Datasets:

stanfordnlp

/

SHP

like 269

hhgmpm

askacademia_train

My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ

fwa2sdi

fwb0f58

My uni is gonna be all remote at least

"You will still have to pay full tuition for online access." - Vice Chancellor, lounging on a bed of money

hhgmpm

askacademia_train

My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ

fwb0f58

fwafch4

"You will still have to pay full tuition for online access." - Vice Chancellor, lounging on a bed of money

This is the correct take.

hhgmpm

askacademia_train

My prediction for the Fall semester 2020. Might play out like this: https://imgur.com/IVt9EiJ

fwa2sdi

fwafch4

My uni is gonna be all remote at least

This is the correct take.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaed99

hfagx52

I expect a lot of people to disagree with this but: really give her a piece of your mind. That is an unbelievably shitty thing to do to someone, and especially lie through your teeth about it. If she thought those things, she should have told you to your face or at the very least declined to write the letter. What she has done here is wildly disrespectful and vindictive. Beyond unprofessional, its downright mean. At this point, status aside, you are two adults with no bridges really left to burn. So if you feel like it, you might as well make sure this person knows well how unreasonably shitty this was to do. Its not about getting revenge, its making sure other humans understand the consequences of their actions and what it means to be a PoS. Good luck OP, sorry to hear about this.

I serve on an admissions committee. I can tell you that whenever we see a negative letter in an application, the first judgement is on the advisor. As others have said, any competent letter writer in the US academic system understands that a letter should be positive, or not written at all. That's why it's called a letter of recommendation. Do not use this person as a reference in the future. Do let other people know that this person wrote you a bad letter rather than declining. This likely will not harm your application as much as you think. If anything, it will hurt the writer's career when their peers see the kind of letter they write for people they should be supporting. It's of course a shitty thing to happen, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but it's not as serious as it probably feels right now.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfagx52

hfaetny

I serve on an admissions committee. I can tell you that whenever we see a negative letter in an application, the first judgement is on the advisor. As others have said, any competent letter writer in the US academic system understands that a letter should be positive, or not written at all. That's why it's called a letter of recommendation. Do not use this person as a reference in the future. Do let other people know that this person wrote you a bad letter rather than declining. This likely will not harm your application as much as you think. If anything, it will hurt the writer's career when their peers see the kind of letter they write for people they should be supporting. It's of course a shitty thing to happen, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but it's not as serious as it probably feels right now.

Don't use that letter. But honestly I'd burn all sorts of bridges out of spite over something like that. I'd go to her school and tell them this, ideally with a copy of the letter, and ask them why their professor is doing this to students who ask her for recommendations in good faith. It's universally accepted that if you can't give a good reference, you don't. And if you're in a position where it's expected to recommend someone, you at _least_ hit a neutral to positive note. Actively attacking you in the letter without warning you that she didn't feel she could write you a good letter is unforgivable.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfa6xut

hfagx52

You can try to talk to her to see what the problem was. And stop putting her name for recommendations.

I serve on an admissions committee. I can tell you that whenever we see a negative letter in an application, the first judgement is on the advisor. As others have said, any competent letter writer in the US academic system understands that a letter should be positive, or not written at all. That's why it's called a letter of recommendation. Do not use this person as a reference in the future. Do let other people know that this person wrote you a bad letter rather than declining. This likely will not harm your application as much as you think. If anything, it will hurt the writer's career when their peers see the kind of letter they write for people they should be supporting. It's of course a shitty thing to happen, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but it's not as serious as it probably feels right now.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfagx52

hfadt1l

I serve on an admissions committee. I can tell you that whenever we see a negative letter in an application, the first judgement is on the advisor. As others have said, any competent letter writer in the US academic system understands that a letter should be positive, or not written at all. That's why it's called a letter of recommendation. Do not use this person as a reference in the future. Do let other people know that this person wrote you a bad letter rather than declining. This likely will not harm your application as much as you think. If anything, it will hurt the writer's career when their peers see the kind of letter they write for people they should be supporting. It's of course a shitty thing to happen, and I'm sorry you're dealing with this, but it's not as serious as it probably feels right now.

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaed99

hfa6xut

I expect a lot of people to disagree with this but: really give her a piece of your mind. That is an unbelievably shitty thing to do to someone, and especially lie through your teeth about it. If she thought those things, she should have told you to your face or at the very least declined to write the letter. What she has done here is wildly disrespectful and vindictive. Beyond unprofessional, its downright mean. At this point, status aside, you are two adults with no bridges really left to burn. So if you feel like it, you might as well make sure this person knows well how unreasonably shitty this was to do. Its not about getting revenge, its making sure other humans understand the consequences of their actions and what it means to be a PoS. Good luck OP, sorry to hear about this.

You can try to talk to her to see what the problem was. And stop putting her name for recommendations.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfadt1l

hfaed99

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

I expect a lot of people to disagree with this but: really give her a piece of your mind. That is an unbelievably shitty thing to do to someone, and especially lie through your teeth about it. If she thought those things, she should have told you to your face or at the very least declined to write the letter. What she has done here is wildly disrespectful and vindictive. Beyond unprofessional, its downright mean. At this point, status aside, you are two adults with no bridges really left to burn. So if you feel like it, you might as well make sure this person knows well how unreasonably shitty this was to do. Its not about getting revenge, its making sure other humans understand the consequences of their actions and what it means to be a PoS. Good luck OP, sorry to hear about this.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaetny

hfa6xut

Don't use that letter. But honestly I'd burn all sorts of bridges out of spite over something like that. I'd go to her school and tell them this, ideally with a copy of the letter, and ask them why their professor is doing this to students who ask her for recommendations in good faith. It's universally accepted that if you can't give a good reference, you don't. And if you're in a position where it's expected to recommend someone, you at _least_ hit a neutral to positive note. Actively attacking you in the letter without warning you that she didn't feel she could write you a good letter is unforgivable.

