How do SJR and Web of Science journal rankings and quartiles differ?

Presumably, when you say SJR quartiles, you mean the rankings presented by Scimago. I previously posted details about how journal ranks and quartiles are estimated on scimago.

There are several key differences between WoS and Scimago that lead to different journal ranks (and quartiles):

Database of journals: WoS rankings uses web of science indexed journals and I think Scimago uses Scopus ISI indexed journals. Scopus is much more inclusive than WoS and also provides better coverage in some disciplines (e.g., social sciences) than WoS. In some disciplines, simply being listed in WoS suggests that the journal is at least a reasonably strong one in the discipline.
Source of citations: Indexing different databases mean that the citations used to evaluate journals are also based on different databases of articles. WoS has a more exclusive set of journals and the coverage is not as balanced across the sciences. The consequence is that metrics based on citations per year per article (e.g., impact factor, citescore) will be higher when using Scopus, and this difference will be amplified for social sciences and other disciplines with less WoS coverage. However, although journal metrics based on citations per year will be lower in WoS, this in itself wont necessarily affect journal rankings within disciplines, because in many cases all journals within a discipline will be broadly influenced.
Definition of an article: I believe that Scopus/Scimago and WoS define articles differently. In particular, I believe that Scimago categorises some items as articles that WoS does not. In general, most citation metrics have a formula that divides citations in a given period by number of articles. I believe this scopus approach reduces citations per year indicators for some journals that include a lot of non-standard article types (e.g., Nature and Science).
Metric: Irrespective of the database of citations used and definitions of what is an article, impact factor and SJR are different citation metrics. See my previous answer about how SJR works. In short, SJR is based on a 3 year window, and impact factor is based on a 2 year window. SJR also has a bunch of corrections to reduce discipline-specific differences in citation practices and a way of weighting certain citations more highly (based on the prestige/impact of source). While I think SJR is much better than impact factor, this might not change within discipline rankings too much because most of these differences between metrics address discipline-level differences.

So, why is it that a journal can be Q2 in Scimago and Q4 in WoS? I think this is most likely due to the database of journals used. WoS is more exclusive and particularly deficient in certain disciplines. So for example, a journal may have a reasonable reputation (e.g., ranked 35 out of 100 in Scimago), but only ranked 35 out of 40 in WoS, because there are a whole pile of journals in Scimago that aren't even listed in WoS.

Which indicator of journal quartile is more valid?
First, I think that SJR as a metric of impact and the more inclusive journal database are better and make the sicmago metrics of journal impact more valid. Of course, at some point, you need to ask about what it means to speak about the rank or quartile of a journal. What should the criteria for membership in the population of journals from which a rank is obtained? The WoS criteria is quite high. Most people would agree that predatory journals with no legitimate peer review should not be included.
I think an argument could be made that Scopus / ISI is sometimes too inclusive (e.g., it includes some journals that have questionable peer review). But I think the stronger argument is that WoS is too exclusive. So perhaps  the Scimago/Scopus interpretation aligns more naturally to what we might think of as a rank or quartile. I.e., of the legitimate journals (or at least, reasonably legitimate) in a discipline that are published, where does a given journal sit.

What quartile is typically used? It's difficult to say how people will interpret a statement like "this journal is Q1" without you specifying the source. It's a bit like when you say "this article has 50 citations", but you don't say which database this citation count is based on (e.g., WoS, Scopus, Google Scholar).

In contexts where it matters, you should clarify which source you are relying on. That said, my impression is that the Scimago quartiles are becoming more popular. For example, at my university we are encouraged to mainly publish in Q1 journals, where quartiles are based on Scimago.

As a minor practical point, access to WoS citation metrics is by subscription only and the user interface is terrible. In contrast, the interface for scimago is public and quite user friendly.


In general, the high school diploma is viewed better for getting jobs than the GED.  Also by colleges.  GED is (probably properly) viewed as a bit of a degraded HS diploma.

That said, a GED is still far better than nothing.  And of course, you can go on to many great things in life without a HS diploma.  Know a guy retiring as an O-6 in the Navy, who ran away from home, entered the fleet, ended up at USNA (i.e. college) and then had a professional job.

It's kind of unclear what sort of scenario you are describing.  If you're in high school, get it done in school.  No advantage to dropping out for a GED, if the plan is eventual college and a professional job.  Different scenario if you want to work a trade, but even then I would still urge to get the HS diploma.  Our society is overvaluing college...people here will disagree because they are employees of "Big College", but there's no reason for baristas to have college degrees.

Of course, if you're a couple years out of school (to draw a line, let's say older than 19), just get the GED, easiest fastest and move on.

As far as the computer career counseling (especially your comment on being unemployed), I would urge you to get a job, any job (assuming you're over 19).  Even if it's not in computers, just get something, so you're working. It's good to be productive and will help your self esteem and respect from others.

Also, there are still many technician types of jobs/training in the broadly defined IT industry that are available sans college, sometimes with some training.  If you go that route, do something where the training is at night (so you can work in the day).  Maybe you eventually do some night school college work also, but don't make that an immediate objective.  Also look carefully over the different training options.  There are some that are snaky (expensive, not very useful) and others that are high bang for the buck and high bang for the time.You need to research them.

One practical note, if you're just 16-19, having family disputes and considering dropping out and moving on because of that, don't.  Suck it up and get the HS diploma.  It's pretty common for there to be friction (especially young man with old bull) at that stage in life.  The military used to harvest huge amounts of talented people from this dynamic who entered sans HS diploma.  It is still possible to some extent but even there, getting more restrictive.


Is it typical for STEM students to be responsible for coming up with their own thesis projects?

I would say it is not typical to expect a student to come up with their project completely on their own, although I will admit that I have done this with one particular PhD student who had already demonstrated in his master's project that he was sufficiently capable that it made sense to let him "drive" the project so long as it was something I felt comfortable advising. This was also possible because he had a secure source of funding that allowed us to do this.

However, for a typical student, such a route would be very risky and quite prone to failure, especially if she is just beginning her graduate work. I would not expect the student to be able to come up with independent ideas for a project until well into the course of the PhD program.


What algorithm does Google Scholar use to order papers in a search?

I believe it uses this

  "Google Scholar aims to rank documents the way researchers do,
  weighing the full text of each document, where it was published, who
  it was written by, as well as how often and how recently it has been
  cited in other scholarly literature." About google scholar

For more detailed answer,

  "Google Scholar also strengthens the Matthew Effect: articles with
  many citations will be more likely to be displayed in a top position,
  get more readers and receive more citations, which then consolidate
  their lead over articles that are cited less often." Google Scholar‘s
  Ranking Algorithm: An Introductory Overview


Options for someone who didn't take Math Subject GRE

I'd recommend applying anyway, with an explanation of why you didn't take the exam.  Not having a math GRE score could hurt your application, but at many schools it won't conclusively rule it out.  (You can always ask the school in advance whether they will consider your application under these circumstances.  I'd bet they say yes.)  Assuming the self-assessment in your question is accurate, you should be a strong candidate for graduate school, and I don't think a missing GRE score would derail everything given that you have a compelling excuse.


Good ways to get teaching experience in non-teaching position

For similar reasons I applied as a lecturer at a dual university (Duale Hochschule). The dual university also had lecturers who work in the cooperating business (and do not have a PhD), for example. Hence, they were also not hesitant to let me lecture a course although I also still am a PhD student.


How is disclosure of previously undiagnosed long term health condition likely to be viewed when evaluating academic track record?

I would suggest that you don't raise the issue, for a couple of reasons.
First is that you don't know how it will be read. Some people might see it as an invalid excuse, rather than a valid one. Others might wonder whether it will affect your work in future. It is impossible to say. Saying such things won't, in particular, give you an advantage.
Second, it is natural for a person's productivity to increase over time and natural for an application reader to weigh the more recent work more heavily then the older work. That effect can occur even for someone with no health issues. I doubt that the change after the date of diagnosis would be noted by a typical reader unless you point it out.
This is really opinion, of course. If you are healthy now, focus on how you will continue productivity going into the future.


Can university revoke the degree when data were edited/fabricated? Is student or supervisor at fault? Can the student be sent to prison or fined?

A prominent German example is former minister of defence zu Gutenberg. He lost his title and his job because of plagiarism years after the fact.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl-Theodor_zu_Guttenberg

However, this may very well work differently in other countries.


Where to find documents/information about research group policies

You may want to check out this thread by @samuelmehr on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/samuelmehr/status/1139733291899080705

It gives an overview of typical content in what he calls a "lab handbook" (despite the different terminology, this is about the type of document you are looking for), plus a list of links to such handbooks which he reviewed to compile this overview.


How not to get drowned in details and questions?

I tried out psychological help but it keeps coming over and over.

First this is important. If you have received any behavioral or medical interventions you'll need to discuss with your health care providers and let them know you're not progressing.

My overarching question back to you is: Have you considered aspiring to be a perfectionist in time use and efficiency?

Collect necessary information before studying: Make sure the materials you need to study are handy before engaging the study: syllabus, texts, notes, assignments, etc. Minimize wandering off for extra materials along the way.

