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[ "How do you keep up with (non-periodical) conference proceedings?", "I am an EE & CS graduate student and IEEE is a typical and well-known associations.\n\nI am getting papers published in Transactions, Journals Magazines, etc... via RSS feed. For example, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing has a feed published once a month. \n\nSo far, however, I couldn't find a way to get a list of conference proceeding papers when they are published. As a conference proceeding is not a periodical publication, generally, there is no such feed things. Therefore, I have to wait and check everyday until it is published. (Some conference provides papers when conference is being held. But in general, it takes two or three months from the conference to be published.)\n\nFurthermore, USENIX has a feed, but it is not a feed about published papers. USENIX does not provide any feed even for the periodical.\n\nIn such situation, how do you keep up with the recent publications?\n\n\nI don't care about the recent publication. I search them on demand.\nI keep up them manually. (You are a very diligent person. :-> )\nMy organization (university, company) has a sort of curation, curator.\nNone of them. Other ways." ]

[ "publications" ]

[ "Electronics Engineer Doing a Bachelor Thesis in Physics", "I am an electronics engineering undergrad currently choosing a topic for my bachelor thesis. \n\nI have always been interested in physics in general, and in quantum mechanics in particular. To make sure my attraction to quantum mechanics wasn't merely that of a layman reading about the cool properties of the quantum world, I studied as much textbook quantum mechanics as I could lay my hands on. I audited online courses offered by MIT and Stanford in addition to the studying I did from the best undergraduate textbook out there. And I was doing that parallel to my university engineering work. \n\nNow I have the opportunity to apply for a bachelor thesis at a prestigious german university in the topic of Quantum Dot Qubits, which is, as you might have deduced from the name, a quantum mechanical topic. \n\nBut because physics is not my major, I had doubts about whether I am qualified to apply, so I looked at the university's undergrad physics curriculum and, not surprisingly, the Quantum Mechanics courses included titles that I know of but did not have the chance to delve deeply into. But I am quite confident (with a hope that I am not overestimating my abilities) that I can catch up to whatever I am lacking (which is not a lot - pretty much little chunks here and there) pretty quickly. \n\nFor the past couple of days I have been deciding back and forth on whether I should apply, with my leash being that ,whatever I have studied, I don't have as much experience as the physics students (I did not solve as much problems) to carry out the highly physical research that would be assigned to me. But I saw this post and this post, and after reading that \"Bachelor theses are closer to literature reviews\" I think my decision is going to be to apply after all and acquire the chunks of knowledge I am missing on the go. Would that decision be wise?\n\nEDIT (Jan. 23, 2017): 5 months ago, I successfully completed my bachelor's thesis in the field of quantum information, and I got the top grade. I am currently applying for grad studies in the same research area." ]

[ "thesis", "physics", "germany", "bachelor", "electrical-engineering" ]

[ "How do I know if I'm good enough to be a math professor?", "I would like to apply for graduate school to become a mathematics professor.\n\nHowever, given that the opportunity cost of grad school is high and that I already have a stable, good paying job, I would like to know whether I have the talent and ability to be a math professor before I start. This is obviously a very difficult question to answer, but I'll explain my situation.\n\nI believe I have above-average math talent, although I wouldn't consider myself a genius and I've had people in my classes smarter than me. However, I've gotten high marks in nearly all math courses and I've written a honors thesis which has also received very high marks. I've also worked as a research assistant. Basically, I think I've done pretty well and perform competently in all the mathematical challenges that has come my way so far.\n\nBut being a math professor requires original ideas and lots of publishing. I haven't had any significant original ideas, but it's probably true that most people at my level of education also haven't (correct me if I'm wrong here). My main concern is how do I know if I would be able to generate enough original ideas to keep publishing and maintain a successful academic career? Unlike working in mathematical modeling in the private sector, where one cannot really get \"stuck\" in the same way, it seems like a risk to be a professor since it's really hard to guarantee that you'll always be able to produce new research.\n\nDo any mathematicians working in academia have any comments about how one knows if they'll be able to continually generate new ideas to produce publishable research?" ]

[ "graduate-school", "professors", "job", "mathematics" ]

[ "How does one find \"suitable referees\" for publishing a paper in journal?", "In many journals, authors who have never published anything before are required to have two or more \"referees\" in order for the paper to be reviewed. Who are these referees, and how can one \"find suitable ones\"?\n\nAlso, how does one go about finding referees when one is not in academia (i.e. doing research as a hobby rather than a profession)?" ]

[ "publications", "journals" ]

[ "\"This is very interesting as a project\" What is the next step to obtain PhD position?", "I am submitting to several schools for PhD position in CS. I am following the advices about how to contact professors. \n\nOne professor I sent to suggesting some idea about her previous research and asking that I want to indicate my desire to work under her supervision. She replied \"This is very interesting as a project. Please apply for the next deadline\". It is very encouraging response. However, the admission decision is at the department level. So I will have to apply and there are several other requirements which I am not completely sure if I entirely meet. \n\nI feel like I must focus on this positive side in order to increase my chances, but I do not know how. Should I keep in touch with the professor although she can do nothing now until the decision is made? Should I send more details about the suggested idea in order to show how motivated I am (I am not sure if she's part of the admission committee). What is the second step to increase my chances to get admission? \n\nDo you think sending more emails to the professor is annoying or does show my enthusiasm? Any thing I can do to support more application at this time?\n\nUpdate for who may concern\nThe application has not been accepted." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "application" ]

[ "Most efficient way of booking academic supervision appointments", "I'm wondering if there's a more efficient method of booking an academic supervision appointment. The method I experienced was a schedule on the professor's door, first-come-first-serve. \n\nHow do we employ technology that is the most efficient (reduces scheduling time, permitting all students to view sign ups)?" ]

[ "academic-life" ]

[ "How should I describe my country's volatile situation in a letter for a scholarship application?", "I'm writing a letter of motivation to apply for a master degree scholarship. However, my marks in final years of study weren't the highest possible due to the effect of the ongoing crisis in my country, Syria, on me.\n\nIn this question, I asked whether I should mention this in my letter, and the answer was that I should.\n\nNow I want to know, what is the best way to mention this in my letter? Is one paragraph about it too much?" ]

[ "application", "funding" ]

[ "Do I own the copyright to my Master's thesis? or does it belong to my university?", "I am just done with my Masters degree in one of the universities in Germany. I am wondering if I can make my Master's thesis open for public to download and read. \n\nI am not talking about submitting it to a journal or a conference, I am just asking if I can put the PDF file I submitted to my professor on my website. My question is that if I do put on my website, will I run into copyright issues and stuff of that kind?" ]

[ "thesis", "copyright", "legal-issues", "germany" ]

[ "What is the proper way to cite an image source, if they were given to me by a company?", "I am writing my thesis and use images that were created by a company. These images are not available online, they were handed to me.\n\nHow would I properly give them credit for their images? If it is relevant, I have to use IEEE citation style." ]

[ "citations", "citation-style" ]

[ "Is graduating on the August a problem in admission for PhD programs in the U.S.?", "I'm studying at UCB through an off-campus program this year. My original school is University of Minnesota, and I'm applying for PhD programs in the U.S. which begin from the end of August. I found that there is a chance that I have to either take online courses during semester or spend the summer (until the beginning of August) to take liberal education courses of UMN in order to graduate. For the latter case, I will get my degree on the beginning of August, and this is much later than the norm. Is this going to be a problem in admission?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions" ]

[ "Can I share an unpublished paper without this counting as prior publication?", "I need to share a draft of a scientific paper with another person. I have the intention of publish it, but it is not ready for submission yet.\nWhen submitting my paper, I would like to avoid accusations that it is not original work.\nDo I have to take anything into account in this respect before sending it?" ]

[ "publications", "publishability", "preprint" ]

[ "What are the health impacts of standing / sitting while lecturing?", "I often find myself lecturing for 7 hours in one day. This question is not about how to reduce my hours, it is about making healthy choices with my existing constraints.\n\nI am lecturing to different classes during the day (it is not a single group of students for all 7 hours), in case that makes a difference.\n\nI realize that during my lectures, I must choose what to do with my body. Should I sit (blood clots, deep-vein thrombus) or do I stand (I've heard non-lecturers complain about swelling legs when standing too much). \n\nMy questions are:\n\n\nWhat impacts are known from standing while lecturing for 7 hours per day, 3 days per week?\nIs it better to stand or to walk around?\nIs it better to sit for the whole time?\nIs it best to do a \"little bit of everything?\" If so, where is the optimal balance?\n\n\nI realize that this might be specific to the person but I am hoping to find some experiences or, even better, research, which will indicate the best choices to make when one must lecture for many hours." ]

[ "reference-request", "health", "lecture-teaching-method" ]

[ "Why mention town and country of equipment manufacturer?", "For reproducibility I see the use of mentioning the equipment type, version number and manufacturer. But in the internet age it seems unnecessary to me to mention the town and country of an equipment manufacturer in the methods section of an academic paper.\n\nIn my opinion it was probably useful when you needed a phone book to look up the company details. Nowadays, I think these details make the papers less readable because they break the flow of the text.\n\nHowever, my PI and some coworkers always want me to add this information without giving a reason why. (If they give reasons they are: \"the journal wants it\" [not true], or \"everybody does it this way\" [bad reason])\n\nIs there any good reason to add the town/country that I did not think of?" ]