You can try to talk to her to see what the problem was. And stop putting her name for recommendations.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaetny

hfadt1l

Don't use that letter. But honestly I'd burn all sorts of bridges out of spite over something like that. I'd go to her school and tell them this, ideally with a copy of the letter, and ask them why their professor is doing this to students who ask her for recommendations in good faith. It's universally accepted that if you can't give a good reference, you don't. And if you're in a position where it's expected to recommend someone, you at _least_ hit a neutral to positive note. Actively attacking you in the letter without warning you that she didn't feel she could write you a good letter is unforgivable.

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfa6xut

hfaiuz3

You can try to talk to her to see what the problem was. And stop putting her name for recommendations.

That is all sorts of craps. It’s not the way the system works. If I am put into a position where I have to write a letter for a poor student, I tell the student that all I will write is factual experiences the student had (i.e., took X class, completed X practicum, etc.) It’s not negative, but it clearly indicates to the committee that I don’t have positive things to say. You can either ignore (and not use her as a reference ever again) or address it with her. I would probably go the route of sending a baffled email—“Dear Dr. Negative, As you know, I am in the process of applying to grad schools. Because of my positive experience with you, I asked you to write a letter of recommendation. During one of my interviews, a member of the admissions committee indicated that you had not recommended me for the program because (list reasons here). I’m confused (or other emotion) as these were never conveyed to me during classes/projects or when I asked for a letter. I’m trying to better understand what happened as this negatively impacts my admission to a grad program.”

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaiuz3

hfadt1l

That is all sorts of craps. It’s not the way the system works. If I am put into a position where I have to write a letter for a poor student, I tell the student that all I will write is factual experiences the student had (i.e., took X class, completed X practicum, etc.) It’s not negative, but it clearly indicates to the committee that I don’t have positive things to say. You can either ignore (and not use her as a reference ever again) or address it with her. I would probably go the route of sending a baffled email—“Dear Dr. Negative, As you know, I am in the process of applying to grad schools. Because of my positive experience with you, I asked you to write a letter of recommendation. During one of my interviews, a member of the admissions committee indicated that you had not recommended me for the program because (list reasons here). I’m confused (or other emotion) as these were never conveyed to me during classes/projects or when I asked for a letter. I’m trying to better understand what happened as this negatively impacts my admission to a grad program.”

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfa6xut

hfak108

You can try to talk to her to see what the problem was. And stop putting her name for recommendations.

I can’t imagine how it must feel to be a professor and be that spiteful and malicious towards a student. She could have said no and shared her thoughts with you then, or written a letter to you explaining why she didn’t think you would be a good fit, some considerations, or you know maybe mentioned something WHILE you were her assistant and running the club. She just looks like an asshole, and hopefully the people who read it will see that and disregard the letter from your application to the program. She’s a limit to people’s potential in her class and I hope she gets a wake up call to how much of a shit person you have to be to live your life that way. “It would be an honor.” Jesus. To keep it from you and still write the letter, she must have something that pisses her off to get as far as submitting a letter “of recommendation” like that. Either personal for her and/or personal towards you. I agree with the other people when they say to give her a piece of your mind (professionally/neutrally, of course.)

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfadt1l

hfak108

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

I can’t imagine how it must feel to be a professor and be that spiteful and malicious towards a student. She could have said no and shared her thoughts with you then, or written a letter to you explaining why she didn’t think you would be a good fit, some considerations, or you know maybe mentioned something WHILE you were her assistant and running the club. She just looks like an asshole, and hopefully the people who read it will see that and disregard the letter from your application to the program. She’s a limit to people’s potential in her class and I hope she gets a wake up call to how much of a shit person you have to be to live your life that way. “It would be an honor.” Jesus. To keep it from you and still write the letter, she must have something that pisses her off to get as far as submitting a letter “of recommendation” like that. Either personal for her and/or personal towards you. I agree with the other people when they say to give her a piece of your mind (professionally/neutrally, of course.)

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfadt1l

hfapxlk

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

This is extremely unfortunate and uncommon. For the most part professors will decline to write a letter if they can’t write a positive one. It’s a “letter of recommendation”, not “letter of review”. This person is out to get you and I would avoid interacting with them further.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaoqlu

hfapxlk

Considering that professors (in the US) are specifically told to decline to write a letter if you don’t think the student is deserving due to slander lawsuits shows that this professor is an idiot

This is extremely unfortunate and uncommon. For the most part professors will decline to write a letter if they can’t write a positive one. It’s a “letter of recommendation”, not “letter of review”. This person is out to get you and I would avoid interacting with them further.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfap2q6

hfapxlk

Faculty shouldn't agree to write letters unless it's going to support the student. I'm a professor. I actually just posted a video on YT about requesting a letter from a prof. (link here, in case it'll help anyone). With regards to this specific case, I'd immediately find a new source for letters of recommendation. If you have any other applications that are out there, you MIGHT be able to remove the offending letter writer in question and then setup another person (after asking another person, all that jazz). I'm so sorry that this happened. It's extremely unprofessional and cruel.