Set goals and time: Before studying, state clearly what the goal is and how much time you'll allocate to it. E.g. "I'll spend 2.5 hours in this lab report, and I will spend no more than 2 lines of text for each point I wish to score."

And it's fine to set up a time for deep diving as well: "Tonight, I'll spend 1.5 hour and binge reading/searching this theory. I don't know what would come out of it, but I will enjoy this adventure and bonus for me if I can find a few new insights."

Go through a set of checklists before doing anything: Have a set of "mantra" before committing to anything. It's up to you what they should be, but generally focus on return of investment. Here are some I always ask myself:

Is the objective of this work "SMART" enough? (SMART: Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, time/duration is clear.)
Is this work in alignment with my value?
Is this work going to propel me forward in [whatever endeavor: studying, career, etc.]?
What will I likely gain if I do this work?
Is there any other work I can/should do which will bring a better gain?

Ask this before, and ask this whenever you change your focus or attention onto something else. Keep a diary on your daily time use efficiency and review them often.

Have a "mind dump": When strayed thoughts invite, instead of immediately engaging them, jot them down somewhere. It can be a paper pad on your desk, Evernote/OneNote, post-it, voice messages, etc. Put them in one collection point, and revisit them during your "wild hunt" time.

It may be more useful to see these strayed thoughts as a group periodically. You may found that something you wondered last month was resolved in the class this week. By putting these questions together instead of deep diving into each of them immediately, you can better see the landscape.


Citing a Work that Cites a Personal Communication

This is a very odd situation, and you may want to consider carefully whether to use the source, per Nate Eldredge's comment above.  If you do want to use it, however, I would recommend citing the textbook, but mentioning their original source in prose:

  blah blah context context, per the table in [citation of Textbook], as attributed to [their source].

This way you give the citation and appropriate credit, but do not assert you have personal communication of your own.


Am I less likely to get into a masters in finance or economics with a bachelors in business administration than I would with a bachelors in finance?

BBAs are probably the most common business undergraduate degrees in the US. Nobody will care that it doesn't say Bach. Finance. You should do your best to highlight that your concentration was in finance when you apply for your graduate work.


How to maximise one's chances of getting a good postdoc position?

I am also in your current situation and look for the same. Here is something I have learnt so far which are important to get postdoc job in good quality institutes. Here is the list without order:

Publish in under-spot conferences and seminars
Reference letter from pioneers of the domain (if you can liaise)
International collaboration, research, and publication
Face-to-face visit. If possible try to make an appointment with potential postdoc supervisors and visit them in person. It helps both of you to better evaluate and decide.
Search among friends of your friends for an open position. I use Microsoft Academic portal "http://academic.research.microsoft.com/" to search co-authors of my supervisor or academician friends of mine to see if there is any potential postdoc supervisor in their network. So you can give a try and if found, ask your supervisor or your academician friends to play a role and introduce you to potential boss. I think it should work well.
Upload your papers everywhere you can (take care of copyright issues) and try to increase their visibility and citation; the higher citation, the better chance.
Make your professional account in Google Scholar and keep that up to date.
Enroll in academic organizations like IEEE and get membership. It gives lots of benefits and is like a mark of attachment and care to the society.
Collaboration invitation. Try to prepare a paper and get in touch with potential postdoc supervisors to invite them collaborate. This can be a venue to exchange couple of emails and get to know each other more. You can later use this opportunity to request for position.
Try to get chance to visit potential labs as visiting scholar. some institutes welcome visiting PhD students under different schemas like student exchange or international collaboration.- Volunteer job in varied community; not necessarily academic environment. Try to show your passion to work independently in every workplace regardless of the details.
Online Connectivity. Active participation in online networks like Linkedin, Researchgate, stackexchange(here), and so on.
Patent is also important since institutes are increasing concern about patents and desire their postdocs to produce patent beside publication. It also enhance your industrial career too.
Keep sending application for advertised positions and don't get disappointed.
Keep sending email and follow up to potential postdoc supervisors with potential postdoc projects (it depends on your field) even if they have no current position. Your messages may impress them and motivate them to hire you to work on a project you define. If yes they can apply for funds (I know one of my friends in CS got offer in this way).

I hope these points help you better hunt a good postdoc in good research group.

EDIT: Patent is modified to address some concerns on wording.
EDIT2: Some change in the order to better highlight their importance.


How lenient are conferences in accepting and reviewing lately submitted poster presentation abstracts?

Some conferences usually/always extend. Others don't. I suggest writing to the organisers and asking - the worst that can happen is that they say no, and they might say yes, even if an extension hasn't been formally announced!


Scholarships or bursaries specifically for software for scientific research

In your case, you should have a person who is "essential personnel" send you the computer.  For example, security or safety personnel.  This would meet social distancing requirements.  I am assuming that the premise of your question is correct.

More generally, supercomputing centers purchase software licenses.  You can apply for free access to many of these centers.  I'm not familiar with the ones in Canada in particular.


Is it possible to attend my "backup" school but reapply to my top choice and go there if accepted?

Common scenario: a professor is recruited to go work at a different university; s/he takes his or her students along.  No one bats an eyelash.

The quicker you can make the change the better; you need not feel at all guilty.  It's just not a good fit.  Your current school would be a great fit for someone who wants to teach.  But it's not a good fit for you.


PhD supervisor making me do a LOT of non PhD work

Although there may be a number of people here who are quick to claim that no PhD advisor would ever take advantage of the cheap and free labor that PhD students can be coerced into (by means of using degree and thesis requirements as a figurative cudgel), I think that it is somewhat common that PhD advisors make use of such free labor. This should not be.

This being said, there are a few things to consider:

The grant application you are assisting in might be a direct means of funding your future research. That is the "pay off" for you. Nothing happens in academia for free. Make sure that you are being compensated, but also keep in mind that not all compensation is directly and immediately monetary.
A few months of weekend work is sometimes part of "paying your dues" in academia and can open up further opportunities for you. (Such as a future post-doc with this professor).
Address your concerns as to timeline with your supervisor. If she dismisses your thoughts entirely, you may want to consider if this is really a professor you want to do a post-doc with.


What are our main concerns regarding academic dishonesty in Massive Online Open Courses?

I think that the question is somewhat misleading. Ethics only factor into a very small percentage of students in Massively Open Online Courses (MOOC's). Most students who participate in MOOC's are only taking the course to learn something. Academic integrity is more of an issue when the students are taking the course for some external reason.

Some possible external reasons are:

Enrolled in the course through the university, and receiving credit for the course
Required to take the course by an employer
Taking the course as a pre-requisite for another course or program

In each of these situations, the role of verifying learning seems like it would be outside of the course itself. If students choose to cheat, it does not necessarily reflect poorly on the course or the program, but rather reflects poorly on the student.

TL;DR - Ethical concerns only matter for students who are required to take the course. The people requiring them to take the course are responsible for ensuring their academic integrity.


Why do Russian and Israeli universities score low in various world rankings?
  What is the problem? And, why aren't they trying to improve the situation?

As a researcher originally from a country in a similar situation (Austria - historically great, Nobel prize winning researchers - now all universities ranked in the far 3-digit range in most rankings), I can try to speculate. Note that, of course, reasons may differ between Russia and Israel, or between institutions, so there may easily just not be the reason for this phenomenon.

Most rankings are perceived as garbage. Not scoring highly is not perceived as a big deal that needs changing. Unlike in the US and other places, students generally don't care about rankings, and neither do employers. Hence, historically, the universities simply did not care whether they were top-something or not. I think this was the big reason historically in Austria, but it is slowly beginning to change due to top-down pressure from the government. Note that, even today, local students and employers still don't care about rankings, but foreign students and funding sources do, so there is at least some incentive to do something about it.
Most rankings are actually kind of garbage. Many universities outside of the US simply are not as bad as their ranking suggests. Most rankings are either extremely top-heavy in their criteria and hence not very good at distinguishing the 50-best university from the 200-best in a field (e.g., counting Nobel prize winners), or implicitly assume that universities loosely follow the US way of organisation and naming. For instance, my alma mater has historically lost many points in some rankings due to an insanely bad faculty/student ratio. However, this was really mainly due to in Austria only chaired full professors being considered "real" faculty (called "Professorenkollegium"). Hence, the way of counting underestimated the real number of teachers available to students by a factor of 4 or 5. This has, afaik, been fixed by now, but an implicit bias for an US style of organization is still prevalent in many rankings. Further, unlike US universities, there are very little efforts in Austrian universities to tune their numbers for specific rankings. Generally, close to nobody at your average Austrian university has any idea what even the big rankings are looking at.
Being historically good does not mean that the universities are still good. Decades of underfunding for research have severely reduced the quality of research that is being produced. Both things above considered, one has to assert that all the "historically great" universities in Austria aren't actually great anymore. Decades of underfunding, neglect by politicians, and questionable hiring practices for professors have certainly led to big, fundamentally detrimental changes to the university culture. At this point, Austrian universities are still pretty good at teaching students, and there is still reasonable research going on, but it would be wrong to assume that any university actually deserves to be considered on the same (research) tier with top English or US schools. I am pretty sure that at least in Russia, long-lasting underfunding will also be a big reason why the schools don't show up more prominently in rankings.