[ "publications", "writing" ]

[ "Comparison of student involvement in research in different countries", "In the United States, a student who will successfully enter academia will do some research as an undergraduate, and then in graduate school focus mainly on research. (Obviously this is just a generalization).\n\nMy question is: how is this different in other countries in terms of how students are involved in research? In what ways at what ages? For example, the United states has lots of government funded programs where undergraduates can meaningfully participate in research. Are there comparable programs in other countries?" ]

[ "research-process", "research-undergraduate", "research-assistantship" ]

[ "Citing ideas but extending information", "Imagine the following situation: Mr. Expert writes that it is important to have A,B & C. Dr. Smart writes it is important to have A, Y, Z. As both are using the arguments to lead to different topics, their list is not exhaustive and {A,B,C,Y,Z} do not contradict. \n\nI think all points are important, but I would also like to add that A may be red or blue. Hence I think:\n\nRed and blue A, B, C, Y and Z are important.\n\nBut how do I cite them correctly?\n\nRed and blue A, B, C, Y and Z are important [Mr. Expert; Dr. Smart].\n\nThis is the only form that doesn't make the sentence contain more citations than actual words. Is this a bad citation style, e.g. might Mr. Expert complain that he never said A should be red or blue or that he thinks Z is completely irrelevant? Or am I just noting that some ideas might be copied from one (or maybe multiple) listed sources?" ]

[ "publications", "citations", "authorship", "quotation" ]

[ "Is it ethical to profit by having my students buy my textbook?", "This question was suggested to me by How can I sell my text book to my students in e-book format? which asked about the practicalities, but attracted many comments about the ethics. So this question is to ask about the ethics directly.\n\nSuppose I have written and published a textbook, and I want to use it as the text for a course I am teaching. I receive royalties from each copy of my book that is sold, so if my students are required to buy my textbook for the course, I will make some money. Is it ethical to do so?\n\nWell-reasoned opinions would be useful answers, but even more useful would be pointers to institutional policies, professional codes of ethics, etc, that address this issue.\n\nOf course, there are many ways to avoid profiting from the sale of my book to my students. If my contract with my publisher allows it, I could distribute PDFs to my students, or have the university bookstore print out copies and sell them at cost. Another approach I've heard of is to compute how much I earn in royalties on each copy, and refund that amount from my pocket to each student who buys a copy. Or, use my royalty earnings to buy pizza for the class. Certainly these are nice gestures, but I would like opinions on whether they are ethically required.\n\nEdit: To address some questions that have arisen in the comments:\n\n\nThis question is hypothetical. I haven't published any textbooks myself and have no immediate plans to do so. In any case, my personal preference would be to make the book available to students for free, if at all possible. So I've phrased this question in the first person for rhetorical convenience only.\nI had intended the question to be only about the potential financial conflict of interest that could arise if I make money by assigning my own book. Some of the answers feel that it is improper for me to assign my own textbook at all, whether I make money or not, but I don't think this point of view is prevalent within the academic community. If it happens that my book (as a pithy but now-deleted comment put it) \"blows\", I think most would agree that my decision to assign it is pedagogically unfortunate, but not unethical. \nI don't literally mean that students would be required to buy the book, only that they'd be expected to have it. I might assign readings or homework problems from the book, so that the student needs access to the book in order to do them, but they could certainly achieve this by getting a used copy or borrowing from a friend. But probably most students would buy new copies anyway, since that is the most convenient way." ]

[ "teaching", "ethics", "books" ]

[ "The paper I reviewed got worse in parts, due to poor advice from another reviewer", "I reviewing a paper and now getting the revised paper for the next round. Although it has improved overall, in some parts, the paper has become worse when the authors followed (in my opinion) poor advice from another reviewer (I can see the other peer review). Is it appropriate to advice the authors to ignore the advice from the other reviewer and revert this particular change? It concerns a minor point." ]

[ "peer-review" ]

[ "Applied vs Theoretical Journals (or venues)", "This question is primarily for the Math/TCS/Systems community. I expect that similar situations (theory vs practice/applied journals) arises in other context as well so feel free to comment what is going on in your field. Also, it is not exclusive to journals.\n\nI have what is in my opinion a good theoretical/algorithmic result that has many applications to system stuff like cloud computing/fault tolerant stuff etc. The paper is theoretical nevertheless, without experiments etc. \nI have two options: \n\n\nsubmit it to a good TCS journal (DAM/Algorithmica etc) without caring too much for applications and focus purely on the math stuff.\nSubmit it to a more \"system\" journal (for example IEEE/ACM TON/ToPDS or Journal of Par. Dist. Comput. etc). Such journals could accept, on principle, more algorithmic results provided they have clear real world applications relevant to the scope of the journal.\n\n\nMy question to the TCS community: How bad/good looks on the CV a theoretical result on a -nevertheless good- system journal but not so visible to the TCS/Math community?\n\nMy question to the System community: How do you react when you see such a pure algorithmic result in such a journal? Even if it is motivated by real life system applications.\n\nMy question to the Industry people: Does it make more sense for my CV to demonstrate that I can publish to more system journals (like the above). How do you act when you receive application from TCS people? \n\nThe last question is in purpose general. Depends the position. But do some publications in more practical journal give extra credit to the applicant?\n\nUpdate: For what is worth, in case anyone is interested I can share my mild experience. I submitted to a (prestigious, if it matters) system journal my work (which is rather heavy from technical/math point of view). The paper got accepted, but it strikes me that none of the reviewers spent time on the technical part (at least not very carefully). They rather cared on the applications part (and they were happy with it). I am a little disappointed since I expected people to check the math part, and this makes me a bit reluctant to try similar journals in the future. \n\nStill, my question stands: How does it look on the CV from a TCS/Math point of view? Does it make any difference (positive or negative)? Does it look \"suspicious\" that I have chosen a system journal when I could perfectly choose an algorithmic/applied math one? The reason I did that, is because I wanted to show a little bit of \"diversity\" in my CV (plus the fact that I like systems in general). Does it make any sense?" ]

[ "publications", "research-process", "journals", "cv" ]

[ "Second Masters in maths after master's in physics: how does it help getting into PhD in Europe?", "How does it help doing a second master's in mathematics after doing first master's in Physics for getting a PhD in theoretical Physics in Europe?\n\nWill it be helpful to compensate for a low GPA in Masters in Physics?\n\nDoes the reputation of the university (master's degree) really matters for the PhD admissions if one has got enough project experiences in the field from top institutions?" ]

[ "phd", "gpa", "europe", "second-degree" ]

[ "How to make transition from trade school to graduate degree?", "This question is asking how to bridge the gap between knowing programming to research. \n\nI'm an undergraduate in a decent BA computer science program at a college with a decent-to-low reputation. Most of the professors here aren't PhDs. I can't transfer to another college, because a close relative of mine is at a prominent member of this college's staff and all eyes are on me. I've taken data structures, architecture, etc but it's much more of a trade school than a rigorous theoretical foundation.\n\nAfter reading a few advanced data structure books, I've become very interested in certain theoretical computer science topics. If I want to do research after undergrad, how should I go about it? I'm a pretty motivated person and I am good at self studying. Should I try to create interesting projects? work on open-source? work at a prestigious company?\n\nThanks for any advice." ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "undergraduate", "research-undergraduate" ]

[ "How to work with a RA unwilling to work with me?", "I've recently started a new role on a three year project. I'm a research officer and I've joined onto the project about 8 months in at new research institute, there are three CIs. I've been brought on due to my expertise in a set of areas that the project is lacking, which includes theoretical/methodological knowledge and project management experience/skills. In terms of hierarchy, it's the three CIs, then me, then the RA. I've been brought on as a new early career researcher having already completely my Phd. \n\nThere is a graduate student research assistant involved with the project and their contract will finish at the end of the year. There is no money for additional work for them, and it is expected that I'll be taking over all of the their duties in addition to project management as well as creative contribution. The RA has been tasked to support me in the transition period as I take over the project and see out its implementation. \n\nI've been getting along well with the chief investigators and am beginning to settle into the role. However, my struggle is with the RA, who is unwilling to work with me or allow me access to any of the materials. If I ask them to help me with something, they go to one of the CIs and complain that they are confused about what they are being tasked with. In meetings, I find that they roll their eyes at me, and give off a hostile vibe. In some cases, I feel as though my intelligence is being belittled despite being brought on as a senior researcher, because my research background, (while complimentary) is quite different to the standard background at this institute. \n\nI know that this could potentially be a bit of backlash for me being brought onto the project, and that they are concerned about their contributions. They have been told that they are not staying on past a particular date (or so I've been told), and there might be some unintentional gate-keeping/attachment to the project that they are unwilling to let go. However, they've also been made aware that their contributions will count towards co-authoring a paper or two, so they won't be kicked off completely with nothing to show for it. \n\nWhile I have brought up this issue with the CIs, it's still happening, and I'm not sure what the next step is or how to manage this effectively.\n\nHas anyone had this experience before and can offer some suggestions/guidance?" ]

