your host institution, at least at the beginning, you will be a foreigner; at your home institution you may be earmarked as "thinking different" or "s/he once left the boat".  You may somewhat "tainted" like a foreigner, or become a pacemaker returning with new ideas.

Is it better for getting a job?  Again, it depends on the where you want to go, if the potential employer recognizes, appreciates and supports the benefits of someone who left the nutshell.   Some do their studies including a PhD and beyond, promptly find a job, never even thinking about getting into an Erasmus; all staying in the same city.  Some face the difficulties of "you no longer think/act as we expected as a true/pure (insert your nationality) physician / biologist / .... would do."


How to prepare for STEM graduate program while in industry?

If you haven't, reach out to your adviser and/or other professors at your undergraduate university for two questions. Can they give you any insights into why your application was unsuccessful? Do they have any suggestions? The second question could be expanded into--do they feel you have any particular weaknesses or strengths? What universities do they think would be a good fit for you?

Possibly taking programming/computer science classes might be useful. If there's a university close by, see if you can take a grad-level or senior-level ME course as a non-matriculating student. If you plan to apply there, make sure that it won't adversely affect your curriculum if you end up going there.


In general in academic writing, the final choice of style is up to the publisher (for books, articles etc), employer (for reports or promotional materials), or assessor (for coursework and tests). As such, most academic publishing houses and large universities  produce some kind of stylesheet (if not many) for their authors and staff, and essay based university courses may even produce something specific for students.

In general, these all cross-fertilise with each other, so many general themes towards good writing repeat across them. Frequently, British guides will reference American ones, due to being more readily available, while making changes to keep in line with English reference works such as the OED and Fowler. As such, if you are not writing for assessment, then following the MLA guidelines with suitable modification (e.g. using standard British spellings if you are more comfortable with them) is eminently sensible, and will certainly get you into good habits.


Translating Portuguese text to English that presents a quotation in English

Quote it as you would quote any other part of speech, whatever the language, according to the style required by the publisher: usually quotations are indented and, sometimes, in italics, but check the specific style guide.

Then, you can add a note specifying that the text was originally in English, if you think that this piece of information is important for the reader or in the context.

The Chicago manual of style [1, §13.71] recommends:

  Typographic style of foreign quotations. Quotations in a foreign language that are incorporated into an English text are normally treated like quotations in English, set in roman type and run in or set off as block quotations according to their length. [...]

So, at least one style guide recommends to not change the quotation style, whatever the original language. As I suggested above, I'd simply add a note stating that the original text was in English.

But given that that translation is part of your evaluation of a Translation course you're taking, if you are still in doubt, ask the instructor.

[1] The Chicago manual of style, 16th edition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2010.


Is copyediting good for an academic career?

The only benefit you'll get as a copyeditor is clear: money (assuming he offered to pay you).

The downsides are numerous: it takes a lot of time, it will not be considered a plus to your CV (it's a technical job, not a scientific one)… none of the benefits from being a journal editor apply to a copyeditor.

Also, I don't know exactly what you did when you say “I have recently been involved in managing a special issue”, but if you were guest editor, offering you a copyeditor job is clearly not showing appreciation for your job as a scientist.


Humanities - taking a year off between PhD completion and academic job

I'm in the humanistic social sciences. If you were my doctoral student, I would suggest that you delay depositing your dissertation. This is even though there is considerable pressure from my institution to hurry students out (part of the NRC university rankings is time-to-completion so the provost puts pressure on faculty in this regard).

If you can afford the continuous registration fee and the university does not put onerous rules to make life difficult, then there are many more pros to cons.

Pros:

You can work on your publications as if you are a post-doc.
Applying for jobs is a full-time job
You still get to use your university letterhead
If you don't get any jobs this year it isn't as apparent that you're "stale" next year

Cons:

Your advisor may be under pressure not to allow this.  It could impact her/his ability to recruit new doctoral students until the old ones graduate.
Your university may not allow this
Your university may charge continuous registration fees

Notes:

Your advisor will have to write in his/her letters that your dissertation is essentially finished. Everyone is familiar with this strategy so it's not a red flag.


Measuring the Effect of Public Relations on Scientific Journals Impact Factor?

First, a proxy for scientific communication may be seen in Altmetrics.
Second, Impact Factors are indicators based on citations.
Therefore, you could take a look at the numerous studies that have investigated correlations between Altmetrics and citations.
(By the way: It seems that one cannot find research on the direct correlations between Altmetrics and Impact Factors so easily; the reason behind that may be that Altmetric.com does not allow researchers to analyse Altmetrics on a journal-level, as far as I am aware.)


Can letters of recommendation be sent after application deadline in Politecnico di Milano?

You should double-check the application instructions and if nothing is there, then call the admissions officer in the school. My guess is that there is not a problem, but it is better to be safe.

Often, this is not an issue. Referees are contacted via email by the university and they submit their applications themselves electronically, either by following a link or by email. The requirement for the application is usually limited to name the referees, not submit the references themselves. These days, it is uncommon for "sealed, stamped and signed" references in paper to be submitted, and including open references in applications is also not usual (although I have done so personally). I know it happens, though, but all in all reference submissions are often not bound by the same deadlines as the applications.