This is extremely unfortunate and uncommon. For the most part professors will decline to write a letter if they can’t write a positive one. It’s a “letter of recommendation”, not “letter of review”. This person is out to get you and I would avoid interacting with them further.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfak286

hfapxlk

That’s really quite terrible. Sorry you are in that kind of position. The worst letter I wrote never said anything negative about a candidate. The worst letter just didn’t say anything super positive. Basically a neutral letter is as bad as it ever gets.

This is extremely unfortunate and uncommon. For the most part professors will decline to write a letter if they can’t write a positive one. It’s a “letter of recommendation”, not “letter of review”. This person is out to get you and I would avoid interacting with them further.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfadt1l

hfavtys

What others say and warn future students about her. Also, I don't know if it was a "send directly from the advisor" thing, but I always make sure to check their rec letters before submission.

Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfaoqlu

hfavtys

Considering that professors (in the US) are specifically told to decline to write a letter if you don’t think the student is deserving due to slander lawsuits shows that this professor is an idiot

Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfavtys

hfap2q6

Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.

Faculty shouldn't agree to write letters unless it's going to support the student. I'm a professor. I actually just posted a video on YT about requesting a letter from a prof. (link here, in case it'll help anyone). With regards to this specific case, I'd immediately find a new source for letters of recommendation. If you have any other applications that are out there, you MIGHT be able to remove the offending letter writer in question and then setup another person (after asking another person, all that jazz). I'm so sorry that this happened. It's extremely unprofessional and cruel.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfavtys

hfak286

Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.

That’s really quite terrible. Sorry you are in that kind of position. The worst letter I wrote never said anything negative about a candidate. The worst letter just didn’t say anything super positive. Basically a neutral letter is as bad as it ever gets.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfavjyv

hfavtys

You can “exclude” a LOR in most application systems these days. Do that. ASAP

Sounds like a case of sour grapes. Either because she didn’t want to lose you as a research assistant or because you weren’t planning to do your grad program with her. It’s not the first time I’ve heard of an academic being spiteful AF.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfavjyv

hfb6vkl

You can “exclude” a LOR in most application systems these days. Do that. ASAP

Had you heard any feedback along these lines from this professor before? Was what the interviewer told you specific enough that it would have had to come from this professor? Does it sound like something she would have done, or had you previously had a good working relationship with her? You could potentially ask her about this in a non-confrontational way to see if she offers you any additional information. Something like, the interviewer mentioned X, Y, and Z in the interview and mentioned that it was from your recommendation letter. I’m a bit surprised, because that isn’t feedback I’ve heard from you before. Is it possible she was mistaken? If she confirms that yes, she wrote this shitty letter, you have more documentation. There’s no good reason to sabotage a student’s application like that when she could simply decline. This feels more like someone who has an ax to grind, and this is a grossly unprofessional way to do that. You could also consider reaching out to your university ombuds. They’re generally neutral and confidential, and they’ll hear you out and then run through the options you have.

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfap2q6

hfaoqlu

Faculty shouldn't agree to write letters unless it's going to support the student. I'm a professor. I actually just posted a video on YT about requesting a letter from a prof. (link here, in case it'll help anyone). With regards to this specific case, I'd immediately find a new source for letters of recommendation. If you have any other applications that are out there, you MIGHT be able to remove the offending letter writer in question and then setup another person (after asking another person, all that jazz). I'm so sorry that this happened. It's extremely unprofessional and cruel.

Considering that professors (in the US) are specifically told to decline to write a letter if you don’t think the student is deserving due to slander lawsuits shows that this professor is an idiot

q0s215

askacademia_train

What to do about a situation where my professor wrote a negative letter of rec for grad school? I am in the US, and applying to graduate school. I was a research assistant for this particular professor and ran a club that she was the advisor to. I did not struggle in her class or other class revolving the program I am going into. I asked her well beforehand to write me a letter and she claimed "it would be an honor". She submitted it, I had my interview and it came up that she said in the letter that I would not be a suitable candidate for the program. Her points in the letter claimed "that the club struggled under my leadership" and my research "was not adequate and not helpful". She never gave any inclination that this was the case, so I am stunned that she is saying these things. What can I do about this? She lied to me, and could impact my future. What course of action do I take? I'm at a loss of words here.

hfbbyoh

hfavjyv

Must have been the herpetology club, cuz that woman’s a snake

You can “exclude” a LOR in most application systems these days. Do that. ASAP

ris5lq

askacademia_train

Your name was mentioned in a paper recently found by Academia! Dear Academia.edu, no one is mentioning my name in any papers. Please stop.

hoz8fpz

hoz6j99

I get frequent notices for some paleontologist with whom I share a name, despite my being a humanist and two decades older. Finally turned it all off last summer, as I've found academia.edu to be mostly worthless anyway.

Dear Academia, That is the last name of my father and the first name of his co-author. The paper was published a quarter century ago. I am in the humanities; that paper is in a niche scientific field. Please revise and resubmit. Best wishes! A.

ris5lq

askacademia_train

Your name was mentioned in a paper recently found by Academia! Dear Academia.edu, no one is mentioning my name in any papers. Please stop.

hp0p3vf

hp17so2

Supposedly there are over 3,000 mentions of my name in papers. My name is quite uncommon.