[ "research-process", "collaboration", "students", "projects" ]

[ "How are academic relations between mainland China and Taiwan?", "Both mainland China and Taiwan have internationally notable universities. How are the relations between their academic research communities? \n\nDoes getting involved (as a Westerner) with either of these research communities lead to political obstacles regarding the other?" ]

[ "politics", "china" ]

[ "How can I determine whether a conference is reputable?", "I recently received an invitation to a conference and I'm trying to determine how reputable it is. Is there a good way to go about this?" ]

[ "publications", "conference" ]

[ "What subjects benefit from textbook editions?", "I've read several questions relating to the (typically US) practice of requiring students to buy up-to-date, expensive, editions of textbooks. I can see why the publishers are in favour of this, but I don't understand why everyone else plays along. As far as I've seen, the UK seems to get along fine without this.\n\nIn my field (mathematics) it seems pretty obvious that new editions are generally not that important - maths just doesn't change that fast (the material taught at undergraduate level has mostly been around for the odd hundred years). So my question is:\n\nAre there subjects for which it is important to have the most up-to-date edition of a texbook, enough to justify the cost to students (/libraries)?" ]

[ "books" ]

[ "Choosing between primary advisors for a PhD program", "I currently work as a research assistant for Prof. A on a government funded project which ends this year. I have advised Prof. A that I am interested in pursuing a PhD and that I would like to stay at the institute I am currently at and to potentially complete it with them as well.\n\nMy job has ended up being that I do the bulk of my experimental work in Prof. B's group, as they have the necessary tools and expertise to answer the questions we have and I have established a healthy collaboration. As Prof. B's group is more focussed on work closely pertaining to mine, I find myself more engaged in meetings and conversations of the subject matter with this group than of my own with Prof. A.\n\nProf B. has since offered me to be a PhD student in their group next year, quite insistently, with 60% primary supervision to Prof. B and 40% supervision to Prof. A. Understandably, Prof. A would prefer it be the other way around.\n\nI enjoy working for Prof. A a lot, but can also see working for Prof. B being highly rewarding albeit a little bit tougher on the expectation and 'cracking the whip' front. Both would offer me an excellent PhD opportunity, but with two very distinct outcomes and professional training. I'm a little stuck on how to decide between them. \n\nIs it a better option for me to have Prof. B as my primary supervisor given that's where my professional goals lie, or is it more important to work for someone that I am much more comfortable with and have extensive prior experience with such as Prof. A?" ]

[ "phd", "advisor" ]

[ "How to address title-field inconsistency?", "I have recently defended my thesis in Sweden and started to look for positions, pretty much anywhere. As a part of the process I am currently trying to update and freshen my CV, linked-in profile etc. \n\nI noticed that I am having difficulties in fitting into the existing templates when describing my profile. My work is of a rather interdisciplinary nature, in a research group that is not very close to what the other research groups within the department work with. \n\nSo say my research groups is working on Bowling and our department is named Joggling. This rather odd organization of research groups is due to the \"common use\" of bowling pins. In this rather silly metaphor, my own research would be on Wood wax, relevant for bowling but not so much for circus trickery. So calling myself a \"PhD in Joggling\" would be extremely misleading when looking for jobs, whereas \"PhD in Woodwax\" is technically lying. \n\nGiven space, I can describe what I do and effectively dodge the bullet by something like \"I have a PhD from Department of Joggling, focusing/working on Woodwax\". However when the number of characters is limited it becomes rather tricky. \n\nAre there any good ways of handling this?" ]

[ "job-search", "cv", "titles" ]

[ "Asking an academic for a cursory look at a paper", "Suppose that Alice has a PhD but then left academia more than a decade ago. Alice has written a short paper on a topic unrelated to her thesis. Suppose moreover that :\n\n\nthe paper has been submitted a few months ago to a respectable journal, and is currently under review as per the submission system\nthe paper has not been put on the arXiv (both for fear of publicly claiming something that turns out incorrect and having to retract it, and of being scooped by someone with access to a fast-track journal)\n\n\nNow Alice fears the review process may take a few more months at least, and really wants to know very soon whether or not the paper is indeed correct (it does feel so, but maybe something has been overlooked).\n\nThe question is then : how to indentify an academic that would be \n\n\nof impecable ethical standards (no risk whatsoever of scooping the paper)\nwilling to have a cursory look within a few days (not a proper review, but maybe half an hour to think about it) and say whether or not it may well work\n\n\nOr would you just submit to the arXiv, and accept to look like a fool if you have to retract it the next day ?" ]

[ "peer-review", "arxiv", "preprint", "colleagues" ]

[ "Copyright issue for uploading books to Mendeley", "I wonder whether importing a pdf file of a book that I downloaded in my Mendeley library is illegal or not.\n\nAny advice?" ]

[ "publications", "copyright" ]

[ "Proper resignation date based on relocation date for spouse", "I'm an assistant professor at a large public University, and I'm planning to make the move into industry for a variety of reasons.\n\nMy spouse is also an academic and has accepted a position in a different city 7 months before the position starts. Because I was planning to leave for industry anyway, I am making the move with my spouse and will begin a job search when I move to the new city.\n\nMy question is about a proper resignation date - it's February and I already know that I'm leaving but it seems very early to let the administration know. I am also supposed to be teaching a summer class that begins in May, so they'll need to find a replacement for me to teach that. I'm not sure what to do etiquette-wise; If I resign now I give them approximately 10 weeks to find a replacement for my summer course and all of my courses in the fall, but I'll need to deal with the inevitable peer negativity and rumor mill that'll spring up. \n\nWhile it feels too early to give a resignation, I'm tired of fielding questions about the courses I'll be teaching in the future when I already know I won't be around. Any advice is appreciated!" ]

[ "ethics", "etiquette", "two-body-problem" ]

[ "Ask professor if she is 'still' willing to write me a LoR?", "I asked her 2-3 years ago whether she would do that for me, when I was still a BA student, she said yes. I then did not need that letter because I had personal problems, now I am out of uni for some time but would like to apply for grad school. Should I somehow remind her that she once agreed to do that, or ask whether she would 'still' be willing to write me a letter, or will it come across impolite?\n\nI don't want to be impolite, I would just like to somehow remind her that we talked about it previously and maybe remind her a little bit of who I am, since it's been a few years and I cannot show up in person." ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "recommendation-letter", "bachelor" ]

[ "Can i Start a M2 Master in France with non completed MSC in Budapest?", "I'm planning to apply for an M2 master in France, so long story short I did 2 years of Master MSC computer science in Budapest Hungary but I couldn't graduate because I failed to fulfill only 5 credit course...\nHowever, my question is t possible to apply for M2 directly in some France universities with the same specialty?\nis there something like subjects equivalence or subject credit equivalence?\nThank you all in advance!" ]

[ "masters" ]

[ "How is the Scimago journal ranking (Q1-Q4) defined?", "What does it mean that a journal is ranked Q1 according to Scimago Journal and Country Rank?" ]

[ "publications", "journals", "bibliometrics" ]

[ "Multidisciplinary Science & Engineering - Too overwhelming for industry/ academics?", "Is being multidisciplinary a bad or under appreciated feature?\n\nI ended up graduating with a solid mechanical engineering (MechE) degree, but made my record extremely multidisciplinary through research and other classes. I claim to have experience at least 3 domains of engineering, including MechE. \n\nI get that some people have one main focus and maybe switched entirely to another, but what if they are like me, with 3 or more disciplines? They’re all interrelated, so I feel like I can bridge seemingly unrelated domains to come up with new ideas. \n\nDo I leave all of this on my resume/CV, OR should I only highlight only a couple expertise on one resume and try not to say too much else?\n\nThanks!" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "interview", "industry", "multidisciplinary", "credentials" ]

[ "How to email current students in graduate programs you're considering?", "What is the right approach for sending emails to contact the graduate students in the graduate schools that we are applying to?\n\nSome questions to ask current graduate students are suggested in this related question.\n\nWhen asking such questions by email, what are things to consider to maximize the chances of a useful response?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "email", "communication" ]

[ "How much do grades matter for a future academia position?", "I am completing my PhD and I was wondering how much does the PhD coursework grades affect future academia applications? My undergraduate and master's was somewhat decent grade wise (3.8/4) in both. However, I had taken two mandatory courses during my PhD and I got B+ and A- in them. It was not because of the difficulty in the coursework, but I was burned out with courseworks from master's and did not put any effort. My GPA turned out to be 3.56. I did not take any other coursework as my qualifiers committee found my theoretical knowledge adequate for continuing with my PhD.\n\nBack of my mind, I am concerned that this will affect my postdoc and subsequent professorship applications. \n\nIs there any academic out there in same boat as me but have made it successfully in the professional world?" ]

[ "phd", "postdocs", "professors", "academic-life" ]

[ "How do schools determine their curricula?", "What is the process that gets a textbook into the course schedule? To what extent is the degree program considered, rather than just the individual course? What part does each party play, from administration to professor to publisher/author? Further, how is it done for alternative media such as videos or video courses and software? \n\n\n\nA bit of context: I have a business that sells videos of CME conferences and would like to explore how I may provide access to that content to the students (and faculty), whether part of a curriculum or not. With this in mind, I'm looking where my business might fit in and make a deal with a school. \n\nFor example, I'd be happy to offer access to individual lectures to augment a course, entire courses to augment a program, or just exposure that might convince students to purchase the videos for their own interest (e.g. a link on their website, a place in the book store, email list, professor's \"extra reading\", etc.)" ]