Will UK/US universities understand that in my country, it is common to deliberately fail and retake classes?

Let me try and give an answer from the perspective of someone who is involved with, but not responsible for, PhD admissions in my discipline (mathematics) at a UK university. I know that you are asking about a Master's place, but I will try to make points which also apply to some extent in that setting.

Standard disclaimers apply: while I hope what I say is not inaccurate, it does not represent the official opinion of my department, my employers, etc.

I'll confine myself to the final parts of your post/question:

  In light of these circumstances, is there even the slightest possibility that graduate admission would reject me despite a first-class degree just because there are 2 failed courses on an exchange semester transcript? Given that in my country the culture of failing classes for whatever reasons is commonly practiced.

Rejection or success has to be understood against the context of who else is applying for a  limited number of places. So I would say that there is a slight possibility, in the sense that when it comes to ranking candidates and making offers, the two fails might be noted and interpreted as a sign of some deficiencies, as compared with some other applicant who has the same overall GPA or degree mark but doesn't have those fails. However, there may be people on the relevant departmental committee who know that different countries have different systems, and who could then counter that interpretation with context such as the explanation that you give in your question.

Put another way: I don't think a 1st class degree with 2 failed courses on an exchange semester would be ranked below someone with an upper 2nd and no fails; but when compared with someone who has a 1st class degree and no fails, you might find yourself unlucky.

That said: my impression is that provided all other marks are good, a couple of low marks are not regarded as so significant, provided that the good marks are not in subjects/courses regarded as "easy" and the low marks are not in subjects/courses regarded as "hard".

  Does graduate admission generally understand those critical differences between UK vs non-UK university life?

As I've mentioned above, there may be people who do understand, but this is very hard to predict. For instance, I have a colleague who did his PhD in Rome, and so he is able to give very informed opinions on how we should interpret transcripts from applicants who did their undergraduate degrees in Italy. I have worked in Canada, so if I see a transcript from someone from that system I have some idea how to interpret the transcript and the likely content of courses. Other departments in other universities may have similar random connections.

If you are very concerned that these marks on the transcript could jeopardise your chances, then I think the best thing to do is to ask one of your reference-writers to make some brief comment about how the system where you did your exchange visit differs from the one where you did your main degree, and how (in their view) those fails do not represent your true potential.

To finish: you should nevertheless reflect on the fact that if you do want to do a Master's in the UK then the mode and culture of assessment will be different from what you previously experienced and are used to. Lecturers are unlikely to make allowances for a student who seems, from their point of view, to give up at a certain point because they wish to take the hit of a bad grade at an early stage with the hope of then ratcheting it up. They are not going to set assessments which cater to that way of thinking. I mention this not to claim that the UK approach is better, or that the UK courses are harder (they might actually be easier!) but because you need to know what you are getting into.


How relevant is it, if updates to a journal paper are not reflected on third party websites?

It depends on the third party website. If they are constantly monitoring the main journal, it might happen, but I would assume that this is not true for every website. On the other hand, in most cases the journal should only be available via the journal web site thanks to the copyright regulations of that journal. And people citing the work should always look for the original source.

Therefore I would say it is not a problem of your friend, maybe it can be a problem for people working with unreliable sources. But I would not care.


I don't know much about the NSF process, but can share my thoughts on the NIH process, and maybe others can comment on how this applies.  I think some of this is directly applicable.

Remember, you're reviewing grants and not papers.  You have reached the state of your career where your actions can DIRECTLY IMPACT somebody else's career, and fairly immediately.  It could conceivably even end some careers.  Do not take this responsibility lightly.

The biggest issue that I see come up is "New Reviewer Syndrome", where a reviewer feels compelled to make him or herself heard in a room full of people, even though the criticisms offered are nickel and dime stuff.  You can't offer a list of five trivial matters and then recommend a high priority score.  It doesn't work that way.  If you don't have substantive criticism, best to keep quiet.

That said, if you have substantive criticism that you believe can turn the grant from unfunded into one that's funded on the next round, SAY IT AND SAY IT LOUDLY.  Communicate it in a way that the applicant can hear it and understand it, and know that this is the issue separating him or her from a recommendation for funding.  Don't make the applicant guess about how important you consider this issue.  Failure of the applicant to understand what the study section wants will result in extra rounds, lost time, negative career impact, etc.  If the person running the section sends you some synopsis of the review, read it and make sure that it conveys the feeling in the room during discussion.  If you are asked to write such a synopsis, take that job VERY SERIOUSLY.

Another issue I have seen repeatedly is that its very tempting to score the grant that you wish the applicant wrote, and not the grant the applicant wrote.  Don't judge the grant based on how you would do that research, and remember that there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Your institute will provide you with some good guidelines, but here's a framework to start with:

What question is the applicant asking of the proposed study?
Is that question worth getting an answer to?
Will the proposed study answer that question?
Is the applicant/applicant's environment capable of successfully carrying out that research?

When you're outside of the review room, KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT.  Never violate the confidentiality of the process.  I've had people come up to me in conferences and start telling me about what was in my applications, even though they were not on the study section.  This put me in a situation where I had to moan to my program officer that they had a leak, and they should shut it.

Listen to your peers in the room.  Some have been doing this a lot longer than you, and some are in a better position to judge a particular application than you are.  Decide if their input sways your opinion, and act accordingly.

Don't get provincial about defending your area of research to the study section.  Your colleagues in the room will be doing enough of this. Research that is what you do isn't by definition good research, and research that is not what you do is not by definition bad research.

Lastly, whatever serves at NSF as the equivalent of an NIH review officer is there to help you.  Read and understand whatever review guidelines you are sent by the powers that be.  At NIH, many instructions go toward trying to get the study sections to use the full range of scores.  If you can do this, this makes life much easier for the review group.  If you can't, you really start getting the feeling that the pay cutoff is quite arbitrary.


Tips and good practices for creating a personal web-page

I've made a couple of websites for early/mid-career professors.

As with many website projects, there was consultation needed in the "What does the client want?" stage. Like you, they wanted something to match the "industry standard" for people in their position. So we did some research. I looked up a few dozen professors, PhD candidates, and postdocs in their field and from their institution and took notes. I also looked at specific institutions and specific professors they mentioned.

In general, the existing sites were more formal than casual (except in photo choices), they absolutely all included a CV given its necessity in job-hunting, they were mostly simple in design, and more than half were a single page. The younger they were, the more they tended to have interesting designs. I may also have imagined that the young were more formal, not yet feeling the freedom to play and risk seeming unserious. Many of the clunkiest were the highly limiting templates provided cheaply or freely by the institution, but sometimes those were better than what the person might have come up with; some people had evidently learned basic HTML circa 2001.

WIth this information, one of my professors decided to match the majority fairly exactly, and the other to just slightly one-up it. Neither wanted to stray too far from the boundaries we'd researched, turning down more modern features like a dynamically filterable list of publications.

One quick frame challenge for you is that I'm not sure if by "personal webpage" you mean to distinguish it from a professional one. Only one person in my research had two sites, and it was confusing, particularly since the content was largely the same, so it was hard to tell which was more up to date or authoritative. There's no need to divide your web presence unless you have a hobby to share that's totally unrelated to your work. If the goal is to make you findable by other researchers and institutions, make it professional.

And finally, let me draw your attention to my earlier "in their field" and "from their institution". You can add "at your career stage" if you like (or not if you want to be aspirational). My findings may not match yours when factoring in those things. I suggest you spend a couple of hours skimming a bunch of academics' websites taking notes on what's there and how it's presented. Find out what's appropriate for where you are, and set that as your baseline. If you find that 10% of people in your position put up a CV, leave it out. If 90% of them include it, start making yours presentable. And bookmark the sites you find most effective.

Have fun!


Will the asterisk (*) next to merged articles in my Google Scholar profile disappear?

While forever is a long time, article that I have merged over a year ago are still marked with the asterisk. I would assume that this will not be automatically removed, and will remain until Google decides to change the design.


How does a 'quasi-tenured' hire work in practice?

I don't see how this is really different from hiring somebody with a very short (i.e. one year) tenure clock.  The difference probably has more to do with the hiring institution's internal rules than anything else.

We had a senior hire with a one year clock a while back.  It wasn't labeled as "quasi-tenure," but that was basically how it worked.  You don't give somebody a one year clock unless you are overwhelmingly sure that the person is going to get tenure.  And that seems to be what this position is offering; the hire will start without tenure, but the expectation is that they will be fully tenured in short order.


Should my advisor know if I am auditing unrelated courses?

In this case, you should let your advisor know, because the time spent in the classroom is time not spent in the lab. Since he's paying you for your time, if you will be doing daytime activities that will take time away from research he has a right to know about it. On a different note, depending on how auditing works in your university, there may be costs associated with your auditing the course, and he (or his grant) would be covering these costs.

Generally speaking, the more communication between you and your advisor, the better.


How should I go about publishing a manuscript in which my mentor does not actively support my best interests?

First, regardless of what you do, secure your independence of her in every way: funding, reference letters, etc.  All that has to run smoothly without her.