In contrast, when Research Gate says you have a citation, it's true. It's even better than Google Scholar. Citations for my unpublished PhD dissertation appear on Research Gate but not on Google Scholar.

ris5lq

askacademia_train

Your name was mentioned in a paper recently found by Academia! Dear Academia.edu, no one is mentioning my name in any papers. Please stop.

hp0p3vf

hp1q7fy

Supposedly there are over 3,000 mentions of my name in papers. My name is quite uncommon.

I get weekly emails from them with wilder and wilder paper publications. I'm a paleontologist. I highly doubt I would be doing something regarding "the increased complexities of the herpes virus". Honestly I haven't put them in the spam folder yet because their suggestions of papers that I have possibly written are just too amusing. What makes it even funnier is that I'm not even a published author yet. I'm still working on my first manuscript.

ris5lq

askacademia_train

Your name was mentioned in a paper recently found by Academia! Dear Academia.edu, no one is mentioning my name in any papers. Please stop.

hp1eiwm

hp1q7fy

Shit, I thought I was famous.

I get weekly emails from them with wilder and wilder paper publications. I'm a paleontologist. I highly doubt I would be doing something regarding "the increased complexities of the herpes virus". Honestly I haven't put them in the spam folder yet because their suggestions of papers that I have possibly written are just too amusing. What makes it even funnier is that I'm not even a published author yet. I'm still working on my first manuscript.

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x50kr

f7wxra9

Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!

Congratulations! This will be a huge help for you moving forward in your life no matter what path you choose to take.

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wmc4v

f7x50kr

Congratulations! That's wonderful!

Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wo43k

f7x50kr

Gratz!!!

Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x50kr

f7wu2xm

Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!

Congratulations!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wynby

f7x50kr

That's huge! Especially as an undergrad! gg, my friend

Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x0ezh

f7x50kr

This is such a great feeling! Congratulations to you.

Published as an undergrad in a non-undergrad publication? That's pretty nuts congrats!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wxra9

f7wmc4v

Congratulations! This will be a huge help for you moving forward in your life no matter what path you choose to take.

Congratulations! That's wonderful!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wxra9

f7wo43k

Congratulations! This will be a huge help for you moving forward in your life no matter what path you choose to take.

Gratz!!!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wu2xm

f7wxra9

Congratulations!

Congratulations! This will be a huge help for you moving forward in your life no matter what path you choose to take.

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7yo5gp

f7xly5g

Now everyone cite it!

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7yo5gp

f7wu2xm

Now everyone cite it!

Congratulations!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7yo5gp

f7wynby

Now everyone cite it!

That's huge! Especially as an undergrad! gg, my friend

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x0ezh

f7yo5gp

This is such a great feeling! Congratulations to you.

Now everyone cite it!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xhr31

f7yo5gp

Congratulations!!! I’m also an undergrad student and I’ve been trying to get something published too... this is hard work, keep going!

Now everyone cite it!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7yo5gp

f7x54pn

Now everyone cite it!

Congrats!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x55re

f7yo5gp

Congratulations

Now everyone cite it!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7yo5gp

f7x64q5

Now everyone cite it!

Congrats!!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xly5g

f7wu2xm

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

Congratulations!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7wynby

f7xly5g

That's huge! Especially as an undergrad! gg, my friend

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xly5g

f7x0ezh

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

This is such a great feeling! Congratulations to you.

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xhr31

f7xly5g

Congratulations!!! I’m also an undergrad student and I’ve been trying to get something published too... this is hard work, keep going!

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xly5g

f7x54pn

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

Congrats!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xly5g

f7x55re

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

Congratulations

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7xly5g

f7x64q5

Congrats. Which field? do share the paper link with us when published

Congrats!!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x54pn

f7xhr31

Congrats!

Congratulations!!! I’m also an undergrad student and I’ve been trying to get something published too... this is hard work, keep going!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x55re

f7xhr31

Congratulations

Congratulations!!! I’m also an undergrad student and I’ve been trying to get something published too... this is hard work, keep going!

dxuvrq

askacademia_train

MY FIRST PAPER WAS ACCEPTED!! The good news keep on coming! My sole-author paper was accepted. I will be published as an undergrad!

f7x64q5

f7xhr31

Congrats!!

Congratulations!!! I’m also an undergrad student and I’ve been trying to get something published too... this is hard work, keep going!

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gais3tp

gais9mr

Ewwwww you kiss your spouse?

My spouse and I are both academics teaching fully online. What does "come home" even mean?

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gair9cx

gais9mr

The struggle is real.

My spouse and I are both academics teaching fully online. What does "come home" even mean?

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gair9cx

gais3tp

The struggle is real.

Ewwwww you kiss your spouse?

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaiudch

gaj0b4b

Kissing your SO is always a good thing. Also, the lifestyle that you are implying is not universal and it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe some fields, maybe USA, maybe some PIs. But there are plenty of places where academia is associated with good pay and work-life balance.

I do not understand how the hell I put up with it. You wanna hire a hard working nanotechnologist? I would like to see my family a little, and afford a better house than this tiny apartment... \*sigh\*

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaj0b4b

gaiwdsy

I do not understand how the hell I put up with it. You wanna hire a hard working nanotechnologist? I would like to see my family a little, and afford a better house than this tiny apartment... \*sigh\*

Instructions unclear, do I kiss myself? I come home to myself (or never leave home nowadays), and cook, clean and pay the rent on my own. I know I should be dating but covid killed that option for now🙃

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gair9cx

gaj0b4b

The struggle is real.