[ "curriculum" ]

[ "Best practices for keeping a campus computer network from getting brought down by inappropriate use?", "I work at a California community college that has chronically underinvested in computing and networking. The school has been gradually increasing wifi coverage, which now includes all but a few areas of campus.\n\nAs a result, you can walk through the cafeteria or the halls of the natural science building and see one student after another watching TV shows on a laptop. Yes, it's conceivable that they have an educational reason for doing so, e.g., maybe they're watching \"I Love Lucy\" in order to research a paper on media stereotypes for their women's studies class. But in reality, I think they just want to watch Spongebob for entertainment.\n\nThis causes severe problems, because the network was never designed to be a TV conduit for thousands of students. It apparently was one factor leading to the fact that the entire wifi network went down for the first 6 weeks of this semester.\n\nMy school's Acceptable Use Policy forbids various uses such as commercial activity, chat, and playing games, but it does not forbid binge-watching \"Breaking Bad\" over the school's wifi network. I can understand the concern that once the school starts blocking certain web sites, there is a slippery slope leading toward violations of academic freedom. However, it seems farfetched to say that we have to let students access Netflix while logged in to a student account.\n\nAre technological solutions such as bandwidth caps for student accounts a good option? This would seem to sidestep the issue of academic freedom. Spending our way out of the bandwidth deficit does not seem to be an option; not only do we not have the money, but there is every reason to expect that demand would expand to saturate supply.\n\nCan anyone describe best practices for keeping a campus computer network from getting brought down by inappropriate use? An ideal answer would describe both a successful policy and how it was successfully enforced without infinging academic freedom." ]

[ "academic-freedom", "facilities-services" ]

[ "Worth to fight examination office for English transcript of records?", "I am finishing up my B. Sc. degree and thought it would be nice to have a fully English transcript of records (ToR). Although my university already offers an English version, the translations are picked from what lectureres have entered into the database. Consequently, some terms are missing. For example it shows:\n\n\n \n Minor subject: Mathematics\n \n \n Functional Analysis\n Klausur: Funktionalanalysis(*)\n Übungsleistung: Funktionalanalysis(*)\n \n \n \n (*) denotes that English translations are missing\n\n\nYou see that it is even inconsistently translated. The overall second bullet point is in English while the \"sub bullet points\" for the exam (\"Klausur\") and the tutorials (\"Übungsleistung\") are in German.\n\nHow important is it to have a fully translated ToR for B.Sc. for applying internationally?\n\nThe question \"Sending non-fully translated academic transcripts for US PhD admissions\" is related, although currently my ToR is not yet printed. The exam regulations are in my favor. They state that I have the right to request an English copy. However, I have been told that people responsible for fulfilling them are not fond of translations.\n\nIs it important enough to make the examination office not like me anymore?\n\nEspecially, if I stay for my M. Sc. at the same university." ]

[ "transcript-of-records", "translations" ]

[ "Publishing a result that is aesthetically pleasing, but has no practical value", "I am currently writing a paper that I wish to publish in a mathematics journal. During the course of my research, I have discovered a result that is aesthetically pleasing, i.e., contains a form of symmetry in its definition that can be seen by some as \"elegant\", and moreover connects several distant theorems together. However, this result turns out to be useless for practical use, furthermore it adds nothing to the other proofs and theorems presented in the paper. Is it worth publishing/mentioning, even as a corollary?" ]

[ "journals", "mathematics", "publishability" ]

[ "My advisor refuses to write me a recommendation for my PhD application unless I apply to his lab", "I got my master’s degree in China and had worked for two years as a visiting student in the US. Although my master thesis’s supervisor promised to write me a recommendation letter, my visiting student advisor refused. He is the corresponding author of all my publications. What's more, research experience in his lab was included in my personal statement. He said he would offer me a recommendation letter only if I apply for his lab. When I asked whether he could recommend me for other universities, he did not reply to my email. Is there any possibility that I get an offer without his reference letter? How should I explain this to an admission committee?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "advisor", "recommendation-letter" ]

[ "Getting an extra advisor late in my PhD", "TLDR: what's the smoothest way of getting a professor as a third advisor in the penultimate year of my PhD without offending my current advisors?\n(Note: I know I am lucky and this is not a big problem, I just want to know the best way to proceed.)\nI'm a penultimate year PhD working in field A in a top US university of that field. Since my masters, I've had two advisors that work in fields A&B. The relationship is great, they leave me great flexibility and they don't seem to care nor need recognition. My research started being close to another professor who was interested in my research. Last year I started meeting this professor weekly, separately from my weekly meetings with my regular advisors, and going to his lab meetings (and I told my advisors and they were fine with it). I've also now co-authored a paper with all three professors in it.\nThis Fall I will be on the job market. My current advisors are extremely well-known in field B, and one of them is also well-known in my field A, but this third professor is just extremely popular in field A. He also has a very good history of having students going to top places after graduation. Finally, our research interests align very well and his insights have been very helpful. I think it would be beneficial for me (and possibly for the third professor) to have him as an adivosr. I also know this is possible since a friend of mine has this same triplet of professors as advisors.\nI really like my PIs and don't want to offend them. Is it offensive/unfair to my current PIs if I try to get this third professor as an advisor so late in my PhD (without dropping either of them)?\nIf so, who should I ask first? And, is it better to do it via email to give them freedom to think about it or in one of my face-to-face meetings?" ]

[ "advisor", "etiquette", "job-search", "supervision", "communication" ]

[ "Publishing a paper that's already been cited", "I do theoretical CS. A few years ago, I did some research and wrote a paper on my results, posting it on arXiv. I thought about getting it published, but between applying to programs after graduation and starting my new job, it fell by the wayside. Recently, I found a new paper is coming out that cites mine, disproves a conjecture, and extends a result.\n\nDoes the existence of the new paper hurt or help my chances of eventually getting the paper published? More likely, I would aim to present it at a conference because I've been told that that's much easier in theoretical computer science, especially for unknown authors or niche topics. Does the new paper hurt or help me chances of presenting the paper at a conference? It would feel weird presenting research that's no longer the state-of-the-art. Should the paper be modified to acknowledge the existence of the citing paper?" ]

[ "publications", "mathematics", "conference", "computer-science", "arxiv" ]

[ "Career path to professor with an engineering background in Germany", "I am in the final year of my master in mechatronics engineering in Germany, and I want to work as a researcher or a professor in a university since i believe a professor/researcher has more freedom than an engineer within a company. \n\nI don't have any experiences in the academic field, so I suppose I have to get some somehow.\n\nWhat are good option to pursue as a career path in Germany to get a professor position at a university? Do I need to get a PhD? Is it better to become assistant professor on that path, or a research engineer?\n\nThank you" ]

[ "career-path", "professors", "university", "engineering", "germany" ]

[ "How to search for upcoming conferences that will be held in a specific subject", "What is the best way to search for conferences all over world? I need to participate in one in the near future." ]

[ "conference" ]

[ "Are there any good job directories for academic work?", "I'm currently looking for a PhD position and have started to realize that a lot of my time goes into sporadeously surfing the web in hope of finding an open position. Are there good job directories for academic work that lists available positions?" ]

[ "phd", "job-search" ]

[ "Can I rewrite sentences after my article has been accepted, when reviewing proofs?", "My paper got accepted in AEÜ. I want to make some changes in my article. Can I rewrite some sentences when reviewing the proofs from the journal?" ]

[ "publications", "journals" ]

[ "Must graphs in a mathematical PhD thesis be drawn nicely?", "I am writing my PhD thesis in mathematics and there are several graphs to be included (on knots, braids, and other related objects). I know that there are several software available for drawing graphs like this, but I am not experienced with any one of those. Also I do not have much time to learn a new software to draw graphs. I have asked a related question before but am frustrated by the time that is needed in learning the drawing software. Am also considering using hand-drawn graphs.\n\nMy question: It is generally a requirement for the graphs to be drawn very nicely in a mathematical PhD thesis? (I know that different universities have different rules and here I am asking about the general principle.) Is it generally considered acceptable if I draw some graphs by hand, scan them and include them in the thesis?" ]

[ "phd", "thesis", "mathematics", "graphics" ]

[ "Is it widely followed that only some parts of academic books are taught to undergraduates?", "I'm an undergraduate student studying psychology using English language in a non-English speaking country. I'm graduating soon, and I'm applying for master programs. We mostly use McGraw Hill publications for our undergraduate curriculum. \n\nMy concern is this: Our instructors teach us through slides, and books are secondary learning sources—that is if they are used at all. These abbreviated slides use the same chapters of the book, yet not all chapters are covered, in fact some courses cover as little as half of the relevant book's chapters. \nIs this normal across the world?\nA friend of mine told me that academic books are made to accompany both bachelor-level topics, and master-level topics, and this is why some parts were excluded for undergraduate programs. Is this correct?\n\nI'm asking this because I don't want to get shocked when doing my masters and discover that I'm under-prepared or under-trained." ]