Second, forget her.  Don't count on her finishing. She won't do that at all or if she does it, it won't happen personally, but she hires another student.

Third, prepare a journal submission, and get someone senior to read your paper and provide critical comments.  You need a more-or-less constant eye on the paper from some senior person in the area to guide you away from pitfalls you don't see due to the lack of experience.  If you don't have that person, count on a rejection of your first submission.

Fourth, put your prior, no longer supportive advisor either into acknowledgements or as the last coauthor, depending on how much of her contribution is left by the time point of submission. Submit the paper.


Career advice about a short stint at a mathematics institute as a postdoc

I did precisely what you're discussing (attend a semester program at a mathematics institute immediately after graduating), and I'd strongly encourage it.

You say you're worried about wasting six months of time because you don't have a specific problem to work on with the people there.  Unless the only work you're expecting to do in the next six months depends on someone who's at your postdoc institution, presumably you can expect to be at least as productive at the institute as at your postdoc.

But as a newly minted PhD, you want to be productive, but not just by continuing to work in the exact speciality you carve out in a thesis.  So you don't want to only be working on the specific problems you're already thinking about right now: you exactly want to encounter other perspectives and other problems and get some work done on those.

Which is basically the point of a thematic program.  Even if you aren't going in with a specific problem in mind, you may well discover one.  Someone may want to work on something with you, or may mention something as an open problem, or it may just come up while talking to people.  And even if it doesn't, and you end up doing most of your work by yourself in your office, you'll still get a lot of exposure to the broader state of your field.

Also, of course, you'll meet a lot of people, which may pay off down the road.  Even if you don't end up working on something with the person in the next office while you're there, you'll hear a lot about they're specialty, and perhaps a year from now suddenly realize that they're the perfect person to ask about something.


PhD sanity check on project description and advisor

I had to write PhD project description (milestones, etc. ) on my own.

This doesn't sound unusual to me. Writing project plans and drafting milestones is a part of graduate studies, but your supervisor should definitely be involved.

  A year after PhD commenced, my supervisor commented that "she still
  does not have vision about the project".

This is clearly unsettling for you, but sadly not that uncommon*. The unusual part is the supervisor actually saying it. Nevertheless, I think it's a serious issue and your supervisor is apparently not taking his/her responsibilities seriously.

Having a too loose mentoring/supervision during a PhD is a very good way of finding oneself in hell after 3-4 years of wandering. Your concerns are by all means valid and you shouldn't let this slip. I would suggest to politely tell your advisor that you need a more precise direction to follow, otherwise you risk loosing precious time (and money) for you, him/her and, off course, the company.

I've heard frequent bad reports of peoples pursuing a PhD with a commercial company. But as stated by @nivag in the comments, people in industry tend not to have much experience supervising students. Try to be proactive: if you feel you need more support say so, very clearly.

*I'm assuming that, being in Europe, you have a Master's degree and the PhD project is intended to last 3-4 years.


First time preparing and teaching a course

Rather than simply preparing material and plowing through it, I strongly recommend taking a "backward design" approach. You can Google that, but the basic idea is to start by thinking carefully about what it is you want students to have learned by the end of the course, and working backwards to what lectures, activities, and assessments contribute to this end. I've found this to be very useful, both for myself and for the students.

As a general idea, keep in mind that teaching and learning aren't equivalent; it's easy to deliver material, but that doesn't mean that it's absorbed or understood, and it's worth thinking about what classroom activities make learning more likely. Your (present) university probably has some sort of teaching consulting group, who are probably worth chatting with. Good luck, and have fun!


Backing down from a faculty position. Future career problems?

I suggest contacting the department that hired you (the department chair and/or a few colleagues you trust) and explaining the problem. If it is a good university in a developed country, it is almost certain they would have all kinds of resources (both formal and informal) that you are not aware of to help new faculty members with issues related to their relocation, e.g., housing, health insurance and health care, moving arrangements, and other relevant things to ease your transition. They may also be able to rearrange your teaching to allow you not to teach the first semester, so effectively you could arrive on campus a few months after your initial appointment date. This could be done informally or as part of the institution's official policy for parental leave. My institution for example has quite generous policies for such things, so you may be pleasantly surprised at how flexible they can be.

Remember, your new department hired you, so they are probably just as eager to see you joining them as you are to be joining, and would be just as disappointed if you don't come. Will the move be stressful? Of course, any move is stressful, certainly between countries and with a family. But when you weigh the short-term difficulties against the very long term benefits from taking this dream position, I think it is a no-brainer (at least given the information you've provided in the question). Good luck!


Student asking too many questions without trying themself

Establish clear learning goals that include problem solving and finding the answers as part of the task.

This essentially falls under the "teach someone to fish" adage. The most important skill to learn in a programming boot camp isn't going to be a repertoire of functions or a mastery of a certain language's syntax, but rather a piece of the programming process itself, which includes problem solving and the associated skills.

It sounds like you're getting broken down by complaints and feeling like you have to provide an answer to help with a given line of code, but I think if you instead frame it in your own mind (and make clear to the students as well) that you are teaching the entire process, it will be easier to refuse to answer those questions and refocus on ways that the student can find their own answer.


Honor Listed in undergrad. Should it go on the CV for grad applications ?

Unless you're under a tight space constraint, there's no harm in having a bullet point in awards and honors saying "N times on Undergraduate Honors List (top x% of students in a year)" or whatever is the correct information.  It's slightly different than GPA because GPA is sum total and this is per year. Make sure you have something like the parentheses explaining what it means, because nobody outside your institution will know.  Some readers may notice it and have a small positive reaction; some won't care or will find it redundant, but if it's just one bullet point and you don't have a CV full of filler, then they probably won't mind either.


'Teaching position or teaching oriented position' in Mathematics in Europe?

From my experience in the Netherlands, there are no teaching (oriented) positions on the university level (assistent prof level and up). There used to be an option to primarily be a teacher at university, without the requirement of a PhD even, but nowadays such a position always includes a mix of researching, teaching, and grant proposal writing.

At tradeschools (we call those HBO) there are (almost) full-time teaching positions, but these are not on a university level, and require you to speak fluent Dutch. This makes these kind of jobs hard to get for foreigners.


Are undergrad professors the be-all end-all for MS recommendation letters?

Request both. Then, use a combination of them tailored to what position you're applying for. An academic position may call for the academic-heavy reference list, whereas an industry position or a position where someone of influence is acquainted with one of your recommenders, would perhaps change that equation.


Which academic options are possible for a tenured faculty that do not involve students' mentoring?

While, as Jon Custer says in a comment, we aren't qualified to direct you, I'll give a bit of advice to help you think about it.

It is hardly worth spending your life doing anything that you don't enjoy. Your life isn't a "first run".

Since this is the US, though I don't know which field, I'll note that almost all academic positions involve teaching and mentoring. It is what we do to prepare the next wave of practitioners of the art. You need to be "special" in some way to avoid it. But most of the specials do it anyway. What do I mean by special? If your research is so important and you are the only one qualified to do it, then, yes, you can probably convince the administration that you should be excused from all other university participation to do it. If you were months away from curing the common cold, or cancer, sure. But the people who do that, also realize that not only their results, but their methods and ways of thought are important to pass on to the next generation, and so do, usually, mentor students.

But if you are good enough to fund yourself completely through grants, so that the University doesn't need to pay you, then you can most likely set your own working conditions. Of course, you may not need the university association at all in such a situation. Darwin, for example, funded himself pretty well, though that is harder now. But constantly writing the next grant can also take quite a lot out of you.

Alternatively, if you are so bad as a teacher that students drop you like a poison toad, then the administration will be reluctant to assign you to courses. But will also be unlikely to provide many rewards, and may even try to rid themselves of an unproductive member. Yes, unproductive, even if your research is "pretty good" (but see the superstar exception above).

But before you decide, find something that you do like and find a way to do that. Presumably you like research. If you can find a good research position you should probably explore that before you make any final decisions.

It is also possible to improve as a teacher/mentor. Doing so may actually make it more enjoyable. Whether this comes "at the expense" of your research or not depends on a lot of things. But your mind won't stop working just because you have to also prepare classes.

You will find, however, that there are trade-offs. Every job has good and bad parts. If the good parts outweigh the bad, it may be worth continuing. It isn't likely ever to be ideal. So, look very carefully at the options.

If you decide to stay, and still want to avoid student contact, you can, over time, probably work to minimize it by (a) working toward superstar status, and/or (b) taking whatever opportunities arise as they arise. This can be sabbaticals, of course, but also unpaid leaves that are funded by some grant or outside organization. If you do enough consulting, perhaps you can use the current university association to work toward the day that you can, like Darwin, self fund yourself and your research.

And if you do decide to go, try to do it gracefully, without burning bridges. Your goals in the future may change and you may want to keep open the option of returning to academia.

But be aware the the US university has a complex mission that involves teaching students. It tends to disfavor those who don't really want to participate in that mission.


How to explain why I am applying to a different PhD program without sounding rude?