I do not understand how the hell I put up with it. You wanna hire a hard working nanotechnologist? I would like to see my family a little, and afford a better house than this tiny apartment... \*sigh\*

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaisb6b

gaj0b4b

Architecture school too! Once the architecture school term starts, I’m like a widow :/

I do not understand how the hell I put up with it. You wanna hire a hard working nanotechnologist? I would like to see my family a little, and afford a better house than this tiny apartment... \*sigh\*

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaj0b4b

gaiyvsu

I do not understand how the hell I put up with it. You wanna hire a hard working nanotechnologist? I would like to see my family a little, and afford a better house than this tiny apartment... \*sigh\*

When I *get* home?

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaiudch

gair9cx

Kissing your SO is always a good thing. Also, the lifestyle that you are implying is not universal and it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe some fields, maybe USA, maybe some PIs. But there are plenty of places where academia is associated with good pay and work-life balance.

The struggle is real.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaiudch

gaisb6b

Kissing your SO is always a good thing. Also, the lifestyle that you are implying is not universal and it doesn't have to be like that. Maybe some fields, maybe USA, maybe some PIs. But there are plenty of places where academia is associated with good pay and work-life balance.

Architecture school too! Once the architecture school term starts, I’m like a widow :/

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaiwdsy

gair9cx

Instructions unclear, do I kiss myself? I come home to myself (or never leave home nowadays), and cook, clean and pay the rent on my own. I know I should be dating but covid killed that option for now🙃

The struggle is real.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaisb6b

gaiwdsy

Architecture school too! Once the architecture school term starts, I’m like a widow :/

Instructions unclear, do I kiss myself? I come home to myself (or never leave home nowadays), and cook, clean and pay the rent on my own. I know I should be dating but covid killed that option for now🙃

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaisb6b

gaj0ram

Architecture school too! Once the architecture school term starts, I’m like a widow :/

I don’t understand. This is great advice, but it’s not different for professors than anyone else. Why propagate the notion that this is anything other than a normal job.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaj0ram

gaiyvsu

I don’t understand. This is great advice, but it’s not different for professors than anyone else. Why propagate the notion that this is anything other than a normal job.

When I *get* home?

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaisb6b

gak2ujw

Architecture school too! Once the architecture school term starts, I’m like a widow :/

My wife just tells me everything I did wrong when I come home. Kinda just makes me want to stay at work with my cells. At least they don't yell at me.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gak2ujw

gajhl2c

My wife just tells me everything I did wrong when I come home. Kinda just makes me want to stay at work with my cells. At least they don't yell at me.

> And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. We also don't understand so please don't look for answers. Neither my wife nor I understands what happens when I text "I'll be done around 6:15" and then walk out of the lab at 7:05.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaiyvsu

gak2ujw

When I *get* home?

My wife just tells me everything I did wrong when I come home. Kinda just makes me want to stay at work with my cells. At least they don't yell at me.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gajower

gaisb6b

How do I get a spouse? Kids can come later, I guess.

Architecture school too! Once the architecture school term starts, I’m like a widow :/

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gajhl2c

gajower

> And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. We also don't understand so please don't look for answers. Neither my wife nor I understands what happens when I text "I'll be done around 6:15" and then walk out of the lab at 7:05.

How do I get a spouse? Kids can come later, I guess.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gaiyvsu

gajower

When I *get* home?

How do I get a spouse? Kids can come later, I guess.

jkfcfu

askacademia_train

When you get home today, don't forget to kiss your spouse and say thank you. I see this particularly in STEM researchers; it's a thing for you apparently. I'm a spouse working in the private sector. We, along with your children, get a bit tired of not seeing you much. And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. Sorry about the rant, but it's dinner time, and my spouse is running some cells through some machine or whatnot in the lab. So, closing the circle repeating myself, kiss them fondly and thank them profusely! Cheers.

gajhl2c

gaiyvsu

> And I cannot understand how the hell you put up with the very long hours, horrible pay, medieval managers which you call PIs, incredible amount of stress every few years looking for funding, and one of the most ferocious competitive contexts that exist. We also don't understand so please don't look for answers. Neither my wife nor I understands what happens when I text "I'll be done around 6:15" and then walk out of the lab at 7:05.

When I *get* home?

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8djvb

gr8dadm

YES!! It’s now at the point in my field that if you don’t have a science or nature paper AND a prestigious post doc, you’re basically SOL for any faculty positions. I have worked on meta analyses and publication bias favouring positive outcomes is completely skewing our ability to synthesis and understand actual patterns in ecological data. Which in turn is limiting our ability to apply this information accurately to evidence based policy. The business side of academia is ruining the actual utility of science.

I've added failed experiments/negative data into papers. You unfortunately generally need some positive/interesting result as the basis for the paper, but if things failed along the way and are relevant to the main topic of the paper, you can briefly mention the negative results and add it as a supplemental figure. I believe there are journals exclusively for negative results now, too, but I'm not sure how widely indexed they are.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8c2rf

gr8djvb

Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!

YES!! It’s now at the point in my field that if you don’t have a science or nature paper AND a prestigious post doc, you’re basically SOL for any faculty positions. I have worked on meta analyses and publication bias favouring positive outcomes is completely skewing our ability to synthesis and understand actual patterns in ecological data. Which in turn is limiting our ability to apply this information accurately to evidence based policy. The business side of academia is ruining the actual utility of science.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8gbq0

gr8dadm

It’s one of the things ruining academia. It stems from administrators wanting a way to quantify and rank researchers’ productivity. This may not even be possible, but assuming it is “number of papers” is a terrible metric. It doesn’t measure what administrators think it does and it creates perverse incentives that actually harm research output. Citations per paper is a metric I pulled out of my butt just now but it’s still a much better metric than paper count. What I don’t understand is why the publish-or-perish model still exists when everybody should know it’s not working. Who’s keeping it going? Why? Is Big Paper behind it? Is there some law?