[ "university", "undergraduate", "slides", "psychology", "curriculum" ]

[ "Following literature - What is a good configurable publication notifier?", "I would like to keep up to date with public literature in my research field. All relevant publications are of too big a volume to follow and so the problem invites some automatic mechanism of filtering and notification.\n\nDo you know of any good mechanism (desktop\\online application etc.) that could be configured to alert on new publications according to specific criteria?\n\nThree criteria that I would think would be very useful in such a mechanism are :\n\n\nFollow by researcher name - I would like to know of any new publication Prof. X was involved with.\nConfigurable citation filter - I would like to know of any new publication which cites any of Prof. X papers or a specific one.\nAnd\\Or\\Not keywords - I would like to know of any new publication that has both keywords A and (B or C).\n\n\nDo you know of such existing app? Any recommendation to such (or similar) applied functionality would be greatly appreciated.\n\nThanks!" ]

[ "research-process", "reading", "literature", "literature-search" ]

[ "How to ignite your research career when your advisor is so disappointing?", "How can I ignite my research career when my advisor is so disappointing and I can learn nothing from him?\n\nHe rarely publishes academic papers, but he has his fingers in many pies(engineering projects) and has no time to give any suggestions and directions for my MS project. I think nothing can be learnt from him. How can I startup my own research career under such a condition?" ]

[ "career-path", "advisor" ]

[ "What does cfr. stand for?", "In a article I saw this expression:\n\n\n ... initial sample (cfr. Härdle et al. (2004))...\n\n\nWhat is the meaning of cfr. or does it stands for?" ]

[ "publications", "terminology" ]

[ "In Chinese academia, what is the significance of the corresponding author, beyond 'public relation'?", "I am a PhD candidate currently preparing a manuscript for journal submission in the environmental modelling and engineering field. One of my authors is from China, and contributed some data and ideas for the methodology that I found quite useful. \n\nThis person wants to be the corresponding author for the study with the argument that being the corresponding author is the only way to secure future funding for the study in China/from Chinese sources. Yet he is no way in a position to explain and defend the study, as he wasn't really involved in modelling, analysis and writing, and has limited understanding regarding the main model functioning. \n\nI have so far refused to let him be the corresponding author, but he is really putting pressure on me to be the corresponding author.\n\nCan someone give me some pointers on why it is so important for a Chinese academic to be the corresponding author? Does his argument about funding generally hold true?" ]

[ "authorship", "correspondence", "china" ]

[ "Is it ethical to blog about your publications to communicate your research without being restricted by the journal?", "I've always been interested in communicating research to the public. I also strongly believe that research publications should be in the public domain, especially if the work was funded with public money.\nI found the responses to this question to be pretty interesting, and they got me thinking about scientific blogging as a solution.\n\nSo my question is -- can I put up my scientific findings on my blog or webspace that is not written exactly like my published article but contains essentially the same data and results?\n\nEdit: I am not suggesting blogging as an alternative to publishing, but as an additional mode by which I can communicate my research and not be handcuffed by any publishing magnate." ]

[ "publications", "ethics" ]

[ "Academic Gowns and Hood Colours for Overseas Students Where the University Does Not Have One", "My university has asked me (actually, a friend) to process in a graduation ceremony, and expects me to wear full academic dress. However, my home country and home university does not have an academic dress.\n\nIs there a standard hood colour in the UK which means \"master's degree; overseas university (unspecified)\"? And indeed the same for a bachelor's / doctorate degree?" ]

[ "united-kingdom", "academic-dress" ]

[ "How to ignore a presenter's bad english?", "I recently attended an average international conference in Computer Science. This was the first time I actually attended an international conference.\n\nThe level of English that I heard during the talks ranged from average to extremely bad (ignoring the native speakers/people that lived a long time in an english speaking country).\n\nI am not a native English speaker, and I do not expect other researchers in the same situation to be as fluent as a native speaker either. But I have worked hard to improve my accent and my elocution to a point where I feel very comfortable speaking the language without stuttering every two words or mispronouncing a lot of things.\n\nAs such, I felt extremely frustrated during the entire conference: a speaker with bad English would quickly annoy me, because I felt as if they did not work hard enough on their English elocution, which I believe is an inherent part of being a scientist (especially in Computer Science, where conferences are very common). Therefore, I ended up not being interest in the vast majority of the presentations, even if the subject might have sounded appealing.\n\nHow can one improve at looking (or rather, hearing) past the researcher's English, and focusing on their actual contribution?" ]

[ "conference", "presentation", "language" ]

[ "Presenting misleading statistics", "A study compared two groups (differing on factor A) on ability X and found that X differs between the two groups (effect of A). However, the groups also differ on a not interesting variable B (say, \"age\"). When using B as covariate in the analysis of A on X, there is no effect of A.\n\nIn the statistical analysis (ANCOVA) the authors present the statistics for X corrected for B (i.e. \"no significant effect of A on X\"), however, next to this analysis, they present the effect sizes (Cohen's d) of the raw/uncorrected values of X as support for their hypothesis (\"large effect of A on X\"). They do not attempt to make it obvious that these effect sizes are based on scores without correcting for B.\n\nI think they have to present the effect sizes of A corrected for B (i.e. after regressing out the effect of B on X). However, they don't want to, possibly because they have a strong hypothesis about A affecting X.\n\nIs what they are doing correct, is it normal, is it misleading or even fraud?" ]

[ "research-process", "statistics" ]

[ "Abbreviation of a journal name", "How do I find abbreviation of the journal name Engineering?" ]

[ "journals" ]

[ "How to build a list of seminal papers in a field?", "This question is similar to this one, but focused on papers rather than on authors. Does anybody know of a systematic way to build a list of the most cited and/or influential papers in a discipline?\n\nI've tried to use Google Scholar, but I was not able to search papers by label, as you can do in the case of authors (see the accepted answer here)." ]

[ "literature-search" ]

[ "How many marks should I take off for a student using an incorrect value?", "I am marking tests and a student wrote down 64 instead of -64 for one of the questions. This obviously changed the entire question and they would have gotten full marks otherwise, (i.e. all their steps are correct). They also did really well on the rest of the test. I do not know how much I should penalize them since full marks on this question would give them 87%, and anything lower would be an <85% mark. Even half marks would drop their mark to as low as 60%. How many marks would you penalize them?" ]

[ "teaching", "grading" ]

[ "Is a Double Degree equivalent to 2 single degrees?", "I want to study Bachelor of Mathematics at university in Australia. While I was surfing the various courses, I came across something interesting. It was Bachelor of Mathematics and Bachelor of Computer Science at University pf Wollongong (which takes 4.5 years to complete). I was like wow how does this work, Same qualification, and two degrees for 4.5 years. A single degree alone takes 4 years. But then I started to think, wait a minute this seems too good to be true. \n\n(Note that my intention is to study Mathematics and do a PhD in Mathematics, I don't want to get some limited mathematics knowledge if double degree has half of both. At the same time I would love if this is full of both, so in that case I will apply to this.\n\nPlease help me on how this works , what are the limitations, will I get the same recognition and knowledge as students studying Math alone?" ]

[ "computer-science", "mathematics", "degree" ]

[ "Why isn't literature search a waste of time if centralized documentation is a better alternative?", "I am asking this question regarding to the documents (thesis, research papers, and publications) that contain original, novel work.\n\nBefore starting to write a research paper/ thesis, searching for a problem statement, submitting to a journal, staring research work for Ph.D., etc., every researcher has to do a proper literature search. It is a well-known fact that literature search is mandatory for every professional researcher.\n\nThere is a finite number of existing disciplines and each discipline has a finite number of existing topics to research and to publish upon. Why is there no centralized mechanism to document the research that has happened till the previous year? If the discipline or topic is totally new anyway there is no need for the literature search.\n\nIf there is such a mechanism, then there is almost no chance for rediscoveries and there is no need to search for the whole literature that is randomly distributed across the Internet, paid journals, libraries, etc." ]

[ "research-process", "literature-search" ]

[ "Cold emailing another grad student at your institution to ask a question", "I’m stuck in my research (I'm a PhD student) with a task/question that neither I nor my advisor are knowledgeable about (we are looking for vendors of a niche item and have had very little success in that). I have found a group on campus that I think may use this tech (based on their published research) and I want to reach out to a grad student there that I think may know where they get this tech from or who makes it for them.\nWould it be inappropriate to email them just to ask this question? It isn’t really a scientific question so I don’t want it to come across in a bad way." ]

[ "email", "communication" ]

[ "Can I cite a thesis in a paper?", "I wonder if I can cite an unpublished thesis (Ph.D or Master) in a research paper. If so, how do I do it? Should I also include a link to the thesis?" ]

[ "publications", "citations", "reference-request" ]

[ "How do I add a label or keyword to my Google Scholar account?", "I notice that some people have labels or keywords associated with their Google Scholar profile - e.g., biochemistry, DNA, etc.\nHow do I add these to my profile?\nThanks!" ]

[ "google-scholar" ]