Concision is your friend here. You do not need to explain all your reasons in detail, and giving multiple reasons will indeed sound negative. Instead, choose the most significant, straightforward reason, and explain it as concisely as possible. In your case, this would be "funding" (#1 and #3 in your list). The issue with coursework, while annoying, does not seem like sufficient reason to transfer (especially when you have presumably already finished many of the duplicate classes).
The challenge with "I want to transfer for better funding" is that grad students are never paid much, and it's a little difficult to believe that the small pay difference between programs is enough to justify starting over, moving, etc., especially when you are otherwise happy with your current program. So, you should provide enough detail to overcome this objection. Note, there is no need to explain the intricacies of your school's internal accounting, just the bottom line (annual salary vs. hours worked). For example:

I am currently paid $15K per year, which barely covers rent in [your expensive city]. So, I have had to work in a grocery story 15 hrs/week just to make ends meet. Further,  my colleagues and I are averaging 35 hrs/week in teaching responsibilities. This arrangement leaves little time for research.


Should I ask for each recommendation letter separately?

I would recommend that you do not send a group mail to professors you plan to ask for help. It will look somewhat lazy, and some may be offended that you were not willing to take the time to write a separate email (which should barely take any time). Another reason why this is bad is that hopefully each recommendation will not be saying the exact same thing, and you may want to reflect differences when you ask for the letters.

In fact, I would probably recommend approaching the professors (or others) that you plan to ask in person first. Of course, this depends on your relationship with the professor-- if they are very busy and have already previously agreed to write a letter then this step might not be necessary. However, when asking professors for letters it might seem a bit impersonal if you do not ask in person, and you also will not be able to gauge their reaction to be asked if the correspondence is online.


How can women improve their chances to get postdoc positions in computer science?

I can only answer for Europe, but I assume JeffE is going to provide high-quality info for the US anyway.

  I saw the most of current postdocs are men.

With some exceptions, this is unfortunately very true across Europe. And not only post-docs. It gets worse the higher "up" you go in hierarchy.

  1- Is it because either the women did not apply for postdoc or women's applications couldn't make the CS community or individual faculty members satisfied?

In Vienna, where I did my PhD, we simply received basically no female applications. It was not a question of my professor not being satisfied with the female candidates - in the majority of cases, there simply were none.

  2- Is it true that women do not have much interest and hence success in CS than men? or lets say are men -in general- better in CS than women?

I am sure that women are able to do CS just fine. We just "lose" them some time during school. How this happens is a question of reasonably heated debate (gender studies etc.), and I do not feel qualified to answer it competently.

  3- Although it is not ethically feasible, is it true to assume that the CS members have tendency to hire men more than women in reality?

This will surely be true for some individuals, but by and large the official university policy in most places is that "equally qualified" female candidates should be hired over male ones, and this actually seems to be the case. In general, as most universities are pretty desperate to increase their quota of females in higher positions, being a top female researcher will actually make it easier for you to get a strong postdoc or junior faculty position in Europe. Edit: I should make clear that the last sentence is based on personal opinion and anecdotal evidence more than anything else.

  5- For the women who newly finished PhD, is better to apply for academic research fellows or industry research positions?

Follow your heart. I don't feel gender should play into this decision. Anyway, in Europe there are preciously little industry research positions, so for the most part it's either academic research or industrial practice over here.


How can I stay active in academia from an industry position?

People tend to do whatever gets rewarded.  So if you want your department to establish strong academic ties, then find ways to formally reward that.  In addition, people do stuff that they like to do when they don't have to cut through red tape.  In particular, you should

Make it easy for your researchers to attend conferences
Establish a culture of seminars, and make it easy to bring external visitors


Can I get a job while still applying for a scholarship for PhD studies?

There are several types of PhD students in Switzerland, among them are:

University/laboratory employees. These receive a monthly salary of about 3 to 4.5 kCHF (the exchange rate is approximately 1 to 1 with the US$, there are rare variations above and below this range) and have to pay a tuition that is typically in the range of 500 to 1200 CHF per year. This salary is low in comparison to the standard of the country (the median salary is about 7000) but enough to comfortably cover the cost of living and some extras. To get on these positions, you apply to them like a regular job and in an increasing number of cases, you have to apply to a graduate school. These contracts frequently include teaching duties, TA work, sometimes infrastructure work (like lab maintenance and management). Having a part-time job besides these position is not necessary, but not unheard of. Note that depending on the location, if you are issued a full time contract, you might legally not work for another employer.
SNSF-funded doctoral students. (rare in the experimental sciences, more frequent in the humanities). These applied to a grant, with the collaboration of a professor or senior researcher. They receive a stipend typically lower than the above category but still in the order of 3000 CHF. They don't have teaching duties. For part time jobs, see above.
Industry-funded PhDs. Companies like large pharmaceutical companies offer industry-based PhD studies in collaboration with the local university. I've heard mixed feedback on these, since they are often paid like a PhD student but require industry-standard commitment and constrains. No chance of having another job in general.
'Freelance' doctoral students typically ex-members of the two first categories who ran out of time as a regular student and didn't manage to finish their thesis during the time they where funded. These people have another job and try to finish on weekends and evenings. Allow 10 years until graduation.

With all this being said, I have a hard time understanding your situation, PhD studies in Switzerland are rarely funded with a 'scholarship'. I think you need to figure it out with the institution you are interested in first. It's rare that PhD students have another job, some do a bit of consulting, some have a start-up, but the PhD is typically a full time job.


Postdoc salary (like for any non-tenured academic position) in Germany is fairly rigidly structured. The salary is always according to the federal wage agreement ("Tarifvertrag der Länder", TV-L) and is determined by

pay scale ("Entgeltgruppe"), which depends on the position, in particular, the responsibilities that are officially attached to it. (Basically, no formal responsibility means TV-L E13; responsibility for crucial infrastructure, e.g., running a big device or doing a specific analysis for all the group, means TV-L E14, and being head of a sizeable group means TV-L E15)
pay grade ("Stufe"), which depends on how many years you've had this job (think automatic promotion); you start at Stufe 1, after 1 year you move to Stufe 2, after 2 more years it's Stufe 3 and so on.
percentage of working week ("Wochenarbeitszeit"), which is just what it sounds like. (A full working week is about 40 hours.)
federal state ("Tarifgebiet") of the institution, because the former Western states have a different agreement than the former Eastern states. (Eastern states have lower salary, because the cost of living is (assumed to be) lower.)

Only the second point actually depends on the applicant, the rest is tied to the position and needs to be fixed before it is even announced (e.g., as a 75% TV-L E13 position) and is therefore non-negotiable. The second point is somewhat negotiable by trying to get them to recognize previous postdoc positions with similar responsibility as time on the job (although that is an administrative matter, and the possible influence of the academic staff on the administration varies wildly...)

Which pay scale and in particular percentage is reasonable is very discipline-specific. If it's a full-time position with no responsibilities (such as running critical experiments for everyone else), it seems not bad because Stufe 4 is actually comparatively high (E13 only has five grades).

If you want to get gross and net salaries from pay scale, grade and percentage, you can look it up at http://oeffentlicher-dienst.info (in German, this answer might help navigating the site).


What to do when the claims in a paper are proven to be wrong?

Write a paper explaining what the errors are and how they invalidate the results of the papers in question, then submit it to a journal with good visibility and get it published. Writing directly to the journal editors is appropriate only if you have good evidence that the errors in question are deliberate (e.g., the authors have fabricated data in order to obtain the results they wanted).


Writing theory section of thesis - feels like I am just copying

Although I'm not in "physics/applied-math", but, rather, "math", I see the same or similar issue arise. Let's consider the point that, by this year, the "context/background/set-up" has very likely been highly optimized, both for effectiveness and for succinctness. Nothing wasted, nothing superfluous, etc. So it is likely to be hard to "improvise" much on its description without making it worse in some way. This may be the case even down to small notational conventions, wording, etc.

So, be absolutely scrupulous in citing, and try to have it all in your own head so that you can write it yourself (not literally copying), even while citing, ... and remarking something like "we recall some standard facts/ideas/set-up, e.g., from [X]."


Are there "restart" mechanisms for candidates seeking a graduate admission with a mediocre undergraduate record?

I don't think it is possible to give a general answer to this question. There are too many variables. On one hand people do recognize growth in a student and that new work may be more important than old. However, it also depends on what you mean by a "certificate program". There is a lot of variability in that. Some have good reputations, others not. How does a grade in a given certificate program translate to a grade in a university course? How much skill was gained in the course.

Yet another variable is which courses were taken. Is it more or less the equivalent of an undergraduate major, including all of the usual courses.

Given all of these variables, the only answer that is valid will come from a particular institution evaluating the candidates complete record and their statements about themselves and their goals. For some, the answer would be no, for others, possibly yes. The only way to know is to ask and the best way to ask is to actually apply and supply all of the needed information, including reasons why the record is a bit "unusual."


Not putting the summary of your educational information at the top of the CV would look strange (since that's essentially the universal standard).

However, what you could do afterwards is have a "blended" list of your educational/research and professional experience (in backwards chronological order):

X1-Y1:  Most recent experience/job/schooling/miscellaneous
X2-Y2:  Next most recent
X3-Y3:  Next-next most recent
. . .

and so on.