I've added failed experiments/negative data into papers. You unfortunately generally need some positive/interesting result as the basis for the paper, but if things failed along the way and are relevant to the main topic of the paper, you can briefly mention the negative results and add it as a supplemental figure. I believe there are journals exclusively for negative results now, too, but I'm not sure how widely indexed they are.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8fzpv

gr8gbq0

Agreed! It’s partly why I left academia: the “game” of publishing/grants. And I was good at the game! So many papers add epsilon to delta...very little meat. And the redundancy is ridiculous. Soooo many papers that don’t properly cite & document what has come before, despite it being easier than ever to check (Google). I am much happier in industry, after 20 years in academia.

It’s one of the things ruining academia. It stems from administrators wanting a way to quantify and rank researchers’ productivity. This may not even be possible, but assuming it is “number of papers” is a terrible metric. It doesn’t measure what administrators think it does and it creates perverse incentives that actually harm research output. Citations per paper is a metric I pulled out of my butt just now but it’s still a much better metric than paper count. What I don’t understand is why the publish-or-perish model still exists when everybody should know it’s not working. Who’s keeping it going? Why? Is Big Paper behind it? Is there some law?

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8gbq0

gr8c2rf

It’s one of the things ruining academia. It stems from administrators wanting a way to quantify and rank researchers’ productivity. This may not even be possible, but assuming it is “number of papers” is a terrible metric. It doesn’t measure what administrators think it does and it creates perverse incentives that actually harm research output. Citations per paper is a metric I pulled out of my butt just now but it’s still a much better metric than paper count. What I don’t understand is why the publish-or-perish model still exists when everybody should know it’s not working. Who’s keeping it going? Why? Is Big Paper behind it? Is there some law?

Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8c2rf

gr8dadm

Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!

I've added failed experiments/negative data into papers. You unfortunately generally need some positive/interesting result as the basis for the paper, but if things failed along the way and are relevant to the main topic of the paper, you can briefly mention the negative results and add it as a supplemental figure. I believe there are journals exclusively for negative results now, too, but I'm not sure how widely indexed they are.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8iviq

gr8kagv

I'd honestly love it if there was an "International Journal of Zany Shit we tried that didn't work but oh well here's some data." But that of course means there has to be some degree of standards for what constitutes a good failed experiment.

There's this guy in my field who published like 8 papers based on his PhD project alone by slicing and dicing the project into small portions then blowing each of them up into full papers. The intros of some of these papers read almost the same with some modifications to make them just different enough. Till this day I wonder how they got published. But he's now a professor at a top university so I guess it worked out well for him.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8fzpv

gr8kagv

Agreed! It’s partly why I left academia: the “game” of publishing/grants. And I was good at the game! So many papers add epsilon to delta...very little meat. And the redundancy is ridiculous. Soooo many papers that don’t properly cite & document what has come before, despite it being easier than ever to check (Google). I am much happier in industry, after 20 years in academia.

There's this guy in my field who published like 8 papers based on his PhD project alone by slicing and dicing the project into small portions then blowing each of them up into full papers. The intros of some of these papers read almost the same with some modifications to make them just different enough. Till this day I wonder how they got published. But he's now a professor at a top university so I guess it worked out well for him.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8c2rf

gr8kagv

Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!

There's this guy in my field who published like 8 papers based on his PhD project alone by slicing and dicing the project into small portions then blowing each of them up into full papers. The intros of some of these papers read almost the same with some modifications to make them just different enough. Till this day I wonder how they got published. But he's now a professor at a top university so I guess it worked out well for him.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8iw46

gr8kagv

There are very few TT positions, and many of these have research as a moderate to major component of their appointment. Why *wouldn’t* you expect those pressures to drive up output? What would selection for a TT job look like research productivity was removed? Impact? Novelty of research program? That is very much like what midcareer and senior searches look like. How would you do that at the junior stage, without just simply replicating prestige networks?

There's this guy in my field who published like 8 papers based on his PhD project alone by slicing and dicing the project into small portions then blowing each of them up into full papers. The intros of some of these papers read almost the same with some modifications to make them just different enough. Till this day I wonder how they got published. But he's now a professor at a top university so I guess it worked out well for him.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8fzpv

gr8iviq

Agreed! It’s partly why I left academia: the “game” of publishing/grants. And I was good at the game! So many papers add epsilon to delta...very little meat. And the redundancy is ridiculous. Soooo many papers that don’t properly cite & document what has come before, despite it being easier than ever to check (Google). I am much happier in industry, after 20 years in academia.

I'd honestly love it if there was an "International Journal of Zany Shit we tried that didn't work but oh well here's some data." But that of course means there has to be some degree of standards for what constitutes a good failed experiment.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8c2rf

gr8iviq

Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!

I'd honestly love it if there was an "International Journal of Zany Shit we tried that didn't work but oh well here's some data." But that of course means there has to be some degree of standards for what constitutes a good failed experiment.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8fzpv

gr8c2rf

Agreed! It’s partly why I left academia: the “game” of publishing/grants. And I was good at the game! So many papers add epsilon to delta...very little meat. And the redundancy is ridiculous. Soooo many papers that don’t properly cite & document what has come before, despite it being easier than ever to check (Google). I am much happier in industry, after 20 years in academia.