[ "Harvard referencing and in-text referencing for Chapters", "Say in the reference list you have referenced a book: can you reference a chapter in that book in-text as such: (Doe 2011, Chapter 3)?\n\nI don't necessarily want to go with the option of referencing each chapter in the reference list." ]

[ "citations", "citation-style" ]

[ "Is it disrespectful to invite a renowned lecturer if I know that he will be travelling through my city?", "Actually I am working in an Information Systems Faculty in the main capital of my country. A few days ago I receive an email in which a university located in other city of my country; will have a renowned lecturer to make a small conference for the students in that university. I would like to invite that lecturer for a very brief speak with the faculty and some students, because I know that this professor will arrive first to the capital before moving to the other city.\n\nThe question that I have is how can I make him an invitation so that it does not sound disrespectful, because I think it will be a great opportunity for us to have this type of academic contacts. Should I write him directly to his email to see if he will available? or should I travel to the other university to see if I can catch him up after his lecture? The problem with the last option can be that he could be on a rush to return to his country and it will be a missed opportunity.\n\nAny advice?\n\nThanks" ]

[ "invitations" ]

[ "When developing a course, how to determine number of credits?", "I am a graduate student helping with the development of a course and will be teaching at least part of it. However, I found out recently that the program wants to offer it as a 1-2 credit course.\n\nIt's being sold as a \"journal club\" format, but requires a lot more outside work than the typical journal club because it's being developed as a sort of flipped classroom style course.\n\nIs the amount of in-class work used to determine credits? Overall work? Something else entirely? I don't want to bring this up to them if it I'm not even understanding it properly.\n\nSo, how do you determine how many credits a course is \"worth\"?" ]

[ "course-design" ]

[ "Relative importance of journal citations compared to classroom performance by academic field", "With regard to tenure decisions how drastic are the different weight placed on journal articles compared to teaching ability in the classroom?\n\nI know some in the STEM fields that seem narrowly focused on research prior to obtaining tenure and others in other academic fields that seem to spend very little time on research.\n\nIs the relative weight of importance really as drastic as it appears? Or is it exaggerated by those who have a bias one way or the other?" ]

[ "research-process", "teaching", "tenure-track" ]

[ "Is there any research done on ideal proctoring algorithms?", "I am a grad student TA and I proctor exams. I want to know, what is the best way to proctor? As in, paths to take while walking, when to stand, when to walk, etc.\n\nIs there any rigorous studies on what catches the most cheating? How does the algorithm change for larger or smaller classrooms?\n\nI am interested in scientific studies, not anecdotes. Are there any rigorous studies for this?" ]

[ "exams", "cheating" ]

[ "When applying for a postdoc, the contact person is not the professor I want to work with, what shall I do?", "My situation is that I want to work with Prof. A, but in the advertisement another professor (B) is the contact person. Now, I need write an email to send my CV and research statement to the contact person. What shall I write in the email? I will write in the email I want to work in the institution and my previous research activity very briefly (The institution does not want the cover letter, so the email will serve as my cover letter). Then the problem is: Shall I simply write \"Dear Prof. B,...\"? If so, I worry that Prof. B would think I want to work with him. But if not, I would write \"Dear Prof. A\", which sounds weird because the email is sent to Prof. B. \n\nWhat shall I do in this situation?" ]

[ "application", "postdocs", "application-cover-letter" ]

[ "Which level of sloppiness is forgivable at PhD thesis completion", "The question can be really irritating for most of the people and I am sorry for that. Surely, the right answer should be \"no inaccuracies, everything should be right!\". However, let's take a look at real situation...\n\n...when you realize that you were sloppy PhD student and carrried some experiments in inaccurate way, but there is no time to repeat them again.\nYou try to explain it in your thesis that the observed effects are still there, just the exact quantification is not clear because of raised issues.\n\nIs it possible still \"defend\" thesis? You learned from your mistakes how you should not do it in the future and PhD thesis is a qualification work, so...are mistakes forgivable at this position of PhD student?\nHow to formulate an answer for the defense, which reflects that you understood it was not right what you did and you will do better next time?" ]

[ "phd", "thesis", "thesis-committee" ]

[ "What is the point of a cover letter in journal submission?", "Many journals do specify that cover letters are optional. From my experience, most people write cover letters in journal submission, but I am also aware that articles can also be published without the cover letter. Therein arises the question: why are cover letters written if they are not necessary for the publication process? My guess is that perhaps it helps to prevent the desk-reject from the editor." ]

[ "paper-submission" ]

[ "How to gain admission to a math PhD program when as an undergrad, I didn't do research, take pure math classes, or form relationships with professors?", "I just graduated college in May, and I spent my entire college career convinced that I would never study again. I had a plan for my future, and it involved working- no more school. I had considered grad school, but never very seriously. \n\nNow, however, I am very much considering a grad or PhD program. Unfortunately, because of my intentions before, I hadn't done much research in college, opting instead for leadership and work experience. I also didn't foster any significant relationships with my professors. I talked to them enough to learn the material and pass the class, but, in my opinion, not enough for a glowing recommendation.\n\nNow, I feel like I wasted something. How can I get into grad school when I am unable to procure stellar recommendation or show that I took classes in pure, theoretical mathematics? (I took more classes that concerned mathematics applied, like statistics and practical life models and such)\n\nWould it be necessary for me to take more classes? Go back to school? That seems unnecessary, since I already have a bachelor's degree in Math, but I don't know what I can do." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "mathematics" ]

[ "Can I submit an abstract for an unwritten paper which will form part of my PhD?", "I am applying for my PhD to start this Autumn. There is a conference coming up soon with a theme which is very relevant to my PhD topic and I would like to submit an abstract for it, write the paper and then develop parts of it for my PhD at a later stage. Is it OK to write a paper for the conference and then later use parts of it for my PhD seeing as it is so relevant?\n\nEDIT: For a little more information, this is for a conference on music and the research has not been carried out yet. Additionally, the area that is being researched is one that has very little scholarly coverage. Due to this, the focus will not be so much on looking for a particular kind of result, but any result that will arise from literature review/qualitative interview data. Interviews have not been conducted but there is quite a bit of time to do so, I feel. I understand if this were a scientific conference that submitting an abstract would be a little risky, but seeing as this is the humanities, I think there is more room for interpretation." ]

[ "phd", "conference", "abstract" ]

[ "Is transferring to another university an option for an unhappy PhD student?", "I've heard of people transferring between graduate schools because of their advisor moving to another school and taking their students with them. \n\nDo students ever transfer for other reasons? If a student isn't happy at the school they choose, could transferring be an option? Presumably they would frame it as something positive such as \"turns out I really want to work with Professor X\" rather than \"I hate my school\", but does this ever happen? Is there a certain timeframe in which this is possible? (Assume it's a 5 year PhD program.)\n\nIf the answer varies by subject please mention the subject in your answer.\n\n(Context: many friends have told me that if it turns out I'm not happy with my choice, I can always transfer. My impression is that this is actually difficult since many schools don't accept transfer students and in any case not being able to stick with a program looks bad -- but I don't have evidence either way so wanted to ask people who are in academia. Of course the ideal would be to pick a school one is happy with in the first place!)" ]

[ "phd", "graduate-school", "transfer-student" ]

[ "How to indicate obscurity in a translated quotation?", "I'm writing a historical work about a German philosopher, in which I use some of his unpublished notes. \n\nOne quotation contains an almost untranslatable, hardly intelligible expression - it's not essential to the point I'm making with the citation (which is perfectly clear), but by cutting it out using [...] I mangle the quotation even more. \n\nCan I translate it literally (which turns into nonsense) and write [sic] behind it? After all, it's not what was actually written but my translation, so I feel like this isn't really an option. Or should I chose one of the different possible interpretations that make some sense of it, but thereby pushing some particular reading, even though I don't need that to make my point?" ]

[ "translations", "quotation" ]

[ "How to Scale or Curve the Grades for an Examination?", "I am the teaching assistant for a course in economics, and one of my responsibilities is marking examinations.\n\nI had just finished marking the midterm, and the grades were very poor. The details are (approximately):\n\nMean: 23%\nStandard Deviation: 5%\nMin: 4%\nMax: 68%\nNumber of Students: 84\n\nUpon consultation of the professor, I was told to scale the grades. The method he had given me was to add a fixed amount to each student's grade such that the mean would be 72%.\n\nTo me, this seems to be an inadequate way to correct the distribution of grades and would be unfair to the students who did score much higher than the class mean.\n\nMy question is, what is the best way to rescale the grades for an examination such that the it is fair to all the students in the class?" ]

[ "grading", "exams" ]

[ "Which form of English (US or UK) should be used for Elsevier journal publication?", "I am intending to write a journal paper for Elsevier Gait & Posture publication, but so far I found contradictory answers to the above question." ]

[ "publications", "journals", "elsevier" ]

[ "Is asking an author I'm reviewing to cite me a conflict of interest?", "I'm reviewing a paper whose work is quite related to some of my early PhD work, that was about 2 years ago. I have a paper published in a Journal that proved that method A had good solutions for the problem X.\n\nNow I'm asked to review a paper that does a variation on method A, although they never cite my paper at all, is not exactly the same, but I think there should be a reference, if not because it is my paper, but because by the time I did the survey no one else had used that method.\n\nNow, that said, is it a breach of interest to ask the authors to cite my work, or at least read it?" ]