Diamond open access is like gold, in that the article is immediately open access in the journal, and nobody has to pay to read it.  However, in gold open access, the author (or their institution or funding agency) normally has to pay a publication fee to get the article published.  In diamond open access, they don't have to pay, so the process is completely free of charges to both authors and readers.

See http://www.jasonmkelly.com/2013/01/27/green-gold-and-diamond-a-short-primer-on-open-access/


What to do if I'm afraid that my idea will get stolen during review process?

Assuming the journals you publish in allow it, you can submit your work to a preprint archive such as ArXiv.org. You can also put it up on a personal website.

Even if someone tries to scoop you, if you work is ever published, the date it was submitted for review should appear in the final article, giving your work precedence on any other. As for your concerns about reviewers stealing your work, there is not much else you can do besides the above. The peer review system is based on good faith, and hopefully you end up with ethical reviewers.


What should a reply to a peer review look like?

Generally, the best way to respond is with a detailed rundown, discussing every point that the referee raised in turn.  (This may be unnecessary if there are only a handful of minor changes asked for, but it doesn't hurt even then.)

What I generally do is to start with a two or three sentence introduction, stating that I have made all the changes that the referee suggests.  If there were changes that I was unwilling to make, I just say that I have made most of the changes but that I feel that one or more of the referee's requests were not appropriate.

Then I begin a point-by-point analysis of what the referee said and how I have responded.  Usually, I address the points in the same order as the referee raised them in their report, but not always.  (Sometimes there may be just one major revision that was requested, and I want to discuss that first, before the minor points, even though the referee did not order things the same way.)  It's often a good idea to quote directly what the referee said in the report and then follow up with an explanation of the changes that have been made.

Sometimes, just stating that the change has been made is sufficient.  This is typically all that's needed for linguistic problems.  If the editor and referee may have trouble finding a change, you can point out where it is.  If the changes are more substantive, it's a good idea to give a summary of what the changes were.  These don't need to be long, but the should point out the main significance of the changes.

If there were changes that you were unwilling to make, you must carefully explain why.  If you think the referee was wrong, this should be pointed out very tactfully.  A good referee will recognize their error if they really made one.  If there are matters of opinion, it may be trickier to convince editor and referee that things are really better your way.  It is also important that you make it clear that you are reasonable about making changes.  If you refuse to make anything but the most trivial corrections in response to a referee's report, that makes you look stubborn and probably unreasonable.


I wouldn't expect your degree in computing from three decades ago to have much impact on your application for a postgraduate degree. You can confirm by contacting a perspective university. (I doubt university websites will be particularly useful, since they probably won't consider your situation.)


What is scholarship score in paper review?

A guess but robably means good use of the pre-existing literature.


Is there a reliable way to measure how difficult it is to be admitted to a PhD program?

I am not aware of any absolute measure for this. However, you can have a general idea by:

Some schools provide last year(s) statistics about their programs
(usually in the prospective student section). For example, program A
has attracted X number of applications and Y applications were
accepted.
Also, some programs have a fix limit (i.e. due to number of equipments available)  for number of applications to be accepted.
Sometimes online admission results like the one in Grad Cafe
give you a sense on how strict the school is.


Is undergrad research experience related to the undergrad field preferred, or can I do research on the area I plan to study in grad school instead?

It's actually just the opposite: research in the area you plan to study in grad school is preferred, because it sheds more light on your talent and preparation in this field and it demonstrates that you understand what's involved in this work.  If your undergraduate research is not in the field you plan to study, then there's a risk that you won't do as well in that field or won't enjoy it.


Use of a book for a continuing education course

Yes, you can require your students to read a book for a class. Where the students get the book is then their problem, and as long as you don't provide them with pirated copies, the origin of their copies needs not be your concern.

The only concern many of us have these days is that many books are expensive. This may not be true for a softcover copy of some classical literature, if that happens to be your area of teaching, but it is an issue if your area is some advanced topic in the sciences where many textbooks can run at $100 or over. I have generally avoided requiring my students to have a particular textbook for these reasons -- going to college is expensive enough these days.


What makes for a "strong" LoR for graduate application?

That is highly dependent on the thoroughness of the committee doing the ranking, and other random facts (i.e., one might hate the guts of the renowned colleague, or have met and been well impressed by the fresh professor). In case of doubt, I'd go for someone who can really talk about you (worked together, took classes with them, ...) than some star who at most will say they've met you and you seem OK.


Free ways to automatically get notified if new papers are published on ACM or IEEE?

I've had great experience with Google Scholar Alerts. To use them, go to scholar.google.com and search for any term. In the results page, you will see a link to Create Email Alert. Click on that and create the alert to send you notifications.