But I don't see how there would be any real confusion if you use a standard layout and explicitly write out the start and end dates of the different experiences you've had, unless some of those also overlap. (Even then, though, I think you could explain part-time work and study accordingly.)


Grades from transfer university, impact on graduate admissions?

For graduate admissions, transfer credit is treated the same way as regular credit.  Most universities will want all your undergraduate transcripts for graduate admissions.


"Write your future plans with less than 51 words": what is the purpose of this question?

I suspect there are two purposes.

To make it easier for the committee by giving a synopsis. They are busy.  A short blurb is helpful to keep track of the different applicants.
To test your ability to synthesize and present information concisely.  (The "elevator speech".)


The question is based on several false premises and this also leads to an answer:

  […] students prefer to use notes which is[sic!] clean, short, and summarized

That's not true for many students. In fact, there are students who dislike summarized text and like textbook style.

  It is true that during an academic session, a student studies for a particular subject, but he may forget some of the material so he needs to study it again few days before the exam. Studying a 500 pages textbook few days before the exams is practically impossible […]

Textbooks have a table of contents and often an index, so it is not at all impossible to brush up on a certain topic using a 500 pages textbook last minute (given that you know the context and some buzzwords).

  […] you can look at the textbook for clarification but most students really do not do this.

Many students do this, really.

  If they struggle with a particular concept, they go to the office hours of the instructor and ask for clarification.

Some come to office hours, some don't. For my courses, only very little students come to office hours and most study by other means - presumably some read a textbook.

  The textbooks also have many exercises so if any student needs to do more exercises, they can uses the prescribed textbook but I have not seen any student who does this.

Look harder. There are these students who do additional exercises.

Last point: Textbooks are used by professors to create their courses. There are great textbooks for introductory courses and professors do not want to reinvent the wheel (well, a worse wheel, actually). If they rely on textbooks for their preparation, why not tell the students which books they used?

I don't know if there are courses where you really have to purchase a textbook - you may just decide to not buy it and may be fine. I prefer to announce textbooks that are available online through subscriptions of my university and in the library as a paper copy (with at least one "permanent/reference copy" that can not be borrowed) so that the students can use the book for free.


If an author declines authorship, may her co-authors publish without her?

It seems to me that if authors B and C write in the acknowledgment section that the contribution of person A was sufficiently important that they think A should be listed as an author but that A declined and especially if authors B and C provide a description of the reasons leading to A's refusal which is satisfying to A, in other words if B and C report accurately what has been happening, then no one is behaving unethically.

For a real life example, one can look at the acknowledgment section of S.Bloch and K.Kato's work on p-adic étale cohomology, the third author being in that case O.Gabber and the reason invoked (if I recall correctly) being that Gabber did not think the work was ready for publication (I'm unable to track the precise reference at the moment, it is not Bloch and Kato's article at the IHES in 1986).

UPDATE: Because I haven't been able to track the reference of Bloch-Kato, let me point out Beilinson-Bernstein-Deligne which starts with

  Il avait d'abord été prévu que O.Gabber soit coauteur du présent article. Il a préféré s'en abstenir, pour ne pas être coresponsable des erreurs ou imprécisions qui s'y trouvent. Il n'en est pas moins responsable de bien des idées que nous exploitons et le lecteur lui est redevable de nombreuses critiques qui, nous l'espérons, ont permis d'améliorer le manuscrit.

which roughly translates as

  It was first planned that O.Gabber would be coauthor of the present article. He chose to abstain, so as not to share the responsibility of the mistakes or imprecisions to be found in it. He is nonetheless responsible of many an idea we exploit here and the reader owes him numerous criticisms which, we hope, allowed for improvements of the manuscript.


What to do if the data in a paper you are reviewing is copied from another paper of the same authors which is supposed to be a different device?

I didn't quite understand the nuances involving "different device", but if I have the rest right: you've observed that the data of the present submission is identical to that of a past submission.  The present submission involves something different enough so that identical data is not plausible, and therefore you strongly suspect that the data included in the present submission is not legitimate.  Is that it?

If so, I see just one reasonable option: bring this information to the attention of the editors.  It is serious enough that you need not (and perhaps should not) make a recommendation of acceptance or rejection: this needs to be resolved first.


Is there a database of publications for nearly all major disciplines?

LENS.org offers a free API comprising data from ca. 224 million scholarly work (according to that page about the API).
In comparison, CrossRef has ca. 120 million records (source), also with an API.
But note that the metadata from both LENS and CrossRef are limited. For instance, they do not track self-cites, they do not analyse author collaboration networks, they do not generate author profiles through algorithms (though LENS seems to plan doing so with the help of ORCiD). For such advanced purposes, commercial databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, or Dimensions are the go-to platforms.


The main thing to keep in mind is that from the host department’s point of view they aren’t inviting you to come “do a sabbatical” - that’s not an official status at any US department I know. They are inviting you to come and do a certain kind of work (usually with a title such as Visiting Professor/Researcher/Scholar, which is usually but not always unpaid), whether it’s teaching or research or some combination of the two. The fact that you’re on sabbatical from your home institution (as opposed to some other status like being on leave) is immaterial.

is it necessary to have people interested in a collaboration with them in the department they wants to visit?

I think it’s fair to say that it’s necessary to give the department a reason to invite you. They need to have some concrete expectation that your presence will be beneficial to them. The most common such reason (in my very anecdotal experience) is that you will collaborate with some of the department’s faculty, but if you’re offering to teach, run a seminar, mentor graduate students etc, those could all be useful things that might make the department receptive to inviting you. And a collaboration might not necessarily be very concrete - it may be that you are simply an expert in some field that’s of interest to someone and they feel that having you around would be nice for them and their grad students, postdocs etc, regardless of whether there is an official intent to collaborate.
It could also be that you are a famous researcher at the top of your field. In that case I doubt you will need to offer anything concrete. Just say “I was wondering if it would interest your department to have me visit next year”... Your reputation will do the convincing for you.

Is it possible to find a department for sabbatical in order to start working in a new field?

I don’t know, but I don’t see why not. Again, the key is that you have to give people a reason to want to have you around. If you want to expand from field X to field Y and the department has people who are experts on Y but are interested in learning more about X (or about techniques from X that might help them attack the problems of Y) and think you could help them, I think that could be a win-win for everyone and a perfectly good reason to invite you for a visit.


Is it appropriate to e-mail a researcher asking about progress on a follow-up paper?

Certainly this is appropriate, especially if you indicate who you are and why you are interested. Researchers are interested in spreading their results far and wide to get citations.

The worst that can happen is that the research is not yet quite publication-ready, and the author prefers not to share it yet, to avoid academic claim-jumping. If so, you may get exactly this explanation, or no answer at all.

The best, conversely, would be that this could actually lead to a fruitful discussion and/or even collaboration.


Is it plagarism if the entire paper is copied, but each sentence is quoted?

This is not plagiarism, but poor work.

See this discussion on The Chronicle of Higher Education, where several instructors opined that this type of work was not plagiarism but deserved a low grade. One (polly_mer), stated (my emphasis),

  I agree with Summers_off that the grade is low for lack of doing the work.  My syllabi and assignment sheets now have a comment of "Multiple direct quotations or extensive paraphrasing with little original work will result in a low grade" because I have had too many properly cited assignments that were all cut-and-paste with practically no synthesis.

Plagiarism has an inherent gravamen of dishonesty - that the writer is deceiving the reader into thinking that the writing is the author's when it really isn't. Building a paper that is little more than a collection of quotations and paraphrases with corresponding citations isn't dishonest, it's just crappy work. Think of it like buying a car. If someone says that the car has been scrupulously maintained and has only 20,000 miles on it, but it actually has 125,000 and needs a new engine, that is dishonest, and quite likely leaves them open to legal liability for fraud. If someone tells you that the car they are selling is a hunk of rust and oil, then it's a literal hunk of rust and oil that you aren't going to pay that much for, are you? So, the student gets what they deserve - a low grade for low-quality work.


Resurrecting old research done at another university. Do I need permission from previous supervisor to publish, and how should I credit?

There should be no problem whatsoever, but it would be correct to both inform your previous supervisor and make him/her a co-author. Importantly, they should read and be allowed to suggest edits to your manuscript which may both enhance it scientifically and its chances of success at review. It's a win-win approach in my experience since you both benefit. In no way does this dilute the level of your 'ownership' of the paper or your intellectual input, and indeed, if your supervisor is well known in their field, you may also benefit from the association.


Ethics of dissertation / thesis proofreading

Proofreading and even light editing for proper language usage and understandability should not be an issue at all. You are not contributing to the actual work, just to its explanation. Advisors sometimes do this sort of thing.

I'll assume of course that the theses you read aren't fundamentally about the language itself. But proofreading a math paper, say, helping the author to find the right English or German or whatever words and phrases for expressibility is ok as long as it doesn't change the content or the ideas. I'm assuming, also, that the advice you would give is non-technical.

However, the best way to do this is to make suggestions to the author about places in the text that need improvement, rather than doing a markup. This aids the author in developing professional language skills and helps assure that you don't cross boundaries.

If you are in the same field then it is easy to go too far, so you need to guard against that.