[ "publications", "peer-review" ]

[ "Is it bad if my mom comes to a conference with me?", "I am going to my first conference and my mom wants to join. (She can probably get funding from her university to accompany me, even though she is in a different field.) Will it reflect badly on me if we stick together?" ]

[ "conference" ]

[ "How much does one explain on a PhD application if an MA took 3 years instead of two?", "I am applying to History PhD programs, and recently finished my MA thesis and coursework in August 2016. But I began initially began MA studies in Fall 2013, and so it took me three years instead of two. Basically I took a full-time course load for one year and then shifted to part-time (my undergraduate study was completed in the common 4 years). I would think that my reasons for delay would be fairly common, but I'm entirely unsure on how decisive the admissions committees typically look at these kinds of things, if it is necessarily to explain them, and if so, to what level of detail: \n\n1) I'm a veteran, but ran out of GI Bill funding after first year of study (Fall 2013-Spring 2014). MA students aren't funded where I went, so I was strapped for cash and had to stretch money and span out my education expenditures.\n\n2) I'm married, and from Spring 2014-Spring 2015 the marriage basically exploded and ran off the rails. The catalyst was the intensity of time/being I devoted to graduate study and undergraduate study previously, which ignited the underlying marital issues type of thing. So we cut back on everything and took time to work on the relationship. Everything now is resolved in its entirety, and except for a medical emergency requiring me to care for my partner, none of these previous issues can really possibly arise any longer.\n\n3) I did fieldwork and took extra time in revising and extending my thesis, which ended up to be more like a mini-dissertation. At least as my professors told me, they all supported the project because of this potential and weren't too concerned about me taking Fall 2015-Summer 2016 for its completion (and its still a work in progress with numerous gaps). Most of the professors in the department I worked with have encouraged me to apply to the top PhD programs (Harvard, Yale, Brown, etc.).\n\nNumber 3 seems easy to explain and incorporate if I need to. But number 1 and 2, I'm not sure. I do not want it to appear as if I could not handle the workload or something; although, I could see that in the most immediate, practical sense, I couldn't actually handle it, since I could not balance my marriage/family issues with my scholarly pursuits.\n\nAnyone been in the same situation when applying to PhD programs? Any advice or tips?" ]

[ "phd", "application", "statement-of-purpose" ]

[ "Should I accept to review a re-submission to a different conference", "(My field is Computer Science, where conference publications are the norm.)\n\nI reviewed a paper submitted to conference A six months ago. The paper was borderline, and was eventually rejected. I wrote a reasonably lengthy review.\n\nI've now been asked to review a re-submission of the same paper from the same authors for conference B. At first glance, the differences between the versions A and B are quite minor.\n\nWhile I would have no problem reviewing the re-submission, I am worried about any bias (real or potential) that could occur from having access to a previous version of the work. This may be seen as preventing version B from standing on its own merits and having a \"fair\" shot at this conference. \n\nIt's possible that my review of paper B will have the same comments as paper A, or at the very least my review will be written in a similar style. As such, while the reviewers are anonymous, it's quite possible the authors will realize the same person reviewed the two versions of the paper.\n\nShould I accept this review, or suggest an alternative referee?" ]

[ "publications", "peer-review", "ethics" ]

[ "How is a student perceived if he took more time to graduate?", "Suppose, a student completed his MSc in 4 years, instead of 2 years, but has a CGPA of A.\n\nWould he have any disadvantage as a Ph.D. applicant?\n\nEdit:\nI can think of two possible reasons:\n 1. financial difficulty.\n 2. took some time to develop the necessary knowledge to cope with some courses. For instance, he has to complete a course X (e.g. Stochastic Process) but found that he doesn't have the necessary background knowledge (e.g. Probability and Statistics) to obtain a good score. So, he took some time studied at home and then came back, and he scored an A or A+." ]

[ "phd", "united-states" ]

[ "Who evaluates Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship proposals?", "Who are the evaluators of the Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship proposals? Other academics ? How are they selected ?" ]

[ "funding" ]

[ "Can computer science student do PhD under supervisor in mathematics?", "I am masters in information security. I want to do PhD in cloud security. I am currently studying homomorphic encryption. My supervisor knows abstract algebra and has PhD in mathematics(abstract algebra). Can I do PhD under her supervision, seeing that she only knows abstract algebra which is required for homomorphic techniques?\n\nAny guidance will be great help." ]

[ "phd", "mathematics", "computer-science", "supervision" ]

[ "Hesitation about writing a paper", "The situation maybe a little bit unusual, and I am asking for your opinion.\n\nI have taught an undergraduate course on differential geometry of curves and surfaces last Fall semester. One of the students in my class, whom I think is really bright, told me that he found the proof of a certain well known theorem is a little bit hard to understand. We had some discussion on it, but I was quite busy so I wasn't paying too much attention on it, so we didn't get any good conclusion. \n\nRecently I was revising my lecture notes and I was reminded of his question. Then he and I found that no fewer than three books (two textbooks and a research monograph) give wrong proofs of that theorem. We are quite satisfied with what we found, and his question was settled. Then he asked whether we should write a paper on this issue and submit it to some undergraduate research journal, like Involve. At first I didn't think it was a good idea because finding a mistake of a proof of a theorem in three books isn't really a big deal, and I told him we could send an email to the authors of those books about the mistakes. But then I think his idea might not be as bad as it seems to be because, essentially, when an undergrad can find some mistakes in well-known textbooks that (it seems to me that) nobody can find, it means something to me. My concern is I don't know even if we are talking about an undergraduate research journal, do the editors think it's certainly not worth a try or the opposite?\n\nOn the math side of that theorem, those three books use the same techniques but with different assumptions (or you may want to call simplifications). However, the proof in each of those books have different mathematical mistakes (i.e., not just some simple typos). So far we only found one textbook which gives a correct proof. The other books which contain a correct proof of this theorem are either too sketchy/wordy or those books are research monographs.\n\nSince I have no experience on writing a paper based on the \"discovery\" of this nature, any comment is welcome. On one hand I think it's something to an undergrad student and on the other hand, I am not sure about what the editors think.\n\nThank you." ]

[ "paper-submission", "research-undergraduate", "publishability" ]

[ "What is a \"full-time teaching faculty\" (and does advising count)?", "Ed Tufte offers a discount to his seminars for \"full-time teaching faculty\" (as well as full-time students).\n\nDoes \"full-time teaching\" exclude full-time faculty who spend part time doing research? Does advising count as teaching?\n\n\n\nUpdate\n\nI contacted the organizer and they clarified that \"full-time teaching\" excludes most \"research\" faculty; it is intended for faculty whose primary job is to teach, not research faculty who also teach." ]

[ "professors", "job", "teaching" ]

[ "Is there any scientific reference about position of the LGBTQ community in STEM academia?", "According to the Nature article \"LGBTQ scientists are still left out\" there are some \"heteronormative assumptions\" in the STEM field which artificially suppress the number of LGBTQ people in the field. This view of the sciences¹ doesn't match my own experience and anecdotal evidence. (I have seen evidence of a sexism issue but it is a separate issue from LGBT.) In my (admittedly subjective) experience, people in STEM tend to be more open-minded than any other profession.\n\nThe Nature article cites a few studies, but none seems to be directly on-point (one study focused on government workers rather than scientists in academia-proper, and another had results that were not statistically significant and whose authors admitted they had made mistakes). Again maybe I'm wrong, but I would like to see a more relevant peer-reviewed study (gender studies or social science) explaining this problem.\n\nWhat robust studies exist on the representation of LGBTQ individuals² in STEM fields within academia?\n\n\n\n\n¹ The idea that STEM fields are especially constrained comes up in other contexts, too. For example, according to an opinion piece by Manil Suri published in the New York Times, in science it is also not appropriate to talk about hobbies.\nManil Suri is a famous scholar; his description of the situation in academia is worrying, and gives the impression that behavior is constrained and under close scrutiny.\nBeing too expressive of personal identity can be viewed as running counter to scientific neutrality. In competitive venues, where complete immersion in one’s field might be the promoted ideal, the mention of an extracurricular pursuit can even be seized upon as a lack of commitment. I remember a young mathematician at a prestigious research institute sharing his love for piano playing after hearing I wrote fiction. “Don’t tell anyone in my department I own a piano,” he requested in the next breath.\nThis is a shock to me because I perceived the STEM field as most open-minded.\n\n\n\n² Representation could measure the percentage of LGBTQ faculty in STEM fields in comparison to other academic disciplines, or something like dropout rates for LGBTQ students in STEM fields compared to dropout rates for other students." ]

[ "academic-life", "reference-request", "stem" ]

[ "Is it bad style to include a list in an abstract?", "If I am writing a study paper and I have given some descriptors as to which systems will be measured (things such as \"openness\" and \"availability\" in my case) is it acceptable for me to provide a list of this after with a short sentence expanding on what metrics that word in intended to include?\n\ne.g.\n\n\nOpenness - Measured by the proportion of the human population has access and the ease of entry for those who meet the requirements\netc..." ]

[ "paper-submission", "abstract" ]