Agree 100% on publishing failed experiments!

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8nn8w

gr8wm5s

Publishing a negative result requires some work, but it's definitely doable and I recommend it. Towards the beginning of my career I published two papers that are mostly "*if you think this is a good idea, don't; here's why*" and "*why XYZ looks like it should work, but doesn't*". Neither exceeded a dozen citations or so, but at least I contributed towards fighting the bias. I deplore papers that are only slightly different spins on the same thing and I pity people who publish them (because otherwise they would perish). Like "*Novel method applied to material 1*". "*Novel method applied to material 2, which is very much like material 1*". Ugh.

A perspective from the humanities: I'm in what's called a "book field," rather than an "article field." Tenure expectation is, basically, one single-authored book. These take years to research and write, so it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Thing is, only a handful of publishers publish scholarship in a given field. The most prestigious (and therefore secure for tenure purposes) publishers are university presses, and we all know the financial condition of universities these days. They're getting hit on the demand side as well, because fewer and fewer libraries are buying books (and these are the kind of books that mostly only libraries buy). So the presses might not even look at your proposal, let alone send it out for review. Universities have effectively outsourced P&T to presses that are on life support themselves.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8wm5s

gr8o0jf

A perspective from the humanities: I'm in what's called a "book field," rather than an "article field." Tenure expectation is, basically, one single-authored book. These take years to research and write, so it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Thing is, only a handful of publishers publish scholarship in a given field. The most prestigious (and therefore secure for tenure purposes) publishers are university presses, and we all know the financial condition of universities these days. They're getting hit on the demand side as well, because fewer and fewer libraries are buying books (and these are the kind of books that mostly only libraries buy). So the presses might not even look at your proposal, let alone send it out for review. Universities have effectively outsourced P&T to presses that are on life support themselves.

h-index is by no means perfect but it's far more relevant than paper count, i.e. how many times has your work contributed to the literature.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8varw

gr8wm5s

Let me give a slightly different take on this. I completely agree with the notion that there are too many papers and definitely way too many “incremental” papers. But it is worth thinking g about the causes of this. In my mind the main driver of all of this is that the job market is ultra-competitive. Most fields produce an order of magnitude (or more!) PhDs than they have TT openings. As such there is a massive culling at the postdoctoral level and then at the Assistant Professor level. Now of course some fields are not training PhDs to necessarily go into academia but many are and in those cases this pressure applies. For example in my department we regularly get 500+ applications for every TT opening. This is very typical for my field and many others. So you need some criteria to separate people and at that scale it will obviously not be a subtle or thoughtful process. Counting pubs is obviously not an optimal algorithm but if we didn’t do that, we would need some other metric. Letters? We get 500x3 letters, how to separate those? Etc. And that’s not to mention grants and in particular final grant reports. If you are writing the final report for a $400,000 grant, you better have something listed there. Pubs is usually the thing Another issue is something that has occurred more recently, but it’s that now many places that aren’t really research schools at all now require a solid publication record for tenure. In my opinion this is unwise but faculty doing research is good for a small school’s prestige. Obviously this trend is an outgrowth of the factors mentioned above.

A perspective from the humanities: I'm in what's called a "book field," rather than an "article field." Tenure expectation is, basically, one single-authored book. These take years to research and write, so it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Thing is, only a handful of publishers publish scholarship in a given field. The most prestigious (and therefore secure for tenure purposes) publishers are university presses, and we all know the financial condition of universities these days. They're getting hit on the demand side as well, because fewer and fewer libraries are buying books (and these are the kind of books that mostly only libraries buy). So the presses might not even look at your proposal, let alone send it out for review. Universities have effectively outsourced P&T to presses that are on life support themselves.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8wm5s

gr8iw46

A perspective from the humanities: I'm in what's called a "book field," rather than an "article field." Tenure expectation is, basically, one single-authored book. These take years to research and write, so it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Thing is, only a handful of publishers publish scholarship in a given field. The most prestigious (and therefore secure for tenure purposes) publishers are university presses, and we all know the financial condition of universities these days. They're getting hit on the demand side as well, because fewer and fewer libraries are buying books (and these are the kind of books that mostly only libraries buy). So the presses might not even look at your proposal, let alone send it out for review. Universities have effectively outsourced P&T to presses that are on life support themselves.

There are very few TT positions, and many of these have research as a moderate to major component of their appointment. Why *wouldn’t* you expect those pressures to drive up output? What would selection for a TT job look like research productivity was removed? Impact? Novelty of research program? That is very much like what midcareer and senior searches look like. How would you do that at the junior stage, without just simply replicating prestige networks?

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr8p0ne

gr8wm5s

I'm a physisist, and I feel all of this as a scam... Academia became into a legal piramidal bussines: you need a degre in order to be able to teach to those who pretend to get a degree so they can teach others who pretend... All of us are guilty for accepting this unsenseless academia rules.