I should note that some people take a very strict view about such things and would forbid it.


Article that shows the complete publication history of acceptances and rejections of a successful academic

I don't know if this is the article you're referring to, because the researcher is in biology, not psychology; and the journal article doesn't include the list of manuscripts, only the recommendation to keep one:

  Stefan, Melanie. "A CV of Failures." Nature 468.7322 (2010): 467. Doi:10.1038/nj7322-467a. Web. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7322/full/nj7322-467a.html.

I can't seem to find the link to the author's actual CV of Failures (though I feel like I've seen it before), I can only find the article explaining it. However, if you search "CV of Failures" you will find some publicly available examples from other researchers.

P.S. I keep an ongoing CV of failures as described in the Nature article and  I highly recommend the exercise.


Does lecturing for your PI count as a "guest lecture" for a CV?

I would limit the term "guest lecture" to cases where you were specifically invited to give a lecture to the course, because of your ability to contribute something special that the regular instructor could not do.  (E.g. you have special expertise on a particular topic, or experiences to relate, or notable achievements, etc.)  I wouldn't apply it to simply covering a class (teaching routine material) because the professor is away.

However, you would normally have a separate section on your CV describing your teaching experience, which would include an entry showing that you were a TA for this course.  Under this entry, you could describe your duties, which could include something like "occasional lecturing".


Should I adress myself as a doctor (Ph.D.) when I am only waiting for the diploma to be signed?

As I understand it, you have met the requirements for graduation but you have not applied for graduation yet, so you have not graduated. The degree of Dr. has not been conferred to you by the university, so you should not use it.

The importance of this varies by country: in some countries such as Germany, this is explicitly stated in the university regulations. In the US, many universities have three official degree conferral dates every year (at the end of each term, see for example https://web.iit.edu/registrar/academic-calendar), and you are not expected to use the title before the degree has been conferred.

Others may address you as they wish, but trying to use the title yourself might be seen by some as dishonest.


About opportunities for international student in China?

tl;dr: It strongly depends on the relative perceived status of where you are coming from vs. where you're working at. If you're from a top-300 university (especially from the US) taking your PhD at a mid-tier Chinese university, you're likely to get offers. If you're from a low-status country/department in a large institution, expect empty promises.

I have accepted a postdoctoral contract in a mid-tier Chinese university, which was not a pleasant experience. One of the main conditions by which I accepted their postdoc offer was precisely a declared prospect of ultimately hired getting as a TA. Eventually I've learnt from other postdoc colleagues that they were all told the same story, but only the first foreign PhD that ever came from abroad got hired. Others worked hard towards pleasing local staff until they would burn out and leave. First they're told they can get a TA offer if they publish many papers, then if they publish higher impact, and after achieving that, if they can earn a top competitive grant. I've a friend who just went through all steps involving >20 papers and 2 big grants, and all he got out of it was a 6-month agreement to teach a single topic in exchange for a low pay.

We are all postdocs coming from 3rd world countries. I eventually met an English professor who got hired straight away from abroad. I've also heard from European and American colleagues from other institutions in China who had no trouble getting local contracts. I have nonetheless met dozens of Pakistani, Middle-Eastern, Indian fellows who were jumping from one institution to other without getting ever getting anything solid.

Chinese culture is strongly conscious over status. Abiding to very local standards. My general advice is, if you're not a US-passport holder neither coming from some US university, if you're not caucasian fully-fluent speaker of English, if you haven't published in top-prestige journals, or at least not from some top-300 [national rank] university or 1st-world citizen, don't nurture high hopes of being offered a staff position in China. And beware of empty promises.


Will there by any copyright issue if we decide to add ACM Computing Classification System to our theses?

Copyright applies to the text of the classification, not to the use of it. Giving the classification of a document would be roughly like citing a result in another paper (and is the purpose of the classification). There would only be a copyright issue if you want to copy out part of the text.


Which publications actually count for tenure?

I can't speak for your field or institution, so take anything I say with that in mind.

That being said, in my experience (in computer science, at a well-ranked private university) what matters is not so much who you collaborate with, but that you have a research agenda that is strongly identified with you (as opposed to your senior coauthors). If all of your papers are coauthored with the same senior researcher, this can look bad, because it can be difficult to disentangle your research agenda from his or hers. But if your papers have a cohesive theme, and are coauthored with a variety of other people (even if many are senior), this is great.

So in summary, in the parts of academia I have seen, you should collaborate with whoever you want to, but make sure you have your own research problems and are not just working on your coauthor's problems.


When to submit as a "Brief communication", when as an article?

The answer is often that you submit an article, and the journal says "We might accept this if you can make it a brief communication, which means 1 table, and X words".  (Where X is a relatively small number.

Write the article and see if it naturally fits into their criterion for brief communication. If it does, submit it as such, if not, submit it as an article. The length of a 'real' article depends on the journal, but I've had a lot of papers rejected and this only happened once because the article was too short.


How much research funding do faculty members get in China?

I will state here what I know. Which is not too much, I am afraid. I am a postdoc in China since almost 2 years. I am not planning on staying longer as I did not identify with their work culture in the academia. Therefore I did not invest much of my time into learning about funding in China and applying for grants.

From my understanding there are several funding sources, the main ones being Province-level and National-level. They open calls for applications at different times of the year; e.g. September and March. Chances of success are highly dependent on your 'face' with your peers, the status of your college/institution, and nature of the grant call. Foreigners have an edge nowadays, particularly as there are grants specific for international projects. Currently in Biology the main topics being funded revolve around 'applied agriculture' and a few 'hot' fields such as STEM cells, CRISPR.

Currently (as of 2015-2017) there is a lot of funding available for research in China. Grants vary in amount of money they can provide, varying from what I've heard from mere 10k USD to much more. However one should be aware that grants come with specifications on what they should be spent on. For instance, there are grants which more flexible (usually modest) and more voluminous budgets for purchasing equipment, or others dedicated to "projects". I have heard of grants above 100k USD as you mention, for specific projects and head-start for fresh professors. The way it works, there are always workarounds in spending the money outside of the rules, but that will depend on knowing the ways and a lot of 'guanxi'. Beware of being caught redhanded as regulatory measures can be quite strict in modern China.

That said, it is my opinion that 100k USD per year sounds like excellent funding opportunity, but obviously the amount must be gauged in face of what it is, general context, and how it should be spent. If that includes salary, conference stipends, publication charges, and no significant structure or equipment is already available, this amount is likely not much. Keep in mind that because of careless handling and a lack of a maintenance culture, quite frequently equipment which appear listed as available at Chinese institutions actually may not be working properly... hence you may have to negotiate new ones.
I was attracted to my postdoc position by being shown pictures of heavy equipment such as a GC, centrifuges, PCR machines, microscopes, a lyophiliser, which in the end are not working but just sitting around.

My advice: visit first, take a long critical look around, and see through what is being promised and, most importantly implied between vague statements and contract lines. There is a lot of opportunity in China but one must be prepared for some intricate game.


What if I get assigned to teach topic I know nothing about? Do I have any discretion in what I teach?

Does a faculty member have any discretion in what he/she teaches?

Informally/unofficially: yes, they should have some say in it -- it would be weird for them not to be at least asked about their preferences. Formally/officially: how could they?  If five or ten or thirty or one hundred faculty members each insist that they must teach Y and/or cannot teach X then with very high probability there will be no way to make everyone happy.  Scheduling classes for a university department is a huge pain in the butt no matter what.  (I have never done it myself and would never do it...because it's a huge pain in the butt.  However, my current job of Graduate Coordinator is laterally adjacent to this position and close enough for me to see how difficult it is.)  If you don't give department figures at least some amount of authority over the faculty members on matters pertaining to the department as a whole, then there is an ever present threat of devolving into anarchy.

More crisply: be careful.  Outright refusing to do one of their core job responsibilities is the best way for a tenured faculty member to get in serious trouble, up to and including getting fired.  Based on my own practical experience, it would be a bit over the top for someone to get fired after having pulled this once, but the point is that you'd be standing on shaky ground.  Moreover, outright refusal is not a very helpful position:

  both for my own sake and the sake of the students.

I just said that doing this is probably not in your own best interest.  Moreover, how is it in the interest of the students?  If you really just refuse, then what happens?  I guess the chair books you to teach the class anyway and you don't show up...this is not helping anyone.

So what should you do?  Talk further to the chair and other faculty.  The chair is trying to solve an administrative problem: find someone to teach X.  As with most academic administrators, he is doing it under severe constraints: apparently no one else has an open teaching slot.  So he has found the best "local solution" to the problem: assign Professor Fixee to do it.  You should have at least one in-person conversation with the chair and go over the following two points:

1) Help him understand why his proposed solution is a bad one.

He doesn't seem to be looking at the fact that you have no knowledge of subject X whatsoever.  Maybe he thinks you're exaggerating to get out of an undesirable teaching assignment.  You have to let him know the truth and explore some of the implications of this with him.  (By the way, could it be that you are not actually uniquely unqualified to teach subject X -- maybe nobody else knows any more than you?  Maybe their one expert in subject X left suddenly?  It's possible...)