[ "Verifying that cited results are still current before publishing", "Assume you are knee-deep in a project, going through a series of papers that are seemingly relevant to your project. You found this ~10 year old paper, which looks very promising indeed. A lot of interesting results, good discussion, etc.\n\nAt this stage, I think it's obvious that you should check whether or not the results and conclusions in the paper are still valid by searching for any correspondence related to the article (e.g., pointing out that some claims do not hold, etc). However, I have yet to find anyone that digs into such information. You normally find a paper, read it, find more interesting papers through references and keep on digging in this manner until you have accumulated \"enough\" articles to form an educated opinion. \n\nMy questions are as follows: \n\n\nIs this (or any other) type of quality assurance process, when it comes to cited literature, common practice? \nIs there a way to streamline this process? PubMed does not seem to include all correspondence related to each article.\n\n\n\n\nI should perhaps note that, if you are in biomedical sciences (especially related to complex diseases), about half of the publications turn out to be wrong or misleading after some years, and perhaps a quarter more are shown to be incomplete in its findings. I believe it's in the nature of biology, in contrast to more human defined sciences like mathematics or computer science. There are no formulas or calculations to check the integrity of the work published." ]

[ "publications", "literature" ]

[ "Terminating with Master's after several years in a PhD program. How to indicate on CV/Resume?", "I am not happy with my PhD program, and after several years I am graduating with a master's this month. I earned the M.S. along the way as a PhD student, but have never formally requested it before this semester. What is the best way to indicate this situation on a CV or resume? I don't want to put just M.S. because then it looks like it took me a really long time to get a master's and I can't put that I am a PhD student because I no longer am.\n\nRight now, I am thinking something like\n\nM.S. in <field>, <University>, May 2016\nPhD student in <field>, <University>, Aug. 2011 - May 2016\nB.S. in <field>, <Undergrad University>, Aug. 2007 - May 2011\n\n\nWould that be clear what's going on? Alternatively, should I list PhD above M.S. even though I didn't complete it? Should I list both M.S. and PhD in same line since it is the same university and span of time?" ]

[ "cv" ]

[ "Does applying for a patent first make it more difficult to publish (or vice versa)?", "After working on a project some times, some results are obtained and we decide to publish it. I know publishing a paper and applying a patent can actually happen in the same time, but is there any difference for their priority? \n\nFor example, if I obtain a patent first for my results, will it make it more difficult to publish the same results in academic paper, or vice versa? \n\nIf I do it together, will there be any conflict between them?" ]

[ "publications", "patents" ]

[ "Should I talk about my poor academic performance due to financial situation in my SOP?", "Background\n\nSo, I got into a premier institute of my country but had a hard time there. I always had to look for some sort of a job to support my family and as a result I graduated with six technical internships and a very poor GPA.\n\nNow after four years I got myself into research and have an otherwise good profile, it's just that my GPA is so low that I have to explain about it in my SOP.\n\nIs it okay if I talk about this? Or will this further hurt my chances?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "statement-of-purpose" ]

[ "How much is the teaching duty of university administrators?", "Due to the time-consuming nature of administrative jobs, university administrators normally reduce their teaching duties. This reduction is normally proportional to the level of administrative job: Chair/Dean/Vice President/Provost/President.\n\nI am curious if it is only matter of personal preference or there is institutional regulations for minimum and maximum teaching tasks?\n\nIn general, how university administrators are involved in classroom teaching, supervising graduate students, and academic research projects?" ]

[ "teaching", "university", "advisor", "administration" ]

[ "Online/Distance Math Teaching", "I am a math instructor at local community college. I am in mid 60's and in good health except for a minor mobility issue. Teaching is mentally very rewarding. Beside teaching, I am also tutoring students on Calculus by Skype in my spare times. In fact, I have a corner my home converted to a mini studio complete with big whiteboard, HD camera, special lighting, etc. Although I have only a few students right now but they all express great satisfaction with my distance tutoring for its convenience and flexibility.\n\nIn my thought of thoughts, I used to muse that, wouldn't it be great if I am able to work as adjunct online math instructor, such that I may still have a rewarding activity in my retirement years when my mobility issue become a major issue? I would like to make small baby-steps one at a time. But I do not have any distance teaching experience. I have been trying to gain a foothold in this online craft by applying to small part-time online teaching position but without success. Here are my two questions:\n\n(1) Is there any prep that I can do right now to improve chance of getting hired in the future? Certification perhaps, but what certification? Maybe volunteering at a non-profit institution, but where?\n\n(2) My understanding is that almost all online classes are either on BlackBoard or Moodle platform. Does this mean that my experience with Skype distance teaching is irrelevant when applying online position?\n\nI would appreciate any help or suggestion from you. Thank you very much for you time." ]

[ "online-learning", "distance-learning" ]

[ "After the draft was accepted, can I ask the Editor to publish it as soon as possible?", "One of our drafts was accepted for publication in Nov. 30, 2020. It has not been published online yet. I have not even received the first proof. Is it appropriate to push the Editor?\nThanks!" ]

[ "publications", "editors", "review-process" ]

[ "Is it OK if I hate a piece I wrote several months after publishing it?", "I wrote a blog post for a magazine run by scholars. A few months later, I read the post again. I hate it! I can think of three-four different ways I could have written it differently. Granted, I was asked to comment on an ongoing political issue at the time and didn’t have enough information back then. However, I could have organized it differently, omitted paragraphs, and focused on different issues. Is this normal? Do you have similar experiences? If I don’t like what I wrote four months ago, what would have established scholars thought of my piece back then?" ]

[ "publications", "writing", "emotional-responses" ]

[ "Should I consider legal action if my attempts to persuade my university to allow me to complete my PhD prove unsuccessful?", "My situation\n\nI could go into the details of the situation in some detail here, but I fear it would read like a shaggy-dog story. For the moment I'll limit myself to these (what I hope are) salient points:\n\n\nI enrolled for PhD in October 2011.\nI made a breakthrough in my second year, which would be the subject of my thesis. This work has been ratified by colleagues both within and outside of academia.\nAfter this, I took a considerable time off for personal reasons.\nThe likely earliest date I would have completed is October 2015.\nIf I were allowed to do so, I could likely complete in October 2018, so three years late.\nSome would say that because my PhD is two years long, I would be five years late. I would counter that that's two years of funding the institution has saved (this irony would not be lost on anyone familiar with the workings of academia).\nA senior and respected academic is on my side and is currently doing his best on my behalf to persuade the powers that be. However, I no longer think it is fair to drag him into the dispute. He is kind and reasonable, and for that reason this has become his burden. I want him out of it.\nNobody has told me that I cannot complete my PhD yet. The university has not responded yet, and I suspect they never will.\nI don't need any funding. I just need to be allowed arrange the final examination and get this out of the way.\n\n\nMy question\n\nI'm wondering whether I shouldn't just force the institution's hand with (at least) the threat of legal action, rather than expecting someone else to fight my battles for me. At the same time, however, I don't want to start issuing threats. I would do anything to avoid this course, to be frank.\n\n\nCan you offer any wisdom on doing this?\nAre there any relevant precedents? The institution is UK-based." ]

[ "phd", "united-kingdom", "legal-issues" ]

[ "Label to report percentage of recurrent/new authors in conference submissions", "We would like to report some stats on the submissions for a specific conference, but we are unsure whether similar statistics have been reported elsewhere, and if we should consequently adopt an existing label.\nMore specifically, we are interested in reporting the (i) % of submissions with all authors being recurrent; (ii) % of submissions with at least one recurring and one new author; (iii) % of submissions with all new authors. Recurrent authors denote those who have submitted to the conference for > 1 year. The idea is to learn e.g. whether recurrent authors have brought new ones to the conference.\nI've been looking into reports of the CHI and AAAI conference series but found nothing related. Any pointers would be appreciated!" ]

[ "conference", "paper-submission", "statistics" ]

[ "High school student scooped by PhD student in the same lab", "When I was in high school, I spent one of my summers working in a lab. The professor had a small lab, so I was given my own project, and made enough progress on it to publish a paper.\n\nWhile I was working there, one of the PhD students started taking a keen interest in my work, and she kept wanting to discuss the problem, asking about details of my methodology, etc. She even started replicating my work and literally rewriting my code to produce the same graphs that I was getting. She was not originally assigned to the project, but I was happy to discuss the problem with her, because I enjoyed my project and wanted to talk about it with as many people as possible.\n\nAt the end of the summer she asked me to send her the slides from the talk I gave at group meeting. A few months later my supervisor told my brother that she presented my work at a conference without mentioning my name. (He never told me directly, probably because he thought I'd be sad.)\n\nAnyway, my dad (who is a professor) was very mad about this, and told me I should write a draft of the journal paper myself so the professor would feel obligated to give me first authorship instead of that PhD student. A few months later I sent him the draft, and he didn't give me first authorship, but did give me coauthorship on three different papers, one of which was only marginally related to what I did. I got into my top choice of college (and graduate school), but this was one of the more traumatic experiences I had as a teenager, and ever since this incident I've sworn off academia as a career option.\n\nDo you think I should have done anything differently, and what would you have done in this situation?" ]

[ "ethics", "authorship", "interpersonal-issues" ]