One very good use of this is to follow specific papers. For example, I have a star paper of mine that I'm currently extending and I like to keep track of who is citing this paper. So, I search for the paper on scholar. In the results page (just under the result for the paper I'm concerned with), there's a link Cited by 'n'. Click on that and you get results for only those papers that cite this article. Now, create an alert on this page. This way, whenever someone refers to this paper (and Google finds out about it), you get an email. Do this for all the important literature in your field and Alerts will make sure you are kept abreast of your field.

Never miss out on an important finding!


Do community colleges have good math libraries?

Of course, as Dave Clarke says, every institution is different.  However, in general I would expect the answer is no.

Community colleges typically offer only lower-division courses and don't expect their students or faculty to carry on research.  Moreover, they are usually publicly funded and charge only nominal tuition, so they are not likely to have a lot of extra money.  Given this, it's difficult to see why a community college librarian would want to spend money acquiring advanced mathematics books or journals.

That said, a community college library would almost certainly have access to the interlibrary loan network, allowing one to (eventually) acquire any resource of interest.  Some might also have a reciprocity agreement with a nearby research university library.  It is also quite possible they would have access to online databases that could include a lot of material in mathematics.


It is what it is, at least as far as the official program is concerned -- tell the missing author about it and apologize.

What's more important in practice is that all authors are listed on the actual poster you will be presenting. That's what people really see and will notice, so make sure it is complete.


Is it unreasonable to set assignment deadlines on Saturday/Sunday?

Don't assume anything about your  students' schedules. Set your deadlines so everyone can manage their time based on their own needs.

You are concerned about encouraging your students to do work on the weekends. Consider that many students have customer service jobs that require them to work on the weekends (retail, restaurants, etc). They might work nights or swing shifts. They might have children to care for at certain times. You have no way of knowing if doing homework on a Saturday or Sunday is convenient for them or not.

Don't arbitrarily pick a deadline based on what you perceive to be best for them. Give your students a full week to work on assignments if you can, because they might only have small chunks of time available to do homework. Make it due when it really needs to be done, such as when the next class starts.

For example, I worked 10 PM to 7 AM Thursday through Sunday for my first couple of years in college. I often worked on homework during my lunch breaks, which could be at 2 AM on Monday morning. I'm sure all of my instructors assumed I would/should be sleeping at 2 AM, but it was actually a perfect opportunity to finish up homework.

Since there will always be students that procrastinate, and some percentage will inevitably have an emergency at the last moment, you may want to make it clear at the beginning of the course that you are not able to grant any extensions for any reason, because the deadline is already at the last possible moment. Also give the reason why that's the case, whether it's because you will review it in class, or there will be a quiz on it they need to be prepared for, or whatever the reason is. Be clear that since you are already giving extra time, you expect them to manage that time properly, so that an unexpected difficulty does not make their homework late.

You can always choose to make exceptions later for truly exceptional circumstances, but having a clear policy that you don't make exceptions will discourage people from taking advantage of your already generous deadlines. I've taken many classes with this policy, and I've never heard anyone complain about it.


Any particular date when Postdoc decisions are announced in European universities?

Let me start with UK, as this country I know best. Unlike US, in the UK research grants are awarded by several large funding bodies and there is no particular date when all the decisions are simultaneously announced.  Hence, it is not possible to syncronise postdoc hiring process across the UK, and AFAIK, most professors do not see any need for it. Still, many Universities will advertise new positions for staff two times per year, with the anticipated starting date on 01 Oct (start of term) and 01 Apr (mid-term). There are two "waves" of recruitment, but they are not completely in sync.

In the rest of EU, customs differ but still I never came across anyone following AMS deadlines in the EU. It seems that people advertise as soon as they have funding confirmed, but different funding streams announce at different times.


Keeping in contact with professors after graduation?

Yes, many people do this, and many professors appreciate it. Professors will often be interested in your successes, whether in academia or otherwise. Most will want to help you in your future, but if they have been reminded along the way then it is easier for them to comment and write letters. If you keep in contact with them they can also have better advice for you in questions such as you have.

It is especially useful to keep contact with anyone you considered a mentor and anyone you think is worth emulating in your own career. And a wide circle of contacts is useful for anyone, but especially for academics. Past professors can also put you in touch with people within their circle.

If you have been away for a while, unlike this particular case, it is useful to make a campus visit and look up professors who you think served you well. Thank them for what they did for you. Afterwards it is then easier to keep a conversation going.

But some very busy people and some others with whom you had very little contact might not respond. Don't take it personally.


How to maximize performance in social science PhD program?

I too have struggled at times to find this balance.  I'm coming from math and computer science (rather than social science), but I think the field matters less than the type of work.  If what you're trying to do is cognitively intense, then it's really important to be well-rested and to maintain focus.  In grad school, I often would bang my head for hours on problems without much progress.  Now if I work for 45 minutes or an hour with little progress, I'll go for a short walk, get a light snack, do jumping jacks, or play a quick web game; all of these are ways to reset my focus and attention.

Probably the single most useful skill I've learned is to be more aware of my current state (energy level, focus, sleepiness, hunger, emotional state) and try to choose work appropriate for (doable in) that state.  For more thoughts on this idea, I recommend the advice given by Terry Tao here: http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2008/08/07/on-time-management/