2) Help him "widen the problem-solving window" to include other solutions, and take on some of the effort in solving the problem yourself.

Let's assume you are literally the worst person in the department to teach subject X.  So who is actually more qualified to teach it?  (You do the work in figuring that out.)  Okay, so why are these people not teaching it -- presumably they are already loaded up with teaching assignments or other professional obligations.  Can you arrange a swap with one of these faculty members?  If so, do it and present that to the chair as a solution.

TL;DR: If you go to an administrative figure and say "Sorry, what you've asked me to do just won't work; please fix it," their answer is much more likely to be negative than if you say, "What you've asked me to do has some serious drawbacks; I'd like to propose that we do this instead."  In my experience when two faculty members come to the relevant faculty administrator and say "We'd like to swap classes X and Y" the answer is usually yes.  Why not?  It creates no new problems for them to solve.


I am better at starting projects than closing projects.

Well, this is not really about you, but the thing in the background is

having an idea for a project is often much simpler than working it out and finalizing it.

Some other words of wisdom are the devil is in the details.

So by declaring that you "are better at starting than at closing" you mount a straw man to distract you from the hard part of research. I agree, the first steps into a new idea are usually fun and some first results are easy to obtain. But, as you also noted, along the way it gets harder and often messier. Going through this, staying focused and sticking to the problem is an integral part of research.

If you would answer with "I could close the project if I wanted to, but I am just better in starting new ones." I'd challenge you to go for it and really finish one project before you start the next one.

As for the question "How can I get better at closing?". One thing is simply to realize that finishing a project/finalizing a manuscript is a hard but important task. Sometimes it feels boring to edit the manuscript once again, go over parameter settings once again, recheck derivations once again, update the bibliography once again... but this is a part of doing research: Bring it in a form that is useful to others.


How to write a research proposal for a PhD position where the description of the project is given?

If the research project description is very specific, think of it as a job application.

The research project is the job advert.

The research proposal you will write up and send out is your cover letter. You ought to demonstrate how you're the best fit for the research project.

Approaching the research supervisor in advance of the application deadline would be good, if their details are given as part of the project description.

One cannot assume that 'the supervisor knows how they want to complete the project'. One supervisor might be very prescriptive, the next supervisor will be very open-minded or loose.


Actually, the problem is deeper than this. The web is volatile. Any time you cite the web with a url, give the date that you accessed it.
So, if you have a date, even just a month, say, then give the url and the date.
There are resources like the Wayback Machine that archive web sites. It might be possible that the pages you need can be found there.


Publishing someone else's thesis work without their consent

I think in this case, the easiest solution would be to publish your paper with a reference to that other student's thesis (or unpublished work).


Changing the typeface from the official style in a conference paper

In general you are not supposed to make any such changes. Most journals and proceedings have some form of either "instructions for authors" or template, or both, which you are supposed to follow. If you submit something with a different type face, the most likely result is that it will be changed to whatever the journal/equivalent requires.

If you submit to a conference which do not have any specifications on paper formatting, I doubt that anyone will make complaints about your formatting.

The key point I would make is: if there is a set of instructions/template which you are supposed to follow/use, then you should do so. Otherwise trust your instincts and experience of what consitutes good formatting.


Reproducing experimental data from published work

The reviewer appears to say that you should plot both experimental data and calculation results, perhaps in the same or a nearby figure, to allow a direct comparison between theory and experiment. In case you haven't already done so and assuming it's feasible, I'd suggest following the referee's advise. It'd make your paper more self-contained, and such plots can better demonstrate that your theoretical model describes the experiment accurately than some extracted numbers (e.g. averages) for which spurious agreement can occur more easily. You may ask the author(s) of the experimental study for data, or extract it yourself from their plots.


Destructive bureaucracy and how to oppose it

This is a very old question. People in my country are also insane and love their bureaucracy. What I learned is that they are also deadly afraid their paperwork won't be done right. So, I started to get the people at the offices to do my paperwork for me. It is their job anyway.

When I got first into my job, my first idea was to gather enough support from my colleagues to mount a strong protest. I heard, but I can't find a link, that Polish researchers got fired the staff of their state grant agency after complaining how those guys hinder them. It is not possible in my country, and it may not be possible in yours. So, in my experience, the best way is to totally neglect paperwork except for what is essential: travel-related and buying equipment for research. Then, your bureaucrats will come begging for signatures and you train them like that. If you get chewed on by your boss, you can just reply that you "forgot", you are "very sorry", etc.

In any case, giving up the notion that you'll ever do competitive research in a system like that might help, but I didn't succeed at that myself.


How do I express a degree on my CV that I have completed but have not been awarded?

If for example it's a PhD which has been ratified but not officially conferred, you can write:

PhD (Discipline) Awaiting Conferral.


Is there any such career as a medical researcher?

Finding jobs in medical research that are attached to neither hospitals or universities is going to be difficult. Most career researchers will either teach (in a university) or under take professional practice (in a hospital for a medic).

You don't say if you have a PhD or not. Generally, if you want a job in medical research outside a hospital, you will definitely need a PhD.

There do exist independent/third sector research institutes that neither teach, nor are involved directly with patient treatment. In the US, the obvious example is the NIH facilities at Bethesda, the Sanger Institute/Crick Institute in the UK, or the Max Plank institutes in Germany. You might also find there is some medical research directly for government agencies (e.g. the civil service in the UK).

However, getting a job at one of these institutions is very difficult, as many, many people want to just do research.

Of course, the final option for medical research outside medicine/academia is industry.


PhD examiner disappeared, what I can do?

In circumstances such as this, you should consult the faculty member or administrator in your department who is responsible for overseeing the thesis examination process for doctoral candidates.

Different departments have different ways of handling such non-responses. In some cases, they may simply say that the examiner has, through non-communication, implicitly accepted the thesis "as is." Other departments may unfortunately insist on having both examiners "sign off" on the final submission before it is accepted. My department, for instance, leans toward the first policy, in that it is the actual supervisor of the student who "accepts" the final submitted version of the thesis.

However, without talking specifically to people in your department, it is impossible to tell you what will happen here.


Why are PhDs the most common doctoral degree?

This answer suffered a Major Revision!

A Ph.D. is an academic doctoral degree and have nothing to do with philosophy nowadays.

From Wikipedia:

  In the context of the Doctor of Philosophy and other similarly titled degrees, the term "philosophy" does not refer to the field or academic discipline of philosophy, but is used in a broader sense in accordance with its original Greek meaning, which is "love of wisdom".

People often refers to an academic doctorate as a Ph.D., even when the official title in their university/country is different of Doctor of Philosophy. The reason beyond its popularity is because a Ph.D. is a title traditionally conceded in countries with anglo-saxonic language and since the common language in the academia is English we often "translate" our titles to the equivalent in English.

I have recently learned with @Pete L. Clark that there are different types of doctorates in the US that give the same legal statute as an academic doctorate, but with different structure and requisites from a doctorate in Science. The example that he used was the Doctor of Arts (D.A.), a title that gives equivalent rights as a Ph.D. in which concerns teaching and research in universities.

My previous misunderstanding was due to the structure of high level education that I am used to in Portugal and Brazil. In both countries Therapists, Physicians, Lawyers and others do not have a doctoral degree. In Portugal a physician have Master's degree in Health Science or a 6 years pre-bologna licenciatura degree (undergraduate degree). If a physician/lawyer/therapists wants to have a doctoral degree here they need to engage in a minimum 3 years doctoral course, publish articles and defend an original thesis.

For a historical insight and more complete overview, please read this article and this article.

I'm sorry for the previous wrong answer. I think the question is too wide and depends highly on which country we are talking about. I assumed things about the doctoral degrees on the US that are not true.

Edit: Of course that there are many different ways to refer to an academic doctorate depending on the country the title is emitted. The point is: they are all equivalent. A German Doktorgrad is equivalent to a Ph.D. in the UK and to a Doutoramento/Doutorado in Portugal/Brazil, etc. In the other way researchers would not be able to work across the borders.


Can I use an accented Chinese name when publishing a paper in academia?

I always list myself in all my papers as José F. Martínez. Some people are better than others at replicating the accents in citations. Search engines have become much better at matching papers to names with accents even if citations won't include them, so in terms of missing citations (e.g., Google Scholar) I don't think it should be an issue.

My students definitely know how to write the accents :)


I'm very concerned about the mental health of my co-worker: how can I help them?

The first step is to work to convince them to seek professional help, both for their emotional state and for any perceived improper actions of others. Tell them that the "fear of dying" suggests that they should visit a counselor, perhaps at the university, and work through the issue.
Don't start, however, with notifying other authorities yourself (caveat below) as you don't know what that might trigger at their university. You might be making their problems worse.
The caveat is the situation in which they suggest they might harm another person. Then you need to contact that person, if possible, or some authority. As I understand it, that is the same sort of action that a professional would be required to take.
I don't have advice, unfortunately, for the case in which they say they will harm themself. A trained counselor will have a solution I think. I don't know the ethics of contacting authorities in that situation.
But start with them. Don't try to counsel them yourself, as you don't have the training. But try to get them to seek the help they need themselves.