A perspective from the humanities: I'm in what's called a "book field," rather than an "article field." Tenure expectation is, basically, one single-authored book. These take years to research and write, so it's pretty much a one-shot deal. Thing is, only a handful of publishers publish scholarship in a given field. The most prestigious (and therefore secure for tenure purposes) publishers are university presses, and we all know the financial condition of universities these days. They're getting hit on the demand side as well, because fewer and fewer libraries are buying books (and these are the kind of books that mostly only libraries buy). So the presses might not even look at your proposal, let alone send it out for review. Universities have effectively outsourced P&T to presses that are on life support themselves.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr99jha

gr8nn8w

I know some PhD students more experienced than any other postdoc since they still do a PhD in their 8th or 9th years at the same lab and this is in Europe, where you don't have classes, exams, seminars etc. It's full time research. They aim to publish every chapter of their dissertation in famous and high impact journals, it clogs the lab for upcoming students and we invest too much money and time on limited number of projects. The sad part is to see that all about the journal names. Nobody cares about the continuity, robust data or reproducibility, they keep looking for fancy experiments to fit fancy journals. Our lab discussions don't involve around the scientific ideas, they involve around journal names (e.g. this would be a Nature paper etc.) I mean after all our PI is "ambitious" enough to keep pushing us by telling "I want that each one to have a Nature paper" and yes, this is a toxic lab environment. I think this is why many people want to quit academia. PS: This also creates a huge inequality in terms of fellowships etc. Many of us don't have luxury to do a 8 year PhD project and wait for a publication for that long.

Publishing a negative result requires some work, but it's definitely doable and I recommend it. Towards the beginning of my career I published two papers that are mostly "*if you think this is a good idea, don't; here's why*" and "*why XYZ looks like it should work, but doesn't*". Neither exceeded a dozen citations or so, but at least I contributed towards fighting the bias. I deplore papers that are only slightly different spins on the same thing and I pity people who publish them (because otherwise they would perish). Like "*Novel method applied to material 1*". "*Novel method applied to material 2, which is very much like material 1*". Ugh.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr99jha

gr8o0jf

I know some PhD students more experienced than any other postdoc since they still do a PhD in their 8th or 9th years at the same lab and this is in Europe, where you don't have classes, exams, seminars etc. It's full time research. They aim to publish every chapter of their dissertation in famous and high impact journals, it clogs the lab for upcoming students and we invest too much money and time on limited number of projects. The sad part is to see that all about the journal names. Nobody cares about the continuity, robust data or reproducibility, they keep looking for fancy experiments to fit fancy journals. Our lab discussions don't involve around the scientific ideas, they involve around journal names (e.g. this would be a Nature paper etc.) I mean after all our PI is "ambitious" enough to keep pushing us by telling "I want that each one to have a Nature paper" and yes, this is a toxic lab environment. I think this is why many people want to quit academia. PS: This also creates a huge inequality in terms of fellowships etc. Many of us don't have luxury to do a 8 year PhD project and wait for a publication for that long.

h-index is by no means perfect but it's far more relevant than paper count, i.e. how many times has your work contributed to the literature.

m6z9m4

askacademia_train

Does anybody feel like academic publication pressure is becoming unsustainable? I am becoming very frustrated with the publication culture in my field. Becoming an expert takes a long time and so is making a valuable contribution to the literature. However, publication pressure is turning many contributions into spin-offs that are slightly different from the publication before, and they are often redundant. Further, a failed experiment would never get published but it would actually provide insight to peers as to what route not to explore. I think that publication pressure is overwhelming for academics and in detriment of scientific literature. I feel like we seriously need to rethink the publication reward system. Does anybody have thoughts on this?

gr99jha

gr8varw

I know some PhD students more experienced than any other postdoc since they still do a PhD in their 8th or 9th years at the same lab and this is in Europe, where you don't have classes, exams, seminars etc. It's full time research. They aim to publish every chapter of their dissertation in famous and high impact journals, it clogs the lab for upcoming students and we invest too much money and time on limited number of projects. The sad part is to see that all about the journal names. Nobody cares about the continuity, robust data or reproducibility, they keep looking for fancy experiments to fit fancy journals. Our lab discussions don't involve around the scientific ideas, they involve around journal names (e.g. this would be a Nature paper etc.) I mean after all our PI is "ambitious" enough to keep pushing us by telling "I want that each one to have a Nature paper" and yes, this is a toxic lab environment. I think this is why many people want to quit academia. PS: This also creates a huge inequality in terms of fellowships etc. Many of us don't have luxury to do a 8 year PhD project and wait for a publication for that long.

Let me give a slightly different take on this. I completely agree with the notion that there are too many papers and definitely way too many “incremental” papers. But it is worth thinking g about the causes of this. In my mind the main driver of all of this is that the job market is ultra-competitive. Most fields produce an order of magnitude (or more!) PhDs than they have TT openings. As such there is a massive culling at the postdoctoral level and then at the Assistant Professor level. Now of course some fields are not training PhDs to necessarily go into academia but many are and in those cases this pressure applies. For example in my department we regularly get 500+ applications for every TT opening. This is very typical for my field and many others. So you need some criteria to separate people and at that scale it will obviously not be a subtle or thoughtful process. Counting pubs is obviously not an optimal algorithm but if we didn’t do that, we would need some other metric. Letters? We get 500x3 letters, how to separate those? Etc. And that’s not to mention grants and in particular final grant reports. If you are writing the final report for a $400,000 grant, you better have something listed there. Pubs is usually the thing Another issue is something that has occurred more recently, but it’s that now many places that aren’t really research schools at all now require a solid publication record for tenure. In my opinion this is unwise but faculty doing research is good for a small school’s prestige. Obviously this trend is an outgrowth of the factors mentioned above.